Group items tagged

"You have probably heard of them - you fill in a questionnaire to be told that you a 'visual learner' or an 'auditory learner', a 'reflector' or a 'pragmatist', a 'diverger' or a 'converger'? But exactly what are Learning Styles? They are, unfortunately, one of the great myths in learning theory"

"A growing number of studies have been carried out to understand learning and teaching activities in online learning environments (OLEs) and to design effective OLEs for meaningful learning in higher education. Although there were a small number of studies to provide research trends in educational technology in regards to research topics, methods, and researchers, more research is necessary to help educators to understand new trends and issues of OLEs in higher education. This study intends to provide an overview of practical and theoretical issues pertaining to OLEs by analyzing literature recently published in peer-reviewed journals. The present study qualitatively analyzed research questions and purposes to identify themes of OLEs in higher education. The OLE research topics were grouped into three major themes: (1) participants, (2) micro-level environments, and (3) macro-level environments. The findings are followed by discussion of an ecological approach as a new theoretical framework to guide future OLE research and practice."

"This infokit explores gamification and its application to the field of education, learning and teaching. It is written for instructors such as lecturers and teachers, and is also of interest to learning system developers, education technology organisations, metadata specialists, librarians, and anyone concerned with effective learning either within, or outwith, curriculum requirements"

Learning Development is a field of practice concerned with how students learn and how they make sense of academic conventions. JLDHE is published by the Association for Learning Development in Higher Education (ALDinHE). For further details follow the lin

Blackboard's e-learning system dominates the online learning software market. In this essay the author critically examines the structure of Blackboard's two online learning delivery systems, Blackboard 8.0 and Blackboard CE6. The author identifies ways in

"The Learning to Teach Online (LTTO) MOOC is based upon the multi award winning open educational resource of the same name, developed by Simon McIntyre and Karin Watson. We have built upon these resources in this MOOC, supporting them with a course structure that puts them into a supportive framework for you all to help you find and connect with each other to share your own experiences in the Discussion Forums. This course is not intended as a comprehensive manual for online teaching. Rather, it is intended as a starting point to help you develop your understanding of the principles involved; a place where you can get advice about strategies you might try; and a means from which you can begin to build your confidence and capacity to continue the learning journey in your own contexts and practice"

Thought provoking blog post from David White. Some interesting ideas that have come out of interviews related to his Digital Residents and Natives and Open Edducational Resources research, viz the "emergency collaboration" 24 hours from coursework submission (I'm sure that goes on a lot in Swansea) and Google> Wikipedia> References which is a popular technique with students but is kept hidden because of the overt discouragement of academics for Google and Wikipedia as valid academic research tools. I've personally never had a problem with either G or W in my own learning. Am I prejudiced against them in my students' learning?

"The NMC Horizon Report > 2014 Higher Education Edition is a collaborative effort between the NMC and the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI), an EDUCAUSE Program. This eleventh edition describes annual findings from the NMC Horizon Project, an ongoing research project designed to identify and describe emerging technologies likely to have an impact on learning, teaching, and creative inquiry in education. Six key trends, six significant challenges, and six emerging technologies are identified across three adoption horizons over the next one to five years, giving campus leaders and practitioners a valuable guide for strategic technology planning. The format of the report is new this year, providing these leaders with more in-depth insight into how the trends and challenges are accelerating and impeding the adoption of educati"

"In part 1, I looked at the shifting definition of educational (or learning) technology; in the second part, I looked at a brief history of educational technology; part 3 explored the rise of the "new professional"; the fourth part discussed the "bipolarisation" of the "new professional". This is the fifth in a series of short posts concerning the field of educational (or learning) technology and the people who are practitioners and theoreticians within the field."

"Voting for the Top 100 Tools for Learning 2013 is now open.  This is the 7th Annual Survey which will be compiled from the contributions of learning professionals worldwide. Voting closes midnight GMT on Friday 27 September 2013, and the Top 100 Tools list will be revealed on Monday 30 September 2013."

"Teaching with Moodle: An Introduction is a free course for teachers who would like to use (or anyone interested in) learning platforms to enhance teaching and learning in today's educational environment. Designed to provide a good foundation and context to Moodle, the course covers the basics of the open source (and free!) learning platform, including how to set up and effectively use Moodle in teaching. The course features:"

I signed up!

"Through the writings and research of pre-eminent online learning expert, Dr. Tony Bates (Instalment 1 of an 8 part series)"

"The present research assessed the potential effects of expecting to teach on learning. In two experiments, participants studied passages either in preparation for a later test or in preparation for teaching the passage to another student who would then be tested. In reality, all participants were tested, and no one actually engaged in teaching. Participants expecting to teach produced more complete and better organized free recall of the passage (Experiment 1) and, in general, correctly answered more questions about the passage than did participants expecting a test (Experiment 1), particularly questions covering main points (Experiment 2), consistent with their having engaged in more effective learning strategies. Instilling an expectation to teach thus seems to be a simple, inexpensive intervention with the potential to increase learning efficiency at home and in the classroom"

"On 24 April 2015 forty educators from 19 institutions discussed key issues in MOOC design and implementation at a one-day workshop hosted and funded by the University of Reading, a leading member of the FutureLearn MOOC consortium. The workshop offered the opportunity to evaluate practical lessons from the design and delivery of MOOCs, particularly those encouraging skills development. The focus was on problem-based discussion of approaches to teaching and learning, and the extent to which MOOC learning outcomes can be defined, measured, or achieved."

"In 2012, Duke University began using MOOCs to promote innovation in teaching and learning within the campus community, with the goal of importing successful new pedagogical ideas into Duke classrooms. Since that time, 30 instructors from 28 departments have developed 31 MOOCs on Coursera, attracting 2.8 million enrollments and issuing more than 72,000 certificates. Various examples show how these instructors changed their teaching approach in both MOOCs and traditional courses, including by improving classroom materials and activities, crafting better measures of student learning, and experimenting with new pedagogies to increase engagement and learning."

This Blended Learning Toolkit is a free, open resource for educational institutions interested in developing or expanding their blended learning initiatives.

The Edgeless University argues that technology in higher education is not just about virtual learning environments, but is increasingly central to the way institutions provide learning and facilitateresearch. Technology is making research and learning pos

Professional development courses on how to integrate technology for active learning via blended (BL) and blended online learning (BOL) courses and workshops.

Twitter, Moodle and Ning get you excited about learning, and blogs, wikis and RFIDs are common terms in your vocabulary. Visiting a virtual world is the norm, and you can't understand why your colleagues don't jump on board the e-learning super highway im

""If I have to sit through YET ANOTHER freaking 'professional development' session based on these cockamamie theories, I am going to pluck my eyeballs out and throw them at whatever charlatan the administration hired to conduct said session."- professor on an online academic forum discussing learning myths, including the pyramid."