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"It Stems from Algebra: Professor Chris Dede and Assistant Professor Jon Star" Chris & Jon Star investigate the effects of online learning in math instruction & STEM.

Naomi S. Baron, a linguistics professor at American University, studies how cell phones and online messaging change social interactions. She talks to the Tech Therapy team about her concern that colleges push too much technology on students and professors. Should colleges encourage e-mail-free Fridays?

Interesting to think about technology saturation is impacting college students. Some college professors are even resisting technology integration in the classroom because of it - if you're interested in Higher Ed, the Chronicle of Higher Education has many interesting articles about technology in university settings.

Summary: In a shift, professors from prominent colleges (including Harvard) are actually *encouraging* students to use Wikipedia.

Yes! This is a great way to harness a digital resource rather than dismissing it. More or less, everyone uses Wikipedia because if for nothing else, it's usually the first hit in a Google search. I agree with the article in that most students aren't allowed to cite Wikipedia but they do use it as a jumping-off point for their research. So in this sense, it IS valuable. One of the reasons I like it in a pinch is the colloquial tone in the delivery of the information. I usually feel like a buddy is explaining it to me rather than a Phd. If students could capture that tone but provide quality assurance on the facts, there's a real research gem to be had here.

An example of student preconceived notions preventing them from learning scientific concepts.

Thanks, Diana. I can use this article in two of my other classes.

Great video - key quote "You can forget facts but you can't forget understandings." Yes - I would agree that Merseth and a number of other HGSE professors structure their courses for engagement in a similar manner. Requiring reading & active reflection (by via a written brief, case preparation, or online quiz) before the class / lecture is a great way to prep for deeper engagement and understanding. The genius in Mazur's approach is to use technology to assess before class and during class what his students understand and, more importantly, don't understand AND then tailor what he presents next to address misconceptions.

Benefits of teaching online.

Interesting article about how technology is changing the way we define and share intellectual property. Is a professor's lecture the property of the professor, the University or neither? Does a student "own" the notes he takes in class?

eyes in the back of your head? One teacher thinks this is good idea.

Virtual professors? I think a virtual Dede would be cool, but I like knowing his mustache is real, and not bought in a virtual hair salon.

"As professors mix and match book chapters, case studies, and journal articles, the site keeps track of how much royalties are going to cost. Once the book is made, students have the option of buying it digitally or paying an extra $10 (with an additional 3 cents per page if the book is more than one hundred pages) for the textbook"

Definitely worthwhile to keep a pulse on Dr. Bror Saxberg's work, esp. if you are interested in learning science. He is the Chief Learning Office at Kaplan and has a unique academic background (a Rhodes Scholar with MD from Harvard, PhD from MIT, Masters from Oxford, etc.) Professor Dede had also mentioned him in one of our previous lectures. Your's truly had the honor of having breakfast, one-on-one, with Dr. Bror Saxberg at his office in DC. :-) This posting talks about a beta course at Kaplan to train "learning architects" on how to build learning environments.

The American Council of Education will review some Coursera classes to see if they will recommend them to other universities as "acceptable." This involves a review by existing professors for course quality. Other interesting tidbits: looks like Coursera will pilot remote-proctoring to verify identity of students; Gates Foundation just gave away $3 million to study MOOCs and create remedial / introductory classes.

Dr. Saxberg's blog on an interesting research finding about teachers' misconceptions about how learning works. He also mentions (towards the end) his upcoming book. As you would recall Professor Dede had mentioned Dr. Saxberg in the context of EdX a few weeks ago.

Interestingly demonstrating a shift of professor's point of view on social media from time consuming to educational.

Tapping into the Internet and using several iPads as video cameras, Sandel, the Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of Government, connected his Harvard students in Sanders Theatre on Friday with students in Japan, China, Brazil, and India for a wide-ranging discussion that explored the complicated question of the ethics of solidarity and the dilemmas associated with patriotism, membership, and collective responsibility.

Just thinking about Professor Dede's experience with the Bush Foundation, I found this interview with Jeb Bush interesting. He talks some about the Bush Foundation's recent Education in Excellence conference and what kinds of issues are at stake for education reform to stick. Obviously a little bit political, but not too much. Building on some of the previous posts, politics does impact change in education so I think it's important for us to keep these things in mind.

The Knight Center's MOOC on data visualization was a bit smaller than traditional MOOCs (it actually capped enrollment at 2000), but the second version of the same class already has 4000 students registered. It sounds like the professor gave a lot of attention to the students and the projects, and the fact that the numbers went up is a good sign.

""No one's got the model that's going to work yet," said James Grimmelmann, a New York Law School professor who specializes in computer and Internet law. "I expect all the current ventures to fail, because the expectations are too high. People think something will catch on like wildfire. But more likely, it's maybe a decade later that somebody figures out how to do it and make money." "

Professors in the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science are creating a multimedia system that uses multiple 3-D cameras to create avatars of humans in two different places, and then puts them in the same virtual space where they can interact.

Articles on media literacy -  an excerpt from their newsletter:  Here's how George Mason history professor Mills Kelly teaches media literacy. "'We will work together as a group to create an online historical hoax that we will then turn loose on the internet to see if we can actually fool anyone.'" His students have created stories that have fooled Wikipedia (but not Reddit) and provoked the ire of Jimmy Wales himself. We're delightedly amused at this intriguing piece from Brendan Fitzgerald, which examines the tradition of published hoaxes within the larger discussion over media transparency and credibility. While we agree that planting deliberate lies makes our job a little tougher, there's definitely value in its effort to challenge the largely assumed reliability of Wikipedia and other crowdsourcing efforts. It begs the question: are today's kids digital natives or "digital naives?"

This recaps an event on digital learning. Professor Dede is mentioned in this article.