Group items tagged

Interesting use of technology in the classroom. According to the article, "flipping" classes shifts the role of teachers "from the gatekeeper of knowledge to the role of the coach."

This article discusses trends in technology use in higher ed institutions, including a growing role of blended learning and technology-integrated meetings.

An interesting article on game play in the classroom...students take on the role of a video game character and act the part during game performances!

If you look at it as 'play' instead of 'game' I think it opens a whole range of possibilities. Which is not surprising. As young children, we learned through play, often elaborate role-play.

Hi Jackie - this just reminded me to post a link below re: the CUNY (City University of New York) group that reflects on and develops all types of games in teaching. http://games.commons.gc.cuny.edu/

ny times' column contest asks readers play the role of a doctor and provide correct diagnosis for a medical case

A MOOC on gender roles in comic books now being offered through the Canvas network. 

Interesting read -- I wonder if giving the teachers the ability to modify the game enhances the engagemnent of students as much as allowing the students' modify the game.

The Nature Conservancy and Discovery Education today launched Nature Works Everywhere, a partnership designed to help students learn the science behind how nature helps our everyday existence and the importance of environmental conservation.

This article examines k-8 schools vs gr6-8 middle schools. Middle schoolers possibly struggle with the relatedness aspect of motivation when they lack leadership roles for younger students. ". We do, however, find suggestive evidence that the overall climate for student learning is worse in middle schools than in schools that serve students from elementary school through the 8th grade. This suggests a final potential interpretation of our results that is directly related to the choice of grade configuration: students may benefit from being among the oldest students in a school setting that includes very young students, perhaps because they have greater opportunity to take on leadership roles."

As schools mix online instruction and face-to-face learning, educators are identifying promising hybrid approaches As blended learning models, which mix face-to-face and online instruction, become more common in schools, classroom educators and administrators alike are navigating the changing role of teachers-and how schools can best support them in that new role.

Discussion of productivity in university education, and Obama's comment on controlling tuition costs. Reference to Baumol's disease and the possible role of technology in modernizing the traditional approach.

I saw connections between this and Betty's Brain, though SimSchool is intended for actual teachers, rather than motivating students by placing them in the role of teacher. The "How does simSchool work..." and Academic sections were particularly interesting to me. For the teachers in the course, would you find this simulation motivating?

A video game is being created in the UK "that will engage and immerse young people in learning about democracy and the role of Parliament in scrutinising the government, representing the public, and making laws."

Most of the news I found discuss whether video games have any negative effects on kids. IIn constrast, those educational games which play an important role in educating kids are neglected and not paid much attention to.

Scroll down on this page to download the final report and case studies from a study that "examined the use of social software in the UK further and higher education sectors to collect evidence of the effective use of social software in enhancing student learning and engagement" (p. 9 of final report). For anyone considering boosting engagement through social media, this is a gold mine.

Hi Stephanie - Thanks for this! I just wrote in my mid-semester assignment that I need to find research about engagement through crowd-sourcing and social media in education! I've downloaded the report and can tell that with sentences like, "The results highlight the different pedagogical roles of social software: communication, nurturing creativity and innovation, and collaborative learning," you've definitely found great resources. ~ Leslie

This article applies what we've learned about self-efficacy, interest, and engagement to literacy: "What makes a child an engaged reader?"

Thanks for sharing this, Stephanie. Part of my job is to select books for a reading & writing academy in Seoul, and after reading this article I realized that affective elements of reading play a significant role in my book selections.

Hi Stephanie - The author is listed as working for Reading is Fundamental, which is an organization I now follow for my work on the T545 class project. Part of their agenda is to "prepare and motivate children to read by delivering free books and literacy resources to those children and families who need them most." They focus on reaching underserved children from birth to age 8. I am hoping my website project addresses some of the issues raised in this article. Thanks.

I found the recaps of these seminars (and the handbook linked from this page) very interesting. Seminar 2 specifically focuses on the role of narrative--at what point it should enter the design process, how it can increase motivation and enjoyment or serve as a distraction, issues with traditional narrative in an interactive medium, etc. This quote from the Seminar 2 overview reminded me of relatedness from SDT Theory: "It was agreed that a quality necessary for engagement with narrative was that of identification with characters or a situation (an example was given from a mine disaster simulation with junior children, where the degree of engagement with the narrative content due to the identification with the victims drove the experience forward). Authenticity could also contribute to engagement. Whilst hard to pin down, it could mean authenticity for the children in cultural terms or in terms of being a 'human' story, one of a kind which resonates for them."

Is computational thinking a fundamental skill that should be added to every student's analytical ability?

As I read this article, I thought about how many friends I have that are in non-technical professions, but who have been asked to take on technical tasks as part of their roles (managing databases, building organization websites, etc.) They've all been able to figure out how to do these things, but have found it very challenging to do so on their own and without any prior experience/contextual knowledge. So while I'm not sure that it's an absolute necessity, I do think that an increasingly broad range of vocations expect some level of technological fluency that could be built upon a computational thinking foundation. (There was a nice quote from a librarian in a NY Times article posted by Tom Keffer that illustrates this as well - the librarian says that all librarians rely upon software now, and that it's up to them to become technically empowered if there is something IT-related that their library needs.)

This article is a bit snarky but it raises some worthwhile cautions around the buzz of tech in education, particularly Apple.

It is amazing to me that Apple and technology can take center stage in the education conversation without a word of professional development, best practices, learning outcomes... As I have stated before, I/we are an Apple family... but I am worried about the prospect that Apple's role in the textbook industry will eliminate other platforms and in-turn will limit access to many.

This article emphasizes that the appeal of technology is not enough to motivate children to learn. Stresses that self-efficacy and the ability to set reasonable and attainable goals on their own is essential to fully engage students.

Perhaps this is also the answer to make sure technology doesn't turn into a distraction instead of a learning tool? I think many kids would benefit from learning strategies for using technology efficiently/avoiding distractions.

Thanks for this article! It captures some of the self-efficacy conversations that have been helpful in designing my project. I think as the role of the teacher evolves, we will rely on students having choices for modes of learning and and as the article states, "we [will] rely more on children's independent initiative and motivation."