February 2009 | Volume 66 | Number 5
How Teachers Learn Pages 34-38
Learning with Blogs and Wikis
Bill Ferriter
Technology has made it easy for educators to embrace continual professional development.
Few ideas about teachers' professional growth resonate with me more than those of Richard Elmore, professor of educational leadership at Harvard, who has gone as far as to argue that school structures make learning for adults unlikely at best and nothing short of impossible at worst. In a 2002 report for the Albert Shanker Institute, Elmore wrote,
As expectations for increased student performance mount and the measurement and publication of evidence about performance becomes part of the public discourse about schools, there are few portals through which new knowledge about teaching and learning can enter schools; few structures or processes in which teachers and administrators can assimilate, adapt, and polish new ideas and practices; and few sources of assistance for those who are struggling to understand the connection between the academic performance of their students and the practices in which they engage.
So the brutal irony of our present circumstance is that schools are hostile and inhospitable places for learning. They are hostile to the learning of adults and, because of this, they are necessarily hostile to the learning of students. (pp. 4-5)
Technology has made it easy for educators to embrace continual professional development.
Few ideas about teachers' professional growth resonate with me more than those of Richard Elmore, professor of educational leadership at Harvard, who has gone as far as to argue that school structures make learning for adults unlikely at best and nothing short of impossible at worst.
Founded in 1943, ASCD (formerly the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development) is an educational leadership organization dedicated to advancing best practices and policies for the success of each learner. Our 175,000 members in 119 countries are professional educators from all levels and subject areas--superintendents, supervisors, principals, teachers, professors of education, and school board members.
When Alice E. Marwick, an assistant professor of media studies at Fordham University, assigned her social-media class to create a post on BuzzFeed, the instructions were simple: Go viral. Several students nailed the assignment, collecting more than...
Technology Students are emboldened, but they can also hijack discussions Maybe Sugato Chakravarty should wear a helmet to class. The professor of consumer sciences and retailing at Purdue University repeatedly attempts the instructional equivalent of jumping a motorcycle over a row of flaming barrels.
Technology Students are emboldened, but they can also hijack discussions Maybe Sugato Chakravarty should wear a helmet to class. The professor of consumer sciences and retailing at Purdue University repeatedly attempts the instructional equivalent of jumping a motorcycle over a row of flaming barrels.
Technology Students are emboldened, but they can also hijack discussions Maybe Sugato Chakravarty should wear a helmet to class. The professor of consumer sciences and retailing at Purdue University repeatedly attempts the instructional equivalent of jumping a motorcycle over a row of flaming barrels.
I think it depends on the course and the course learning objectives. Social networking may not be a tool that aids in encoding course content and thus, would be inappropriate to include.
In his work as a professor, Stephen Downes used to feel that he was helping those who least needed it. His students at places like the University of Alberta already had a leg up in life and could afford the tuition
This abstract written by an engineering professor at Cal Poly Engineering offers research and support for a new trend in education called, "the Inside-Out Classroom." The abstract describes how the inside out classroom is a win-win-win strategy for teaching with technology. Instructors create "chunks" of core content in a digital, lecture-capture format. These resources are then stored online for students. These are short videos that students watch before attending class sessions. Students study core content for a course online on their own, and then complete assignments during in-class sessions.
Special Reports Faculty members experiment with artificial intelligence in the classroom Premium content for subscribers. Subscribe Today Last spring, Ashok K. Goel pulled off one of the great pranks in the history of artificial intelligence. In an online course, Mr. Goel, a computer-science professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology, relied on nine teaching assistants, including...
Interesting article on student study groups. Introduction includes the potential pitfalls, moves on to the potentially enormously benefits, then offers a long list of suggestions for providing structure for study groups so that students benefit from them.
So common with tech! Rather than first considering the learning objectives and how best to accomplish them, many start with some cool thing they'd like to use and work in reverse.
You don't have to teach in a silo! Running new ideas past a colleague and discussing them can help you to better anticipate potential pitfalls and develop preventive strategies. Also, others might get excited about your idea too and join in!
It’s essential that you receive feedback from students
Some go out of their way to avoid student feedback, as if it makes them somehow weaker. Show your human side, model the learning process - that's one of the best things you can do for your students!
It's really frustrating when an instructor tries something new, then automatically discards it because it wasn't perfect the first time. What is? Try it again with some tweaks, don't just give up.
One of the best "teaching tricks" out there is to keep a running log/journal/etc of changes you want to make the next time through. Put it in writing somewhere you won't lose it; you may think you'll remember it, but it's more likely that thought won't return to you until you encounter the same problem next time.
This is a terrific article sharing tips about implementing new practices in your classes. Great primer on how to avoid common pitfalls, and help increase your chances for success. May the odds be ever in your favor!