Group items tagged

"Abstract Competency-based education (CBE) awards academic credit based on mastery of clearly defined competencies. CBE replaces the conventional model in which time is fixed and learning is variable with a model in which the time is variable and the learning is fixed. CBE is built around clearly defined competencies and measurable learning objectives that demonstrate mastery of those competencies. Measuring learning by competency is not new, but various challenges facing higher education, combined with new models and technologies, have brought a new focus on CBE. A growing number of competency-based programs have been developed at all levels of instruction. CBE capitalizes on the potential of online learning, enabling new models that can reduce both the cost and time needed to earn credentials while better preparing students for their professional lives. The 7 Things You Should Know About... series from the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI) provides concise information on emerging learning technologies. Each brief focuses on a single technology and describes what it is, where it is going, and why it matters to teaching and learning. Use these briefs for a no-jargon, quick overview of a topic and share them with time-pressed colleagues."

"EXECUTIVE SUMMARY A new business landscape is emerging wherein a multitude of small entities will bring products and services to market using the infrastructure and platforms of large, concentrated players. The forces driving this are putting new and mounting pressures on organizations and individuals while also opening up new opportunities. But traditional postsecondary educational institutions are not supporting individuals in successfully navigating this not-too-distant future, nor are the educational institutions immune to these forces. Perhaps more than any other sector, postsecondary education is being affected by changing demand as the learning needs and preferences of the individual consumer rapidly evolve. Increasingly, individuals need both lifelong learning and accelerated, on-demand learning, largely as a response to the pressures of the broader evolving economic landscape. Rarely seen amid gross national statistics on the skills gap, employability, completion rates, and tuition hikes is a serious discussion of the unmet, and increasingly disparate, needs and expectations of individual learners. The costs to the individual are increasing, and the payoff is less certain. Students of all ages are more comfortable with technology and are less tied to traditional notions of the academy as fewer American adults between the ages of 18 and 22 achieve a four-year, full-time, campus-based degree.1 At the same time, technological advances reduce the lifespan of specific skills, and an increasingly globalized and automated workforce needs to continuously learn and retrain."

Abstract Calibrated Peer Review (CPR) is a system developed at UCLA for coordinating and evaluating peer reviews of student work. In CPR, students review one another's assignments in an anonymous system, providing feedback to other students while also learning how to recognize strengths and weaknesses of their own efforts. Peer review might hold particular promise for MOOCs and other high-enrollment courses that struggle with assessment and feedback, though the benefits of peer review can apply to any community of learners, large or small. The 7 Things You Should Know About... series from the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI) provides concise information on emerging learning technologies. Each brief focuses on a single technology and describes what it is, where it is going, and why it matters to teaching and learning. Use these briefs for a no-jargon, quick overview of a topic and share them with time-pressed colleagues.

"Paulo Blikstein http://paulo.blikstein.com is Assistant Professor at Stanford University School of Education http://tltl.stanford.edu. Blikstein's research focus on how new technologies can deeply transform the learning of science, engineering, and mathematics. He creates and researches cutting-edge technologies for use in inner-city schools, such as computer modeling, robotics, and rapid prototyping, creating constructionist learning environments in which children learn science and mathematics by building sophisticated projects and devices. A recipient of the prestigious NSF Early Career Award, Blikstein holds a PhD. from Northwestern University, an MSc. from the MIT Media Lab, and a B.S. in Metallurgical Engineering from the University of São Paulo."

This Indiana University, Bloomington, page outlines characteristics of inquiry-base learning, and includes "detailed information about effective problem-based learning environments" (2014.10.08).

"A multi-disciplinary group designing and researching new technologies for education. We understand new technologies not only as a way to optimize the existing educational system, but as a transformative force that can generate radically new ways of knowing and learning."

AUGMENTED REALITY FOR INTERPRETIVE AND EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING The goal of the ARIEL project is the creation of an exhibit platform that uses scientific visualization techniques to transform modern visitor interaction with traditional hands-on exhibits. The project will ultimately demonstrate an innovative solution to a key problem faced by science centers: the reinvention of the exhibit experience for visitors with changing 21st century learning expectations. The project has three main goals: to increase awareness of STEM content; improve 21st century learning skills; produce an evidence-based model for use of augmented reality activities within science museum settings. The project combines technological and pedagogical components in the AR fixed-station activities and the VR environment that exhibit multiple characteristics and constraints to engagement.

"Speakers: Malcolm Brown, Director, EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative Andy Calkins, Deputy Director, Next Generation Learning Challenges George Siemens, Associate Director, Technology Enhanced Knowledge Research Institute, Athabasca University Date: November 20, 2012 Time: 1:00-2:00 p.m. ET (UTC-5); convert to your time zone Topic: This free hour-long webinar, "The Current and Future State of Higher Education," will outline an open online course, conducted in fall 2012, that evaluated the change pressures that face universities and the opportunities that can help universities prepare for the future state of higher education."

Download from EnglishCentral Webinar: Evaluating language learning technology

In this 2014.06.16 guest post and extensive follow-up comments about an evolving educational technology rubric, Thornbury draws upon second language acquisition literature to generate "a list of 'observations'" (¶3), upon which in turn to base general questions about the "fitness for purpose" (¶1) of various products and services available to facilitate and support language learning.

Designing Technology and Pedagogy to Promote 21st Century Literacies in the Humanities A talk by Brian Johnsrud (Stanford) and Emily Schneider (Stanford) at the Digital Humanities Focal Group "We've been told time and again: the information landscape is shifting, creating new ways of interacting with multimedia, sprawling archives, and digital, participatory cultures. These changes are (slowly) being echoed in the humanities classroom, as reading digitally, communicating online, and analyzing interactive, multimedia artifacts are being integrated into existing practices traditionally valued in the humanities. In this talk, Brian Johnsrud and Emily Schneider will share their research on how traditional humanistic practices can be enlivened and extended with new digital tools and objects of analysis. The key questions inherent to this research include: What kinds of "21 st century literacies" are required for productive engagement with new media and learning practices,both in and outside of classrooms? And how might courses in the humanities support students in developing these literacies? Lacuna Stories, a digital reading and writing platform currently being developed in the Poetic Media Lab, takes on this challengeby merging academic texts and media with the interactive affordances of the Web. This talk will give an overview of"21 st century literacies," discuss their connection to the overall learning goals of the humanities, and showcase several "old"and "new" literacies that Lacuna Stories is designed to support."

Why Web Literacy Should Be Part of Every Education Cathy Davidson and Mark Surman Making web literacy the fourth literacy begins with the premise that not only are humans capable of learning together--we're doing it, contributing to peer learning online, every day of our lives. That is a major educational paradigm shift, the great gift we've been given by those who built the web on open architecture. Web literacy explains the world we live in and gives us the tools to contribute to that world.