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Research Digital technology in post-secondary learning is here to stay, according to a new report. Eight in 10 college students surveyed said that the use of tech improves their grades (81 percent), lets them spend more time studying by increasing the accessibility they have to their materials (82 percent) and improves their efficiency (81 percent).

Students viewed 3 different video formats: quiz questions embedded throughout, quiz questions only at the end, and no quiz questions. Students watching video with quiz questions throughout scored markedly higher on a subsequent assessment. Students in the study strongly support support in-video quizzing.

Very interesting, sound study. Even though this is done in a face to face environment, the takeaway most likely remains the same - students don't know what effective teaching looks and feels like. Quote: "Compared with students in traditional lectures, students in active classes perceived that they learned less, while in reality they learned more."

Timely! Regan Gurung just published a CTL blog post about this study: http://blogs.oregonstate.edu/osuteaching/2019/12/16/eating-your-peas-like-active-learning-not-preferred-but-better-for-you/

11 minute TED talk by the company making cool virtual labs in Unity. notes that students are bored by classic classroom teaching, and most of the current "innovations" in online teaching involve putting that same boring approach online. backs it up with some research. Points out that when you make an entertaining virtual lab with a story, students forget to check facebook for hours. Final takeaway is that the tech is here, and the next leap forward in education will come when teachers adopt it.

This study of 70,000 courses identified five course design archetypes in terms of LMS use: Supplemental - high in content but with very little student interaction Complementary - used primarily for one-way teacher-student communication Social - high peer-to peer interaction through discussion boards Evaluative - heavy use of assessments to facilitate content mastery Holistic - high LMS activity with a balances use of assessments, content, and discussion

French university École 42 torches the instruction manual on how to educate software engineers. It eliminates teachers. It doesn't make students memorize facts, or even buy books. There's no syllabus or curriculum to be found anywhere in the school's Paris headquarters. And to top it off, it doesn't charge students any tuition or fees.

"Results indicate students who enrolled in a redesigned online College Algebra course that strategically placed the instructor in the role of content provider performed significantly better. . . ."

Collection of SketchNotes on a wide variety of topics. An interesting alternative to the traditional outline / long-hand format of note-taking. I've noticed many students don't seem to have a good grasp on taking and organizing class notes. I wonder what introducing this as an option would do for them? More info on SketchNotes: http://summit.worldcat.org/oclc/796754744

A free downloadable guide on mapping customer experience. I think it would be really interesting to adapt this to a course - especially hybrid or online - for instructors to get a sense of where students hit the "trouble spots," the "low points,' and the "high points."

This is a heady rant about motivating your user. (7 min). While some of the big words might be off putting, the simple game examples should be inviting. ? It serves as advice on making someone feel glad they performed a task you setup for them. The speaker is talking about video games, and behavioral engineering, but I think it relates to motivating online students. _________________________ tl;dr? the core takeaway is: points ain't rewards. Just because you gave someone points, doesn't mean they received them as a reward. Points only work as rewards when they are a "token" of whatever currency the player values. I think this is fascinating to keep in mind when trying to motivate students. (you might think of grades and degrees as tokens in different currencies) + I'm curious to learn how much the field of "instructional design" leverages behavioral engineering.

Great description of using twitter in an English literature / history class in order to help students make the connections and see the bigger picture.

A survey of literature regarding Twitter use in the higher education classroom finds substantial support and good advice regarding its usefulness in pedagogy. Research found that Twitter aids students in building relationships, fosters students' connections with each other, and allows them to create meaning through sustained communication.

Engineering students at Penn State have developed an immersive virtual reality system and explain the benefits of an an immersive, tactile classroom experience for distance education students.

"Based on their research, Velegol, Mahoney, and Zappe have the following suggestions for faculty interested in flipping: (1) Keep the video segments less than 10 minutes, (2) review the material in class for less than 20 minutes, (3) give students time in class to work on real-life and relevant problems or projects that are traditionally done at home, and (4) provide at least weekly assessments to keep the students on track."

Lessons from a Texas A&M professor who flipped a 400-student "Introduction to Ancient Rome" course.

I'd love to hear some real world examples that address one point in the article: "Content delivery is the easy part. The hard part is figuring out what to do in class that keeps students engaged, and motivated to prepare for class." If anyone in our group knows of some specific tricks teachers usually employ for this, please let me know. (lil' quizzes? Q&A discussions? or something more interesting?) I'm wondering if there are other sorts of multimedia activities I could make that would serve similar function.

Warren, good question! The peer instruction approach of Eric Mazur et al. (see http://mazur.harvard.edu/research/detailspage.php?rowid=8) is a popular in-class technique. Here are some of other methods OSU hybrid faculty use to link online and face-to-face spheres: 1 - A low-stakes weekly quiz online prior to each class meeting. 2 - A discussion that flows from online to face-to-face and back again. 3 - A very short online essay turned in before each class meeting that builds on the online content, and is tied directly to in-class discussion or group work that follows. 4 - An interactive multimedia lesson online that provides a foundation for or extends in-class learning. (Examples: I recommend looking at Simon Driver and Megan McDonald's hybrid EXSS 444--I can connect you.) 5 - Group work online (e.g., formulating a debate position or a solution to real-world problem) that feeds into the next f2f class activity. 6 - A quiz at the start of each class meeting based on the online content. Whatever the method, a key is that the learning activities online channel rather directly into the in-class activities and vice versa. Think of it as a long ping-pong volley between learning activities in the online and f2f spheres from the first day of the term until the final exam or project.

Folks who study student retention and success in community colleges are well-acquainted with the concept of "high-impact practices." They're a set of measures that have been shown through empirical research to make positive differences in student outcomes. The list of high-impact practices usually includes learning communities, service learning, writing-intensive courses, undergraduate research, internships, and capstone courses, among others.

+ useful bibliography in one of the comments

What is it? This summary of research on Project Based Learning also appears in the BIE book PBL for 21st Century Success. It provides a quick look at key studies showing PBL's positive effects on student academic achievement, mastery of 21st century competences such as problem-solving and critical thinking, addressing the needs of diverse learners and closing achievement gaps, and increasing students' motivation to learn.

Report: Can we adequately answer questions about postsecondary outcomes and value? No. Data play a crucial role in improving college access, completion, and career readiness. Students need clear and timely information about how much college will cost, how long it will take to graduate, and how well a degree will prepare them for the job market and enable them to repay their loans.