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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.
·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"

·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.
·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
Weblogg-ed » Response to Jay Matthews at the Washington Post
Weblogg-ed » Response to Jay Matthews at the Washington Post
Will Richardson responds to a Washington Post article that calls 21st century skills a "doomed pedagogical fad."
With access to the Internet, and with an understanding of how to create and navigate these online, social learning spaces, opportunities for learning widely and deeply reside in the connections that we make with other people who can teach or mentor us and/or collaboarate with us in the learning process. That, I think, is where we find 21st Century skills that are different and important. Sure, those connections require a well developed reading and writing literacy, and critical thinking and creativity and many of the others are skills inherent to the process. But this new potential to learn easily and deeply in environments that are not bounded by physical space or scheduled time constraints requires us as educators to take a hard look at how we are helping our students realize the potentials of those opportunities.
To me, that’s what 21st Century Skills are all about, teaching our kids to navigate the world as they are experiencing it, not the world we experienced.
·weblogg-ed.com·
Weblogg-ed » Response to Jay Matthews at the Washington Post
Census: More than 54 million disabled in U.S. - Health care- msnbc.com
Census: More than 54 million disabled in U.S. - Health care- msnbc.com
US Census statistics on disabilities. If almost 20% of the population has some sort of disability, isn't that significant enough for us to take accessibility into consideration when developing online learning? If you want stats to justify why accessibility matters, this is a good place to start.
More than 54 million U.S. residents, or about 19 percent of the population, have some sort of disability, the U.S. Census Bureau reported.
·msnbc.msn.com·
Census: More than 54 million disabled in U.S. - Health care- msnbc.com
Sakai 3 Proposal
Sakai 3 Proposal

Vision for what Sakai could look like in the future. The authors envision an LMS based on widgets with lots of flexibility, social networking, and content creation tools. The proposed changes to the organization (doing away with sites) would make Sakai much more flexible outside of a traditional academic course environment. The ability to have groups persist outside of courses would allow cohorts to be part of a group together, which creates some interesting possibilities.

"In summary, our ambition is not merely an incremental improvement of Sakai nor is it to copy Google. Our goal is not simply to create a better and cheaper version of Blackboard. It is time to arrive at a clearer understanding of the capabilities that represent needs unique to education and for the Sakai community to focus its development effort on providing these capabilities while taking advantage of established open‐source efforts to provide more generic capabilities. We should, in short, strive to create a different type of academic collaboration system."

·mkorcuska.files.wordpress.com·
Sakai 3 Proposal
W3C Web Standard Defines Accessibility for Next Generation Web
W3C Web Standard Defines Accessibility for Next Generation Web
Press release on the new Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0, with links to more information. "WCAG at a Glance" is a quick overview of the standards, but probably only helpful if you're already somewhat familiar with online accessibility.
<p>WCAG 2.0 explains how to make content:</p> <ul> <li>Perceivable (for instance by addressing text alternatives for images, captions for audio, adaptability of presentation, and color contrast); </li> <li>Operable (by addressing keyboard access, color contrast, timing of input, seizure avoidance, and navigability); </li> <li>Understandable (by addressing readability, predictability, and input assistance); and </li> <li>Robust (for instance by addressing compatibility with assistive technologies).</li></ul>
·w3.org·
W3C Web Standard Defines Accessibility for Next Generation Web
SpeEdChange: Toolbelt Theory for Everyone
SpeEdChange: Toolbelt Theory for Everyone
Ira Socol's "Toolbelt Theory," the idea that we all need tools to help us survive in the the world, and every individual needs a different set of tools. The is a broader idea than just accessibility; it's about giving all learners control of their own tools to find what works best for them.
How will your students communicate when they leave school? How will they gather information? How will they say what they need to say?
The thing about toolbelts though, is that no two people ever really need the same one.
So the trick to tool use is to learn to evaluate tasks and environments and your skills and the tools themselves as they change and determine what works best for you. I call this the "TEST" - <span style="font-weight: bold;">T</span>ask - <span style="font-weight: bold;">E</span>nvironment - <span style="font-weight: bold;">S</span>kills - <span style="font-weight: bold;">T</span>ools, a specifically ordered reframing of <a href="http://sweb.uky.edu/%7Ejszaba0/JoyZabala.html">Joy Zabala</a>'s "<a href="http://www.ode.state.or.us/initiatives/elearning/nasdse/settintrogeneric2005.pdf">SETT</a>" protocol. A specifically ordered reframing designed for self-determination.
And on top of this, the tools most schools are devoted to are antiques which serve few functions anywhere outside of school. It is as if you were learning to build homes but were allowed to use only tools invented before 1940. You'd be close to unemployable when you finished that training.
The only way to allow students to assemble this essential toolbelt for information and communication is to to throw open your classroom and let the world in. How will your students know which calendar works for them - the one on their phone, Google Calendar with SMS appointment texting, Microsoft Outlook, or any of a dozen paper systems unless you allow them to try them out?
·speedchange.blogspot.com·
SpeEdChange: Toolbelt Theory for Everyone