Group items tagged

This is a blog post that describes how communication differs between face-to-face conversations and conversations which are electronically mediated.

This blog entry provides us with very useful ideas of using Twitter in education.

I must admit that when I first heard about Twitter I thought it represented the apex of what concerns me about internet technology: solipsism and sound-bite communication. While I obviously spend a great deal of time online and thinking about the potential of these new networked digital communication structures, I also worry about the way that they too easily lead to increasingly short space and time for conversation, cutting off nuance and conversation, and what is often worse how these conversations often reduce to self-centered statements. When I first heard about Twitter I thought, this was the example par excellence of these fears, so for many months I did not investigate it at all.

This article describes ways to use twitter to enhance academic work. With twitter, the class goes on beyond the assigned class period because (i) the technology is appealing, (ii) students have much to say/ask, (iii) students can 'talk' without concern for "who's (physically) in class that might make fun of me", and (iv) students respond in their own time. Twitter has the dual benefits of quasi-synchronous and asynchronous communication.

I am using VoiceThread for students to create digital stories to share about their research projects. Other students will peer review, comment, and write a reflection. Use VoiceThread Search Box terms "online teaching" to find Projects created for Online Courses.

Follow this blog for tips, templates, and discussions related to e-learning.

Here's a free PowerPoint template I built for a recent workshop. I used it to show how to create interactive conversations in PowerPoint using hyperlinks. In this example it's a simple back and forth conversation. This free template could be used as a way to share manager/employee information or perhaps as an FAQ interaction.

Twitter as an acceptable, non-intrusive side conversational tool in class or online. Such a tool may actually make synchronous learning vibrant .

is open source the wave of the future for academic publications

I hear complaints about the poor quality of student writing today as often as I read stories about the Internet causing the end of higher education as we know it (i.e., frequently). When those complaints come in the form of actual conversations with peers, instead of in print, I feel myself immediately put on the defensive.

Thanks for this post Heather. I liked that the instructor recognized that despite some challenges with using a new technique to promote his students' writing skills the energy that was expressed by his students far outweighed the "mess" that he dealt with the first time trying something new.

The lack of learning transfer is a common mantra in higher education. It's a good article for reflection. Although I've been a proponent of service learning, at the same time, I wasn't sure how students could or if they would transfer their experiences to the academic component. Now, I need to rethink my position on service learning and its impact on connected learning

I like to use this clip when teaching students about the Fifth Amendment. It's funny and sparks a great conversation about the media/society's conception of how and under what circumstances the Fifth Amendment is used. And it's fun! Enjoy!

tools and constructivism

Love that the "practical descriptions of constructivist learning" listed in the article "[C]onstructivist learning should engage students in meaningful learning and ... the critical features are that the learning should be ... * Active and manipulative, engaging students in interactions and explorations with learning materials and provid[ing] opportunities for them to observe the results of their manipulations * Constructive and reflective, enabling students to integrate new ideas with prior knowledge to make meaning and enable learning through reflection * Intentional, providing opportunities for students to articulate their learning goals and monitor their progress in achieving them * Authentic, challenging and real-world (or simulated), facilitating better understanding and transfer of learning to new situations * Cooperative, collaborative, and conversational, providing students with opportunities to interact with each other to clarify and share ideas, to seek assistance, to negotiate problems, and discuss solutions."

"With VoiceThread, group conversations are collected and shared in one place from anywhere in the world. All with no software to install"

Simple and free, Jing is the perfect way to enhance your fast-paced online conversations.

I tried Jing only a couple of weeks back and I have already made over 40 videos for use in my classes.

I was referred to this product by a colleague and it is really easy to use. I use it to record video solutions for my math review. Jing also works with Camtasia, which allows you to edit your Jing videos, as well as convert them into other media types such as mp4.

The primary purpose of VoiceThread is to provide students with the ability to collaborate with fellow students on their websites or save to MP3 or DVD. The tool is used by students to upload multimedia material by microphone, webcam, text, phone, and audio-file upload.

Performance assessment, also known as alternative or authentic assessment, is a form of testing that requires students to perform a task rather than select an answer from a ready-made list. For example, a student may be asked to explain historical events, generate scientific hypotheses, solve math problems, converse in a foreign language, or conduct research on an assigned topic. Experienced raters--either teachers or other trained staff--then judge the quality of the student's work based on an agreed-upon set of criteria. This new form of assessment is most widely used to directly assess writing ability based on text produced by students under test instructions

Freakonomics by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner was a New York Times bestseller in the early 2000's. Here is the description of Stephen Dubner's Radio Show: "Freakonomics Radio is an award-winning weekly podcast (subscribe here!) with 8 million downloads per month. It can also be heard on public radio stations across the country, on SiriusXM, on several major airlines, and elsewhere. Host Stephen J. Dubner has surprising conversations that explore the riddles of everyday life and the weird wrinkles of human nature - from cheating and crime to parenting and sports. Dubner talks with Nobel laureates and provocateurs, social scientists and entrepreneurs - and his Freakonomics co-author Steve Levitt. Freakonomics Radio is produced by Dubner Productions and WNYC Studios."