attention

Per Kim O’Leary, here are some resources re: the topic of giving/receiving feedback:

Thanks for the Feedback: The Science and Art of Receiving Feedback Well (Stone & Heen)

Other items re: feedback worth checking out:

How ‘Learning Engineering’ Hopes to Speed Up Education — from edsurge.com by Jeff Young

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

One insight Lepper brought is that when education software tools simply list all the errors students made and points out what they should have done instead, what many end up hearing is, “You’re wrong, you’re wrong, you’re wrong.” For students, this is a discouraging engagement, Lepper says.

“That kind of feedback would be perfect if you had a robot learner on the other end,” he says. “The robot learner would be delighted to have you say, ‘Okay, you made three errors in problem number one,’ and being a robot learner, they’d be able to take out those bugs and do better the next time. Real kids, especially real kids who are kind of phobic about math and who think they can’t do it, they leave and say, ‘See I can’t do it.’”

Don’t water down feedback to your student — from teachingprofessor.com by John Orlando

RetrievalPractice.org/feedback

From OLC session “Carl Rogers, Teaching Presence, and Student Engagement in Online Learning” Cheng-Chia (Brian) Chen, Denise Bockmier-Sommers, & Karen Swan (emphasis DSC)

Use student’s first name in feedback
Speak directly to them
Paraphrase their words
Provide video feedback
Sandwich method — Include the strengths of student’s reasoning or responses in addition to your constructive critique(s)
Acknowledge student contributions
Let them know you care and appreciate them
What’s timely feedback? The quicker the better, but whatever your availability is, tell what students can expect, and stick to that. Put that into your syllabus along with communication methods (email, LMS message, phone, other)

Leveraging Feedback Experiences in Online Learning — from er.educause.edu by Erin Crisp

Here are some design tips to increase the probability for success.

Structure the course so that there are opportunities for instructors and peers to provide formative feedback several weeks before final projects/papers are due.
Identify key time frames in the course when instructors will be heavily engaged in providing written or video feedback that is individualized and moves the learning forward.
Create a bank of content-specific feedback comments that instructors can use for common issues and errors.
If end-of-course survey evaluations are low, implement strategies to provide feedback that directly connects to learners as individuals.
If you teach and grade papers in a professional discipline, provide feedback related to the course and program learning outcomes, and focus less on grammar and language usage.

Remote collaboration and virtual conferences, the future of work [Fink]

On 06/12/2020, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, 3D, A/V -- audio/visual, adult learning, Apple, attention, Augmented Reality (AR), collaboration, creativity, digital learning, distance education, education technology, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, Facebook / Meta Platforms, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, Google, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, immersion, innovation, intelligent systems, law schools, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, Microsoft, Mixed Reality (MR), motivation, online learning, online media, online tutoring, tools, training / L&D, vendors, virtual field trips, virtual K-12 schools, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, virtual tutoring, vision/possibilities, web-based collaboration, webinars, workplace, XR - extended reality, by Daniel Christian

Remote collaboration and virtual conferences, the future of work — from forces.com by Charlie Fink

Excerpts:

Ten weeks ago, Jesse Damiani, writing on Forbes.com, told the story of a college professor who turned his course about XR into a research project about remote collaboration and virtual conferences.
…
He and his students reimagined the course as an eight-week research sprint exploring how XR tools will contribute to the future of remote work—and the final product will be a book, tentatively titled, Remote Collaboration & Virtual Conferences: The End of Distance and the Future of Work.”

This is a chapter of that book. It will be available on June 15.

The thing everyone wants is not a technology, it’s engagement. The same kind of engagement that you would have in real life, but better, faster, cheaper *and safer* than it was before.

Also see:

Apple Files Patent For Mixed Reality Headset That Projects Images On Your Eyeballs — from vrscout.com

XR for Learning – June 3, 2020 — from twist.learningguild.net

Excerpt:

Augmented, Virtual, and other mixed reality technologies are rapidly emerging and advancing, creating new and exciting opportunities for training and education. XR for Learning collects some of the best XR content that learning professionals can learn from.

Here’s this week’s recommended content.

5 easy ways to infuse learning science into remote teaching — from campustechnology.com by Andrea Hendricks
These practices will help engage students and improve outcomes throughout the online learning process.

Excerpt:

Here again, good organization is essential. I organize my content by units that are aligned to tests, so my students always have a clear learning goal in mind. If I have six tests in a semester, I divide the content into six units. Each unit contains an overview for the module, a submodule for each section, a review of the key concepts from the unit, a set of review problems for the unit, and a test. Within section submodules, I give an overview of the objectives, activities for students to engage with and learn the content (reading assignments, videos, animations, homework problems), and a discussion question. I also include modules on getting started with the course, the technology we’ll be using as well as tutoring information and resources.

4 reasons to build choice into classroom design — and how to make it work for students [Lock]

On 04/09/2020, in A/V -- audio/visual, active learning, adjunct faculty, attention, blended learning, collaboration, colleges, communications, community colleges, corporate universities / corporate training, Daniel S. Christian, education, education technology, engagement / engaging students, experimentation, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, ideas, informal learning, innovation, IT in HE, K-12 related, law schools, learning, learning ecosystem, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning preferences, learning spaces, liberal arts, love of learning, more voice more choice more control, motivation, participation, pedagogy, smart classrooms, social learning / networks, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, tools, universities, vendors, youth, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
The article below is meant as fodder for thought for us now…until we get back to holding class in physical learning spaces again. But it caught my attention because I’d like to see us give students “More choice. More Control.” in all areas of their learning — whether that be in the physical realm or in the digital/virtual realm.

4 reasons to build choice into classroom design — and how to make it work for students — from spaces4learning.com by Deanna Marie Lock
A look at the key elements of a modern and highly engaging learning space

For those of you who teach and/or give presentations, you might be interested in this new video regarding what’s called “cognitive load” [Christian]

On 03/10/2020, in A/V -- audio/visual, active learning, adjunct faculty, adult learning, attention, colleges, communities of practice, community colleges, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, Daniel S. Christian, design, digital audio, digital learning, digital storytelling, digital video, education, elearning, engagement / engaging students, face-to-face, faculty, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, ideas, instructional design, K-12 related, law schools, learning, learning ecosystem, learning theories, multimedia, online learning, pedagogy, presentations, productivity / tips and tricks, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, teaching online, training / L&D, United States, universities, user experience (UX), by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
For those of you who teach and/or give presentations, you might be interested in a new video that I put together regarding cognitive load. It addresses at least two main questions:

What is cognitive load?
and
Why should I care about it?

Transcript here.

How do I put it into practice?

Simplify the explanations of what you’re presenting as much as possible and break down complex tasks into smaller parts
Don’t place a large amount of text on a slide and then talk about it at the same time — doing so requires much more processing than most people can deal with.
Consider creating two versions of your PowerPoint files:
- A text-light version that can be used for presenting that content to students
- A text-heavy version — which can be posted to your LMS for the learners to go through at their own pace — and without trying to process so much information (voice and text, for example) at one time.
Design-wise:
- Don’t use decorative graphics — everything on a slide should be there for a reason
- Don’t use too many fonts or colors — this can be distracting
- Don’t use background music when you are trying to explain something

Play is disappearing from kindergarten. It’s hurting kids. — from edsurge.com by Joe Martin

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

In an increasing number of schools, teachers of very young students are pressured to pack every moment of the day with structured, academically rigorous tasks. One recent whitepaper linked the practice to preparing kids for the long road of schooling ahead, in which progress is measured through standardized testing starting in third grade.

Friedrich Froebel, a pedagogue of modern education, coined the term “kindergarten” in 1840 after recognizing the importance of play in the development of young children. Inspired by the idea of a garden, he designed a classroom where the teacher presented children with objects, which they were allowed to play with in any way they could imagine. When they lost interest in one object, they would be presented with a new one to spark curiosity and creativity. Children were encouraged to grow and flourish in this free form, play-based environment.

From DSC:
Given that we are all into a lifelong learning situation now, I vote for more importance being placed on whether someone enjoyed their learning experience. That said, I know there is struggle in learning…and learning in the struggle. But we focus so much on grades and standardized testing. This robs the joy from the teaching and learning environment — for the teachers as well as for the kids.

Also see:

Why aren’t we paying early childhood educators what they’re worth? — from edsurge.com by Rhian Evans Allvin

Doesn’t this look like a fun & engaging learning space? One that encourages collaboration?

On 03/02/2020, in active learning, attention, collaboration, communications, Daniel S. Christian, education, engagement / engaging students, ideas, innovation, K-12 related, learning, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning spaces, love of learning, maker movement, participation, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
When I saw the learning space as pictured below, I couldn’t help but ask a couple of questions:

Doesn’t this look like a colorful, fun, engaging active learning space?
One that encourages communication and collaboration?

The natural light is wonderful. And the physical setup seems to let the students know that they will be collaborating with each other the second they walk into this learning space…and it does so without saying a word.

For those involved with creating/enhancing learning spaces as they relate to pedagogies

On 02/22/2020, in A/V -- audio/visual, active learning, adjunct faculty, attention, change, changing business models, collaboration, colleges, communications, communities of practice, community colleges, education, education technology, engagement / engaging students, expectations, face-to-face, faculty, generational differences, higher education, ideas, innovation, IT in HE, law schools, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning spaces, multimedia, online learning, online media, online tutoring, pedagogy, platforms, smart classrooms, student-related, teaching & learning, technology (general), telecommunications, telepresence, tools, traditional / tradition, training / L&D, trends, United States, universities, user experience (UX), user interface design, vendors, videoconferencing, vision/possibilities, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

From DSC — and with a shout out to Brad Sousa for this resource:
For those involved with creating/enhancing learning spaces as they relate to pedagogies:

How Has Technology Impacted Higher Education?
In part one of this three-part series, AVI Systems CTO Brad Sousa talks with Jeff Day, Founder of North of 10 Advisors, to discuss the key ways education and, specifically, pedagogy differs from 10, 5, even 3 years ago.

Discussion Topics

The impact of active learning and the introduction of the internet of things (IoT) in the classroom
Recommendations for deploying modern learning environments with technology partners
Classroom systems design, then and now

Some timestamps (roughly speaking)

5:15 — changes in pedagogy
7:15 or so — active learning
15:30 design needs around active learning
17:15 DE rooms and active learning — software-controlled platform
21:30 — advice; look to outcomes & expectations that want to achieve/meet; uses cases

Media controller w/ intuitive interface to mimic the way someone teaches / way a classroom goes:

“Class start” — chaotic; mics on everywhere
“Lecture” — gates /mics closed and focus shifts to the professor
“Class interaction” — presents roster of who’s there (20:00 mark roughly)

Also see this introductory posting re: the implications of active learning in the higher ed market.

Optimal Video Length for Student Engagement — from blog.edx.org by Candace Hazlett and Philip Guo

Excerpt:

In this first post, I’ll share some preliminary results about video usage, obtained from initial analyses of a few edX math and science courses. Unsurprisingly, students engaged more with shorter videos. Traditional in-person lectures usually last an hour, but students have much shorter attention spans when watching educational videos online. The graph below shows median engagement times versus video length, aggregated over several million video watching sessions:

From DSC:
If you have access to a tool like Canvas Studio, then you can probably extend the length of your videos if you are interspersing your videos with a healthy dose of interactivity — i.e., inserting quiz questions every few minutes.

Also see:

Live from Bett: What’s new in EDU–Free resources to boost engagement and collaboration — from the Microsoft Education Team on January 22, 2020

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

In addition, on the day of a presentation, educators and students now can help every person in the classroom or audience understand what they’re saying by clicking on “Present Live.” Live Presentations enables every audience member to view the presentation on their own device, such as a laptop, tablet or phone. Each audience member can turn on live captioning and choose subtitles from more than 60 languages. They can even navigate between slides, so they don’t miss a single, important detail. The audience is engaged throughout the presentation and sends reactions in real-time. After the presentation, the audience can provide feedback on the content and delivery of the presentation, which educators and students can use to improve skills over time.

Live Presentations will be coming soon to PowerPoint for the web as part of Office Education, which educators and students can access for free. If you haven’t already done so, get started with Office 365 Education now.

From DSC:
Might this type of functionality be a solid component of a global, next generation learning platform? Hmmmm…

Using Cisco Webex’ Meeting Room, any classroom can become an active learning classroom [Grant & Miller]

On 01/16/2020, in 21st century, A/V -- audio/visual, active learning, attention, Bring your own device (BYOD), collaboration, colleges, community colleges, corporate universities / corporate training, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, education technology, engagement / engaging students, experimentation, face-to-face, faculty, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, instructional design, IT in HE, K-12 related, law schools, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning spaces, liberal arts, mirroring and/or multiple devices, multimedia, participation, platforms, second screen apps, smart classrooms, student teaching/teacher education, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, teaching online, tools, training / L&D, universities, user experience (UX), vendors, videoconferencing, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
If you are using a tool like Cisco Webex in your school, consider implementing the idea below. I’d like to thank Mr. Steve Grant and Mr. Nelson Miller from the WMU-Cooley Law School for their work in implementing/recommending this approach.

If you are using a tool like Cisco Webex, you can use it to share content to displays, laptops, smartphones, and tablets. If the professor starts a Cisco Webex Meeting Center session using their own personal room, the students can then join that meeting via their devices. (To eliminate noise and confusion — as well as to reduce bandwidth — the students should mute their microphones and choose not to send the video from their webcams.)

If you were doing a think-pair-share, for example, and you really liked what a certain pair of students had going on, one of the students could share their work with the rest of the class. By doing so, whatever was going on on that student’s device could be displayed by any projectors in the room, as well as on any other devices that were connected to the Cisco Webex Meeting Room.

“So you could project any student’s work as students proceed with in-class exercises. Projecting student work adds another level of accountability, excitement, and concentration to in-class exercises.”

*********

Also, using the Cisco Webex Meeting Center in your face-to-face classroom not only opens up that sort of collaboration channel, but, via the chat feature, it can also open up a running backchannel to draw out your more introverted students, or those students who have questions but don’t want to have the spotlight thrown on them.

*********

Coming down the pike: A next generation, global learning platform [Christian]

On 12/19/2019, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, active learning, adult learning, analytics, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, assessment, attention, blended learning, Bring your own device (BYOD), business side of he, career development, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, CMS/LMS, collaboration, colleges, communities of practice, community colleges, competency-based learning/education, consortiums, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, cost of getting a degree, Cost of legal services - including access, credentialing, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, data related items, digital audio, digital learning, digital storytelling, disruption, distance education, e-publishing related items (EPUB and more), education, education reform, education technology, educational games / serious games, elearning, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, entrepreneurship, formal learning, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, global / globalization, heutagogy, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, informal learning, innovation, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, internet, languages and translation, law schools, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning preferences, library / librarians, lifelong learning, media/film, microlearning, mobile technologies, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, more voice more choice more control, multimedia, Natural Language Processing (NLP), New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, new business models, online learning, online media, online tutoring, pace of change, participation, passions, personalized/customized learning, platforms, professional development, reinvent, second screen apps, simulations, smart/connected TV, social learning / networks, society, staying relevant, streams of content, student-related, surviving, teaching & learning, technologies for your home, telecommunications, telepresence, television, tools, training / L&D, universities, user experience (UX), using teams, videoconferencing, vision/possibilities, web-based collaboration, webinars, workplace, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
Though we aren’t quite there yet, the pieces continue to come together to build a next generation learning platform that will help people reinvent themselves quickly, efficiently, constantly, and cost-effectively.

XR for Teaching and Learning [educause]

On 12/17/2019, in 3D, A/V -- audio/visual, adjunct faculty, attention, Augmented Reality (AR), digital audio, digital learning, education technology, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, experimentation, faculty, ideas, immersion, innovation, interaction design, interactivity, interface design, IT in HE, law schools, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning spaces, Mixed Reality (MR), multimedia, participation, pedagogy, platforms, play, simulations, teaching & learning, technologies for your home, tools, usability, user experience (UX), Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, XR - extended reality, by Daniel Christian

XR for Teaching and Learning — from educause

Key Findings

XR technologies are being used to achieve learning goals across domains.
Effective pedagogical uses of XR technologies fall into one of three large categories: (1) Supporting skills-based and competency-based teaching and learning, such as nursing education, where students gain practice by repeating tasks. (2) Expanding the range of activities with which a learner can gain hands-on experience—for example, by enabling the user to interact with electrons and electromagnetic fields. In this way, XR enables some subjects traditionally taught as abstract knowledge, using flat media such as illustrations or videos, to be taught as skills-based. (3) Experimenting by providing new functionality and enabling new forms of interaction. For example, by using simulations of materials or tools not easily available in the physical world, learners can explore the bounds of what is possible in both their discipline and with the XR technology itself.
Integration of XR into curricula faces two major challenges: time and skills.
The adoption of XR in teaching has two major requirements: the technology must fit into instructors’ existing practices, and the cost cannot be significantly higher than that of the alternatives already in use.
The effectiveness of XR technologies for achieving learning goals is influenced by several factors: fidelity, ease of use, novelty, time-on-task, and the spirit of experimentation.

2019 study of undergraduate students & information technology [educause]

On 12/03/2019, in accessibility / UDL, active learning, adjunct faculty, adult learning, analytics, attention, blended learning, CMS/LMS, colleges, community colleges, corporate universities / corporate training, Daniel S. Christian, data related items, digital learning, education technology, engagement / engaging students, face-to-face, faculty, flipping -- inverted learning, formal learning, higher education, hybrid learning, instructional design, interactivity, internet, IT in HE, learning, learning ecosystem, learning preferences, online learning, pedagogy, platforms, student teaching/teacher education, student-related, teaching & learning, teaching online, training / L&D, United States, universities, by Daniel Christian

2019 study of undergraduate students & information technology — from library.educause.edu

Excerpts:

Drawing on survey data from more than 40,000 students across 118 US institutions, this report highlights a number of important findings related to students’ technology preferences, supports, and experiences, with the goal of aiding technology and higher education professionals in improving student learning experiences and success.
…
But they want to be more than in-class spectators:

“I want my professors to stop reading PowerPoint slides word-for-word off of a screen, and to start using the technology at hand to create a different kind of lecture that will engage their students in the learning process.”
“I’d love for there to be more interactive polling and questions during class. Even though I don’t like the idea of being in lecture every day, that would keep me more engaged if the instructors were more dynamic with their tech use.”
“Integrate [technology] more into lectures. It’s very difficult to sit and watch you talk. Technology can be so beneficial to learning if used in the right ways to enhance and complement lectures. Use collaborative quizzes (Kahoot, etc.), let us research in class, etc.”
“Provide more online learning tools such as interactive lectures where people on laptops or tablets can also engage with the material being presented.”

Figure 2. Student learning environment preferences for specific course-related activities and assignments

Recommendations

Leverage analytics to gain a greater understanding of the student demographics that influence learning environment preferences.
Continue to promote online success tools and provide training to students on their use through orientations and advisement sessions.
Expand efforts to improve Wi-Fi reliability in campus housing and outdoor spaces.
Allow students to use the devices that are most important to their academic success in the classroom.
Establish a campus community to address accessibility issues and give “accessibility evangelists” a seat at the table.

From DSC:
Well students…you might find that you have a major surprise ahead of you — as a significant amount of your future learning/training will take place completely online. Go ask some folks who have graduated about their onboarding experiences. Then go ask people who have been in the workplace for over a decade. You’ll see what I mean.

Learning Ecosystems

Remote collaboration and virtual conferences, the future of work [Fink]

XR for Learning – June 3, 2020

XR for Teaching and Learning [educause]

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