Group items tagged

"Last week, I had my first peer-to-peer teacher observation as a new assistant professor. After teaching at the college level for 10 years, I felt my teaching and pedagogy were sound, so I wasn't too concerned about being observed by a colleague. In a debriefing after the observed session, my colleague noted that the class seemed to be "teacher-centered." This was not offered as a critique, but simply as a statement. The statement, however, surprised me. I had always seen myself as a "student-centered" type of teacher. Since I teach composition, which is typically a student-centered discipline, I was confused. I wondered if we'd been in the same classroom and witnessed the same interactions or if we were using the same definitions of those often-used terms."

"Students in both asynchronous and synchronous settings performed well. However, students taught using asynchronous videotaped lectures had lower satisfaction with the method of content delivery, and preferred live interactive sessions or a mix of interactive sessions and asynchronous videos over delivery of content using the synchronous or asynchronous method alone."

This study examined the impact of Web-Based Learning Tools (WBLTs), also known as learning objects, in middle school mathematics and science classrooms. Survey, qualitative, and student performance data were collected from a sample of 18 teachers and 443 students. Teachers were very positive about the learning benefits, design of WBLTs, and increased engagement of their students. Students were moderately positive about these same features. Student learning performance with respect to remembering, understanding, applying and evaluating concepts increased significantly when WBLTs were used. Qualitative data suggested that a number of students enjoyed the visual supports, ease of use, and interactivity of WBLTs as well using technology to learn. Some students noted that the WBLTs used in class were not challenging enough and that the help features and the design of certain WBLTs were deficient. Overall, it is reasonable to conclude that WBLTs, if selected carefully, can be a positive and effective learning tool in a middle school environment. Reprinted by permission of the publisher.

Interactive planetarium (Virtual)

A model for teaching technolgy based, interactive, research methods.

This paper reports on research from 913 professors from community colleges, four-year colleges, and university centers in an attempt to determine potential barriers to the continued growth in adoption of online teaching in higher education. Four variables are significantly associated with faculty satisfaction and adoption or continuation of online teaching - levels of interaction in their online course, technical support, a positive learning experience in developing and teaching the course, and the discipline area in which they taught. Recommendations for institutional policy, faculty development, and further research are included.

comprehensive book on developing literacy and providing intervention in the early grades

comprehensive resource for developing literacy and providing intervention in the early grades

classroom interaction can lead to retention

this article discusses teaching presence very similarly to the course materials provided by Alex, but highlighted for me, the importance of capturing the non-verbal and paralinguistic aspects of classroom interaction and feedback that are missing online.

An Interactive Game Introducing you to the field of Public Health!!

I LOVE this! I wish I knew about this sooner! I also love the presentation tool! Thanks Ben!

This is really great, I could have used this all along. Not something I will need for my Spanish class (at this moment) but can't wait to link it to my friends who are English teachers.

Describes anchored discussion. Compares regular discussion with anchored discussion.

Anchored discussion is a form of collaborative literature processing. It "starts from the notion of collaborative discussion that is contextualized or anchored within a specific content" (van der Pol, Admiraal & Simons, 2006). In this course, the discussions we participate in are based on prompts that address ideas included in each of the required resources for each module. However, an anchored discussion is a discussion that is focused on one piece of literature. As students read and digest the material, discussions about the meaning of that material occur within a window where the material is present. It is like having an asynchronous chat window open next to a research article. (van der Pol et al., 2006) As I started learning about anchored discussions, I saw many connections to shared annotation such as what we use Diigo for. Van der Pol et al. (2006) state that "shared annotation might leave more room for individual processes, but is shown to have some limitations in supporting interactivity". Anchored discussions take shared annotation a step further in that it requires conversation (as opposed to individual notes) regarding a resource. The collaborative piece of anchored discussions really got my attention in that it provides greater opportunity for the development of teaching presence by both students and the instructor. The opportunity to facilitate a discussion within the context of a required reading is an exciting idea for me. The use of anchored discussion allows for all three facets of teaching presence: instructional design and organization, facilitating discourse, and direct instruction (Shea, Pickett, & Pelz, 2003). I am wondering if there is a way to use Diigo in creating anchored discussions.

Change up activities for a lecture