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.