student-related

OPINION: Meet certificates and “microcredentials” — they could be the future of higher education — from hechingerreport.org by Arthur Levine and Scott Van Pelt
In years to come, they will become prevalent — and possibly preferred — to college degrees

Excerpt:

What is new is that we are calling them badges and microcredentials and using them primarily to certify specific skills, such as cross-cultural competency, welding and conversational Spanish.

So what are they? Microcredentials are certifications of mastery; badges verify the attainment of specific competencies.

No matter what we are calling them, they may be here to stay.

We now live in a time that is more open to rethinking college and university credentials. We are witnessing experimentation with competency-based education, through which students earn credits by demonstrating skills instead of spending time in courses. We are also seeing discussion of free or reduced tuition, along with subscription pricing that lets students take as many courses as they like for one low cost.

Also see:

Can an AI tutor teach your child to read? — from hechingerreport.org by Jackie Mader
Some AI reading programs are boosting early literacy skills

Excerpt:

Artificial intelligence has been used for years in education to monitor teaching quality, teach classes, grade assignments and tailor instruction to student ability levels. Now, a small but growing number of programs are attempting to use AI to target reading achievement in the early years — a longstanding struggle for America’s schools.

Check out “The Learning Scientists Podcast”

On 09/15/2021, in accessibility / UDL, active learning, adjunct faculty, adult learning, assessment, blended learning, colleges, community colleges, content development, corporate universities / corporate training, digital learning, education technology, elearning, face-to-face, faculty, flipping -- inverted learning, formal learning, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, hybrid learning, ideas, instructional design, K-12 related, law schools, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods, learning preferences, learning spaces, learning theories, library / librarians, memory, metacognition / metacognitive skills, online learning, pedagogy, podcasting, productivity / tips and tricks, professional development, student teaching/teacher education, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, teaching online, universities, vision/possibilities, by Daniel Christian

Active Learning: 5 Tips for Implementing the Approach — from techlearning.com by Erik Ofgang
Active learning provides ways to get your students engaged without needing to revamp how you teach.

Excerpts:

However, neither listening to a lecture or reading a textbook is the most efficient way to learn or what active learning is truly about. “What exactly do we mean by active learning?” Deslauriers says. “We mean that first, you have to be engaged. Obviously, that’s number one. Number two, you have to be engaged productively. And number three, the productivity has to be toward a goal that is deemed worthwhile*.”

— Louis Deslauriers, Director of Science Teaching and Learning
in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University

From DSC:
I appreciated seeing/reading this solid article. Just a couple of reflections and highlights here…

* But worthwhile for whom? For the faculty members? The teachers? The trainers? Or for the learners, the students, or the employees? Where is agency here? Where does more choice and control come into play here? Where’s the motivation for me to learn something if someone keeps telling me what’s important to THEM? What’s relevant to THEM? Why should I care about this topic? How is it relevant? How will it help me get a job and/or make a positive difference in this world? Can I choose how deep I want to dive in?

Later…Deslauriers goes on to make a great point when urging a pause for students to practice some metacognition:

Does this make sense to me?
How is this relevant? <– DSC: There it is.
Does it connect with something I already know? And if so, how do I integrate with what I already know?
What sort of questions do I have right now?
Can I repeat what the instructor just did? Or is it going to require a lot of practice?

“There’s no way you can undergo these mental processes when someone keeps talking,” Deslauriers says. But if educators pause during their lectures and encourage this type of focus, they can help their students learn more efficiently.

Instructors can hand out electronic clickers, use web-based tools such as Google forms, or even go completely low-tech by giving color-coded cards to students that correspond to different answers.

Also see:

Why Traditional Lectures Won’t End Anytime Soon in Higher Ed Despite Better Approaches Being Available — from techlearning.com by Erik Ofgang
For years, research has shown that students learn more through active learning than from passive traditional lecture, but the old habit is hard to break.

Google Earth Lesson Plan — from techlearning.com by Stephanie Smith Budhai

Excerpt:

The 3D interactive online exploration platform Google Earth provides a pathway to endless learning adventures around the globe. For an overview of Google Earth and a breakdown of its unique features, check out How to Use Google Earth for Teaching.

McKinsey for Kids: I, Robot? What technology shifts mean for tomorrow’s jobs [mckinsey.com]

On 09/07/2021, in career development, change, education, education reform, emerging technologies, future, pace of change, parents, passions, research, robotics, society, student-related, youth, by Daniel Christian

McKinsey for Kids: I, Robot? What technology shifts mean for tomorrow’s jobs — from mckinsey.com

Tomorrow’s jobs will look different from today’s—and not just because you might be working alongside robots. In this edition of McKinsey for Kids, peer into the future of work and what it may hold for you, whether you’re thinking about becoming a doctor, an influencer—or a garbage designer.

Some psychological benefits of remote learning in k-12 sector [Bates]

On 09/07/2021, in Canada, K-12 related, learner profiles, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning preferences, online learning, parents, remote teaching and learning, special needs, student teaching/teacher education, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, teaching online, youth, by Daniel Christian

Some psychological benefits of remote learning in k-12 sector — from by Tony Bates

Excerpt:

There have been many criticisms of the move to remote learning during the pandemic for students in schools, but there also appear to have been some unexpected benefits. This article looks at these from a psychological point of view, and how some of these benefits could be continued post-pandemic. The article lists the following benefits…

Top 300 Tools for Learning 2021 [Hart]

On 09/03/2021, in 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, active learning, adjunct faculty, Adobe, adult learning, analytics, animation, Apple, art, blogs / blogging, business, career development, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, CMS/LMS, collaboration, colleges, communications, communities of practice, community colleges, content development, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, creativity, design, digital audio, digital learning, digital photography, digital storytelling, digital video, e-books, e-publishing related items (EPUB and more), e-readers, education technology, educational games / serious games, elearning, engagement / engaging students, experimentation, face-to-face, faculty, flipping -- inverted learning, Google, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, innovation, instructional design, interactivity, IT in HE, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, online learning, online media, open courseware and systems, platforms, podcasting, presentations, productivity / tips and tricks, professional development, programming, reading, remote teaching and learning, RSS, social learning / networks, social media, STEAM-related, storytelling, streams of content, student teaching/teacher education, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, teaching online, technologies for your home, tools, training / L&D, trends, UK, United States, universities, vendors, videoconferencing, web-based collaboration, webinars, workplace, writing, youth, by Daniel Christian

Top 300 Tools for Learning 2021 — from toptools4learning.com by Jane Hart

Excerpt:

2021 was the YEAR OF DISRUPTION! There were a substantial number of new tools nominated this year so the main list has now been extended to 300 tools to accommodate them, and each of the 3 sub-lists has been increased to 150 tools. Although the top of this year’s list is relatively stable, there is quite bit of movement of tools on the rest of the list, and the effect of the new tools has been to push other established tools down – if not off the list altogether. Further analysis of the list appears in the right-hand column of the table below.

This table shows the overall rankings as well as the rankings on the 3 sub-lists: Top 150 Tools for Personal Learning (PL150), the Top 150 Tools for Workplace Learning (WL150) and the Top 150 Tools for Education (ED150). NEW tools are shaded YELLOW, tools coming BACK on the list are shaded GREEN. The most popular context in which each tool is used is also highlighted in BLUE. Click on a tool name to find out more about it.

Scaling HyFlex for the Post-Pandemic Campus — from er.educause.edu by Jennifer Rider and Ayla Moore

Excerpt:

Setting up HyFlex courses on any campus requires thoughtful planning, careful analysis, continual assessment, and faculty support. But is HyFlex something that higher education institutions can and should permanently adopt in a post-pandemic world?

The Tomorrow Room on campus is a space where new technology will be showcased so that faculty can become familiar with the room design and technology before teaching in a HyFlex classroom.

DIGITAL SERIES – FUTURE OF WORK: THE NEXT GENERATION

Excerpt:

The working landscape in the United States has rapidly changed in the last 30 years. The one job-for-life model is vanishing and younger workers are trading in stability and security for flexibility and autonomy. GBH and PBS Digital Studios present the Future of Work digital series, a six-part docuseries chronicling six mid-career adults as they navigate the rapidly changing work landscape covering topics such as debt, the gig economy, remote working, career identity, and more.

Reflections on “5 Ways Higher Ed Will Be Upended” [Levine & Van Pelt]

On 08/27/2021, in business side of he, change, changing business models, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, colleges, communities of practice, content aggregration, content development, content repositories, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, cost of getting a degree, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, entrepreneurship, experimentation, faculty, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, generational differences, higher education, ideas, innovation, law schools, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning preferences, liberal arts, lifelong learning, student-related, surviving, trends, ubiquitous learning, United States, universities, vision/possibilities, by Daniel Christian

5 Ways Higher Ed Will Be Upended — from chronicle.com by Arthur Levine and Scott Van Pelt
Colleges will lose power, prices will go down, and credentials will multiply — among other jarring shifts.

Excerpt:

The dominance of degrees and “just in case” education will diminish; nondegree certifications and “just in time” education will increase in status and value.
…
In contrast, “just in time” education teaches students the skills and knowledge they need right now. They may need to learn a foreign language for an coming trip or business deal. They may need to learn an emerging technology. “Just in time” education comes in all shapes and sizes, but diverges from traditional academic time standards, uniform course lengths, and common credit measures. Only a small portion of such programs award degrees; most grant certificates, microcredentials, or badges.

From DSC:
Long-time readers of this blog and my old blog at Calvin (then College) will see no surprises here:

I published the idea of 50% off and more back in 2008

10 Ways You Can Use Podcasts in Your Course to Engage Students [Honeycutt]

On 08/25/2021, in 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, adjunct faculty, colleges, community colleges, creativity, digital audio, digital learning, digital storytelling, education technology, engagement / engaging students, ideas, instructional design, K-12 related, law schools, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning preferences, lifelong learning, multimedia, online learning, online media, participation, podcasting, productivity / tips and tricks, professional development, remote teaching and learning, student teaching/teacher education, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, teaching online, tools, youth, by Daniel Christian

10 Ways You Can Use Podcasts in Your Course to Engage Students — from barbihoneycutt.com by Barbi Honeycutt, Ph.D.

Excerpt:

Have you used podcasts in your courses yet? If not, you might want to consider it! Podcasts can be an excellent tool to add to your lesson to enhance a message, present more in-depth perspectives, and offer a different medium for students to engage with the course content.

And, podcasts are popular! There are more than 630,000 podcasts representing a variety of topics: current issues, education, writing, research, science, leadership, politics, management, business, skill development, hobbies, etc. The list just goes on and on.

I’m almost positive there is at least one episode in one podcast somewhere you could integrate into your course. And if there isn’t, then you and your students could create one!

Best Restorative Justice Practices and Sites for Educators [Restifo]

On 08/25/2021, in ideas, K-12 related, leadership, parents, society, student teaching/teacher education, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, trends, United States, vision/possibilities, youth, by Daniel Christian

Best Restorative Justice Practices and Sites for Educators — from techlearning.com by Diana Restifo
Best practices, resources, guides, sites, and more for implementing restorative justice in schools

Excerpt:

In recent years, the conversation around school discipline has shifted from the punitive-based approach to an admittedly more complex, holistic approach known as restorative justice (RJ) or restorative practices (RP). Using carefully facilitated conversations, students, teachers, and administrators work together to solve behavior problems in schools. There may still be suspensions or expulsions—but as a last resort, not first.

The following articles, videos, guides, professional development opportunities, and research are a great starting point for educators and administrators to learn what it takes to institute restorative practices in their schools—and why it matters.

Building Confident Learners Means Valuing Student Questions [Ferriter]

On 08/22/2021, in ideas, K-12 related, Learning Experience Design, pedagogy, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, teaching online, youth, by Daniel Christian

Building Confident Learners Means Valuing Student Questions — from buildingconfidentlearners.com by Bill Ferriter

This book is dedicated to Mr. Ferriter -- for inspiring me to ask questions about the world!

Just released: The Chronicle of Higher Education’s Almanac for 2021-2022

On 08/19/2021, in adjunct faculty, business side of he, colleges, community colleges, data mining, higher education, leadership, student-related, United States, universities, by Daniel Christian

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