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Joan McCabe

Social Networking - Create Online Identity - 0 views

  • Online Profile Tips for Students Managing Online Identity is a key digital literacy, and an important thing to discuss with students when using online tools for learning and teaching. Additional to the tips above, it's worth considering the following when discussing online profiles with your students - particularly if you are working with young people who are under 18 years old: Using Real Names: In general, younger students should be taught to protect their privacy online by avoiding publication of their full name and other personal details. Using first names and/or aliases can be a good way of managing this. Ensure that you discuss privacy and the implications of publishing personal details online with your students.Choose appropriate profile pictures: Younger students should be encouraged not to publish identifying images online. Rather, they can be engaged in a range of activities to create representational avatars and profile images.Students should only share only information that is safe for the Internet. Establish a classroom policy that teaches students to avoid publishing a specific addresses or names that a reader might use to locate them.Ensure students understand how to respect the privacy of others by obtaining permission before publishing images of and information about their friends or family.Discuss the issues around internet safety and ensure students do not provide personal details to others online. There are lots of Internet Safety resources available - check out our Social Networking Safety for further information . Consider holding a class discussion or online activity to assist students in understanding the issues around publishing personal details online and online profiles. Creating Codes of Conduct or Rules of Engagement with your students can be an effective way of establishing appropriate classroom policies which provide them with a clear framework.
  • 3. Etiquette - Using Your Online Manners!


    Online Etiquette is important whenever you are sharing comments, information or feedback online, and of course this applies to social networking sites as well. Practicing good manners and respect when communicating and collaborating with others online will also enhance your online identity, demonstrating digital literacy skills and strong online communication skills.

    Consider the following etiquette tips when using social networking sites:

    • Introduce yourself when offering friendship: If you are using social networking sites for professional or personal networking, making 'friends' with other users can be an effective way of extending your connections. However, don't offer friendship without also offering an introduction and some information about you and why you are following. For example, if connecting to another educator who you know via their work online, but not personally you could try an introduction like 'Hi, I'm a regular reader of your blog, and have enjoyed your work. I teach in a similar field and would appreciate being able to connect with you in the future'. Include links to your personal identity online - eg. your blog, wiki or preferred online profile page so that person receiving the friendship request can identify you.
    • Respond to 'friendship' or 'connect' requests: Ensure you respond to request from others for friendship. If you choose not to make friends, offer an alternative or reason. Eg. "Thanks for your friendship request but I only use facebook to connect to my family members. Feel free to connect with me via my blog, or you can follow me on [insert your preferred social networking tool here]."
    • Don't abuse group or games invites: It's fine to invite your friends to join in on a group or online game via social networks. However - one is enough! Don't send repetitive requests or invites as they are annoying to other users and can be considered spam.
    • Respect the privacy of others: Respect the privacy of others. If your friend is using an alias online, don't share their real identity or post content which could 'out' them. Remember that all users of social networking sites make different decisions about how they manage their privacy online.
    • Use good tags: Apply tags to text, images and video appropriately. Tagging other people in unflattering pictures can create lots of tension with friends or family members, so remember to consider the implications when tagging content which is associated with or depicts others. If someone requests to be untagged in an image or page, ensure you act swiftly and respect their wishes.
    • Leave good comments: One of the best ways to connect with others via social networking sites is to make comments. Ensure your comments are clear, respectful and well written. Don't use inappropriate, sexist, racist or foul language. Provide constructive criticism when appropriate and respect the opinions of others. Robust debate is wonderful - abusive tirades are not! When leaving comments on blogs or fan pages, ensure to check for 'rules of engagement' or site policies about commenting.
    • Private conversations should stay private: Don't republish a private conversation or exchange (via email, instant messaging or other private communication channels) without permission.
    • Share appropriately: Don't share any information online (including text, images, audio and video) that you wouldn't be happy to share with distant relatives, friends, work colleagues and your immediate family. A good rule of thumb - if it's ok to say it to your Grandma and your Boss, it's ok to share it online!
    • Connect and Engage: Don't use social networks as a one-way announcement tool. Remember to engage with your 'friends' and follow-up on comments and feedback.
    • Balance Personal Vs. Private: If you are using social networking sites for professional purposes, make sure you balance your personal comments, images and messages with useful professional information. Consider your audience and share information that is useful to your networks.

    Watch this humorous take on social networking etiquette. Although it focuses on Facebook, many of the points it raises are relevant to all social networking sites.

    Consider how you will address social networking etiquette in your learning communities. What strategies will you put in place to ensure students understand the 'rules of engagement' on social networking sites.
  •  
    Helpful tips on creating an online identity for students and in the work field. Also tips on netiquette.
sherrilattimer

Depth of Knowledge in the 21st Century - 0 views

  • Depth of knowledge offers some advantages over Bloom’s Taxonomy for planning lessons and choosing instructional techniques. By increasing the DOK levels of activities, teachers can teach students to adapt to challenges, work cooperatively and solve problems on their own.Whereas Level 1 of DOK prompts students to recall or reproduce, Levels 3 and 4 require students to work without the constant supervision of teachers. Usually students work on higher DOK activities in groups, communicating with one another to solve challenging problems and freely offering their own ideas.
  • The teacher’s role at higher DOK levels is therefore to facilitate, not simply dispense the acquisition of knowledge.
  • Working on creating activities in such peer groups enables teachers to learn and articulate while planning for lessons that promote high expectations and cognitively challenging curriculum. In addition, administrators need to provide ongoing support for their teachers in order to empower teachers to succeed in this endeavor.Administrative leadership must mentor and assist teachers in providing the enthusiasm and motivation to continuously teach lessons that promote high student expectations and cognitively challenging lessons.
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  • The students in one classroom are prompted to recall facts and procedures while the students in the other classroom are encouraged to apply their learned knowledge to solve complex problems featuring real-world relevance.
  • Through his work with the business community, he has learned that there is no shortage of employees that are technically proficient, but too few employees that can adequately communicate and collaborate, innovate and think critically. So, rather than simply equating 21st century skills with technical prowess, educators need to expand their understanding of such skills to increasingly emphasize preparing students to think on their feet, communicate effectively and value the ideas of others.
  • The depth-of-knowledge levels of Norman Webb’s depthof-knowledge (DOK) levels constitute a system that addresses how to teach these skills. Depth of knowledge is a scale of cognitive demand that reflects the complexity of activities that teachers ask students to perform. DOK-1. Recall — Recall or recognition of a fact, information, concept, or procedure DOK-2. Basic Application of Skill/Concept — Use of information, conceptual knowledge, follow or select appropriate procedures, two or more steps with decision points along the way, routine problems, organize/ display data DOK-3. Strategic Thinking — Requires reasoning, developing a plan or sequence of steps to approach problem; requires some decision making and justification; abstract and complex; often more than one possible answer DOK-4. Extended Thinking — An investigation or application to real world; requires time to research, think, and process multiple conditions of the problem or task; non-routine manipulations, across disciplines/content areas/multiple sources Level 1 of DOK is the lowest level and requires students to recall or perform a simple process.As DOK increases toward the highest (fourth) level, the complexity of the activity moves from simple recall problems to increasingly difficult and teacher independent problem-solving classroom activities, as well as real-world applications.As students are prompted to work within the realms of higher DOK levels, they will learn to independently employ higher-level thinking skills.
  •  
    Webb's Depth of Knowledge
Michael Lucatorto

Unshielded Colliders: Poverty and Education - 0 views

  • For example, Mel Riddile points out that when one conditions on various measures of poverty, instead of trailing other nations, the U.S. actually comes out on top! He concludes that "when it comes to school improvement, it's poverty not stupid." Poverty causes educational deficiency.
  • or example, Mel Riddile points out that when one conditions on various measures of poverty, instead of trailing other nations, the U.S. actually comes out on top! He concludes that "when it comes to school improvement, it's poverty not stupid." Poverty causes educational deficienc
  •  
    For example, Mel Riddile points out that when one conditions on various measures of poverty, instead of trailing other nations, the U.S. actually comes out on top! He concludes that "when it comes to school improvement, it's poverty not stupid." Poverty causes educational deficiency. Now, I like to actually have data to play around with, in part because people have been known to lie about politically charged issues and in part because I like to have nice graphs (which are not provided by Riddile). Anyway, it turns out that international poverty data is pretty hard to come by and fraught with interpretational difficulties. On the other hand, the National Assessment of Educational Progress provides test data for most of the states in the U.S., and the U.S. Census Bureau provides data on the percentage of people in poverty by state. I took the NAEP data for 8th grade science achievement and regressed on the percentage of people below the poverty line for the measured states. The two are negatively associated: as poverty increases, science achievement scores decrease according to the relationship in the plot below. (Alaska, Kansas, Nebraska, and Vermont did not meet NAEP reporting guidelines and are not included in the plot above.) The association is highly significant (p=9.98*10-6). I also took pilot NAEP data for 8th grade mathematics achievement and regressed on the percentage of people below the poverty line for the measured states. (Evidently, the NAEP has only just started testing for mathematics achievement, and only eleven states were included in their pilot.) Again, the two are negatively associated. The slope of the relation turns out to be almost exactly the same as for science achievement. The association is not as significant, but it is still significant (p=0.0186). (My guess is the association is less significant in this case because fewer states were measured.) Clearly there is an association between poverty and achievement in science and mathem
ian august

Review of Weimer, Learning-Centered Teaching - 0 views

  • Chapter two examines the effects of too much teacher control and its adverse effects on student motivation, confidence, and enthusiasm for learning. Students are more likely to become self-regulated learners when some of the conditions of their learning are more in their control. Weimer does not advocate abandoning our professional responsibility and letting students determine course content or whether they will do assignments; instead she recommends that teachers establish parameters within which their students will select options. Increasing the decisions students can make about assignments and activities more fully engages them in the course and its content. Among Weimer’s suggestions are providing a variety of assignments to demonstrate learning the course outcomes (students choose a combination), negotiating policies about class participation, and letting students choose which material the teacher will review in class the period before a major test. 
  • . The function of content in a learner-centered course changes from covering content to using content
  • describes the changed role of the teacher in a learner-centered classroom from sage on stage to guide on the side
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  • When the teacher dominates the learning, students take shallow approaches to learning.
  • 1.  Teachers do learning tasks less. Assign to students some of the tasks of organizing the content, giving examples, summarizing discussions, solving problems, and drawing diagrams, charts, and graphs.            2.  Teachers do less telling; students do more discovering. Give a quiz on your syllabus and policies without going over it first. Let students discover information in assigned readings without presenting it first or summarizing it later.  3.  Teachers do more design work. Design activities and assignments that move students to new skill levels, motivate engagement in the course content by doing the work of practitioners in the discipline, and that develop self-awareness of their learning of the content. 4.   Faculty do more modeling. Demonstrate how a skilled learner (the teacher) continues to learn. Show them drafts of your articles, notes on your own reading in professional journals; talk aloud as you solve a problem, thereby revealing  and modeling your thinking process. 5.  Faculty do more to get students learning from and with each other. Create work for small groups to do in class. 6.  Faculty work to create climates for learning. Create a climate that promotes interaction, autonomy, and responsibility (more in chapter five). 7.  Faculty do more with feedback. In addition to assigning grades, use other means of providing frequent feedback (more in chapter six).
  • focuses on student responsibility for learning and how to promote it.
  • transforming passive students into autonomous learners
  • The more structured we make the environment, the more structure students need
  • The more motivation we provide, the less they find within themselves. The more responsibility for learning we try to assume, the less they accept on their own. The more control we exert, the more restive their response. We end up with students who have little commitment to and almost no respect for learning and who cannot function without structure and imposed control. (p. 98)
  • The more we decide for students, the more they expect us to decide.
  • eimer explains several strategies for creating a climate that produces self-regulated intrinsically motivated learners: 
  • The instructor should “make the content relevant, demonstrate its power to answer questions, and otherwise show its apparent intrigue.” Make the student responsible for learning decisions by relying on logical consequences of action and inaction, rather than punishment. For example, to deal with lateness, present important material or assignments early in the period that you do not repeat, rather than deduct attendance points for lateness. Do not summarize chapters if students have not read them. If they arrive unprepared, put the unread material on a test; give frequent tests. Be consistent in administering policies. If your syllabus says late homework is not accepted, never accept late homework despite the heart-wrenching excuse offered by the student. Involve students in a discussion of creating a climate that promotes learning. Have this discussion early in the semester. Weimer’s suggestion for starting the discussion is to have students complete sentence stems such as “In the best class I ever had, teachers . . .” “In the best class I ever had, students . . .” “I learn best when . . .” “I feel most confident as a learner when . . .” (p. 108) Obtain feedback on the classroom climate occasionally and revisit the discussion of policies and procedures. Employ practices that “encourage students to encounter themselves as learners” (p. 111). Explain the purposes and benefits of assignments and projects; tell students what problems they might run into in doing the assignments and suggest remedies. Help them with time management. With group projects, provide guidance in managing the project, handling group dynamics, and assigning individual responsibilities.
  • helps us deal with the fact that almost all students will resist their teacher’s learning-centered approaches. Most of the learner-centered strategies recommended in this book change what students have become accustomed to. Understanding the reasons will help teachers deal with the inevitable student resistance when they present learner-centered practices and policies that withdraw the support students have become dependent upon during their first twelve years of schooling. The good news is that most students see the benefits of learner-centered approaches and benefit from them.
  • , why do students resist it? Based on her research, Weimer lists four reasons: Learner-centered approaches are more work. When the teacher does not summarize the important points in the chapter, the students will have to read it for themselves. When the teacher asks small groups to produce five applications of a concept, rather than supply it in a handout, the students have to do more work. Learner-centered approaches are more threatening. Students who lack confidence in themselves as learners become filled with anxiety at the prospect of becoming responsible for decisions that might be wrong. Students who are not used to questions with no single, authority-approved right answer are fearful of being wrong. Learner-centered approaches involve losses. The strategies recommended in this book are designed to move students to higher stages of self-directedness and higher stages of intellectual development. Moving from one stage to another requires a loss of certainty and the comfort that certainty brings. Learner-centered approaches may be beyond students. Some students’ lack of self-confidence or intellectual immaturity may prevent their accepting responsibility for their own learning.
  • overcome student resistance to learner-centered approache
  • The communication is frequent and explicit The communication encourages and positively reinforces The communication solicits feedback from students The communication resists their resistance.
  • developmental approach to transforming passive dependent learners into self-confident autonomous learners. Learners become self-directed in stages, not in one sin
  • moment of transformatio
alexandra m. pickett

Online Course Design - 0 views

    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      Joy! thank you for making your learning visible to me! I am awed and inspired by the depth of your insights!
  • So establishing teaching presence is what all the designers, Alex, and even I, am doing when we make decisions about the content of the course, the types of activities we want to include, the tools we would like to use, how we want to assess, how we provide channels for providing and managing feedback, how we want to induct students into the course, how we want to wrap up the course….Basically – everything!
  • From planning, to execution, to assessment, to revision. So this is why developing a course is an “iterative process”.
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    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      eureka!!! brilliant!!!
  • And nothing happens by chance. Everything happens by deliberate design. And I am seeing how this is happening.
  • People are important, so… (make decisions, plan activities, evaluate, discard, adapt, iterate, etc.) Thinking is important, so ….(make decisions, plan activities, evaluate, discard, adapt, iterate, etc.) Learning is important, so….. Content knowledge is important, so… Skills are important, so…
  • From this, I have learnt that it is perfectly fine to change your mind, as long as you have solid justification. This was also a useful reminder abot the importance of accurately matching the number of objectives with activities. A designer needs to avoid creating an objective that has no activity, and an activity with no objective, as can sometimes happen through oversight.
  • “You need to rethink lots of things, to be open to possibilities, opportunities to options, then you’re more likely to be successful,” says Alex. This kind of openness does not happen as a matter of course. It has to begin with an awareness. This attitude of being open to possibilities, opportunities and options has to be actively worked upon. I failed to understand this at first. So I found it perplexing that Alex would pursue what I thought was a trivial line of discussion. What do you think is not possible to teach and learn online? I volunteered several bright contributions. I was still unaware of the purpose of this apparently innocuous discussion. Of course now I know better. That discussion was supposed to challenge a closed mind. Because with a closed mind, we render ourselves unable to be open to possibilities, opportunities to options. A closed mind works against innovation, progress, improvement, expansion. This is a new frontier, and therefore the stance which can reap untold benefits and leanings should be “Let’s explore!” So the question we should be asking isn’t “What cannot be done?” but rather “How do I make this possible?”
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      thank you for this observation, joy! thank you for taking the bait and giving us all the opportunity to question our assumptions and to arrive at creativity, innovation and possibilities!! : )
  • I need to be open to possibilities, opportunities, to options. I must put aside my prejudices and temporarily suspend “logical thinking” in favor of creative thinking.
  • But we should never give up on the unwilling ones.
  • The best way to spark change is to let them attend an effective online course.
  • I am beginning to see how “developing a course is a transformative experience”.
  • I don’t think I can return to the classroom and teach anything the same way before.
  • Designing an online course has been, for me, a truly transformative experience. It has allowed me not only to reexamine, reformulate and reassess, but to also move forward to innovate and in some ways, to reinvent myself as a teacher.
  • I was therefore quite relieved Alex confirmed what I had feared. I was packing in too much. Even before even before Alex provided her completely justified feedback that my course was too packed (“for you Joy, less is more!”)
  • An online environment is different from a f2f setting. Being able to state it in a theoretical way is not the same as understanding it and translating it into practice. Of course I knew the theory. But when the time came for application in the design of the online course, my knowledge did not transfer well into practical application. This is one of the main problems when there is a failure of the student to  successfully transfer learning, which is basically one of great challenges of teaching.  So basically, what I did initially did was to replicate my f2f activities directly into my online classroom.
  • As I feared, and Alex confirmed, this large amount of group work puts a strain on the students and also poses too many logistic difficulties. Perhaps one or two group work activities might work, but not several in each module. It is unrealistic. So I have learnt, in a very concrete and hands-on way, that designing for my online classroom in this instance is different from designing for my face-to face classroom.
  • Once again, I am reminded that theory and practice need mutual reinforcement. Understanding the theory is one thing. Transferring the theoretical knowledge into action requires experience, reflection, and feedback from others.
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      thank you for making your thinking and learning visible to me!
  • Having experienced a wonderful sense of community, and seeing how it is done, I do feel that I have a fair idea of the basic ingredients that go into creating a sense of community. However, Alex has set a high, high standard, and I don’t know I have the energy to sustain the community building effort, even if I knew how to do it!
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      i have great expectations of you joy! i know you can do it : )
  • this is a process
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      Yes!!! the value to me and to the others in the class is to be able to watch your process. we see how you think and refine and how your ideas change and evolve and that adds to our understanding of you and our own learning.
  • My present ideas never look like version 1! The result is that the ideas I handed up in the proposed learning activities resemble very little of what I actually have now
    • Joan Erickson
       
      Oh Joy, I can relate! By the time Alex reads my submitted writing assignment, my actual course design has already morphed a few times. I've visited your course, it looks great! the activities you set up indicatethat you have high expectations for the participants!
  • Confucius
    • Joan Erickson
       
      wow, Confucious said that? I didn't even know, and I'm Chinese!
  • In short – let the students do the work. This is the best way to learn. This principle, I think, has been demonstrated in this course. And I intend to pursue it in my own course. I see the value of giving the students both structure and space.
  • One of the insights has to do with letting go as a teacher.
  • Reading Sue’s
  • I agree with Sue.
alexandra m. pickett

The Digital Citizen - My Sojourn in the World of Web 2.0 by Irene Watts-Politza - 3 views

  • “You are interacting with one single individual at all times.  There is no ‘class’ …”
    • Lisa Martin
       
      Thinking about this really helped me redesign my course profile :-)
  • “Design a course with the student perspective, one who has never taken an online course before” (Pickett, What Works?).
    • Lisa Martin
       
      Great advice! I have a hard time sometimes with this, because there's part of me that also wants to design it for someone who not only hasn't taken an online course, but perhaps isn't very tech savvy :-)
  • I must find a balance, however, in order to complete the necessary tasks well so I can savor the doing of those that have salience.
    • Lisa Martin
       
      I need to find balance myself. I think the only reason the way I'm doing things right now is ok is because I live alone. I will eventually have a family, and I want to be an online instructor...I will certainly need to figure this out!
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  • I realized that the online environment is actually a type of classroom; is that why course language includes such terms as “area”, and “room”?
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      e u r e k a ! ! !
  • The resulting ah ha moments became the core of my entry …
  • One activity that I am especially excited to observe is the students tweeting from their placements when they make a course- to- practice connection.
    • Lisa Martin
       
      great idea!
    • Maria Guadron
       
      AWESOME idea! Love it.
  • How am I simultaneously learning how to be an online student and instructor?
    • Lisa Martin
       
      Great way to think about it
  • Something that has been proven to work is frequent, immediate instructor feedback.
    • Lisa Martin
       
      This is a HUGE difference I notice between Alex and other instructors. She has definitely built her social presence with me this way. Her podcast on my learning activities was an eye opener for me. It made me feel so good that she had ACTUALLY looked at my work! I have often wondered if other teachers REALLY did that.
  • Aug 04 2012
  • Reflecting on the online course design process, I realize I have made a tremendous transition from first-time student to instructor in the space of one semester. What I have learned about myself is that I have an affinity for designing in the online environment. 
  • I am technology-proficient.
  • While I am not yet a full technophile, I am surely no longer a technophobe!
  •   I so deeply enjoyed the reading and studying portion of this course … it opened a new world of theory to me, made more exciting by the historic proximity of the leading researchers in the field. 
  • I kept telling myself, “You need the experience if you want to be an instructional designer!”
  • So, reflection has proven its worth yet again:  reflecting on my work in designing EED406 thus far is proof that research-based best practice works.
  • discussion is the heart of online learning. 
  • students’ learning is demonstrated through the vehicle of discussion.  
  • blog posts are personalized records of learning, thinking, and being. 
  • It is not about what the instructor wants to hear, it is about hearing the student’s articulation of what is being learned that is essential to evaluating the content of a blog post.
  • Through trying to be “fearless” about using technology, as Alex advises, I have come to learn that confidence is something that one must exercise in all spheres of the online environment.
  • we can not help but to teach when we learn and to learn when we teach.
  • “As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend.” This is certainly true of discussion forum.  We learn with and for each other: as  you learn, I learn. 
  • (Think Twitter, Irene!) 
  • It causes me to reflect on the similarities between online and physical communities, something I had not thought of before.  Could it be that we really are, slowly and steadily, growing into a genuine community?
  • I am a student whose understanding of connectivism and heutagogy is being developed experientially through taking this course.
  • Teaching presence also involves anticipating students’ needs based on monitoring progress and being ready to find that perfect something to support the student’s learning.
  • I have spent my academic life I believing that I have to ‘go it alone’, since I walked home from school alone the first day of first grade.  Strangely, this course, in which I spend so much time alone, is teaching me that I don’t. 
  • complaints, above, I think about the layout of the course; if it’s too many clicks away or the explanations aren’t clear, students become anxious, lose interest, and possibly
  • I just finished what may be my last discussion post for ETAP640. As I went through the post process, I was cognizant of each step: read your classmates’ posts; respond to something that resonates within you; teach (us) something by locating and sharing resources that support your thinking;  include the thinking and experiences of classmates; offer your opinion on what you are sharing; cite your resources for the benefit of all; tag your resources logically.
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      hi irene!
  •  
    Student Reflections @wattspoi on "Heutagogy & its Implications for Evaluative Feedback" http://t.co/xiuWsCsD #lrnchat #edchat
lkryder

There's a Badge For That | Tech Learning - 0 views

  • digital badges have become an important way to demonstrate a shared understanding of accomplished outcomes.
  • 3.–Create a badge. It is important to remember that digital badges are a way to visually represent quality and valuable learning. You can begin your badge creation with the following series of questions: * Have you explored existing badges? Is there someone who has already done the work you are trying to do so that you could simply adapt and become part of a community rather than reinventing the wheel? * What are you assessing? Will your digital badges align with particular standards and competencies? If so, this should be specifically addressed so learners know their learning objectives. This could also help make the badge more meaningful to the learner. * How will you earn the badge? What are the criteria, artifacts, or work samples that will be produced in order to earn the badge? * What are the specific steps learners would take as they create their work? How long do you anticipate that it will take for someone to complete the badge? * How will you assess the work? Will you design and implement rubrics? * Will this be a series of badges? If so, how do the badges build upon one another? Is there a particular order in which the badges should be earned?
  • teachers should begin considering how they could become producers of badges. One goal of this work is for teachers to consider how they could translate content and skills to badges as alternative forms of assessment for students.
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    A good introductory overview to badges and how to use them - note the instructional suggestions and links to resources
lkryder

Adaptive Learning System - The Role of Adaptive Learning in Math - 0 views

  • Pedagogically and research-based intelligent adaptive learning technology accesses and stays in the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) for each learner. That means it provides the right next lesson at the right level of difficulty at the right time. When work is easy, learners can do the work on their own without any help. It’s in their "comfort zone." If all the work a learner is asked to do is always in the comfort zone, no real learning will take place and the learner will eventually lose interest. Conversely, when the work is too hard, the learner becomes frustrated and will likely give up. The area between the comfort zone and the frustration zone is the one where true learning will take place – the optimal learning zone. It’s the area where a learner will need some help or will need to work hard to understand a concept or complete a task. By keeping the challenge appropriate, the learner is guided to be a mathematical ‘doer’ — someone who thinks and strategizes in ways they can apply in school and in their real life experience. This is optimal teaching and optimal learning.
    • lkryder
       
      This has been my thinking all along on the gamefying and my weekly really hard quizzes. Now I hope to build on it.
  •  
    This is a page offering a product BUT what I found fascinating was their use of ZPD as the learning opportunity in adaptive technologies. I recall as a child having programmed learning guides that I loved and I did them for hours ( I recall they were about logic and problem solving- very cool). They were printed in a book. Now that kind of thing is frowned upon as low on Bloom but all the publishers are creating these adaptive supplements and students love them.
  •  
    This is a page offering a product BUT what I found fascinating was their use of ZPD as the learning opportunity in adaptive technologies. I recall as a child having programmed learning guides that I loved and I did them for hours ( I recall they were about logic and problem solving- very cool). They were printed in a book. Now that kind of thing is frowned upon as low on Bloom but all the publishers are creating these adaptive supplements and students love them.
efleonhardt

Why we need group work in Online Learning | online learning insights - 1 views

  • collaboration is about open, learning, relationships, sharing and innovation.
  • Learning from and through peers is a dimension of learning both in the class and online that is often negated. In previous posts, I’ve also discussed the need for social presence as one of three dimensions of the community of inquiry model, which is foundational to successful group work. Students’ ability to express themselves confidently online is necessary for effective team learning.
  • For e-learning and online educators, incorporating group work into courses is a non-negotiable, given the demands and needs for collaboration and [online] communication skills.
  •  
    The necessity for group work in online courses
Joan Erickson

Grade Inflation Article - Teaching Resources - Center for Excellence in Teaching and Le... - 0 views

  • definition is that grade patterns change so that the overwhelming majority of students in a class, college, or university receive higher grades for the same quantity and quality of work done by students in the past
  • corollary to this definition is the same GPA obtained by students with poorer academic skill
  • less well known version of grade inflation is "content deflation" where students receive the same grades as students in the past but with less work required and less learning
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  • Poor grades exposed male students to the military draft
  • colleges and universities mandate frequent student evaluations of faculty
  • These same evaluations play an increasingly important role in tenure and promotion decisions
  • Factors such as student effort, student persistence, student improvement, and class attendance count in favor of the students who possess these desirable characteristics
  • faculty member who believes that grades are a vehicle to please students rather than to recognize and reward performance will tend to give higher grades
  • Similarly a professor less willing to distinguish superior work from good or average work will tend to impart an upward bias to grades
  • large number of non-traditional students, and a large number of working students all tempt professors to lower their expectations by reducing the number of textbooks
  • current trend for classroom assessment by external authorities as an attempt to obtain again meaningful feedback on the quality of student performance.
  • use of just five categories of grades (A-F) has, in the minds of some, contributed to overall grade inflation
  •  
    insightful explanation the reasons why grades are inflated
Jessica Backus-Foster

5. Increasing Time on Task: 7 Principles Collection of TLT Ideas - 0 views

  • helping communicate to students how much time and energy you and your institution expect them to invest in their work
  • the ability to store work and work-in-process on the school's network
  • ability to send file attachments with email has made it easy for students to send me a draft of their work for feedback at any time.
  • ...15 more annotations...
  • With randomly generated homework problems, immediate feedback, and the opportunity to try again, students view the homework almost like a game with the challenge of getting all the problems correct. As a result, they seem to spend more time than with paper and pencil homework.
  • availability of many research materials on-line and through electronic databases to which libraries subscribe should enable students to access what they need from their homes or their dorms at time which are convenient to them
  • “capturing students’ beer time
  • streaming video versions of all lectures
  • our approach to students is to encourage students to do what works for them (but to be sure to do it!)
  • Access to the Internet has changed research possibilities. Students have access to much more information faster than in the past.
  • Hot links to articles and other readings
  • E-mail messages are quickly replacing the live visit to professors and probably encouraging more students to talk to professors since it is less scary to them to write rather than face professors face to face.
  • Searching for journal articles using electronic bibliographic databases has been a major time saver for students
  • electronic reserves at the library
  • Use of the Calendar in WebCT to promote planning by students. Can also use the Calendar to highlight particular content or web resources to be ready for in-class discussion. Remind students in different media such as in-class and on-line about the expected completion dates for projects. (Virginia Arp, Gannon University)
  • "2 hours outside to 1 hour in class
  • Some may be spending more time because they’re unfamiliar with the medium. Some may be spending more time because instructions for assignments are not well-written for online use Some may be spending more time because they want to: the assignments are more interesting. And so on. Depending on the reasons, “spending more time” may be a) a triumph, b) a problem to be fixed, c) a temporary situation to be endured.
  • Going 'paperless" has saved me much time on task
  • publisher of one of our texts provides a tutorial CD and website as well as online course support
Joy Quah Yien-ling

My experience in NY - 0 views

    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      francisca: don't forget to self evaluate your etap687 reflections. see the blog grading rubric : ) also, i woul like you to bring your thoughts on the course readings and the videos into the online disucssion in the course. : ) me
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      brilliant!!! ask them, make them choose!!! i hope you will take this risk!!! have high expectations and give them the opportunity to teach you something!!! trust them! let go! : )
  • they own their pages,
  • ...17 more annotations...
  • they want to share
  • hey want
  • the teacher only has to think creatively and give the students good instructions, he hasn’t have to give them lists of words and definitions that is the most boring part of constructing a course, and a lot of work.
  • I love to think that the process of re-conceptualizing a curse to go online can change the way teachers teach this way, and as I learned too, this change is not only for online classes, in face to face too, because it opens their minds, it makes them think and evaluate their old classes, their old evaluations, and most teachers change the way they teach face to face too, because they realize that traditional teaching doesn’t work face to face either. And they don’t change because they have to change, they have an excuse for changing, so online teaching is a catalyst for transforming teachers.
  • A lot of students never felt engaged and I have never understood that until now. The kind of activity I used to do was active and contextualized to the world, but not everybody has the same word or interests, so I think the only way to engage everybody is to ask them what they want to learn, or make them choose. Something I have never done is to empower my students to lead their own learning process. I have had problems trusting in them I have never give them freedom to be creative, lead a group, do research, look for something new, let them teach me something. I haven’t tried to get out the outlines, be more risky. I don’t know how it would be not to have the control of their learning process, but I would like to try. I learned a very interesting thing: they can find their own material, they can learn the things they like and are related with their own interests, they can lead a discussion about a topic they like and engage others in the discussion. They are able to do a lot of things and we have to take advantage of that as teachers because, if we do all the work, who is learning?
  • So, as I learned form Alex, the question is not “what can I teach online?”, the question is “how can I teach online the thing that I want to teach?”,
  • I don’t know if the question is “which students can be good online learners”, the question is “how can I engage most of them and help them to learn” however they are, because we can’t control that.
  • That is why I think it is so important to have questions in order to construct our knowledge, so I really understand that to make people think you have to guide them to have questions , not answers. And how to do that? The best way to do that, according to what I read in The role of questioning teaching, thinking and learning, is making the students do things, if they are passive they are not going to have questions, and also, make them good questions that are provocative and makes them think about what they are interested in solve or understand or do, and other kinds of question that lead students to critical thinking.
  • I think that in order to achieve a sense of community between your students you have to give them diverse and frequent opportunities for interaction between them and with you, it is not about knowing each other and working in groups in some activity, you have to interact a lot with all your classmates to build a community and feel that you belong to the class. So you have to design diverse activities and spaces for interaction, sharing and communication between students and with you. Also, you have to teach and guide the students in how to interact, how to contribute, how to add knowledge to the conversation, how to give their classmates feedback, how to reinforce their opinions, how to support them, how to answer their questions, how to evaluate them, how to question them, how to agree or refute them, how to make a comfortable climate for learning and a lot of other things related to create a sense of teaching presence and a sense of belonging to the group.
  • By teaching to their classmates students can understand more deeply the content, develop other skills like being creative, they have to think deeper in how to explain a concept and create good examples, and learn from their classmates, from their questions and from the interaction between them.
  • I like the idea of having a community blog
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      i didn't realize this would be a community blog. I LOVE this idea!!! have you thought of using ning for this? that way the space can persist as your faculty commmuity beyond the end of the development cycle.
  • I needed a Blog
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      yes, it should be a blog... not a wiki... you should look at ning for this... it provides the blog functionality wrapped with additional community ans social networking features...
  • sometimes we think the only way of engaging students is entertaining them. That is not true,
    • Joan Erickson
       
      I agree!
  • And even better, how Shoubang sounds so familiar and close to the students in the welcome document without anything fancy technology, only text, but it seems so easy to find him in there and so friendly.
    • Joy Quah Yien-ling
       
      We project who we are. People don't just leave their offline personalities behind when they go online. If a person is outgoing in real life, he will also be outgoing online (I think). But apparently, the online environment is good for shy people...
  • I think that this work is very creative, and as I remember in one of the first reading of this course (”10 ways online…”),
    • Joy Quah Yien-ling
       
      This is the creative aspect of teaching which I love as well. How can we ever be bored being a teacher? We are being creative all the time.
  • I don’t know why but I love it! I can review it forever, and I always have new ideas, and I love that.
  • some faculty’s opinions is that they feel younger because they feel the same feeling that they felt when they were teaching for the first time, and I think that they feel rewarded by their creation,  their new product.
alexandra m. pickett

If I'm talking, you should be taking notes. - 0 views

  • , mad
  • However, I also have learned that we cannot assume that everyone of a certain age is a digital native. Working at a community college, I have students with a large variety of academic and technological experiences. Some students have very limited access to technology.
    • Diane Gusa
       
      Hi Nicole, I worry about the same thing. I guess the more we make them work, the less likely we are to do too much leading.
  • ...16 more annotations...
  • June 20th,
  • it is concrete, born before me with a structure and a real plan
    • Donna Angley
       
      Thank you Alex! I would never have been able to create this course without Alex laying out the modules as she did. Like you, I am starting to feel the course coming together in a very organic way.
  • I am fully committed to the idea of self-discovery and peer-teaching within my online course, but I also feel that I have a lot to add and I can’t keep all of this information to myself
    • Donna Angley
       
      You don't have to choose one; you can facilitate from afar, yet still be a presence in your course. In fact, your students will need feedback from you in order to know that they are on track. Self-discovery, peer teaching, and instructor presence are not mutually exclusive, thank goodness.
  • h-ha moments are coming regularly now. The challenge is now enjoyable.
  • The a
    • Donna Angley
       
      Yay! All the time and effort becomes worthwhile.
  • not necessarily because it meets a learning objective
    • Donna Angley
       
      There have been times when I have had to stop and ask myself, "why am I looking to this particular technology?" If I can't attach it to a learning objective, I let it go.
  • . The first time I implement something I cannot always anticipate all of the issues, but after a run through I can plan for those problems and be proactive in preventing them.
    • Donna Angley
       
      I think this process is not only natural in teaching, but expected - especially in the online environment. We ask for student feeback so that we can improve the course. In this way, it is constantly evolving.
  • . Students will need to find a community setting for 15 hours of either observation of a child, or volunteering in working directly with children
    • Donna Angley
       
      Great idea, and as a former supervisor of both a before-school and after-school program, you can observe a lot at one of these programs. Kids play, study, socialize, etc. Lots to learn through observation and probably with permission, your students might be able to interact with the kids as well.
  • July 4th,
  • I am going to give up more control and expect more self-directed learning from my students, not only online, but in my f2f courses too! I am going to put more emphasis on discussion boards than I had previously anticipated.
  • I am thinking about what I feel is working for me as a student and what is not, so I can include or not include those things in my course.
    • Donna Angley
       
      I think this is difficult for us because no matter how much we include in order to get students interacting, in the end it is out of our hands. Well, not completely -- we can always facilitate the discussion from behind the scenes if we need to, but you see what I mean.
  • Now my perspective had drastically changed—I am instead asking myself how do I get the students to the information? How will I devise learning activities that will assist them in their search for knowledge and understanding? It is not my responsibility to spoon feed them, but to teach them how to spoon feed themselves.
  • conceptualizing some of the activities for my course
    • Donna Angley
       
      I struggled with this as well. Still not sure if I have enough substantial learning activities for my course. It wasn't until I actually started creating the learning activities that I realized I was rather naive about the entire process. Like you, I had this vague idea. I finally had to sit down and figure out what I wanted my students to be doing and then creating activities that met those objectives.
  • despite the extensive conversations that we have had.
  • Giving up control and trusting students to learn. I don’t need to give them the information, just provide the opportunity for them to discover it for themselves, and trust that they will do it. Everyone says this works, I can’t wait to see it happen!
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      brilliant!! : ) just made my day !!
  • Not only has my expectation for online teaching changed, but I also am trying to apply some of these ideas to my f2f courses.  I want students to take more responsibility for their learning. I want them to learn from each other, and to discover knowledge instead of waiting for it to be fed to them. I want to build more community into my courses, so students feel that they can share and learn from others and take risks in class. I also want students to learn what they are interested in learning, or what they need to learn depending on where they are in their understanding of the content.
Diana Cary

Facilitating Interaction in Computer Mediated Online Courses - 0 views

  • In order to change to a learner-controlled instructional system and to maximize interaction, I had to change my role from that of a teacher at the front of the classroom and the center of the process to that of facilitator who is one with the participants and whose primary role is to guide and support the learning process.
  • The result was a course designed as a learner-centered system based on dialogue and cooperation among students (1992, p. 61).
  • Such a move engenders a radical shift in the power and interaction structures in the classroom as the students must accept the responsibility for their own knowledge creation, and the instructor must relinquish a certain amount of control over the process.
  • ...11 more annotations...
  • control
  • From oracle and lecturer to consultant, guide, and resource provider From passive receptacles for hand-me-down knowledge to constructors of their own knowledge Teachers become expert questioners, rather than providers of answers
  • Students become complex problem-solvers rather than just memorizers of facts
  • Teachers become designers of learning student experiences rather than just providers of content Students see topics from multiple perspectives
  • Teachers provide only the initial structure to student work, encouraging increasing self- direction Students refine their own questions and search for their own answers
  • Teacher presents multiple perspectives on topics, emphasizing the salient points Students work as group members on more collaborative/cooperative assignments ; group interaction significantly increased
  • From a solitary teacher to a member of a learning team (reduces isolation sometimes experienced by teachers) Increased multi-cultural awareness
  • From teacher having total autonomy to activities that can be broadly assessed Students work toward fluency with the same tools as professionals in their field
  • From total control of the teaching environment to sharing with the student as fellow learner More emphasis on students as autonomous, independent, self-motivated managers of their own time and learning process
  • More emphasis on sensitivity to student learning styles Discussion of students’ own work in the classroom
  • Teacher-learner power structures erode Emphasis on knowledge use rather than only observation of the teacher’s expert performance or just learning to "pass the test" Emphasis on acquiring learning strategies (both individually and collaboratively) Access to resources is significantly expanded
Anneke Chodan

In Socrates' Wake: Please God, No Group Work! - 0 views

  •  
    A short post and discussion of the reasons some students dislike working in groups.
William Meredith

Constructing Experiential Learning for Online Courses: The Birth of E-Service (EDUCAUSE... - 0 views

  • . In this environment, teachers become mentors and guides rather than the "all knowing" authority often associated with the traditional face-to-face format. In addition, new issues and challenges have begun to materialize from this new paradigm, prompting investigations related to the quality of online instruction:
  • engage distance students in their local communities through experiential learning opportunities.
  • provide community service as part of their academic coursework, learn about and reflect upon the community context in which the service is provided, and develop an understanding of the connection between service and their academic work.3
  • ...5 more annotations...
  • t becomes difficult to develop experiences for distance students that continue to provide work-based experiences and engage them as members in their local communities.
  • Reflection is a major component of service-learning
  • When conducting online courses, e-service offers excellent outreach to community organizations and fills a void in meeting community needs. As the educational paradigm shifts to more distance learning, students will be looking for ways to gain work experience and build long-lasting partnerships with their communities that will benefit their future careers. The experiences provide rich, authentic, hands-on training for students.
  • E-learning challenges students to think in new ways, explore new ways of problem solving, and raise critical questions about their learning and service. E-service enhances student academic experience through experiential learning that reflects the complex issues of students' future workplaces. Students get the opportunity to wrestle with complex issues right in their own communities and to become a part of the solution. These solutions are shared with peers statewide, assisting other small towns and businesses that may have similar needs.
  • Because online students tend not to be the traditional age of on-campus students and usually work a 40-hour week in addition to going to school, access to a community partner can be a challenge.
  •  
    Creating service-learning in an online environment
alexandra m. pickett

Learning Reflections - Just another Edublogs.org site - 0 views

  • I think I’ll hang around another week.
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      glad to hear that !! : )
  • talking with the professor and maximizing perception of student to access instructor are small things I can do to enhance the course and student satisfaction.
  • I honestly have to say that this is an ongoing process because I learn something new every day that cause me to reevaluate things.
  • ...8 more annotations...
  • I have also learned to be Open about to suggestions and change.  Why? Because I know that learning is a lifelong process.  Continuous learning and education has long since been a part of the social work field. 
  • habit
  • I have to squeeze a lot of material into an online course
  • doing it
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      don't forget to self assess!
  • intent
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      don't forget to self assess!
  • Thinking back on my experiences, I can say that I developed a support system and friendships through working with classmates in online classes, but before this class, I never realized that may have been the
  • How do I know this?  Because I just told you that I did. AND I did it verbatim from memory—that’s how I know.  How else do I know that I learned this?
  • I have been changed in many ways, particularly in how I think, how I will teach, how and what I will study in the future.  I was a proponent of online learning before I took this course, I am a greater fan now that I understand the flip side of the equation.  I love the course I built and want to keep working on it and improve on it so when I am ready (in the near future) I can teach it.  I still do not think that I am quite ready to teach—there are a few things I need to work on. However, I am confident that I will be ready relatively soon.  I feel confident and empowered!!!
Anneke Chodan

Where Are My Keys I Lost My Phone - 0 views

  •  
    A very good description of what it's like to have a brain that works (or doesn't work!) like mine does.
Anneke Chodan

Close to Home - 0 views

  •  
    If you want to know what I work on at work, here's an example
Amy M

iBooks Author: Publishing and distribution FAQ - 0 views

shared by Amy M on 05 Jun 12 - No Cached
  • Does Apple own any copyright in the content of my work if I create it in iBooks Author? No. You retain all your rights in the content of your work. However, if your work is distributed in the .ibooks format, then your work is subject to the distribution restrictions described above.
  •  
    An example of copyright restrictions.
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