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Toward a science of learning

On 02/14/2011, in adjunct faculty, faculty/staff, metacognition / metacognitive skills, teaching & learning, trends, by Daniel Christian

Toward a science of learning — from InsideHigherEd.com by Diana Chapman Walsh

In travels around the country, I’ve been seeing signs of a trend in higher education that could have profound implications: a growing interest in learning about learning. At colleges and universities that are solidly grounded in a commitment to teaching, groups of creative faculty are mobilizing around learning as a collective, and intriguing, intellectual inquiry.

This trend embraces the advances being made in the cognitive sciences and the study of consciousness. It resides in the fast-moving world of changing information technology and social media. It recognizes and builds upon new pedagogies and evolving theories of multiple ways of knowing and learning. It encompasses but transcends the evolution of new and better measures of student learning outcomes.

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I know that this essay is loaded with fighting words. But I believe we need, and are now beginning to see, ways to reframe the problem of learning outcomes, ways that might galvanize positive energy and support within a faculty. Imagine “the administration” saying to faculty, in effect: We want you to be learning all you can about who your students are now, how they learn and what they need to know in order to be successful in a world that is changing faster than we can imagine much less anticipate. And we want you to have the resources and collegial connections you will need to make the pursuit of that question an exciting and fruitful complement to your scholarship. From learning science there are stunning advances that need translation before they can be brought successfully into classrooms, findings and possibilities that at least some faculty might find inherently fascinating if they were approached right, offered a supportive culture with meaningful incentives and rewards and scholarly payoffs.

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Elementary, my dear Watson: Jeopardy computer offers insight into human cognition

On 02/09/2011, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Canada, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, learning agents, learning ecosystem, personalized/customized learning, vendors, by Daniel Christian

Elementary, my dear Watson: Jeopardy computer offers insight into human cognition — from Sentient Developments by George Dvorsky

Also see:

  1. Massive parallelism:
    Exploit massive parallelism in the consideration of multiple interpretations and hypotheses.
  2. Many experts:
    Facilitate the integration, application and con-textual evaluation of a wide range of loosely coupled probabilistic question and content analytics.
  3. Pervasive confidence estimation:
    No single component commits to an answer; all components produce features and associated confidences, scoring different question and contentinterpretations. An underlying confidence processing substratelearns how to stack and combine the scores.
  4. Integrate shallow and deep knowledge:
    Balance the use of strict semantics and shallow semantics, leveraging many loosely formed ontologies.

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IBM's Watson -- incredible AI!

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Can students learn to learn? [ item on metacognition]

On 01/31/2011, in learning ecosystem, learning theories, metacognition / metacognitive skills, psychology, student-related, by Daniel Christian

Can students learn to learn? — from InsideHigherEd.com by Scott Jaschik

SAN FRANCISCO — Why do some students in a course perform better than others of roughly equal ability?

The answers, of course, are as varied as are students. Some spend more time studying, or study more efficiently; some have other priorities; some don’t connect with the instructor. Some of these factors relate to metacognition, defined variously as knowing about knowing or being able to understand why we learn the way we do. A student with metacognition may realize after a disappointing test that she didn’t study hard enough, and needs to devote more time to academics. The student operating without metacognition may respond to the same setback by trashing his instructor on RateMyProfessors.com.

…

By forcing students to stop for a few minutes and associate their study habits with their exam performance, and to think about why they don’t know an answer, the academics hope to change students’ habits — to encourage them to figure out what they don’t know and to study in more effective ways (and more). “We want those who are not doing well to think about it,” Bonnie said.

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Mindfulness article from latest DOT Magazine (Dec 2010)

On 01/07/2011, in attention, engagement / engaging students, memory, by Daniel Christian

mindfulness in the digital age.

…we are in the midst of one of the most profound cognitive shifts in our intellectual history, moving from a “deep attention” to a “hyper attention” society (emphasis DSC), to quote Duke University professor Katherine Hayles. She defines “deep attention” as the cognitive preference for input from only a single information stream, to be engaged for an extended period. “Hyper attention,” by contrast, is marked by a hunger for a high level of stimulation and a desire to shift rapidly among different information streams.

From DSC:
In the near future, we may long for the days of being able to dive deeply into an item — giving it our full attention (and then again, we may not!). But to me, this type of deep focus will take practice and a concerted effort to maintain this ability; because with the information overload coming at us, to give our attention to something is asking a lot. Often times, you have but a split second to get someone’s attention. I wonder…how many people never made it to this point in this posting for example…? Probably quite a few.

If attention can be visualized as a gate...is it getting harder to get through the gate?



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How can words describe this?

On 01/04/2011, in accessibility / UDL, assistive technologies, psychology, relationships, by Daniel Christian

The human body and mind is amazingly complex.

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From DSC:
Again, my thanks to Mr. Joseph Byerwalter for this amazing item.

How can words describe this? I’m not sure they can…but the words/feeble attempts that come to my mind are:

  • Perseverance
  • Patience
  • Hope
  • Love
  • Success
  • Pain can reach to the heavy depths of human existence
  • Joy can rise up to the highest heavens
  • Look for the invisible, not the visible
  • The human body and mind is amazingly complex
  • The love of a father and mother can be enormously strong and powerful
  • “Don’t judge a book by it’s cover”

I stand in awe of families and people like this; they humble me, yet again.

The article behind the above video can be found at:
http://abcnews.go.com/2020/MindMoodNews/story?id=8258204&page=1

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Learning Landscape Model Video

On 01/03/2011, in corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, instructional design, learning, learning ecosystem, learning theories, memory, training / L&D, workplace, by Daniel Christian

Learning Landscape Model Video — from Will Thalheimer

Learning Landscape Model -- by Dr. Will Thalheimer -- January 2011

The Learning Landscape Model is:

…based on the fundamental cognitive architectures of learning, remembering, and prompting as three distinct cognitive operations, all of which are needed to maximize workplace learning-and-performance results. While previous models have often forgotten forgetting or forgotten prompting mechanisms (like job aids), the Learning Landscape is complete. Perhaps more importantly, it is actionable, for example, it can be utilized to have productive discussions between us as learning professionals and our business partners. Finally, the Learning Landscape Model can be used to improve learning measurement significantly over the 4-levels or roi models.

Check out the video of the Learning Landscape Model…

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How games engage the brain

On 11/01/2010, in educational games / serious games, engagement / engaging students, motivation, by Daniel Christian

How games engage the brain — from NspireD2 by Chris Clark

In a TED video released today, Tom Chatfield presents seven ways in which games engage the brain. Chatfield is a game theorist and author of the new book, Fun, Inc., about the gaming industry and how it is altering our society.

Chatfield’s seven talking points are

  1. Experience bars measuring progress
  2. Multiple long and short-term aims
  3. Rewards for effort
  4. Rapid, frequent, clear feedback
  5. An element of uncertainty
  6. Windows of enhanced engagement
  7. Other people

Of course, that list doesn’t mean much unless you watch the video.

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The importance of art in a child’s development

On 10/15/2010, in art, creativity, K-12 related, psychology, by Daniel Christian

The importance of art in a child’s development — from MaryAnn F. Kohl, art author and educator

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Attention, Engagement, and the Next Generation

On 10/08/2010, in 21st century, attention, engagement / engaging students, expectations, game-changing environment, generational differences, by Daniel Christian

EDUCAUSE Review Magazine, Volume 45, Number 5, September/October 2010

Attention, Engagement, and the Next Generation


Howard Rheingold

If we want to discover how we can engage students as well as ourselves in the 21st century, we must move beyond skills and technologies. We must explore also the interconnected social media literacies of attention, participation, cooperation, network awareness, and critical consumption.

Danah Boyd
The future of Web 2.0 is about streams of content. The goal today is to be attentively aligned—”in flow”—with these information streams, to be aware of information as it flows by, grabbing it at the right moment when it is most relevant, valuable, entertaining, or insightful.
Malcolm Brown, with Mark Auslander, Kelly Gredone, David Green, Bruce Hull, and Walt Jacobs
How can faculty use technology and innovative pedagogical methods in their courses to make their students’ learning experiences richer and more meaningful—to capture, retain, and sustain student engagement?
Veronica Diaz, Cindy Jennings, Kelvin Bentley, P. B. Garrett, Barron Koralesky, Christina Royal, and David Starrett
Electronic books, mobile computing, and open content are three mature, robust, and quite approachable technology innovations holding much promise for attracting students’ attention and thereby supporting deeper student engagement with learning.
Diana G. Oblinger
Improving college readiness and completion for the next generation is a grand challenge for society. Although there are many ways to approach this challenge, applying the innovative capabilities of information technology must be one. We have many of the tools, policies, and technologies in hand.
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Cathy Davidson on Learning in a Digital Age

On 09/20/2010, in digital learning, education technology, multimedia, new media literacies, pedagogy, strategy, teaching & learning, writing, by Daniel Christian

Cathy Davidson on Learning in the Digital Age -- on 9-13-10

From DSC:
Perspectives from an English professor at Duke University, who has also studied biology and neuroscience, and who has been working for years on a variety of items surrounding this topic.

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Apollo Group joins learning technology partnership with Stanford University

On 09/17/2010, in education technology, interaction design, interactivity, learning theories, research, by Daniel Christian

Apollo Group joins learning technology partnership with Stanford University — from businesswire.com
Partnership brings together academic researchers and select industry partners to study interactive communications and technology; Apollo Group’s Dr. Tracey Wilen-Daugenti to serve as visiting scholar

Through the partnership, Apollo Group and Dr. Wilen-Daugenti will work with Stanford University faculty and researchers studying basic issues about the design and use of modern technologies and their impact on today’s learner. Apollo Group will also participate with Stanford faculty members and graduate students to explore the role technology can play in higher education organizations, with a specialization in distance learning.

“Technology today is changing at an extremely fast pace, which impacts both enterprise and educational institutions, requiring them to keep up with the latest trends,” said Dr. Wilen-Daugenti. “Students are increasingly exposed to the latest technology in their lives, and seek access to it in their work and education environments. Through this partnership and visiting scholar program, we hope to address this issue and find ways for higher learning institutions to more readily use technology to address the needs of today’s students.”

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Forget what you know about good study habits

On 09/07/2010, in instructional design, learning preferences, learning theories, memory, student-related, by Daniel Christian

Forget what you know about good study habits — from the NY Times by Benedict Carey

Take the notion that children have specific learning styles, that some are “visual learners” and others are auditory; some are “left-brain” students, others “right-brain.” In a recent review of the relevant research, published in the journal Psychological Science in the Public Interest, a team of psychologists found almost zero support for such ideas. “The contrast between the enormous popularity of the learning-styles approach within education and the lack of credible evidence for its utility is, in our opinion, striking and disturbing,” the researchers concluded.

…

Cognitive scientists do not deny that honest-to-goodness cramming can lead to a better grade on a given exam. But hurriedly jam-packing a brain is akin to speed-packing a cheap suitcase, as most students quickly learn — it holds its new load for a while, then most everything falls out.

“With many students, it’s not like they can’t remember the material” when they move to a more advanced class, said Henry L. Roediger III, a psychologist at Washington University in St. Louis. “It’s like they’ve never seen it before.”

When the neural suitcase is packed carefully and gradually, it holds its contents for far, far longer. An hour of study tonight, an hour on the weekend, another session a week from now: such so-called spacing improves later recall, without requiring students to put in more overall study effort or pay more attention, dozens of studies have found.

No one knows for sure why. It may be that the brain, when it revisits material at a later time, has to relearn some of what it has absorbed before adding new stuff — and that that process is itself self-reinforcing.

From DSC:

Re: research on learning styles…I would really like to know if these students were interviewed/reviewed in terms of which methods they preferred to learn by…which methods made learning more interesting…more fun..more efficient.

I’ll bet you “good students” can learn in spite of a variety of obstacles, issues, and/or teaching methods…they’ll learn what they need to in order to get the grade.

  • But which method(s) do they — as well as less “successful” students — prefer?
  • Which methods produce a longer-term ROI (besides just making it past the mid-term or final exam)?
  • Which method(s) are more engaging to them?
  • Which method(s) take less time for them to absorb the material?

We want students to love learning…but if you don’t like something, you surely won’t love it.

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How to integrate multimedia for effective learning

On 08/27/2010, in elearning, instructional design, learning theories, multimedia, online learning, training / L&D, by Daniel Christian

How to integrate multimedia for effective learning — from theelearningcoach.com

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Integrating the multimedia assets of a course can raise a host of issues. In my world, this can be as simple as explaining to a client why screens of text with an out-of-sync voice over will not be effective—to more complex issues, such as determining whether an animation will promote greater comprehension than a series of stills.

Although we know it can be advantageous to present content through multiple forms of media, the big question is how to integrate the mediums.

When deciding on these issues, I use two principles from cognitive science as guidelines that I think you’ll find helpful too. One is known as the Split-attention Effect and the other is the Redundancy Principle. Both principles are important.

Also see:

Related Articles:
Using Graphics To Improve Learning
Learning Theory And Multimedia

Book Recommendation:
Multimedia Learning by Richard E. Mayer

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Advanced personal learning — from Engineering’s Grand Challenges

On 08/23/2010, in change, disruption, education technology, engineering, intelligent tutoring, learning ecosystem, learning preferences, learning theories, personalized/customized learning, by Daniel Christian

Advanced Personal Learning-- from Engineering's Grade Challenges

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An introduction to Robert Gagne’s Instructional Design Model – from C. Pappas

On 06/25/2010, in instructional design, learning theories, by Daniel Christian

An introduction to Robert Gagnes' 9 events -- by Christopher Pappass

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