Group items tagged

SOcratic Method Ideas Recognize that all thought reflects an agenda. Assume that you do not fully understand the thought until you understand the agenda behind it. (What are you trying to accomplish in saying this? What is your central aim in this line of thought?)

One of the reasons that instructors tend to overemphasize "coverage" over "engaged thinking" is that they do not fully appreciate the role of questions in teaching content. Consequently, they assume that answers can be taught separate from questions.

Online courses have become very popular in higher education and with the emergence of virtual schools are becoming common at the K-12 level (see Clark, 2001; Vail 2001). While most universities and colleges have established training programs to prepare their faculty to teach online, school systems are just beginning to address this need.  As McKenzie (2001) notes, preparing teachers to teach online needs to involve a lot more than the short workshops typical of inservice training. Hannum (2001) describes an extensive state-wide initiative in Colorado. The Concord Consortium and Illinois Online Network both have successful online teacher training programs. A number of online learning system vendors such as Apex Learning, Blackboard Inc., and eCollege also offer online teacher training programs, although these tend to be tailored to their systems.  

What is constructivism? How does a constructivist teacher teach?

List of 27 videos: 1. Planning an Online Course 2. Managing an Online Course: General 3. Managing an Online Course: Discussion Forums 4. Providing Feedback 5. Reducing Plagiarism 6. Building Community 7. Building Instructor and Social Presence 8. Online Relationships: Student-Student, Student-Instructor, Student-Practitioner, Student-Self 9. Fostering Online Collaboration/Teaming 10. Finding Quality Supplemental Materials 11. Blended Learning: General 12. Blended Learning: Implementation 13. Blended Learning: The Future 14. Online Writing and Reflection Activities 15. Online Visual Learning 16. Using Existing Online Video Resources 17. Webinars and Webcasts 18. Podcasting Uses and Applications 19. Wiki Uses and Applications 20. Blog Uses and Applications 21. Collaborative Tool Uses and Applications 22. Hands-On/Experiential Learning 23. Coordinating Online Project, Problem, and Product-Based Learning 24. Global Connections and Collaborations 25. Assessing Student Online Learning 26. Ending, Archiving, Updating, and Reusing an Online Course 27. Trends on the Horizon

MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW) is a web-based publication of virtually all MIT course content. OCW is open and available to the world and is a permanent MIT activity. What is MIT OpenCourseWare? MIT OpenCourseWare is a free publication of MIT course materials that reflects almost all the undergraduate and graduate subjects taught at MIT. * OCW is not an MIT education. * OCW does not grant degrees or certificates. * OCW does not provide access to MIT faculty. * Materials may not reflect entire content of the course.

Employing my research and practical experience in the field of educational psychology, with a specialty in instructional design and technology, I would like to reflect on the theoretical foundations of instructional design. My purpose is to show the growth of the field through theories associated with learning psychology and educational technology. Both human psychology and technology are the main foundations for instructional psychology. Evaluation and assessment continue to be integral to the field but more in the form of tools. Included is my view of the field in reference to work I and my colleagues have done in what we label as a linking theory of instructional design. That is, linking learning theory directly with research findings and practice I argue that educators need to clearly propose and define their own theoretical foundations when engaging in the design of effective learning environments...

Moving from constructivist philosophy, psychology and epistemology to the characterization of constructivist learning environments presents the challenge of synthesizing a large spectrum of somewhat disparate concepts. An appropriate analogy for the way in which constructivist concepts have evolved is that of a prism with many facets. While the facets reflect the same light and form one part of a whole, they nonetheless each present distinct and finely delineated boundaries.

The key elements of online course design and pedagogy suggested by research as promoting effective learning are discussed through the lens of constructivist epistemology. Presentation of content, instructor-student and student-student interactions, individual and group activities, and student assessment are each addressed, in turn. The focus is on learning and recognition that, from time-to-time, all students are teachers as they bring diverse expertise, experiences, and worldviews to the task of learning. Reflection on past experiences, interaction with other members of the learning community, immediate instructor behavior, authentic group activities, and diverse assessment tasks with timely and detailed feedback are underscored.

Students and employers in recent years have embraced development that will allow the learner to attain the practical skills that are necessary to perform in the workplace. Students wish to take on tasks featuring significant experiences with real outcomes that create concrete learning achievements through participation and reflection. This is what experiential learning is all about.

Critical thinking is the process we use to reflect on, access and judge the assumptions underlying our own and others ideas and actions. Socratic questioning is at the heart of critical thinking and a number of homework problems draw from R.W. Paul's six types of Socratic questions:

(some reflections in the context of Higher Education in the 21st Century)