Group items tagged

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."

By Amanda Ripley, part of Time's cover story on Reinventing College, Oct 18 2012. In this piece, Ripley provides a brief survey of the three major university-related MOOC suppliers: Udacdity, Coursera and EdX. The author describes a Udacity physics course (which she deems among the best of those MOOCs she sampled) and then compares it to physics courses at Georgetown University and University of DC.

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 Judi Fusco, Sarah Haavind, Julie Remold & Patricia Schank in Educational Media International vol 48 (3), 2011. A look at the results of 4 professional development seminars, using community of inquiry model. This is the abstract only. For full article, check with your library.

By Irene Hanraets, Joitske Hulsebosch & Maarten de Laat in Educational Media International, vol 48 (2) 2011. Looks at the idea of teacher professional development networks and networked learning. Abstract only available from this page. For full article, check with your library.

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 Aliya Holmes, Barbara Signer and Antoinette MacLeod, Journal of Digital Learning in Teacher Education, vol 27 (2) , n.d. This paper looks at a 5-week distance learning course offered for K-12 in-service teachers.

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.

By Todd D. Reeves and Joseph J. Pedulla in Professional Development in Education, vol 37 (4), 2011. A look at the USA's e-Learning for Educators (EfE), specifically and at online professional development (OPD) more generally. NOTE: This page has abstract only. For full article, check with your library.

NOTE: OPD (online professional development) might be a good keyword.

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.

Oxford Brookes University (UK) is developing a 5-week MOOC based on the content of their course, First Steps Into Learning and Teaching in Higher Education. The project is being funded by the Higher Education Academy. Many of the February 2012 posts to this blog describe the project. Stay tuned for more information.

By Jennifer Brooks, The Tennessean, July 2 2010. Tennessee is looking at revamping their remedial education with hybrid and online classes in community colleges. In four-year colleges, remedial needs are often addressed with extra work/extra time in the regular classroom.

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.

By Michelle M. Kazner in The Electronic Library vol 20 (5) 2002, p 395-400. This article looks at the library support that is required by the students of LEEP, the distance learning option at University of Illinois-Champaign.

Many of the ideas expressed here might be helpful as we navigate the role of digital librarian supporting the various existing KPI communities as well as any courses/new communities that might develop in the future. Part of SM's Instructional Design course 7/11.

An online only grad school for teacher preparation in NY state helps teachers in their own classrooms instead of in a teacher prep class outside of where they work. Videos of teachers teaching and other techniques are used to train teachers.

A program of the College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales (Australia), this is an online project that aims to help teachers "gain a working understanding of successful online teaching pedagogies that they can apply in their own unique teaching situations."

JISC is a UK-based group that "inspires UK colleges and universities in the innovative use of digital technologies...." The e-learning program offers 5 tracks to will help teachers learn how to teach in the e-learning environment. Support includes OER.

A blog that features information about education-related MOOCs, with schedules, information about participants, and study groups (including one for librarians).

Presented on P2PU (Peer 2 Peer University), "a grassroots open education project," this new course on online, self-directed learning is being presented by Anya Kamenetz. In this particular course, participants are directed through the processes of writing a personal learning plan, building a personal learning network, and finding a mentor, all while sharing the process with their fellow learners. Unlike many of the other P2PU courses (which have a more topical focus), this is open to those who want to learn on any subject.