Group items matching

in title, tags, annotations or url

it is concrete, born before me with a structure and a real plan

h-ha moments are coming regularly now. The challenge is now enjoyable.

The a

. 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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

These ideas are the modern theories in action,  of the students new role in the classroom, whether online or f2f. Professor's have said in the past "this is our class", but these ideas I have mentioned are really creating an "our class" type of atmosphere where the teacher and students are more equal participants in the learning process than the traditional model of the teacher being the boss, and the student being the subordinate.

Randy Pausch

This also shows the teacher asking the student to be an active participant in their own learning,

letting the student do the heavy lifitng. Professor Pickett told me that it is a hard concept to implement as a teacher and I am seeing that.

I am so glad I took this class. I learned so much, I feel so much more confident in my job as an instructional designer, and I feel more confident to take my skills to a new job envirnment. ANYONE HIRING OUT THERE?

I learned about some really important concepts for teaching online, like; -supply the students with a lot of information, module overviews, due dates, contact info, detailed explanation of how to complete assignments, rubric describing what type of work constitutes a Grade of A, B, C etc, -show your teacher presence in the course, by answering questions fairly quickly, posting in the discussion to guide, engage, provoke the student to do more research, asking for student input and using it, -Let the students do as much as possible instead of giving them everything ona silver platter. -Let students play the role of teacher in some of their assignments

After the first two weeks of this course, the first module, I learned so much, and grew so much more confident in my ability to work with faculty developing online courses.

"We've seen nearly a 10 percent improvement in TAKS pass rates in just two years, as well as an 11 percent increase in math scores on the junior high campus," says Franklin. "These improvements show that the kids are more involved in the learning process. And I believe their increased involvement is directly attributable to the fact that they can interact with the information that is being presented to them on the SMART Boards."

Yochai Benkler, author of The Wealth of Networks, tells us we respond to the culture differently when we see it through the eyes of a participant rather than a consumer

And it is this participatory culture which has been facilitated by the new digital media in a way that stretches far beyond the imagination of previous generations.

When we are talking about the internet, we are talking about all of the activities we perform through this new information infrastructure and the mindset which emerges through our ongoing engagement and participation in the great public conversation that emerges through it.

Beyond the individual medium there is a media ecology -- all of the different kinds of communications systems which surround us and through which we live our everyday lives

and they have opened up a space where all of us can be welcomed as potential participants

All of the research shows that the communities of practice which grow up around this participatory culture are powerful sites of pedagogy, fueled by passion and curiosity and by a desire to share what we learn and think with others.

Pierre Levy tells us that in a networked society, nobody knows everything

everybody knows something

and what any given member of the community knows is available to the group as a whole as needed.

We are evolving towards this much more robust information system where groups working together can solve problems that are far more complex than can be confronted by individuals

Right now, schools are often using group work but not in ways which encourage real collaboration or shared expertise -- in part because they still assume a world where every student knows everything rather than one where different kinds of knowledge come together towards shared ends.

You wouldn't consider someone literate if they could read but not write text and we shouldn't consider someone literate if they can consume but not produce media

One of the key arguments we are making is that the role of educators needs to shift away from being expert in a particular area of knowledge, to becoming expert in the ability to create and shape new learning environments. In

You get to see students learn, discover, explore, play, and develop, which is the primary reason

We take it as a truism that kids learn about the world through play.

known that at that age, play and learning are indistinguishable. The premise of A New Culture of Learning is grounded in the idea that we are now living in a world of constant change and flux, which means that more often than not, we are faced with the same problem that vexes children. How do I make sense of this strange, changing, amazing world? By returning to play as a modality of learning, we can see how a world in constant flux is no longer a challenge or hurdle to overcome; it becomes a limitless resource to engage, stimulate, and cultivate the imagination. Our argument brings to the fore the old aphorism "imagination is more important than knowledge." In a networked world, information is always available and getting easier and easier to access. Imagination, what you actually do with that information, is the new challenge

users are not so much creating content as they are constantly reshaping context

how we learn is more important than what we learn.

A good strategy for developing a supportive online course community is to design a course with a balanced set of dialogues. This means designing a course so that the three dialogues of faculty to student, student to student and student to resource are about equal. In most online courses, the dialogue of faculty to student is provided with (1) mini-lectures in text or video or audio podcasts, (2) weekly coaching and reminder announcements and (3) explanations/interactions with the students.

Online learning is just as intensive as learning face-to-face, and time to do the work needs to be scheduled and planned for, just as if one were attending face-to-face classes. Being clear as to how much effort and time will be required on a weekly basis keeps surprises to a minimum.

Early feedback surveys or just informal discussions ask students to provide feedback on what is working well in a course and what might help them have a better course experience. This early feedback is done early in the course so corrections and modifications can be made. It is an easy opening for students who might have comments or suggestions or questions.

Quick One-Liner Hints Create open-ended questions that learners can explore and apply the concepts that they are learning Model good Socratic-type probing and follow-up questions. Why do you think that? What is your reasoning? Is there an alternative strategy? Ask clarifying questions that encourage students to think about what they know and don't know. Stagger due dates of the responses and consider mid-point summary and /or encouraging comments Provide guidelines and instruction on responding to other students. For example, suggest a two-part response: (1) what you liked or agreed with or what resonated with you, and (2) a follow-up question such as what you are wondering about or curious about, etc.

As courses come to a close, it is easy to forget the value of a good closing experience. In the final weeks of a course, students are likely to be stressed and not take the time to do the lists and the planning that can help reduce stress and provide a calming atmosphere. A favorite image of mine is from David Allen of Getting Things Done. Allen notes that making a list helps us to clear the "psychic ram" of our brains and we feel more relaxed and more in control. Once we have made our list and schedule, we don't have to continually remind ourselves of what needs to be done and when. Here are a few hints for closing out a course experience with style and panache. Take time to remind students of what's next and when assignments and readings are due. Announcements of this type provide a "To Do" list and schedule for the learners. And by implication this list provides a helpful "To Do" list and schedule for you. As always, it is good to post reminders and make references to the planning list in your comments. And update as you go. Plan the ending of the course experience. A well-designed ending of a course provides opportunities for reflection and integration of useful knowledge. It is also a time to wrap up positive social and cognitive experiences.

How is the learner supporting the community of learners and contributing to the overall growth of the group? We have much to learn about teaching and learning and specifically about teaching online. The good news is that in 2011 we now know much more than what we did in 1990 or even 2000. The list of references that follow are starting points for both general teaching and for teaching online.

stand out.

choose options that broaden your

personal interests a

employers tend

to prefer applicants who

responsible roles

led projects.

work experience

challenges

problem-solving skills

confident in communicating

et on well w

creative thinkers

finding solutions

ctives,

incorporating reflections into the classroom is an important opportunity to increase depth of learning in the classroom. This study adds to this growing body of literature by presenting a new method for collecting and assessing reflections to make this incorporation more feasible

to deeper thinking (Short & Rinehart, 1993

Retention and transfer of learning are two variables related to knowledge, and their relationship to reflections should be studied explicitly rather than inferred from correlates (e.g., the relationship between reflection depth and GPA)