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  5:38 pm on December 16, 2010 Permalink | Reply  

  Integrating web 2.0 and LMSs « Tony Bates 

  Second, the solution proposed by Mott does not address the main problem with digital learning environments, and that is the way instructors choose to use them, which, as Mott himself convincingly argues, is mainly as an administrative tool and a content depository. No matter how fancy the new digital learning environments, if instructors don’t have an appropriate pedagogical model to guide their course design, the web 2.0 and learner-centered technology functions will just not be used. Too often technology designers believe that technology design will force instructors to use the tools the way the designers think they should be used. It just ain’t so, unfortunately, as the under-use of existing LMS functions, such as threaded discussion forums, illustrates.

  via Integrating web 2.0 and LMSs « Tony Bates.

   

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  4:56 pm on December 8, 2010 Permalink | Reply  

  Neuro Myths: Separating Fact and Fiction in Brain-Based Learning | Edutopia 

  With the great popularity of so-called brain-based learning, however, comes great risk. “So much of what is published and said is useless,” says Kurt Fischer, founding president of the International Mind, Brain, and Education (MBE) Society and director of the MBE graduate program at Harvard University. “Much of it is wrong, a lot is empty or vapid, and some is not based in neuroscience at all.”

  Still, there are some powerful insights emerging from brain science that speak directly to how we teach in the classroom: learning experiences do help the brain grow, emotional safety does influence learning, and making lessons relevant can help information stick. The trick is separating the meat from the marketing.

  via Neuro Myths: Separating Fact and Fiction in Brain-Based Learning | Edutopia.

   
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  8:23 am on October 22, 2010 Permalink | Reply  

  Making the Case for Space: Three Years of Empirical Research on Learning Environments (EDUCAUSE Quarterly) | EDUCAUSE 

  Making the Case for Space: Three Years of Empirical Research on Learning Environments (EDUCAUSE Quarterly) | EDUCAUSE.

  Students attending classes in the University of Minnesota’s new, technology-enhanced learning spaces exceeded final grade expectations relative to their ACT scores, suggesting strongly that features of the spaces contributed to their learning.

  First-year and sophomore students as well as students from metropolitan areas rated the new learning spaces significantly higher than their upper-division and rural counterparts in terms of engagement, enrichment, effectiveness, flexibility, fit, and instructor use.

  Different learning environments affect teaching-learning activities even when instructors attempt to hold these activities constant.

  Although assignment types greatly affect the study environments students select, in choosing informal study spaces students fall into routines early and are reluctant to deviate from them even if they are not meeting their study goals.

   
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  8:15 am on October 22, 2010 Permalink | Reply  

  Robert Duke: Why students don’t learn what we think we teach 

  Robert Duke: Why students don’t learn what we think we teach.

  Research over the past two decades has deepened our understanding of the fundamental principles of human learning. Yet much of what we do in undergraduate education seems to effectively ignore these principles.

  Robert Duke, professor of music and human learning at University of Texas-Austin, explains how learning theory can be leveraged to design more effective instruction and motivate students.

  Here are the slides that accompany the talk:

  Slides:  Why students don’t learn what we think we teach

   
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  1:16 pm on September 15, 2010 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: ITV, Technology ( 6 )   

  Videoconferencing and First Nations Students – BC Campus 

  Here is a resource provided by BC Campus with ideas and best practices for teaching First Nations students using ITV.

  Because videoconferencing allows people to share their histories, ideas and beliefs with others in distant locations, it can be a powerful way of creating bridges between people who live in different cultural and geographic communities. When using videoconferencing in Aboriginal communities, understanding, respecting and celebrating cultural differences is an important way of creating a trusting and inclusive learning environment so that more of these bridges are formed.

  via First Nations and Videoconferencing | Getting Started.

   
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  12:51 pm on February 9, 2010 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: blogging ( 2 ), Writing   

  Liberal Education Tomorrow: » Teaching writing in a social media age: one recent example 

  Liberal Education Tomorrow: » Teaching writing in a social media age: one recent example.

  A writing instructor at UT-Dallas explains how and why she has incorporated blogging and digital video into her teaching of rhetoric and composition.

  A strictly digital approach is not for everyone. I will always prefer a paper book, believe memorizing grammar rules is essential, and don’t think everyone needs a blog. Nonetheless, these are issues students should be aware of. Creating work in a vacuum delegitimizes it. When the goal of your course is to teach students to persuade, and you don’t include what is now the most influential tool for disseminating your argument, you are crippling your students.  Writing and reading online is different than performing those same tasks on paper. We communicate differently on the Internet, and as more and more people read from their phones and portable e-readers, our understanding of communication will change further still. As technology shifts, so does our means of persuasion; if students do not explore this, they will find their skills quickly out of date.

  Kathy is discussing. Toggle Comments

   
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    Kathy 1:35 pm on April 26, 2010 Permalink

    A great link: Writing to Read http://www.all4ed.org/files/WritingToRead.pdf

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  10:56 am on January 15, 2010 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Technology ( 6 )   

  2010 Horizon Report 

  New Media Consortium 2010 Horizon Report

  The New Media Consortium just released their 2010 Horizon Report today which outlines emerging technologies and practices that are likely to impact teaching and learning on college campuses within the next five years.  The technologies to watch identified in the report are:

  • mobile computing
  • open content
  • electronic books
  • simple augmented reality
  • gesture based computing
  • visual data analysis
   
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  Ted W 11:15 pm on December 30, 2009 Permalink  

  Skepticism and critical thinking website… 

  Skepticism and critical thinking website links – shared by Kathy Stuart-Stevenson

  THE SKEPTICWORLD SITE

  SapereAude • Dareto Know!

  http://www.skeptic.ws

  SKEPTICALRESOURCES
  |Home| Organizations|Resources|BadGeology|Creationism|Environmentalism|Medicine| Shroudof Turin|Theism| UFOs|

  Skeptical Organization Websites – live links here

  • The Skeptic World Site • Steven Schafersman

  • The Skeptics World Site Skeptical Organizations Websites • Most complete list

  • The Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal • CSICOP

  • The Skeptic Society • Michael Shermer

  • James Randi Educational Foundation • James Randi

  • The Skeptic’s Refuge • Robert T. Carroll

  • The Skeptic’s Dictionary • Robert T. Carroll

  • The Encyclopedia of Skepticism and the Paranormal

  • Skeptic Friends Network • David Glück

  • The World Wide Skeptical Web

  • The Skeptic Tank

  • Pseudoscience, Paranormal Phenomena, and Skepticism

  • The Skeptical Gourmet

  • Skeptic News • The “What’s New” Page for Skeptics

  • sci.skeptic FAQ: The Frequently Questioned Answers

  • BadAstronomy.com • Phil Plait

  • The Fine Art of Baloney Detection • Carl Sagan

  • Skeptic Gary Posner

  • Sources of Skeptical Information on the Internet • Jim Lippard

  • Skeptical Information Links • Jim Lippard

  • Skeptical Quotations

  • Great Quotes From Great Skeptics

  • Enlightenment • Jerome Kahn
   
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  Ted W 10:49 pm on December 11, 2009 Permalink  

  Alternative Education Resource Organizat… 

  Alternative Education Resource Organization (AERO) is an interesting web site with a variety of materials about alternative education – has lots of videos including this one … Four Arrows is a professor at Fielding Graduate University and author of sixteen books, including The Authentic Dissertation: Alternative Ways of Knowing, Research and Representation (Routledge, 2008) and Unlearning the Language of Conquest (University of Texas Press, 2006) in addition to invited chapters for Education as Enforcement: The Militarization and Corporatization of Schooling and Battleground Schools. He has doctorates in both health psychology and in Curriculum and Instruction, with a specialization in Indigenous worldviews.

  Keynote Topic:

  “Traditional Indigenous Knowledge: The Original “Alternative” Learning Model”

  Keynote Summary:

  Indigenous ways of knowing, researching, and education have been suppressed, ignored or ridiculed for centuries, and our world’s condition is paying the price. Many alternative education programs naturally have re-discovered portions of this approach to learning, but a more complete or more widespread application may be needed if we are to survive as a species. In this keynote, Four Arrows will offer a summary of the basic tenants of Indigenous education.

  via Happy Holidays! Enjoy a 2009 Keynote Talk Online for FREE: Four Arrows (Don Trent Jacobs) « Education Revolution.

   
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  10:02 am on December 7, 2009 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: information literacy   

  How College Students Seek Information in the Digital Age 

  How College Students Seek Information in the Digital Age

  This report outlines a national research study conducted by the University of Washington to  “understand how college students find information and conduct research—their needs, strategies, and workarounds—for their course work and for addressing issues that arise in their everyday lives.”