This article discusses trends in technology use in higher ed institutions, including a growing role of blended learning and technology-integrated meetings.
Following increasing amount of disruptive technologies in Higher Ed, and announcement of MIT/Harvard EdX platform, author claims to check in with students. Does not really live up to the title (as he does not write enough about conversations with students), but it is a question that does need to be asked. Here is part one of "Did Anyone Ask the Students?" http://chronicle.com/blogs/next/2012/05/01/did-anyone-ask-the-students-part-i/
The URL just takes you to wikipedia... but anyone interested in joining a listserv about teaching/learning with wikipedia should read on. I just received this email and share it with all of you:
Greetings,
You're invited to join a new listserv that's been created to discuss teaching with Wikipedia. Dr. Robert Cummings of the University of Mississippi is leading this email group.
This is a list for teachers of higher education who are interested in teaching with Wikipedia or researching teaching with Wikipedia. The goal is that list members will find support with pedagogy issues and find potential collaborators for scholarly research around teaching with Wikipedia. It's a list for teachers, by teachers.
At the moment, there is no web interface, so the best method of joining the list is to send an e-mail to:
md@listserv.olemiss.edu
with the body of the message being:
subscribe teaching-with-wikipedia
You don't need a subject line or to include your signature or anything else.
If you're interested in Wikipedia pedagogy, we highly encourage you to join the list and collaborate with others who share similar interests.
The Wikipedia Education Program Team
A brief interview with L. Rafael Reif, MIT's provost, and Anant Agarwal, director of MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory about MITx, a new/developing online certificate program. Interesting how much they can not anticipate how/what this will impact (re: education, jobs, higher ed market).
Interesting article and very ambitious to address an academic need, but I wonder if the instruction/test environment addresses UDL principles to appeal to a variety of learners or if the multiple choice tests target a narrow definition of math success. I added a blog post above that highlights some of technology's short comings as a platform.
Great point. My feeling is that a lot of higher ed institutions use technology as a way to cut costs, so not much attention is paid to accommodating diverse learners. If I may think back to my own undergrad experience, the prevalent assumption is that you're old enough to seek out additional support on your own when you're stuck or want to learn more. I definitely think though that more attention should be paid to applying UDL principles to educational software (yes, even for adults), so that learning can move beyond passing multiple-choice tests!
This article describes Virginia State Univ Business School new partnership with GoingOn Network to increase engagement at the school. Do you believe they will accomplish their goal?
The nonprofit group called TED, known for streaming 18-minute video lectures about big ideas, today opened a new YouTube channel designed for teachers and professors, with videos that are even shorter. The new channel, called TED-Ed, was announced a year ago, but its leaders are only now unveiling the project's first videos.
Seen as an educational experience, World of Warcraft does not belabor any one perspective, but offers people experiences relating to real social issues in a manner that encourages them to reach their own conclusions.
WoW does not indoctrinate people, but it allows people with a diversity of viewpoints to explore realms that are meaningful to them.