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Alena Rodick

Mastering Online Discussion Board Facilitation - 0 views

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    "Mastering Online Discussion Board Facilitation"
Diane Gusa

Study Hacks » Blog Archive » Monday Master Class: How Two Extra Hours Can Mak... - 0 views

  • Monday Master Class: How Two Extra Hours Can Make Your Paper Two Times Better
  • You glance over the relevant readings, crack your knuckles, sigh loudly, check your Facebook feed once more, just in case some vital change in a friend’s relationship status requires immediate, intense attention, then, with great resignation, start writing.
    • Diane Gusa
       
      Sounds familiar?
  • simple tweak to your process — requiring 1 – 2 extra hours —
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  • take your readings and go for a walk.
  • “What do I really think about these topics?” “What did this writer really mean?” “What are different things she could have believed instead, and why did she choose this particular angle? “ “What would I have said?” “What do I really think about this? Why?”
  • Dig out a tiny gem of thesis that fits your personal take on the material.
  • settle down in the most inspiring possible room
  • spend just alone with their thoughts, sifting through, in a complicated inner monologue, what they believe and why. Essays and small papers offer you this opportunity. Most students ignore it and instead just blaze ahead blindly in their comfortable, “I hate papers!” writing-centric approach.
  • Take a 1 – 2 hour idea vacation before your fingers hit the keyboard.
George Dale

Conceptual Physics: Getting to Rainbows - 0 views

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    Great discussion of "Why conceptual Physics?" by the master himself, Paul Hewitt
Hedy Lowenheim

Master's Degree Is New Frontier of Study Online - NYTimes.com - 0 views

  • Although it is just one degree at one university, the prospect of a prestigious low-cost degree program has generated great interest. Some educators think the leap from individual noncredit courses to full degree programs could signal the next phase in the evolution of MOOCs — and bring real change to higher education.
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    The affordable price for this online master's degree in computer science from a very reputable institution is refreshing to see. If the program is successful hopefully it will lead to others like it. The program will be MOOC-based.
Alicia Fernandez

The Instructional Conversation: Teaching and Learning in Social Activity [eScholarship] - 0 views

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    For more than a century, American schooling has ben conducted in much the same way: The teacher assigns a text for the students to master and then assesses their learning. Known as the "recitation script," this repeated cycle of assign-assess is far from the natural kind of teaching by which societies have been instructing their young since the dawn of time. Contemporary educational reform is now emphasizing the fundamental, natural method of teaching, which is the assisting of learners through the instructional conversation. Newly understood through the principles of socio-historical theory, real teaching is understood as assisting the learner to perform just beyond his or her current capacity. This assistance in the "zone of proximal development" awakens and rouses into life the mental capacities of learners of all ages. This assistance is best provided through the instructional conversation, a dialogue between teacher and learners in which the teacher listens carefully to grasp the students' communicative intent, and tailors the dialogue to meet the emerging understanding of the learners. This pattern of relationship should be characteristic of the communication of the entire school, in which the teachers assist and converse with one another, administrators assist and converse with teachers, and administration provides activity settings in which these instructional conversations can occur. Such a school becomes a true community of learners, in which school reliably assists the performance of all.
lkryder

openbadges-specification/Assertion/latest.md at master · mozilla/openbadges-s... - 0 views

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    specs for creating openbadges
Alena Rodick

BE VOCAL: Characteristics of Successful Online Instructors - 0 views

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    he VOCAL approach summarizes the key characteristics that a master instructor utilizes to be effective in an online environment. VOCAL is an acronym for Visible, Organized, Compassionate, Anal ytical and Leader-by-example.
lkryder

CL-1: Field-tested Learning Assessment Guide (FLAG): Assessment Primer (1 of 5) - 0 views

  • There is considerable evidence showing that assessment drives student learning. More than anything else, our assessment tools tell students what we consider to be important. They will learn what we guide them to learn through our assessments.
    • lkryder
       
      If you begin a course design with this in mind, and fold your feedback loops in carefully, students will know what matters and what to work at for success
  • Assessment is more than grades To many, the word "assessment" simply means the process by which we assign students grades. Assessment is much more than this, however. Assessment is a mechanism for providing instructors with data for improving their teaching methods and for guiding and motivating students to be actively involved in their own learning. As such, assessment provides important feedback to both instructors and students. Assessment is Feedback for Both Instructors and Students Assessment gives us essential information about what our students are learning and about the extent to which we are meeting our teaching goals. But the true power of assessment comes in also using it to give feedback to our students. Improving the quality of learning in our courses involves not just determining to what extent students have mastered course content at the end of the course; improving the quality of learning also involves determining to what extent students are mastering content throughout the course.
  • Assessment Drives Student Learning The types of assessment usually performed in first-year science, math, engineering, and technology (STEM) courses--giving students tests--merely inform students about their grade, or ranking, after they have received instruction. In addition, these common testing techniques--which typically test for fact-based knowledge and algorithmic problem solving--tell our students that this is the type of knowledge we think is most important. That is, we appear to value the understanding of concepts at a relatively low level. Given that this is the type of assessment our students most frequently encounter, and that it will eventually lead to their final course grades, students learn to study the content in our courses in an expeditious way that allows them to succeed in passing many first-year STEM courses without necessarily developing deep understanding of concepts. It is our assessment that drives students learning.
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    The full primer for convenience
Diane Gusa

Scaffolding - Emerging Perspectives on Learning, Teaching and Technology - 0 views

  • The term ‘scaffolding’ comes from the works of Wood, Bruner and Ross (1976). The term ‘scaffolding’ was developed as a metaphor to describe the type of assistance offered by a teacher or peer to support learning. In the process of scaffolding, the teacher helps the student master a task or concept that the student is initially unable to grasp independently. The teacher offers assistance with only those skills that are beyond the student’s capability. Of great importance is allowing the student to complete as much of the task as possible, unassisted. The teacher only attempts to help the student with tasks that are just beyond his current capability. Student errors are expected, but, with teacher feedback and prompting, the student is able to achieve the task or goal. When the student takes responsibility for or masters the task, the teacher begins the process of “fading”, or the gradual removal of the scaffolding, which allows the student to work independently. “Scaffolding is actually a bridge used to build upon what students already know to arrive at something they do not know. If scaffolding is properly administered, it will act as an enabler, not as a disabler” (Benson, 1997).
  • The ‘more knowledgeable other’, or MKO, shares knowledge with the student to bridge the gap between what is known and what is not known. Once the student has expanded his knowledge, the actual developmental level has been expanded and the ZPD has shifted. The ZPD is always changing as the student expands and gains knowledge, so scaffolded instruction must constantly be individualized to address the changing ZPD of each student.
    • Diane Gusa
       
      Learning is a process, and scaffolding supports that process
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    Fading is a key component of instructional scaffolding.
Jarrod McEntarfer

East Asia in World History: A Resource for Teachers - 0 views

  • The climate of East Asia is both similar to and different from that of Europe and the United States
  • Rice, the primary cereal crop grown in East Asia,
  • Chinese civilization (written script, Confucian thought, and Buddhism that had come to China from India) spread northward to the Korean peninsula and then to the islands of Japan, and southward to what is today northern Vietnam
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  • Chinese civilization first developed along the major river systems of the Yellow River (Huang He) and then the Yangzi (Chang Jiang) in eastern China.
  • Over the course of Chinese history, nomadic peoples from China's border regions have often intruded upon the settled, agricultural civilization of "core" China
  • Japan is an island country composed of four main islands and thousands of smaller ones
  • Japan has been able so consciously and deliberately to borrow and adapt innovations from other civilizations and to forge a strong cultural identity.
  • The Japanese islands lack most of the natural resources necessary to support an industrialized economy. These resources must be imported.
    • Jarrod McEntarfer
       
      In what other ways do you think Japan's geography affected its economy and culture?
  • Introduction • The Geography of East Asia
    • Jarrod McEntarfer
       
      This link has consise and standards based information on the geography of East Asia that will be valuable in the final project.
  • Chinese characters have no set pronunciation; the sound attached to each can vary depending on the dialect.) Therefore, all literate Chinese could communicate through writing.
  • An Introductory Guide to Pronouncing Chinese.
  • Several of these philosophic schools have had lasting impact on Chinese civilization and political order, among them, Confucianism, Legalism, and Daoism. Leading philosophers in the early history of each school, and the texts associated with them, include: Confucianism - Confucius (c. 551-479 BCE) Analects - Mencius (371-289 BCE) Mencius - Xun Zi (Hsun Tzu) (298-238) Xunzi Legalism - Han Fei Zi (Han Fei Tzu) (d. 233) Han Feizi - Li Si (Li Ssu) (d. 208) who became the Prime Minister of Qin Daoism (Taoism) - Lao Zi (Lao Tzu) "Old Master" (c. 500) Daodejing, also known as Laozi - Zhuang Zi (Chuang Tzu) (c. 369-286) Zhuangzi Other schools of thought mentioned from this period are those of Mozi (5th c. BCE), whose philosophy is often called that of "universal love," and the School of Yin and Yang and the Five Agents.
  • China at the Time of Confucius After the displacement of the Western Zhou (c.1100-771) and the movement of the Zhou capital eastward, China was divided into a number of small states competing for power (771-221 BCE). Many philosophic schools of thought emerged during this period of political and social turmoil, a period known as that of the "100 Schools of Thought." Several of these philosophic schools have had lasting impact on Chinese civilization and political order, among them, Confucianism, Legalism, and Daoism. Leading philosophers in the early history of each school, and the texts associated with them, include: Confucianism - Confucius (c. 551-479 BCE) Analects - Mencius (371-289 BCE) Mencius - Xun Zi (Hsun Tzu) (298-238) Xunzi Legalism - Han Fei Zi (Han Fei Tzu) (d. 233) Han Feizi - Li Si (Li Ssu) (d. 208) who became the Prime Minister of Qin Daoism (Taoism) - Lao Zi (Lao Tzu) "Old Master" (c. 500) Daodejing, also known as Laozi - Zhuang Zi (Chuang Tzu) (c. 369-286) Zhuangzi Other schools of thought mentioned from this period are those of Mozi (5th c. BCE), whose philosophy is often called that of "universal love," and the School of Yin and Yang and the Five Agents.
    • Jarrod McEntarfer
       
      For their final project students will need to address the category of belief systems by taking an indept look at their civilizations religions and philosophies. Since this is a regents based course this will be important as the exam often addresses this topic, especially in relation to the three major philosophies of China
  • Warring States Period (475-221 BCE). Confucius was alive at the end of the Spring and Autumn Period and argued for a restoration of the social and political order of the earlier Western Zhou period. Essential components of Chinese civilization that are evident in the Zhou period include the Chinese notion of the ruler as the "Son of Heaven" who rules with the Mandate of Heaven.
    • Jarrod McEntarfer
       
      Important terms to know for the class about ancient China The Warring States Period The Mandate of Heaven
  • The climate of East Asia is both similar to and different from that of Europe and the United States.
  • Since rice produces a much higher yield per acre than does a crop such as wheat, it can support a much greater population per acre than does wheat. Climate, agriculture, and population size are closely related in East Asia where large population densities have existed throughout history.*
    • Jarrod McEntarfer
       
      Students should be able to identify how food supply is related to population growth.
  • Chinese civilization (written script, Confucian thought, and Buddhism that had come to China from India) spread northward to the Korean peninsula and then to the islands of Japan, and southward to what is today northern Vietnam -- engendering dialogue and exchange among the four countries of the East Asian cultural sphere
  • The west and north of what is China today are dominated by mountains, steppe lands, plateaus, and deserts.
  • China's writing system (referred to as Chinese "characters") first appears in the Shang dynasty on tortoise shells and cattle bones (called "oracle bones") used for divination. Written language is a central determinant of the development of civilization; the Chinese writing system was the first developed in East Asia. Although there are many mutually unintelligible dialects in China, there is only one system of writing — a major unifying factor in Chinese history. (Chinese characters have no set pronunciation; the sound attached to each can vary depending on the dialect.) Therefore, all literate Chinese could communicate through writing.
  • Qin Shi Huangdi (Ch'in Shih Huang-ti), or the First Emperor of Qin, rules for a very short time (221-206 BCE) but lays the foundation for China's imperial structure and begins construction of the Great Wall for defense to the north. At his death, an army of life-sized terra cotta warriors is buried near his tomb. (These terra cotta warriors were first discovered in 1974 and have been the subject of exhibitions, magazine articles, and books since that time.
  • The Qin follows the Legalist proposals for state order and establishes a centralized bureaucracy and a finely detailed law code with specified punishments for each crime.
    • Jarrod McEntarfer
       
      How do you think the establishment of a uniform law code improved Chinese civilization? Remember Hammurabi's Code.
  • The Chinese and Roman empires trade through intermediates on the overland route through Central Asia, the "Silk Road." Chinese silk was an especially prized commodity in Rome, as silk production (sericulture) was known only to the Chinese.
    • Jarrod McEntarfer
       
      Look up "Monopoly". How did China's silk trade represent this term?
  • It is during this period that Buddhism is introduced into China from India, following trade routes.
  • the civil service examination system,
  • Note the pattern of territorial pressure and incursions from China's north by nomadic groups, who are attracted by the wealth of the settled, agricultural civilization of China. The most illustrative examples are those of the Mongols, who conquer China and establish the Yuan dynasty (1279-1368 CE), and of the Manchus, who again conquer China and establish the last dynasty, the Qing, that rules for 300 years (1644-1911 CE). Each of these invaders rules through the Chinese bureaucracy, leading to the expression that China "sinicizes its conquerors."
    • Jarrod McEntarfer
       
      From what you gatherered from the reading can you put the expression: "China sinicizes its conquerors" in your own words?
  • "dynastic cycle."
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    This site is designed as a resource site for teachers of world history, world geography, and world cultures. It provides background information and curriculum materials, including primary source documents for students. The material is arranged in 14 topic sections. The topics and the historical periods into which they are divided follow the National Standards in World History and the Content Outline for the Advanced Placement Course in World History. Description by Merlot
Donna Angley

You Play World of Warcraft...You're Hired! - 0 views

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    In late 2004, Stephen Gillett was in the running for a choice job at Yahoo! - a senior management position in engineering. He was a strong contender. Gillett had been responsible for CNET's backend, and he had helped launch a number of successful startups. But he had an additional qualification his prospective employer wasn't aware of, one that gave him a decisive edge: He was one of the top guild masters in the online role-playing game World of Warcraft (Brown).
J Robin Ward

Preparing Instructors for Quality Online Instruction - 1 views

  • The major concerns are centering on the following questions: What will be the new role for instructors in online education? How will students' learning outcomes be assured and improved in online learning environment? How will effective communication and interaction be established with students in the absence of face-to-face instruction? How will instructors motivate students to learn in the online learning environment?
  • Instructors have many concerns about online education. Their primary concern is how online education changes their roles and responsibilities, and how they can adapt to this change. Online education is widely accepted as student-centered education, and the traditional education is regarded as professor-centered education. Due to a shift to online education, the instructor's role has become more of a facilitator than a traditional lecturer. Therefore, the traditional professor-centered educational environment and student-centered online educational environment will have many differences. Besides their role shifting, the role of the virtual instructor is to select and filter information for student consideration, to provide thought-provoking questions, and to facilitate well-considered discussion (Kettner-Polley, 1999).
  • Clark (2002) pointed out that online learner must be a constructivist learner. This suggests that the learner must be active in the process, cognitively complex and motivated. According to Clark , motivating factors in the learning process include self-reference, personal goals, control and autonomy . Howland & Moore's (2002) study examined 48 students' experiences in online environments. Their results confirmed that the students who were the most positive in their perceptions of online learning were those with attributes consistent with constructivist learners. The most positive students were more independent, proactive and responsible for their learning.
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  • Alley and Jansak (2001) have also identified 10 keys to quality online learning. The authors suggested that online courses will be high quality when they are student-centered and when: Knowledge is constructed, not transmitted. Students can take full responsibility for their own learning. Students are motivated to want to learn. The course provides “mental white space” for reflection. Learning activities appropriately match student learning styles. Experiential, active learning augments the Web site learning environment, Solitary and interpersonal learning activities are interspersed. Inaccurate prior learning is identified and corrected. “Spiral learning” provides for revisiting and expanding prior lessons, The master teacher is able to guide the overall learning process. (p. 6-17)
  • nstructors may lack sufficient information on how well learners actually perform
  • how to appropriately use technology to serve an instructional purpose tends
  • they have to face the challenge of lack of direct interpersonal contact with students
  • the instructor to motivate students to adjust their roles when becoming an online learner
  • Since face to face instruction is usually eliminated in online classes, i
  • While arguments have been made in opposition to online education, there are proponents who are in support of this mode of instruction. They suggest that the lack of face-to-face interaction can be substituted by online discussions in bulletin board systems, online video conferences or on listservs (Blake, 2000). Online education can also promote students' critical thinking skills, deep learning, collaborative learning, and problem-solving skills (Ascough, 2002; Rosie, 2000). Donlevy (2003) asserted that online education may help schools expand curricula offerings with less cost and can help graduates gain important technology skills to improve their marketability. Proponents also argue that online education can encourage non-discriminatory teaching and learning practices since the teachers and students, as well as students and their classmates typically do not meet face-to-face. Palloff and Pratt (1999) have concluded that because students cannot tell the race, gender, physical characteristics of each other and their teachers, online education presents a bias-free teaching and learning environment for instructors and students.
  • academic dishonesty of online learners (Muirhead, 2000)
    • J Robin Ward
       
      This is one of the topics I expressed interest in -- need to take a look at the source.
  • several factors that may deter faculty from teaching online.
  • lack of professional prestige
    • J Robin Ward
       
      Similar to Rogers 2003.
  • While many critics have suggested that there is no sure way to hold students accountable for academic dishonesty, Heberling (2002) concluded that while maintaining academic integrity in the online instructional setting may be a challenging, many strategies may be employed to detect and prevent plagiarism, such as reversing an Internet search, tracking back to an original source.
  • 10 keys to quality online learning
  • Knowledge is constructed, not transmitted. Students can take full responsibility for their own learning. Students are motivated to want to learn. The course provides “mental white space” for reflection. Learning activities appropriately match student learning styles. Experiential, active learning augments the Web site learning environment, Solitary and interpersonal learning activities are interspersed. Inaccurate prior learning is identified and corrected. “Spiral learning” provides for revisiting and expanding prior lessons, The master teacher is able to guide the overall learning process. (p. 6-17)
  • Alley and Jansak (2001)
Alicia Fernandez

Building Better Teachers - Sara Mosle - The Atlantic - 0 views

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    Mastering the craft demands time to collaborate-just what American schools don't provide.
Alicia Fernandez

Personal knowledge management skills in web 2.0-based learning | maria chiara pettenati... - 0 views

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    Chapter 6 deals with the importance of acquiring and mastering a set of personal knowledge management (PKM) skills to perform successfully in the Web 2.0 environment for learning.
Erin Fontaine

Critical Thinking Development: A Stage Theory - 0 views

  • We must recognize the importance of challenging our students — in a supportive way — to recognize both that they are thinkers and that their thinking often goes awry. We must lead class discussions about thinking. We must explicitly model thinking (e.g., thinking aloud through a problem). We must design classroom activities that explicitly require students to think about their thinking. We must have students examine both poor and sound thinking, talking about the differences. We must introduce students to the parts of thinking and the intellectual standards necessary to assess thinking. We must introduce the idea of intellectual humility to students; that is, the idea of becoming aware of our own ignorance. Perhaps children can best understand the importance of this idea through their concept of the "know-it-all," which comes closest to their recognition of the need to be intellectually humble.
    • Irene Watts-Politza
       
      This is a great foundation for an icebreaker module.
  • recognize that they have basic problems in their thinking and make initial attempts to better understand how they can take charge of and improve it.
  • begin to modify some of their thinking, but have limited insight into deeper levels of the trouble inherent in their thinking. Most importantly, they lack a systematic plan for improving their thinking, hence their efforts are hit and miss.
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  • appreciate a critique of their powers of thought.
  • we must teach in such a way as to help them to see that we all need to regularly practice good thinking to become good thinkers.
  • We must emphasize the importance of beginning to take charge of the parts of thinking and applying intellectual standards to thinking. We must teach students to begin to recognize their native egocentrism when it is operating in their thinking.
  • since practicing thinkers are only beginning to approach the improvement of their thinking in a systematic way, they still have limited insight into deeper levels of thought, and thus into deeper levels of the problems embedded in thinking.
  • need for systematic practice in thinking.
  • Practicing thinkers recognize the need for systematicity of critical thinking and deep internalization into habits. They clearly recognize the natural tendency of the human mind to engage in egocentric thinking and self-deception.
  • regularly monitor
  • articulate the strengths and weaknesses
  • often recognize their own egocentric thinking as well as egocentric thinking on the part of others. Furthermore practicing thinkers actively monitor their thinking to eliminate egocentric thinking, although they are often unsuccessful.
  • intellectual perseverance
  • have the intellectual humility required to realize that thinking in all the domains of their lives must be subject to scrutiny, as they begin to approach the improvement of their thinking in a systematic way.
  • We must teach in such a way that students come to understand the power in knowing that whenever humans reason, they have no choice but to use certain predictable structures of thought: that thinking is inevitably driven by the questions, that we seek answers to questions for some purpose, that to answer questions, we need information, that to use information we must interpret it (i.e., by making inferences), and that our inferences, in turn, are based on assumptions, and have implications, all of which involves ideas or concepts within some point of view. We must teach in such a way as to require students to regularly deal explicitly with these structures (more on these structure presently).
  • Recognizing the "moves" one makes in thinking well is an essential part of becoming a practicing thinker.
  • Students should be encouraged to routinely catch themselves thinking both egocentrically and sociocentrically.
  • advanced thinkers not only actively analyze their thinking in all the significant domains of their lives, but also have significant insight into problems at deeper levels of thought. While advanced thinkers are able to think well across the important dimensions of their lives, they are not yet able to think at a consistently high level across all of these dimensions. Advanced thinkers have good general command over their egocentric nature. They continually strive to be fair-minded. Of course, they sometimes lapse into egocentrism and reason in a one-sided way.
  • develop depth of understanding
  • nsight into deep levels of problems in thought: consistent recognition, for example, of egocentric and sociocentric thought in one’s thinking, ability to identify areas of significant ignorance and prejudice, and ability to actually develop new fundamental habits of thought based on deep values to which one has committed oneself.
    • Irene Watts-Politza
       
      What do YOU believe in? How and why do you believe it?
  • successfully engaged in systematically monitoring the role in their thinking of concepts, assumptions, inferences, implications, points of view, etc., and hence have excellent knowledge of that enterprise. Advanced thinkers are also knowledgeable of what it takes to regularly assess their thinking for clarity, accuracy, precision, relevance, logicalness, etc.
  • critique their own plan for systematic practice, and improve it thereby.
  • articulate the strengths and weaknesses in their thinking.
  • reduce the power of their egocentric thoughts.
  • a) the intellectual insight and perseverance to actually develop new fundamental habits of thought based on deep values to which one has committed oneself, b) the intellectual integrity to recognize areas of inconsistency and contradiction in one’s life, c) the intellectual empathy necessary to put oneself in the place of others in order to genuinely understand them, d) the intellectual courage to face and fairly address ideas, beliefs, or viewpoints toward which one has strong negative emotions, e) the fair-mindedness necessary to approach all viewpoints without prejudice, without reference to one’s own feelings or vested interests. In the advanced thinker these traits are emerging, but may not be manifested at the highest level or in the deepest dimensions of thought.
  • our students will not become advanced thinkers — if at all — until college or beyond. Nevertheless, it is important that they learn what it would be to become an advanced thinker. It is important that they see it as an important goal. We can help students move in this direction by fostering their awareness of egocentrism and sociocentrism in their thinking, by leading discussions on intellectual perseverance, intellectual integrity, intellectual empathy, intellectual courage, and fair-mindedness. If we can graduate students who are practicing thinkers, we will have achieved a major break-through in schooling. However intelligent our graduates may be, most of them are largely unreflective as thinkers, and are unaware of the disciplined habits of thought they need to develop to grow intellectually as a thinker.
  • have systematically taken charge of their thinking, but are also continually monitoring, revising, and re-thinking strategies for continual improvement of their thinking. They have deeply internalized the basic skills of thought, so that critical thinking is, for them, both conscious and highly intuitive.
  • As Piaget would put it, they regularly raise their thinking to the level of conscious realization.
  • Accomplished thinkers are deeply committed to fair-minded thinking, and have a high level of, but not perfect, control over their egocentric nature.
  • To make the highest levels of critical thinking intuitive in every domain of one’s life. To internalize highly effective critical thinking in an interdisciplinary and practical way.
  • Accomplished thinkers are not only actively and successfully engaged in systematically monitoring the role in their thinking of concepts, assumptions, inferences, implications, points of view, etc., but are also regularly improving that practice. Accomplished thinkers have not only a high degree of knowledge of thinking, but a high degree of practical insight as well. Accomplished thinkers intuitively assess their thinking for clarity, accuracy, precision, relevance, logicalness, etc. Accomplished thinkers have deep insights into the systematic internalization of critical thinking into their habits. Accomplished thinkers deeply understand the role that egocentric and sociocentric thinking plays in the lives of human beings, as well as the complex relationship between thoughts, emotions, drives and behavior.
  • Naturally inherent in master thinkers are all the essential intellectual characteristics, deeply integrated. Accomplished thinkers have a high degree of intellectual humility, intellectual integrity, intellectual perseverance, intellectual courage, intellectual empathy, intellectual autonomy, intellectual responsibility and fair-mindedness. Egocentric and sociocentric thought is quite uncommon in the accomplished thinker, especially with respect to matters of importance. There is a high degree of integration of basic values, beliefs, desires, emotions, and action.
  • For the foreseeable future the vast majority of our students will never become accomplished thinkers 
  • important that they learn what it would be to become an accomplished thinker. It is important that they see it as a real possibility, if practicing skills of thinking becomes a characteristic of how they use their minds day to day.
  • Thus it is vital that an intellectual vocabulary for talking about the mind be established for teachers; and that teachers lead discussions in class designed to teach students, from the point of view of intellectual quality, how their minds work, including how they can improve as thinkers.
  • in elementary school an essential objective would be that students become "beginning" thinkers, that is, that they will be taught so that they discover that they are thinkers and that their thinking, like a house, can be well or poorly constructed. This "discovery" stage--the coming to awareness that all of us are thinkers--needs to be given the highest priority. Middle school and High School, on this model, would aim at helping all students become, at least, "practicing" thinkers. Of course, students discover thinking only by discovering that thinking has "parts." Like learning what "Legos" are, we learn as we come to discover that there are various parts to thinking and those parts can be put together in various ways. Unlike Legos, of course, thinking well requires that we learn to check how the parts of thinking are working together to make sure they are working properly: For example, have we checked the accuracy of information? Have we clarified the question?
  • We are not advocating here that teachers withdraw from academic content. Rather we are suggesting that critical thinking provides a way of deeply embracing content intellectually. Within this view students come to take intellectual command of how they think, act, and react while they are learning...history, biology, geography, literature, etc., how they think, act, and react as a reader, writer, speaker, and listener, how they think, act, and react as a student, brother, friend, child, shopper, consumer of the media, etc.
  • to effectively learn any subject in an intellectually meaningful way presupposes a certain level of command over one’s thinking, which in turn presupposes understanding of the mind’s processes.
  • Thinking is inevitably driven by the questions we seek to answer, and those questions we seek to answer for some purpose. To answer questions, we need information which is in fact meaningful to us only if we interpret it (i.e., by making inferences). Our inferences, in turn, are based on assumptions and require that we use ideas or concepts to organize the information in some way from some point of view. Last but not least, our thinking not only begins somewhere intellectually (in certain assumptions), it also goes somewhere---that is, has implications and consequences.
  • Thus whenever we reason through any problem, issue, or content we are well advised to take command of these intellectual structures: purpose, question, information, inferences, assumptions, concepts, point of view, and implications. By explicitly teaching students how to take command of the elements of reasoning we not only help them take command of their thinking in a general way; we also provide a vehicle which effectively enables them to critically think through the content of their classes, seeing connections between all of what they are learning.
  • if I am to develop my critical thinking ability I must both "discover" my thinking and must intellectually take charge of it. To do this I must make a deep commitment to this end.
  • the human mind, left to its own, pursues that which is immediately easy, that which is comfortable, and that which serves its selfish interests. At the same time, it naturally resists that which is difficult to understand, that which involves complexity, that which requires entering the thinking and predicaments of others.
  • When we learn together as developing thinkers, when we all of us seek to raise our thinking to the next level, and then to the next after that, everyone benefits, and schooling then becomes what it was meant to be, a place to discover the power of lifelong learning. This should be a central goal for all our students--irrespective of their favored mode of intelligence or learning style. It is in all of our interest to accept the challenge: to begin, to practice, to advance as thinkers.
b malczyk

Benefits of Diversity in Education - 0 views

  • students in classrooms and in the broad campus environment will be more motivated and better able to participate in a heterogeneous and complex society
  • Cognitive growth is fostered when individuals encounter experiences and demands that they cannot completely understand or meet, and thus must work to comprehend and master the new
  • more frequently expressed democratic sentiment
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  • greater motivation to take the perspective of others
  • less often evaluated the University’s emphasis on diversity as producing divisiveness between groups
  • enjoyed learning about the experiences and perspectives of other groups more than the control students
  • participants were more interested in politics and also had participated more frequently in campus political activities.
  • The discrepancy that racial and ethnic diversity on college campuses offers students for personal development and preparation for citizenship in an increasingly multicultural society depends on actual experience that students have with diverse peers.
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    This article describes some of the potential benefits of diversity in education. In my post I suggest that online education provides a unique means of increasing diversity which comes with the benefits described in this article.
Joan McCabe

Fostering Second Language Development in Young Children - 0 views

  • Principle #6: Language is used to communicate meaning. Children will internalize a second language more readily if they are asked to engage in meaningful activities that require using the language. For children who are learning English as a second language, it is important that the teacher gauge which aspects of the language the child has acquired and which ones are still to be mastered. Wong Fillmore (1985) recommends a number of steps that teachers can use to engage their students: Use demonstrations, modeling, role-playing. Present new information in the context of known information. Paraphrase often. Use simple structures, avoid complex structures. Repeat the same sentence patterns and routines. Tailor questions for different levels of language competence and participation.
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    Describes principles for second language acquisition. Gives ideas to reinforce these principles in the classroom.
Amy M

Why Badges? Why Not? | HASTAC - 0 views

  • Perhaps a school wants to be able to recognize the master teacher who is caring and constructive mentor to new teachers in her school.    Isn’t that a fantastic contribution that so many teachers make, day in and day out, that, currently, goes unrecognized?  (An aside:  I loved the “Go, Teachers!” thread that ran throughout yesterday’s program.)    Perhaps there’s a national network of auto mechanics that would like to be able to come up with a way of credentialing high school drop outs who happen to be great at fixing hybrid cars but who cannot afford to go to for-profit trade school that offer formal credentials.   I’m making this up, but I can see applications that could help participants and communities to recognize those with achievements “outside the system” and yet crucial, to the community and to their own success in the workplace.   What do we have now to offer? Multiple choice tests, ABCD grades, transcripts, resumes:  that is an extremely narrow r
  • Our current, standardized systems of credentialing  are very rigid and often restrictive.   Badges allow groups of people—organizations and institutions--to decide what counts for them and how they want to give credit.   Every contribution isn’t measured by ABCD.   If you contribute, you can have a record of that contribution.   That’s the beauty of digital badge systems or eportfolios such as Top Coders where you can actually click on the badge and see all the specific contributions or skills of a person that were recognized by peers in the form of a badge. 
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    A great article from Cathy Davidson explaining badges.
Amy M

Copyright for Higher Education - 0 views

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    Face- to-face restriction of copyright.
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