Instructional Sheji

Excuses Excuses

2011-11-30T05:19:00.001-06:00

A nice post on psyblog about dangerous excuses.

Self-Handicapping: Why Making Excuses Hurts You

My next question is how to gently point this out to those making the excuses?

Grokit Answers

2011-11-12T06:16:00.001-06:00

A promising tool for conversing about a YouTube video. Performance was a little sluggish for me, but maybe that's the old satellite acting up again?

Here is a nice how to: http://quickshout.blogspot.com/2011/10/create-online-social-interaction-around.html

Here is the official site: https://grockit.com/answers

Blooms Apps

2011-09-01T06:42:00.000-05:00

A practical organization of apps for teachers and students. Hope to see more of these.

http://sites.google.com/site/bloomsapps/

Texting for Your Class

2011-08-27T06:42:00.000-05:00

This looks to be a fantastic service.

http://remind101.com/

Remind101 from remind101 on Vimeo.

DTL - Confused Students

2011-08-14T17:54:00.001-05:00

Ok, last DTL Conference post. There are fundamental and meaningful differences between high and low achievers in our classes. According to this presenter, high achievers are able to prepare their study environment and better organize materials. If this is the case, instructors can provide suggestions or explicit instructions for the rest of us on how to organize and prepare ourselves for learning.

There were several take-aways from this session.

Over-confidence is a barrier I had not previously considered.
Moving ALL course communication to public discussions makes entirely too much sense.
Due dates as part of the assignment name (eg "8_14 Descriptive Essay") - clever but a little ugly.
Have students explain what they will do to prepare for some major task - give feedback on their plan.

Here are my visual notes:

DTL - Empower Learning with Mobile

2011-08-12T15:30:00.000-05:00

So, here is a high school instructor making mobile happen for his students. The claim was made, and I have no reason to question it, that he is teaching a high school calculus class entirely via mobile devices. He didn't go into details about it, other than to say it's possible. It's remarkable when how normal and commonplace such an idea can be communicated. I mean, no one in the room shouted and slapped their heads with the palms of their hands. I looked around to see if eyebrows were raised, but the reaction was more like, okay whatever, moving on.

His description of the different contexts of mobile was intriguing. The message is "You have to start somewhere." So, jump in where you can and do something. If you need to use free apps to deliver information -- while it may not capitalize on the mobileness of these devices, it's still something.

The real power and empowering of mobile devices he claims is when students can be guided to apply the informal learning and social functions in the interest of learning (practice).

Here are my visual notes:

DTL - eLearning Today

2011-08-12T05:52:00.000-05:00

This keynote was very witty, but the tone of the talk was incredibly depressing. But depressing in a good way, like pressure on a sore muscle. The message is that while we've been engaged with eLearning for a good 20 years now, we still struggle with a definition - we can't even define it for ourselves. There is so much digital crap called eLearning - the profession is suffering from a serious image problem.

I can't say I remember what her solutions were. Something about DO-ing. Perhaps it's in her book: First Things Fast. I'll probably buy it (once soft cover comes out).

Here are my visual notes:

DTL - Screencasting for Feedback

2011-08-11T19:02:00.000-05:00

Learned about Transactional Distance Theory in this session. Something to Google later I think. Ultimately, this instructor found the use of screencasting for feedback a bit too time-consuming to be practical. And yet, she referenced studies that claimed audio only feedback was hands-down better than text only.

Here are my visual notes (they aren't very visual this time):

Badges? Do We Need Your Stinking Badges?

2011-08-11T05:48:00.000-05:00

Maybe be we do...? I'm still processing this one...

https://wiki.mozilla.org/Badges
http://mindshift.kqed.org/2011/08/mozillas-open-badges-project-a-new-way-to-recognize-learning/

One rather quick reaction though - how might this be different than grades that appear to show competency, but often just show survival skills? I guess I'll need to get some badges to find out.

DTL - Retention in Online Learning

2011-08-04T21:21:00.000-05:00

Where is my statistician translator? Must admit that much of this session was over my head, but I still found their main finding interesting --- students who entered their college without transfer credit were way more likely to stop taking classes. They have incredible data... and they are gathering more.

Makes me really want to survey our students to find out why they drop. But then again, do we really mind so much if they drop? Maybe we would if we knew why.

For what they are worth, here are my visual notes:

DTL - The Online Teaching Survival Guide

2011-08-04T21:06:00.000-05:00

An author round-table discussion featuring Judith Boettcher and Rita-Marie Conrad. They wrote the Survival Guide. The discussion naturally moved to talking about discussions in online courses and I heard some ideas I hadn't heard before. That always seems to happen when discussing discussion - there are so many variations. Great ideas!

The other great idea that was hit upon was that an instructors presence in a course changes over time as the course progresses... or rather as the students progress in their understanding. That's an eye-opening idea for me... and likely this happens naturally for many... but others continue to think of their feedback and interaction with students as constants.

The one part of their book organization that bothers me a bit is the naming of the four phases: Beginning, Early Middle, Late Middle and Closing. This just seems so boring and nondescript. I must admit to not having read the book, but I'd guess the reason is to keep things generic so as not to exclude some discipline. But even then, couldn't "beginning" be "Settling in" or "Set the Stage"? And then let's rename "Early Middle" something like "Group Growth" or "Explore". I guess I want something more meaningful than first, second, third.... It's my favorite suggestion for new online instructors that they title contents meaningfully. So instead of naming the chapter 1 folder chapter 1, how about telling me what Chapter 1 contains?!

Here are my visual notes:

DTL - Video Sharing

2011-08-04T20:54:00.001-05:00

Video share sessions ask presenters to create and show a 5 minute video and then hang out for questions while the next person sets up to show their video. It's a little awkward. Could probably be improved simply by asking everyone to load to YouTube so the transition could be more seamless.

1. Educational Authoring - what if we could publish academically in video format?
2. Graphic Syllabus - I love the idea of a visually explained syllabus, but I was less impressed by the flow-chart configuration. That wasn't even really the syllabus so much as the course content. I also loved the playing card analogy (expert vs novice).
3. High Quality Design Model - Largely based on QM.
4. Creating Instructor Presence - Flip videos to introduce concepts and tools.

Here are my visual notes:

DTL - Demo Sessions

2011-08-04T20:46:00.001-05:00

A couple of quick, 15 minute, demo sessions.

1. Self-paced LMS Instructor Training Course -- I guess we have this going on as well at Kirkwood. I guess I figured everyone had this going on already. I'm curious about the effectiveness of these types of training. It should be fine, except that so many, including ours doesn't have any eval for completion. Or more precisely, while we do have check quizzes, no one seems to do them. So, do faculty who only receive this training course ask more questions or have more problems in the long-term?

2. MASLO - Mobile Access to Supplemental Learning Objects. An impressive idea to put development tools for mobile devices into the hands of instructors. It's in the early stages yet.

Here are my visual notes:

DTL - Meaningful Learning

2011-08-04T20:32:00.001-05:00

Clark Quinn provided the luncheon key-note this afternoon. Nice talk. I naturally enjoyed his drip irrigation analogy - we need to soak in experience and knowledge over time. He echoed elements of Crockett's presentation - good reinforcement - in that he wants us to move away from rote memorization skills training and move toward natural curiosity and meta-cognition building.

Clark's blog: http://learnlets.com

Here are my visual notes:

DTL Mobile Pilot

2011-08-04T20:04:00.002-05:00

There is plenty buzz about mLearning. It's soooo in its infancy we are still working on a definition. Typical definitions tend to include size and speed of device as well as ability to access a network.

Their pilot included functions like syllabus, audio podcasts (repurposed), and flashcards (native app). You have to start somewhere, they said. But then why didn't they start with Bb Mobile Learn? It kind of sounded like they were moving away from Angel, so maybe that's why.

In any case, they are doing something. And they are seeing use. Not huge but significant.

http://wc.psu.edu/madison/

My visual notes:

(mPost!)

DTL - Lee Crockett

2011-08-04T18:01:00.001-05:00

An impassioned call to arms or call to swim in the school of sardines - willing to change directions and follow (for a time) a new path. Lee inspired and worried many in the crowd. What a great way to kick off the conversation. And I am usually a bit critical of futurist type presentations - not that I disagree, I usually just don't see much purpose in the prognostications. Sure it's fun and alarming, but what now? Well, Lee challenged us to answer that for ourselves. What will/can you do now to swim another way? Let's see who follows.

http://www.fluency21.com

Here are my visual notes.

(mPost!)

DTL Conference - Lightning Strikes

2011-08-03T18:14:00.001-05:00

Some items gleaned from 10 minute lightning sessions. I like the concision these sessions enforce. I also like the mystery they seem to share. After each quick share, my mind was buzzing for more. That's a treat when attending a conference - at least some presenters have a tendency to be long-winded.

ATTITUDE CHANGE - The CDC wants their audience (doctors, nurses, the public) to change attitudes. To do this they suggest (among other things) your message is clear, and relevant and realistic. Wow, sounds like our department goal for the year! They also suggested trying to work in ah-ha moments to catch the audience by surprise and tap into some raw emotions.

VIRTUAL LAB - School in Alaska is making this happen through Second Life (with help from grant money). Still, that's cool. They met the challenges head on - found out the connectivity was less of an issue than expected. And the learning curve was overcome with hands-on training of some kind. Both tech and lab instructor are in-world during the lab.

ACADEMIC HONESTY - Want to outsource your integrity training? Here is a 4 module and survey tool that will walk students through what academic integrity means: http://www-apps.umuc.edu/vailtutor/. Then they can send you a PDF file certificate showing their mastery of the material. Or at least showing you they know how to fake a PDF and make it look like they scored 100%. I'm not so sure this will help honesty, but it would give the instructor some evidence that the student at least claimed to have read and understood the rules.

CULTURAL DIVERSITY - "It's our reality." This is true. The presenter encouraged us as teachers and designers to take into consideration the diverse population and cultural background of students. Otherwise, explanations and examples and discussions might go misunderstood or never understood. She makes a good point, but if the example works for 80% of the class it's still a good example, right? I suppose the alienated 20% won't be thrilled, but maybe 65% of the time they won't even notice. Her emphasis and main point though (I think) is that we listen to and welcome different perspectives. That's nice.

The New School

2011-07-24T07:15:00.000-05:00

Student Perceptions Paper

2011-05-20T21:27:00.000-05:00

I find perceptions and expectations rather fascinating. I heard an NPR report/interview a few days ago about annoyances. One common annoyance, according to this report, is listening in on half of a cell-phone conversation. And they clarified -- it's not just the fact that the person is loud and inconsiderate, nor is it that we aren't hearing the full story, but rather that we (our brains) have trouble anticipating what the person we are hearing is about to say. As our expectations are disrupted, we are bothered. Fascinating.

And then at lunch yesterday we were discussing a colleague's recent trip to Vegas and subsequent losses at the roulette wheel. Gambling strikes me as a situation where expectations are rather confused and muddy. We don't expect to win and yet we do... at least we are pleasantly surprised when we do win. It almost seems as if we convince ourselves that we had some hand in the outcome and our expectation of winning flipped somehow.

The same colleague also expressed his joy and perhaps equal amounts of frustration experienced during a Penn & Teller magic show. Once again a situation in which expectations are a bit topsy-turvy. Or is it that we expect to be entertained and surprised and so normal annoyances, like defying the laws of physics and reality, seem great?

All this is going somewhere. Not sure where, but I've had these snippets from a paper on Students' Perceptions of online instruction sitting on my desktop for a while and I wanted to share/write about them.

As an instructor I do not typically expect students to give me concrete strategies to enhance my instruction. I often feel like I know where I screwed up or lacked something and have an idea how to fix it. I know that story could have used more visuals. I know the assignment could have used an example. And I suspect students are not usually encouraged/expected to share such strategies. What would a question like this elicit in way of response: "What strategies could your teacher have used to help you better understand concept ____?"

Response time, and more generally, instructor presence are huge in online instruction. And while they certainly are of high importance in face-to-face courses too, instructors rarely have the same difficulties with being present... or at least appearing to be present... and communicating... or at least appearing to communicate. It's all perception see? If I as the instructor give a passionate lecture for 50 minutes full of humor balanced with content, students will likely perceive good instruction happened. If I ask students to work in groups and collaborate on a problem, students will likely perceive little instruction happened. Or do students perceive instruction when guided while in groups?

And for the strong finish, it would seem to that if I can show students what progress was made, what learning happened, what thoughts were produced, how far they pedaled the bicycles of their minds, then they will perceive my instruction good. I'm almost certain it's more complex than this. Not only must the perception be that they learned/achieved, but also that they learned something valuable or something complicated or something that will impress their families and friends.

A Few Timeline Tools

2011-05-12T07:01:00.000-05:00

I was looking for some timeline tools the other day. Here are some that appear decent.

XTimeline: http://www.xtimeline.com/
Capzles: http://www.capzles.com/
Dipity: http://www.dipity.com/
Timeglider: http://timeglider.com/
Timetoast: http://www.timetoast.com/

Potentially Cool Links 02/25/2011

2011-02-24T23:30:00.001-06:00

Project Vote Smart’s VoteEasy ™

tags: vote government issues tool education

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Student Engagement

2010-12-15T12:07:00.000-06:00

I was working on a new T4LT script on student engagement and came across this article (march 2002):

Michelle M. Merwin "Let sleeping students lie?: Using interpersonal activities to engage disengaged students". College Student Journal. FindArticles.com. 15 Dec, 2010. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0FCR/is_1_36/ai_85007772/

Michelle shares some compelling stories and insights. And naturally as I read articles such as these, I am always thinking, "How does this apply to online instruction?" Can we expect to ask sleeping online students to wake up and participate? How does knowing students names and things about them come across in the online environment? Of course you know their names, it's in the LMS.

I'm interested in thinking of course design in such a way that would communicate to the student that they have important goals and experiences. One method is to offer more choice and control of the curriculum, timing, methods of assessment. Service learning could also offer practical application to the practicing student.

Due Dates - Your Perception of Time

2010-10-15T09:18:00.003-05:00

Due dates remain a constant struggle for many instructors and students. They are an intrinsic part of every class or learning experience in that our concept of time is linear and our time together is finite. The very nature of our existence and our ultimate non-existence strongly suggests we must complete goals within a prescribed amount of time. For most of us in education, that time compartment is a semester. And within this rather arbitrary section of days and nights, even more subsections of time are engraved into the fiber of our beings, most commonly months, weeks and days.

Perhaps those who can perceive of time as anything other than linear, due dates would be an impossible concept to grasp. Perhaps that would be annoying, or maybe liberating. The linear prospects of time are such a pervasive element to our understanding of the world, that I have a hard time imagining any other way. But rather than changing our grasp of time, we can look at how we reflect on and relate to time in several different ways. Philip Zimbardo, author of The Time Paradox, has an interesting take on this:

Our different relationships with time might help to explain some of the disconnect instructors experience and when students have trouble meeting due dates. Our own relationship with past, present and future may help explain why we, as educators, feel so passionately about enforcing or relaxing late assignments and makeup policies.

A quick brainstorming session, came up with these reasons instructors include due dates in their courses.

Assertion of authority -- Few would likely admit this, but I've certainly experienced the teacher who gains a feeling of importance when controlling others. The compliance with rules is often equal to a sign of respect for the instructor. Breaking these rules means disrespect. Questioning of rules is not permissible.
Teaching responsibility -- The explanation (justification) I often hear with respect to strict enforcement of due dates is that college students are adults and must behave according to "real world" rules and expectations. Learning as job is the analogy -- students are workers and workers are held accountable for on-the-job mistakes: reprimand, payroll deduction, termination of employment.
Better learning -- Thinking takes time and if students are asked to think deeply they will need time to reflect on content. Due dates purposely spread the amount of learning asked of students into realistic segments. If the student still cannot think fast enough to make the due date, they are often labeled slow, lacking motivation, lazy, slacker. And some students welcome these labels.
Respect my time -- Feedback is the essence of instruction. The spread of due dates gives instructors the time to provide valuable information for further learning. Without the spread, and negative consequences for late work, instructors will not have time to communicate with the student.

And as a student, what is your preference for due dates? Most people I ask say they need dead-lines if only to make the goal real. Are you appreciative for the structure or rebellious against the authority? What is your preference for late work penalties? Do late penalties help success, learning? Would a clearer understanding of our own perception of time assist in the conversation?

Potentially Cool Links 09/17/2010

2010-09-17T00:30:00.001-05:00

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

What's the Point of Questions?

2010-09-10T08:51:00.004-05:00

I once had an instructor explain to me how frustrated he was with the number of stupid questions asked in his classes. I could sympathize, but questions kind of come with the job. He was so bothered that he decided to announce to his class that there were, in fact, such things as stupid questions and such questions were not welcome in his class. Such a proclamation runs afoul of common teaching niceties. He had grown weary of answering questions like "Is there anything due today?" "Sorry I missed class yesterday, did you cover anything important?" "What chapters will be covered on the exam?" "Can I turn this in late?"

The common No-Such-Thing-As-A-Stupid-Question (NSTAASQ) method of instruction does, at times, seem to be broken. And sure, there are likely situations where the above questions could potentially be very valid, but there is a level of thought missing from these interrogatives and others like them. Perhaps the word "stupid" is too loaded. I don't want to label a question as stupid, but I want to encourage more thinking, research and discovery prior to questions being asked.

It might be useful to gather a list of questions that appear to be lacking in thought and try to categorize them in some fashion. Perhaps we would see a trend. Many of the questions above suggest students are not paying attention or referencing course documents - they are relying on their instructor to serve as personal assistant: look this up for me, remind me of appointments and inform me of forgotten details. With more questions might see other trends.

Questions for clarity? These questions often repeat part or whole of a concept. They might be preceded by "So let me get this straight..." or "Did you say..." When used in earnest they are wonderful, but too often these questions seem dripping with ego-boosting, look-at-me, I'm-so-smart subtext.

Questions for criticism? I find these questions difficult to recognize. I'm a sucker for solving people's quandaries and can be lured into unwarranted debate before I realize where I am. "Is there a reason there isn't an Add New Course button on the homepage?" This was a recent example that I took at face value and began to offer an explanation. The explanation didn't matter because the question wasn't really a question at all. It was a challenge - the speaker was making a point that there ought to be such a button.

Questions for negotiation? Perhaps all communication is a negotiation of meaning. This category might include questions posed for suggestive purposes. Rather than come straight out and tell someone to do something, it is often more appropriate or better received when asked as a question. "Did you finish your homework?" "Have you called your mother recently?" "Why is the soup ladle in the knife drawer?"

Questions for learning? All of these questions about questions is just a way to ponder how teachers and trainers best deal with the myriad of approaches to providing answers or not providing answers. It might be an interesting communicative challenge to make it through the day without asking a single question. It would also be an interesting challenge to make it through a day only asking questions, but how annoying would that be?

Potentially Cool Links 09/04/2010

2010-09-04T00:30:00.001-05:00

47 Alternatives to Using YouTube in the Classroom

tags: youtube video education

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Potentially Cool Links 08/15/2010

2010-08-15T00:30:00.001-05:00

Opposite word - list of opposite words
I thought myself clever as I asked the group of training instructors what the opposite of anonymous was. As in: "Surveys are often anonymous, but tests are typically... non-anonymous." No one answered, but maybe they were just being polite. Turns out the opposite of anonymous is onymous. I am somewhat thankful to see spell check does not recognize this word, but I plan to use it every chance I get now. New power word!!

tags: word dictionary opposite reference resource tool education writing
Audioboo

tags: audio podcast education embed social socialmedia mobile

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Potentially Cool Links 08/10/2010

2010-08-10T00:30:00.001-05:00

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Potentially Cool Links 08/02/2010

2010-08-02T00:30:00.001-05:00

openscholar

tags: education cms lms website social

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Potentially Cool Links 07/30/2010

2010-07-30T00:30:00.001-05:00

Knotebooks - Anyone can contribute. Everyone can learn.

tags: notes education student teacher material video reading sharing collaboration

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Potentially Cool Links 07/28/2010

2010-07-28T00:30:00.001-05:00

YouCanBook.Me

tags: calendar google free time education meeting

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Hammer : Nail :: Technology : ___

2010-07-27T09:33:00.003-05:00

I'm weary of the hammer and nail adage/metaphor. The one where if all you have is a hammer all problems look like nails. And conversely, if all your problems look like nails the solution would be to find a hammer. Andrew Kalpan (according to Wikipedia), called this The Law of the Instrument.

Give a small boy a hammer, and he will find that everything he encounters needs pounding.

It seems to be popular lately in education circles and I don't much like it. It's cute and perhaps useful in certain limited cases where someone (presumably not just a small boy) is over-relying on some procedure or solution that has worked in the past. But I take issue with the more common use of this phrase that seems to point a wagging finger at technology's role in education. I also take issue with the idea that technology has some kind of role to play in education, as if it is an actor on the stage. I'd rather re-frame technology as the stage, or maybe even the entire theater and education as the actor or maybe some kind of plot device.

Often technology doesn't even receive the actor status. Too often, technology is relegated to the props table. Certainly some gadgets belong there, but what those gadgets do and represent and enable creates the context of our lives. We live within technology. At least most of us do. I'm sure there are some remote cultures still relatively unexposed to modern technologies and their transformative results. At least I hope there are. But our students aren't likely from these cultures, and neither are we.

I hear teachers and administrators often say in some kind of proud, affirmation of truth that technology is just a tool that can enable or disrupt learning. And I cringe a little every time I hear it. In part I cringe because this is often said with much bravado and as if the speaker has just communicated some kind of revelation or incredible philosophy. But more importantly I cringe because of the ignorance this supposed revelation communicates. And I am no less guilty of using this phrase myself. I am no less ignorant. I own a hammer.

Truth be told I own many hammers. And I am often surprised by their usefulness and variety. Hammers are not merely for pounding, but also for leveraging. They not only hit nails but also t-posts, concrete, bricks, wood, chisels. Actually, the combination of hammer and rock was integral in the construction of further solutions to life's problems as well as some pretty sculptures.

Give a small boy a hammer and he pounds things perhaps because he is a small boy and small boys like to pound things. It might also be that because small boys often learn by observing and mimicing adult behavior that he is merely using the implement in a culturally appropriate manner. And my bet is that the small boy will do all sorts of crazy culturally inappropriate things with that hammer - but we won't much notice them because they are wrong and corrected.

All of this is to say I see technology as more than just a tool. It's a context. It's our culture.

Potentially Cool Links 07/17/2010

2010-07-17T00:30:00.001-05:00

Create text-to-speech (TTS) podcast from RSS feed for iPod, iPhone, MP3 player and mobile phone
might be cool to use an external blog for the creation of pages/content and then embed the blog or individual posts, along with this audio, in your LMS.

tags: speech text read audio rss education

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Potentially Cool Links 07/16/2010

2010-07-16T00:30:00.001-05:00

VUVOX - slideshows, photo, video and music sharing

tags: presentation story ppt slides collage video image audio education timeline
- Vuvox is
  an online service that can enable you create personal, collaborative
  & emotive slideshows using your own digital media – including
  video, photos, music and text. - post by Andreas
- Great app that will be a serious competitor to the (lame) Animoto. Fast and innovative and the Flickr/Picasa import is just brilliant! - post by Jesper Isaksson