69 Matching Annotations
  1. Aug 2024
    1. what you are constantly doing is reconstructing yourself and your memories to make them applicable in the new you know in the new scenario

      for - caterpillar butterfly story - Michael Levin - adjacency caterpillar story - Michael Levin - Indyweb dev - conversations with old self - evolutionary learning

      adjacency - between - caterpillar butterfly story - Michael Levin - Indyweb dev - conversations with old self - evolutionary learning - adjacency relationship - In relating the caterpillar / butterfly story, Levin is using an extreme example of transformation, that happens to all living beings, including human beings - Levin talks about how the particulars of the old caterpillar engram are meaningless to its new form, the butterfly - The experiments he cites demonstrate that the old engram is re-interpreted from the new butterfly perspective - In a similar but less dramatic way, all of us learn new things every day, and we are constantly rehashing old memories - The Indyweb informational ecosystem that is being developed is based on a framework of evolutionary learning, that is - Our network of meaning is constantly in flux and our associative network of ideas is continuously changing and evolving - The Indyweb is designed to record our evolutionary learning journey and to serve as an external record of salient private ideas that emerge from it. The present interpretation of old engrams is referred to as "having conversations with our old selves"

    1. Unrelated to the song itself. It is interesting that different people interpret the song's meaning differently. Likely due to individual differences in perspective, history, culture, etc.

      Makes me reflect. Is knowledge/wisdom contained solely in content and words? Or is knowledge/wisdom rather contained in the RELATIONSHIP, the INTERACTION, between past experience, previous knowledge (identity) and substance?

      Currently I am inclined to go for the latter.

  2. Jun 2024
    1. The worry most people have with this suggestion is that children are going to get discouraged if they fail. But that is not necessarily the case, and I think teachers, parents, and other adults have a great opportunity to help prevent this. If we demonstrate that needing to put down a book for awhile is not a failure, then we can help children become more willing to experiment and to try things which are currently just out of reach.

      This is the concept of growth mindset; and we need to teach that to our children in any way possible. It has been shown in studies that growth mindset has a positive causal influence on academic and financial success (I cannot state sources, but I know I've come across this)

      Note to self: Research this later.

    2. And this is what I believe is happening with students and reading, at least in part. They have convinced themselves that they aren’t readers. They have convinced themselves that reading old books, especially difficult old books, is just too arduous, too boring, too pointless. They have convinced themselves that even if the books are good and soul-enriching, there are better things to be doing with their time.

      Fixed mindset. Self fulfilling prophecies. Ignorance.

  3. May 2024
    1. This kind of post can also be usedfor students to introduce themselves to each other at thebeginning of the term. Having students review and analyzetheir own video recordings is an effective means of fosteringreflection.

      video presentations - allow for self-critique

    1. it could also indicate a reliance on verbalcues to eliminate the need to keep a calendar.

      students not wanting to keep a calendar, is important b/c they need to learn to take responsibility for tasks to prepare for employment

  4. Jan 2024
    1. book aims of education

      for - book - Aims of Education

      Followup - book - Aims of Education - author: Alfred North Whitehead - a collection of papers and thoughts on the critical role of education in determining the future course of civilization

      epiphany - adjacency between - Lifework and evolutionary nature of the individual - - people-centered Indyweb -- Alfred North Whitehead's ideas and life history - adjacency statement - Listening to the narrator speaking about Whitehead's work from a historical perspective brought up the association with the Indyweb's people-centered design - This is especially salient given that Whitehead felt education played such a critical role in determining the future course of humanity - If Whitehead were alive, he would likely appreciate the Indyweb design because it is based on the human being as a process rather than a static entity, - hence renaming human being to human INTERbeCOMing, a noun replaced by a verb - Indyweb's people-centered design and default temporal, time-date recording of ideas as they occur provides inherent traceability to the evolution of an individual's consciousness - Furthermore, since it is not only people-centered but also INTERPERSONAL, we can trace the evolution of ideas within a social network. - Since individual and collective intelligence are both evolutionary and intertwingled, they are both foundational in Indyweb's design ethos. - In particular, Indyweb frames the important evolutionary process of - having a conversation with your old self - as a key aspect of the evolutionary growth of the individual's consciousness

  5. Oct 2023
    1. Quantitatively, SPRING with GPT-4 outperforms all state-of-the-art RLbaselines, trained for 1M steps, without any training.

      Them's fighten' words!

      I haven't read it yet, but we're putting it on the list for this fall's reading group. Seriously, a strong result with a very strong implied claim. they are careful to say it's from their empirical results, very worth a look. I suspect that amount of implicit knowledge in the papers, text and DAG are helping to do this.

      The Big Question: is their comparison to RL baselines fair, are they being trained from scratch? What does a fair comparison of any from-scratch model (RL or supervised) mean when compared to an LLM approach (or any approach using a foundation model), when that model is not really from scratch.

  6. Aug 2023
    1. (~13:00) Koe argues for making information relevant (Dr. Sung always says you must make info relevant) through the learning for the solving of a particular problem, either for a client, your business, or your personal life. Your problem becomes the lense through which you learn.

      For self-education this is ideal.

      Dr. Sung's approach differs in that he advocates for the creation of relevancy through inquiry (the asking of relational questions) which is also incredibly powerful, however this is more suited to gaining more motivation for forced learning, i.e., in the formal education system.

      In addition, Koe's lense is, I think, more of a high-level filter, whereas Sung's questioning is applicable on the content level. Therefore, both approaches could be, and should be, combined into the same overall (self-)educational system.

  7. Jul 2023
  8. Jun 2023
    1. I think we have a responsibility not only to ourselves, but also to each other, to our community, not to use Ruby only in the ways that are either implicitly or explicitly promoted to us, but to explore the fringes, and wrestle with new and experimental features and techniques, so that as many different perspectives as possible inform on the question of “is this good or not”.
  9. Mar 2023
    1. For instance, we used to think that the main cause of obesity was a poor diet at an individual level, leading to treatments focused on the individual. However, taking a networked thinking approach in a 32-year-long study with over 12,000 people led researchers to discover that the participants’ personal network had a great impact on their likelihood to be obese. “Discernible clusters of obese persons were present in the network at all time points,” write the researchers.

      Another social factor influencing human behaviour. Beware of such factors when it comes to self-improvement and learning.

  10. Feb 2023
    1. But the book’s enduring appeal—the reason it might interest someone whose life no longer demands the writing of anything longer than an e-mail—has little to do with the rigors of undergraduate honors requirements. Instead, it’s about what, in Eco’s rhapsodic and often funny book, the thesis represents: a magical process of self-realization, a kind of careful, curious engagement with the world that need not end in one’s early twenties.
  11. Feb 2022
  12. Dec 2021
  13. Aug 2021
    1. Effective self-directed learning requires a careful blend of employee autonomy and manager support. Employees want to learn to be better at their jobs, advance their skills, and further their careers, but they often don’t know where to start. More than half of employees report they would happily spend more time training if their managers offered specific guidance and recommendations. Encourage employees to set their own learning goals under the supervision of their managers.

      self-directed learning still needs support, and can be a common mistake for operational managers to think that providing a budget, and a course catalog is enough to get the most out of L&D programs - this is a mistake.

  14. Jul 2021
    1. Following are strategies for facilitating SDL. The teacher can help the learner to Conduct a self-assessment of skill levels and needs to determine appropriate learning objectives. Identify the starting point for a learning project. Match appropriate resources (books, articles, content experts) and methods (Internet searches, lectures, electronic discussion groups) to the learning goal. Negotiate a learning contract that sets learning goals, strategies, and evaluation criteria. Acquire strategies for decision-making and self-evaluation of work. Develop positive attitudes and independence relative to self-directed learning. Reflect on what he/she is learning.
    2. SDL can be difficult for adults with low-level literacy skills who may lack independence, confidence, internal motivation, or resources.

      there can be reasons why some learners might not prefer the self-directed learning approach, or know how to make the most use of it - instead of dismissing them as 'non-learners', it'd be a good idea to figure out what their expieriences around learning are, what learning looks like to them - and how to support them.

  15. Jan 2021
    1. Anyone can apply these same methods on the job. Say you have someone in your company who is a masterly communicator, and you learn that he is going to give a talk to a unit that will be laying off workers. Sit down and write your own speech, and then compare his actual speech with what you wrote. Observe the reactions to his talk and imagine what the reactions would be to yours. Each time you can generate by yourself decisions, interactions, or speeches that match those of people who excel, you move one step closer to reaching the level of an expert performer.• • •

      Many everyday events present an opportunity to learn, but only if they are reframed into an "action-feedback" perspective. Learn to recognize these opportunities and reconstruct the frame so that you can learn to judge the quality of an action by the response it produces. Critique it against your own thought process and improve iteratively.

  16. Nov 2020
    1. Self-Directed Learning: A Core Concept in Adult Education

      Svein Loeng. (2020). Self-Directed Learning: A Core Concept in Adult Education. Education Research International, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1155/2020/3816132

    1. Thanks for posting this helpful, well written article. Learning programming, or any other thing one takes up, requires you to sit at one place have a plan of action for your study.

      I was going through my Firefox bookmarks and I found article. I had read this article two years back and had commented that I found it to be useful. I read it back in May 2018. As of now, November 2020, my programming skills are still novice-level. I haven't implemented the ideas or followed suggestions given here.

      It has been 2 years and 5 months since I found this article to be relevant and it baffles me that I haven't taken action by making use of the knowledge given in this article. Two long years flew by. I guess reviewing my bookmarks is something that I will do more often.

      The article was posted on May 23, 2018 and I had stumbled on it the next day itself, i.e., May 24, 2018. This gets me thinking that we could finds solutions for problems(latest ones in this case) once we identify it, articulate it, hit the search button and just read stuff. I could presume that what happened next was that I misunderstood "finding a solution" to "realizing the solution", and perhaps became complacent or maybe there were more problems that didn't come to my awareness to identify and further find solutions. I'm not quite sure. Should I have identified my problems and googled more so that I could have learned C and C++ sooner?

      I wonder what held me back from taking action to accomplish and master something that usually takes not more that 5-6 months maximum.

  17. Oct 2020
    1. Self-regulation supports learning and performance on specific tasks through the following: Metacognitive knowledge about academic work. Strategies for analyzing tasks. Metacognitive knowledge about task-specific strategies (e.g., for managing work, learning mathematics, comprehending texts, writing paragraphs). Skills for implementing strategies. Strategies for self-monitoring and strategic use of feedback.

      Self-regulated Learning supports metacognition.

    1. emotional intelligence in initiating the process of self-directed learning among the employees of Bhilai Steel Plant.

      I am not certain where humanism comes into play here. But I recently read some information about it in another article.

    1. Preservice Teacher Experience with Technology Integration: How the Preservice Teacher’s Effica-cy in Technology Integration is Impactedby the Context of the Preservice Teacher Education Pro-gram

      This article discusses the need for teacher education to focus just as much on technology knowledge (regardless of grade level taught) as on educational theory and methods. It argues that teachers cannot be effective if they are not trained in not only current technologies, but also taught to be familiar with navigating new technologies as the emerge. 5/10 Very specific to K-12 teacher education.

    1. Andragogy and Self-Directed Learning:Pillars of Adult Learning Theory

      This chapter defines andragogy and reviews the early foundations of adult learning theory. Previous adult learning research performed with multiple constraints demonstrated that circumstance (education, training, health, speed of response) may have more of an impact in learning than age. Studies also revealed that age impacts the ability to perform some cognitive functions yet has little impact on others. While the characteristics of the adult learner have remained relatively consistent, perspectives in classifying the topic and its principles have varied. In discussion of self-directed learning, the authors address related objectives, ethos, self-directed attributes, and assessment methods. The authors report a decline in literature focused on self-directed learning within adult education and advocate for continued investigation and research. 8/10

    1. The educator’s role in self-directed learning

      Fostering self-directed learning through strategy is discussed by Bailey et al. (2019) in chapter 1 of “Self-Directed Learning for the 21st Century: Implications for Higher Education.” The authors review the changing role of the educator and the learner based on respective self-directed teaching strategies (problem-based learning, cooperative learning, process-oriented learning) and the learner’s propensity for self-directed learning. In addition to providing principles to promote self-directed learning, the Grow and Borich models for implementing said learning were briefly reviewed. 8/10

    1. Creativity, Self-Directed Learning and the Architecture of Technology Rich Environments

      (Click Download full-text PDF to read). In this article, the authors reflect on the need to cultivate creativity and self-directed learning through transition from conventional course design to a more comprehensive design, which includes technology, problem solving, and collaboration. Moreover, the authors contend that measures of success should not be limited to traditional assessment methods. Barriers to the success of a self-directed design within the typical learning environment are mentioned. Through case study review, the authors demonstrate that strategic course design (educator, setting, technology, expectations) fosters development of the self-directed learner. Dynamics supporting the success of the technology-rich, creative, self-directed design were included. With a methodological approach that incorporates technology, problem-solving, teamwork, and educator support, self-directed behaviors emerge.(8/10)

    1. Empowering older adults’ informal, self-directed learning: harnessing the potential of online personal learning networks

      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

    1. Self-Directed Learning:  A Key Component of Adult Learning Theory Geri Manning

      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

    1. 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.

    1. In order to coordinate these processes, an individual needs to be able to monitor and regulate his own learning. The ability to monitor and regulate learning changes over the life span and can be improved through interventions.

      Self-regulated learning--it can be improved

    Tags

    Annotators

    1. 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.

  18. Sep 2020
  19. May 2020
    1. Regardless of where you operate within the organization, your ability to self-search, self-learn, and self-service will undoubtedly impact your success at GitLab.
    1. We value results, transparency, sharing, freedom, efficiency, self-learning, frugality, collaboration, directness, kindness, diversity and inclusion, boring solutions, and quirkiness. If these values match your personality, work ethic, and personal goals, we encourage you to visit our primer to learn more. Open source is our culture, our way of life, our story, and what makes us truly unique.
  20. Jan 2020
  21. Nov 2019
    1. Integrating Technology with Bloom’s Taxonomy

      This article was published by a team member of the ASU Online Instructional Design and New Media (IDNM) team at Arizona State University. This team shares instructional design methods and resources on the TeachOnline site for online learning. "Integrating Technology with Bloom's Taxonomy" describes practices for implementing 6 principles of Bloom's Digital Taxonomy in online learning. These principles include Creating, Evaluating, Analyzing, Applying, Understanding, and Remembering. The purpose of implementing this model is to create more meaningful and effective experiences for online learners. The author guides instructors in the selection of digital tools that drive higher-order thinking, active engagmenent, and relevancy. Rating 9/10

    1. Empowering Education: A New Model for In-service Training of Nursing Staff

      This research article explores an andragogical method of learning for the in-service training of nurses. In a study of a training period for 35 nurses, research found an empowering model of education that was characterized by self-directed learning and practical learning. This model suggests active participation, motivation, and problem-solving as key indicators of effective training for nurses. Rating 8/10

    1. Advantages of Online Professional Development

      This chapter, "Advantages of Online Professional Development" describes the benefits of online teacher professional development (OTPD), which implements technology to deliver training and learning in an online environment. OTPD allows teachers to participate in a flexible, self-directed, and collaborative learning community. They can interact with other teachers synchronously and asynchronously, or take professional development courses at their own schedule.

    1. Section 1.5 Online Learner Characteristics, Technology and Skill Requirements

      This website outlines Section 1.5 of Angelo State University's guide to instructional design and online teaching. Section 1.5 describes key characteristics of online learners, as well as the technology and computer skills that research has identified as being important for online learners. Successful online learners are described as self-directed, motivated, well-organized, and dedicated to their education. The article also notes that online learners should understand how to use technology such as multimedia tools, email, internet browsers. and LMS systems. This resource serves as a guide to effective online teaching. Rating 10/10

    1. E-Learning Theory (Mayer, Sweller, Moreno)

      This website outlines key principles of the E-Learning Theory developed by Mayer, Sweller, and Moreno. E-Learning Theory describes how the implementation of educational technology can be combined with key principles of how we learn for better outcomes. This site describes those principles as a guide of more effective instructional design. Users can also find other learning theories under the "Categories" link at the top of the page. Examples include Constructivist theories, Media & Technology theories, and Social Learning theories. Rating: 8/10

    1. Tech Literacy Resources

      This website is the "Resources" archive for the IgniteED Labs at Arizona State University's Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College. The IgniteED Labs allow students, staff, and faculty to explore innovative and emerging learning technology such as virtual reality (VR), artifical intelligence (AI), 3-D printing, and robotics. The left side of this site provides several resources on understanding and effectively using various technologies available in the IgniteED labs. Each resources directs you to external websites, such as product tutorials on Youtube, setup guides, and the products' websites. The right column, "Tech Literacy Resources," contains a variety of guides on how students can effectively and strategically use different technologies. Resources include "how-to" user guides, online academic integrity policies, and technology support services. Rating: 9/10

    1. The article, "Keys to success: Self-directed learning,' authors Fellows, Culver, and Beston discuss the components of Grow's self-directed learning (SDL) model. Learners and instructors fit into a matrix which can be used to determine optimal instructional strategies to meet the readiness of the learner. The authors discuss how SDL is implemented in multiple institutions for higher education. Instructional methods are shared to address foundational SDL skills as well as issues that arose when learners were having difficulty transitioning from one stage of readiness to another. Overall, holistic learner skills were enhanced with SDL. Rating: 9/10

  22. Mar 2019
    1. Using Web 2.0 to teach Web 2.0: A case study in aligningteaching, learning and assessment with professionalpractice

      Research article. Discussed the use of web 2.0 including blogs, wikis, and social media as a method of information sharing that is impacting education through teaching and learning management. The work suggests that learning outcomes, activities, and assessment have to be in alignment to create effective learning experiences and uses a case study within an information management program in which students use various web 2.0 tools and document their use .

    1. This is a reasonable list of Knowles' assumptions about adult learners -- not as complete or nuanced as one might find in a textbook, but worth having a look at when starting a new project. rating: 3/5

  23. Nov 2018
    1. Several problems and barriers to technological integration are often included in the discussion about using technology in higher education, however it is less common that solutions are presented. This article proposes solutions for transforming educational technology through personalized experiences and collaboration.

      Rating: 8/10

    1. This article stuck me immediately as a former K-12 teacher who now works in higher education. Andragogy and Pedagogy are both extremely similar and unalike in many ways. It is important to understand technological styles in pedagogy, as this article demonstrates, in order to effectively apply similar principles in the higher education setting.

      Rating: 8/10

    1. Self-directed learning is independent—it provides the learner with the ability to make choices, to take responsibility for their own learning, and “the capacity to articulate the norms and limits of learned society, and personal values and beliefs” (Goddu, 2012).In self-directed learning, the instructor shifts from the leader of the learning experience to the “facilitator of learning,” becoming“a source to be tapped, as required by the learner” (Robotham 1995, as cited in Goddu 2012). Self-directed learning provides students with the “opportunity and freedom to choose the means of acquiring knowledge that is best suited” to them based on their own self-knowledge (Alex et al., 2007). In online or blended environments, self-directed learning canbe offered through the creation of “dynamic learning environments where students may go beyond content presented by the instructor to explore, interact with, comment on, modify, and apply the set content and additional content they discover or create through the learning process” (LeNoue, 2011).

      This article reviews effective teaching characteristics and effective teaching methods and strategies to engage adult learners. The piece goes further in exploring five specific teaching methods to support adult learning: self-directed, active, experiential, collaborative, and narrative.

      9/10

    1. Humans participate in social learning for a variety of adaptive reasons, such as reducing uncertainty (Kameda and Nakanishi, 2002), learning complex skills and knowledge that could not have been invented by a single individual alone (Richerson and Boyd, 2000; Tomasello, Kruger, and Ratner, 1993), and passing on beneficial cultural traits to offspring (Palmer, 2010). One proposed social-learning mechanism is prestige bias (Henrich and Gil-White, 2001), defined as the selective copying of certain “prestigious” individuals to whom others freely show deference or respect in orderto increase the amount and accuracy of information available to the learner.Prestige bias allows a learner in a novel environment to quickly and inexpensively choose from whom to learn, thus maximizing his or her chances of acquiring adaptive behavioral so lutions toa specific task or enterprisewit hout having to assess directly the adaptiveness of every potential model’s behavior.Learners provide deference to teachers in order to ingratiate themselves with a chosen model, thus gaining extended exposure to that model(Henrich and Gil-White, 2001).New learners can then use that information—who is paying attention to whom—to increase their likelihood of choosing a good teacher.

      Throughout this article are several highlighted passages that combine to form this annotation.

      This research study presents the idea that the social environment is a self-selected learning environment for adults. The idea of social prestige-bias learning is intriguing because it is derived from the student, not an institution nor instructor. The further idea of selecting whom to learn from based on prestige-bias also creates further questions that warrant a deeper understanding of the learner and the environment which s/he creates to gain knowledge.

      Using a previously conducted experiment on success-based learning and learning due to environmental change, this research further included the ideal of social prestige-biased learning.self-selected by the learner.

      In a study of 167 participants, three hypotheses were tested to see if learners would select individual learning, social learning, prestige-biased learning (also a social setting), or success-based learning. The experiment tested both an initial learning environment and a learning environment which experienced a change in the environment.

      Surprisingly, some participants selected social prestige-biased learning and some success learning and the percentages in each category did not change after the environmental change occurred.

      Questions that arise from the study:

      • Does social prestige, or someone who is deemed prestigious, equate to a knowledgeable teacher?
      • Does the social prestige-biased environment reflect wise choices?
      • If the student does not know what s/he does not know, will the social prestige-bias result in selecting the better teacher, or just in selecting a more highly recognized teacher?
      • Why did the environmental change have little impact on the selected learning environment?

      REFERENCE: Atkinson, C., O’Brien, M.J., & Mesoudi, A. (2012). Adult learners in a novel environment use prestige-biased social learning. Evolutionary Psychology, 10(3), 519-537. Retrieved from (Prestige-biased Learning )

      RATINGS content, 9/10 veracity, 8/10 easiness of use, 9/10 Overall Rating, 8.67/10

  24. Aug 2018
    1. Self-regulated learning implies that effective learners are actively involved in their own learning through metacognitive, motivational and behavioural processes (Zimmerman, 1990:4)

      self-regulated learning involves metacognitive, motivational, and behavioral processes (Zimmerman, 1990).

  25. Nov 2017
    1. The aim is to demonstrate the distance travelled on their journey in the form of tangible, trackable learning outcomes and applications.
  26. Oct 2017
    1. By giving student data to the students themselves, and encouraging active reflection on the relationship between behavior and outcomes, colleges and universities can encourage students to take active responsibility for their education in a way that not only affects their chances of academic success, but also cultivates the kind of mindset that will increase their chances of success in life and career after graduation.
  27. Jun 2017
    1. Thisstudyexaminesthecomponentsofaself-pacedonlinecoursespecificallydesignedtoincorporateweb-basedpedagogytocreateanengaginganddynamiclearningenvironment.Itcomparesstudentperformanceinaself-pacedonlinecourse,aconventionalonlinecourseandatraditionalin-classcourseandrevealsthepotentialforstudentstothriveinawidevarietyofonlinecourseformats

      This study compares performance in a face to face, online and strategically designed self-paced online course. The results showed small performance improvements for the self-paced students compared with the face to face students and larger improvements when compared to the instructor paced online course. The researchers speculate that the increased flexibility allows learners to achieve maximum performance, but this result could also be attributed to the design improvements. They discuss the design improvements made to the self-paced course, but do not share any information about the design of the face to face or instructor paced online courses. It would be interesting to see if design improvements in those formats that provided the same opportunities for interaction and feedback would change the results.

    1. It used rich media and a mix of traditional and emerging asynchronous computer-mediated communication tools to determine what forms of interaction learners in a self-paced online course value most and what impact they perceive interaction to have on their overall learning experience. This study demonstrated that depending on the specific circumstance, not all forms of interaction may be either equally valued by learners or effective.

      The results show that students most highly value interactions with the instructor and content.

    1. If it can be established that student self motivation has a direct effect on remediation, it stands to reason that by finding a way to increase a student’s self motivation, the remediation process can be improved to increase the likelihood of success for a student who requires the use of remedial courses in the specialized classroom setting. Attempting to understand the factors that create a learning environment of poor motivation is an arduous task, but attempting to improve those factors that increase motivation is imperative.

      This study involves a self-paced developmental mathematics course (N=86). The results showed that the students' perceived intrinsic value of the learning was a significant predictor of success in the course. Motivation had a greater impact on students' ability to succeed than prior knowledge (based on ACT math scores).

  28. Sep 2016
    1. When educators are actively experimenting in the classroom, students in turn are more likely to confidently take creative risks themselves. It is also important that educators provide opportunities for students to take ownership of their learning and depart from teacher-defined outcomes without being penalized

      Why isn't this in the Horizon HE report? It's more applicable to HE students who have greater opportunities and resources for experiential/self-directed learning.

  29. Dec 2015
  30. Aug 2015
    1. Individualism–

      Customisation: the “personal” era. What with “personal learning networks” and everything “self-”. Does sound like a major trend. What’s possibly most interesting, though, is the framing. To some of us, the term “individualism” may carry some negative connotations. It could be fairly neutral, in a context like this one, or deemed positive (prefixed with “rugged”), but it’s an interesting choice, here.

    1. What we should aim at producing is men who possess both culture and expert knowledge in some special direction.

      It's that "special direction" that becomes the key to organizing a curriculum. How do we help students to attach their interests to a direction in their lives? Or am I wrong to think that Whitehead, here, is pointing to a learning experience that connects interest with being of use in society, with political activism.

  31. Jul 2015
    1. While I’d struggle to tell you how I learn best, there is one question that I’d always be able to answer enthusiastically: What would you like to learn next? Right now I’m learning JavaScript and have plans to give Spanish another go. I should probably pick up those guitar lessons again soon as well. Thankfully we live in a time when it’s trivially easy to gain access to resources and to learning activities. The problem is finding out the ones that work best for you. Perhaps that’s why we carry around in our pockets devices that can access pretty much the sum total of human knowledge yet use them to LOL at amusing pictures of cats. What are the barriers here? I’d suggest there are three main ones: 1 Curriculum - the series of activities that build towards a learning goal 2 Credentials - the ability to show what you know 3 Community - the cohort of peers you feel you are part of, along with access to ‘experts’

      How do I learn best? What resources are the best ones for me?

  32. Jun 2015
    1. That power is unleashed when teachers see the portfolio process as dependent upon the clarity of goals for student performance through their work in the liberal arts and professional education curriculum; when they attend to the quality of the assignments, projects and assessments that they provide for their students; and when they take the responsibility for teaching students the process of reflection and self assessment.

      That's a lot to throw in here at the end. It does make me wonder about how focusing too much on assessment might become the tail wagging the dog, if you know what I mean. Because ultimately it gets back to working together to create quality assignments and teaching the process of self-directed learning.