19 Matching Annotations
  1. Oct 2020
    1. The data indicate that teachers in this study place tremendous value on research skills, with most reporting assigning a research paper to their students in the 2011-2012 academic year and spending class time teaching various research skills to their students. These lessons are aimed at addressing deficits they see in today’s students. Most notable among these is the inability to judge the quality of information, a skill the vast majority of teachers deem “essential” for their students’ future success.

      AP and National Writing Project teachers emphasize the importance of students' learning research skills, and discuss how they do so. They are most concerned with students learning to judge the quality of information found, but also in coaching students through the process, and dealing with online use restrictions at many schools. Aimed at Middle/ High School students. 8/10

    1. Takentogether,theresultsofthissystematicreviewsuggestthatgamificationcanincreaseengagementinonlineprograms,andenhancerelatedoutcomes,suchaslearningandpossiblyhealthbehaviour.Mostresearchtodatehasevaluatedtheimpactofmultiplegamificationfea-turesusedincombination.Preliminaryevidencesuggeststhatleaderboardsmaybea particu-larlyusefulformofgamificationtoincreaseengagement.It appearsthattheefficacyofgamificationforincreasingengagementmayhavea timeeffect,witha clearpositiveimpactinstudiesconductingactivitiesina singlesitting,withresultsmoremixedforstudiesexamininggamificationandengagementovera sustainedperiod

      Gamification, that is, adding game features to an otherwise dry college course, helped get students engaged. Leaderboards were more effective than badges and points and for a longer time. People did seem to lose interest in the game after a while. 8/10

    1. It is essential to help students develop research abilities in the classroom and through faceted assignments.  What are faceted assignments?  After providing guidance in class, the professor assigns each aspect of a research assignment – development of a research problem statement, location of relevant resources, evaluation of resources, and so on – as its own mini-assignment, which is graded promptly, with sufficient comments to enable students to revise and resubmit.  By the time the final research assignment is complete, it carries the benefit of a significant amount professorial mentoring.

      Research skills involve complex, higher order tasks, and they take long-term efforts to learn well. Adult students are better able to do research than younger students do. They need to learn how to understand the different sources available, formulate good questions, learn more advanced database searching skills, and hone their critical thinking skills. Instead of assigning a research paper, instructors should assign each step of the paper so that they can help students properly master the whole process. 8/10

    1. Many of the professors who assign research papers would disagree that they are encouraging students to think conventionally, and point out that the essay has its own limitations. If research papers -- or dissertations, for that matter -- were to become a thing of the past, what would we lose in our pursuit of knowledge? Is there a better way to assess knowledge?

      This is the introduction to short pieces written by two professors, an editor, a librarian, and a Harvard student, 4 of whom support research papers, and the fifth grudgingly accepts its inevitability. It contains links to the contrary opinions against continuing to assign research papers. 7/10

    1. As an English teacher and school librarian, I am passionate about teaching students how to access information, how to evaluate their information and how to correctly source their information when researching.  Here are five of my top tips for helping students write a research paper or complete a research project.

      This has good suggestions about 5 steps in writing a research paper: choosing a research question, brainstorming, finding sources, note taking, and citations. The tips are aimed at children, but are still good. She skipped the step of actually writing the paper, though. 8/10.

    1. By some measures distance education students are somewhat less prepared (e.g. fewer of them attended private high schools) but still have a better chance of graduating college than students who do not take distance education courses. Put simply, at a national level, even potentially less prepared students who participated in distance education early in their college careers were more likely to attain a degree than students who had not done so.

      A followup to studies of community college students in Virginia and Washington, this national study found that students who enrolled in online classes early in their college careers were more likely to complete their degrees. This was true even though students in online classes are somewhat less prepared than those in in person classes. One difference may be that this study was published a few years after the Virginia one, and more students were enrolled in online classes by then. 9/10

    1. While scholars have applied the assumptions of andragogy to inform quality online course design, this work proposes that an online course designed using sound pedagogical principles can exhibit a learning experience beneficial to adult learners.

      This short article links Anderson and McCormick's pedagogical principles for online learning with Knowles' andragogical assumptions about adult learning. 8/10

    1. Accordingly, our results strongly suggest thatonlineinstructionin keyintroductorycollege-level courses, at least as currently practiced, maynot be aseffectiveasface-to-faceinstructionat2-yearcommunitycolleges.

      According to a study done across all Virginia Community Colleges, students who signed up for gatekeeper courses (basic English and Math) online did less well in those courses than did their peers who took the same classes in person. There was a higher attrition rate in the online classes as well. Students who came in with good GPAs tended to do well in online courses, but those who were struggling with academics did worse than they probably would have in person. Many statistics are included. 9/10

    1. In order to inform the development and implementation of effective online learning environments, this study was designed to explore both instructors' and students' online learning experiences while enrolled in various online courses. The study investigated what appeared to both support and hinder participants' online teaching and learning experiences.

      The authors discuss the issue of community and engagement in online graduate programs. They carried out a small case study and used a Cognitive Apprenticeship Model to examine a successful program in Higher Education. They found that students feel too many online classes are just reading and writing, regurgitating rather than applying, and lack sufficient connection with the instructor and with other students, They recommend some strategies to fix that, but admit that more work is needed. 9/10

    1. Adult learning theories are not just a collection of jargons, concepts, and ideas about how adults learn. These theories help you plan your course during conception, development, and execution, in a way that will facilitate the learning process.

      Outlines adult learning "theories": Andragogy, Transformational Learning, and Experiential Learning, and states that they are important to educational designers, but doesn't really connect them to instructional design, let alone e-design. 3/10

    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

    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