Group items tagged

"Use of in-class concept questions with clickers can transform an instructor-centered "transmissionist" environment to a more learner-centered constructivist classroom. To compare the effectiveness of three different approaches using clickers, pairs of similar questions were used to monitor student understanding in majors' and nonmajors' genetics courses. After answering the first question individually, students participated in peer discussion only, listened to an instructor explanation only, or engaged in peer discussion followed by instructor explanation, before answering a second question individually. Our results show that the combination of peer discussion followed by instructor explanation improved average student performance substantially when compared with either alone. When gains in learning were analyzed for three ability groups of students (weak, medium, and strong, based on overall clicker performance), all groups benefited most from the combination approach, suggesting that peer discussion and instructor explanation are synergistic in helping students. However, this analysis also revealed that, for the nonmajors, the gains of weak performers using the combination approach were only slightly better than their gains using instructor explanation alone. In contrast, the strong performers in both courses were not helped by the instructor-only approach, emphasizing the importance of peer discussion, even among top-performing students."

"As Google Plus continues to grow its active user base and integrate its "social layer" across its other products and services, the number of ways to utilize this powerful social media marketing channel only continues to grow. For any user or brand that wants to take a deep dive into their circles, sharing, engagement and posting activity, this post is for you. By using these four Google Plus analysis tools, you'll be able to get valuable insights into meaningful Google Plus data which will allow you to be more strategic with how you circle, engage, share and make your time on the network more effective and efficient."

"The app was created by artists Lauren McCarthy and Kyle McDonald. Combining some rough linguistic and facial expression analysis, US+ monitors video chats in real time. You can see how hostile you're being; how positive; or how honest. At certain intervals, the application will give you suggestions, telling you you're talking too much or noting that your interlocutor looks sad."

"With deep learning, computer scientists build software models that simulate-to a certain extent-the learning model of the human brain. These models can then be trained on a mountain of new data, tweaked and eventually applied to brand new types of jobs. An image recognition model build for Google Image Search, for example, might also help out the Google Maps team. A text analysis model might help Google's search engine, but it might be useful for Google+ too."

"I've been mulling over a series of ideas in my analysis of digital literacies, and one of them is the concept and practice of 'curation' as a digital literacy, and what the implications are for curation practices to be better understood, theorised, and subsequently harnessed for educational purposes."

"It's a problematic mission, to be sure, but digital advertising network Exponential felt it was up to the task when it defined 12 millennial subgroups that marketers should know. At the recent Advertising Week in New York, researcher and Exponential vp Bryan Melmed presented the findings from his team's data analysis of 4 million young adults."

"The evaluation of the factors leading to the digital divide can be summarised as the gap between 1) older generation and the digital natives, 2) level of education, and 3) high income - low income groups. These factors are further influenced by the geographical location Rural-urban divide, and Governmental policies. All these factors determine the level of skills of an individual and the quality of access of ICTs which determines their position in the digital divide."

"Every time a student interacts with their university - be that going to the library, logging into their virtual learning environment or submitting assessments online - they leave behind a digital footprint. Learning analytics is the process of using this data to improve learning and teaching. Learning analytics refers to the measurement, collection, analysis and reporting of data about the progress of learners and the contexts in which learning takes place. Using the increased availability of big datasets around learner activity and digital footprints left by student activity in learning environments, learning analytics take us further than data currently available can."

"Campus Technology just published an article of mine about my futures work and methods.  I introduce trend analysis, environmental scanning, scenarios, and science fiction, then tie it all together with practical tips for campus technology offices."

"We already have a tool for providing credit to the original source: It's called the hyperlink. "

"Shirky's point is that for a functioning online community, all you really need is some kind of system for attaching reputation points to a user's "handle" or pseudonym. Klout is trying to do that with a number that rises and falls based on your activity on networks like Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and Tumblr. "

"Kno, in many ways is a case study in Silicon Valley hubris, where white-boarding and theoretical thinking doesn't always match up with the reality of the real world. A book publishing industry insider pointed out that Kno was trying to solve a problem that wasn't acute enough for the publishers and the end customers - students. It was a problem Kno wanted to solve for Kno."

"Hemingway highlights long, complex sentences and common errors; if you see a yellow highlight, shorten the sentence or split it. If you see a red highlight, your sentence is so dense and complicated that your readers will get lost trying to follow its meandering, splitting logic - try editing this sentence to remove the red."

"More troubling is the microphone. The TV boasts a "voice recognition" feature that allows viewers to control the screen with voice commands. But the service comes with a rather ominous warning: "Please be aware that if your spoken words include personal or other sensitive information, that information will be among the data captured and transmitted to a third party." Got that? Don't say personal or sensitive stuff in front of the TV."