Group items tagged

" fun and incredibly easy for you to collaborate with your friends and family online."

WHEN a college textbook, "Principles of Biology," comes out from the Nature Publishing Group in January, one place it won't be is on the shelves of school bookstores. Enlarge This Image An interactive graphic in "Principles of Biology," an electronic textbook from Nature Publishing, teaches students about the symptoms of a stroke. Enlarge This Image An interactive graphic from Wolfram Research lets readers change the display parameters of an oil spill. That's because the book was designed to be digital-only. Students will pay not for a printed edition at a bookstore, but for permanent access on the Internet ($49).

Published by Rita Kop on her blog, Jan 5 2012. Kop is working as a researcher looking at Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and Personal Learning Environments (PLEs).  In this bibliography, she shared her recent research on the MOOC PLENK2012 (a MOOC about PLEs). 

by Derek Bruff, November 6, 2011. The best justification of the Innovation Lab premise that I have seen. "Sharing student work on a course blog is an example of what Randall Bass and Heidi Elmendorf, of Georgetown University, call "social pedagogies." They define these as "design approaches for teaching and learning that engage students with what we might call an 'authentic audience' (other than the teacher), where the representation of knowledge for an audience is absolutely central to the construction of knowledge in a course."" Often our students engage in what Ken Bain, vice provost and a historian at Montclair State University, calls strategic or surface learning, instead of the deep learning experiences we want them to have. Deep learning is hard work, and students need to be well motivated in order to pursue it. Extrinsic factors like grades aren't sufficient-they motivate competitive students toward strategic learning and risk-averse students to surface learning. Social pedagogies provide a way to tap into a set of intrinsic motivations that we often overlook: people's desire to be part of a community and to share what they know with that community. My students might not see the beauty and power of mathematics, but they can look forward to participating in a community effort to learn about math. Online, social pedagogies can play an important role in creating such a community. These are strong motivators, and we can make use of them in the courses we teach.

By Marybeth Green and Lauren Cifuentes in Journal of Interactive Learning Research, vol 22 (1), 2011. The major finding of this article seems to be that "online follow-up with peer interaction increased the likelihood of completion of the professional development task." Abstract only available on this page. For full article check with your library.

By Janet Macdonald and Anne Campbell in European Journal of Open, Distance and E-Learning [n.d.] Open University (UK) tutors work from home. This paper describes a case study of an OU initiative where the tutors received their professional development in online communities. To date, some 2000 tutors have been thus trained.

Thesis by Holly Elaine Freeman for Northcentral University, November 2011. Freeman attempted to look at the effectiveness of online professional development for educators. This page includes the abstract only. For the full thesis, check with your library.

By Katie Ash in the Digital Education blog of Education Week, Sept 1 2010. Ash quotes a study by e-Learning for Educators that finds online PD improved teachers' "instruction and subject knowledge" and "produced gains in student achievement."

By Joshua Kim of the blog BlogU, part of Inside Higher Ed, March 29, 2010. Kim reflects on the more successful online learning experiences that he's taken part in, and points to three attributes that made these experiences successful. The comments section also provides some interesting links.

This research is why I was encouraging host ambassadors to upload their pictures and profiles--they can be far more successful than I at engaging their peers in Polilogue-learning prior to the Conference.

Headed by Amy Bruckman, Associate professor at Georgia Tech, this Electronic Learning Communities center engages Ph.D. level students in studying the application of constructionist social learning online. They are doing some fascinating work, such as developing software to support leaders of learning communities, offering young A-A males the chance to be game testers and to use that experience credential as a route into computer science studies and careers, etc. These are but two research examples; there are more.

18 Rules of Community Engagement: A Guide for Building Relationships and Connecting With Customers Online [Paperback]

wide range of free chart, mindmapping, drawing(?), and diagramming tools

By Leslie Harris O'Hanlon in Education Week; part of Technology Counts 2013: Building the Digital District, March 11 2013. O'Hanlon looks at ways that K-12 teachers are bringing technology into the classroom. While in some cases this is self-directed, there are districts and national initiatives to do as well. Online professional development is discussed.

Last paragraph is really important: "Teachers should find one thing that they would like to change or something they want to make better and look for ways to use a technology tool," [New Hampshire kindergarten teacher Maria Knee] says. And "teachers need to get outside of their school and see what is happening in other places. And be open to learning."

MOOC and higher ed

Part of American Radioworks' Tomorrow's College series, this podcast looks at the changing face of the college lecture. You can listen to the program online or download an MP3 (runs just under 1 hour) or you can read the transcript. Program materials include Emily Hanford's "Report's Notebook."

Scientists have discovered proof that the evolution of intelligence and larger brain sizes can be driven by cooperation and teamwork, shedding new light on the origins of what it means to be human. The study appears online in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B and was led by scientists at Trinity College Dublin: PhD student, Luke McNally and Assistant Professor Dr Andrew Jackson at the School of Natural Sciences in collaboration with Dr Sam Brown of the University of Edinburgh.

There really is a brain advantage to working collaboratively!

Blog "devoted to documenting significant initiatives relating to Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), digital badges, and similar alternative educational projects."

Based at the Center for Elementary Mathematics and Science Education at the University of Chicago, "RWB is a home for open research in education." The project promotes collaborative research, inviting participants to join one or more communities and to participate in events like online webinars. The Resources database appears to be expansive and allows users to rate the resources that they use.