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Mind Hacks: The Straight Dope on Learning Styles
Mind Hacks: The Straight Dope on Learning Styles
Interesting perspective on learning style theories, arguing that they may be useful because they help teachers become more aware of how they're teaching, even if the research support for any given theory is lacking
Learning styles seem intuitively sensible. Having thought about learning styles helps teachers improve their teaching and also helps increase their confidence and motivation. But there is no strong evidence that any one theory of learning styles is the best, or most true, compared to the others. Learning style theories can be useful without being true, and it isn't clear that knowing the truth about the differences in how people learn will be immediately useful or produce a more useful theory of learning styles. This difference between truth and utility is a typical dilemma of psychology.
Using a learning style theory is great, but you lose a lot of flexibility and potential for change if you start to believe that the theory is based on proven facts about the way the world is, rather than just being a useful set of habits and suggestions which might, sometimes, help guide us through the maze of teaching and learning.
Imported from Diigo#learningstyles#education#research#cognition
·mindhacks.com·
Mind Hacks: The Straight Dope on Learning Styles
An absolutely riveting online course: Nine principles for excellence in web-based teaching
An absolutely riveting online course: Nine principles for excellence in web-based teaching
Not a whole lot new to me here, but a solid collection of principles to guide online facilitators. If you're looking for an introduction for facilitators or administrators who aren't familiar with online learning or don't really "get" why you can't just shovel face-to-face content into an LMS to have a great course, this would be a good way to help show what's required to go beyond the mediocrity typical of many online courses.
<h3>Principle 1: The online world is a medium unto itself. </h3> <p> The search for excellence begins with this principle: The online world is a medium unto itself (Carr-Chellman &amp; Duchastel, 2000; Ellis &amp; Hafner, 2003). It is not just another learning environment, like a separate classroom down the hall; it is a categorically different learning environment. There are vastly different dynamics in online versus on campus courses.</p>
Principle 2: In the online world content is a verb.
We are moving to a mode of learning that is less dependent on information acquisition and is more centered on a set of student tasks and assignments that make up the learning experiences that students will engage in, in order to meet the objectives of the course (Carr-Chellman &amp; Duchastel, 2000). In the online world, content is a verb.
Principle 5: Sense of community and social presence are essential to online excellence.
Establishing a sense of community often signals movement to a deeper learning experience (Benfield, 2001). It is through sustained communication that participants construct meaning (Garrison, et al., 2000) and come to a more complete understanding of the content. Indeed it is through such interaction and through attending to the processes of learning and teaching (as opposed to attending only to content) that a deeper rather than a surface approach to learning is encouraged (Ramsden, 2003). Without this connection to the instructor and the other students, the course is little more than a series of exercises to be completed.
Principle 7: A great web interface will not save a poor course; but a poor web interface will destroy a potentially great course.
Principle 8: Excellence comes from ongoing assessment and refinement.
Imported from Diigo#education#highered#community#assessment#instructionaldesign#elearning
·cjlt.ca·
An absolutely riveting online course: Nine principles for excellence in web-based teaching
Concise writing is best for elearning » Making Change
Concise writing is best for elearning » Making Change
A concise post pulling a bit of research where the lesson with the fewest words resulted in the most learning. Nice argument for keeping your e-learning short, although look at the original to see what they were actually studying in context (scientific processes with cause and effect, using visuals as well as text to explain).
Imported from Diigo#writing#instructionaldesign#elearning
·blog.cathy-moore.com·
Concise writing is best for elearning » Making Change
jaysscratchpad » Solving Muliple Edit Problem Using the Include Command
jaysscratchpad » Solving Muliple Edit Problem Using the Include Command
One issue with using wikis for collaborative group projects is that you can't have multiple people simultaneously editing the same page. If all you need is a bunch of separate parts aggregated onto a single page (without any editing to make them all a cohesive document at the end), the technique outlined here would be a good workaround.
Imported from Diigo#wiki#education#collaboration#elearning
·jaysscratchpad.wikispaces.com·
jaysscratchpad » Solving Muliple Edit Problem Using the Include Command
Learning in Tandem: Instructional design is dead
Learning in Tandem: Instructional design is dead
One instructional designer's reflections on the problems in the field, including an over-reliance on systematic processes and an under-reliance on actual research
Basically, ID as it is currently taught is just following the process, step by step. It's not rocket science. What IS rocket science (or at least a lot harder) is to figure out how to apply process with the endless number of variables that affect any learning need. This is where ID falls short. Instructional designers in too many instances are so tied to the models and the process that the variables and subtleties of &nbsp;good design are sacrificed.
Call it education or instructional design...its all learning. So where do ID's fall short? To a certain extent, its following the "process" too closely. People are complex, learning is complex, motivation is complex--and no process is going to address all of these complexities. Good IDs know this and aren't afraid to go "off the reservation" when they need to. Most IDs don't.
<div>Ok, so what does this all mean? It means that designing effective, motivating learning is actually really hard. It means that instructional designers need to be really good critical thinkers. It means that as a profession, instructional designers need to be trained to not only know the process, but also how to recognize the limitations of process.&nbsp;<br></div><div><br></div><div>More than anything, if instructional design is going to survive and thrive as a profession, we need to be leaders--leaders in research, leaders in our organizations, and leaders in our field, not accepting the mediocre. Otherwise, instructional design is dead.</div>
Imported from Diigo#instructionaldesign#addie#context#constructivism#education
·learningintandem.blogspot.com·
Learning in Tandem: Instructional design is dead
The Changing Face of Education in Iowa: 21st Century Skills = fluff?
The Changing Face of Education in Iowa: 21st Century Skills = fluff?
Reflection on recent discussion about the value of 21st century skills in education, arguing that 21st century skills are more critical to success than much of the deep content knowledge currently expected in schools
Our problem is not that we can't teach 21st century skills unless it is content specific, it is rather that <span style="font-style: italic;">we are content specific to begin with.</span> When we compartmentalize our content in an effort to put it on a pedestal, we compartmentalize our learning of it, so that it has no relevance to the larger picture. 21st century skills, like the term or not, have that ability.
Imported from Diigo#21stcenturyskills#education#k-12
·eabbey.blogspot.com·
The Changing Face of Education in Iowa: 21st Century Skills = fluff?
At M.I.T., Large Lectures Are Going the Way of the Blackboard - NYTimes.com
At M.I.T., Large Lectures Are Going the Way of the Blackboard - NYTimes.com
Success story of getting rid of lectures in favor of more active learning for science courses at MIT
The physics department has replaced the traditional large introductory lecture with smaller classes that emphasize hands-on, interactive, collaborative learning. Last fall, after years of experimentation and debate and resistance from students, who initially petitioned against it, the department made the change permanent. Already, attendance is up and the failure rate has dropped by more than 50 percent.
“Just as you can’t become a marathon runner by watching marathons on TV,” Professor Mazur said, “likewise for science, you have to go through the thought processes of doing science and not just watch your instructor do it.”
Imported from Diigo#education#highered#activelearning#science
·nytimes.com·
At M.I.T., Large Lectures Are Going the Way of the Blackboard - NYTimes.com
Essential Elements in Designing Online Discussions to Promote Cognitive Presence — A Practical Experience | The Sloan Consortium
Essential Elements in Designing Online Discussions to Promote Cognitive Presence — A Practical Experience | The Sloan Consortium
JALN article on supporting cognitive presence through designing effective online discussions. The authors goal was to support meaningful interaction in the discussions rather than just playing an "assessment game" where students post the minimum required for grades. The found that discussions did promote cognitive presence and critical thinking. Registration required to read the full PDF article.
Imported from Diigo#education#highered#discussion#criticalthinking#elearning
·sloan-c.org·
Essential Elements in Designing Online Discussions to Promote Cognitive Presence — A Practical Experience | The Sloan Consortium
Student Experiences Of Using Weblogs: An Exploratory Study | The Sloan Consortium
Student Experiences Of Using Weblogs: An Exploratory Study | The Sloan Consortium
JALN article summarizing student reactions to using blogs for learning. Some recurring themes in the survey responses were that blogs helped with learning by showing other viewpoints, providing space to organize and collect thoughts, and prompting thorough analysis of the content. Registration required to read the full PDF article.
Imported from Diigo#education#highered#blog#elearning
·sloan-c.org·
Student Experiences Of Using Weblogs: An Exploratory Study | The Sloan Consortium
Facilitating Critical Thinking through Online Courses | The Sloan Consortium
Facilitating Critical Thinking through Online Courses | The Sloan Consortium

JALN article on 10 strategies to help students improve their critical thinking skills. Registration required to read the full PDF article.

"The following ten strategies are proposed: (1) ask questions that can be answered through information seeking, (2) expect students to describe the meanings of their required readings in their own words, (3) motivate students to use effort through grading criteria, (4) stimulate students to give examples of concepts or theories being studied, (5) provide case studies or other examples for application of class content, (6) prompt students to ask questions of each other and the instructor; (7) phrase questions so that additional independent research or reading is required, (8) promote student debates on controversial subjects within the discipline, (9) require students to use journaling, and (10) reinforce students’ use of critical thinking"

Imported from Diigo#education#highered#criticalthinking#elearning
·sloan-c.org·
Facilitating Critical Thinking through Online Courses | The Sloan Consortium
The Development Of A Community Of Inquiry Over Time In An Online Course: Understanding The Progression And Integration Of Social | The Sloan Consortium
The Development Of A Community Of Inquiry Over Time In An Online Course: Understanding The Progression And Integration Of Social | The Sloan Consortium
JALN article on creating a community of inquiry through online discussions, with positive results for students' perceived learning and satisfaction. Specifically, the authors found that, at least in this context, cognitive and teaching presence were correlated with both learning and satisfaction, but social presence only improved satisfaction. Registration required to download the PDF.
Imported from Diigo#education#inquiry#community#discussion#research#elearning
·sloan-c.org·
The Development Of A Community Of Inquiry Over Time In An Online Course: Understanding The Progression And Integration Of Social | The Sloan Consortium