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Stephanie Cooper

About 1 in 5 Students Need Remedial Help in College - TheApple.com - 1 views

  • Just 18% of last year’s high school graduates in Michigan were prepared for college-level English, writing, reading, mathematics and science, according to the ACT’s Profile Report for the Class of 2009.
  • Nationwide, it has been estimated that one in five students at universities enroll in a remedial class. At community colleges, which do the heavy lifting in remedial work, it has been estimated that 60% of first-time students need at least one remedial course. Many of those students, certainly, are returning adults who left high school years ago. Others are students who have mild developmental disabilities. But what bothers educators and policy-makers is this: Many are also recent graduates who have left the high school stage with a diploma, only to find out a few months later that they’re not ready for even basic college work.
Stephanie Cooper

Anti-Plagiarism Strategies - 0 views

  • Students are faced with too many choices, so they put off low priorities.
  • A remedy here would be to customize the research topic to include something of real interest to the students or to offer topics with high intrinsic interest to them.
  • If you structure your research assignment so that intermediate parts of it (topic, early research, prospectus, outline, draft, bibliography, final draft) are due at regular intervals, students will be less likely to get in a time-pressure panic and look for an expedient shortcut.
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  • Many students have poor time management and planning skills. 
  • Some students fear that their writing ability is inadequate.
  • Reassuring students of the help available to them (your personal attention, a writing center, teaching assistants, online writing lab sites, etc.) may give them the courage to persevere.
  • Do not assume that students know what plagiarism is, even if they nod their heads when you ask them. Provide an explicit definition for them.
  • In addition to a definition, though, you should discuss with your students the difference between appropriate, referenced use of ideas or quotations and inappropriate use. You might show them an example of a permissible paraphrase (with its citation) and an impermissible paraphrase (containing some paraphrasing and some copying), and discuss the difference.
  • A degree will help students get a first job, but performance--using the skills developed by doing just such assignments as research papers--will be required for promotion.
  • Many students do not seem to realize that whenever they cite a source, they are strengthening their writing. Citing a source, whether paraphrased or quoted, reveals that they have performed research work and synthesized the findings into their own argument. Using sources shows that the student in engaged in "the great conversation," the world of ideas, and that the student is aware of other thinkers' positions on the topic. By quoting (and citing) writers who support the student's position, the student adds strength to the position. By responding reasonably to those who oppose the position, the student shows that there are valid counter arguments. In a nutshell, citing helps make the essay stronger and sounder and will probably result in a better grade.
  • Strategies of Prevention
Keith Hamon

Connectivism - 2 views

  • Early research results aren’t surprising: - Students are heavy users of computers, but not for education. - Teachers make limited use of computers and other technologies in class - Parents are limited computer users - Teacher training is lacking in utilizing computers effectively in classrooms
    • Keith Hamon
       
      To my mind, age is the real digital divide, not poverty. Even when given devices, olders will not use them as often or as well as youngers, which says to me that we QEP teachers must device strategies to work around our technological disabilities.
  • At the core of the discussion surrounding the future of education is a concern of how to navigate shifting power and control. What is the role of the student? The teacher? The school? The parents? If learners have the ability to do what educators have done in the past (access information directly), what role should the educator play?
    • Keith Hamon
       
      This is the core question that will bedevil educators for the next decade: do we really want to create and empower independent learners? And if we do, then what role do we teachers assume when we can no longer dictate what happens in a class?
  • Perhaps face-to-face time should take on a different model than we currently utilize. We should do what we can with technology outside of classrooms. Then we wouldn’t need to meet in classrooms as often.
    • Keith Hamon
       
      This matches my own experience in F2F classrooms, where more of the classwork shifted outside the room to the Net, forcing me to shift what happened in the room. Mostly we shifted away from mere transfer of information, which is more efficiently done on the Net, and more toward group interaction: discussion, debates, group presentations, etc.
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  • Most of us in education agree on our needs today: 1. We want good teachers 2. We want good educational content 3. We want to give our learners a bright and hopeful future 4. We want school systems that are relevant to learners and to society 5. We want schools to remedy the social and cultural inequalities that other institutions of society generate
    • Keith Hamon
       
      Nice list, but it omits the most common item listed by American educators: We want students to become productive members of society. Why?
  • We need to surface technology’s hidden ideologies and philosophies. If we don’t surface these aspects, we dance blindly to a tune that we refuse to acknowledge, but still shapes our moves.
    • Keith Hamon
       
      We in QEP cannot assume that introducing computers and writing (both are technologies) into our classes will have no effect on either the content or the conduct of our courses. The tech we introduce will absolutely change what and how we teach. We must accept that and be conscious of it.
  • The key question for me is whether we need content in order to start learning or whether content is the by-product of an effective learning experience.
  • In terms of content, learners should create, teachers should curate.
    • Keith Hamon
       
      At least one aspect of this orientation is that teachers can provide the historical context, assuming that they are older or more experienced than their students, that students lack.
  • Technology is, possibly in a positive sense, a lever for change. The systemic innovation that many desire may not be possible through policy decisions alone.
    • Keith Hamon
       
      In a reverse sense, technology can lead to change despite opposing policies. Thus, Web 2.0 will redefine how we think of privacy, regardless of our policy statements.
  • Leadership can be somewhat attended to by the contributions of many. When we distribute control, we distribute responsibility
    • Keith Hamon
       
      The wisdom of crowds can almost always help, especially in large policy decisions, and especially when the crowd includes those most affected by the decisions.
  • Today, leaders need co-leaders – people who are active in experimenting and exploring future directions.
  • Writing excellent, thorough descriptions of what is happening can be very valuable in coming to understand the nuances of a phenomenon.
    • Keith Hamon
       
      Most important observation for QEP. How often do we ask our students to describe, esp. as a gateway to understanding.
  • I have not seen any studies that evaluate the effectiveness of the iPod in listening to music. For end-users, it’s not an issue. They use it because it works. Perhaps research in educational technology should have a similar focus: use it because it exists, because it is a part of society, because it is used in other aspects of their lives. By this metric, simply have computers available and using them for learning is success enough.
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