Group items tagged

This animate was adapted from a talk given at the RSA by Sir Ken Robinson, world-renowned education and creativity expert and recipient of the RSA's Benjamin Franklin award. For more information on Sir Ken's work visit: http://www.sirkenrobinson.com

Helen, I like Sir Ken Robinson's stuff, but I do take it with a grain of salt as well. Like Gladwell, he's a good storyteller and can inspire, but everything's got to be taken in context. I love that you ask your students to follow their train of thought. I do that with my kids, and find I often have to explain my own train of thought to others. I like the way you are in tune with the benefits and risks of reflective practice. It can get messy, and it isn't always the best thing for every student. It sounds like you take extra steps to make sure they understand the value of it.

Helen, thanks for underlining the Evoke game. I did find it - www.urgentevoke.com - and was impressed by what a great representative of eLearning this was. Organized, engaging, lots of information - but what I liked most was that it led to action - i.e., the gaming playing is not just on the computer - but actions you take or are encouraged to take to make a difference.

Teaching on-line or in a classroom requires the ability to ask good questions. I found this article to be useful--I hope you will too.

I'm not opposed to a final project that involves students re-developing this course. It could even be a group project. (But I'd probably want to write about you and brag about you all to my friends!)

I posted Bloom's Taxonomy, which is a guideline for how people learn and how education should be targetted to that model. It is similiar to the types of questioning one does to reflect where we are in the learning process. I think the same is true of our course. We all seem to have through experience and past coursework some basic knowledge of on-line teaching and learning. My preference, I think, would be to have answers/discussion to some of the questions that are coming up, not just a list.

My first "Behind the Scenes" reflection for the course.

An Interesting read.

When I was planning, I was reflecting on past experiences with that first week. It's always so hectic. It seems if you require the introductions and orientation and also expect engagement with materials, students become overwhelmed. I'm supporting instructors and students in 3 other courses right now. For those, we introduced new technology (Posterous) and expected introductions, a face to face meeting and engagement with the content. We had a lot of frustrated students and instructors, and several students dropped. (We had serious issues with Posterous.) The slower start allowed me to send more messages to the group and work individually with people who contacted me outside the course.

In her important, controversial new book, Sherry Turkle reads our leap into digital technology not as the unfettering of a deep, human urge to connect, but as a dire symptom to be understood within an older framework: psychoanalysis. Whether you find this book's analysis convincing depends on how you read the Rorschach test that is the Internet.

Bruce, CaringBridge has been a great support for so many people. I originally discovered the site while I was following the story of Baby Allie http://www.scotthousehold.com/allie.htm whose mom documented her short life battling with AML. A huge community grew around her little life, and I discovered many CaringBridge sites. Jenny went on to start the Heroes for Children foundation, raising more than $3 million for families in TX with children undergoing treatment. My own early blogging experiences were around my own grief and loss http://momrealityblog.blogspot.com/2006/01/it-began-with-tragic-ending.html I had previously been involved in several online parenting communities. They were a huge support to me during that time. We have the potential to do a lot of good online and off. I think we just need to be cognizant of how our messages are amplified, and how we amplify the messages of others.

Joy, I am so sorry for your loss. I think grief is different for everyone, and the internet is a place we can find other people who share similar methods of grieving, so we don't feel so alone. In our own families, it's hard to support each other through periods of loss. I've discovered a lot of online communities, some healthy, and some not, where people feel comfortable expressing their feelings about loss. I think the most important thing I learned online during that time, was "be gentle with yourself."

Another Professor from my Alma Mater, the Unversity of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. He is a professor of Political Science.Taken from his blog the follow excerpt: "He received his Ph.D. from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in 2003. He currently teaches introductory politics, international politics, and a U.S. Foreign Policy course at Steven's Point through the Collaborative Degree Program. His current research focuses on how the U.S. military has adapted strategies and tactics in stability and reconstruction operations. Contact Eric at: egiordan@uwc.edu" We both are Political Science majors with an interest in Law and Diplomacy and the U.S. Military.

I love reading reflections on implementing new strategies in teaching and learning. That's one of the best things about posting your reflections online. You never know when someone will find you and feel connected, or at least less alone!

The author of this study is Penny Ralstom-Berg, a Senior Instruction Designer at University of Wisconsin, where a survey of what makes a good course from a student perspective was conducted. The summary of the study starts on slide 20. The top 10 desires is consistent with what we've been focusing on in this class, however the bottom top is somewhat at odds and seems, to be, counter-intuitive to what I would have expected. Top 10: Assessments are appropriately timed, varied and appropriate; Instructions on how to access resources are sufficient and easy to understand; Course components are web-based or easily downloaded for use offline; Requirements for interaction are clearly explained; Opportunity to speak with instructor, classmates through email, bulletin boards, any time / any place; Technologies required are readily available - provided or easily downloaded; Clear instructions tell me how to get started and to find course components; Criteria for how I will be evaluated is descriptive and specific; Navigation is logical, consistent, and efficient; The grading policy is clearly stated Bottom 10: I find course-related content and share it with the instructor and classmates; I use wikis, shared documents, or other online collaborative tools to complete group work; I am asked to introduce myself to the class; I coach other students and help answer their questions; Opportunity to speak with my instructor and classmates through… same time, same place technology; Instructor does not participate in class discussions Course contains interactive games or simulations; I author / create course-related content and share it with instructor and classmates; I work in groups with other students; Course contains audio and video content

Reading through these student recommendations was very helpful, and as you say - they complement the material presented in the Boettcher textbook very well. I was somewhat confused by Penny Ralton-Berg's differentiation between the Top 10 and Bottom 10 items. My impression is that there is a low student positive response for their contributing course materials for a class site.(??)

I am not certain I grasp the meaning of that slide presentation. Some of it I get and agree with.

I designed a 5 question form that asks you to think about what you did during this Module and to respond with brief text answers. Enjoy!

The questions were quite reflective and more of "test" in a way, although there is obviously not a right or wrong answer. I must admit that the modules have somewhat blended, so I couldn't answer precisely. That being said, I used a similiar concept in my course framework, where I combined self-check with a "quiz", with the difference being the quiz questions are more reflective and would contribute to the score I give to the activity. Good questions!

On my blog is my reflection of this course and fellow learners. I truly appreciated everything I learned and experienced this quarter with everyone!

Thanks Jennifer and everyone for this collegial, information packed quarter! In this blog post link, I've pulled together what I think are the most important "take-aways" that I've gotten from our class. I'm sure I've left out some important stuff, but maybe we can all collectively sort out the key ideas. I'm looking forward to seeing you all on Tuesday evening.

Highly insightful. Wonderfully brilliant.

I just wanted to add something light to the mix here. This is one of my favorite youtube videos :)

I happened to be doing laundry and had a fitted sheet that needed to be folded. I used the information in the video and was able to more successfully fold the sheet. (I did a variation, however, after collecting the corners I folded the sheet holding it.) It is true that one needs to practice is to master it and having a "teacher" with me, might have made it more helpful. In addition to learning a new skill , the desire to post about my experience became a reflection of my digital presence. Having the information that I did laundry today is not something I consider secrative, but it is not something I would normally share with large numbers of people or people that I don't know. (A friend might call during the task, for example, and I might indicate why I was busy, but I wouldn't call to tell her that I did laundry.) On the internet, though, I can reach out without touching someone. By posting, I feel it is "about me". When Betty White hosted Saturday Night Live she made comparisons to Facebook. One joke was in her day having to see pictures from someone's vacation was usually considered torture. Perhaps, the vicariousness we can have when looking at someone's life unobserved makes it more exciting.

What's funny is that I discovered that link originally when it was posted by Alan Levine (@cogdog) on Twitter. It's just one of those little personal things shared, that made things seem more friendly. But it's also something useful that other people have passed on.

This one's for Helen. I thought you might like to see what they're doing for online art courses.

I thought it was interesting that most of the classes were sold-out, indicating the need and interest for the information. Since these courses are not part of a curriculum, the participants will be motivated.

Thanks for sharing this. Yes, many are SOLD-OUT and it makes perfectly good sense to take these courses on-line where you can view videos, artwork and read a wealth of information from the museum archives & library. I took a class from Lincoln Center Institute about 3 summers ago where we even did some hands-on creative work, scanned our creations (to share on-line) and then collectively reflected specifically about the "process of creating." It worked quite well and I definately plan to incorporate that type of activity into my on-line course.

Feedback and suggestions are always welcome. Please take the survey and provide your thoughts and experience with Module 4. Thanks.

Thanks for the kind words. Next week-end we have out-of-town guests, so that's one of the reasons for my early focus. Your directions were fine and helped the logistical process. I prefer this to a screencast, but that might be reflective of my technology knowledge and learning style. Two things, though, that took me a while to figure out were: 1. Sharing. It might be a default setting, but new documents I create have a privacy share indicated. You have to specifically change the setting (the share button is on the top of the screen) for people to be able to access it. 2. Editting. When you go back into Google docs, I got an excel spreadsheet. To actually update the form, you have to go to the form button and select "edit" in the pulldown screen.

I had fun responding to your survey, Ann! You did a great job--I liked the questions and the color format!

I thought this short video might be of interest concerning technology integration into instruction and learning. The Marzano study was data that reflected what we see in classrooms.

With minimal investigation of this (i.e., didn't read his actual study), his work has generated dialog and interesting points. His research, as I understand it, measured the impact of the IWB (interactive white board) in learning enviornment. The result being that it made a positive impact. Whether the research results are accurate or not in this study (which were questioned in the link Jennifer provided), the point Marzano makes in the video - that technology is here and we need to learn and can teach more effectively with it - seems obvious to me. In fact, regardless of white board technology, just the use of eBooks, minimizing the weight of books students often carry with them, is positive.

Agreed. And I think it's an important skill to be able to apply a video like this to your own context, and extract the pieces that are relevant.

Just a short survey from Mary Ann for Learning Module 4.

I liked the question about what you learned this week. I reflected on what I had learned (for me, the main one was the Wiggins model). I am already focusing on this week's activities and thinking about this question allowed me to be more integrated with the learning process.

That is funny. We used the same form Mary Ann.

Challenges I found when developing this blog included: 1. Organization. Deciding on the organization of the blog is the most challenging, as is often the situation when organizing a new project. One isn't quite sure what "envelopes" (in this case pages) you want. 2. Privacy. The issue of privacy is very much an issue for me, as I am not sure what I want to have public and/or permanent (as even though you delete something, it still remains somewhere.) 3. Spelling/editting. Proper spelling and grammar I feel is a reflection of who I am and needs to be accurate. Spell checking allows you to find misspellings, but not the use of miswords.

I love that you're seeing the challenges and posting them openly. 1. Organization - I use post-it notes. Seriously. Put everything you want to put on the blog on a post it note, then try to arrange them in similar groups, then try to label those groups. It will help with the structure. (It's a common practice in Information Architecture. I'm not just wacky.) 2. Privacy. There's really no such thing any more. Anyone who can see your stuff on a screen can copy it and put it someplace for others to see. We're under false illusions of privacy, and I just assume anything I put into a computer is going to be seen. 3. This is a great point, especially if you begin to enjoy blogging. Once you begin gathering an audience, it's easy to want to write for them. Pretty soon, you want to publish as quickly as possible. Sometimes it helps to leave the work in draft, and come back to it, just like with a paper document.

1. I will try the post-its. I'm thinking it is an especially good way to keep thoughts/ideas, which I can return to and then see if they really "stick" and I want to explore/use them. 2. Privacy. The interesting thing is that there is so much information out there, the volume almost acts as a gate. I agree with you about not real privacy.

I started this over the summer while taking the first course for this certificate. Please feel free to follow my postings on blogger as we continue in this course.

My end of class reflection is located on my blog.

Thought I had posted this...to keep my blog in order, I post dated this to 2/28/11.

Wow! Now there is an example of inspiration. Thank you for sharing that video!

Thank you for finding this video which I plan to share with our 2 daughters who are trying to navigate and find their footing in our educational system. I wonder if this project is getting any Federal $ from Arne Duncan. I doubt it which is what often happens with innovative projects -sustainable funding and operations always come up short. It certainly brings home the point that not only do we need to integrate technology into the learning environment, but the entire school/classroom structure, as a learning environment, must change - a major overhaul.

I haven't actually watched the video. During virtual office hours last night, I was demonstrating how I find things people share on Twitter. This was one of the links we followed, so I bookmarked it for us to look at later. I'll take a look when I get a chance. It's an office day for me today, so it might get hectic!