If you haven’t heard of Google Jockeying, you will probably be hearing or reading about it soon. Its popularity is growing quickly in higher education.
Here’s a quick example of how Google Jockeying works in the classroom:
An instructor is doing their presentation on the American Revolution or some other topic. At the same time there is a pre-designated member of the class is “Google-ing” (the student doesn’t have to use Google either, they can use any search engine they want) the different terms or aspects from the presentation, which students may want to know about. They are doing this with a projector attached to their computer for the entire class to see while they participate in the presentation or listen to the lecture. So, in the American Revolution discussion, the “Jockey” may Google a name like Lord Dunmore or pull up an image of a British soldier or display online links for students to read the Declaration of Independence.
Many instructors are finding Google Jockeying helpful for their students. It’s popularity is growing.
Link to more information about “Google Jockeying”:
<http://connect.educause.edu/Library/ELI/7ThingsYouShouldKnowAbout/39391>
Posted in Active Learning ,Higher Education ,Large Lecture ,Learning Outcomes ,Resources ,Teaching Tips ,Tech Tips ,Visual Learning August 7, 2008
Would you like to be discuss over 37 thousand topics concerning higher education with more than 22 thousand people around the world? Do you have a strong opinion about some practice in the classroom that you want to share with someone?
The Chronicle for Higher Education has a discussion forum where you can peruse more than 790 thousand posts that concern just about any imaginable topic of higher education. Faculty can go into forums about everything from taking attendance with an iPhone, on up to reforms that would better prepare students for college. The dozens of articles that the Chronicle posts are always being discussed there.
Please visit the forum and see what kind of discussion you get involved in.
Link to forum:
http://chronicle.com/forums/index.php
Link to Chronicle of Higher Education home page:
http://chronicle.com/
Posted in Active Learning ,Blogs ,Conferences ,Higher Education ,Reflections on Teaching ,Resources ,Scholarly Communication August 7, 2008
Just last week an article by Andrea L. Foster was published in The Chronicle of Higher Education. The article has been generating plenty of traffic and just as much discussion. If you wonder why the article may be attracting so many readers, please read the first two paragraphs of her article (below) and what she writes about the overhauled Higher Education Act that recently was overwhelmingly approved by Congress.
“Tucked away in a 1,200-page bill now in Congress is a small paragraph that could lead distance-education institutions to require spy cameras in their students’ homes.
It sounds Orwellian, but the paragraph — part of legislation renewing the Higher Education Act — is all but assured of becoming law by the fall. No one in Congress objects to it.“
Many instructors and students may not realize the impact this act may have on them. We would like to hear what some people say. Please read Foster’s article or get some more facts on the Higher Education Act and give us a comment on what you read.
Link to Foster’s article:
<http://chronicle.com/free/v54/i46/46a00103.htm?utm_source=pm&utm_medium=en>
Posted in Academic Freedom ,Blogs ,Discussion-Join In ,Higher Education ,Scholarly Communication ,Student Success August 1, 2008
In our most recent Center newsletter we featured a short “Visionary” piece on Maryellen Weimer. Dr. Weimer is the editor of the The Teaching Professor online blog and newsletter, which are dedicated to inspiring “educators committed to creating a better learning environment,” as their website indicates.
The staff at The Teaching Professor also have a popular annual conference to further their commitment to higher education. They have recently released details on their 2009 conference. The conference will be held: June 5-7, 2009 at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in Washington, D.C. The themes for next year’s conference are: educate, engage and inspire.
For more information on the conference, please refer to The Teaching Professor’s website at: <http://www.teachingprofessor.com/conference/index.html>.
You can also peruse The Teaching Professor website and newsletters at: <teachingprofessor.com>.
Posted in Active Learning ,Books/Library ,Conferences ,Higher Education ,Newsletter ,Service Learning ,Student Success August 1, 2008
Would you like to be able to read what people all over the world are saying in the realm of higher education about an array of interesting topics? If this is something you would like, then you should read what a huge network of professionals share almost everyday on Tomorrow’s Professor.
This is a collaborative effort by Stanford University and M.I.T., which shares advice, experiences, research and blog postings from all over the world. Tomorrow’s Professor has a sharing network of over 25,000 people, at more than 600 institutions, in 108 countries. People can find articles that concern topics ranging from “Avoiding scientific misconduct” to “How to Get the Most Out of Scientific Conferences.” In their blog you can find postings concerning a variety of topics, like “Adaptive Learning” and “Academic Advising in the New Global Century.”
Please see their Listserv and blog with the links below:
Listserv: <http://ctl.stanford.edu/Tomprof/index.shtml>
Blog: <http://amps-tools.mit.edu/tomprofblog/>
Please leave us a comment about what you think about Tomorrow’s Professor.
Posted in Blogs ,Discussion-Join In ,Higher Education ,Resources ,Scholarly Communication July 25, 2008
Today the BG News published an article about different blogs around campus. The article features information and insight about blogs run by the Center, a campus department, and some professors.
Reporter, Angie Burdge describes how blogging systems will have, “a new way for professors and students to communicate.”
The link to the article is below and should be accessible to anyone.
Thank You BG News!
Article Link: http://media.www.bgnews.com/media/storage/paper883/news/2008/07/23/Campus/New-Univ.Blogging.System.Means.New.Route.Of.Communication-3393681.shtml
Posted in Blogs ,Resources July 23, 2008
Starting this fall the Center will be hosting a new Teaching Assistants workshop series. The series will be discussions for incoming, current and former Teaching Assistants. There are all sorts of components entailed in being a Teaching Assistant and instructing a room full of college students, and the Center would like to work with TA’s to discuss the many aspects. We will be talking about everything from taking attendance, to assessments, to writing syllabi. Resources and other suggestions will be offered to aid in every part of being a TA.
The Center is aiming to start this series of workshops in late August, with the next workshop to come around mid-October, and a final workshop towards the end of fall semester. The exact times and dates for the workshops will be forthcoming. Please see the Center’s website for further details in the near future.
Posted in Active Learning ,Discussion-Join In ,Reflections on Teaching ,Rubrics ,Syllabus ,TA-Teaching Assistants ,Workshop Extension July 22, 2008
Developed by Thomas Angelo & K. Patricia Cross, the Teaching Goals Inventory (TGI) allows faculty to examine the needs, outcomes, and goals of their course(s) in a quantifiable fashion. The results of your highest ranking goals can then be used to determine the most appropriate formative assessment strategies for your students or as a framework for crafting a course syllabus. Classroom Assessment Techniques includes a paper version of the inventory, but the University of Iowa’s Center for Teaching created an online version of the TGI for faster analysis and application.
Here is a sample readout from the TGI:
The cluster areas correspond to goals from the inventory, which can be measured throughout a course using various formative assessments from Classroom Assessment Techniques by Angelo and Cross (1993). With about 50 CATs to choose from, the TGI is a quick way to sort them into a manageable quantity to explore. Additionally, the TGI can be used by individual faculty, departments, or even students to uncover their vision and/or motivation for learning.
The Center’s next workshop on using the TGI (Identifying Your Teaching Goals Using the TGI) is Wednesday, August 6, 10:15am-11:00am, immediately followed by the Formative Assessment Using CATs workshop from 11-12. For more information or to register for one or both, click here!
After taking the TGI, share your results (or main cluster/goal area). Was this tool beneficial?
Click on the COMMENTS link below to get started!
Posted in Assessment ,Learning Outcomes ,Student Success ,Syllabus ,Teaching Tips ,Workshop Extension July 17, 2008
Nicholas Carr recently wrote an article for the Atlantic Monthly about what he believes the Internet is doing to people’s brains. Carr’s, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” asks the question over whether people are relying far too much on the Internet for instant access to information, and changing the ways we think and altering “our understanding of the world.”
Below are two short reactions to Carr’s popular article.
Reaction #1
Nicholas Carr may ask the question, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?”, but his clear answer is that it certainly isn’t helping us think critically or deeply. Carr draws some comparisons to other technological advances in history, including writing and the printing press, fairly noting that although certain prominent thinkers of the time were certain we would see detrimental results in society’s collective cognition, the opposite is generally true. Carr is obviously skeptical of a positive affect of technology on the brain and learning. He raises good questions that amount to a consideration of how much “concentration and contemplation” actually occurs with an increase in technology and the future outcome of this change in learning. Whether you are concerned or celebratory of the change technology has made in learning, addressing the philosophical issues of “What is important to learn?” and “How can we best learn it?” will remain at the forefront and Carr gives us such an opportunity to reflect.
Reaction #2“So, yes, you should be skeptical of my skepticism,” is what Carr offers as a disclaimer after he essentially writes about the negative affects the Internet has on how people think and read. He proposes anecdotal evidence to support his assertion that the Internet is somehow controlling what people read, how they read, their reading and comprehension habits and, ultimately, how people think. He makes a formidable attempt to show how the giants of the Internet, like Google, have a predetermined plan to alter the web surfers intelligence. His argument is not the greatest defense of his overarching thesis, but he does ask a worthy question. It would be interesting to see what academic studies would say about how the Internet has morphed people’s minds.
Please take a look at Carr’s article and feel free to post your reaction or thoughts about it. Here is a link to Carr’s article: http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200807/google
What do you think about the article and suppositions?
Click on the COMMENTS link below to get started!
Posted in Active Learning ,Blogs ,Discussion-Join In ,Higher Education ,Tech Tips July 14, 2008
One of the most important and challenging tasks for an instructor or faculty member is to create an inclusive classroom. Shari Saunders and Diana Kardia from the Center for Research on Learning and Teaching from the University of Michigan have made some excellent suggestions for creating such a classroom.
Areas to consider include:
- Course content
- Your prior assumptions
- Your planning of class sessions
- Your knowledge about the diverse backgrounds of your students, and
- You decisions, comments, and behaviors
In choosing course content, the authors (Saunders & Kardia, 2004) recommend considering “Whose voices, perspectives, and scholarship are being represented?” (¶ 5), including “as much as possible, materials written or created by people of different backgrounds and/or perspectives” (¶5) and recognizing “How are the perspectives and experiences of various groups being represented?” (¶5).
By reflecting on your assumptions, you have an opportunity to consider how these assumptions might become evident in the classroom. You can then respond accordingly. When planning your classes, you might consider accommodations, cultural reference points, instructional strategies, and controversial topics among others (Saunders & Kardia, 2004). Clearly, getting to know your students and their backgrounds allows you to make educated decisions, comments and behaviors in responding to criticism, student identities, conflict, and inequity.
You can review the entire report here: http://www.crlt.umich.edu/gsis/P3_1.html
Other resources include:
Tips for Teachers from the Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning, Harvard University
http://isites.harvard.edu/fs/html/icb.topic58474/TFTrace.html
Diversity Web at AACU
http://www.diversityweb.org/
Kaplan, M. & Miller, A. T. (Eds.) (2007). Scholarship of Multicultural Teaching and Learning.. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, no. 111. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass
Don’t forget to check out our library at the Center for other resources
http://www.bgsu.edu/ctlt/page15501.html
Posted in Multiculturalism June 26, 2008
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