Group items tagged

Vesely, P., Bloom, L., & Sherlock, J. (2007). Key elements of building online community: Comparing faculty and student perceptions. MERLOT Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, 3(3), 234-246. Vesely, Bloom, and Sherlock (2007) document that essential to the learning process is the student/student and student/teacher interaction, and building this community of learners is more challenging in online. Students in blended courses felt interaction may be better than in traditional courses. Students who feel silenced in onsite class discussions are more apt to contribute online. Seeking help can be a determining factor in successful learning. In the online communities, help is available virtually around the clock from the instructors and fellow classmates. Furthermore, through their experiences in the blended course, students would better understand the significance of managing their time, cultivating their study environment, regulating their effort, seeking appropriate support, and learning from classmates. In my experience, students reported that their online interaction with classmates had greatly assisted in their comprehension of course materials. Central to how they felt about blended learning was the quality and quantity of student and faculty interaction. In blended courses, students are often required to engage actively by reading and responding to discussion forum postings that become a permanent record of their participation and learning, rather than passively attending classes. Perceptions of interaction from faculty are also positive for blended courses. Faculty renovate their teaching methods by placing onsite lectures online and adding supplementary activities to aid student learning. Blended teaching and learning transforms education from "a command and control structure to a connect and collaborate environment" (Moskal, Dziuban, Upchurch, Hartman, & Truman, 2006) which is more student-centered than faculty-controlled. For faculty, the quality

I know that most of the members of this group work in higher education. Some of us work in teacher preparation programs and need resources for K-12 teachers. I've found Edutopia to be a reliable resource. Their Technology Blogs have some thoughtful ideas that will help learners at the college level.

If you haven't seen this, it is a safer place to post educational videos you make for class. It is also a great place to search for related media to use in class. You can set up an account so that only certain people can see your videos if you want.

A free community for sharing instructional videos and content for teachers and students. We are an education focused, safe venue for teachers, schools, and home learners.

Synchronous or Asynchronous eLearning? Check the Benefits of Synchronous and Asynchronous e-Learning to choose the best learning solution for your learners.

In an online classroom environment many of the learning activities and expectations are similar to those found in a traditional classroom. These learning environments offer meaningful interactions in a face-to-face setting and are most commonly referred to as synchronous learning activities (Hrastinski, 2008; Harris et al., 2009; Simonson et al., 2012).

Social Media | Feature There's an ongoing debate about the role social media should play in education. Advocates point out the benefits that social media provides for today's digital learners while critics call for regulation and for removing social media from classrooms. Finding a middle ground has become a challenge.

Teachers keeping up with technology

The idea of storyboarding was developed at the Walt Disney Studio during the early 1930s. storyboard for video production is essentially a large comic of the film or some section of the film produced beforehand to help directors, cinematographers and television commercial advertising clients visualize the scenes and find potential problems before they occur. Often storyboards include arrows or instructions that indicate movement.More recently the term storyboard has been used in the fields of web development, software development and instructional design to present and describe, in written, interactive events as well as audio and motion, particularly on user interfaces and electronic pages.

A presentation about where these learners spend their time

Social networking is discussed as an opportunity in K-12 to expand students' learning horizons, but this is not without controversy. Privacy issues are among concerns. How will this impact the next generation of post-secondary learners?

Teaching students in the 21st century has new implications for today's classroom at all educational levels. Accompanying these implications are expectations that faculty must engage students through instructional strategies and activities of value to students. Twenty-first century learners live in an age of new technologies and information sharing. Cell phones, laptops, handheld PCs, electronic devices, and social online communities are a few examples of students' constant immersion in technology (see Figure 1). The exception to this constant exposure can be found in the classroom. One might reasonably ask, "How are faculty integrating technology into the curriculum to enhance learning?"

This article provides a good global study of faculty, and addresses the needs, technology needs in particular, that are essential to faculty effectiveness as we transition to the 21st century classroom.

It seems in the twenty-first century new learning technologies are appearing every day for teachers to think about. With the advent of technology across all fields of learning, the ways in which learners store and retrieve information for further use has dramatically changed.

"I don't divide the world into the weak and the strong, or the successes and the failures... I divide the world into learners and nonlearners." -Benjamin Barber, sociologist Is your capacity for learning is fixed or fluid? Can you improve your intelligence and talents through hard work and practice, or are you stuck with the brains you've got?

This article provides a synopsis of the impacts of social media on learners and learning.

This is a 3 minute intro on what exactly Diigo is and how it can be used to help keep track of sources and information while researching and writing papers. This video helped me to better understand how Diggo can be used by individual learners. Very neat!

I've used Duolingo with my ESL and Spanish students. Can't wait to try the others, especially the Skype practice.

Extremely thorough overview of problems and solutions to keeping online students engaged, with copious references and resources for further exploration.