The primary audience for this book is college faculty and graduate
students interested in quality teaching in blended learning
environments. The secondary audience is education technology
professionals, instructional designers, teaching and learning developers,
and instructional aides - all those involved in the design
and development of the media and materials for blended learning.
More recently, researchers have begun to adapt the model to better
understand the how the connection between face-to-face and online learning might boost
potential of hybrid formats to function as interactive communities of inquiry
"bring about these changes in students. Hence it is clear that a statement of objectives in terms of content headings…is not a satisfactory basis for guiding the further development of the curriculum. The most useful form for stating objectives is to express them in terms which identify both the kind of behavior to be developed in the student and the … area of life which this behavior is to operate." pp. 45-7."
"There are a variety of ways to learn from someone else's experience. Start by reading and researching. Libraries and the internet are great sources for exploration. When using the internet, look for recognized and reliable sources. There's lots of erroneous information on the web, so be discriminating.
Attend classes. You have many choices for live or online classes on virtually any subject that interests you. If you're so inclined, you can work full or part time on a degree. Adding academic credentials to your resume is always beneficial.
Find a mentor who is an expert in the area you are interested in. Offer to volunteer, apprentice, or intern. Working with an authority in a particular field is a great way to acquire lots of experience quickly.
Observe people who are already where you want to be. You don't have to know them personally. You can read about them, read books and articles they write, or follow media accounts of their exploits.
Join associations or professional groups in your area of interest. They are an excellent opportunity to meet and connect with experienced people. You will have many opportunities to ask questions and attend a variety of educational forums."
Education research has shown that an effective technique for developing problem-solving and critical-thinking skills is to expose students early and often to "ill-defined" problems in their field. An ill-defined problem is one that addresses complex issues and thus cannot easily be described in a concise, complete manner. Furthermore, competing factors may suggest several approaches to the problem, requiring careful analysis to determine the best approach.
"Guidelines for designing teaching and learning for a digital age
The book examines the underlying principles that guide effective teaching in an age when everyone,and in particular the students we are teaching, are using technology. A framework for making decisions about your teaching is provided, while understanding that every subject is different, and every instructor has something unique and special to bring to their teaching."
"A major affordance of video is the ability to produce multimedia elements and create dynamic learning artifacts. This may be self-evident, yet often instructional videos are produced without much design devoted to sound or imagery.
Students repeatedly described the audio/visual elements of video as useful aspects of online course videos. Throughout the interviews, all participants evaluated charts, graphs, photographs, and other visuals relevant to the content area in positive terms. Conversely, a couple of students voiced their dissatisfaction with videos that they did not perceive as a value-add over text (they said videos they viewed did not include useful audio/visuals and that they could have just as easily read a transcript for the same information)."
"But there's a couple of problems with the disciplinary focus on teaching and learning. It reinforces the belief that teaching in a particular field is unique, and if you don't know the field you can't possibly know anything about how to teach it. Certainly the content-how knowledge of it advances, how it's organized, what counts as evidence, for example-has implications for how it's taught. Teaching problem solving and teaching themes from a novel are not the same. But there are many aspects of teaching and learning that transcend disciplinary boundaries-you wouldn't be reading this blog if you didn't believe that"
We’ve found that in online meetings and online classrooms, you have to do a little bit more to get things started, but once people get started the interactions can be just as rich.
" [This approach] is really not trying to mimic what we would do in the physical world, but starting from an entirely digital form, and really being very thoughtful about what the learning outcomes are that we're trying to achieve, and how can the technology enable us to achieve those outcomes. There are many things that are very different about how you would design learning and work, if you really are doing it from a digital-first standpoint.
In trying to do the latter, what are some of the principles you keep coming back to?
"
"The word 'curation' comes from the Latin root curare, meaning 'to cure' or 'to take care of' and historically relates to any processes of organisation, collation, judicious selection (usually for presentation), and even curing and preserving"
" five critical questions for teaching and learning for technology and media selection:
Who are the learners?
What are the desired learning outcomes from the teaching?
What instructional strategies will be employed to facilitate the learning outcomes?
What are the unique educational characteristics of each medium/technology, and how well do these match the learning and teaching requirements?
What resources are available?
"