The author, Terry Heick, is the founder and director of TeachThought.com and holds an MA in Teaching. In this article Heick elaborates on the following 10 characteristics of a highly effective learning environment: Students ask more questions than teachers Questions are valued over answers Ideas come from divergent sources A variety of learning models are used Classroom learning 'empties' into a connected community Learning is personalized by a variety of criteria Assessment is persistent, authentic, transparent, and never punitive Criteria for success is diverse, transparent, and co-created with students and families Learning habits are constantly modeled Constant and creative opportunities for practice and growth

Rating: 8/10

This article discusses visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learning styles and the importance of communicating in ways that appeal each style. It then outlines what this means for the Instructional System Design (ISD) model. The author concludes by outlining learning outcomes, organization, interactive instruction, and content versus connection versus application. The author proposes that "good instructional design is based on the industry-standard Instructional System Design (ISD) model" (p 5).

Rating: 7/10

This article does a excellent job breaking down what Malcom Knowles has to say about Andragogy. It gives examples and details of each of his six principles. The author ends by talking about how to take Andragogy from theory to practice.

10/10

Article discusses informal, personal learning networks as they relate to older, adult learners and self-directed study. Author questions how and why adults turn to internet and social media tools for knowledge acquisition. Concedes a lack of research in regard to adults' use of internet-based tools. Defines older adults as 60+. Rating 7/10

Source for: https://thisthat.dev/

Article offers a discussion of SDL as component of adult learning theory. Useful discussion of conceptual framework and literature review. Characteristics of SD learners are explored. Concludes with some implications for the study of adult learning. Rating 7/10

Article provides an in depth discussion of learning theories as applied to adult learners. Diagrams are particularly helpful. Clear discussion of Knowles, i.e., how adult and child learning differs. Rating 8/10

Adult learning theories for Instructional Designers - Article names adult learning "theories" (andragogy, neuroscience, experiential learning, SDL, and transformational learning). Discusses why these "theories" are relevant to ID. Rating 3/10

Description: Researchers asked students in a second language class to complete a research video assignment. Students reflected the research helped them gain key insights and a feeling of self-confidence. This self-confidence was tested as they attempted to incorporate the second language which pushed many students out of their comfort zone. Students found ways to simplify the content so they could explain their research in the second language. Due to the video presentation format, students were able to practice their language repeatedly which helped them grasp the vocabulary. As a whole, the student felt as if they learned more content and vocabulary with the video assignment.

Rating: 8/10

Reason for the Rating: The data received from the research was survey based therefore it included more opinions rather than facts. It would have been interesting to see student's final grades or test scores and compare them to previous semesters. The article is well supported with facts and quotes.

Description: This article reflects on the impact of self-directed learning, technology readiness, and student motivation in blended and non-blended learning environments. These three categories were selected due to their importance in success as a student as well as an employee. It is clear that self-directed learning has a bigger effect on blended learning environments because of the independence students must exhibit during the online portion of the class. Similarly, students need more technology related skills to be successful in a blended environment. Yet, student motivation impacted both blended and non-blended learning nearly equally.

Rating: 7/10

Reason for the rating: There are plenty of citations throughout the text and the data is represented in an easy to understand fashion. Yet, the data sample size was small with only 200 students participating in the research. Therefore, more trials are needed to get a definitive answer.

Self-regulated learning--it can be improved

Description: The article discusses the use of social media in a blended learning environment. There were three groups. The control group was taught the material face-to-face without technology. The first experimental group was taught in a blended setting with some face-to-face interaction and limited internet classes. The second experimental group was blended, similarly to experimental group one, but also had access to the class through social media. All students took a pre and post test. Students in the control group stayed the same while students in the experimental groups grew. The researchers concluded that the blended environment helped while social media support did not.

Rating: 6/10

Reason for the rating: The researchers were thorough in their data collecting and interpretations. They described each method in detail and included charts with their data. Yet, only 74 people participated in this study therefore it may not be the best judge of social-medias ability to aid education.

Description: The purpose of this article is to explore the idea of using Wikis inside the classroom. Wikis are considered great tools because they are flexible and promote collaboration. The author discusses the different ways teachers can implement wikies from groups creating and presenting a single wiki to each student creating their own and commenting on their peers wikis. Furthermore, Wikis are familiar to students which helps promote engagement. The last section describes how to create Wikis and integrate them into a classroom setting.

Rating: 10/10

Reason for the rating: This topic fully engages the reader with easy to understand text and diagrams. There are plenty of citations to support the theories.

Description: This article outlines three phases for collaborative teaching: Planning, implementing, and reflecting. It discusses the ways teachers can support student interactions through the implementation phase by creating well-thought out activities which engage the learner. These activities should focus on collaboration of peer ideas in order to be effective in building social and academic skills. It mentions a few examples such as discussion groups or large projects. The author gives multiple examples of the teacher's role in a collaborative setting as well as issues that may occur. The article encourages both the teacher and the students to reflect on the learning and collaboration afterwards.

Rating: 9/10

Reason for the rating: The author is very thorough in their research and explanation with the text. They have many citations to support their theories as well as diagrams to help illustrate their ideas. The biggest fault with the paper is that it is entirely idealistic without any reference to a case study.

Description: This article explains Bloom's Taxonomy in the college environment. It begins with an overview of the theory before delving into the questions used in the research. By using Bloom's Taxonomy, the college course was able to have students tie higher thinking to concreate examples which helped the learners gain more understanding of the materials presented.

Rating: 8/10

Reason for the rating: This article reflects on one researchers attempt to place Bloom's taxonomy into a classroom setting. It shows the reader how to implement the theory with examples and data. There are plenty of citations provided throughout the text to help support the theories. Though it does not mention technology integration, it does discuss tailoring lessons to fit student ability. Technology could be used in conjunction to help promote an even deeper understanding.

Description: This article describes online learning through the lens of Maslow's hierarchy of needs. The author describes for a person to be successful in an online setting they need to have a safe home environment, consistent formatting, and collaboration opportunities. For students to really excel in a field, they must also have an inclusive environment, assistive tools to help with self efficacy, and positive feedback on assignments. Technology plays a key role in allowing students with disabilities or weaknesses in a class to feel confident.

Rating: 10/10

Reason for the rating: The article is supported with an abundance of citations. It is organized in a clear and logical format as it follows Maslow's pyramid in order. The writing is concise and easy to understand.

Description: This article discusses English languages learners and their self-directed learning levels. The researchers took a wide sample to ESL learners and surveyed them about their demographics and their English media consumption outside of the classroom. They found that a majority of ESL students watch TV programs in English as well as have native English speakers as friends. These are considered strategies for ESLs to learn English outside of an ESL classroom.

Rating: 7/10

Reasoning for rating: The article is well supported through data and citations. It discusses the data with little bias and attempts to use learning theories to interpret their findings. Though it does not discuss the integration of technology inside of the classroom, it reflects on the use of technology in every day life to help support the learner.

Description: The article begins by defining social learning theory and reviewing Bandura's contributions to the field. Then, it discusses technologies influence on social interactions in the modern era and student engagement levels when utilizing technology inside the classroom. Games especially help students with following directions and creating critical thinking strategies which they can bring into the classroom setting.

Rating: 5/10

Reason for rating: The website for the article is minimal at best. The article itself is well written with plenty of citations to support it, but the formatting is not consistent throughout.

Description: As the title suggests, this article dictates the necessities for a curriculum or class dedicated to teaching adult learners. Not only does it describe the environment where they flourish, but delves into twelve principles of effective teaching for adult learners. There are also examples of engaging teaching strategies which range from basic and general ideas-- for example, modeling, teamwork, and transitions-- to complex and specific tasks such as SNOW cards, gallery walks, and bumper stickers.

Rating: 8/10

Reason for rating: This article cites many different researchers and includes facts to support their theories and ideas. It defines important principles with simple and easy to understand text for novice teachers. Though it does not address technology integration, many of the ideas can be altered to include technology to enrich the learning and increase engagement levels.

Description: This text describes adult learning theories best used in a workforce training. It describes the environmental factors which lead to success in an adult student (such as a positive atmosphere) as well as techniques like heterogeneous learning groups. It attempts to persuade the reader to address the personal needs of each student while still moving the class towards the trainings goal. As a whole, this article covers the basics of what trainers need to know when teaching adults in a workface setting.

Rating: 6/10

Reason for rating: This article is very quick and direct. It discusses each technique, skill, or factor with examples and reasoning for the suggestions. Each suggestion is well-thought out and logical. Yet, the article cites few other texts which discredits it a little. The article was found through JSTOR which only sources peer-reviewed texts.

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)

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

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)

(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)

Further explanation of fractal learning

When you're new to a field, it's better to use the BFS (Breadth-First Search) learning

Fractal learning

Deciding whether you want to go deep into one topic, or explore more topics, can be seen as a choice between two types of tree-traversal algorithms: depth-first and breadth-first.

This also reminds me of the Explore-Exploit problem in machine learning, which I believe is related to the Multi-Armed Bandit Problem.

Did he mean to write f'(3) here?

COVID-19 and the Labor Market. (n.d.). IZA – Institute of Labor Economics. Retrieved October 10, 2020, from https://covid-19.iza.org/publications/dp13574/

I'm glad you had at least a little bit of this. The system I saw used for third graders left almost zero space for inter-student interaction or socialization which was a miserable experience.

This reminds me of an interesting study from MIT relating to collective learning that I heard about from Cesar Hidalgo recently.

How can they also reach the idea of "flow"?

It looks to me like Andy and Michael are grasping at recreating with modern technology and tools what many (most? all?) indigenous cultures around the world used to ritually learn and memorize their culture's knowledge. Mnemonics, spaced repetition, graded initiation, orality, dance, and song were all used as a cohesive whole to do this.

The best introduction to many of these methods and their pedagogic uses is best described by Lynne Kelly's book Knowledge and Power in Prehistoric Societies: Orality, Memory, and the Transmission of Culture.

If they take her ideas as a basis and then layer on their own thinking, I think they'll get much further much quicker. Based on my reading of their work thus far, they're limiting themselves.

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.

This is a major issue. And shouldn't all the ed-tech involved actually be lowering this sort of cost and not dramatically increasing it? Isn't that half the point?!

And sadly this doesn't seem to have prevented a huge swath of schools to switching over to the idea. Isn't the purpose of a pilot program to do just that--pilot it to see if the data show it's a good idea to spread to other schools?!

And isn't this the same case as in traditional teaching?!

I understand what they're saying, but one should be careful here not to confuse themselves with numerical differentiation a la finite differnces

Through a literature review of 50 articles published between 2003-2014, the authors explored aspects of online learning (teacher presence, teacher immediacy) that impact learner interest and motivation in the online environment. Recognizing that these aspects are key, the authors explore various approaches to retention the virtual setting. The multifaceted role of the instructor is reviewed as well as virtual facilitation strategies. The literature search revealed a positive correlation between teaching presence, teaching immediacy, and learner engagement and motivation. 6/10

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

Note to self: look up what this means

This kind of relational motivation seems like a good first step. I wonder though if "not to disappoint you" still centers the instructor and not the learners? The idea of a "partnership" between instructors and students strikes me as closer to the ideal that empathy aims for.

Key phrase is "give him the power" - learner agency is a powerful catalyst for success.

This is a neat definition of discovery learning, emphasising the need for appropriate preparation by the teacher.

Now "self-supervised" is hardly what babies do, when you see the importance of interactions in learning (see e.g. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2020.01.006 )

2020 Conference on Computational Sociology | IRiSS. (n.d.). Retrieved 30 September 2020, from https://iriss.stanford.edu/css/conferences/2020-conference-computational-sociology

Wilkinson, Jack, Kellyn F. Arnold, Eleanor J. Murray, Maarten van Smeden, Kareem Carr, Rachel Sippy, Marc de Kamps, et al. ‘Time to Reality Check the Promises of Machine Learning-Powered Precision Medicine’. The Lancet Digital Health 0, no. 0 (16 September 2020). https://doi.org/10.1016/S2589-7500(20)30200-4.

How To Get The Most Out Of Virtual Learning – Research Digest. (n.d.). Retrieved September 29, 2020, from https://digest.bps.org.uk/2020/07/30/how-to-get-the-most-out-of-virtual-learning/

Survey, assessment, data and research analysis of OER use and impact in the global south

What? Why? Does he mean k-fold specifically?

Mance, H. (2020, September 18). The future of the university in the age of Covid. https://www.ft.com/content/9514643d-1433-408c-8464-cb4c0e09c822

Hardware assisted compiler is a fantastic idea. TPUs from Google are essentially this. They're hardware assistance for matrix multiplication operations for machine learning workloads created by tools like TensorFlow.

Giles, J. R., Erbach-Schoenberg, E. zu, Tatem, A. J., Gardner, L., Bjørnstad, O. N., Metcalf, C. J. E., & Wesolowski, A. (2020). The duration of travel impacts the spatial dynamics of infectious diseases. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117(36), 22572–22579. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1922663117

Ehlert, A., Kindschi, M., Algesheimer, R., & Rauhut, H. (2020). Human social preferences cluster and spread in the field. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117(37), 22787–22792. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2000824117

How to Remake Streets for Kids During COVID-19. (2020, September 14). Streetsblog USA. https://usa.streetsblog.org/2020/09/14/how-to-remake-streets-for-kids-during-covid-19/

Learning is an act of creation. To understand something we must create mental and physical constructions. This is a creative process.

I'm really intrigued by this. Are there "seasons" in a course design? (We do talk about things being "hot" or "cooling down", of content "coming down in buckets"...) That's a season which teachers (and to an extent students) can control.

What about the seasons of a learner's life - and not just in terms of chronological age, but of life stages?

We know there are curricular "seasons" - again, in terms of heavy and light workload times, new student arrivals and graduations of students as they finish, faculty retirements - but do we address these as liminal times of our shared culture, or just as scheduling hassles?

Ozaita, J., Baronchelli, A., & Sánchez, A. (2020). The emergence of segregation: From observable markers to group specific norms. ArXiv:2009.05354 [Physics, q-Bio]. http://arxiv.org/abs/2009.05354

In comparison, almost all adults use only the left hemisphere of the brain

Ludwig, V. U., Brown, K. W., & Brewer, J. A. (2020). Self-Regulation Without Force: Can Awareness Leverage Reward to Drive Behavior Change? Perspectives on Psychological Science, 1745691620931460. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691620931460

Yang, Scott Cheng-Hsin, Chirag Rank, Jake Alden Whritner, Olfa Nasraoui, and Patrick Shafto. ‘Unifying Recommendation and Active Learning for Information Filtering and Recommender Systems’. Preprint. PsyArXiv, 25 August 2020. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/jqa83.

The study adds evidence that education focused on correctness is less beneficial to education focused on deeply engaging with content

Barrett, L. F. (2020, July 8). Opinion | College Courses Online Are Disappointing. Here’s How to Fix Them. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/08/opinion/college-reopening-online-classes.html

Nunes, L., & Writer, A. S. (2020). Working Around the Distance. APS Observer, 33(7). https://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/covid-19-remote-learning-teaching-research

Sellgren, K. (2020, August 5). Schools “should be first to open, last to close.” BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/education-53650648

Usher, E., Golding, J. M., Han, J., Griffiths, C. S., McGavran, M. B., Brown, C. S., Sheehan, E. A. (2020). Psychology Students’ Motivation and Learning in Response to the Shift to Remote Instruction During COVID-19. [Preprint]. PsyArXiv. 10.31234/osf.io/xwhpm

Moya, C., Cruz y Celis Peniche, P. D., Kline, M. A., & Smaldino, P. (2020). Dynamics of Behavior Change in the COVID World [Preprint]. SocArXiv. https://doi.org/10.31235/osf.io/kxajh

Bol, T. (2020). Inequality in homeschooling during the Corona crisis in the Netherlands. First results from the LISS Panel. https://doi.org/10.31235/osf.io/hf32q

Hull, T., Levine, J., Bantilan, N., Desai, A., & Majumder, M. S. (2020, August 13). Digital phenotyping of complex psychological responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/qtrpf

Augenblick, N., Kolstad, J. T., Obermeyer, Z., & Wang, A. (2020). Group Testing in a Pandemic: The Role of Frequent Testing, Correlated Risk, and Machine Learning (Working Paper No. 27457; Working Paper Series). National Bureau of Economic Research. https://doi.org/10.3386/w27457

Patrick De Oliveira on Twitter: “After planning to bring back half of its students to campus in the Fall, Princeton is now deciding to go fully remote. ‘We cannot provide a genuinely meaningful on-campus experience for our students this fall in a manner that is respectful of public health concerns’” / Twitter. (n.d.). Twitter. Retrieved August 10, 2020, from https://twitter.com/PLSOliveira/status/1291829645600579585

Whiting, Sue, Sam Wass, Simon Green, and Michael Thomas. ‘Stress and Learning in Pupils: Neuroscience Evidence and Its Relevance for Teachers’. Preprint. PsyArXiv, 4 August 2020. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/9j24a.

when Rangle first started to rally around redux - it did feel like a generative learning event

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

Bacher-Hicks, A., Goodman, J., & Mulhern, C. (2020). Inequality in Household Adaptation to Schooling Shocks: Covid-Induced Online Learning Engagement in Real Time (Working Paper No. 27555; Working Paper Series). National Bureau of Economic Research. https://doi.org/10.3386/w27555

Work That Can Be Done from Home: Evidence on Variation within and across Occupations and Industries. COVID-19 and the Labor Market. (n.d.). IZA – Institute of Labor Economics. Retrieved August 4, 2020, from https://covid-19.iza.org/publications/dp13374/

Fathers Matter: Intra-​Household Responsibilities and Children’s Wellbeing during the COVID-19 Lockdown in Italy. COVID-19 and the Labor Market. (n.d.). IZA – Institute of Labor Economics. Retrieved July 27, 2020, from https://covid-19.iza.org/publications/dp13519/

*Game star mechanic

• Creativity is expressed via making video games online
• problem solving skills increase
• comments-feedback
• constructive criticism needed
• teachers need to be constructive in terms of feedback How does this change as school has become more online?

Student interests i.e HP Alliance, influence how to participate and change society.

• students change moby dick
• guess Sound of Thunder ending (9th grade)

• friendship driven participation-hanging with friends online
• messing around-creative, geeky, interest driven, develop sophisticated forms of media literacy
• think critically about privacy and identity
• generational gap in online use and activities How will this be addressed in our technologically influenced world? How can teachers reach out to the friendship and messing around groups of students? What does it mean to participate in society?

In creating online content, creativity is often influenced from other sources. Then the question is not only what is creativity but also what is originality? What does this say about copyright infringement in terms of digital property? What does this say about patent law?

I like how the technology and collaborative aspects are being used to relate the issue of homelessness not only to the past events but also the issues facing their community on both a local and personal level.

Nothing is ever finished on the internet

the internet is constantly changing everyday as more information is uploaded daily. Nothing is ever finished being constructed

This is very true as flexibility is needed in the classroom.

This is especially important as technology integration in the classroom has become critical under our current situation.