Lecturing for hours on end is outdated. We need to create learning activities, other than passive listening, if we want to increase learning. That is now possible with the use of student response systems (clickers) and collaborative activities. We can “flip” our class time so the lectures are done as home work, and the practicing and applying and such are done with the instructor present to lead the process.
This is the reaction of the writer of http://www.eschoolnews.com/2011/07/27/ending-the-tyranny-of-the-lecture/ after watching Eric Mazur demonstrate his teaching of Physics at a conference. Good stuff.
Do you want to take a real break, but can’t because you feel tied to email? Here is a step-by-step guide to doing it without offending people. http://goo.gl/TcToh
Charles Goslin was a graphic designer and teacher. Read this blog post from one of his former students to see a great teacher through a student’s eyes. http://goo.gl/5cghd
Go to http://goo.gl/SkROR for “8 Great TED Talks About the Future of Education and Teaching.” As part of your summer re-creation as a teacher/learner, watch these and reflect on how you might apply the ideas in them.
If you are not familiar with Bloom’s taxonomy, or need a refresher, the YouTube video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwS1MVZgTL8 is a cute way to quickly get up to speed. The web site at http://goo.gl/6mZR4 has additional information on how to use Bloom’s taxonomy. There is a great chart at http://goo.gl/6mZR4 with questions, activities, and trigger words for each of the four levels. As you plan your courses for the fall, take a look at what levels you would like your students to achieve, and how you are helping them do that.
I am seeing articles about storytelling as a learning objective in most disciplines. Every paper is a story in which you are trying to convince the reader of your conclusion. Every presentation is a story. Now, with Web 2.0, every video or oral history is a story. But stories are rarely multimedia, they are either written or video or a single form of media. The Atavist provides this type of multimedia enhanced nonfiction stories. While some are available for the Kindle and Nook, the best format is on the iPad, where all forms of multimedia can be used. Stories cost around $3 each on the iPad. Go to http://atavist.net to see what is available.
Speaking up in class, silently. New York TImes article on use of backchannels in the classroom.
eReaders need to add more “book like” cues. I play solitaire a lot (too much?) on my iPad. I wish I could see how many cards were left to flip over. It would be easy for the programmers to provide that information. The could add a shadow or show the edges of the cards. But they don’t. Similarly, eBooks don’t provide tactile information about where you are in the book. They can’t provide tactile info, but eReaders could provide some better cues. Have you ever closed a book and later had to locate your reading location? Have you ever tried that with an eBook? What is fairly simple with a real book is extremely difficult with an eBook. But is that inherent to the medium or something that can be ameliorated by better user interfaces? I think the latter. A recent study at the University of Washington, with Computer Science students, identifies the problem but seems to treat it as inherent.
More students use smart phones. Smart phones are being used more by the people who have them.
What if finding courses in college was like picking a movie in Netflix or shopping on Amazon? This article from The Chronicle describes the system at Austin Peay. I started designing something like this for the University of Miami a couple years ago. Too many barriers to get it implemented here. Glad someone else is trying it.
