Distance Learning
Managing Expectations
08 Feb 2013 @09:51
Full Post…
Comments
Built Beyond the Walls
17 Jan 2013 @16:03
In this talk, I take what I discovered in MOOC MOOC (and MOOC MOOC²) and apply it to classrooms, showing that the characteristics which make cMOOCs awesome can actually work with traditional, in-person instruction. Early on, I introduce MOOCs and provide a very brief history, in case the term is new.
Full Post…
Bracing for Insanity
28 Oct 2012 @19:54
“Not yet. But I think that’s one of the side-effects.”
Starting in just over three days, I’m participating in the Digital Writing Month, or #DigiWriMo on Twitter. The official goal of the project is for participants to write 50,000 words while learning about digital writing inside and out. I want to make my participation—and my personal goals—more public, so here’s a jump-start post to get me writing before I’m writing “on the clock”.
Full Post…
Computers in Class: This Changes Nothing…or Everything?
15 Sep 2012 @12:50
School used to be just a teacher standing before rows of desks full of willing and attentive students ready to absorb all the wisdom they could squeeze out of their teacher’s lectures. At least, that’s how the stories are told from cultural memory. Today’s students come equipped with cell phones and other portable computing devices, ubiquitous Internet access, and a rather different set of expectations for learning. Additionally, many classrooms no longer come equipped with rows of desks.
When we bring computers into the classroom, do we create a new form of school that breaks out of the shell of what came before? Or do we merely continue teaching the way we always have, only using newer tools to do it? Do computers in a classroom change nothing, or do they change everything?
Full Post…
E-verting Our Classes: Redirecting Focus
28 Aug 2012 @17:45
Yet I have to wonder what, exactly, engages our students in those scenarios: is it the technology itself, the interface, the presentation, or the content? While I applaud the effort to get students involved in their learning, I remain skeptical that the newness of technology attracts students more than the material we want them to learn.
In this post, I attempt to reframe the student/teacher dynamic in computer-enhanced classes as being "e-verted", with the traditional power hierarchies and relations to content turned inside-out.
Full Post…
The Incessant March Need Not Be Outward
18 Aug 2012 @07:44
But I saw no claim that the Incessant March that Nothing Will Stop had to be a march outward. Indeed, I discovered during the week that the most powerful marching was done incessantly inward…toward greater reflection on our teaching practices.
Full Post…
Redefining “Grading”
17 Aug 2012 @13:52
I concluded that our traditional system puts students at a disadvantage, and semantics could be holding us back from improving traditional courses. In this post, I’ll explore these assertions: Assignments are a matter of translation, and grading is a matter of perspective. Both work against our students, not in their favor. If we stop calling it “grading”, we could hand over much of the process to our students, relieving the grading stresses for teachers, improving the evaluative skills of students, making classes more collaborative and transparent, and ultimately reducing the translation/perspective roadblocks.
Full Post…
Students Are Not Chefs
15 Aug 2012 @14:06
The current trend toward more open participation and more student-selected tools used for more authentic assignments challenges me to rethink my involvement in the classroom. In short, I feel the need to back off and let go, allowing my students to take more ownership in the learning process and be more responsible for the work and ideas they produce. This self-reflection hit home today when reading material for the MOOC MOOC I have been participating in. One assignment post struck a nerve, and I would like to get other people’s insights on why this issue might be so controversial with me.
Full Post…
Where Does Learning Happen?
14 Aug 2012 @17:31
As has often been the case with this course, a simple question lead to complex responses.
My response looks at the places learning happens within a MOOC, but then questions whether that type of distributed (or “connectivist”) learning can be appropriate for a first-year composition (FYC) course.
Full Post…
Orchestrating a Course
13 Aug 2012 @19:13
Full Post…
Munching on MOOCs
12 Aug 2012 @14:05
This is going to be either a valuable and engaging learning opportunity, or a Very Bad Idea™ at a very inopportune time: the UCF semester starts next week. Here’s why I signed up.
Full Post…
Can Paying Attention Save Lives?
09 Jan 2011 @09:16
Well, that didn’t take long. Today I bring up religion, politics, and murder in my blog. When society creates bad people who do bad things, how can we use education to prevent history from repeating? Can education fix what it’s arguably not responsible for in the first place?
Full Post…
Full Post…
Read This and Learn Something
04 Jan 2011 @20:24
Classroom teachers uttering that phrase are usually being rude and dismissive; why do we accept that from distance education?
Full Post…
Full Post…