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J.Randolph Radney

TeachPaperless: 10 Ways to Help Students Ask Better Questions - 10 views

teachpaperless.blogspot.com/...-help-students-ask-better.html

shared by J.Randolph Radney on 08 Apr 11 - No Cached
  • The points students bring up are thought-provoking. However, I'm most impressed by the questions they ask one another. They clarify and ask follow-up questions. They make inferences. They ask connecting questions and critical thinking questions. It's a messy process, but it's beautiful messy. It's art.
  • As long as a question is respectful, I want students to question their world. This applies to analyzing mathematical processes, thinking through social issues, making sense out of a text or analyzing the natural world for cause and effect.
  • Three times a week, we do inquiry days, where students begin with their own question in either social studies or science and they research it, summarize it and then ask further questions. While my initial goal involved teaching bias, loaded language and summarization, I soon realized that students were growing the most in their ability to ask critical thinking questions.
  • ...7 more annotations...
  • I require students to ask questions before, during and after reading.
  • Sometimes I'll ask a really lame question and then say, "Someone tell my why that question sucked?" or I'll ask a deeper question and say, "Why was that a hard question to answer?" The goal is to get them to see deeper questions and to also think about why a question is deep or shallow.
  • Feedback on questions: I highlight their questions in Google Docs and leave comments on their blogs with very specific feedback.
  • Some students have a really hard time with questioning strategies.
  • I teach students about inquiry, clarifying, critical thinking and inference questioning.
  • Students sometimes ask me questions. Other times they ask partners or small group questions. Still other times they ask the questions to the whole class.
  • Technology allows students to take their time in crafting a question while having access to the questions of their peers.
J.Randolph Radney

Teaching in Social and Technological Networks « Connectivism - 6 views

www.connectivism.ca/?p=220

teaching connectivism networks social eLearning

shared by J.Randolph Radney on 22 Feb 10 - Cached
  • Technological networks have transformed prominent businesses sectors: music, television, financial, manufacturing. Social networks, driven by technological networks, have similarly transformed communication, news, and personal interactions. Education sits at the social/technological nexus of change – primed for dramatic transformative change. In recent posts, I’ve argued for needed systemic innovation. I’d like focus more specifically on how teaching is impacted by social and technological networks.
  • social and technological networks subvert the classroom-based role of the teacher. Networks thin classroom walls. Experts are no longer “out there” or “over there”. Skype brings anyone, from anywhere, into a classroom. Students are not confined to interacting with only the ideas of a researcher or theorist. Instead, a student can interact directly with researchers through Twitter, blogs, Facebook, and listservs. The largely unitary voice of the traditional teacher is fragmented by the limitless conversation opportunities available in networks. When learners have control of the tools of conversation, they also control the conversations in which they choose to engage.
  • Course content is similarly fragmented. The textbook is now augmented with YouTube videos, online articles, simulations, Second Life builds, virtual museums, Diigo content trails, StumpleUpon reflections, and so on.
  • ...14 more annotations...
  • Thoughts, ideas, or messages that the teacher amplifies will generally have a greater probability of being seen by course participants.
    • J.Randolph Radney
      J.Randolph Radney on 22 Feb 10
       
      definition of amplification
  • Views of teaching, of learner roles, of literacies, of expertise, of control, and of pedagogy are knotted together. Untying one requires untying the entire model.
  • The following are roles teacher play in networked learning environments: 1. Amplifying 2. Curating 3. Wayfinding and socially-driven sensemaking 4. Aggregating 5. Filtering 6. Modelling 7. Persistent presence
  • The curator, in a learning context, arranges key elements of a subject in such a manner that learners will “bump into” them throughout the course. Instead of explicitly stating “you must know this”, the curator includes critical course concepts in her dialogue with learners, her comments on blog posts, her in-class discussions, and in her personal reflections.
    • J.Randolph Radney
      J.Randolph Radney on 22 Feb 10
       
      definition of curating
  • I found my way through personal trial and error. Today’s social web is no different – we find our way through active exploration. Designers can aid the wayfinding process through consistency of design and functionality across various tools, but ultimately, it is the responsibility of the individual to click/fail/recoup and continue.
  • Fortunately, the experience of wayfinding is now augmented by social systems.
  • Sensemaking in complex environments is a social process.
    • J.Randolph Radney
      J.Randolph Radney on 22 Feb 10
       
      Therefore, the teacher helps with wayfinding, but it is also the province of the learning community.
  • Perhaps we need to spend more time in information abundant environments before we turn to aggregation as a means of making sense of the landscape.
  • magine a course where the fragmented conversations and content are analyzed (monitored) through a similar service. Instead of creating a structure of the course in advance of the students starting (the current model), course structure emerges through numerous fragmented interactions. “Intelligence” is applied after the content and interactions start, not before.
  • Aggregation should do the same – reveal the content and conversation structure of the course as it unfolds, rather than defining it in advance.
  • Filtering resources is an important educator role, but as noted already, effective filtering can be done through a combination of wayfinding, social sensemaking, and aggregation. But expertise still matters. Educators often have years or decades of experience in a field. As such, they are familiar with many of the concepts, pitfalls, confusions, and distractions that learners are likely to encounter.
  • To teach is to model and to demonstrate. To learn is to practice and to reflect.”
  • Apprenticeship learning models are among the most effective in attending to the full breadth of learning.
  • Without an online identity, you can’t connect with others – to know and be known. I don’t think I’m overstating the importance of have a presence in order to participate in networks. To teach well in networks – to weave a narrative of coherence with learners – requires a point of presence. As a course progresses, the teacher provides summary comments, synthesizes discussions, provides critical perspectives, and directs learners to resources they may not have encountered before.
  • J.Randolph Radney on 22 Feb 10
     
    This is a discussion of connectivist learning, particularly the teacher's role(s).
J.Randolph Radney

Ten Tips for More Efficient and Effective Grading Practices | Faculty Focus - 2 views

www.facultyfocus.com/...ps-efficient-effective-grading

tips grading practices

shared by J.Randolph Radney on 04 Feb 15 - No Cached
  • Bank Comments: Keep a bank of comments about frequent errors students make and organize them in groups for easy access. Consider grouping comments according to module, assignment, and chapter, or grammar, content, and organization. For example, if an instructor sees frequent errors regarding point of view, keep related comments grouped in the same area to access them easily.
  • Less is More: Instructors should avoid the temptation to respond to everything that calls for adjustments or changes. Brookhart (2011) reports, many struggling students need to focus on just a few areas or even one item at a time. If a student backs off from his or her paper because he or she is intimidated by the number of instructor comments, then all is lost. It is better to target two or three areas that need to be addressed for the student’s success on future papers.
  • Questions for Reflection: Consider inviting reflective, critical thinking and further conversation in a productive, scholarly exchange with the student. Instead of telling students what they did “wrong,” ask them to rethink their approach. For example, consider using a phrase such as “What is the most interesting aspect of your essay?” Or “What would draw your attention to this topic, as a reader?” This way, the student is not only prompted to make more thoughtful revisions, but also is given tools to use when considering how to write a hook for future essays.
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  • Douglas B. Reeves, author and educator, said, “Technology sometimes encourages people to confuse busyness with effectiveness” (Reeves, 2010). Instructors sometimes equate certain grading practices such as an authoritative tone, strong criticism, or copious comments with being effective. In fact, the more conscious and deliberate an instructor is when delivering feedback, the better that feedback tends to be. Instructors often feel as though they must sacrifice effectiveness for efficiency, or efficiency for effectiveness. By honoring these guiding principles, instructors will realize that they do not need to make a choice between the two.
  • J.Randolph Radney on 04 Feb 15
     
    Standard approaches to evaluation of work, but with a few nice (and new) ideas.
J.Randolph Radney

YouTube - Seth Godin on Education - 2 views

www.youtube.com/watch

education Web2.0 youtube entrepreneurship business

shared by J.Randolph Radney on 22 Feb 10 - Cached
  • J.Randolph Radney on 22 Feb 10
     
    I was rather amazed at the implications of this video in terms of where public education came from. Then, I was discussing this with a friend who said they had been exposed to the same ideas when he was in a course on the history and philosophy of education at the Univ. of Ariz. in 1970. I find it disturbing not just that the philosophy of education has such roots, but that it has been known for such a long time. It seems that this would provide some sort of imperative for improvement and change. What do you think?
  • Dr. Nellie Deutsch on 22 Feb 10
     
    I have been a critical observer of the educational system since kindergarten. I am amazed that I became a teacher in the public school system as that was the last thing I had considered. I had initially wanted to be a dancer but left for Europe to study art. I left Toronto right after high school when life stepped in. I became an English language teacher to adults in a foreign country due to unforeseen circumstances. How strange! But, I never gave up. I have been doing all I can to break the public school system from the inside. It has been quite challenging, but with some terrific personal rewards.
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