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There are growing expectations among college students to be able to access and manage their course materials over the World Wide Web. In its early days, faculty would create web pages by hand for posting this information. As Internet technologies and access have matured over the past decade, course and learning management systems such as Blackboard and Web CT have become the norm for distributing such materials. In today's Web 2.0 world, wikis have emerged as a tool that may complement or replace the use of traditional course management systems as a tool for disseminating course information. Because of a wiki's collaborative nature, its use also allows students to participate in the process of course management, information sharing, and content creation. Using examples from an information technology classroom, this paper describes several ways to structure and use a wiki as a course management tool, and shares results of a student survey on the effectiveness of such an approach on student learning.\n\nKeywords: Wiki, Course Management, Collaboration, Web 2.0, Content Creation, Student Learning.

Frustrated With Corporate Course-Management Systems, Some Professors Go 'Edupunk' A group of tech-savvy professors are claiming punk music as inspiration for their approach to teaching. They call their approach Edupunk. Punk rock was a rebellion against the clean, predictable sound of popular music and it also encouraged a do-it-yourself attitude. Edupunk seems to be a reaction against the rise of course-managements systems, which offer cookie-cutter tools that can make every course Web site look the same.

Assessing How Students Learn Bill Cerbin In higher education the dominant mode of assessment is to measure what students have learned in a course or program. By measuring what students learn educators can monitor student progress, determine learning gaps and gains, and document achievement. But measuring what students learn is of limited use if our goal is to improve their future performance. It is akin to taking a person's temperature. You may learn the individual has a fever but the measurement produces no insight into the cause. Suppose we find that students score in the 60th percentile on a standardized test or that half the students in a course have significant writing problems. What should we do to improve future performance? Unfortunately, the assessment data provide little direction. The result is a kind of guesswork by which we consider alternative teaching practices or programs without understanding how or why they would work better than standard approaches.

Some general comments on the "Twitter Experiment" by Monica Rankin (UT Dallas) There has been a lot of interest in the "Twitter Experiment" video posted by Kim Smith chronicling my U.S. History class at U.T. Dallas and our use of twitter in the classroom. I have fielded a number of inquiries from educators across the United States and even overseas who are interested in finding ways to use social networking in an educational setting. This write-up is intended as an informal summary of my use of twitter in the classroom. I hope it will help to clarify my experience and I welcome additional questions and commentary, particularly suggestions for how to improve this type of classroom interaction. The class: I used twitter in the basic U.S. History II survey course at U.T. Dallas in the spring 2009 semester. This is a "core" course requirement in the state of Texas. It generally enrolls students from all majors across campus. At the beginning of the semester, there were 90 students enrolled in my class. The class met in a large auditorium-style classroom on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 11:30-12:20. I had one graduate student teaching assistant to help with grading and other administrative duties for the class.

CSALT What is CSALT? CSALT is the Centre for Studies in Advanced Learning Technology. Established in 1992 the Centre for Studies in Advanced Learning Technology (CSALT) at Lancaster University is one of Europe's leading academic research groups in the field of technology enhanced learning (TEL) applied to adult education and training. The Centre carries out basic and applied research with an emphasis on the development of theory that can be used in real settings. Its members are also closely involved in the education and professional development of workers in the e-learning industry, and in consultancy. Our research has a strong focus on adult education especially in higher education and industrial contexts. Our interest is not in the technology per se, but in the social, psychological and organisational issues which are thrown into sharp relief during the design and introduction of new technology-enhanced learning environments. CSALT: * is focused on research into networked learning and the design of advanced learning technology(ALT), * is made up of staff with expertise in eg, online tutoring, computer supported collaborative learning, cognitive psychology, design of learning technology and simulation based training, * runs an innovative Doctoral distance learning programme on the design and use of technology enhanced learning * develops course designs that support e-groups and communities, * is based in the RAE grade 5 Department of Educational Research at Lancaster University, UK. This site reflects primarily the interests of CSALT in the Department of Educational Research. Other members of the university wide CSALT are part of the Department of Management Learning, in particular the Networked Management Learning research group and the Learning Technology Group.

The Meyer and Land Threshold Concept "The idea of threshold concepts emerged from a UK national research project into the possible characteristics of strong teaching and learning environments in the disciplines for undergraduate education (Enhancing Teaching−Learning Environments in Undergraduate Courses). In pursuing this research in the field of economics, it became clear to Erik Meyer and Ray Land [1−6, 7−12], that certain concepts were held by economists to be central to the mastery of their subject. These concepts, Meyer and Land argued, could be described as 'threshold' ones because they have certain features in common." Glynis Cousin, An introduction to threshold concepts Over the past five years this concept has been embraced by many disciplines outside economics; indeed the above quote is from Glynis Cousin's excellent short introduction to the concept written for earth scientists. The threshold concept has been seen as a valuable tool, not only in facilitating students' understanding of their subject, but in aiding the rational development of curricula in rapidly expanding arenas where there is a strong tendency to overload the curriculum (Cousin, [1, 13]). This web page will describe, briefly, the characteristics of a threshold concept and list selecteted references to the work of those examining its value in the engineering and computer sciences, the physical and biological sciences, economics, accountancy, mathematics and statistics.

Purpose of the Experience\n\nInnovation continues to occur on the internet at an extremely lively\npace. What was once the realm of email, FTP, Gopher, and the Web is\nbarely recognizable a mere 10 years later. Keeping up with the speed of\ninnovation and maintaining a familiarity with the most recent tools and\ncapabilities is handy in some professions and absolutely critical in\nothers. This course is designed to help you understand and effectively\nuse a variety of "web 2.0″ technologies including blogs, RSS, wikis,\nsocial bookmarking tools, photo sharing tools, mapping tools, audio and\nvideo podcasts, and screencasts.

What is Constructive Alignment? Constructive Alignment, a term coined by John Biggs (Biggs, 1999) is one of the most influential ideas in higher education. It is the underpinning concept behind the current requirements for programme specification, declarations of Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs) and assessment criteria, and the use of criterion based assessment. There are two parts to constructive alignment: * Students construct meaning from what they do to learn. * The teacher aligns the planned learning activities with the learning outcomes. The basic premise of the whole system is that the curriculum is designed so that the learning activities and assessment tasks are aligned with the learning outcomes that are intended in the course. This means that the system is consistent.

Position paper on assessment ASKe's position paper on assessment sets out ASKe's views on the current state of assessment in the higher education sector as a whole, and in Brookes in particular. It draws on the generic literature, studies conducted at Brookes, and the detailed knowledge and experience of the ASKe team. From all this data, the paper seeks to distil key issues and sets out the premises which underpin ASKe's analysis. It also proposes a range of ideas and actions. The overall aim of the paper is to support Brookes in addressing assessment issues and to assist in plans for future development. The paper is currently being considered within Brookes and in due course the ASKe team plans to produce a version of the paper that will be suitable for journal publication.

Constructive alignment Constructive alignment of learning outcomes to assessment methods The following resources are available: Overview paper Professor Mike Osborne, University of Stirling and Workshop Director Report on the event and areas for future development and enhancement Professor Mike Osborne Keynote address: Aligning assessment with long-term learning needs Professor David Boud, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia Powerpoint slides | PDF version Case study 1: Assessment on the TQFE program- a case study of constructive alignment Dr Iddo Oberski, University of Stirling Powerpoint slides | PDF version Draft paper - Word version | PDF version Keynote address: Developing aligned courses Sue Drew, Sheffield Hallam University Powerpoint slides | PDF version Draft paper - Word version | PDF version

Unlocking Knowledge, Empowering Minds. "My life is in teaching. To have a chance to do that with a world audience is just wonderful." * Gilbert Strang MIT Mathematics professor United States Read more Free lecture notes, exams, and videos from MIT. No registration required.

Unlocking Knowledge, Empowering Minds. "My life is in teaching. To have a chance to do that with a world audience is just wonderful." * Gilbert Strang MIT Mathematics professor United States Read more Free lecture notes, exams, and videos from MIT. No registration required.

Introduction: Many of the courses at UAL require you to produce sketchbooks and engage in reflective writing. You can use this site to develop your ideas about these practices by: * Listening to staff and students talk about their approaches * Reading short guidelines in a variety of formats * Viewing examples Both sketchbooks and reflective writing provide evidence of how your work has evolved. Remember that they are not always separate entities: some reflective learning journals contain visuals, while many sketchbooks include reflective writing.

Last week I went to the annual conference of the Practice based Professional learning unit at the Open University; mainly to see David Boud, whose research I've quoted from extensively in my work on reflective practice and experiential learning. David's paper was on assessment, experience and reflection, and was very provocative and challenging in terms of his interpretation of the role of assessment. He posed a simple question to the audience: 'If we were going to modify assessment as if making a contribution to their ability to learn after their course rather than during it was the primary need, how would it be different?' His focus was then on how to reshape assessment policies so that their main intention was to help the learner build their capacity for self and peer judgment to further their lifelong learning.