Question 1
How might I use a wiki in an educational setting?
AL’s answer for Mac
http://www.atomiclearning.com/almovie?key=31064
AL’s answer for PC
http://www.atomiclearning.com/almovie?key=31064&format=1
Question 2
How can I set up a pbwiki site?
AL’s answer for Mac
http://www.atomiclearning.com/almovie?key=31071
AL’s answer for PC
http://www.atomiclearning.com/almovie?key=31071&format=1
Do you currently use wikis in the classroom? If so, how? Can you think of any instances where wikis could improve communication and collaboration amongst your students?…Click on the COMMENTS link below to get started!
September 5th, 2007
The Ohio Learning Network (OLN) announces the 2007-2008 online webinar series. OLN’s TeachU webinars are hour-long interactive web seminars on uses of emerging technologies and pedagogies within the contexts of teaching, assessment, and student success. They’re also free!
To register go to: http://wiki.teachuohio.org/page/Register
Additional Webinars in the 2007-2008 TeachU Series Include:
October 4th @ 2:00 pm:
The Web 2.0 Classroom: What’s Available, Where to Begin, and Innovative Integrations
Presented by Garrick Ducat, Mercy College and Terence Armentano, Bowling Green State University
November 8th @ 3:00 pm:
Stretching Into the Future
Presented by Kay Strong, Bowling Green State University
January 17th @ 11:00 am:
Creating a Course and Open Source Portfolio for First Year Students
Presented by Jason Tetzloff, Owens Community College
January 24th @ 2:00 pm:
Mobile Learning
Presented by Sheri Stover, Bryan Beverly, Frank Carone, Terri Klaus and Chris Roberts, Wright State University
February 14th @ 1:00 pm:
Reverse Benefits: How Teaching Online Improves Face to Face Teaching
Presented by Paul Pennington, Dean of Distance Education and Institutional Research, Cincinnati Christian University
March 20th @ 2:00 pm:
Making CENTSS of Web-based Student Services
Presented by Melody Clark, University of Cincinnati and George Steele, The Ohio Learning Network
April 24th @ 11:00 am:
Blogs and Wikis in an Integrated Curriculum
Presented by Lisa Meloncon, University of Cincinnati
May 29th @ 11:00 am:
Creating Hybrid Courses
Presented by Antoinette Perkins, Judith Anderson, Ingrid Emch, and Sharon Barnewell, Columbus State Community College
September 4th, 2007
These discussion based programs feature faculty talking about their service-learning courses and experiences working with all aspects of service-learning and civic engagement. For more information, visit the Office of Service Learning website.
(NOTE: All presentations take place at the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Technology @ 201 University Hall)
September:
Thursday, 9/6/07, 1:00 pm-2:00 pm
Experiential, Transformational Learning Trips: Or two old (wise) guys take students on trips to places they might never go to on their own
Gordon Rickets, Director of Arts Village and School of Art,
Bill Thompson, Instructor, Continuing & Extended Education
These two presenters hold extensive knowledge and experience of incorporating experiential learning with undergraduate courses in both the arts and social work fields. [more...]
October:
Wednesday, 10/17/07, 9:45 am-10:45 am
Report on the 2007 National Gathering of Service-Learning: The CSUMB Workshop Experience
Khani Begum, Associate Professor, English Department,
Kate Collins, Instructor, Theatre & Film Department & Chapman Learning Community
Returning from the recent Service-Learning Conference in Monterey Bay, California, these presenters will share their experiences and discuss their developing ideas regarding connecting service-learning with curriculum design and pedagogy development for the engaged college course. [more...]
Friday, 10/26/07, 11:00 am-12:00 pm
Service-Learning for the Introductory Experience: Field Experience in EDHD 201
Sansanee Ohlson, Instructor, Teaching & Learning
Every year, nearly 900 students engage in community based learning as part of their EDHD 201 Introduction to Education Class. This team taught course is designed to not only help students decide whether or not to pursue the teaching profession, but also to help impact a community agency during the discovery process. [more...]
What kinds of service learning activities or experiences do you include in your course(s)? Click on the COMMENTS link below to share your thoughts or ask more questions.
August 28th, 2007
An article by Ruth Reynard, Associate Professor from Trevecca Nazarene University in Tennessee, discusses the inherent, powerful learning opportunities for students when they reflect on their learning in a written fashion – in particular, through blogging. She states,
(w)hile the notion of “finding individual voice” is not new to the learning process, technology such as blogging has presented a unique opportunity for teachers and students to work intentionally at this process.
She continues, noting that
(s)tudent response statements really cover a wide variety of “types” that reflect the instructional goals of the courses. That is, when developing individual voice throughout a learning process, each stage of that process is often reflected in the students’ comments. I have described each of these that I have noticed into the following categories:
- Reflective statements;
- Commentary statements;
- New idea statements; and
- Application statements.
In a 2005 article Blogs in Higher Ed: Personal Voice as Part of Learning, Reynard expresses the importance of blogging for learning:
(f)inding personal voice as a pedagogical method is important to establish learner identity and focus, and journaling has long been recognized as an effective way to provide space for this to occur.
Furthermore, with regard to assessing student learning,
(t)he idea that more than one person will view the work is quite powerful in promoting a sense of ownership from the student. Teachers can also benefit from “hearing” the personal voice of their students to begin to really understand the learning path of each student through a course.
For more information about the basics of blogging in education, visit this page, organized by Drs. Annette Lamb and Larry Johnson or visit The Center’s Blog & Wiki Resource Page.
What has been your experience with blogging for learning? How can blogging be used in your teaching, research/scholarship, service, and engagement? What type of blogging assignments do you create for students?
August 22nd, 2007
The process of teaching and learning requires detailed preparation. One of these important steps in preparation is developing a course syllabus. There are many methods for syllabus creation and a great resource for such a task is the book The Course Syllabus: A Learning-Centered Approach by Judith Grunert. This manual is intended to assist instructors in planning and constructing a learning-centered course syllabus that incorporates tools and information to aid students’ learning.
In the book, Judith notes that “…[A] syllabus can serve a wide variety of functions that support and challenge students as they engage in their educational activities” (p.14). Some of these functions are: Establishing an Early Point of Contact and Connection Between Student and Instructor, Helps Set the Tone for Your Course, Describes Your Beliefs About Educational Purposes, Acquaints Students with the Logistics of the Course, and Provides a Conceptual Framework.
Below is a checklist designed to help an instructor develop a learning-centered course syllabus. This checklist was taken from page 81 in Judith’s book.
Grunert, Judith. The Course Syllabus: A Learning-Centered Approach. Bolton, MA: Anker Publishing Company, Inc., 1997.
For a more detailed description of the Judith Grunert’s book visit:
http://www.josseybass.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-1882982185.html
See these web sites for more syllabus examples:
http://cte.udel.edu/syllabus.htm
http://www.udel.edu/pbl/courses.html
How are Judith’s tips helpful to you in developing a syllabus?
What other methods for syllabus development have you used?
Are there any other important functions of a syllabus you would like to share?
August 17th, 2007
Corrie Bergeron, M.Ed., an Instructional Designer at Lakeland Community College in Ohio recently wrote an essay entitled Age of Wonders and shared it on one of the OLN (Ohio Learning Network) listserves. Below are some highlights, but the entire essay is a good, but short read for anyone concerned with being inundated by constant technological change in their life or classroom.
In the film “Master and Commander,” 19th-century British sea captain Jack Aubry is handed a wooden model of a new warship. He examines it carefully, noting its many innovative features. Finally he sets it down, saying, “What an age of wonders we live in.”
If he had only known what was just over the horizon.
…For those of us who teach (and who directly support the teachers), this is a huge challenge. Many of our students know far more than we do about the new tools and toys. Others struggle with basic skills most of us mastered years ago. Every semester faculty come to me and say, “Please get me set up with Blackboard. My students say I need to use it.”
But in truth, the technology doesn’t matter all that much. Regardless of the tools they use, people are still people. We all have the same basic human needs: for food and shelter, for security, for love and belonging, for esteem, for self-actualization. Under the iPod and Razr, behind the email or discussion board post, is a human being with the same fundamental needs as his or her great-great grandparents.
They just meet those needs in different ways, that’s all. iTunes is not so very different than the traveling minstrel of Chaucer’s time. It just has a larger repertoire.
A tool is merely a set of affordances and constraints – stuff it lets you do easily, and stuff it makes it hard to do. That applies to tools used for teaching, too. You can teach in the 3D simulated world of Second Life, where people can fly and a student may appear as an alien with an orange mohawk (ok, bad example – that can show up on campus, too). But you also can teach while sitting on a log and using your finger to draw in the dirt (hey – digital interactive multimedia!)
…Is that good? Is it bad? Neither. It’s just different.
…We often feel like hamsters on a wheel that’s spinning faster than we can run. But we keep up as best we can with what’s going on “out there.” We try new things. Sometimes they work better than we’d planned. Sometimes they crash and burn. We pick up the pieces, learn from the experience, and try, try again.
We have to, if we want to prepare our students for the next Age of Wonders. It’s just over the horizon.
This is distrubuted with the author’s permission and a Creative Commons license (non-commercial with attribution).
What are your thoughts or observations about this “age of wonders”? How does or will these realities change the way you teach… or change the way students learn — in 3-5 years, 10 years, 20 years? Any other comments regarding the essay?
August 8th, 2007
The beginning of the semester is an exciting and busy time for both faculty and students. The semester start is also the best time for you to take the opportunity to make students aware of your expectations for the entire semester.
Expectations help define a boundary for students in which they can focus on the required tasks, leading them to the desired learning outcomes, rather than being distracted by unclear or obscure objectives. Some areas you can define or clarify include:
- workload per week (2-3x the credit hours out of class time, usually),
- assignments (what will need to be accomplished – readings, papers, presentations, projects, research, etc.),
- assessment/evaluation (how will they be graded/assessed – quizzes, exams, homework, rubrics, informal feedback, etc.), and
- behaviors (also important to include in order to educate the “whole student” – participation, attendance, professional, during presentations and group work, etc.).
In concert with expections, here are some assignment ideas or discussion topics that allow students to claim ownership of their role in the learning process, :
- Have students list their expectations for the course before seeing the syllabus or learning outcomes; near the end of the course, return this list and have them revise it, including a list of suggestions for next semester’s students
- On the first day, have them write a letter to you about why they deserve an A in your class; return it to them just before the final exam for them to revise and resubmit, including a section about how they have changed as a result of your class
- After looking at the course outcomes in the syllabus, have students write their personal short and long term goals for the course
What are some other expectations, outcomes, or activities that help your students take ownership of their learning ? Click on the COMMENTS link below to get started!
July 31st, 2007
Classroom presentations can be one of the most enriching assignments of the class if enough planning and preparation goes into the process. Below are 6 tips to help you assign an engaging oral presentation assignment.
1. Plan ahead. Give yourself time to communicate your expectations for the assignment and allow enough time for students to prepare. A well-prepared presentation takes time to plan!
2. Write a complete assignment so students understand the goals and aims of the presentation. Give the rubric you will be using to students ahead of time so they can plan accordingly.
3. Encourage creativity. Let students know that you don’t expect any two presentations to be formatted the same. This will ensure students enrich the learning experience by allowing their own personality and experiences to show through.
4. Prepare your students to be a willing and cooperative audience. Students need to be sufficiently engaged to learn from their peers. Consider what the audience will be doing during the presentations.
5. Have students complete a self-assessment. Let the student reflect on their strengths and weaknesses after the presentation.
6. Evaluate the presentations to help the students improve. Provide personalized information on the rubric to let the student know you care about their performance and how they can improve for next time.
Oral Presentation Assessment Tips at Carleton College (This site is geared toward geosciences, but is applicable to other disciplines.)
What strategy for class presentations or the assessment rubric would like to share with the BGSU community?
June 25th, 2007
The UC Second Life Wiki provides a valuable resource for any educator or student who plans to utilize Second Life as a teaching and learning tool. Second Life is a popular persistent online virtual “world” where users from around the globe can explore digital environments and interact with other users. More and more institutions of higher education are using Second Life to create unique virtual learning experiences. The UC Wiki provides essays of experiences from others, FAQ’s, tutorials and numerous other audio and video resources.
Do you have a Second Life Account? Have you used the program for teaching in any way? How? Any resources that you would like to share regarding Second Life?…Click on the COMMENTS link below to get started!
June 15th, 2007
With the proliferation of technology in the classroom, there is a rise in the use of available media for integrating new ideas. What started out as making copies of paper documents has now turned into duplicating software, video, and digital documents. Along with this shift in copying and exchanging digital media, the need for regulation must shift for protection of licensed media and information.
In a higher education environment instructors will likely need to copy various media for use in the classroom. For this purpose, we found a chart designated to inform school leaders of what is allowable under the law. This information would prove to be valuable when you have a question concerning copying, posting, digitizing, and sharing media for educational uses.
For a consice chart displaying current copyright regulations, visit:
http://www.techlearning.com/copyrightguide/index.php
What type of copyright issues occur in your courses? How well do students understand copyright of multimedia?…Click on the COMMENTS link below to get started!
June 6th, 2007
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