Gwenna Moss Centre for Teaching Effectiveness

"As educators, we know when students tune in -- and we know when they tune out. The more elusive question is why. There is emerging consensus that the 20th-century approach to education, which favors methods such as lectures and rote learning, is standing in the way of making school relevant to more students."

ProfHacker - Blogs - The Chronicle of Higher Education

""Usually with an exam, feedback will come as a mark and then many students will throw the exam away," says Brett Gilley, a former Science Teaching and Learning Fellow in the Carl Weiman Science Education Initiative, and an instructor with UBC's Vantage College and the Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences. "Here, we're making them review the exam while they still care about the answers to the questions.""

"The B.C. Open Textbook Project turns two today! Birthday's are a good time for reflection, and as we look back over the past two years, we can see just how far we have come with the B.C. Open Textbook Project. First, for the quantitative data lovers, the project over the past two years by the numbers."

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."

"With the large lecture format, said NMC Senior Communications Director Samantha Becker, "it's really hard to personalize the material so that a student can feel like they have ownership over their own learning process." And, she added, "It's hard to speak up. There's always the fear of being ostracized by other students or feeling like asking stupid questions." Maurice Matiz, executive director of Columbia University's (NY) Columbia Center for New Media Teaching and Learning, agreed: "Sitting in one of these 180-student classrooms is a very passive situation," he said. "We've found that students aren't really learning very much." Matiz and his colleagues are out to change that - by finding ways to adopt the flipped classroom model to traditional large lecture courses. "

"The first multidisciplinary aggregator of Open Access journals and papers. Keep on top of recent discoveries and never hit a paywall. "

"In this course, we will examine the tools and practices associated with networked, open, and digital scholarship. In particular we will investigate the emergent practice of scholars' use of social media and online social networks for sharing, critiquing, improving, furthering, and reflecting upon their scholarship. Recent reports indicate that social media are at an early stage of adoption in academia, even though mindful participation in digital spaces is a significant skill for today's academic and knowledge worker. Participants will study scholarly presence online. They will examine how particular tools and practices may enhance the impact and reach of scholarship, and will explore the challenges and tensions associated with emerging forms of scholarship. By gaining an understanding of modern forms of scholarship, participants will be better equipped to use digital technologies and networked practices in their own work. This course will be of immediate relevance to doctoral students, academics, and knowledge workers. Faculty members who teach research methods courses and faculty development professionals may also find this course valuable."

"Whether you're a new Twitter user or a seasoned pro, there are probably some things you should know. From the key terms to the hashtags to how long your tweets should be. In an effort to help share some of the best bits of wisdom we've learned over the years, this 1-page printable Twitter guide should help you and your followers / friends learn a bit more about how to use Twitter. It's short, sweet, and offers some useful tips, tricks, and lingo."

"MOOCs, however, are a game-changer, for a lot of reasons. I won't hash out all the pros and cons here. (I'm on the pro side.) But whatever the potential faults or limitations of MOOCs, the fact that they are free and open to all makes them, at least, a good place for low-stakes experiments. And that quality makes them extremely valuable to people who otherwise can't easily get themselves into a student desk, including college teachers. In short, MOOCs give us access to a simulation of the college student experience. Let me explain how that worked for me recently."

"Flickr can be a good place to find Creative Commons licensed images to use in blog posts, slides, and other multimedia presentations. The Flickr CC Attribution Helper makes it easy to format proper attributions for the CC licensed images that you use. In the video below I demonstrate how to find images and how to use the Flickr CC Attribution Helper." Includes short video tutorial.

A very interesting and informative piece by David Wiley about some of the real issues and benefits around open textbooks. Definitely worth a read.

Great overview of Open Access.

"Our aim is to help transform institutional practices and assessment strategies through creative solutions for developing alternative and additional honours and capstone projects to meet the needs of students from different backgrounds, different subjects and different kinds of institution. "

Handy tip for clipping to Evernote from an iPad.

"Missouri State University (MSU) has implemented a flipped classroom model for its Introductory Psychology course, resulting in dramatic improvements in student learning outcomes and course completion rates."

Open textbooks listed by BCcampus OpenED from a variety of disciplines.

"The BCcampus Open Textbook Toolkit is your starting point on how to change education with just one textbook. It provides a list of our open textbooks, information and guidelines for adopting and assigning an open textbook."