The Power of Wikis in Higher Ed
Interview with Stewart Mader on how wikis can be used in higher ed for teaching, research, and administration. He discusses issues of "ownership" of content and how using a wiki can make assessment easier.
Clark Aldrich's Style Guide for Serious Games and Simulations: Techniques for grading student performance in a simulation
When using simulations for learning, how do you assess what people have learned? Clark Aldrich shares some suggestions.
ClassTools.net: Games for Education
Free games, tools, and graphic organizers, including a Venn Diagram, priority chart, timeline, and timer. You can create your own casual games with questions, like a word game based on "Space Invaders."
Voicethread 4 Education » home
Wiki collection of resources and examples for using Voicethread for education purposes. Also includes some best practices and professional development examples.
YouTube - Learning Styles Don't Exist
A cognitive psychologist argues that learning styles, as the theory is generally understood, don't exist and aren't supported by research. He acknowledges that there are differences in visual and auditory memory, but says the research doesn't show that differentiating instruction based on learning styles actually has any effect.
Should we be using learning styles? What research has to say to practice
Long PDF (84 pages) on learning styles research and how it can--and should--influence pedagogy. Examines 13 learning style models and finds a lot of variety in relability, validity, and general usefulness of the models.
New link 6/29/12 http://www.arasite.org/RMdatabase/Coffield.pdf
Learning styles and pedagogy in post-16 learning
Book-length literature review on learning styles research, concluding that the usefulness of learning styles of pedagogy depends greatly on what model you use.
New link: https://crm.lsnlearning.org.uk/user/order.aspx?code=041543
Assessing the Online Learner by Jossey-Bass Online Teaching & Learning Series
15-minute podcast interview with Palloff and Pratt on assessing online learners and social presence. They talk about authentic assessment rather than closed-book quizzes, based on the assumption that students will cheat on tests and quizzes but responding to scenarios is a better measure of learning.
eduweb: research
Research on educational games from Eduweb
TravelinEdMan: The Price of an 8 Pack of Learning Theory Lectures? Nothing! Just a Lot of Bonk!
Set of 8 video lectures on learning theories from Curt Bonk at IU. The post says these can be used by any instructor teaching a course, although there isn't a specific CC license on them.
Group Work in Distance Learning Courses
Nice list of different types of group assignments that can be used in online learning. Includes tips for facilitators to manage group work.
Working with Small Groups in an Online Classroom
Quick overview of small groups in online learning, plus a collection of strategies for working with groups.
When Things Go Wrong: Handling Problems During In-Class Group Work
Ideas on how to address issues with small groups in courses. This is written for face-to-face learning, not online, but a number of the tips still apply or could be adapted.
Avoiding the 5 Most Common Mistakes in Using Blogs with Students
The 5 mistakes outlined in this article are
- "Ineffective contextualization" (not thinking about the best way to use blogs, usually self-reflection)
- "Unclear Learning Outcomes"
- "Misuse of the environment" (treating blogs like wikis or discussion forums)
- "Illusive grading practices" (lacking clear rubrics)
- "Inadequate time allocation" (both for students to write and instructors to grade and give feedback)
iterating toward openness » Blog Archive » If Facebook Worked Like Blackboard
A short post, but very pointed--if Facebook worked like an LMS, no real community would ever develop. Questions the whole idea of closed educational systems.
<p>What if Facebook worked like Blackboard (or pretty much any other LMS)? </p>
<p>Imagine if every fifteen weeks Facebook:</p>
<ul>
<li>shut down all the groups you belonged to, </li>
<li>deleted all your forum posts,</li>
<li>removed all the photos, videos, and other files you had shared, and</li>
<li>forgot who your friends were.</li></ul>
IgnitePhilly -- Five Minutes To Communicate - Practical Theory
5 minute presentation (20 slides) by Chris Lehmann on school reform and what we need for School 2.0. Several good lines in here--a bunch of memorable ideas packed into a few minutes. Assessment should be projects, not tests. Data is what kids do every day, not what they do on a test. Passion, metacognition, and lifelong learning matter. "If you want to see what kids have learned, give them a project."
ZaidLearn: 27 Inspiring Women Edubloggers
Zaid Ali Alsagoff responds to the discussion about his previous edublogger list being male-dominated (22-3) with a list of women edubloggers. Also check the comments, especially Janet Clarey's explanation of why this discussion matters (with 10 full APA citations--gotta love it).
Groups into Networks New Curriculum Needed - CCK08 - ubiquitous's posterous
An idea for how to move towards networked learning: start with groups, which will initially be more comfortable and less chaotic, then gradually increase the freedom to learning in networks.
Once students get the hang of groups online, just like any mother bird,
the teacher needs to slowly start pushing them out of the nest. And I
do not mean anywhere near Middle School. Most of the students in a
school will be ready for this kind of experience nearing High School,
and I believe this age will slowly lower as time passes and this form
of education becomes more common.
The process of moving the students forward from a group setting to a
network will be required, so will an educator familiar with both. For
this process to properly occur, curriculum will need to be specifically
designed and implemented, taking into account, emerging technologies
and student safety within an online environment.
Using Blogs to Enhance Learning – Some Helpful Tips - OpenEducation.net
Tips for using blogs as learning tools, including making sure they are actually the right tool for the task, using blogs to record the "learning journey" and reflect, and using appropriate assessment.
Main Articles: 'New Schemas for Mapping Pedagogies and Technologies', Ariadne Issue 56
Schemas for categorizing the use of pedagogies, learning theories, and technologies. For example, Table 1 maps learning theories (behaviorism, cognitive constructivism, social constructivism, and situated learning) against types of technologies. Online communication tools offer more potential for social constructivist interaction and joint construction of knowledge.
This article also suggests a way to map tool use along three dimensions:
- Individual - Social
- Information - Experience
- Passive - Active This isn't a simple framework where a single tool always is used the same way. Blogs can be more social or more based on individual reflection, and could be at different places in that framework depending on the actual learning activities.
K12 Online Conference 2008 | Getting Started “Free Tools for Universal Design for Learning in Literacy”
Presentation on tools for accessibility and universal design to help improve literacy, focusing on learning disabilities (at least in the two examples). All the tools noted are free. Even though this is geared mainly towards face-to-face teachers, many of these tools can be used for e-learning too.
Half an Hour: Things You Really Need to Learn
Like several other people, I just found this 2006 post from Stephen Downes on 10 things you should learn that you won't be taught in school. Great thoughts for lifelong learning, wherever you are in life.
1. How to predict consequences
The prediction of consequences is part science, part mathematics, and part visualization.
2. How to read
Oddly, by this I do not mean 'literacy' in the traditional sense, but rather, how to look at some text and to <span style="font-style: italic;">understand</span>, in a deep way, what is being asserted
<span style="font-weight: bold;">3. How to distinguish truth from fiction</span>
The first thing to learn is to actually question what you are told, what you read, and what you see on television. Do not simply accept what you are told. Always ask, how can you know that this is true? What evidence would lead you to believe that it is false?
<span style="font-weight: bold;">4. How to empathize</span>
Empathy isn't some sort of bargain. It isn't the application of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethic_of_reciprocity">Golden Rule</a>. It is a <span style="font-style: italic;">genuine</span> feeling in yourself that operates in synch with the other person, a way of accessing their inner mental states through the sympathetic operation of your own mental states. You are polite because <span style="font-style: italic;">you</span> feel bad when you are rude; you are honest because <span style="font-style: italic;">you</span> feel offended when you lie.
5. How to be creative
Creativity, in other words, often operates by <span style="font-style: italic;">metaphor</span>, which means you need to learn how to <span style="font-style: italic;">find things in common</span> between the current situation and other things you know.
<span style="font-weight: bold;">6. How to communicate clearly</span>
Communicating clearly is most of all a matter of knowing what you want to say, and then employing some simple tools in order to say it.
7. How to Learn
Learning to learn is the same as learning anything else. It takes practice.
8. How to stay healthy
Finally, remember: you never have to justify protecting your own life and health.
9. How to value yourself
You can have all the knowledge and skills in the world, but they are meaningless if you do not feel personally empowered to use them; it's like owning a <a href="http://www.lamborghini.co.uk/">Lamborghini</a> and not having a driver's license.
10. How to live meaningfully
If you don't decide what is worth doing, someone will decide for you, and at some point in your life you will realize that you haven't done what is worth doing at all.
KinderKidsDraw! | always learning
Great kindergarten technology project by Kim Cofino. Students use KidPix to draw about what they're learning in class, then upload the images to VoiceThread and explain the image. Over the course of the year, the VoiceThread becomes an online portfolio of their learning. The VoiceThreads are also shared on a wiki so students can connect globally and get to know each other a bit.
Brave New Classroom 2.0 (New Blog Forum) | Britannica Blog
Discussions pro and con about technology in the classroom, in response to this question: "Do the new classroom technologies represent an educational breakthrough, a threat to teaching itself, or something in between?" Michael Wesch and Steve Hargadon are two of the educators included in the discussion.
Connectivism: Learning theory of the future or vestige of the past?
IRRODL article on connectivism, looking at its connections to past theories and critics. The authors conclude that while education is undergoing signficant changes, connectivism isn't different enough to be a learning theory on its own. However, they say it does have an important role to play in education as learners gain more independent control.
CCK08: Connecting for Change: The New Role of Educators
Another response to Nancy White's CCK08 discussion on how to get change to happen. Also includes an interesting graphic with overlapping skills of "social fluency" based on work by Chris Lott.
<img src="http://blogs.salon.com/0002007/images/socialfluency.jpg" title="" alt="social fluency" />
Change has to start with an identified need, not with a good idea. Generally, we only change when we must. Listen for needs.
Change,
like great research, begins with asking important questions, and
provoking respondents to self-change instead of trying to persuade or
impose it.
Experiment. The best, profound changes come from masses of iterative learning and exploration of possibilities.
Systems thinking and innovation | effectivedesign.org
Live blogged notes from AECT about systems thinking, innovation, and games for learning. Lots of side comments too, including some good connections to instructional design and getting too bogged down in multiple theories.
This is exactly what has happened to instructional design, and could by <a href="http://effectivedesign.org/2008/02/11/instructional-design-in-academia-where-theory-and-practice-rarely-meet/">why theory and practice don’t meet</a>. <strong>So much theory has been introduced that we can no longer see how instruction is actually designed.</strong> That’s why I think many times it has become easier for novice (in this case non-academically trained) designers can do it so often. They are not encumbered by the fog of theory.
The Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Media Literacy Education -- Publications -- Center for Social Media at American University
5 principles for media literacy education and what constitutes fair use in a number of common situations.
<b>PRINCIPLE:</b> Under fair use, educators using the concepts and techniques of media literacy can choose illustrative material from the full range of copyrighted sources and make them available to learners, in class, in workshops, in informal mentoring and teaching settings, and on school-related Web sites.
Staying the Course: Online Education in the United States, 2008
Sloan-C report on online learning in US higher ed. Among the findings:
- 12% growth in the last year
- 20% of students took at least one online course in fall 2007
- Current economic problems (rising unemployment and fuel costs) are predicted to increase demand for online learning
Designing for Social Justice
Short PDF ebook (60 pages) on using user-centered design and technology to promote social justice in learning