Oregon State University Ecampus

Research: When Instructure began analyzing the course designs for its higher ed customers, the LMS company discovered something about getting students to interact with the online elements of their courses.

"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. . . ."

A checklist for making distance learning programs welcoming and accessible to all students Represented by students in distance learning courses are a variety of racial and ethnic backgrounds, ages, native languages, and learning styles. In addition, increasing numbers of students with disabilities participate in regular precollege and postsecondary courses.

"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."

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.

Thought this was a nice easy read regarding a topic that comes up each year. We all know educational games should tackle more than memorization and that multiple choice questions offer a puerile level of analysis, but seems like we keep falling back into these two traps. Looking forward to tackling new projects that treat learning as the ally instead of the goal, and encourage exploration more than stepping through checklists. Just sharing because I enjoy chewing this stuff over all the time.

"The results suggest that the lowest-ability students benefit more from engagement than classmates, first-year students and seniors convert different forms of engagement into academic achievement, and certain institutions more effectively convert student engagement into higher performance on critical thinking tests.

(Educause registration required for access to this pdf; OSU is an institutional member of Educause.)

wb: Thought this a very useful (+short!) discussion of the new learning that is emerging thanks to computers. Filled with tons of great links to online resources and teaching game examples I hadn't heard of before.

Takeaways: "A four-year university-wide study of students' e-textbook practices found that e-textbook use has increased, particularly among younger students. The major barriers - including a student preference for print and unfamiliarity with e-textbooks - show signs of being alleviated. Other factors related to mobile device access and pedagogically effective e-textbooks show little change over the study period. Instructor practices have improved, but there is still room for growth, with implications for focused professional development."

A collection of tips for the first month of teaching a course. [We might think about how this approach translates to an online environment beyond the Start Here module.]

An excellent teaching guide about backward design from Vanderbilt's Center for Teaching including a Grant Wiggins "understanding by design" video, description of the 3 stages of backward design, and a backward design template.