Group items tagged

"Instructional Strategies Decision making regarding instructional strategies requires teachers to focus on curriculum, the prior experiences and knowledge of students, learner interests, student learning styles, and the developmental levels of the learner. Such decision making relies on ongoing student assessment that is linked to learning objectives and processes. Although instructional strategies can be categorized, the distinctions are not always clear cut. For example, a teacher may provide information through the lecture method (from the direct instruction strategy) while using an interpretive method to ask students to determine the significance of information that was presented (from the indirect instruction strategy). The five categories of instructional strategies are Direct Instruction, Indirect Instruction, Interactive Instruction, Experiential Learning, and Independent Study."

"Almost 25 years have passed since Chickering and Gamson offered seven principles for good instructional practices in undergraduate education. While the state of undergraduate education has evolved to some degree over that time, I think the seven principles still have a place in today's collegiate classroom. Originally written to communicate best practices for face-to-face instruction, the principles translate well to the online classroom and can help to provide guidance for those of us designing courses to be taught online."

"A growing literature suggests that there is a disjuncture between the instructional practices of the education system and the student body it is expected to serve, particularly with respect to the roles of digital technologies. Based on surveys and focus group interviews of first-year students at a primarily undergraduate Canadian university and focus group interviews of professors at the same institution, this study explores the gaps and intersections between students' uses and expectations for digital technologies while learning inside the classroom and socializing outside the classroom, and the instructional uses, expectations and concerns of their professors. It concludes with recommendations for uses of digital technologies that go beyond information transmission, the need for extended pedagogical discussions to harness the learning potentials of digital technologies, and for pedagogies that embrace the social construction of knowledge as well as individual acquisition."

David Trottier, from our ICT services on campus at the U of S, has begun a repository of interesting information related to educational technology and instructional/course design.

"While classroom teaching and management strategies are well documented, the online learning environment presents different challenges and benefits. Teaching in an online environment requires a special set of teaching skills since many of the strategies and tactics associated with best teaching practices are somewhat constrained by the primarily text-based environment. The VOCAL approach summarizes the key characteristics that a master instructor utilizes to be effective in an online environment. VOCAL is an acronym for Visible, Organized, Compassionate, Analytical and Leader-by-example. The ability of the teacher to effectively infuse these characteristics into their instructional practice - to BE VOCAL - will promote a supportive, challenging, constructive, rigorous and effective instructional environment. Instructors who practice a VOCAL approach will have more productive learning environments, fewer management problems and more positive learning experiences with their students."

"This site is designed to answer the question being asked: What does a high quality online course look like? It is ourhope that instructors and instructional designers will use this site to learn more about the Rubric for Online Instruction, and be able to view examples of exemplary courses that instructors have done in implementing the different components of the rubric."

"Universal Design is a framework which removes barriers on campus in order to broaden access to university services for ALL students.  Universal Design for Learning (UDL) specifically provides a blueprint for creating instructional goals, methods, materials, and assessments that work for everyone--not a single, one-size-fits-all solution but rather flexible approaches that can be customized and adjusted for individual needs."

CLASSE is a version of the National Survey of Student Engagement that is designed to be used at the level of an individual course. It is free to use, but requires a note to be sent to the developers (as per the instructions on the website.

While the article is about leadership in educational technology, almost all of it applies to leadership in any area of educational innovation. "The conventional wisdom in education is that any school reform--be it curriculum, instruction, assessment, or teacher professionalism--is most likely to take hold in schools that have strong leadership. The same holds true for technology. Any educator will tell you the most successful implementation of technology programs takes place in schools where the principal sees him or herself as a technology leader."

"Flipping the classroom changes the place in which content is delivered. If the teacher assigns lecture-type instruction-in the form of video, simulations, slidecasts, readings, podcasts-as homework, then class time can be used interactively. The class becomes conversation space, creation space, space where teachers actively facilitate learning.  The home becomes the lecture space. The hundred+ year-old frontal teaching model flips."

"Students are going to use mobile devices and computers in the classroom, regardless of the professor's level of comfort with technology. It's best to embrace the technology and work with your educational technologist or instructional designer to determine the best tools and methodologies to enhance your course with technology and support the course objectives."

Universal Instructional Design

Open SUNY Textbooks is an open access textbook publishing initiative established by State University of New York libraries and supported by SUNY Innovative Instruction Technology Grants. This pilot initiative publishes high-quality, cost-effective course resources by engaging faculty as authors and peer-reviewers, and libraries as publishing service and infrastructure.

Concise look at writing learning outcomes based on Blooms Taxonomy.

"Many of us who teach in higher education do not have a teaching background, nor do we have experience in curriculum development. We know our content areas and are experts in our fields, but structuring learning experiences for students may or may not be our strong suit. We've written a syllabus (or were handed one to use) and have developed some pretty impressive assessments, projects, and papers in order to evaluate our students' progress through the content. Sometimes we discover that students either don't perform well on the learning experiences we've designed or they experience a great deal of frustration with what they consider high stakes assignments. Vygotsky's zone of proximal development (Vygotsky, 1978) proposes that it's important to determine the area (zone) between what a student can accomplish unaided and what that same student can accomplish with assistance. This provides for consistent structural support, when required (Hogan & Pressley, 1997)."

"Provide flexibility in how information is delivered and discussed such as giving instructions verbally and visually. Use a variety of teaching strategies, activities, and assignments that will accommodate the needs of students with diverse learning needs, abilities, backgrounds and experiences."

Faculty Focus manages this web resource on teaching strategies. Very useful and diverse spectrum of resources available!

"The goal of Teach With Tournaments is simple -- immerse students in the personalities and character of the great men and women of history through competition. For this school year, the tournament focused on one theme: the most courageous figure in U.S. history. Each student chose a historical figure he or she thought best embodies courage in U.S. history, from military heroes such as Alvin York to civil rights leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks to humanitarian pioneers such as Clara Barton. Each choice was then paired off in the bracket system. Students were required to research their character's accomplishments and then defend their choice in front of the class. Afterward, the class voted and the winners moved on to the next round, eventually narrowing the field of 64 to one champion."