A VIU: Learning Community

title says it all :)

By Tom Preskett Connecting formal education to social media/web 2.0 tools is a relatively new area. Educational institutions hope that by purchasing a virtual learning environment (VLE) all of their learning technology needs will be met. However, the world moves fast, and some educators find that our suite of communication and collaboration tools doesn't cater...

Editor's Note: This is an insightful analysis of assets and difficulties, both human and technical, in adopting and supporting teaching and learning with Web 2.0 Technologies. Students use these technologies constantly for their personal communications and for information access.

Simon, J., Burton, K., Lockhart, E., & O'Donnell, S. (2014). Post-secondary distance education in a contemporary colonial context: Experiences of students in a rural First Nation in Canada. The International Review Of Research In Open And Distance Learning, 15(1). Retrieved from http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/1357/2770

Wiggins, Grant and Jay McTighe. "What is Backward Design?," in Understanding by Design. 1st edition, Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill Prentice Hall, 2001, pp. 7-19. Copyright: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development 1998 Backward design, or designing with the end in mind, is explored in this first chapter of the book "Understanding by Design". It outlines how we as instructors can rethink how we deliver instruction, by first identifying what the desired results are, determining what evidence we will accept that illustrates these results and then plan learning experiences and instruction to achieve those results. This design process may help filter which features you may choose to use in a LMS or non-LMS.

Reference: Freeman, W. & Tremblay, T. (2013). Design Considerations for Supporting the Reluctant Adoption of Blended Learning. MERLOT Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, 9(1), 80-88. This paper presents a case study where an online course was redesigned as a blended course without involving instructor participation. It examines how the instructors struggled with this new format and offers suggestions to course designers on how to successfully design and implement blended programs.

Reference: Barr, T. F., Dixon, A. L. and Gassenheimer, J. B. (2005). Exploring the 'lone wolf' phenomenon in student teams. Journal of Marketing Education, 27 (1), 81-90.

An article by Rick Wormeli at the University of Victoria that speaks to how to effectively manage rewrites and redos in the classroom. An interesting read.

I first saw this article a few years? ago and we used it to create a redo policy/guideline for our high school. It is a good article to share and really got me thinking about redos and re-writes. It got me promoting this allot more as a result reading this. The whole idea is to get students to learn and if redoing helps, well why not. the flip side is it has created more work for me by having to create another test if that is involved because I do not give the same one. Of course I have to re-mark it. All good as long as the student is putting more time into learning.

Thoms, K. J. (2001). They're not just big kids: Motivating adult learners. Retrieved from: http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED463720.pdf This is a good paper for those who are working with adult learners

Many of you may have already seen this, but it is worth saving to serve as a reference. I didn't do a lot of mark up as it is mostly in point form and a quick read. I did, however, highlight the vision for DL in BC as I thought you would find it interesting.

A great visual demonstration to help you become more adept at using Diigo, especially if you are new to it.

As more educators turn to gamification to teach core curriculum and engage students, how can we ensure that these games have real educational value and are not just entertainment? This is a collection of stories and resources to help answer that question.

For those interested in Aboriginal Postsec. Education. Preston, J. P. (2008). The Urgency of Postsecondary Education for Aboriginal Peoples. Canadian Journal of Educational Administration and Policy, 2008(86), 1-22.

A short article with a great reference list. Overview of using twitter in the classroom Fox, K. (2013). Twitter in the classroom. New Chalk Talk. 13(1). Retrieved from http://www.aucegypt.edu/llt/clt/ChalkTalk/Documents/Volume%2013/Chalktalk%20Vol13_Issue%201.pdf

game designer, author, future forecaster, PhD

game designer, author, future forecaster, PhD