Extending the boundaries of learning: A challenge for IT in Higher Education: A Q&A with Lev Gonick — from CampusTechnology.com by Mary Grush

Excerpts:

“In just one generation there has been the most radical transformation of access to learning ever in human history,” Lev Gonick points out.

But among the major developments that we can look back on at this point is a significant challenge to the traditional postsecondary education model–an entrenched model that has almost always been exclusively faculty centric. We, as the leaders of IT initiatives in higher education, have given rise to a conversation on our college campuses about the meaning of student centered learning and active learning. We are a significant part of that reframing–this is enormously important as we think about IT’s continuing role.

But we are now on the threshold of a very different set of institutional configurations and new learning experience opportunities, and ultimately we will see a reconfiguration of the meaning of learning as enabled by the IT world.

 

Teacher gives epic resignation in video — from eSchoolNews.com by Meris Stansbury
“Everything I love about teaching is now extinct.”

 

 

InPursuitOfHappiness-ATeachersResignation-May2013

 

From DSC :
After listening to this, I can’t help but reflect on the run-away train/emphasis on standardized tests. It appears that not only has such an emphasis robbed the joy, curiosity, wonder, initiative, and creativity of our students, but also that of our teachers. 

With each day that passes, I want to see more programs and opportunities that support an amazing variety of pathways and choices.  We each have different gifts, abilities, passions, callings, etc.  — teachers as well as students.   The very words “standards” and “standardization” seem to be incongruous with how we are actually made.

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Perhaps I should have called this posting, “Assessment gone awry…?”

 

 

 

 

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The do’s and don’ts of synchronous online learning — from campustechnology.com by Bridget McCrea

Excerpt:

Creating videos, presentations, and lessons that college students access and interact with on their own time and terms is one thing, but developing learning content that requires both students and instructor to be online at the same time presents a whole different set of challenges for college professors and instructional technologists.

40percentfreelancersby2020-quartz-april2013

 

Also, from Steve Wheeler’s

Etienne Wenger recently declared: ‘If any institutions are going to help learners with the real challenges they face…(they) will have to shift their focus from imparting curriculum to supporting the negotiation of productive identities through landscapes of practice’ (Wenger, 2010).

We live in uncertain times, where we cannot be sure how the economy is going to perform today, let alone predict what kind of jobs there will be for students when they graduate in a few years time. How can we prepare students for a world of work that doesn’t yet exist? How can we help learners to ready themselves for employment that is shifting like the sand, and where many of the jobs they will be applying for when they leave university probably don’t exist yet? It’s a conundrum many faculty and lecturers are wrestling with, and one which many others are ignoring in the hope that the problem will simply go away. Whether we are meerkats, looking out and anticipating the challenges, or ostriches burying our heads in the sand, the challenge remains, and it is growing stronger.

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Also see:

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401kworld-friedman-may2013

 

Also see:

  • The Nature of the Future: The Socialstructed World — from nextberlin.eu by Marina Gorbis, Institute for the Future
    Marina Gorbis, Executive Director of the Institute for the Future (iftf.org) discussed the evolution of communication and its consequences at NEXT13. She analyzed the perks and challenges of the new relationship-driven or “socialstructed” economy, stating that “humans and technology will team up”. Her new book ‘The Nature of the Future: Dispatches from the Socialstructed World’ was published in early 2013.  Watch her inspiring talk on April 23, 2013 at NEXT13.

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From DSC:
My best take on this at this point:

  • Give students more choice, more control of their learning
  • Help them discover their gifts, abilities, talents, passions
  • Help them develop their gifts, abilities, talents, passions
  • Provide content in as many ways as possible — and let the students work with what they prefer to work with
  • Implement story, emotion, creativity, and play as much as possible (providing plenty of chances for them to create what they want to create)
  • Utilize cross-disciplinary assignments and teams
  • Integrate real-world assignments/projects into the mix
  • Help them develop their own businesses while they are still in school — coach them along, provide mentors, relevant blogs/websites, etc.
  • Guide them as they create/develop their own “textbooks” and/or streams of content

 

U.S. Department of Education Releases Blueprint to Elevate and Transform the Teaching Profession, Calls Educators to Action

Excerpt:

[On 4/25/13] the U.S. Department of Education (ED) released the Obama Administration’s blueprint for elevating and transforming the teaching profession, also known as the Blueprint for RESPECT (Recognizing Educational Success, Professional Excellence, and Collaborative Teaching).

RESPECT was first launched in February of 2012 as a national conversation on the teaching profession, shortly after the President committed to support the development of a new, comprehensive teacher policy in his state of the union address.

Since then, the Department has engaged more than 5,700 educators nationwide to develop and refine a vision of teaching and leading that will help both teachers and students to meet the new, 21st century demands being placed on them.

With RESPECT, Educators Lead the Transformation of the Teaching Profession

Recognizing Educational Success, Professional Excellence, and Collaborative Teaching (RESPECT)
An Educator-led Movement

Excerpt:

RESPECT represents a movement within the education profession to elevate and transform teaching and leading so that all of our students are prepared to meet the demands of the 21st century. As the demands of our world continue to expand, our students need educators who are well prepared, compensated, and treated as professionals.

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Below are some resources and some inspirational items re: learning spaces — from Calvin College’s Learning Spaces Learning Community, one of the Learning Communities that have been discussing and researching various items at Calvin College since last fall.   Members include Debra Buursma*, Jo-Ann VanReeuwyk*, Joel Adams, Pat Bailey, Marcie Pyper, Cynthia Slagter, and Daniel Christian.

* Co-Leaders of the Learning Spaces Learning Community


 

 

 

A seat at the table at lastfrom campustechnology.com by Andrew Barbour
One result of the Year of the MOOC is that IT is finally getting a say in the strategic direction of the institution.

Excerpt:

It’s interesting that it took an external force to propel IT into this inner circle. I can’t recall how many stories CT has run proposing strategies for how CIOs could win a place at the table. At the end of the day, though, changing an institution as hidebound as the average college is not easily tackled from within. In contrast, there’s nothing like a little existential angst to shake things up.

But MOOCs aren’t the only drivers of this change. We often think of BYOD as stripping IT of control but–on the broader stage–it may be playing its own part in elevating IT’s profile on campus. For years, faculty resisted IT recommendations on how technology could improve teaching and learning. Saying no was easy–preserving the status quo always is. That’s changing now. BYOD is a force that faculty can’t resist. It is, after all, their customers bringing the devices to school. Suddenly, faculty are faced with demands for new styles of teaching that accommodate student preferences for technology and much more. Enter IT and a host of others who see the potential of tech in education.

Also relevant/see:

  • The University’s Dilemma– from strategy-business.com by Tim Laseter; with thanks to Ross Dawson for the recent tweet on this

Day 15: Ideas for an Online Chapel — from Janine Lim

Excerpt:

Andrews University is a Christian school; and therefore faith integration in online learning is an important value and task. Among other statements, the Andrews University Mission Statement includes this: Andrews University students will seek knowledge as they understand life, learning, and civic responsibility from a Christian point of view. How this is done makes for interesting discussion and research. There are certainly many viewpoints on the best way to integrate faith and learning; as well as different views on what it really means.

In my view, though, the core is how an instructor’s whole being as a person of faith is evidenced in the teaching and learning process. The evidence may come in instructor-student interaction, in discussion on how the Christian worldview intersects with the content knowledge, in how students are viewed and treated as whole persons made in the image of God, in the instructor’s teaching presence.

Per Jim Bradley (Mathematics, Emeritus) at Calvin College:

Francis Su is a Christian teaching at Harvey Mudd, a secular liberal arts college. He was recently selected to receive the Haimo Award*, one of the mathematics community’s highest teaching honors. Receiving the award entails giving an address at the annual math association meeting, going on now in San Diego. In writing his talk, Francis asked himself, “What does the gospel have to say to this large, mostly secular group of mathematicians?” He answered, “Grace.” Here’s a link to a written copy of his talk. I think it’s quite an inspiring and enjoyable set of reflections on teaching by an obviously great teacher.

http://www.facebook.com/notes/francis-su/the-lesson-of-grace-in-teaching/10151372450043217 
(From DSC: Facebook deleted the above original posting by Franic Su — not sure why)

Per Francis’ new blog:
After giving this talk, I had so many requests for the text that I
shared it on Facebook.  But Facebook deleted it.
So I created a blog just for this.  I hope you find it helpful.

It was the hardest thing I ever had to write:
because it is deeply personal, truly me,

and about my biggest life lesson… given at a
conference in front of hundreds of people who,

I’m sure, struggle with the same things that I do.



The Lesson of Grace in Teaching
From weakness to wholeness, the struggle and the hope

Francis Edward Su
MAA Haimo Teaching Award Lecture
Joint Math Meetings, January 11, 2013
An audio file is available: bit.ly/W4gyD0.

 

 

Excerpt:

Knowing my new advisor had grace for me meant that he could give me honest feedback on my dissertation work, even if it was hard to do, without completely destroying my identity.  Because, as I was learning, my worthiness does NOT come from my accomplishments.  I call this

The Lesson of GRACE:

  •      Your accomplishments are NOT what make you a worthy human being.
  •      You learn this lesson when someone shows you GRACE: good things you didn’t earn or deserve, but you’re getting them anyway.

I have to learn this lesson over and over again.
You can have worthiness apart from your performance.
You can have dignity independent of achievements.
Your identity does not have to be rooted in accomplishments.
You can be loved for who you are, not for what you’ve done—somebody just has to show you grace.

 

 

From DSC:
Powerful messages…often times, it’s hard for me to get my arms around the lessons/messages that Francis addressed — especially seeing as we live in a world that constantly measures us by our performance, our achievements, and/or our productivity.

 



* From The Deborah and Franklin Tepper Haimo Award for Distinguished College or University Teaching of Mathematics web page:

In 1991, the Mathematical Association of America instituted Awards for Distinguished College or University Teaching of Mathematics in order to honor college or university teachers who have been widely recognized as extraordinarily successful and whose teaching effectiveness has been shown to have had influence beyond their own institutions. In 1993, the MAA Board of Governors renamed the award to honor Deborah and Franklin Tepper Haimo.

List of Recipients

2013
Matthias Beck, San Francisco State University
Margaret Robinson, Mount Holyoke College
Francis Edward Su, Harvey Mudd College

 

Back from March 2012:
Flipped learning: A response to five common criticisms — from November Learning by Alan November & Brian Mull

 

Also see:

 

http://novemberlearning.com/resources/

Top 12 Teaching and Learning articles for 2012, part 1  — from facultyfocus.com by Mary Bart

Excerpt:

As another year draws to a close, the editorial team at Faculty Focus looks back on some of the top articles of the past year. Throughout 2012, we published approximately 250 articles. The articles covered a wide range of topics – from group work to online learning. In a two-part series, which will run today and Wednesday, we’re revealing the top 12 articles for 2012. Each article’s popularity ranking is based on a combination of the number of reader comments and social shares, e-newsletter open and click-thru rates, web traffic and other reader engagement metrics.

Top 12 Teaching and Learning articles for 2012, part 2 — from facultyfocus.com by Mary Bart

The 7 habits of highly effective teachers who use technology –from the Always Prepped blog

Excerpt:

We’ve all heard about Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Some teachers out there may have heard of the 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teachers. Below are our 7 habits of highly effective teachers who use technology:

Classroom Videos Could Help Universities Prepare Future Teachers -- by Tanya Roscorla

 

Other possible tools/ideas/approaches:

  • Blackboard Collaborate — have student teachers record their student teaching for professors to critique back at campus
  • teachscape — Some innovative products for classroom observation; again, very helpful for having student teachers record their student teaching for professors to critique back at campus. This tool offers better functionality for asynchronous commenting.
    The four modular components of the new Teachscape Effectiveness Platform include:

    • Teachscape Focus – Will include the Framework for Teaching Proficiency System and the Framework for Teaching Effectiveness Series. Teachscape Focus is designed to focus and align educators on a common definition of teaching effectiveness relative to Charlotte Danielson’s Framework for Teaching.
    • Teachscape Reflect – Will include enhanced versions of Teachscape Walk, Teachscape Reflect Live, and Teachscape Reflect Video. The new Teachscape Reflect system supports multiple measures evaluations, and combines in-classroom and video-based observation data with measures of student learning, surveys, and artifacts for a holistic view of teaching effectiveness.
    • Teachscape Learn – Will include an expanded version of the current Professional Learning Suite, our research-based preK–12 course library, as well as a new learning management system, online learning communities, video capture and sharing tools, and personalized learning plans.
    • Teachscape Advance – Teachscape’s new talent management system will help districts organize, train, and align district staffing to best meet student needs and support larger strategic human capital management goals. The system includes tools for goals alignment, career path and succession planning, and competency management.

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teachscape.com

 

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Addendum — with thanks going out to edSurge’s mailing today [11/28/12] for this resource:

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Better coaching for teachers -- by using technology

 

 

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