2,298 Matching Annotations
  1. Oct 2020
    1. In an interview, he described how these emerging support systems engage students and evaluate their strengths and weaknesses, even when they’re not in the classroom. The systems are not an online course, but rather an online tutor, driven by artificial intelligence, that can assess a student’s strengths and weaknesses and deliver personalized individual instruction.

      An interview with Zachary Pardos, a professor at UC Berkeley who is creating adaptive tutoring software. He describes how he thinks technology and the pandemic will change education over the next several years. He expects greater accessibility to wireless provided like school buses, greater use and development of adaptive tutoring software, and more online learning. I'd need more information on how the system deals with students who don't get it - do they have multiple explanations for math, or just one? 5/10

    1. Higher education institutions need to address these challenges, and technological tools — even some surprisingly simple ones — can go a long way toward enhancing the college experience for older students, says Brian Fleming, executive director of the Sandbox ColLABorative at Southern New Hampshire University.

      Older students (over 25) are often changing careers. They tend to have more responsibilities than traditional college students, and a lower threshold for micro-frustrations like bureaucracy, form. Colleges should accommodate them with things like digital signatures and virtual meeting availability. Technology should be platform-agnostic for them (and everyone). 5/10

    2. Technology Can Help Adult Learners Get the Most Out of Higher Ed

      (Available as transcript or podcast.) This article reviews the definition of the adult learner, identifying their particular learning needs and challenges. Considerations and recommendations for implementing technology are discussed (agnostic software, alleviate micro-frustrations). 5/10

    1. While our program still faces some challenges around engaging our students and keeping them enrolled in programs long enough to complete their goals, technology has allowed us to make some remarkable strides.

      A school system that extends to adult education utilizes online apps as an option (but doesn't require internet access, as many people lack it at home). They have found them to be helpful, especially because people who work odd shift jobs and have burst of time at odd hours can get some practice in. This is most helpful for ESL learners. 6/10

    1. We eventually hope to create affect-sensitive learning environments that respond constructively and effectively to boredom and confusion. When we do, we will have made significant progress towards improving students’ learning experiences, reducing problem behaviors such as gaming the system, managing students’ frustration and confusion in the face of impasses, and ultimately improving students’ learning.

      Researchers studied students cognitive-affective states doing online learning in 3 separate, very different studies, among different student populations, ranging from 12-year-olds to college students. They found that, contrary to prior assumptions, frustration did not necessarily have negative learning outcomes. Boredom tended to last longest of the cognitive-affective states covered, led to the greatest attempts to game the system, and had the least successful learning outcomes. Confusion was sometimes beneficial and sometimes harmful. Therefore, online learning environments should be developed that guard against boredom and perhaps confusion, rather than frustration. 8/10

    1. Therefore, practitioners need to be cognisant of the important role they play in influenc-ing learner motivation when designing learning activities. Most importantly, the relevance and value of the task (e.g., online discussions) need to be clearly identified and linked to learning objectives to help learners understand how the activity can aid in the realisation of personal goals, aspirations, and interests, both in the short and longer term.

      Based on research and two small scale case studies, some students in online learning are intrinsically motivated, but others need to be motivated by the teacher and material. External influences such as deadlines and grades also influenced student motivation. Identified regulation, that is, knowing why the activity is valuable and important, make a very big difference in student motivation. This brings us back to the andragogical idea that the assignments should involve real-world situations and be applicable to students' lives. 9/10

    1. Online learning environments have a promising future for researchers, practitioners, and learners. However designing and developing more effective and efficient online learning environments is possible with ongoing research and development. This paper offers four research goals and matches four existing methodologies to improve student outcomes in online learning environments defined as learner achievement, engagement, and retention.

      The authors outline four general research goals, and then go into detail on some of the questions that should be researched within those areas. They then suggest four methodologies to use in designing students to research those questions: formative, developmental, and experimental research and activity theory. All of these could help include online learning in terms of learner achievement, engagement, and retention. 9/10

    1. Technology integration has also been shown to help create more authentic learning environments where the students are more motivated to attend, have a greater chance of communication and collaboration and have more opportunities to use higher order thinking and problem solving skills connected to real world applications (Fouts, 2000) This has led some to believe that new theories in learning needed to be developed that would help to support the creation of such learning environments. The three emerging theories discussed in this paper all possess the ability to support the creation of such learning environments.  They all support the idea that learning is through action.  They all support that cognition happens through communication and collaboration with others.  They all support the use of technology to help in the creation of such learning environments. It is through these new theories that learning environments, which support the development of these higher-level learning skills, can be created.  

      This appears to be a paper written by an upper-level undergraduate (based on the writing), describing the importance of technology in 21st century education and describing three cognitive theories, all requiring collaborative learning, The author highlights the importance of student engagement through technology, which students like, and assumes its importance in the workplace. 5/10

    1. Research about adults as learners can inform the design of effective digital learning experiences. Although there is no one principle that can be applied to all adults, the design principles outlined here are based on five of the prevailing theories about how adults learn: andragogy, experiential learning, self-directed learning, transformational learning, and neuroscience.

      This article applies the principles of andragogy, self directed learning, experiential learning, transformational learning, and neuroscience (all of which seem rather similar), to low-skilled adults, who are likely to lack confidence about learning and who may be learning in bits of free time via cell phone. Emphasizes the importance of an instructor or coach, along with good use of technology. 8/10

    1. Faculty need to focus on learning theory in the design of instructional technology so that they can create lessons that are not only technology-effective but that are meaningful from the learner’s standpoint.

      Fidishun, a librarian and Penn State's satellite campuses, expands Knowles' 6 assumptions of andragogy, and draws out some of their implications for technology-based instruction for adults. This is short and to the point, but readers would benefit from the writer going into greater details. 7/10

    1. ​Institutions that were primarily online before the pandemic are also doing well. At colleges where more than 90 percent of students took courses solely online pre-pandemic, enrollments are growing for both undergraduate (6.8 percent) and graduate students (7.2 percent).
    1. JVER v29n1 - Analysis of Technology Integration in the Teaching-Learning Process in Selected Career and Technical Education Programs

      This looks at the application of technology in career and technical education programs for adults. It looks at how and how often technology is used in these programs. 8/10, interesting and focused on technical education unlike most articles.

    1. Technology planning: A roadmap to successful technology integration in schools

      This article talks about why, when institutions have prioritized and invested a lot of money in teaching adults to utilize technology in the classroom, there are very little successful instances of integration of technology in classrooms. 5/10, not particularly interesting to me and targeted towards a specific group of adult learners.

    1. DEVELOPMENT ARTICLEA systems-based approach to technology integrationusing mentoring and communities of practice

      This article presents a model of technology integration at the system level formed around mentoring. It focuses on effective methods of teacher professional development in the area of technology integration and discusses overcoming various obstacle teachers face during adult learning/ education. 6/10, very narrow focus of adult learners.

    1. TECHNOLOGY INTEGRATIONTHROUGH PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITY

      This article examines the effectiveness of learning communities to support integration of technology into classrooms and effective teacher growth in the area of technology proficiencies. 5/10, learning community findings are useful but this source is very targeted towards a specific group of adult learners.

    1. Technology Andragogy Work Content Knowledge Model as a New Framework in Vocational Education: Revised Technology Pedagogy Content Knowledge Model

      This article focuses on using adult education theory to integrate technology into vocational education. This expands adult learning opportunities to community colleges and trade schools. 8/10 interesting and different from an equity and accessibility standpoint.

    1. Language Research Bulletin,32, ICU, TokyoAndragogy in the 21st century: Applying the Assumptions of Adult Learning Online

      This article emphasizes the importance of creating online programs that have learning objectives that correspond to learners' real-world needs. It examines Knowles' Andragogical Model to provide guidelines for incorporating adult learning principles into course design. 10/10, very good blend of strategy and theory.

    1. A Comprehensive Exploration of Technology's RoleIin Adult Learning

      This article examines and gives bit of information from a book covering the intersection of adult learning and technology innovation. 4/10, while there is information here it is certainly not the entire book and therefore incomplete. It does serve as a quick and accessible alternative for those seeking the books information but lacking the time/ access to read the book.

    1. Pre-service Teachers' Practices towards Digital Game Design for Technology Integration into Science Classrooms

      This article looks at yet another new technology that has the potential to revolutionize the adult learning field. It examines the results of teaching educators about digital game design for technology integration. It looked at integrating this technology into science classrooms in particular. 9/10, very interesting new technology with lots of potential implications in the adult learning field.

    1. Application of augmented reality technologies for education projects preparation

      This article is on the cutting edge of educational technology. It discusses the potential benefits of augmented or enriched reality in education. While this article focuses on studies conducted using teaching practices in a college classroom with college students, it is reasonable to assume that this technology would have great potential for adult education too. 9/10 extremely exciting and interesting potential future technology for adult education.

    1. Teaching, Technology, and Teacher Education During the COVID-19 Pandemic:

      This article (or at least the section of it presented here) describes one institutions 5-phase model of virtual learning . It examines the state of teacher preparation and professional development in terms of technology and determines that while progress is being made, it is slow and needs to be implemented and focused on more. 4/10, the article itself is not great but it does include an extensive list of references that may be of use later.

    1. Integrating academic and everyday learning through technology: Issues and challenges for researchers, policy makers and practitioners

      This article examines the potential to connect academic with knowledge learned through life and career experience using technology and other traditional methods. Challenges and best practices are presented and all levels of individual and institution are included in the discussion. Rating 8/10. Very interesting idea and cool how many levels of organization are included.

  2. dergipark.org.tr dergipark.org.tr
    1. Blueprint for In-Service Teacher Training Program in Technology Integration

      This article looks at the gap between teacher efficiency in in-person versus online teaching and the need to effectively build teachers' competencies in the are of technology to ensure teachers are not incompetent at teaching online. This study collected data from 122 English language teachers and used the findings to create a blueprint for other institutions hoping to increases teachers' ability to successfully integrate technology into their lessons. 6/10, the study was too small to be truly persuasive scientifically and the findings were more helpful for institutions rather than individual educators.

    1. Toward a Future Adult Learning Community: If Sacra tes Had a PC. .. Toward a Future Adult Learning Community: If Socrates had a PC ...

      In this article both socratic and invisible integration approaches of technology in adult education are examined in an effort to propose a framework for future adult learning communities. Rating is 2/10, this article is much older than anticipated (somehow snuck through the date filter) and was rather outdated given how much technology has changed.

    1. The Impact of Social Media Technologies on Adult Learning

      This article takes on the challenge of investigating what role social media technologies have in adult learning/ their impact on learning outcomes for adult learners. The data showed that social media technologies follow similar patterns to other educational tools. Teaching method used in conjunction with the technology matters significantly. This being said, the article does make several recommendations for using social media in the classroom to boost adult learning outcomes. 10/10 interesting and relevant article with easy to find and utilize recommendations educators could implement.

    1. Teaching with Web 2.0 Technologies: Benefits, Barriers and Lessons Learned

      In this article, the author defines Web 2.0 technology and use for Web 2.0 in higher education. Through a small study of educators, discovery includes advantages, obstacles, and general guidance for implementation of web 2.0 tools. The author supports use of Web 2.0 to supplement learning, not as a substitute for the educator. Technologies must be implemented strategically and purposefully. 7/10

    1. Social Media and Networking Technologies: An Analysis of Collaborative Work and Team Communication

      Trends in Web 2.0 technologies and various networking modalities are briefly reviewed. Furthermore, advantages and barriers in the use of said technologies are discussed. Implementation of social media as a learning tool can be advantageous, however, it must supplement learning, not replace a structured environment. The educator should still remain present in the learning environment. And, he/she should provide appropriate support and training, as well as model, respective online tools to ensure efficacy. 6/10

    1. How To Make Online Corporate Learning Fun During Lockdown

      (Available in text or audio.) This article provides basic principles (agenda, duration) and technologies (gamification, discussion boards) and activities to keep employees engaged in online learning. While this provides strategy, it does not provide implementation guidance within the corporate environment. (2/10)

    1. Blended learning: Efficient, timely and cost effective

      (Click Download full-text PDF to read.) In this article, the authors discuss the blended learning instructional delivery method. Through case study, the authors demonstrate the benefits of blended course design. Furthermore, the article addresses potential detriments (financial, instructional design) of a blended course design. A brief review of considerations and recommendations for a blended design was provided. Though this article focuses on the relationship to forensic science, the information is applicable across disciplines and delivery venues (corporate, academic). (6/10)

    1. E-Learning Implications for Adult Learning

      (Click Download full text to read.) In this brief article, the authors contrast the child and adult learner. Highlighting the adult learner's characteristics, the article further discusses factors that might affect the individual learning style. Furthermore, the authors discuss these styles in the context of eLearning (extravert, introvert, sensory type, intuitive adult, reflexive type, affective type, rational type, and perceptive type). Each learning type and preferred eLearning method is illustrated (Table 1, p. 60). Rationale for the implementation of eLearning is detailed (p. 61). Guidelines for the use of eLearning is discussed. (6/10)

    1. Technology and Adult Students In Higher Education: A Review of the Literature

      Article explores technology usage among adult learners in higher education and how to optimize learning outcomes via tech tools in these settings. The author addresses educational/instructional design and the need for instructors to modify traditional approaches. Rating 6/10

    1. Features and characteristics of problem based learning

      The problem based learning (PBL) strategy is defined. The strategy is defined as an iterative process with specific goals (knowledge, problem-solving skills, self-directed skills, collaboration, motivation for learning). The authors go on to describe the advantages, disadvantages, limitations, and considerations for the use of PBL. Integration of technology allows for new opportunities in education and training across disciplines. (7/10)

  3. nevadasadulteducationcommunity.wdfiles.com nevadasadulteducationcommunity.wdfiles.com
    1. Integrating Technologyinto Adult Learning

      The author discusses four strategies (curriculum, mechanism, complement to instruction, instructional tool) for integrating technology in adult learning, their advantages and considerations. The use of any method will require changes to a curriculum, learning environment, and learner and educator roles. Therefore, technology integration should be done purposefully. 7/10

    1. Project Based Learning to Develop 21st Century Competencies

      In this chapter, the author defines problem based learning (PBL) and highlights the benefits to the learner. In addition to incorporating technology to enhance learning, the article reinforces the need to foster the softer skills that may be developed as a result of PBL (teamwork, accountability, problem-solving, creative thinking, risk-taking, communication skills, and critical thinking skills). Though the data is limited, and there are inherent challenges, PBL is of value in course design. (8/10)

    1. An Evaluation of Problem-based Learning Supported by Information and Communication Technology: A Pilot Study

      (Under "Viewing Options", select PDF.) In this article, Ernawaty and Sujono (2019) summarize results of a study funded by the Research and Higher Education Directorate of Indonesia. The study aimed to evaluate the cogency of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in problem based learning (PBL) and traditional teaching methods (TTM) based upon learner test scores. The concepts of PBL, TTM, and implications of ICTs are briefly reviewed. Results of the study revealed that PBL with the support of an ICT yielded the highest test scores. (6/10)

    1. Une authentique dérogation est à noter: la loi du 15 mars 2004 a introduit l’interdiction du « port de signes ou de tenues » manifestant « ostensiblement une appartenance religieuse » pour les élèves des écoles, collèges et lycées publics, qui sont des usagers du service public de l’éducation. Ainsi, les signes et tenues interdits sont ceux dont le port conduit à se faire immédiatement reconnaître par son appartenance religieuse, tels que le foulard, la kippa ou une croix de dimension manifestement excessive. La loi ne remet pas en cause le droit des élèves de porter des signes religieux discrets.Il est à noter que cette interdiction, strictement limitée aux écoles collèges et lycées publics, ne s’applique pas dans l’enseignement supérieur,et notamment au sein de l’université, que les élèves, usagers, sont libres de fréquenter en revendiquant leur religion, sous réserve, classiquement, de ne pas troubler l’ordre public.
    1. Grant Potter

      Seeing the commentary from Greg McVerry and Aaron Davis, it's probably worthwhile to point you to the IndieWeb for Education wiki page which has some useful resources, pointers, and references. As you have time, feel free to add yourself to the list along with any brainstorming ideas you might have for using some of this technology within your work realm. Many hands make light work. Welcome to the new revolution!

    1. The architecture of the platform where I published allowed authorial control of content but could not control context collapse or social interactions.

      These are pieces which the IndieWeb should endeavor to experiment in and attempt to fix. Though I will admit that pieces of the IndieWeb layers on top of platforms like WordPress can help to mitigate some context collapse and aggregate social interactions better. (eg: reply context and POSSE)

    2. Institutions, publics, and some media elites are encouraging academics to be more visible in the public sphere.

      I can't help but be reminded of the early professoriate in the 1400's when teachers were expected to be well known or interesting enough to have their own local following and pull in their own individual students. If they weren't the right sort of thought leaders or didn't teach the "right" subjects, they failed as teachers and were kicked out of the university. Social media in this era would have been more interesting whereas, now it barely seems to be a direct economic factor. (cross reference O. Gingerich, The Book Nobody Read)

    3. There is a sense that one can cobble together a common public by overlapping various social media platforms and audiences. Many of my colleagues are doing a fine job of problematizing the intersections of private social media and the university. The larger project from which this essay is drawn is part of that emerging conversation.

      I wonder here what role an IndieWeb-based version of academe looks like in which teachers all own their content on their own websites to make a more explicit appeal of work that they've done. Compare this with the concept that what they may be doing on Twitter isn't "work" and which isn't judged as such.

    4. Scholars who are also members of marginalized groups disproportionately take up this kind of engaged scholarship, often without commensurate credit from university administrators or colleagues (Ellison and Eatmen 2008; Park 1996; Stanley 2006; Taylor and Raeburn 1995; Turner et al 2008; Villalpando and Bernal 2002).
    1. As I read this while thinking about the context of the IndieWeb and it's wiki, I'm thinking two cognitively dissonant thoughts: 1. The current technical uses are creating content more for themselves and their research and use and 2. They're not creating it to help out the users who may necessarily need a ladder or a bigger platform to get to where they are.

      It's going to take a layer of intermediate users, creators, or builders to help create a better path to bring the neophytes up to a higher level to get more out of the wealth of information that's hiding in it. Or it's going to take helpers and mentors to slowly build them up to that point.

      How can we more consistently reach a hand down to pull up those coming after us? How can we encourage others to do some of the same?

    1. When you can assume that all the materials you’re using in and with your class are open educational resources, here’s one way to remix the effective practices listed above with OER in order to provide you and your students with opportunities to spend your time and effort on work that makes the world a better place instead of wasting it on disposable assignments.

      As I think of remix, reuse, redistribute and things like git and version control, I also can't help but think that being able to send and receive webmentions in the process of reusing and redistribution with referential links back to the originals will allow the original creator to at least be aware of the changes and their existence to potentially manually add them to the original project. (Manually because they may not (yet) know how to keep their content under source control or allow others to do so and send pull requests.)

    1. As I'm reading this page I can't help but think about how it potentially predates and underlies the idea of the wiki which came just a few years after this piece of software.

    1. It is our belief that Wikimedia projects are a valuable tool for education, and that engagement with those projects is an activity which enriches the student experience as much as it does the open web itself. Educators worldwide are using Wikimedia in the curriculum – teaching students key skills in information literacy, collaboration, writing as public outreach, information synthesis, source evaluation and data science. Engaging with projects like Wikipedia – particularly through becoming a contributor – enables learners to understand, navigate and critically evaluate information as well as develop an appreciation for the role and importance of open education. Once published, material produced by students becomes immediately accessible by a global audience, giving students the satisfaction of knowing that their work can be seen by many more people than just their tutor. As individuals working in the open web in the twenty-first century it is incumbent upon us to embrace innovative learning, embedding into our practice those tools which equip our students to work collaboratively, be skilled digitally, and think critically.

      This would generally apply to almost any wiki product. In part, it's why I maintain a personal wiki on the open web.

    1. Reversing the trend toward privatization will thus require not just massive public mobilization and demand of elected officials, but also a hard turn away from efficiency as a primary value, a recognition that the building of relationships and the cultivation of care is slow and difficult and of necessity inefficient. In fact, that its value lies in its inefficiency — but making the case for such inefficiency as a necessary value requires a lot of effort, and a lot of caution.

      There's a kernel here of something about the value of links (social, business, etc.) as put forward by Cesar Hidalgo in Why Information Grows. Where is the real value? How can it best be extracted? Built up? Having a more direct means of valuing these otherwise seeming intangibles will be important in the future.

    2. Throughout Generous Thinking, one of my interests lies in the effects of, and the need to reverse, the shift in our cultural understanding of education (and especially higher education); where in the mid-twentieth century, the value of education was largely understood to be social, it has in recent decades come to be described as providing primarily private, individual benefits. And this, inevitably, has accompanied a shift from education being treated as a public service to being treated as a private responsibility.
    3. This displacement is of course operative in the de-funding of public universities, effectively transforming them into non-profits rather than state institutions. The effects of this program of neoliberal1 reform run deep, not least that the dominant motivator behind these privatized institutions becomes sustainability rather than service, leaving universities, like non-profits, in an endless cycle of fundraising and budget cuts.
    1. There must be an ‘industrial revolution’ in education

      This first phrase is the most telling of all the issues we deal with on the edtech front. Because the industrial revolution touched almost every aspect of life since its inception, everyone presumes that it must also affect education.

      Sadly other than helping to make searching for and obtaining material much quicker, it still needs to be consumed, thought about, and digested by a student. The industrial revolution simply hasn't increased the bandwith of the common student's brain. It's unlikely that anything in the near future will expand it.

    1. Students like the convenience of the system, said Anderson, and all have access to the most up-to-date content, instead of some students having different editions of the same textbook.

      They're also touting the most up-to-date content here, when it's an open secret that for the majority of textbooks don't really change that much from edition to edition.

    2. A key difference between inclusive access and buying print textbooks is that students effectively lease the content for the duration of their course, rather than owning the material. If students want to download the content to access it beyond the duration of their course, there is often an additional fee.

      So now we need to revisit the calculation above and put this new piece of data into the model.

      Seriously?! It's now a "rental price"?

    3. She said that her institution, which has inclusive-access agreements with more than 25 publishers, had saved students more than $2 million this semester alone.

      $ 2million compared to what? To everyone having purchased the textbooks at going rates before? This is a false comparison because not everyone bought new in the first place. Many bought used, and many more still probably either pirated, borrowed from a friend, from the library, or simply went without.

    4. The "inclusive" aspect of the model means that every student has the same materials on the first day of class, with the charge included as part of their tuition.

      It almost sounds to me like they know they're not getting a cut of the money from poorer students who are finding the material for free online anyway, so they're trying to up the stakes of the piece of pie that they're getting from a different angle.

      This other model of subscription at the level of the college or university is also one that they're well aware of based on involvement with subscription fees for journal access.

    1. Pearson, the publisher whose Texas textbook raises questions about the quality of Harlem Renaissance literature, said such language “adds more depth and nuance.”

      If they wanted to add more "depth and nuance" wouldn't they actually go into greater depth on the topic by adding pages instead of subtly painting it such a discouraging light?

      But Texas students will read that some critics “dismissed the quality of literature produced.”

    1. Finally, the best HyFlex classrooms have someone assisting the faculty member.

      This is the understatement of the year. Faculty members will require extensive training and LOTS of assistance. This assistance SHOULD NOT come from student assistants, graduate students (who are likely to be heavily undertrained), or other "free" sources.

    2. It’s important to note that the goal of HyFlex is two make both the online and in-person experiences equal.

      There are some pieces of this that immediately make me think that this model is more of a sort of "separate, but equal" sort of modality. Significant resources will need to go toward the equality piece and even then it is likely to fall short from a social perspective.

    3. These assistants could also be work-study students who are assigned a particular classroom (or digital space) or they might be volunteers from class who are given credit for assisting in the delivery of the course.

      And of course, the first pivot (even in the same paragraph!) is exactly to these "free" or cheap sources which are likely to be overlooked and undertrained.

      If a school is going to do this they need to take it seriously and actually give it professional resources.

    4. This fall needs to be different. We need to ask students to be part of the solution of keeping learning flourishing in the fall. This includes asking them to help manage the class if it has a virtual component.

      This is moving education in exactly the WRONG direction. Students are already ill-prepared to do the actual work and studying of education, now we're going to try to extract extra efficiency out of the system by asking them to essential teach themselves on top of it? This statement seems like the kind of thing a technology CEO would pitch higher education on as a means of monetizing something over which they had no control solely to extract value for their own company.

      If we're going to go this far, why not just re-institute slavery?

    1. “Professional development often meant filling in to an auditorium and being talked at from a stage,” says Ferguson.

      Naturally, because you know, educators know how to educate other educators, right?!

    1. "There’s one great quote that’s attributed to Confucius: 'I hear and I forget, I see and I remember, I do and I understand,'" says Case. "I really believe in the potential of the interactive mediums."

      This is related to the broad idea of modality shifts in more modern educational contexts.

    1. Learning and Teaching Letter Grades are the Enemy of Authentic & Humane Learning: Bernard Bull discusses how grades work against authentic and self-determined learning. Although they are ingrained in education, he recommends considering the aspects of life free from grades and having these conversations with others. What is interesting is this is only one post being shared at the moment. Bill Ferriter shared his concerns about the association between standard grades and fixed mindset, while Will Richardson argues that grades only matter because we choose to let them matter.This continues some of the points discussed in Clive Rose’s book The End of Average and Jesse Stommell’s presentation on grades and the LMS. It is also something that Templestowe College has touched in the development of alternative pathways to higher education.

      Thanks for aggregating a variety of sources here!

      I'd recently come across Robert Talbert's post <cite>Traditional Grading: The Great Demotivator</cite> which likely fits into this same sub-topic.

    1. I ran across this 5 year old article courtesy of a few recent tweets:

      This took me back to a time and something I’d forgotten writing, that has made me rethink where we are now: https://t.co/COgNQnutZr

      — Kate Bowles (@KateMfD) April 25, 2020
      <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

      “power is distributed very unevenly throughout the global network of higherEd institutions. If digital innovation is left to the market, we will continue to see scale and standardisation dressed up as personalisation and differentiation.” ⁦@KateMfDhttps://t.co/pqskuKPbQj

      — Robin DeRosa (@actualham) April 25, 2020
      <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

      What surprises me is that it's about education and pedagogy that starts off with a vignette in which Kate Bowles talks about the unknown purpose of Stonehenge.

      But I've been doing some serious reading on the humanities relating to memory, history, and indigenous cultures over the last few years. It dawns on me:

      I know what those stones are for!

      A serious answer provided by Australian science and memory researcher Dr. Lynne Kelly indicates that Stonehenge and similar monolithic sites built by indigenous cultures across the world are--in fact--pedagogic tools!!

      We've largely lost a lot of the roots of our ancient mnemonic devices through gradual mis- and dis-use as well as significant pedagogic changes by Petrus Ramus, an influential French dialectician, humanist, logician, and educational reformer. Scholar Frances Yates indicated in The Art of Memory that his influential changes in the mid-1500's disassociated memory methods including the method of loci, which dated back to ancient Greece, from the practice of rhetoric as a field of study. As a result we've lost a fantastic tradition that made teaching and the problem of memory far worse.

      Fortunately Lynne Kelly gives a fairly comprehensive overview of indigenous cultures across human history and their use of these methods along with evidence in her book Memory Code which is based on her Ph.D. thesis. Even better, she didn't stop there and she wrote a follow up book that explores the use of these methods and places them into a modern pedagogy setting and provides some prescriptive uses.

      I might suggest that instead of looking forward to technology as the basis of solutions in education, that instead we look back---not just to our past or even our pre-industrial past, but back to our pre-agrarian past.

      Let's look back to the tremendous wealth of indigenous tribes the world over that modern society has eschewed as "superstitious" and "simple". In reality, they had incredibly sophisticated oral stories and systems that they stored in even more sophisticated memory techniques. Let's relearn and reuse those techniques to make ourselves better teachers and improve our student's ability to learn and retain the material with which they're working.

      Once we've learned to better tap our own memories, we'll realize how horribly wrong we've been for not just decades but centuries.

      This has been hard earned knowledge for me, but now that I've got it, I feel compelled to share it. I'm happy to chat with people about these ideas to accelerate their growth, but I'd recommend getting them from the source and reading Dr. Kelly's work directly. (Particularly her work with indigenous peoples of Australia, who helped to unlock a large piece of the puzzle for her.) Then let's work together to rebuild the ancient edifices that our ancestors tried so desperately to hand down, but we've managed to completely forget.

      The historical and archaeological record: The Memory Code: The Secrets of Stonehenge, Easter Island and Other Ancient Monuments by Dr. Lynne Kelly

      A variety of methods and teaching examples: Memory Craft: Improve Your Memory with the Most Powerful Methods in History by Dr. Lynne Kelly

    1. I want to have ways to show learners that I chose the texts for them, as I’m convinced that empathy is motivating.

      I quite like this idea as a means of pedagogy.

    2. First of all, I wanted to learn more about how to inspire learners to read. And this means for me as an educator to create a technical and social environment that is welcoming and easy to participate in.
    1. There are still some wrinkles to be ironed out in getting the various platforms we use today to play well with Webmentions, but it’s a real step toward the goal of that decentralized, distributed, interconnected future for scholarly communication.

      The fun, secret part is that Kathleen hasn't (yet?) discovered IndieAuth so that she can authenticate/authorize micropub clients like Quill to publish content to her own site from various clients by means of a potential micropub endpoint.

      I'll suspect she'll be even more impressed when she realizes that there's a forthcoming wave of feed readers [1] [2] that will allow her to read others' content in a reader which has an integrated micropub client in it so that she can reply to posts directly in her feed reader, then the responses get posted directly to her own website which then, in turn, send webmentions to the site's she's responding to so that the conversational loop can be completely closed.

      She and Lee will also be glad to know that work has already started on private posts and conversations and posting to limited audiences as well. Eventually there will be no functionality that a social web site/silo can do that a distributed set of independent sites can't. There's certainly work to be done to round off the edges, but we're getting closer and closer every day.

      I know how it all works, but even I'm impressed at the apparent magic that allows round-trip conversations between her website and Twitter and Micro.blog. And she hasn't really delved into website to website conversations yet. I suppose we'll have to help IndieWebify some of her colleague's web presences to make that portion easier. Suddenly "academic Twitter" will be the "academic blogosphere" she misses from not too many years ago. :)

      If there are academics out thee who are interested in what Kathleen has done, but may need a little technical help, I'm happy to set up some tools for them to get them started.

    1. I can’t overstate the importance of education, since it can inspire critical thinking and foster innovative research to help remove barriers holding people back.

      I'm reminded here of Malcolm Gladwell's thesis about helping the masses rather than the edge cases. see also: https://boffosocko.com/2018/05/01/episode-06-my-little-hundred-million-revisionist-history/

    1. Here’s what I wrote last year when I chose “the Indie Web” as one of the “Top Ed-Tech Trends of 2014”:

      I want to go back and read this too.

    1. Schools can ensure their curriculum are up to date and training students for the areas of science with the most potential for advancement

      This completely flies in the face of the need for more basic science research which is far more likely to create vast potential advancement rather than focusing on smaller edge cases.

    1. When I received Chris’s comment, my first response was that I should delete my post or at least the incorrect part of it. It’s embarrassing to have your incorrect understandings available for public view. But I decided to leave the post as is but put in a disclaimer so that others would not be misled by my misunderstandings. This experience reminded me that learning makes us vulnerable. Admitting that you don’t know something is hard and being corrected is even harder. Chris was incredibly gentle in his correction. It makes me think about how I respond to my students’ work. Am I as gentle with their work as Chris was to mine? Could I be more gentle? How often have I graded my students’ work and only focused on what they did wrong? Or forgotten that feeling of vulnerability when you don’t know something, when you put your work out for others to judge? This experience has also reminded me that it’s important that we as teachers regularly put ourselves into situations in which we authentically grapple with not knowing something. We should regularly share our less than fully formed understandings with others for feedback. It helps us remember that even confident learners can struggle with being vulnerable. And we need to keep in mind that many of our students are not confident learners.

      I'm reminded here of the broad idea that many bloggers write about sooner or later of their website being a "thought space" or place to contemplate out in the open. More often than not, even if they don't have an audience to interact with, their writings become a way of thinking out loud, clarifying things for themselves, self-evolving, or putting themselves out there for potential public reactions (good, bad, or indifferent).

      While writing things out loud to no audience can be helpful and useful on an individual level, it's often even more helpful to have some sort of productive and constructive feedback. While a handful of likes or positive seeming responses can be useful, I always prefer the ones that make me think more broadly, deeply, or force me to consider other pieces I hadn't envisioned before. To me this is the real value of these open and often very public thought spaces.

      For those interested in the general idea, I've been bookmarking/tagging things around the idea of thought spaces I've read on my own website. Hopefully this collection helps others better understand the spectrum of these ideas for themselves.

      With respect to the vulnerability piece, I'm reminded of an episode of <cite>The Human Current</cite> I listened to a few weeks back. There was an excellent section that touched on building up trust with students or even a class when it comes to providing feedback and criticism. Having a bank of trust makes it easier to give feedback as well as to receive it. Here's a link to the audio portion and a copy of the relevant text.

    1. Almost every social network of note had an early signature proof of work hurdle. For Facebook it was posting some witty text-based status update. For Instagram, it was posting an interesting square photo. For Vine, an entertaining 6-second video. For Twitter, it was writing an amusing bit of text of 140 characters or fewer. Pinterest? Pinning a compelling photo. You can likely derive the proof of work for other networks like Quora and Reddit and Twitch and so on. Successful social networks don't pose trick questions at the start, it’s usually clear what they want from you.

      And this is likely the reason that the longer form blogs never went out of style in areas of higher education where people are still posting long form content. This "proof of work" is something they ultimately end up using in other areas.

      Jessifer example of three part post written for a journal that was later put back into long form for publication.

    1. choice and competition improve schools

      How can choice and competition improve schools? From a capitalistic perspective one needs to be much more mobile or have a tremendous number of nearby schools for this to happen. Much like the lack of true competition in local hospitals, most American families don't have any real choice in schools as their local school may be the only option. To have the greatest opportunity, one must be willing to move significant distances, and this causes issues with job availability for the parents as well as other potential social issues.

      When it's the case that there is some amount of local selection, it's typically not much and then the disparity of people attending one school over another typically leads to much larger disparities in socio-economic attendance and thus leading to the worsening of the have and the have-nots.

      Even schools in large cities like the Los Angeles area hare limited in capacity and often rely on either lottery systems or hefty tuition to cut down on demand. In the latter case, again, the haves and have-nots become a bigger problem than a solution.

      I'll have to circle back around on these to add some statistics and expand the ideas...

    1. The Right to Learn Undergraduate Research Collective (R2L), directed by professor Manuel Espinoza, is a research group at the University of Colorado Denver that, for more than a decade, has studied the legal, moral, and philosophical criteria of educational dignity.
    1. But education is all about digging yourself into a hole, losing sight of the grandeur which was a flat landscape stretching into the distance filled with magnificent and seemingly bottomless trenches and tunnels.
    1. Universal Design for Learning: Theory and Practice by Meyer, Rose, and Gordon (a book recognized as the core statement about UDL, which you can read for free) walks us through how educators actively change their practice to become more inclusive and helps us weigh choices in terms of how we create unnecessary barriers:
    1. This is what higher education is currently saying to its long-term casual staff. While universities are underfunded for teaching and expected to compete globally on the basis of research, then the revenue from teaching will be diverted into research. This isn’t a blip, and there won’t be a correction. This is how universities are solving their funding problems with a solution that involves keeping labour costs (and associated overheads like paid sick leave) as low as possible. It’s a business model for bad times, and the only thing that makes it sustainable is not thinking about where the human consequences are being felt.

      This last sentence is so painful...

    1. “To be in the shoes of an Other still leaves you with your own feet.”

      Reminiscent of Jefferson's quote "He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me."

    1. The goal of school is for students to learn. What we incentivize, however, is getting good grades.

      Example of moral hazard of gameplay.

    1. Characteristics of Adult Learners With Implications for Online Learning Design

      The author reviews assumptions of the adult learner and adult learning theory. In discussion of adult learning theories (self-directed learning, experiential learning, transformational learning), the article investigates their use in online learning. Furthermore, the author provides online course development recommendations for the adult learner. A brief critique of andragogic principles is provided. Adult learning principles used in a live environment are of benefit and necessary in the virtual environment. Click "Full Text" to read article. 7/10

    1. We have cast universities as the arbiters of opportunity. We have assigned them the role of allocating credentials and defining the merit that the wider society rewards — economically, but also in terms of honor, recognition, and prestige. ADVERTISEMENT Being cast in this role has enlarged the economic and cultural importance of universities. But we’ve paid a price for it. For one thing, support for higher education has become a partisan matter.

      What is the role of market requirements in all this? After all, pragmatically if the markets don't hire that said elite, they will not have that value anymore

  4. Sep 2020
    1. This study is based on a quantitative research survey taken by 295 randomly selected instructors at 28 higher education institutions in nine countries (Brazil, Chile, Colombia; Ghana, Kenya, South Africa; India, Indonesia, Malaysia). The 30-question survey addressed the following themes: personal demographics, infrastructure access, institutional environment, instructor attitudes and open licensing. Survey responses were correlated for analysis with respondents’ answers to the key question of the survey: whether they had ever used OER or not.

      Effects and Use of OER in the global south. Survey, Statistics and data analysis presentation

    1. Having worked with researchy vs more product/business driven teams, I found that the best results came when a researchy person took the time to understand the product domain, but many of them believe they're too good for business (in which case you should head back to academia).

      Problem of PhD profiles in business

    1. I think a lot of educational Youtube channels aren't that great in actually teaching you anything. What they are great at is sparking the interest and planting the seed for your own work. At least my experience is that actually doing things is how I learn them. Youtube can be a great springboard for that.

      Well said

    1. Chickering and Gamson (1987), forexample, suggested seven principles were central to suchteaching: encouraging faculty/student contact, developing reci-procity and cooperation among students, using active learningstrategies, offering rapid feedback, emphasizing time on task,communicating high expectations, and respecting diversetalents and ways of learning.

      Chickering and Gamson's seven principles were the foundation for learner-centered education (1987).

      1. Encouraging faculty/student contact
      2. Developing reciprocity and cooperation among students
      3. Using active learning strategies
      4. Offering rapid feedback
      5. Emphasizing time on task
      6. Communicating high expectations
      7. Respecting diverse talents and ways of learning

      Habanek's (2005) descriptive study of learner-centered syllabus design.

  5. Aug 2020
    1. Feldmann, A., Gasser, O., Lichtblau, F., Pujol, E., Poese, I., Dietzel, C., Wagner, D., Wichtlhuber, M., Tapiador, J., Vallina-Rodriguez, N., Hohlfeld, O., & Smaragdakis, G. (2020). The Lockdown Effect: Implications of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Internet Traffic. ArXiv:2008.10959 [Cs]. http://arxiv.org/abs/2008.10959

    1. It’s college admissions season, which means it’s time once again for the annual flood of stories that badly misrepresent what higher education looks like for most American students

      This article starts with a strong opinion on what kinds of stories the media writes about high education.

    1. and because we largely lack the infrastructure to support their creation and maintenance

      maintiance of course content is hard.

      Some of the tooling available to do this is getting better, I remember the hassles we had trying to keep the Angular training materials up to date, it was a maintenance nightmare.

      I think some of what is being done with MDX, Gatsby, HeadlessCMS, and sort of 'content as modules' can help with this infrastructure.

      I'm also curious to see where ideas like Roam, Zettelkasten, Smart Notes, etc could also help with this.

      Also 'minimal training modules', etc, and even things like https://notes.andymatuschak.org/About_these_notes could be used to have better networked thought and learnig

    2. Online courses tend to be based around linear playlists of videos, along with associated readings and other activities. These often look like university courses filmed and translated more or less directly to online form. More internet native courses tend to be shorter and more focused, but still just as linear and video-centric.

      agree with this.

      I've often thought that at times learning feels more like the Path fo Exile skill spider-web than a linear path.

      Many 'road maps', 'how to' feels like a ladder - and then it's not always clear how much you need to learn about a certain step before moving onto the next step, while also failing to realize that you may have learned the outcomes from the step in another way.

    3. What is a "course"? And more importantly: what more can a course be?

      I like this framing, as something that I've been thinking for awhile is that when it comes to teaching/education - people are too caught up in an old style of education and are trying to copy-paste the classroom setting into the online world.

      While some K-12 education seems to be adapting a bit faster, higher education still feels a little stuck.

      Bootcamps are a little different, but gaps still exist --- got thinking about this also when talking with Sam recently

    1. Von Gaudecker. H. M., Holler. R., Janys. L., Siflinger. B., Zimpelmann. C. (2020). Labour Supply in the Early Stages of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Empirical Evidence on Hours, Home Office, and Expectations. Institute of labor economics. Retrieved from: https://covid-19.iza.org/publications/dp13158/

  6. Jul 2020
    1. Rojas, F. L., Jiang, X., Montenovo, L., Simon, K. I., Weinberg, B. A., & Wing, C. (2020). Is the Cure Worse than the Problem Itself? Immediate Labor Market Effects of COVID-19 Case Rates and School Closures in the U.S. (Working Paper No. 27127; Working Paper Series). National Bureau of Economic Research. https://doi.org/10.3386/w27127

    1. Labaree argues that American education has had three goals that have shifted in importance over time: democratic equality, social efficiency, and social mobility. Democratic equality supports the idea that education is a public good, necessary for creating informed citizens.

      Raising informed citizens as a goal of education

    1. Essentially, we will make it worth your while, trust us. We've got the people and have done it before ( hmm..not in this way you have not). We will take advantage of you being in different parts of the world to include field visits and community building and hey, we'll even let you do it part time so you can balance this and a full-time job. How do you do that ? Well..tbd. But we will charge you the same.

      What's missing is technology and quality of production. They have made an amazing education experience with the Shackleton expedition, but if its zoom, and not a custom platform, with VR built into the experience natively, is it really at the cutting-edge ?

    1. What about the availability of attention on the other side ? Does have field visits locally, possibly alone, counter the fact that most learners do not have a study or home office ? Or is the a trigger for altering homes to have them. ?

    1. La rentrée 2018 d’un collégien de 6e a coûté en moyenne 190 €. C'est le minimum car si l'on ajoute des frais annexes (achat de dictionnaires, livres de poche, assurance), ce montant peut augmenter. L'ARS (allocation de rentrée scolaire) attribuée aux familles les moins favorisées, 389 € par enfant inscrit au collège, doit permettre de couvrir toutes les dépenses éducatives.

    1. There is some surprise from the general public about how intelligent and articulate members of the animal-style body mod community (and furry fandom) are, concerning their weirdness and animalistic tendencies. Stalking Cat has a degree in electronics engineering.

      In addition, Stalking Cat's work is specialised enough that they have a solid position in their employment field, and isn't worried in that regard. Adding onto that, Stalking Cat is quite introverted, and in their day-to-day life, and Cat really doesn't give a shit, despite their empathy. It was something they had to do, and Cat knows you may feel some way about that, but it's irrelevant. (Without being so brash in words.)

  7. Jun 2020
    1. Research tells us that for skills like the ones students need for mathematics short practices that recur frequently are far more effective than the same amount of time packed into one session.
    1. Goldman, P. S., Ijzendoorn, M. H. van, Sonuga-Barke, E. J. S., Goldman, P. S., Ijzendoorn, M. H. van, Bakermans-Kranenburg, M. J., Bradford, B., Christopoulos, A., Cuthbert, C., Duchinsky, R., Fox, N. A., Grigoras, S., Gunnar, M. R., Ibrahim, R. W., Johnson, D., Kusumaningrum, S., Ken, P. L. A., Mwangangi, F. M., Nelson, C. A., … Sonuga-Barke, E. J. S. (2020). The implications of COVID-19 for the care of children living in residential institutions. The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1016/S2352-4642(20)30130-9

    1. Afin de préciser les compétences respectives de l'État et des Régions dans l'exercice de leurs missions en matière d'orientation et d'information a été signé le Cadre national de référence relatif l'orientation scolaire

    1. Android is an operating system based on Linux with a Java programming interface for mobile devices such as Smartphone (Touch Screen Devices who supports Android OS) as well for Tablets too.  

      Android is an operating system based on Linux with a Java programming interface for mobile devices such as Smartphone (Touch Screen Devices who supports Android OS) as well for Tablets too.

      To learn more about android visit Android Tutorial

    1. Bootstrap is an open-source HTML, CSS, and JavaScript framework for building responsive and mobile-first applications on the web.

      Bootstrap is an open-source HTML, CSS, and JavaScript framework for building responsive and mobile-first applications on the web. To learn more about bootstrap visit Bootstrap Tutorial

    1. LINQ means Language Integrated Query and it was introduced in .NET Framework 3.5 to query the data from different data sources such as collections, generics, XML Documents, ADO.NET Datasets, SQL, Web Service, etc. in C# and VB.NET. 

      LINQ means Language Integrated Query and it was introduced in .NET Framework 3.5 to query the data from different data sources such as collections, generics, XML Documents, ADO.NET Datasets, SQL, Web Service, etc. in C# and VB.NET. To learn more about LINQ visit LINQ Tutorial