face-to-face

One District’s Ongoing Hybrid Success — from by Erik Ofgang
Early in the pandemic, Kyle Berger, chief technology officer for Grapevine-Colleyville Independent School District, installed cameras in every classroom for hybrid learning. Those cameras continue to be used in innovative ways.

Excerpt:

In the meantime, the cameras continue to be utilized in a variety of ways, including:

For students who are out of school with COVID or for other medical reasons to keep participating in class.
To allow a teacher to quickly record an explanation or lesson so students can access it later. “The way they’re mounted on the ceiling, the teachers started taking that to a different level because you could reach up to the webcam if you wanted to and you could turn it to point down, and now in a sense, it’s a document camera,” Berger says.
To help with the substitute teacher shortage. “We can bridge two classrooms together through our video solutions, and maybe just have an instructional aide in the second classroom,” Berger says.
To allow educators to engage in professional development by watching videos of their own lectures and lessons.

“It’s really allowed us a lot more flexibility to continue to navigate the ever-changing environment and education right now,” Berger says.

From DSC:
I’d probably use the word hyflex here instead of the word hybrid…but you get the point. I would also assert that for the following relevant article as well:

Hybrid classrooms – impressive solutions but are we asking the right questions? — from acreelman.blogspot.com by Alastair Creelman

Students Often Prefer In-Person Classes . . . Until They Don’t [Samson]

On 03/10/2022, in colleges, community colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, digital learning, distance education, education technology, elearning, engagement / engaging students, face-to-face, flipping -- inverted learning, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), instructional design, law schools, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning preferences, Michigan, online learning, online media, student-related, teaching & learning, teaching online, United States, universities, usability, user experience (UX), by Daniel Christian

Students Often Prefer In-Person Classes . . . Until They Don’t — from er.educause.edu by Perry Samson, Professor in the Department of Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering at the University of Michigan.
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How Art Class Became a Rare Bright Spot for Students and Families During the Pandemic — from edsurge.com by Daniel Lempres

Excerpt:

When schools went remote two years ago, the National Art Education Association (NAEA) was quick to offer guidance on how best to reach students who have experienced trauma. They offered strategies for remote learning, as well as mental and emotional wellbeing.

Now more than ever, art educators must employ the tenets of social emotional learning, the NAEA says. In a recent report, the association recommended trauma-informed teaching strategies to promote mental health through self-expression—for their students’ sake and their own.

But with asynchronous lessons and virtual events, the amount of parental participation skyrocketed, she says.

Right Now, Your Best Employees Are Eyeing the Exits [Walton]

On 03/01/2022, in business side of he, career development, change, colleges, community colleges, disruption, Emotion, face-to-face, faculty, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, IT in HE, law schools, United States, universities, by Daniel Christian

Right Now, Your Best Employees Are Eyeing the Exits –– from chronicle.com by Marci K. Walton
To stay, they need better pay, reasonable hours, and an end to mission-based gaslighting.

Excerpt:

Right now, your best midlevel manager is updating her résumé. Your hardest-working director is controlling his excitement after learning the salary range for a private-sector opening. Your most trustworthy entry-level professional is writing a resignation letter because her new corporate position doubles her pay and doesn’t require nights or weekends.

Two years of pandemic life have left campus staff members beyond burned out. They are done. And they are leaving or thinking about it in droves. I know because I was one of them. After nearly 13 years working in residence life — a field to which I was deeply committed — I left higher education last March for the private sector. The move increased my salary by 50 percent and cut my workload in half.

This tweet was mentioned/linked to in the above article:

Last week, I hosted two webinars for people in higher ed who are exploring their options outside of the field. It was highly reflective in nature and I can’t stop thinking about what I heard from this group. #sachat #sapro #sagrad #highered 1/21

— Marci Walton (@marcikwalton) February 2, 2022

Turning Girls Loose to Build in STEM [Rieder]

On 02/04/2022, in education, education reform, engineering, experimentation, face-to-face, innovation, instructional design, K-12 related, Learning Experience Design, robotics, society, STEAM-related, by Daniel Christian

Turning Girls Loose to Build in STEM — from innotechtoday.com by Katherine Rieder

Excerpt:

To elementary-school science teachers and nostalgic postsecondary STEM students, it sounds like a dream. Yet the refrain resounding through the room is one of “this isn’t fair,” or “it’s too hard,” often accompanied by low grumbles and furrowed brows. This reaction to a relatively unstructured learning activity where the learning process takes priority over finding a concrete and “correct” answer is, in fact, typical with this age group and gender.

It results from the mutually reinforcing combination of girls’ decreasing confidence in their innate intellectual ability and the fixed mindset many develop as they move through the early years of their formal education. These same factors are incredibly detrimental to a young woman’s engagement with STEM and a future career in the field.

My “If-Then” slides for transitioning curriculum between in-person and e-learning are available here (I made them for the districts I work with specifically, but everyone is welcome to use them)!https://t.co/inc9Aaz0o5 #LTCcoaches pic.twitter.com/BIEjlaTSAU

— Jennifer Leban (@mrsleban) January 13, 2022

Google Slides here

From DSC:
As I looked at the article below, I couldn’t help but wonder…what is the role of the American Bar Association (ABA) in this type situation? How can the ABA help the United States deal with the impact/place of emerging technologies?

Clearview AI will get a US patent for its facial recognition tech — from engadget.com by J. Fingas
Critics are worried the company is patenting invasive tech.

Excerpt:

Clearview AI is about to get formal acknowledgment for its controversial facial recognition technology. Politico reports Clearview has received a US Patent and Trademark Office “notice of allowance” indicating officials will approve a filing for its system, which scans faces across public internet data to find people from government lists and security camera footage. The company just has to pay administrative fees to secure the patent.

In a Politico interview, Clearview founder Hoan Ton-That claimed this was the first facial recognition patent involving “large-scale internet data.” The firm sells its tool to government clients (including law enforcement) hoping to accelerate searches.

As you might imagine, there’s a concern the USPTO is effectively blessing Clearview’s technology and giving the company a chance to grow despite widespread objections to its technology’s very existence.

Privacy, news, facial recognition, USPTO, internet, patent,
Clearview AI, surveillance, tomorrow, AI, artificial intelligence

The Best Advice for New Teachers, in 5 Words or Less [Hardison]

On 11/24/2021, in career development, education, face-to-face, formal learning, health, learning ecosystem, relationships, student teaching/teacher education, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, youth, by Daniel Christian

The Best Advice for New Teachers, in 5 Words or Less — from edweek.org by Hayley Hardison; though back from August, the words still (and will) ring true.

Excerpts:

Teachers just entering the profession are looking for advice on how to find their footing.

We put a call out on Twitter for experienced educators to share their best tips for new teachers, in five words or less. Here’s what they said.

Many people responding pointed to the importance of building strong relationships with students—and how critical that is for learning.

Planning for the Classroom of the Future — from campustechnology.com by Doug Smith
The right combination of technology and training will ensure your learning spaces can adapt to ever-changing modes of instruction. Here are key considerations for future-proofing classrooms, supporting faculty and surviving the next pandemic.

One Year Later . . . and Counting: Reflections on Emergency Remote Teaching and Online Learning — from er.educause.edu by Stephanie Moore, Torrey Trust, Barb Lockee, Aaron Bond and Charles Hodges

Excerpts (emphasis DSC):

Colleges with significant previous investments in online education, and ones that have worked to embed that experience into the campus’s mainstream, have seen the biggest jumps in enrollment.” In asking the question “When should a college invest heavily in online education?,” Hill concluded: “It seems increasingly clear that the answer is: at least a decade ago.” A view from “one year later” must include consideration of what college and university leaders chose to do years ago, when the decisions that created this reinforcing feedback loop were made.
…
Then there are the colleges and universities that resisted online learning for years or invested only in very isolated instances. These institutions were less prepared and suffered steeper enrollment and budget declines than their counterparts.
…
Aesop’s fable “The Oak and the Reeds” offers us ancient wisdom. In the story, the Oak mocks the Reeds that bend in the breezes. But when hit by a hurricane, the Reeds flex with the wind and survive while the Oak is beaten and broken. Some colleges and universities were more like the Oak, stubbornly resisting and finding that they could not resist the hurricane that was the pandemic. Other institutions proved more like the Reeds and were more agile in the winds, allowing flexibility and survival during a time of crisis.

Supporting Student Accessibility: Digital Equity | Special Needs & More [Tech & Learning]

On 11/09/2021, in accessibility / UDL, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Bias | Diversity Equity & Inclusion (DE&I), bots, digital learning, digital textbooks, distance education, e-books, e-publishing related items (EPUB and more), e-readers, education, education technology, ethics, experimentation, face-to-face, funding / grants, ideas, innovation, instructional design, K-12 related, languages and translation, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, neurodivergent/special needs, remote teaching and learning, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, teaching online, United States, vendors, by Daniel Christian

Supporting Student Accessibility: Digital Equity | Special Needs & More — from Tech & Learning | November 2021

Why we need some humility about online learning – and about face-to-face teaching [Bates]

On 10/26/2021, in 24x7x365 access, Canada, face-to-face, ideas, instructional design, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, learning preferences, online learning, quality, student-related, teaching & learning, United States, youth, by Daniel Christian

Why we need some humility about online learning – and about face-to-face teaching — from tonybates.ca by Tony Bates

Excerpt:

Those of us who have been fighting to get online learning accepted over the last 20-25 years have argued strongly the merits of online learning. We have argued that not only can it increase access, especially for older, working and lifelong learners, but it can also teach as well, and under certain circumstances, even better than face-to-face teaching. Covid-19 in particular showed the value of online learning, allowing students to continue their learning, even during a pandemic.

The limits of online learning
However, Covid-19 also taught us that online learning has its limits. When there was no access to face-to-face learning, we found that online learning was not able to help certain students. We also found that there are important aspects of face-to-face or campus based learning that cannot easily be replaced by online learning. Let’s look at some of these limitations.

We need to not only accept that both online learning and face-to-face teaching have equal value, but also to strive to understand what each does best. This will vary by subject matter, by types of students, and by instructors’ training and experience. We all have a lot to learn.

Also from Tony, see:

Light Field Lab Unveils Modular Holographic Video Wall [Melnick]

On 10/18/2021, in A/V -- audio/visual, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, education technology, engagement / engaging students, experimentation, face-to-face, learning, learning ecosystem, learning preferences, learning spaces, smart classrooms, tools, training / L&D, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, web-based collaboration, XR - extended reality, by Daniel Christian

Light Field Lab Unveils Modular Holographic Video Wall — from vrscout.com by Kyle Melnick

Along these lines…see:

Bank of America turns to VR for soft skills training — from vrscout.com by Bobby Carlton

Common Anxieties in Beginning HyFlex: Learning to Teach a HyFlex Class — from hyflexlearning.org by Brian Beatty

Excerpt:

Not surprisingly, one of the biggest anxieties – FEARS – for many faculty considering or implementing a HyFlex approach for the first time is learning how to do so, and to do so effectively the very first time. No one likes to feel like they aren’t equipped to do the work they are required (or challenged) to do; perhaps especially teachers who are normally in full control of their classrooms and the activities that take place in them. When you are planning to teach HyFlex, it may seem like you are planning for CHAOS, or at least planning to lose control over the class environment(s), the teaching process, and ultimately student learning. Let’s address those concerns one at a time, but briefly.

If we assume you are an effective classroom teacher, then a common design path that I usually recommend is to start with your plans for an effective classroom experience and work to translate those to the other modes, accessing expert guidance as needed (such as, instructional designers, online course design books, your colleagues). What are the learning outcomes (or instructional objectives) for the classroom? How will those translate into the online mode(s) you are planning? What about the instructional content and associated activities for the classroom? How do those translate? What about plans for assessment? Start with what you know, and are confident with, and then layer in approaches for the other modes.

Three resources for those interested in home-schooling

On 09/28/2021, in education, education reform, face-to-face, faith, homeschooling/homeschoolers, K-12 related, neurodivergent/special needs, policy, student-related, teachers, technologies for your home, United States, user experience (UX), youth, by Daniel Christian

Holt (1923 – 85) homeschooling and unschooling — from donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com by Donald Clark

Excerpt:

John Holt graduated from Yale in 1943 but signed up to be a submariner in WW2. On discharge, he eventually became a teacher, in various schools. This led to a disillusionment with the US education system so deep that he became an advocate for homeschooling and unschooling. This emerged from his belief that education was so deeply embedded, structurally and culturally, that it was unreformable. Neither did he believe that alternative schools were the answer. He retains his reputation as the founding father of homeschooling.

National Home Education Research Institute (NHERI)

Excerpt:

NHERI is the National Home Education Research Institute. NHERI conducts and collects research about homeschooling (home-based education, home schooling), and publishes the research journal called the Home School Researcher. The institute has hundreds of research works documented and catalogued on home schooling, many of which were done by NHERI. Simply put, NHERI specializes in homeschool research, facts, statistics, scholarly articles, and information.

Homeschooling – home education or home-based education – has grown from nearly extinct in the United States in the 1970s to just over 2 million school-age students. NHERI focuses on homeschooling research, homeschool facts, homeschool fast facts, and in-depth scholarly articles.

The Home School Legal Defense Association

Learning Ecosystems

Right Now, Your Best Employees Are Eyeing the Exits [Walton]

One Year Later . . . and Counting: Reflections on Emergency Remote Teaching and Online Learning [Moore, Trust, Lockee, Bond, & Hodges]

Light Field Lab Unveils Modular Holographic Video Wall [Melnick]

Common Anxieties in Beginning HyFlex: Learning to Teach a HyFlex Class [Beatty]

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