Group items tagged

"Millennials, the generation of young Americans born after 1982, may not be the caring, socially conscious environmentalists some have portrayed them to be, according to a study described in the new issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology."

"Around fall 2010, the college began looking for a tool that could be distributed to faculty and students for user-generated content. Said Palson, criteria for evaluation focused on two areas: "It had to be accessible via mobile. And it had to be easy to use." Ease of use included the ability for a new user to "jump into it, create something, and it would be ready to go." The instructional technology staff began a pilot using Brainshark and, according to Palson, immediately saw that it was different from what had been used in the past."

Brainshark - another tool for generating online presentations

"Online education is often held out as a way to increase access to higher education, especially for those -- adult students, the academically underprepared, members of some minority groups -- who have historically been underrepresented in college. But that access is meaningful only if it leads somewhere, and if the education students get helps them reach their goals. New data from a long-term study by the Community College Research Center at Columbia University's Teachers College suggest that some of the students most often targeted in online learning's access mission are less likely than their peers to benefit from -- and may in fact be hurt by -- digital as opposed to face-to-face instruction. The study did not, however, account for the quality of the online courses studied, making it difficult to draw from its findings overly sweeping generalizations about the efficacy of online learning."

Interesting article on online learning - completion rates, completers . . .

"Open-Access Courses: How They Compare For millions of students worldwide, free, open courseware provides a window, if not a front-row seat, to top university classes. The formats are as varied as the people who tune in. Some consist mainly of lectures recorded on iTunes, while other courses seek to replicate a classroom experience by offering study groups, computer-graded tests, and weekly assignments. And while you might get a badge or certificate showing you mastered the material, you generally won't get direct interaction with the professor, who may have recorded the lectures a few years ago. Here is a look at five introductory economics classes: four through open courseware and one in a traditional classroom. "

Why attend Flip the Switch? I love to teach, just like others at Cornell, but the bad news is that while we all are teaching, 64% of our students are texting!! Out of my frustration, I've been experimenting successfully with using mobile devices and to turn my students away from distraction and towards interaction. At a deeper level, I am now connecting better with ALL students, not just the ones that always raise their hands. In the process I started to wonder if I could somehow help other faculty members do this. The Workshop My team has put together an intimate, hands-on workshop specifically focused on creating an action plan for each participant's courses/teaching needs, on how to make use of cellphones and other devices to intrigue and engage students, deploy digital video to renew attention spans and implement innovative "apps" to engage the YouTube generation in order to improve the learning environment.

ANother idea for May PD:

Create a short audio message and then generate a QRcode for it that will play back on the device with which scanned it.

An easy way to create a widget for any social media you use

A blog post with helpful tips on publishing an open textbook. Written for BCampus and their open textbook initiative, but most steps relate to publishing in general

"This brief summarizes the main themes from the EDUCAUSE Mobile Computing 5-Day Sprint, held April 25-29, 2011. This learning experience brought together presenters and hundreds of participants, who exchanged ideas and information via webinars, online conversations, Twitter, and blog posts. The central message from the event are that mobile computing has enormous potential; that it requires IT departments to embrace new roles; that many of the best practices for computing generally apply equally to mobile computing; and that attention must be paid to issues including infrastructure and security in order to support an effective mobile computing program."

"A study by the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project confirms the idea that young adults-particularly undergraduate and graduate students-are more likely to use the Internet and own tech devices than is the rest of the general population. But nonstudents ages 18 to 24 were more active on social networks than were college students, sending more updates to Facebook and Twitter."

"Journals that Publish the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning and Address General Issues in Higher Education If you would like to suggest any additions or changes to this list, please e-mail Tom Pusateri, CETL Associate Director for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. The links on this site were last updated on July 11, 2011. The next full-scheduled update will occur in late December 2011. Journals are listed alphabetically within each category. A brief description of the journal, usually quoted from the journal's Web site, and a link to the journal is provided. "

"The Utah Education Network is a case in point. It left Blackboard, the market leader, for Instructure, a year old Utah-based developer with an open source product called Canvas. Consider the way messages are sent and received on Instructure's Canvas: The receiver has a choice between traditional university E-mail, gmail, Facebook and text messaging; Blackboard's system uses traditional E-mail and was designed before Facebook was created. For a student body that uses social media the way earlier generations used pencil and paper, the differences between the two competitors are profound."

"This conundrum calls into question one of the most significant contemporary educational movements. Advocates for giving schools a major technological upgrade - which include powerful educators, Silicon Valley titans and White House appointees - say digital devices let students learn at their own pace, teach skills needed in a modern economy and hold the attention of a generation weaned on gadgets. "

"Teaching's primary purpose should be to ensure that every student graduates ready to tinker, create, and take initiative."