Also see:
On 05/23/2022,
in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, active learning, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, collaboration, colleges, community colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, education technology, engagement / engaging students, experimentation, face-to-face, faculty, graphics, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), interactivity, law schools, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning spaces, liberal arts, mathematics, Michigan, online learning, online media, online tutoring, participation, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, teaching & learning, tools, training / L&D, United States, universities,
by Daniel Christian
On 05/19/2022,
in active learning, colleges, community colleges, education technology, elearning, faculty, higher education, IT in HE, learning, learning spaces, liberal arts, teachers, teaching & learning, technology (general), tools, United States, universities,
by Daniel Christian
A Rubric for Selecting Active Learning Technologies — from er.educause.edu by Katie Bush, Monica Cormier, and Graham Anthony
A rubric can be an invaluable aid in evaluating how well technologies support active learning.
Excerpt:
Because the use of active learning is characterized by a broad range of activities in the classroom, comparing technology and determining which option provides more benefit to an active learning classroom can be difficult. The Rubric for Active Learning Technology Evaluation can provide some differentiation when comparing technology offerings. It has been designed to reveal subtle but impactful differences between technology in the context of active learning. The rubric was designed to be a tool for comparative technology evaluation and as such should be quick to use when comparing similar technologies. It is freely available to use and adapt under a Creative Commons license.
On 05/11/2022,
in 21st century, A/V -- audio/visual, adjunct faculty, collaboration, colleges, communications, community colleges, corporate universities / corporate training, digital audio, digital video, distance education, education technology, experimentation, faculty, higher education, Hyflex learning, instructional design, IT in HE, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning preferences, learning spaces, learning theories, liberal arts, pedagogy, platforms, remote teaching and learning, smart classrooms, teachers, teaching & learning, technology (general), telecommunications, tools, training / L&D, United States, universities, user experience (UX), vendors, videoconferencing,
by Daniel Christian
Technology for HyFlex Classrooms: Major Considerations — from hyflexlearning.org by Brian Beatty
Excerpts:
This post describes four aspects of classroom technology that are very important to address when developing a HyFlex approach that can be effective at scale.
…
The classroom technology needs can be organized into four areas:
- two-way audio stream (connection),
- incoming video presentation of remote learners
- outgoing video presentation of classroom and learners
- interactive technology to support interaction, engagement, and formative assessment
Also re: hyflex teaching — where some students are physically present and some are coming into the class remotely– see:
Part I – Motivating Learners by Building Efficacy (Confidence) through Scaffolding and Support— from hyflexlearning.org by Jeanne Samuel
Excerpts:
HyFlex delivery may be new to many learners. Therefore, it is important to provide them with the supports they need to be successful. Regardless of the delivery mode, learners are motivated by success and by instructor presence. In part one of this topic post, we will write about how instructor support and feedback (a form of guidance) can motivate learners and build learner confidence.
PART II- Feedback for Improving Student Success and Satisfaction — from hyflexlearning.org by Jeanne Samuel
Excerpt:
In part 1 of this post, we focused on how feedback and support promote learner confidence. Learner confidence can lead to improved learner retention, progression, and success regardless of the class delivery mode. In part 2, we focus on feedback strategies.
On 03/19/2022,
in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, adult learning, Alternatives, analytics, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Blockchain, business, career development, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, CMS/LMS, colleges, communities of practice, community colleges, competency-based learning/education, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, credentialing, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, education, elearning, formal learning, future, future of higher education, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, informal learning, innovation, instructional design, K-12 related, law schools, learner profiles, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning preferences, learning spaces, liberal arts, lifelong learning, love of learning, microlearning, more voice more choice more control, online learning, open courseware and systems, participation, professional development, project-based learning, publishing, real-world assignments, social learning / networks, society, student-related, technologies for your home, the downsides of how people use tech, training / L&D, United States, universities, user experience (UX), vendors, vision/possibilities, youth,
by Daniel Christian
From DSC:
Christin Bohnke raises a great and timely question out at edsurge.com in her article entitled:
Do We Really Want Academic Permanent Records to Live Forever on Blockchain?
Christin does a wonderful job of addressing the possibilities — but also the challenges — of using blockchain for educational/learning-related applications. She makes a great point that the time to look at this carefully is now:
Yet as much as unchangeable education records offer new chances, they also create new challenges. Setting personal and academic information in stone may actually counter the mission of education to help people evolve over time. The time to assess the benefits and drawbacks of blockchain technology is right now, before adoption in schools and universities is widespread.
As Christin mentions, blockchain technology can be used to store more than formal certification data. It could also store such informal certification data such as “research experience, individual projects and skills, mentoring or online learning.”
The keeping of extensive records via blockchain certainly raises numerous questions. Below are a few that come to my mind:
- Will this type of record-keeping help or hurt in terms of career development and moving to a different job?
- Will — or should — CMS/LMS vendors enable this type of feature/service in their products?
- Should credentials from the following sources be considered relevant?
- Microlearning-based streams of content
- Data from open courseware/courses
- Learning that we do via our Personal Learning Networks (PLNs) and social networks
- Learning that we get from alternatives such as bootcamps, coding schools, etc.
- Will the keeping of records impact the enjoyment of learning — or vice versa? Or will it depend upon the person?
- Will there be more choice, more control — or less so?
- To what (granular) level of competency-based education should we go? Or from project-based learning?
- Could instructional designers access learners’ profiles to provide more personalized learning experiences?
- …and I’m certain there are more questions than these.
All that said…
To me, the answers to these questions — and likely other questions as well — lie in:
- Giving a person a chance to learn, practice, and then demonstrate the required skills (regardless of the data the potential employer has access to)
. - Giving each user the right to own their own data — and to release it as they see fit. Each person should have the capability of managing their own information/data without having to have the skills of a software engineer or a database administrator. When something is written to a blockchain, there would be a field for who owns — and can administer — the data.
In the case of finding a good fit/job, a person could use a standardized interface to generate a URL that is sent out to a potential employer. That URL would be good for X days. The URL gives the potential employer the right to access whatever data has been made available to them. It could be full access, in which case the employer is able to run their own queries/searches on the data. Or the learner could restrict the potential employer’s reach to a more limited subset of data.
Visually, speaking:
I still have a lot more thinking to do about this, but that’s where I’m at as of today. Have a good one all!
On 02/05/2022,
in Alternatives, assessment, business, career development, collaboration, colleges, communications, communities of practice, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, cost of getting a degree, curriculum, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, education reform, expectations, faculty, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, ideas, instructional design, law schools, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, liberal arts, skills, teaching & learning, trends, United States, universities, workplace, writing,
by Daniel Christian
Rethinking the Faculty Role in Students’ Career Readiness — from insidehighered.com by Rachel Toor; with thanks to Ryan Craig for this solid, well-written resource
It’s time for all of us on campuses, not just the people in career services, to step up and help offer the competencies employers say they’re looking for, Rachel Toor writes.
Excerpts:
Career centers on campuses can offer students coaching, resources and connections. But, as Angle points out, they tend to be a just-in-time service. They are also, he says, “scary places for a lot of students.” Many young people don’t want to face the reality of life after graduation. Often, it’s a case of too little, too late.
Instead, they come to people they know—professors like me—for help with cover letters and résumés. And while I can comment on language, until recently I had no idea about how most résumés are read first by a version of R2-D2 and his little robot friends who make up automated tracking systems. If an applicant doesn’t include the right keywords in a résumé or cover letter, into the trash bin they go.
The truth is, I have not applied for a job in 15 years; for many of my colleagues it’s been even longer, and some of them have never worked outside academe. It’s not surprising that employers are seeing recent college grads—smart students, hard workers—who don’t know how to present themselves as potential employees.
From DSC:
I can relate to that part about R2-D2 reading the resumes first (i.e., trying to get by the Applicant Tracking Systems before one’s resume ever makes it in front of the eyes of a fellow human being). Many faculty/staff members and members of administrations haven’t been out interviewing in a long while. So it can be a rude awakening when they/we need to do that.
Also, I wanted to say that it’s not fair to assess the learners coming out of higher education using a different set of learning objectives:
- That is, faculty members within higher ed have one set of learning objectives and their students work hard to learn and meet those learning objectives. Unfortunately, those students did what was asked of them, and then they…
- …come to find out that the corporate/business/legal/etc. worlds have different ideas about what they should know and be able to do. That is, these other organizations and communities of practice are assessing them on different sets of learning objectives that these same students didn’t cover. Some (many?) of these graduates leave their interviews discouraged and think, “Well, it must be me.” Or they can leave frustrated and angry at their former institutions who didn’t prepare them for this new assessment.
As I’ve said on this blog before, this disconnect is not fair to the students/graduates. We need more mechanisms by which faculty and staff members within higher ed can work more collaboratively with those within the corporate world to better align the learning objectives and the curriculum being covered. If this doesn’t occur more frequently, the constant appearance and growth of new alternatives will likely continue to build further momentum (as they should, given the incredibly steep price of obtaining a degree these days!).
P.S. This disconnect of learning objectives can also be found in what happens with legal education — including having to pass today’s Bar Exams — and then these graduates get out into the real world to find employers who are frustrated that these graduates don’t have the “right”/necessary skills.
“The incentive structure is for law schools to teach students how to pass the bar exam, not necessarily to do the things that employers expect,” Gallini said.
A quote from this article, which I also
want to thank Ryan Craig for.
On 01/17/2022,
in Africa, Asia, Australia, business side of he, Canada, change, changing business models, colleges, community colleges, Europe, global / globalization, higher education, India, IT in HE, journalism, law schools, learning ecosystem, liberal arts, lifelong learning, UK, United States, universities,
by Daniel Christian
Inside Higher Ed Acquired by Times Higher Education — from insidehighered.com by Scott Jaschik and Doug Lederman
Our editors Scott Jaschik and Doug Lederman explain how this combination of publishing companies will improve global coverage of postsecondary education and better serve the higher ed community.
Excerpt:
As journalists, we often say that we want to report the news, not be the news. We are making an exception [on 1/10/22] to announce that Inside Higher Ed has been acquired by Times Higher Education (THE), the world’s leading provider of higher education news, data and insights.