Group items tagged

"I've been hesitant to dive into using Windows Live because I've already become so familiar with GoogleDocs. However, there are good reasons for me to start learning. For one thing, my students and colleagues are, for the most part, already using Microsoft Office in their work, and Windows Live doesn't require them to learn yet another interface. (Yes, I know that GoogleDocs isn't really that different, but I've frequently found that people consider the need to switch interfaces off-putting.)"

Should we be considering using MS Live instead of google docs?

This is from the comments below the article "When I tried this I ran into a problem with it not working cross platform with Mac. This made it useless in an academic environment." We would likely need to do some initial testing to see if it viable to make the switch. If it makes instructors more comfortable then it should be seriously looked at.

What's interesting about this tool is not so much that it is an online learning environment for teachers and their students, but that it can also be used to make connections between teachers.  This could be useful for instructors who may feel isolated at their particular school and a chance to branch out.

Connie Malamud says it best: How we write is critical to the success of a course.

The age old grading debate continues. I'll be interested in seeing if schools of the future actually achieve the idealistic vision of the "no-grade" classroom!

Interesting information on students' perceptions.

"The author of the best-selling What the Best College Teachers Do is back with more humane, doable, and inspiring help, this time for students who want to get the most out of college-and every other educational enterprise, too. The first thing they should do? Think beyond the transcript. The creative, successful people profiled in this book-college graduates who went on to change the world we live in-aimed higher than straight A's. They used their four years to cultivate habits of thought that would enable them to grow and adapt throughout their lives. Combining academic research on learning and motivation with insights drawn from interviews with people who have won Nobel Prizes, Emmys, fame, or the admiration of people in their field, Ken Bain identifies the key attitudes that distinguished the best college students from their peers. These individuals started out with the belief that intelligence and ability are expandable, not fixed. This led them to make connections across disciplines, to develop a "meta-cognitive" understanding of their own ways of thinking, and to find ways to negotiate ill-structured problems rather than simply looking for right answers. Intrinsically motivated by their own sense of purpose, they were not demoralized by failure nor overly impressed with conventional notions of success. These movers and shakers didn't achieve success by making success their goal. For them, it was a byproduct of following their intellectual curiosity, solving useful problems, and taking risks in order to learn and grow."

Great find.

Process directives:   1. Design through action        2. Design with (people), not for (clients) - design comes from within   3. Design systems, not stuff - not about making change but creating the conditions in which change is possible and the incentive to want to make change.   4. Document, share, measure   5. Start locally, scale globally   6. Build

What I like about this article is how it discusses using students to help teachers learn technology and its applications for learning.

I know the tools are out there, but sometimes I feel like I don't have time to find them.  Luckily, Mohamed Kharbach did it for us!  Check out his blog learn about the skills educators should have and use the links to learn or brush up on them. 

Guidelines for Good Assessment Practice from the University of Tasmania.

Guidelines for Good Assessment