Key assumption: teacher effectiveness is the key variable; more good teachers will improve student achievement
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Tom Vander Ark: How Social Networking Will Transform Learning - 2 views
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I'm betting on social learning platforms as a lever for improvement at scale in education. Instead of a classroom as the primary organizing principle, social networks will become the primary building block of learning communities (both formal and informal). Smart recommendation engines will queue personalized content. Tutoring, training, and collaboration tools will be applications that run on social networks. New schools will be formed around these capabilities. Teachers in existing schools will adopt free tools yielding viral, bureaucracy-cutting productivity improvement.
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I just Diigoed UrgentEvoke.com (a game) and Jumo.com a new social site, each targeted at working on big, real-world problems.
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Vander Ark was the first Executive Director for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. From his post: "There are plenty of theories about how to improve education. Most focus on what appear to be big levers--a point of entry and system intervention that appears to provide some improvement leverage. These theories usually involve 'if-then' statements: 'if we improve this, then other good stuff will happen.'" "One problem not addressed by these theories is the lack of innovation diffusion in education--a good idea won't cross the street. Weak improvement incentives and strong bureaucracy have created a lousy marketplace for products and ideas." "Key assumption: teacher effectiveness is the key variable; more good teachers will improve student achievement" "I'm betting on social learning platforms as a lever for improvement at scale in education. Instead of a classroom as the primary organizing principle, social networks will become the primary building block of learning communities (both formal and informal). Smart recommendation engines will queue personalized content. Tutoring, training, and collaboration tools will be applications that run on social networks. New schools will be formed around these capabilities. Teachers in existing schools will adopt free tools yielding viral, bureaucracy-cutting productivity improvement." -
"Key assumption: teacher effectiveness is the key variable; more good teachers will improve student achievement" Vander Ark was the first Executive Director for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. From his post:"There are plenty of theories about how to improve education. Most focus on what appear to be big levers--a point of entry and system intervention that appears to provide some improvement leverage. These theories usually involve 'if-then' statements: 'if we improve this, then other good stuff will happen.'" "One problem not addressed by these theories is the lack of innovation diffusion in education--a good idea won't cross the street. Weak improvement incentives and strong bureaucracy have created a lousy marketplace for products and ideas." "I'm betting on social learning platforms as a lever for improvement at scale in education. Instead of a classroom as the primary organizing principle, social networks will become the primary building block of learning communities (both formal and informal). Smart recommendation engines will queue personalized content. Tutoring, training, and collaboration tools will be applications that run on social networks. New schools will be formed around these capabilities. Teachers in existing schools will adopt free tools yielding viral, bureaucracy-cutting productivity improvement."\n\n\n
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Blackboard Press Releases - 1 views
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"Blackboard Inc. (Nasdaq: BBBB) announced the launch of a native application for BlackBerry(R) mobile devices, debuting at the University of Washington this week, as part of the new Blackboard Mobile(TM) platform which is being leveraged by a growing number of campuses and K-12 schools to deliver a rich set of campus life services and content to mobile devices. The BlackBerry application enables many more users to enjoy an enhanced experience while navigating course catalogs and campus maps, e-mailing professors and classmates and receiving real time updates on course schedules, campus events, news and sports with Mobile Central (formerly MobilEdu(TM)), Blackboard Mobile's flagship suite of applications. Originally optimized for users of Apple(R) iPhone(R) and iPod Touch(R) devices, the best Mobile Central experience is now available to users of BlackBerry devices. The suite is also generally accessible to users of any smart phone or mobile Web enabled device. "This new platform allows us to easily reach our students, faculty and staff around the clock and deliver information whenever and wherever they want it, which increasingly is on mobile devices like the BlackBerry and iPhone," said David Morton, Director of Mobile Communication Strategies at the University of Washington (UW). "As a modern, global university, UW committed to embracing mobile communications and is pleased to be the launch institution for the BlackBerry initiative." "
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Response to critiques of Open Course Educause article and the free economy generally @ ... - 1 views
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what is the difference between the MOOC model and the commodity model.
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And what is the difference between a Massively Open Online Course and a community exploring a shared problem? There is a time factor (perhaps) but communities may run hot and fast. There is a leadership role (perhaps) but a community could galvanize around a leader for its work. There is an institution and a tie to the historical other meanings of course.
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Earlier this year, while George Siemens and I were working our way through teaching the Edfutures course, we were contacted by the fine folks at the Educause review and asked to contribute an article on ‘the open course.
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see http://www.educause.edu/EDUCAUSE+Review/EDUCAUSEReviewMagazineVolume45/NeverMindtheEdupunksorTheGreat/209326 MOOC below refers (I think) to Massively Open Online Course
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Through the Open Door: Open Courses as Research, Learning, and Engagement (EDUCAUSE Rev... - 0 views
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openness in practice requires little additional investment, since it essentially concerns transparency of already planned course activities on the part of the educator.
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Search YouTube for "master class" Theron and I are looking at violin examples. The class is happening with student, master, and observers. What is added is video recording and posting to YouTube. YouTube provides additional community via comments and linked videos.
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This second group of learners — those who wanted to participate but weren't interested in course credit — numbered over 2,300. The addition of these learners significantly enhanced the course experience, since additional conversations and readings extended the contributions of the instructors.
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These additional resources might also include peer reviews using a course rubric, or diverse feedback on the rubric itself.
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Enough structure is provided by the course that if a learner is interested in the topic, he or she can build sufficient language and expertise to participate peripherally or directly.
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Although courses are under pressure in the "unbundling" or fragmentation of information in general, the learning process requires coherence in content and conversations. Learners need some sense of what they are choosing to do, a sense of eventedness.5 Even in traditional courses, learners must engage in a process of forming coherent views of a topic.
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An assumption here that the learner needs kick starting. Its an assumtion that the learner is not a Margo Tamez making an Urgent Call for Help where the learner owns the problem. Is it a way of inviting a community to a party?
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The community-as-curriculum model inverts the position of curriculum: rather than being a prerequisite for a course, curriculum becomes an output of a course.
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They are now able, sometimes through the open access noted above and sometimes through access to other materials and guidance, to engage in their own learning outside of a classroom structure.
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A key point is the creation of open learners. Impediments to open learners need to be understood and overcome. Identity mangement is likely to be an important skill here.
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Educators continue to play an important role in facilitating interaction, sharing information and resources, challenging assertions, and contributing to learners' growth of knowledge.
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Community Colleges Must Focus on Quality of Learning, Report Says - Students - The Chro... - 0 views
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Over all, 67 percent of community-college students said their coursework often involved analyzing the basic elements of an idea, experience, or theory; 59 percent said they frequently synthesized ideas, information, and experiences in new ways. Other averages were lower: 56 percent of students, for example, reported being regularly asked to examine the strengths or weaknesses of their own views on a topic. And just 52 percent of students said they often had to make judgments about the value or soundness of information as part of their academic work.
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one wonders, who is the stakeholder that commissioned this assessment and thinks these are important -- looks like the CITR might be underlying their thinking.
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In Many States, Public Higher Education Is Hitting a Point of 'Peril' - Government - Th... - 0 views
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Nevada universities are preparing to close colleges, departments, and programs; demoralized professors are fleeing the state; and thousands of students are being shut out of classes at community colleges. The prospect of shutting down an entire institution remains a "distinct possibility" for the future, the chancellor says.
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the resiliency of public financial support for American higher education is threatened, putting quality, capacity, and the underlying ability to meet student and societal needs at risk
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"Higher education is changing by virtue of 1,000 painful cuts," said Stephen R. Portch, a former chancellor of the University System of Georgia. If public colleges cannot revamp their structures—such as by creating ways to measure learning more effectively and allowing capable students to earn degrees more quickly—state tax systems will continue to limit spending on colleges in ways that will erode quality, Mr. Portch said, leaving faculty members to teach more and more students and take more and more unpaid furlough days, alongside fewer and fewer colleagues. "Business isn't coming back to normal this time," he says.
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Nevada universities are preparing to close colleges, departments, and programs; demoralized professors are fleeing the state; and thousands of students are being shut out of classes at community colleges. The prospect of shutting down an entire institution remains a "distinct possibility" for the future, the chancellor says. The resiliency of public financial support for American higher education is threatened, putting quality, capacity, and the underlying ability to meet student and societal needs at risk. -
Washington is not the hardest-hit state. Our work can be seen as having a direct bearing on this crisis.
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Accountability Effort for Community Colleges Pushes Forward, and Other Meeting Notes - ... - 1 views
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A project led by the American Association of Community Colleges to develop common, voluntary standards of accountability for two-year institutions is moving forward, and specific performance measures are being developed, an official at the association said.
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financed by the Lumina Foundation for Education and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, is now its second phase
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The project's advocates have begun pushing a public-relations campaign to build support for the accountability effort among colleges.
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common reporting formats and measures that are appropriate to their institutions
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Mr. Phillippe said one area of college performance the voluntary accountability system will measure is student persistence and completion, including retention and transfer rates. Student progress toward completion may also be measured by tracking how many students reach certain credit milestones. Other areas that will be measured include colleges' contributions to the work force and economic and community development.
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P2PU - Peer 2 Peer University / FrontPage - 0 views
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The Peer 2 Peer University (P2PU) is an online community of open study groups for short university-level courses. Think of it as online book clubs for open educational resources. The P2PU helps you navigate the wealth of open education materials that are out there, creates small groups of motivated learners, and supports the design and facilitation of courses. Students and tutors get recognition for their work, and we are building pathways to formal credit as well.
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"The Peer 2 Peer University (P2PU) is an online community of open study groups for short university-level courses. Think of it as online book clubs for open educational resources. The P2PU helps you navigate the wealth of open education materials that are out there, creates small groups of motivated learners, and supports the design and facilitation of courses. Students and tutors get recognition for their work, and weare building pathways to formal credit as well."
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University of the people - 0 views
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One vision for the school of the future comes from the United Nations. Founded this year by the UN’s Global Alliance for Information and Communication Technology and Development (GAID), the University of the People is a not-for-profit institution that aims to offer higher education opportunities to people who generally couldn’t afford it by leveraging social media technologies and ideas. The school is a one hundred percent online institution, and utilizes open source courseware and peer-to-peer learning to deliver information to students without charging tuition. There are some costs, however. Students must pay an application fee (though the idea is to accept everyone who applies that has a high school diploma and speaks English), and when they’re ready, students must pay to take tests, which they are required to pass in order to continue their education. All fees are set on a sliding scale based on the student’s country of origin, and never exceed $100.
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"One vision for the school of the future comes from the United Nations. Founded this year by the UN's Global Alliance for Information and Communication Technology and Development (GAID), the University of the People is a not-for-profit institution that aims to offer higher education opportunities to people who generally couldn't afford it by leveraging social media technologies and ideas. All fees are set on a sliding scale based on the student's country of origin, and never exceed $100. "
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News: 'The World Is Open' - Inside Higher Ed - 1 views
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Perhaps there is a need to adopt the approach of Western Governors University and certify or grant credit to individuals based on skills that they have obtained. Or perhaps there is a need for facilitators or guides to walk one through this free and open content when and where needed. Peer-to-Peer University and the University of the People have sprung up in 2009 to apparently address this very issue. The world community will be curious to see the results.
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From the interview: "Perhaps there is a need to adopt the approach of Western Governors University and certify or grant credit to individuals based on skills that they have obtained. Or perhaps there is a need for facilitators or guides to walk one through this free and open content when and where needed. Peer-to-Peer University and the University of the People have sprung up in 2009 to apparently address this very issue. The world community will be curious to see the results."
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Google Wave: A Complete Guide - 0 views
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To make sense of it all, we have compiled key information, definitions, and links related to the launch of Google Wave. This in-depth guide provides an overview of Google Wave, discusses the terminology associated with it, details information on Google Wave applications
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You can define a robots behavior in the google wave chat... From Mashable: "Robots are the other type of Google Wave extension. Robots are like having another person within a Google Wave conversation, except that they're automated. They're a lot like the old IM bots of the past, although far more robust. Robots can modify information in waves, interact with users, communicate with others waves, and pull information from outside sources. Because it acts like a user, you can define its behavior based on what happens in the chat. You could build one as simple as "change the word dog to the word cat" or one as complex as a fully-functional debugger. We'll probably start seeming some very advanced robots in the near future."
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You can define a robots behavior in the google wave chat... hmmm... From Mashable: "Robots are the other type of Google Wave extension. Robots are like having another person within a Google Wave conversation, except that they're automated. They're a lot like the old IM bots of the past, although far more robust. Robots can modify information in waves, interact with users, communicate with others waves, and pull information from outside sources. Because it acts like a user, you can define its behavior based on what happens in the chat. You could build one as simple as "change the word dog to the word cat" or one as complex as a fully-functional debugger. We'll probably start seeming some very advanced robots in the near future."
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shared by Nils Peterson on 30 Apr 09
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Pandemic flu, school closing and community learning « Community-based learning - 0 views
communitylearning.wordpress.com/...closing-and-community-learning
obama pandemic flu CDC LMS learning 2.0 learning_community
shared by Nils Peterson on 30 Apr 09
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Pandemic flu could lead to school closing. To avoid financial ruin by having to return tuition universities might consider trying to move online. There is a way to implement this movement, but not with the traditional course management system.
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Matthew Lombard - 0 views
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Which measure(s) of intercoder reliability should researchers use? [TOP] There are literally dozens of different measures, or indices, of intercoder reliability. Popping (1988) identified 39 different "agreement indices" for coding nominal categories, which excludes several techniques for interval and ratio level data. But only a handful of techniques are widely used. In communication the most widely used indices are: Percent agreement Holsti's method Scott's pi (p) Cohen's kappa (k) Krippendorff's alpha (a)
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5. Which measure(s) of intercoder reliability should researchers use? [TOP] There are literally dozens of different measures, or indices, of intercoder reliability. Popping (1988) identified 39 different "agreement indices" for coding nominal categories, which excludes several techniques for interval and ratio level data. But only a handful of techniques are widely used. In communication the most widely used indices are: Percent agreement Holsti's method Scott's pi (p) Cohen's kappa (k) Krippendorff's alpha (a) Just some of the indices proposed, and in some cases widely used, in other fields are Perreault and Leigh's (1989) Ir measure; Tinsley and Weiss's (1975) T index; Bennett, Alpert, and Goldstein's (1954) S index; Lin's (1989) concordance coefficient; Hughes and Garrett’s (1990) approach based on Generalizability Theory, and Rust and Cooil's (1994) approach based on "Proportional Reduction in Loss" (PRL). It would be nice if there were one universally accepted index of intercoder reliability. But despite all the effort that scholars, methodologists and statisticians have devoted to developing and testing indices, there is no consensus on a single, "best" one. While there are several recommendations for Cohen's kappa (e.g., Dewey (1983) argued that despite its drawbacks, kappa should still be "the measure of choice") and this index appears to be commonly used in research that involves the coding of behavior (Bakeman, 2000), others (notably Krippendorff, 1978, 1987) have argued that its characteristics make it inappropriate as a measure of intercoder agreement.
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5. Which measure(s) of intercoder reliability should researchers use? [TOP] There are literally dozens of different measures, or indices, of intercoder reliability. Popping (1988) identified 39 different "agreement indices" for coding nominal categories, which excludes several techniques for interval and ratio level data. But only a handful of techniques are widely used. In communication the most widely used indices are: Percent agreement Holsti's method Scott's pi (p) Cohen's kappa (k) Krippendorff's alpha (a) Just some of the indices proposed, and in some cases widely used, in other fields are Perreault and Leigh's (1989) Ir measure; Tinsley and Weiss's (1975) T index; Bennett, Alpert, and Goldstein's (1954) S index; Lin's (1989) concordance coefficient; Hughes and Garrett’s (1990) approach based on Generalizability Theory, and Rust and Cooil's (1994) approach based on "Proportional Reduction in Loss" (PRL). It would be nice if there were one universally accepted index of intercoder reliability. But despite all the effort that scholars, methodologists and statisticians have devoted to developing and testing indices, there is no consensus on a single, "best" one. While there are several recommendations for Cohen's kappa (e.g., Dewey (1983) argued that despite its drawbacks, kappa should still be "the measure of choice") and this index appears to be commonly used in research that involves the coding of behavior (Bakeman, 2000), others (notably Krippendorff, 1978, 1987) have argued that its characteristics make it inappropriate as a measure of intercoder agreement.
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Institutional - Community learning spectrum.pdf - 3 views
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Intellectual property is shared
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Communities identify authentic problems that are inter-disciplinary and reach beyond the definition of the course. -
Hey Stephen, I am having trouble opening this link. Can you send another?
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Views: The White Noise of Accountability - Inside Higher Ed - 2 views
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We don’t really know what we are saying
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“In education, accountability usually means holding colleges accountable for the learning outcomes produced.” One hopes Burck Smith, whose paper containing this sentence was delivered at an American Enterprise Institute conference last November, held a firm tongue-in-cheek with the core phrase.
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Our adventure through these questions is designed as a prodding to all who use the term to tell us what they are talking about before they otherwise simply echo the white noise.
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when our students attend three or four schools, the subject of these sentences is considerably weakened in terms of what happens to those students.
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Who or what is one accountable to?
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For what?
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Why that particular “what” -- and not another “what”?
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To what extent is the relationship reciprocal? Are there rewards and/or sanctions inherent in the relationship? How continuous is the relationship?
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In the Socratic moral universe, one is simultaneously witness and judge. The Greek syneidesis (“conscience” and “consciousness”) means to know something with, so to know oneself with oneself becomes an obligation of institutions and systems -- to themselves.
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Obligation becomes self-reflexive.
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There are no external authorities here. We offer, we accept, we provide evidence, we judge. There is nothing wrong with this: it is indispensable, reflective self-knowledge. And provided we judge without excuses, we hold to this Socratic moral framework. As Peter Ewell has noted, the information produced under this rubric, particularly in the matter of student learning, is “part of our accountability to ourselves.”
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But is this “accountability” as the rhetoric of higher education uses the white noise -- or something else?
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in response to shrill calls for “accountability,” U.S. higher education has placed all its eggs in the Socratic basket, but in a way that leaves the basket half-empty. It functions as the witness, providing enormous amounts of information, but does not judge that information.
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Every single “best practice” cited by Aldeman and Carey is subject to measurement: labor market histories of graduates, ratios of resource commitment to various student outcomes, proportion of students in learning communities or taking capstone courses, publicly-posted NSSE results, undergraduate research participation, space utilization rates, licensing income, faculty patents, volume of non-institutional visitors to art exhibits, etc. etc. There’s nothing wrong with any of these, but they all wind up as measurements, each at a different concentric circle of putatively engaged acceptees of a unilateral contract to provide evidence. By the time one plows through Aldeman and Carey’s banquet, one is measuring everything that moves -- and even some things that don’t.
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Sorry, but basic capacity facts mean that consumers cannot vote with their feet in higher education.
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If we glossed the Socratic notion on provision-of-information, the purpose is self-improvement, not comparison. The market approach to accountability implicitly seeks to beat Socrates by holding that I cannot serve as both witness and judge of my own actions unless the behavior of others is also on the table. The self shrinks: others define the reference points. “Accountability” is about comparison and competition, and an institution’s obligations are only to collect and make public those metrics that allow comparison and competition. As for who judges the competition, we have a range of amorphous publics and imagined authorities.
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There are no formal agreements here: this is not a contract, it is not a warranty, it is not a regulatory relationship. It isn’t even an issue of becoming a Socratic self-witness and judge. It is, instead, a case in which one set of parties, concentrated in places of power, asks another set of parties, diffuse and diverse, “to disclose more and more about academic results,” with the second set of parties responding in their own terms and formulations. The environment itself determines behavior.
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Ewell is right about the rules of the information game in this environment: when the provider is the institution, it will shape information “to look as good as possible, regardless of the underlying performance.”
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U.S. News & World Report’s rankings
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The messengers become self-appointed arbiters of performance, establishing themselves as the second party to which institutions and aggregates of institutions become “accountable.” Can we honestly say that the implicit obligation of feeding these arbiters constitutes “accountability”?
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But if the issue is student learning, there is nothing wrong with -- and a good deal to be said for -- posting public examples of comprehensive examinations, summative projects, capstone course papers, etc. within the information environment, and doing so irrespective of anyone requesting such evidence of the distribution of knowledge and skills. Yes, institutions will pick what makes them look good, but if the public products resemble AAC&U’s “Our Students’ Best Work” project, they set off peer pressure for self-improvement and very concrete disclosure. The other prominent media messengers simply don’t engage in constructive communication of this type.
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Ironically, a “market” in the loudest voices, the flashiest media productions, and the weightiest panels of glitterati has emerged to declare judgment on institutional performance in an age when student behavior has diluted the very notion of an “institution” of higher education. The best we can say is that this environment casts nothing but fog over the specific relationships, responsibilities, and obligations that should be inherent in something we call “accountability.” Perhaps it is about time that we defined these components and their interactions with persuasive clarity. I hope that this essay will invite readers to do so.
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Clifford Adelman is senior associate at the Institute for Higher Education Policy. The analysis and opinions expressed in this essay are those of the author, and do not necessarily represent the positions or opinions of the institute, nor should any such representation be inferred.
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Perhaps the most important piece I've read recently. Yes must be our answer to Adelman's last challenge: It is time for us to disseminate what and why we do what we do.
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Dave's Educational Blog - 0 views
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If all of our students are remembering the same things, the things that they learned for their standards test, the collaborative work between those students will only differ insofar as they have lived different lives OUTSIDE of school. In this sense, the education system plays NO part whatsoever in contributing to the creative economy.
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Recalling Bransford and the amout of time in our lives we are learning vs the amount of time in school
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portfolio implications: In the rhizomatic model of learning, curriculum is not driven by predefined inputs from experts; it is constructed and negotiated in real time by the contributions of those engaged in the learning process. This community acts as th
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Using Outcome Information: Making Data Pay Off - 1 views
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Sixth in a series on outcome management for nonprofits. Grist for the mill for any Assessment Handbook we might make. "Systematic use of outcome data pays off. In an independent survey of nearly 400 health and human service organizations, program directors agreed or strongly agreed that implementing program outcome measurement had helped their programs * focus staff on shared goals (88%); * communicate results to stakeholders (88%); * clarify program purpose (86%); * identify effective practices (84%); * compete for resources (83%); * enhance record keeping (80%); and * improve service delivery (76%)."
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Jim Dudley on Letting Go of Rigid Adherence to What Evaluation Should Look Like | AEA365 - 1 views
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"Recently, in working with a board of directors of a grassroots organization, I was reminded of how important it is to "let go" of rigid adherence to typologies and other traditional notions of what an evaluation should look like. For example, I completed an evaluation that incorporated elements of all of the stages of program development - a needs assessment (e.g., how much do board members know about their programs and budget), a process evaluation (e.g., how well do the board members communicate with each other when they meet), and an outcome evaluation (e.g., how effective is their marketing plan for recruiting children and families for its programs)."
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Needs evaluation, process evaluation, outcomes evaluation -- all useful for improvement.
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Graphic Display of Student Learning Objectives - ProfHacker - The Chronicle of Higher E... - 2 views
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Creating SLOs or goals for a course is simple to us, usually. We want students to learn certain skills, we create assignments that will help students reach those goals, and we’ll judge how well they have learned those skills.
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This graphic displays the three learning objectives for the course, and it connects the course assignment to the learning objectives. Students can see—at a glance—that work none of course assignments are random or arbitrary (an occasional student complaint), but that each assignment links directly to a course learning objective.
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The syllabus graphic is quite simple and it’s one that students easily understand. Additionally, I use an expanded graphic (below) when thinking about small goals within the larger learning objectives.
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In fact, The Graphic Syllabus and the Outcomes Map: Communicating Your Course (Linda Nilson) is an interesting way to organize graphically an entire course.
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An example of a graphic syllabus can be found in Dr. W. Mark Smillie’s displays of his philosophy courses [.pdf file].
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Some students won’t care. Moreover, they rarely remember the connection between course content and assignments. The course and the assignments can all seem random and arbitrary. Nevertheless, some students will care, and some will appreciate the connections.