"This paper investigates the use of Twitter by an academic community in various conference settings, and poses the following questions: does the use of a Twitter enabled backchannel enhance the conference experience, collaboration and the co-construction of knowledge? How is microblogging used within academic conferences, and can we articulate the benefits it may bring to a discipline?"
This project included the development of a business game which was tested by students and teachers on two campuses. It contributed to improving the practicality and accessibility of mobile learning tools which can be used to improve engagement and achievement of undergraduate students in business and related disciplines.
A working mobile-learning business game using location-aware augmented reality was developed to support teaching business-related concepts and skills. The open-source application is freely available at http://sourceforge.net/projects/mlearngame/. It provides a business game toolset that can be used by any tertiary provider without major investment in time or technology.
"hat Are the Disadvantages of Online Schooling for Higher Education?
Today, online schooling for higher education is prevalent across many fields. While there are several benefits to online schooling, such as flexibility and convenience, there are also real and perceived disadvantages. Explore some of the potential drawbacks of online learning.
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Online Schooling
In 2012, about a quarter of undergraduate college students were enrolled in distance education courses as part -- if not all -- of their studies, according to a 2014 report from the National Center for Education Statistics. That same data found that 29.8% of graduate students in this country are enrolled in some or all distance learning classes as well. A 2013 report from Babson Survey Research Group and Quahog Research Group, LLC, pointed out that approximately 86.5% of higher education institutions offer distance learning classes. Clearly, online schooling is commonplace.
Disadvantages: Student Perspective
Despite advantages, online schooling is not the right fit for every student. Taking online courses is generally believed to require more self-discipline than completing a degree on campus, a belief that is supported by SCHEV -- the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia. Because online schooling options often allow students to complete much of the coursework at their own pace, students must be motivated to stay on schedule and manage their time accordingly. Other potential disadvantages from a student's viewpoint may include the following:
Less Instructional Support
Although instructors are available to students via e-mail, telephone, Web discussion boards and other online means, some students may see the lack of face-to-face interaction and one-on-one instruction as a challenge.
A lack of communication or miscommunication between instructors and students may frustrate students who are struggling with course materials. That could be exacerbated by the casual nature
Few people enter the teaching profession because they are passionate about controlling behaviour or disciplining prospective pupils. Most become educators because they want to make a positive difference in students' lives. However, countless well-intentioned yet potentially ill-prepared teachers find themselves in situations during the school year where they feel compelled to use forms of intimidation, manipulation, bribery, yelling, scolding, or even false praise to make students behave. These archaic classroom management techniques often backfire- as they did for me early in my teaching career-and result in students losing respect for and disliking the teacher.
Personal Knowledge Mastery
PKM is a set of processes, individually constructed, to help each of us make sense of our world, work more effectively, and contribute to society. PKM means taking control of your professional development, and staying connected in the network era, whether you are an employee, self-employed, or between jobs.
Personal - according to one's abilities, interests & motivation.
(not directed by external forces)
Knowledge - understanding information and experience in order to act upon it.
(know what, know who, know how)
Mastery - the journey from apprentice to disciplined sense-maker and knowledge catalyst.
(masters do not need to be managed)
Teacher's Assistant Pro is an application built for the iPad/iPhone/iPod Touch designed to help teachers keep track of student discipline issues. This app is customizable and easy to use. If you are looking for a great way to organize all of your classes and if your administrators ask you to keep track of student behavior, this is the app for you.
Digital history is an emerging and rapidly changing academic field. The purpose of the Digital History Project is to educate scholars and the public about the state of the discipline by providing access to:
interviews with scholars about topics related to digital history;
presentations and essays about the field by noted scholars;
syllabi and student projects from courses in digital history;
reviews of major online projects and of tools which may be of use to digital historians; indices of peer-reviewed scholarship and digital projects;
a directory of historians practicing digital history; and
a clearinghouse of current events and news items of interest.
Partners
The site is made available through the generous support of the John and Catherine Angle Fund. It received production assistance from the New Media Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
This site is maintained by Douglas Seefeldt, Assistant Professor of History & Faculty Fellow, Center for Digital Research in the Humanities, and William G. Thomas, III, John and Catherine Angle Chair in the Humanities and Professor of History, both of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
The U-Pace instructional approach combines self-paced, mastery-based learning with instructor-initiated Amplified Assistance in an online learning environment.
Extensive evaluation showed that, compared to conventional instruction approaches, U-Pace instruction facilitated greater learning and greater academic success for all students in Introduction to Psychology courses.
In terms of resources, U-Pace requires only a learning management system (such as Blackboard, Desire2Learn, or Moodle).
U-Pace can be applied in any course or discipline, and resources to help instructors adopt the U-Pace approach are freely available.
"Classroom management is a whole process. Being a teacher, you have to keep an eye on a number of factors to make your class organized, disciplined and managed. You have to deal with noisy students, disruptive students and late students."
Very interesting comparisons of discipline, success in algebra and retention at school across race and gender.
What are US governments doing about the clear gap?
After a morning Discipline With Dignity training, the high school principal and I walked to the cafeteria to eat lunch. He said, "I love your session, but it's not practical." I responded with my view that it was practical because it works -- but it's just not easy.
The Institute of Making is a multidisciplinary research club for those interested in the made world: from makers of molecules to makers of buildings, synthetic skin to spacecraft, soup to diamonds, socks to cities. Annual membership of the institute is available to all UCL staff and students.
Our programme of symposia, masterclasses and public events explores the links between academic research and hands-on experience, and celebrates the sheer joy of stuff.
Its mission is to provide all makers with a creative home in which to innovate, contemplate and understand all aspects of materials and an inspiring place to explore their relationship to making.
At the heart of the Institute of Making is the Materials Library - a growing repository of some of the most extraordinary materials on earth, gathered together for their ability to fire the imagination and advance conceptualisation. A place in which makers from all disciplines can see, touch, research and discuss, so that they can apply the knowledge and experience gained to their own practice.
Alongside the collection is the MakeSpace - a workshop where members and guests can make, break, design and combine both advanced and traditional tools, techniques and materials."
I'm starting a lunchtime knitting/crochet club for my students this year and came along this wonderful program to help with the cost.
This program donates supplies for mentors who would like to start a program to teach needle arts. Here are some of the benefits from learning a needle art:
For Youths:
Develops focus and concentration
Encourages following a process
Builds self-esteem
Improves math and reading skills
Enhances critical thinking and problem solving
Offers a vehicle for stress release and anger management
Encourages creativity through portable alternative activity
Provides healthy interpersonal relationships with adults
Ensures tangible accomplishments with immediate results
Learns a practical, useful and fun activity
Enhances hand/eye coordination, small motor skills, tactile energy, communication skills, self discipline and attention to detail
Abstract: Previously assumed to be a homogenous and highly skilled group with respect to information and communications technology, the so-called Net Generation has instead been shown to possess a diverse range of technology skills and preferences. To better understand this diversity, we subjected data from 2096 students aged between 17 and 26 from three Australian universities to a cluster analysis. Through this analysis, we identified four distinct types of technology users: power users (14% of sample), ordinary users (27%), irregular users (14%) and basic users (45%). A series of exploratory chi-square analyses revealed significant associations between the different types of technology users and the university that students attended, their gender and age and whether the student was local or international. No associations were found for analyses related discipline area, socio-economic status or rurality of residence. The findings are discussed in light of the rhetoric associated with commentaries about the Net Generation, and suggestions about their implications for teaching and learning in universities are offered.
Hang on, wasn't this about how Poli-Sci can contribute as a discipline? In fact, I'm totally down with destroying the silo structure of the disciplines, but it does seem there is an internal contradiction here.
The relentless gaze on high-stakes tests and the culture spawned by No Child
Left Behind is blinding us to the educational demands of the 21st century.
But first we need a national conversation on what the 21st century will
require of our ever more diverse student population. There’s no doubt that an
education that promotes life-long cognitive, behavioral and relational
engagement with a complex and interconnected world is key. This means we’ll need
intellectually curious and cognitively flexible workers comfortable with
ambiguity, able to synthesize knowledge within and across disciplines and work
collaboratively in diverse groups.
Moving forward, we need to go beyond the mastery of facts and rules. Instead,
we should nurture interpersonal sensibilities in children and teenagers so that
they learn to work in groups, within and across disciplines and cultures. In
short, we need to educate, not test.