Group items tagged

The Guardian HE paper in the UK recently published an article highlighting 12 UK blogs on higher education worth following (on things from HE planning, pedagogy, online learning, research, etc.)

Article that provides statistics on tablet prevalence in university students. Explains the difference between mobile and tablets. Briefly suggests uses for tablets in higher ed.

This is an interesting post on using Evernote as an ePortfolio tool. It's written by a K-12 educator, but I think much of it could apply in higher ed. Students in my educational technology course used Blogger for their ePortfolios, but i can see this as an option in the future.

"Think Twitter is just a waste of time? Think again. Its organizational structure makes it an effective tool for connecting with students and others online" While this article is aimed at K-12, it also applies to higher ed.

This article, written by David Breneman in 1990, about the loss of liberal arts colleges is an interesting read, particularly for those who attended the Ken Steele talk.

This book (available in the U of S library) is an excellent exploration of the role of disciplines on teaching and learning in higher education (edited by Carolin Kreber, 2009)

NOTE: Any post-secondary instructor can access these questions by request using their institutional email address. "In June, BCcampus hosted its first ever textbook sprint that saw a geography open textbook written in just four days. The event was such a success that BCcampus decided to do it again. In July, BCcampus, the NOBA Project, Kwantlen Polytechnic University, and Kwantlen psychology instructor Dr. Rajiv Jhangiani coordinated another sprint. However, instead of writing a book, the focus of this two-day sprint was on creating questions for psychology instructors to use in conjunction with open textbooks. The organizers called it the "Great Psychology Test Bank Sprint." Instructors from six post secondary institutions: Kwantlen, Thompson Rivers University, Camosun College, Northern Lights College, Capilano University, and the University of the Fraser Valley gathered to write questions for use in introductory psychology courses."

"'Have you ever written a blog post on strategies, tools or frameworks that a teacher can use to reflect on their past year of teaching?' My immediate response: ' Reflection has to happen all the way along. It's too late at the end of the year.' But here are some questions to ask yourself, as you look back, look within and look forward…"

"The traditional model of the lecture and learning cycle has long been to deliver the lecture during class and to send students home to do homework and perhaps engage in a discussion or two afterwards. The flipped classroom flips this model on its head: through lecture capture software, lectures can be captured on video for students to watch home, freeing up class time for hands-on learning activities and discussion."

"Twitter is a tool that can enable ad hoc conversations and interactions among your students, in ways that you can track and foster. Your students may not all be familiar with Twitter, but its simplicity and availability, much like text messages on a phone, has a broad appeal."

"The buzz surrounding massive open online courses, or MOOCs, has grown nearly as massive as the courses themselves. MOOCs are the new "thneeds," the oddly-shaped items peddled by the Once-ler in The Lorax: Everybody seems to want one, even if nobody yet knows exactly what they are or what they mean. But amid all this MOOC mania, the University of Maine at Presque Isle is attempting a different kind of free online offering - one that would swap the scale of a MOOC for the high-touch experience of a conventional online course. Michael Sonntag, the provost, calls it a "LOOC": a little open online course."

Good interview with a Sask teacher explaining how he used a class wiki in his high school courses - easily applicable to higher ed.

"Until this week I had not known that George Washington (the President, not the institution) had considered the foundation of a national university to be of the utmost importance. In fact, he had meant to give it a starring role in his Farewell Address, and complained at length when Hamilton excised it from the work. Here's Washington to Hamilton on why the university merited mention in the address:"

"Undergraduates are significantly more likely to major in a field if they have an inspiring and caring faculty member in their introduction to the field. And they are equally likely to write off a field based on a single negative experience with a professor."