Skip to main content

Home/ ETAP640/ Group items tagged self-publishing

Rss Feed Group items tagged

32More

Bringing Life to Online Instruction with Humor - 1 views

  • Based on our experience using humor as an instructional strategy in traditional and online courses, we explain how instructors can incorporate humor into online courses
  • Of the personal dimensions of teaching, humor is the most human of them all. T
  • Humor is not a pedagogical panacea, and the mere inclusion of humor will not assure that learning will occur. I
  • ...26 more annotations...
  • The challenge for instructors teaching online courses is to learn to use humor to create interesting and inviting virtual learning environments while minimizing any potential pitfalls of humor as an instructional device
  • e, the educational purpose of the humor is the most important consideration. As a pedagogical device, humor can promote various objectives, such as to increase student interest and attention, facilitate the student-teacher relationship, provide students with a “mental break,” or promote the understanding and retention of a concept. In contrast to humorists, who gauge success by laughter, educators measure the effectiveness of humor by how it promotes learning. Although humor can be used to increase students’ overall enjoyment of the online experience, most of the humor incorporated into an online course should serve an instructional purpos
  • simpler forms of humor that would “bomb” in a comedy venue, such as word-play (e.g., puns, oxymorons) and clever or witty observations, can be used successfully in online course
  • nstructors recognize that potentially offensive humor, such as sexist or racist jokes, is not appropriate (Perlman & McCann, 1998). The safest target is the instructor, because self-deprecating humor avoids offending or alienating others, and allows students to view the teacher as more “human.
  • several ways that instructors can enhance visual humor for the online environment
  • journals devoted to humorous research (e.g., Journal of Polymorphous Perversity, Annals of Improbable Research).
  • Visual humor is especially effective in online courses, and cartoons, illustrations, and photographs, can easily be integrated throughout the course
  • e, we strongly encourage instructors to consider the guidelines for pedagogical humor mentioned in the previous section. First, does the humor promote an educational objective? Second, will the students understand and appreciate the humor? Third, is the target of the humor appropriate for the course?
  • For this type of humor to be effective, the visual punch line needs to be hidden behind a hyperlink.
  • We strongly believe that integrating personal photographs or “home movies” into online instruction adds a more personalized and intimate feel to the often sterile nature of online courses
  • use an extra-credit activity called the “Contributing Editor” that requires students to locate potential sources of humor on any course topic.
  • For instructors who are comfortable using humor in course examinations, there are several approaches for adding humor to multiple-choice tests. First, an additional distracter (e.g., choice “e”), such as a joke at the expense of the instructor, can be added to select items. Second, names that appear in items can be reformatted by inserting the instructor's name or creating fictitious names. Third, a “final” item can be added with the setup “The test is over and you...” with funny distracters targeted to the students, instructor, or course. (See Berk, 2000 for additional strategies for infusing humor into multiple-choice examinations.)
  • the most suitable joke formulas for the online course are word-play and exaggeration. A word-play joke involves the modification of a word, clichés, definition, common phrase, or concept. Examples of word-play pedagogical humor include silly names, funny unit subtitles, oxymorons, and factitious definitions. Word-play is a relatively simple form of humor, and instructors should expect smirks (or moans) rather than big laughs. Also, word-play jokes will only be successful when instructors follow the principle of “knowing your audience” (i.e., students must recognize the word, concept, or phrase that is being reformatted or embellished).
  • The final step of humor writing is to edit the joke by following the four principles of “aggressive editing” (Sankey, 1998)
  • The placement and duration of humor used in online lecture modules are critical to the flow of instruction.
  • Humor can allow students a brief “mental break” from an online lecture, and instructors can use transitions to illustrate a concept with topic-related tangents or self-deprecating stories.
  • ules as an opportunity to use humorous personal examples and commentary to expand on previously discussed lecture topics. By clearly identifying the tangent, students recognize that the rant is separate from the lecture
  • For a more detailed explanation of the techniques and principles of humor writing, instructors can refer to various comedy writing books (e.g., Carter, 2001; Helitzer & Shatz, 2005).
  • course, we strongly encourage instru
  • course, we strongly encourage instru
  • luding funny quotes, jokes, and cartoons, and in this section, we identify resources for locating pedagogical humor. When deciding which material to use for the online course, we strongly encourage instructors to c
  • we strongly encourage instructors to consider the guidelines for pedagogical humor mentioned in the previous section. First, does the humor promote an educational objective? Second, will the students understand and appreciate the humor? Third, is the target of the humor appropriate for the course? The Internet is the best resource for pedagogical humor, and although any search using a discipline and “humor” as descriptors will yield numerous web sites, we recommend more narrowly focused searches (i.e., “humor” and a specific discipline topic). Additional resources for pedagogical humor include supplemental instructional materials provided by book publishers and journals devoted to humorous research (e.g., Journal of Polymorphous Perversity, Annals of Improbable Research). When using humor from other sources, instructors need to adhere to copyright considerations. Visual humor is especially effective in online courses, and cartoons, illustrations, and photographs, can easily be integrated throughout the course. Although visual humor is usually self-contained (i.e., a caption or the illustration delivers the punch line), there are several ways that instructors can enhance visual humor for the online environment. Visuals, such as photographs or illustrations, can be used as a punch line for a joke. For example, when discussing the difficulty of course examinations, the setup would be “And this is how students often feel after an exam…” with a photograph or cartoon of frighten individuals delivering the punch line. For this type of humor to be effective,
  • we strongly encourage instructors to consider the guidelines for pedagogical humor mentioned in the previous section. First, does the humor promote an educational objective? Second, will the students understand and appreciate the humor? Third, is the target of the humor appropriate for the course? The Internet is the best resource for pedagogical humor, and although any search using a discipline and “humor” as descriptors will yield numerous web sites, we recommend more narrowly focused searches (i.e., “humor” and a specific discipline topic). Additional resources for pedagogical humor include supplemental instructional materials provided by book publishers and journals devoted to humorous research (e.g., Journal of Polymorphous Perversity, Annals of Improbable Research). When using humor from other sources, instructors need to adhere to copyright considerations. Visual humor is especially effective in online courses, and cartoons, illustrations, and photographs, can easily be integrated throughout the course. Although visual humor is usually self-contained (i.e., a caption or the illustration delivers the punch line), there are several ways that instructors can enhance visual humor for the online environment. Visuals, such as photographs or illustrations, can be used as a punch line for a joke. For example, when discussing the difficulty of course examinations, the setup would be “And this is how students often feel after an exam…” with a photograph or cartoon of frighten individuals delivering the punch line. For this type of humor to be effective,
  • we strongly encourage instructors to consider the guidelines for pedagogical humor mentioned in the previous section. First, does the humor promote an educational objective? Second, will the students understand and appreciate the humor? Third, is the target of the humor appropriate for the course? The Internet is the best resource for pedagogical humor, and although any search using a discipline and “humor” as descriptors will yield numerous web sites, we recommend more narrowly focused searches (i.e., “humor” and a specific discipline topic). Additional resources for pedagogical humor include supplemental instructional materials provided by book publishers and journals devoted to humorous research (e.g., Journal of Polymorphous Perversity, Annals of Improbable Research). When using humor from other sources, instructors need to adhere to copyright considerations. Visual humor is especially effective in online courses, and cartoons, illustrations, and photographs, can easily be integrated throughout the course. Although visual humor is usually self-contained (i.e., a caption or the illustration delivers the punch line), there are several ways that instructors can enhance visual humor for the online environment. Visuals, such as photographs or illustrations, can be used as a punch line for a joke. For example, when discussing the difficulty of course examinations, the setup would be “And this is how students often feel after an exam…” with a photograph or cartoon of frighten individuals delivering the punch line. For this type of humor to be effective,
  • ll the students unders
  • A wide range of hum
  •  
    "The challenge for instructors teaching online courses is to learn to use humor to create interesting and inviting virtual learning environments while minimizing any potential pitfalls of humor as an instructional device. In a commentary noting the need for humor in online courses, James (2004) observed that "Because humor is one of the major traits of the best, most effective teachers, it is a characteristic that all teachers should want to hone, practice, and nurture, regardless of medium" "
  •  
    Thinking back to our conversation on humor. (I was only a lurker in that conversation, but maybe now I have time to revisit this idea). Hope this adds to your thoughts.
  •  
    explain how instructors can incorporate humor in an online course, the enhancement humor can bring, guidelines for locating, selecting, developing, and integrating humor into an online courses, and examples of humor in various online components.
3More

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
22More

Notes to Self - 1 views

  • I think if I could focus on a few people’s posts, I could make more quality contributions. 
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      i am kinda torn about the small group thing. i hate taking choice away - it seems to me that you can self select your own small groups. why don't you just do that? scan all the posts and then decide who you want to engage and then just pick them to interact with. Read all interact with a select few. In the discussion for this module (2) i have it split into several discussions. i am wondering if splitting it by topic like that will feel different to you. Let me know. ok? I have toyed with the idea of reducing the number of posts required... and just doubling your score on them. what would you think about that? i have never had so many people in the course. It is designed for a more intimate number of students. I am trying to come up with ways make my work more efficient yet still intimate, personal and effective. Work in progress. i am learnking too. : )
    • Lisa Martin
       
      Alex - Seeing that module 2 was split into several discussions was a HUGE relief to me! It seems much less overwhelming and easier to be organized :-)
    • Tina Bianchi
       
      Now that some more time has passed, I actually have done what you're suggesting here...reaking all and interacting with a select few. With this approach, it became more manageable. I haven't done my first post for module 2 yet (just finished the readings) but I do think the split into several discussions will make a huge difference. I can only imagine the work you have cut out by having read/rate ALL THESE POSTS! It seems overwhelming, and I am considering the implications of it as I think about designing my course. Thanks for the feedback!
  • We could still have been required to complete the same number of posts, but perhaps had fewer count toward our grade on this first run.  I
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      hmmm. i don't count them all. the first couple with my feedback are the grace period... "if i were to rate this it would be a ..."
    • Tina Bianchi
       
      I understand what you're saying here...I don't know what I missed and where I missed it, but I "assumed" (there's that pesky word again!) that all posts, beginning with the initial introduction, would be rated. I did fewer posts than I should have considering this. There were a few (though admittedly not of high quality as they were early in the Module and I hadn't yet gotten the hang of things) that weren't scored, so what I thought my score would be for discussion in the first module was not even close to my actual score. Live and learn...
  • BOY, WAS I WRONG!
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      : ) welcome to social learning!
  • ...10 more annotations...
  • As we continue to interact with content and then share that learning with each other, we construct our own meanings and apply what we’re learning in a variety of contexts.
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      E U R E A K A !!! brilliant!! : )
  • is imperative that I stop thinking about how to transform my F2F materials to suit the online environment.
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      it is impossible to duplicate the f2f environment online. to try to do so is folly. you must reconceptualize. you have to leverage the options and mitigate the limitations of any environment in which you teach.
  • I hit “Publish” only to find half of my post showed up and no way to retrieve what was lost.  Therefore:
  • I am very interested in the hyper-content design. I like the idea that with this model, students determine the order of their own learning activities. In this model, there may be a few things that could be tricky; for example, setting up group activities might be left to the students to manage since they wouldn’t all be completing the same activities at the same time.
    • Lisa Martin
       
      I've been thinking the same things about this model. I think it's so hard for me to envision because of my lack of experience with it. I also have a hard time applying some of the things we've learned in this course to that design.
  • Whatever it takes.
  • Yet, as I continued reading I realized that my grasp of the content was continuing to evolve.  I feel that I have a deeper awareness of what teaching presence looks like, not only in an online course but also in a traditional classroom, as well.
  • Perhaps it’s time I move from measuring in coffee spoons to taking in the big picture.
    • Maria Guadron
       
      Love your "How To" section! Can't wait to see your screencasts.
  • Even though the course won’t start until January, I know it’ll be here before I know it.
  • has led to me a realization–the course I’ve created will never (and should never) be finished!  It makes sense.  I never teach the same lesson twice in exactly the same way, so it should go without saying that every time I look at this course and eventually start using it, I will continue to add, remove, and change what’s there.
11More

Social media - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 0 views

  • The honeycomb framework defines how social media services focus on some or all of seven functional building blocks (identity, conversations, sharing, presence, relationships, reputation, and groups).
  • By applying a set of theories in the field of media research (social presence, media richness) and social processes (self-presentation, self-disclosure) Kaplan and Haenlein created a classification scheme for different social media types in their Business Horizons article published in 2010. According to Kaplan and Haenlein there are six different types of social media: collaborative projects (e.g., Wikipedia), blogs and microblogs (e.g., Twitter), content communities (e.g., YouTube), social networking sites (e.g., Facebook), virtual game worlds (e.g., World of Warcraft), and virtual social worlds (e.g. Second Life). Technologies include: blogs, picture-sharing, vlogs, wall-postings, email, instant messaging, music-sharing, crowdsourcing and voice over IP, to name a few. Many of these social media services can be integrated via social network aggregation platforms. Social media network websites include sites like Facebook, Twitter, Bebo and MySpace.
  • he authors explain that each of the seven functional building blocks has important implications for how firms should engage with social media. By analyzing identity, conversations, sharing, presence, relationships, reputation, and groups, firms can monitor and understand how social media activities vary in terms of their function and impact, so as to develop a congruent social media strategy based on the appropriate balance of building blocks for their community.[2]
  • ...6 more annotations...
  • one of the foundational concepts in social media has become that you cannot completely control your message through social media but rather you can simply begin to participate in the "conversation" expecting that you can achieve a significant influence in that conversation.[7]
  • Several colleges have even introduced classes on best social media practices, preparing students for potential careers as digital strategists.[
  • Out of this anarchy, it suddenly became clear that what was governing the infinite monkeys now inputting away on the Internet was the law of digital Darwinism, the survival of the loudest and most opinionated. Under these rules, the only way to intellectually prevail is by infinite filibustering."[34]
  • social media in the form of public diplomacy creates a patina of inclusiveness that covers traditional economic interests that are structured to ensure that wealth is pumped up to the top of the economic pyramid, perpetuating the digital divide and post Marxian class conflict.
  • He also speculates on the emergence of "anti-social media" used as "instruments of pure control".[36]
  • Social networking now accounts for 22% of all time spent online in the US.[15] A total of 234 million people age 13 and older in the U.S. used mobile devices in December 2009.[16] Twitter processed more than one billion tweets in December 2009 and averages almost 40 million tweets per day.[16] Over 25% of U.S. internet page views occurred at one of the top social networking sites in December 2009, up from 13.8% a year before.[16] Australia has some of the highest social media usage in the world. In usage of Facebook, Australia ranks highest, with over 9 million users spending almost 9 hours per month on the site.[17][18] The number of social media users age 65 and older grew 100 percent throughout 2010, so that one in four people in that age group are now part of a social networking site.[19] As of June 2011[update] Facebook has 750 Million users.[20] Facebook tops Google for weekly traffic in the U.S.[21] Social Media has overtaken pornography as the No. 1 activity on the web.[21] iPhone applications hit 1 billion in 9 months, and Facebook added 100 million users in less than 9 months.[21] If Facebook were a country it would be the world's 3rd largest in terms of population, that's above the US. U.S. Department of Education study revealed that online students out performed those receiving face-to-face instruction.[21] YouTube is the 2nd largest search engine in the world.[21] In four minutes and 26 seconds 100+ hours of video will be uploaded to YouTube.[21] 1 out of 8 couples married in the U.S. last year met via social media.[21] 1 in 6 higher education students are enrolled in online curriculum.[21]
    • Irene Watts-Politza
       
      These are stats in "Did You Know?"
  •  
    An impressive listing of social media sites with links
3More

Fearless Writing (a book by Tom Romano) - 2 views

  •  
    This link will take you to the opening chapter of Tom Romano's latest book about multi-genre papers. Romano has been working on this concept for close to two decades. It branches off Gardner's work on multiple intelligences, which Samantha wrote about on the Module 1 discussion board. I believe that we need to rethink what an academic paper "should" look like. Are we teaching an outdated model?
  •  
    Rhonda, I started reading Fearless Writing with this link you provided and if I had nothing else to do today I would curl up and just read it. This is a topic that I have been thinking about whie taking these ETAP classes that there needs to be a paradigm shift in letting people just write. As a writer, of sorts at least I have published a book, I write best with editing a thousand times as the writing becomes better targeted. However, one can notice in our online discussions how some students do not write much, or do not write from the soul of self, the creativity with the science and theories to figure out how to remember and apply what we learn. During the years I was writing my book, I discovered that when I played the piano or figured out some 1700 Spanish classical guitar piece..I could write easily. It was like food for the writing. Now days I have that music in my head whenever write like right now there's a tune being built with the pace of tapping the keys. This process is what we need to let flourish when student have their dance of art, music, and other types of deigns in the Mind that form pathways to help us learn.
  •  
    Thanks for the comment. I haven't done much with multigenre papers since getting the teacher certification, but I do think it's an area that needs more exploring. Romano focuses mostly on the high school population but I see no reason why these ideas can't be pulled up into an expository writing course. Yes, college students need to know how to do the basic research, citation, and so on, but they also need to know how to CREATE, how to enjoy words for words' sake rather than putting words on the page to fulfill a grading formula. Again, call me a Luddite if you will but I fear that as these web tools grow more sophisticated, we are losing our grip on the simple pleasure of the written word...
1 - 6 of 6
Showing 20 items per page