Group items tagged

look at these studies more deeply for possible OLE inclusion around community/conversation

"Online Learning, like any educational tool, requires utilization, evaluation, reflection and modification.  We cannot engage in that process unless we actually DO IT. "

"I'd say the biggest observation I've come across in the last couple weeks, is that the online co-learning model breaks down the barriers of the traditional teacher/student relationship. Collaborating, sharing, and building ideas and understanding through open discuss instead bland lecture (here's the information, learn it, regurgitate it for a test). Creating the open platform to express ideas, and then expand upon them with easy reference to the information on the web (i.e., youtube videos, spotify, etc.). The responsibility then lies with each of us (student and teacher) to clearly express our meaning, intention, interpretation, and understanding of material, and back it up with an openness to build on criticism, and defend our viewpoint. And as we've discussed, they, the students, have full ownership of their work, so they may use it for future reference, when needed. In a way, it's like what Beethoven, Debussy, and punk rock have done with music. Each in their own right said, screw the "rules" I'm going to create the music I feel is necessary. The music inside me." h/t to Joyce

Interesting guide to picking an interactive storytelling tool that might be an interesting model for some of our stuff in OLE and beyond.

Ah, this is so interesting. Over lunch I announced that I love how Twitter is being used in OLE. I can see integrating it in a similar way that OLE is: As a way to announce that assignments (or makes) are complete. Given that 'ah hah' moment with me, and this article, it's pretty clear that there's a lot you can do with it, on many levels. Knowing your audience and making sure it meshes with the parameters and goals of the course are key.

"They were so busy hating Twitter they didn't realize how much they were learning or how much they were thinking critically."

"What's neat about this is that I didn't have to use any special software while I was writing to make this "video" possible. I was working in plain old vanilla Google Docs. And to show you this one paragraph I liked, I didn't have to present you with the whole document (all 39,154 revisions of it) - I could extract bits and pieces that I thought were interesting, and interleave them in a blog post. Imagine what a high school English teacher could do with that. Imagine what you could do with that if instead of a minor effort by ol' Somers here you had, say, a piece by Ta-Nehisi Coates. (I've always wanted to watch how TNC writes. If he's ever used Google Docs, it's now possible.)"

I love this: "I worry that most people aren't as good writers as they should be. One thing is that they just don't write enough. Another is that they don't realize it's supposed to be hard; they think that good writers are talented, when the truth is that good writers get good the way good programmers get good, the way good anythings get good: by running into the spike. Maybe folks would understand that better if they had vivid evidence that a good writer actually spends most of his time fighting himself."

""We find that students doing more activities learn more than students watching more videos or reading more pages. We estimate the learning benefit from extra doing (1 SD increase) to be more than six times that of extra watching or reading." "

This is old and I certainly don't agree with all of it but I think it's one of the most sober looks at the range of issues VCU needs to consider. Besides, I needed to test out my new group membership here.

The thumbnail came out too small to read on my computer. This is an excerpt from a white paper about technology in health profession education that speaks to the need for faculty development opportunities in the effective use of educational technologies. Thank you ALT lab and OLE for your work to meet this need!

"This report presents an overview of current video practice: the widespread use of video and its costs, the relevance of production value for learning, the pedagogical considerations of teaching online, and the challenges of standardizing production. Findings are based on a literature review, our observation of online courses, and the results of 12 semi-structured interviews with practitioners in the field of educational video production. "

Bet you never thought of the adjective "cool" when writing your syllabus. In case you want to start, this syllabus is very cool. I will be following this class as they publish their writing openly. I am optimistic that the teaching & learning will be pretty cool.

" This course is not one in which an instructor feeds you information and you regurgitate it for a good grade. You (the student) and I (the instructor) are almost certainly going to disagree on some things, and that's just fine (see the Grading section below). It's probably easiest to think of this course as a small, independent publication/think tank focused on the concept of 'cool'. Your job is to look carefully and thoughtfully at the world around you, and produce a series of essays that would help a potential reader understand your stance on what 'cool' means to you. You'll be using the process of writing and editing to help you define, and refine, that stance for yourself. You're also responsible for helping your fellow writers do the same. " h/t Stan

Creating a sense of community in the classroom and making meaningful student-faculty interactions can help curb retention issues in higher ed.

"Some may consider online learning to be the anti-classroom.  A rebellion against the chalkboard and the Blackboard in favor of virtual classrooms, avatars in sweater vests lecturing in a Charlie Brown monotone…  I simply look at it as a different kind of team approach to learning.  More opportunities for inputs.  If anything, it makes the scholarship more rigorous.  As both teachers and students, it is becoming increasingly difficult to hide behind airs of academia when the scholarship can be researched, published, evaluated and revised in a nano-second.  It makes educational leadership even more important when the skills necessary to synthesize information both in person and on line are changing, and changing quickly."

" The mentors seemed to effortlessly navigate the onslaught of information and identify the most pertinent information and then tweet it or post it in a way that was intriguing to the reader.  I want to be able to do this!!! I think the ultimate thing the availability of all the information does is make one appreciate the importance of being a student of life and to never stop seeking ways to grow.  Therein lies the modeling and mentorship of the digital age professor!"

"Both of these courses appear to be information centric. Learning objectives appear to be pre-defined, which implies that there isn't much variation to the students' work and learning experience. Based on their goals, I do not think students will be very engaged. Both courses seem to be educating about the past rather than teaching how to apply things in the future. " h/t David C

"Manifesto for teaching online: Digital Education, University of Edinburgh, 2015 Online can be the privileged mode. Distance is a positive principle, not a deficit. Comment: I can see why these sentences have been included, but do we need to oppose online and offline education. They can both be privileged and positive principles."