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Archiving (and ending) the Feed: April 2010 Twitter Posts by wisepedagogy

Posted in Articles, Collaboration, Course Activities, Fun Miscellany, Learning Aids, Library & Info Science, News in Online Education, Pedagogical Theory, Social Networking, Time Management, Video, Visual Aids, Web Tools on April 30th, 2010 by Anne – Be the first to comment

CC-licensed photo, IMG_2883 by Richard Mansfield via Flickr

Each month, I post a list of @wisepedagogy Twitter posts from the previous month. If you missed them the first time, you can find them here.

Unfortunately, this will be the last archive for @wisepedagogy. We have reached the end of our grant funding for this project, and most WISE Pedagogy initiatives are being discontinued after April 30. Anyone who wishes to read more tweets for eLearning and online pedagogy can follow my personal feed, @amckinn.

So long and thanks for following! Just for fun, here are two additional images of dolphins  for your amusement:

CC-licensed photo, La saga del zoo de Madrid VI - Acrobacias con los delfines by Carlos Alejo via Flickr

CC-licensed photo, dinner by snailo86 via Flickr

Archiving the Feed: March 2010 Twitter Posts by wisepedagogy

Posted in Articles, Collaboration, Course Activities, Fun Miscellany, Learning Aids, Library & Info Science, News in Online Education, Pedagogical Theory, Podcasting, Social Networking, Synchronous Learning, Time Management, Video, Visual Aids, Web Tools on April 1st, 2010 by Anne – Be the first to comment
cc-licensed photo, Chicks, by nickgraywfu via Flickr

cc-licensed photo, Chicks, by nickgraywfu via Flickr

Each month, I post a list of @wisepedagogy Twitter posts from the previous month. If you missed them the first time, you can find them here.

Not included in this list are posts related to the Spring 2010 ELI Focus Session on Mobile Learning. You can find those in this post: Mobile Learning: Educause ELI Focus Session Recap

“The Class” video parodies classroom technology, “The Office”-style

Posted in Articles, Course Activities, Fun Miscellany, Pedagogical Theory, Synchronous Learning, Video on February 11th, 2010 by Anne – Be the first to comment

This parody of The Office tells the mock-umentary-style story of a college instructor who is attempting to teach with technology in his classroom. For any instructor or student who has been in a similar situation, this video may hit close to home.

“The class is on technology, and you’re not really using any…the board doesn’t really count,” the IT assistant patiently explains to the instructor. Consequently, he gives his students course information on floppy disks, then sits in front of the class and broadcasts a live Skype video onto the classroom projection screen (so they can either look at him face-to-face or at his Skypecast face).

The video was created by students at the University of Denver as a video essay to express some of their real-life frustrations with classroom technology. While the instructor is obviously trying, the results are ineffective. What lessons can we draw from this? Here are a few that leap to mind:

If specific technology is required, get students to use it in the classroom. In this class, students supposedly have been required to bring laptops but only half of them are using them during class while the instructor lectures. Rather than just using laptops to take notes (or spending the hour on Facebook), this instructor could have them interacting in a discussion assisted with Twitter for sharing notes and ideas, or (gasp) learning how to use specific software or programs.

Beware of outdated technology. The example of the instructor who hands students floppy disks is a bit extreme, given that contemporary computers and laptops don’t even include floppy disk drives anymore. Still, the longer we get accustomed to specific technologies, the harder it is to notice when those technologies become obsolete or replaced by something more effective. Know what your students are using, and avoid using stuff they can’t.

Keep it relevant. “If you are here, why are we Skyping?” Sure, live video lectures are a great idea…for online education. If you’re already face-to-face, there is a better use for your projection screen.

Make sure you know how to use the technology you plan to use in the classroom. Save yourself the embarrassment of failing to use the projection equipment or giving the class an assignment using software you haven’t learned how to use yet yourself, and give everything a test run. This saves class time and prepares you for any issues your students will face as they learn.

Listen to your students. The students in the video give good advice to their instructor: “Let us collaborate with our classmates.” “Better blackboard use.” “Don’t just read off your PowerPoint.” “Please respond to my emails.” “I’m so bored. Just let the students play a more active role in the class.”

Read the article about this video in The Chronicle

Archiving the Feed: September 2009 Twitter Posts by wisepedagogy

Posted in Articles, Collaboration, Course Activities, Fun Miscellany, Learning Aids, Library & Info Science, News in Online Education, Pedagogical Theory, Podcasting, Social Networking, Synchronous Learning, Time Management, Video, Visual Aids, Web Tools on February 2nd, 2010 by Anne – Be the first to comment
cc-licensed photo, Sprinkles, M&Ms and Chocolate Crunch, via Flickr by Sister72

cc-licensed photo, Sprinkles, M&Ms and Chocolate Crunch, via Flickr by Sister72

I am in the process of archiving the wisepedagogy Twitter announcements from past months. Links have been expanded to show the entire URL rather than bit.ly shorthand.

September 2009 Twitter Posts by wisepedagogy:

I have left out a few tweets that related to dated events, such as webinars and calls for participation. I’m guessing that the people who would read this archive would be most interested in resources that still have a chance of being available.

Archiving the Feed: October 2009 Twitter Posts by wisepedagogy

Posted in Articles, Collaboration, Course Activities, Fun Miscellany, Learning Aids, Library & Info Science, News in Online Education, Pedagogical Theory, Podcasting, Social Networking, Synchronous Learning, Time Management, Video, Visual Aids, Web Tools on February 1st, 2010 by Anne – Be the first to comment
cc-licensed photo, P1060127, via Flickr by jessicareeder

cc-licensed photo, P1060127, via Flickr by jessicareeder

I am in the process of archiving the wisepedagogy Twitter announcements from past months. Links have been expanded to show the entire URL rather than bit.ly shorthand.

October 2009 Twitter Posts by wisepedagogy:

Archiving the Feed: November 2009 Twitter Posts by wisepedagogy

Posted in Articles, Collaboration, Course Activities, Fun Miscellany, Learning Aids, Library & Info Science, News in Online Education, Pedagogical Theory, Podcasting, Social Networking, Synchronous Learning, Time Management, Video, Visual Aids, Web Tools on February 1st, 2010 by Anne – Be the first to comment
cc-licensed photo, DSC00948, via Flickr by godutchbaby

cc-licensed photo, DSC00948, via Flickr by godutchbaby

I am in the process of archiving the wisepedagogy Twitter announcements from past months. Links have been expanded to show the entire URL rather than bit.ly shorthand.

November 2009 Twitter Posts by wisepedagogy:

Archiving the Feed: December 2009 Twitter Posts by wisepedagogy

Posted in Articles, Collaboration, Course Activities, Fun Miscellany, Learning Aids, Library & Info Science, News in Online Education, Pedagogical Theory, Podcasting, Social Networking, Synchronous Learning, Time Management, Uncategorized, Video, Visual Aids, Web Tools on February 1st, 2010 by Anne – Be the first to comment
cc-licensed photo, Lunch Time! via Flickr by AR Nature Gal

cc-licensed photo, Lunch Time! via Flickr by AR Nature Gal

I am in the process of archiving the wisepedagogy Twitter announcements from past months. Links have been expanded to show the entire URL rather than bit.ly shorthand.

December 2009 Twitter Posts by wisepedagogy:

Archiving the Feed: January 2010 Twitter posts by wisepedagogy

Posted in Articles, Collaboration, Course Activities, Learning Aids, Library & Info Science, News in Online Education, Pedagogical Theory, Social Networking, Synchronous Learning, Time Management, Uncategorized, Video, Visual Aids, Web Tools on February 1st, 2010 by Anne – Be the first to comment
cc-licensed photo, Freezer Meals, via Flickr by armigeress

cc-licensed photo, Freezer Meals, via Flickr by armigeress

Thanks to Twitter I’ve been able to share a plethora of announcements about new e-learning technologies and pedagogical research studies, all in a very quick, easy manner. No thanks to Twitter, however, I’ve been announcing fewer of these announcements on this blog.

I’m hoping to reverse this trend by posting summaries of my Twitter updates at least on a monthly basis, if not more frequently. In the meantime, I’ll archive what I can in a few posts, beginning with January. Links have been expanded to show the entire URL rather than bit.ly shorthand.

January Twitter Posts by wisepedagogy:

News Bits: Nook vs. Kindle, Learning via wrong answers, ZoomIt tool

Posted in Articles, Learning Aids, Pedagogical Theory, Video, Visual Aids, Web Tools on October 21st, 2009 by Anne – Be the first to comment

The following are just a few highlights from today’s news for online pedagogy:

Nook packaging image via Gizmodo

8 Reasons You Can Finally Love Ebook Readers

Technology blog Gizmodo gives an in-depth review of the new Nook ebook reader, which was just released. As Barnes and Noble’s foray into the ebook technology market, it apparently offers better features, more viewing options, and a lower price tag than similar ebooks. One of its more interesting features is a two-week lending period, that would allow users to share texts on other electronic devices (iPhone, iPod, PC, Mac) as well as “borrow” a title for a quick read. This seems much more open to the idea of social reading — sharing what you’re reading with friends or classmates, possibly — and much less proprietary than Kindle (which received quite a bit of negative attention a few months ago after it deleted titles that users had purchased.

It will be interesting to see how the Nook unfolds in practical use, and whether it can offer a viable model for mobile learners. If nothing else, the competition it brings to Kindle might encourage more advances in pedagogical apps, meaning better uses for students (and lighter backpacks).

via Gizmodo

ZoomIt v4

This is a screen room and annotation tool that lets you type and freehand write or draw as part of a screencast presentation. Users can zoom onto specific parts of the screen and customize hotkeys for action shortcuts. This tool might work best for demonstrations or lectures in math or sciences, where a freehand grid would help explain the information much easier than an audio podcast alone. The following demo was created by Greg Friese:

ZoomIt v4

Getting It Wrong: Surprising Tips on How to Learn

This is a brief article in Scientific American that addresses a recent study conducted at UCLA on the merits of guessing incorrectly in order to cement new information to permanent knowledge. As part of the study, participants were given a short quiz with answers that were designed to be almost impossible to get correct. Afterwards they were told the answers and given some time to study, then retook the test. Most of the participants scored better on the second test than a control group, which was only tested after given time to study the answers.

The authors of this study (below) concluded that students will better commit new information to long-term memory if they are given the chance to fail phenomenally before learning. This makes sense — most people are probably going to be more curious about an answer if they are first pressed with difficult questions about it.

How might you use this concept with your students? This might best be a “quiz first, answer questions later” approach to pedagogy. Begin the lesson by hitting them with a quiz on information they haven’t learned, or a problem they shouldn’t know how to solve yet. Let them puzzle over it for a few minutes; maybe put them in synchronous groups to chat and bicker about how unfairly you’re treating them…then teach them what they need to know to get it right. Have you tried this method? Share your story in the comments section below!

Original article: Unsuccessful retrieval attempts enhance subsequent learning (via APA PsychNET)

via Scientific American

Adapt your course management system to fit your instruction

Posted in Articles, Course Activities, Pedagogical Theory on October 7th, 2009 by Anne – Be the first to comment
Blackborg: CC licensed image via Flickr by MikeLeSombre

Blackborg: CC licensed image via Flickr by MikeLeSombre

The October 2009 issue of First Monday includes an article by Lisa M. Lane that encourages online instructors to plan the way they want to teach their course first, then choose a course management system (CMS) that fits their needs –rather than the other way around.

From the abstract:

Course management systems, like any other technology, have an inherent purpose implied in their design, and therefore a built–in pedagogy. Although these pedagogies are based on instructivist principles, today’s large CMSs have many features suitable for applying more constructivist pedagogies. Yet few faculty use these features, or even adapt their CMS very much, despite the several customization options. This is because most college instructors do not work or play much on the Web, and thus utilize Web–based systems primarily at their basic level. The defaults of the CMS therefore tend to determine the way Web–novice faculty teach online, encouraging methods based on posting of material and engendering usage that focuses on administrative tasks. A solution to this underutilization of the CMS is to focus on pedagogy for Web–novice faculty and allow a choice of CMS.

Lane argues that course management systems were originally designed to accommodate traditional instructional methods based in nineteenth-century pedagogical theory — namely, presentation and assessment. Over time, research has revealed revolutionary effective practices for online teaching, but few of these innovations have been incorporated effectively into the most common CMSs. These systems, according to Lane, often do little to encourage faculty creativity in course design or experimentation with constructivist learning tools.

Lane seems to argue in favor of Moodle rather than Blackboard as a more flexible CMS for instructors who are novice web users. Blackboard courses begin with default settings that might lead instructors to teach with the defaults in place rather than experimenting with the alternatives, whereas Moodle forces instructors to choose course activities from a list.

As someone who has used both Blackboard and Moodle, I think there are definitely some elements that Moodle does better (student profile icons come to mind) — but Blackboard may still have an upper hand with its grading system. I don’t know that there could be such a thing as a perfect CMS, anyway, as each instructor will likely have issues that cannot be resolved with one system.

Provided that your school chooses your CMS for you (and you don’t get to pick one from a list), how well do you incorporate the various features in that system beyond its most obvious settings (if at all)? If there’s something you haven’t been able to do with that system, do you bring other programs and software into your curriculum, like web 2.0 collaboration and networking websites?

How would you advise another instructor to improve course design, with or without CMS tools? Share your techniques in the comments thread!

Insidious Pedagogy: How course management systems impact teaching

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