Using discussions to_enhance_student_nov 16

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Using discussions to_enhance_student_nov 16

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Let the Competition Begin – iPad’s Challengers for 2011

Let the Competition Begin – iPad’s Challengers for 2011

The Power of Interactive Learning

It's true, it's true! We really do learn more effectively when we interact with the content - and with others.
Check this article out to read more about the cognitive benefits interactive learning.

http://theelearningcoach.com/learning/power-of-interactive-learning

Making the most out of assigned readings

Referring students to a reading is an excellent idea, but how do you know they will "get it" once they are finished? One way to make sure they grasp the important ideas is to use "Guided Reading" activities. Here are some suggestions on how to do so:
1. Ask them to consider a series of questions that focus their attention on the key ideas.
2. Ask them to consider what they can "take away" from the reading, and how they could apply the ideas to their own practice.
3. Have them write a brief summary - then share it with someone else.
4. Have them write a series of test questions. Then, have them answer the questions. They can share with others through unmarked discussion boards if desired.

Here are some other ideas that come from "The Teaching Professor"
Enjoy!

Making the Review of Assigned Reading Meaningful

Written by: Sarah K. Clark

The typical college student dreads hearing, “Let’s review the chapters you read for homework.” What generally ensues is a question and answer drill in which students are peppered with questions designed to make clear who has and hasn’t done the reading. In reality, these exchanges do little to encourage deep thought or understanding of the assigned reading. They produce awkward silences during which students squirm in their seats, hoping to become invisible. Other times students decline to answer for fear of giving the wrong answer. Almost all the time a negative tone permeates the classroom during this review. I decided to restructure the way that I approached reviews of reading assignments, and found that by doing things differently, I could change both the tone and outcomes of the review activity. I’d like to share some of the ideas and techniques that I have found useful:

The Top Ten - Ask students to create their own “Top Ten List” of important concepts presented in the chapter(s). I encourage student collaboration in the creation of these lists. The activity provides a nice review of the material, and you’ll be amazed at what students consider to be most important. I use these lists as a starting point for discussions. They also let me know what areas of content need further explanation. For students who didn’t do the reading, the lists expose them to ideas in the text and that prepares them at least a bit for the subject of the day.

Secondary Sources - Gone are the days when the textbook is the only source of information available to students. With blogs, research articles, journals, informational pages, and news websites at the touch of a fingertip, students can easily learn more about the subject. After they’ve done the assigned readings, have students locate another viewpoint on the subject and bring it to class. In class, set a time limit (say 15 minutes) and have partners/groups discuss the reading material and their secondary sources. As you circulate around the room, you may hear some good examples that you can use later in the period. Interestingly, students often (without being asked) continue to bring in outside resources on the topics we study, which makes for rich and healthy discussions.

Journaling - For the ideas presented in the readings to become relevant, students need to articulate thoughts about what they are reading and they need to hear how others responded as well. I encourage my students to write journal notes, which I describe as what the brain is thinking while reading. Example: “Wow! I never considered how George Washington must have felt during this turbulent time in the nation’s history. I always thought of him as liking his role as president.” Students can share their journaling with a partner or small group. This exercise helps students get past initial impressions, and it connects what they already know to the new information.

Divide and Conquer - Divide up the next reading chapter among small groups of students. Student A reads the first section in the chapter, Student B reads the next section, and so forth. The next day, students meet in small groups and report on the section they read. Or you can have groups of students that read the same section meet with students who read different sections. Students become dependent on one another to create the full picture of what was in the reading material. My students seem to enjoy these group discussions, which are a way to become familiar with the material before being graded on it.

Using these and other strategies has really made a difference in my classes. More students are engaged in and contributing to class discussions, and they are moving beyond a simple repetition of facts and details. Students are digging deeper and connecting their world with other viewpoints, and that gives them a richer understanding of the content.

These new approaches are having an effect on me, too. I am more calm and confident in my role as a teacher and a learner. I find it easier to be more patient and thoughtful with my students. Most important, I have noticed that the classroom feels like a safe and positive place. Students show greater respect for one another and more appreciation of the material. In my opinion, all these responses make these changes worthwhile!

Contact Sarah K. Clark at sarah.clark@usu.edu.

Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies

Here's an interesting article - good "food for thought:

Gartner's 2010 Hype Cycle Special Report Evaluates Maturity of 1,800 Technologies

Hype Cycle Research Provides a Cross-Industry Perspective on Potentially Transformative Technologies
STAMFORD, Conn., October 7, 2010 — 

Media tablets, private cloud computing, and 3D flat-panel TVs and displays are some of the technologies that have moved into the Peak of Inflated Expectations, according to the 2010 Emerging Technologies Hype Cycle by Gartner, Inc.

Gartner has examined the maturity of 1,800 technologies and trends in 75 technology, topic, and industry areas. Each of the 75 individual Hype Cycle reports provides a snapshot of a key area of IT or business. Senior executives, CIOs, strategists, business developers and technology planners should consider these technologies when developing emerging business and technology portfolios. The "Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies" is the longest-running annual Hype Cycle, providing a cross-industry perspective on the technologies and trends that IT managers should consider in developing emerging-technology portfolios (see Figure 1).

"The Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies features technologies that are the focus of attention in the IT industry because of particularly high levels of hype, or those that may not be broadly acknowledged but which we believe have the potential for significant impact," said Jackie Fenn, vice president and Gartner Fellow.

"High-impact technologies at the Peak of Inflated Expectations during 2010 include private cloud computing, augmented reality, media tablets (such as the iPad), wireless power, 3D flat-panel TVs and displays, and activity streams, while cloud computing and cloud/Web platforms have tipped over the peak and will soon experience disillusionment among enterprise users," Ms. Fenn said.

Transformational technologies that will hit the mainstream in less than five years include media tablets, cloud computing and cloud/Web platforms. Longer term, beyond the five-year horizon, 3D printing, context delivery architectures, mobile robots, autonomous vehicles, terahertz waves and human augmentation will be transformational across a range of industries, according to Gartner.



Figure 1 Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies, 2010

Source: Gartner (August 2010)

Five Quick Tips for Using Streaming Media in Your Blended or Online Courses

Five Quick Tips for Using Streaming Media in Your Blended or Online Courses

Diana - you were right! This is what Faculty Focus says about adding transcriptions of videos etc. Now we just need to find an easy way to do so!

More about teaching

What makes a good online teacher? What a great question! How would you answer that question? Start by putting yourself in your students' shoes. Ask yourself questions such as the following:
If I was a student...
1. How would I want to stay connected to my instructor? Would I even want to stay connected?
2. What would i want from my classmates? Would I want to stay connected? Would I prefer to just go ahead and do my own thing?
3. Would I get tips on how to apply my learning to real life? Can I see applications to the workplace?
4. Would I know how and when to submit my assignments? Would I know how I am being evaluated?
5. Would I have some samples to follow before I submit my assignment?
6. Would I get a chance to practice my skills before being assessed?
7. Would I want to particpate in this class?
8. Would I feel like I was being "taught" this material, rather than "told"?
9. Would I feel excited, enthused, motivated and energized from this course?
10. Would I tell others that this course was an excellent learning experience?

Food for thought!

trial template for copyright application tracking

I tried creating a form for tracking copyright applications, using google forms. Here's the results:

Twitter and the classroom

Technology in the Classroom? Yikes!

View more presentations from jgerst1111.

Single Leg Squats with Chair

Single Leg Squats with Chair

Prezi as an alternative presentation method

Tired of dull powerpoints? Try Prezi - a new way of presenting information.
The home page is: www.prezi.com

Here's a demo:

Power of storytelling on Prezi

10 Tips on Using Tables in Your E-Learning Courses » The Rapid eLearning Blog

10 Tips on Using Tables in Your E-Learning Courses » The Rapid eLearning Blog

Here Are Ten Rules to Create Engaging Elearning » The Rapid eLearning Blog

Here Are Ten Rules to Create Engaging Elearning » The Rapid eLearning Blog

grading / 03 - Inside Higher Ed

Teacher's worst nightmare, or a dream come true?

grading / 03 - Inside Higher Ed

Motivation Theory

Here's from the On course News letter\\TITLE: Dan Pink on the Surprising Science of Motivation (18:23
minutes)

URL:

APPLICATION: Business Management or Speech Course

SUMMARY: Dan Pink, author of the book /Drive/, explains what social
scientists know about motivation that many business managers don't.
His thesis is that intrinsic motivators (e.g., autonomy, mastery,
and purpose) are more effective than extrinsic motivators (e.g.,
money) for employees who are charged with addressing complex
issues and problems. Pink offers evidence from studies showing that
such employees are more productive in an environment that employs
intrinsic motivators. Pink, a former political speech writer, is
an engaging presenter; thus, this video also makes a fine exemplar
for students in a speech class.

DIRECTIONS: In a business class, have students rate their agreement
(1 = low, 10 = high) with the following statement: "Businesses
that pay the highest salaries have the most highly motivated
employees." Have students line up by their rating, and have them
offer reasons for their position. Next, show the video. Have
students again rate their agreement with the statement above and
line up by their rating. Invite students who have changed their
number to explain why. As a follow up assignment, have students do
more research and write a position paper for business managers on
specific strategies for motivating employees who work with complex
issues and problems.

English humour

http://comics.com/grand_avenue/

Writing Rules

Here's some more on writing for online....
Source: http://alt-usage-english.org/humorousrules.html

Grammar

It is said that back in the 1940's, the following message was prominently displayed at the front of the main chemistry lecture hall at a major university:

"The English language is your most versatile scientific instrument. Learn to use it with precision."

In the intervening years, the teaching of proper grammar in the public elementary and high schools fell into disfavor. The inevitable result is that manuscripts submitted to us are often full of grammatical errors, which their authors probably do not even recognize (and often would not care about if they did).

We regard this state of affairs as deplorable, and we want to do something about it. For many years we have tried to correct the grammar of papers that we publish. This is toilsome at best, and sometimes entails rather substantial rephrasing. It would obviously be preferable to have authors use correct grammar in the first place. The problem is how to get them to do it.

One fairly effective way is to provide examples of what not to do; it is particularly helpful if the examples are humorous. We have recently seen several lists of grammatical examples of this type. A few weeks ago we found taped to a colleague's office door the most complete one we have seen. (He tells us it was passed out in a class of Darthmouth - not in English - at the time a term paper was assigned). We reproduce it here in the hope that it will have some effect.

1. Make sure each pronoun agrees with their antecedent.
2. Just between you and I, the case of pronoun is important.
3. Watch out for irregular verbs which have crope into English.
4. Verbs has to agree in number with their subjects.
5. Don't use no double negatives.
6. Being bad grammar, a writer should not use dangling modifiers.
7. Join clauses good like a conjunction should.
8. A writer must be not shift your point of view.
9. About sentence fragments.
10. Don't use run-on sentences you got to punctuate them.
11. In letters essays and reports use commas to separate items in series.
12. Don't use commas, which are not necessary.
13. Parenthetical words however should be enclosed in commas.
14. Its important to use apostrophes right in everybodys writing.
15. Don't abbrev.
16. Check to see if you any words out.
17. In the case of a report, check to see that jargonwise, it's A-OK.
18. As far as incomplete constructions, they are wrong.
19. About repetition, the repetition of a word might be real effective repetition - take, for instance the repetition of Abraham Lincoln.
20. In my opinion, I think that an author when he is writing should definitely not get into the habit of making use of too many unnecessary words that he does not really need in order to put his message across.
21. Use parallel construction not only to be concise but also clarify.
22. It behooves us all to avoid archaic expressions.
23. Mixed metaphors are a pain in the neck and ought to be weeded out.
24. Consult the dictionery to avoid mispelings.
25. To ignorantly split an infinitive is a practice to religiously avoid.
26. Last but not least, lay off cliches.

Flash is out

According to Steve Jobs:

Conclusions.

Flash was created during the PC era – for PCs and mice. Flash is a successful business for Adobe, and we can understand why they want to push it beyond PCs. But the mobile era is about low power devices, touch interfaces and open web standards – all areas where Flash falls short.

The avalanche of media outlets offering their content for Apple’s mobile devices demonstrates that Flash is no longer necessary to watch video or consume any kind of web content. And the 200,000 apps on Apple’s App Store proves that Flash isn’t necessary for tens of thousands of developers to create graphically rich applications, including games.

New open standards created in the mobile era, such as HTML5, will win on mobile devices (and PCs too). Perhaps Adobe should focus more on creating great HTML5 tools for the future, and less on criticizing Apple for leaving the past behind.

Steve Jobs
April, 2010

Writing for elearning

I am learning a great deal about writing for the web. Am I able to implement it- I'm not sure! Anyway, here's a few things I've learned this week:

1. Articulate is an awesome tool, but it can't do it all!
2. Writing should be concise and powerful. Avoid passive voice and wishy-washy comments such as:
I think you should check out this website because it might help you improve your learning strategies.

Weak, isn't it! Now read this:
Want to get better grades? Visit this link and improve your study strategies.
I know, I still need improvement, but heck, I'm trying!

I would love to learn more about writing for the online world.
Maybe that's what I should study next!

Web 2.0 Tools and Applications

I am experimenting with Google Knol, and have created a page. I uploaded a sample google document to see what a page would look like. I then tried embedding the link in this blog. Here's the results of my first time playing with this google tool. For now, I think it seems like a combination of a webpage and Wikipedia. When I get time, I'll experiment some more and report back.

Using Learning Logs

I just read an article from the "On Course" newsletter re: the use of learning logs to improve students' research skills. I have often used learning logs, and have made them mandatory parts of assignments in many courses, and I love them. They allow us (the student and instructor) to focus on the learning strategies rather than simply on the concept. In some courses I had students complete weekly learning logs in which they quickly jotted down the reading, writing or study strategy they tried that week. They then had to reflect on how successful the strategy was, how they could apply it in other situations, and how they might adapt the strategy or their application of the strategy in the future.

So, you might want to consider using Learning Logs as a way to encourage self-direction in your learners.
Food for thought!

Writing Good Multiple Choice Questions

Multiple choice questions, whether they be for a test or an in-class activity, can be deceiving difficult to write. You have probably already discovered that it sometimes difficult to strike a balance between creating descriptors that are too easy to answer, with ones that are too difficult to select the one correct response.

The following article from the eLearning Coach has some great, easy to read tips for making better multiple choice questions. Check it out!

The eLearning Coach website:
http://theeelearningcoach.com

Using pre and post surveys to assess attitudes

Want to find a way to encourage students to self-assess their learning in a course? I have often used a pre and post survey to do so. At the beginning of a module I give them a survey that is designed to help them discover the following:
a. what they already know about the content (thereby activating prior knowledge and giving them a link to their prior experiences)
b. a hint about what they are going to learn
c. a chance to think about how they feel about a topic

Toward the end of the module, I encourage them to return to the survey (or complete a similar one). Doing so helps me to:
a. remind them of what they have learned in the module
b. consider how their attitudes toward a topic might have changed due to having completed the content (or, consider why their attitudes did not change - which is just as important)
c. help them to re-focus on the most important concepts as they prepare to complete their final assessment activities
d. give me a sense of whether or not the students have "got it" - if they really have learned what I thought they learned - before I give them the quiz or final assignment.

I have found that these types of surveys can help students take ownership of what they learn.
As you prepare your next module, consider if a pre and post learning survey would work for your course.

If you chose to use a survey, there are many electronic options available. Here are just a few:
1. In Angel - you can use the polling or quiz feature if you are writing questions that have a ranking value. You might then want to add a discussion to allow students to share their reflections
2. Online polling options such as pollanywhere can work.
3. Create a checklist and post it in the course.
4. Find a web2.0 tool that will allow you to organize the content in a way that works for you. Check out the following site that lists hundreds of free tools
http://www.go2web20.net/

Food for thought!

Home - Lethbridge College

Home - Lethbridge College

Upcoming Deadlines

A reminder to everyone involved in course development projects...
First, for those of you who are working on the final revision stage of your course, we should aim to have your course reviewed and revised by mid April (at the latest)so that your course will ready for your spring semester students. We should meet soon to discuss the revisions needed.

Please note that I will be away during the first week of April. We should therefore try to meet next week so that we can begin the revisions before the end of March.

I'm looking forward to hearing from you soon!

What type of teacher are you?

What type of teacher are you? The Teaching Professor has a new book called "The Best of the Teaching Professor". Here's the quote from their newsletter.

"Are You a Sherpa, Coach or Master Chef?
What’s your favorite metaphor for yourself as a teacher? Whether you think of yourself as a gardener, builder, bricklayer, musician, coach, fisherman, master chef, ringmaster, Sherpa guide or something else, I think you’re going to want a copy of The Best of The Teaching Professor for your personal library."


A great way to start the day - what type of teacher are you? What represents who you are as a professional? What metaphor will best represent you to others and to yourself? For those of us who are most likely facing "The last 5 years" (another great article from the Teaching Professor), this topic can provide a good starting point for setting goals to revitalize the latter part of our full-time career.

So, today, take a moment to reflect - what metaphor best reflects your professional self?

And, have fun doing so. Consider it a reward to yourself for your dedication to your career in post-secondary education.

Good luck!

A last thought from the Olympics

Subject: FW: A 'thank you' from Brian Williams NBC Anchorman

A little something to bring a tear to your eye, and be just a little prouder of your country

LEAVING BEHIND A THANK-YOU NOTE
Here's a little something forwarded by some friends...Food for thought!
(from Brian Williams, NBC anchor and managing editor)

After tonight's broadcast and after looting our hotel mini-bars, we're going to try to brave the blizzard and fly east to home and hearth, and to do laundry well into next week.

Before we leave this thoroughly polite country, the polite thing to do is leave behind a thank-you note.
Thank you, Canada:
For being such good hosts.
For your unfailing courtesy.
For your (mostly) beautiful weather.
For scheduling no more than 60 percent of your float plane departures at the exact moment when I was trying to say something on television.
For not seeming to mind the occasional (or constant) good-natured mimicry of your accents.
For your unique TV commercials -- for companies like Tim Hortons -- which made us laugh and cry.
For securing this massive event without choking security, and without publicly displaying a single automatic weapon.
For having the best garment design and logo-wear of the games -- you've made wearing your name a cool thing to do.
For the sportsmanship we saw most of your athletes display.
For not honking your horns. I didn't hear one car horn in 15 days -- which also means none of my fellow New Yorkers rented cars while visiting.
For making us aware of how many of you have been watching NBC all these years.

For having the good taste to have an anchorman named Brian Williams on your CTV network, who turns out to be such a nice guy.
For the body scans at the airport which make pat-downs and cavity searches unnecessary.

For designing those really cool LED Olympic rings in the harbor, which turned to gold when your athletes won one.
For always saying nice things about the United States...when you know we're listening.

For sharing Joannie Rochette with us.

For reminding some of us we used to be a more civil society.
Mostly, for welcoming the world with such ease and making lasting friends with all of us.

Textbook rentals / online texts cut costs

Here's an interesting article on cutting textbook costs for students by using rentals and online texts.

Meter's running on that tome -- Page 1 -- Times Union - Albany NY

The new iPad

I can hardly wait to get my hands on an iPad. I think it will be a perfect tool for me - it will be easy to handle, easy to access, easy to carry; well, you get the point.
A downside - no camera. Apparently a webcam will be included in the next version.