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Reflections on “Active Learning: 5 Tips for Implementing the Approach” [Ofgang]

On 09/15/2021, in active learning, adjunct faculty, colleges, community colleges, Daniel S. Christian, education, education reform, education technology, face-to-face, faculty/staff, higher education, instructional design, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, learning preferences, more voice more choice more control, motivation, pedagogy, student-related, teaching & learning, teaching online, tools, universities, 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:

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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 development, aggregation, 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/staff, 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

I discussed The Walmart of Education with Mary Grush back in 2013

Learning from the living class room

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Speaking of learning-related platforms…

On 08/22/2021, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, distance education, education, education technology, educational games / serious games, elearning, faculty/staff, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, generational differences, heutagogy, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, ideas, innovation, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, marketplaces, online learning, online media, platforms, vision/possibilities, workplace, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
Speaking of learning-related platforms…

Thinkific.com -- another example of a learning platform

 

LearningWorlds.com -- another example of a learning platform

 

#learning #platforms #learningfromthelivingclassroom #onlinelearning #reinvent #education #lifelonglearning #vision #heutagogy #learningexperiencedesign

 

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DC: Nice example of a learning ecosystem!

On 08/22/2021, in Alternatives, business side of he, change, changing business models, colleges, community colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, Daniel S. Christian, ideas, innovation, instructional design, learning, learning ecosystem, learning preferences, lifelong learning, training / L&D, workplace, by Daniel Christian

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How soon/long before #telelegal has its own category here as well? [Christian]

On 08/19/2021, in communications, Daniel S. Christian, ideas, innovation, law schools, Legal operations, legal reform, legal technologies, legislatures / government / legal, platforms, society, United States, vendors, videoconferencing, Virtual courts and law firms, vision/possibilities, voice recognition / voice enabled interfaces, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

How soon before telelegal has its own category here as well?

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What are the unintended consequences of #emergingtechnologies? [Christian]

On 08/18/2021, in Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Daniel S. Christian, law schools, legal reform, legislatures / government / legal, pace of change, policy, society, the downsides of how people use tech, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
Yet another example of the need for the legislative and legal realms to try and catch up here.

The legal realm needs to try and catch up with the exponential pace of technological change

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Many Americans aren’t aware they’re being tracked with facial recognition while shopping [Spadafora]

On 08/16/2021, in 21st century, Amazon, corporate / business world, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, emerging technologies, ethics, future, law schools, legal reform, legislatures / government / legal, morals/values, policy, robotics, society, the downsides of how people use tech, trends, United States, vendors, by Daniel Christian

Many Americans aren’t aware they’re being tracked with facial recognition while shopping  — from techradar.com by Anthony Spadafora
You’re not just on camera, you’re also being tracked

Excerpt:

Despite consumer opposition to facial recognition, the technology is currently being used in retail stores throughout the US according to new research from Piplsay.

While San Francisco banned the police from using facial recognition back in 2019 and the EU called for a five year ban on the technology last year, several major retailers in the US including Lowe’s, Albertsons and Macy’s have been using it for both fraud and theft detection.

From DSC:
I’m not sure how prevalent this practice is…and that’s precisely the point. We don’t know what all of those cameras are actually doing in our stores, gas stations, supermarkets, etc. I put this in the categories of policy, law schools, legal, government, and others as the legislative and legal realm need to scramble to catch up to this Wild Wild West.

Along these lines, I was watching a portion of 60 minutes last night where they were doing a piece on autonomous trucks (reportedly to hit the roads without a person sometime later this year). When asked about oversight, there was some…but not much.

Readers of this blog will know that I have often wondered…”How does society weigh in on these things?”

Along these same lines, also see:

  • The NYPD Had a Secret Fund for Surveillance Tools — from wired.com by Sidney Fussell
    Documents reveal that police bought facial-recognition software, vans equipped with x-ray machines, and “stingray” cell site simulators—with no public oversight.
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Recording of “The Future of Education Collaborative for Higher Education” on 8/12/21

On 08/13/2021, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, accreditation, adult learning, Alternatives, Amazon, business side of he, Canvas - and other Instructure-related items, career development, change, changing business models, colleges, community colleges, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, Daniel S. Christian, experimentation, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, innovation, instructional design, internet, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, student-related, training / L&D, trends, United States, universities, vendors, vision/possibilities, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

Recording of “The Future of Education Collaborative for Higher Education” on 8/12/21 — this event was sponsored by Instructure and AWS

From DSC:
One of the most interesting items for me in this was to hear how one university is allowing students to drive the Request For Proposal (RFP) process – giving students much more VOICE. Staff and faculty are consultants but students have the final say! Wow! 

Also, I agree with the idea that the market will drive changes within higher education. But for that to occur more significantly:

  • Employers need to hire more people from a variety of backgrounds and that come into their interviews with a greater variety of credentials.
  • The accrediting agencies involved with higher ed are going to need to become more innovative and flexible.
  • And the elephant in the room for me is that faculty members are going to have to come to the realization that those organizations/courses of the future that will thrive and have the most impact will be much more team-based and will be based upon what the market needs (i.e., better alignment is needed between the corporate/business world and the world of higher education). For far too long, the faculty member has been the sole person at the table….the person holding the steering wheel…the person in control of everything that gets presented and how it gets presented….the person who decides what they want to teach (vs. what the market actually needs) and how they want to teach it.

Finally, I bet AWS and Zoom could have said a LOT more than they actually said.

#learningfromthelivingclassroom

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Traveling down the road as a metaphor for the terms “learning objectives” & “learning outcomes” [Christian]

On 08/09/2021, in adjunct faculty, adult learning, colleges, community colleges, Daniel S. Christian, education, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, ideas, instructional design, K-12 related, law schools, learning, Learning Experience Design, teachers, teaching & learning, teaching online, universities, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
As I was traveling down one of the local roads the other day, the thought reoccurred to me …that driving along a road is such an apt metaphor for this idea of using the terms “learning objectives” and “learning outcomes.”

I’m going down the same road.

I can look ahead to see where I want to go. But that doesn’t mean that I’m for sure going to get there. That’s where I’m heading and I hope that I will get there, but several things will need to go right.

OR…I can look in the rearview mirror of my car and see where I’ve already been….what’s already taken place. I’ve already passed such and such a point (or points).

I can see where I've been by looking in the rearview mirror -- or I can look ahead to see what I'm traveling towards

That is, I can’t talk about learning outcomes if I’m just getting on the road. At that point, I can talk about where I hope to go (i.e., my learning objectives), but I can’t talk about my learning outcomes until I’ve been traveling for a while.

Where this gets muddy/tricky is when we discuss entire programs. Then the term “learning outcomes” is often used. I get that — it makes sense at that level of things. But if we are talking about an individual course as seen in Canvas, Moodle, Blackboard Learn, etc…then it makes more sense to me to continue to use the phrase “Learning Objectives.”

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Are College Students Comfortable Using Edtech? Maybe Not [Koenig]

On 08/09/2021, in computer science, Daniel S. Christian, education technology, student-related, technology (general), by Daniel Christian

Are College Students Comfortable Using Edtech? Maybe Not — from edsurge.com by Rebecca Koenig

Excerpt:

Eighty percent of survey respondents indicated that they were confident in learning new edtech tools, while 20 percent said they struggled. That suggests to Barbaro that stereotypes painting all young people as “digital natives,” and all students as masters of technology, are not accurate.

From DSC:
This jibes with my experience teaching the Foundations of Information Technology class at Calvin University for many years (online and face-to-face). Prior to that course, surveys/feedback showed that many students had very little experience, confidence, and/or self-efficacy with their use of a variety of technologies (such as using HTML, designing websites, blogging, using Microsoft Excel, understanding networks or the Internet of Things, etc).

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Some scripture to start the week

On 08/08/2021, in Daniel S. Christian, faith, global / globalization, hearts -- matters of the heart, history, relationships, religion, by Daniel Christian
Psalm 51:10-12 NIV — from biblegateway.com

10 Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

Romans 4:20-25 NIV —  from biblegateway.com

20 Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, 21 being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. 22 This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.” 23 The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone, 24 but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. 25 He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.

Psalm 91:4 NIV —  from biblegateway.com

4 He will cover you with his feathers,
    and under his wings you will find refuge;
    his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.

Under a canopy of love -- photo by Sunil out at 500pxUnder a canopy of love — photo by Sunil out at 500px

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What doors does this type of real-time translation feature open up for learning? [Christian]

On 08/04/2021, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, adult learning, Africa, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Asia, Australia, blended learning, bots, business, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, collaboration, colleges, communications, communities of practice, community colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, Daniel S. Christian, digital audio, digital learning, digital storytelling, distance education, education, education technology, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, faculty/staff, flipping -- inverted learning, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, global / globalization, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), hybrid learning, Hyflex learning, ideas, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, IT in HE, K-12 related, languages and translation, law schools, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning preferences, learning spaces, Legal operations, legal reform, legal technologies, legislatures / government / legal, Natural Language Processing (NLP), new business models, online learning, online media, online tutoring, participation, platforms, presentations, professional development, remote teaching and learning, smart classrooms, social learning / networks, society, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, teaching online, technologies for your home, telelegal, telemedicine / telehealth / virtual health, telepresence, tools, training / L&D, transmedia, TVs, UK, United States, universities, usability, user experience (UX), vendors, videoconferencing, Virtual courts and law firms, virtual field trips, virtual K-12 schools, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, virtual tutoring, vision/possibilities, vocational / trades, web-based collaboration, webinars, workplace, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
For that matter, what does it open up for #JusticeTech? #Legaltech? #A2J? #Telehealth?

 

Learning from the living class room

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Will AR glasses provide this type of information in real-time? #AI, #NLP, smartclassrooms #edtech [Christian]

On 07/30/2021, in A/V -- audio/visual, active learning, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, attention, Augmented Reality (AR), communications, communities of practice, Daniel S. Christian, education technology, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, face-to-face, faculty/staff, higher education, ideas, innovation, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning spaces, Natural Language Processing (NLP), online learning, participation, platforms, presentations, teaching & learning, United States, user experience (UX), vendors, vision/possibilities, visualizing information, voice recognition / voice enabled interfaces, web-based collaboration, XR - extended reality, by Daniel Christian

Will AR glasses provide this type of information in real-time? #AI, #NLP, smartclassrooms #edtech [Christian]

 

Will AR glasses provide this type of information in real-time? AI, NLP, smartclassrooms edtech Christian

.

DSC:Modified image which was originally from Minerva.com > Forum Learning Environment

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Some fun ideas to foster creativity, artistry, design, developing multimedia and more!

On 07/30/2021, in animation, art, attention, Augmented Reality (AR), content development, aggregation, repositories, creativity, Daniel S. Christian, design, digital audio, digital learning, digital photography, digital storytelling, digital textbooks, digital video, drama/theater, e-books, e-publishing related items (EPUB and more), education, education technology, educational games / serious games, Emotion, engagement / engaging students, entrepreneurship, experimentation, ideas, instructional design, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning preferences, liberal arts, love of learning, media/film, multimedia, music, new media literacies, online learning, online media, passions, pedagogy, play, presentations, project-based learning, reading, story, storytelling, student teaching/teacher education, student-related, tablets, teachers, tools, web-based collaboration, writing, XR - extended reality, youth, by Daniel Christian

Transforming the classroom with augmented learning — from thetechedvocate.org by Matthew Lynch

Excerpt:

Forbes documented the many ways that augmented reality (AR) has come to life in recent years. They list several award-winning apps that use AR. A few are:

  • The “Gatwick Airport Passenger” App, which helps passengers navigate the airport;
  • The “Dulux Visualizer” App, which  lets you virtually scan and paint your room any color you choose;
  • “Envisioned by the Mine” App, which lets you put 3D images of any type of accessory or furnishing in your home that Lowe’s offers;
  • “Sephora Virtual Artist”, which allows you to “put makeup on” without actually touching brush to face;
  • “Accuvein”, which doctors and nurses use to scan a patient’s vein network (it reduces escalations by 45%);
  • And, of course, there are apps like the “BIC DrawyBook App” just for fun.

But what about the classroom? Can we see a future in transforming the classroom with augmented learning?

From DSC:
Along the lines of developing creativity with edtech…

I saw another item recently about Book Creator, something that’s made this blog before. I love that type of tool because it promotes creativity, unleashes a student’s imagination, promotes their artwork and writing/storytelling and their musical or acting abilities, and it develops skills in design and developing multimedia-based artifacts. For teachers, it could be a nice project-based learning exercise. 

I asked our youngest daughter if she would like to use it…we’ll see. You can get a free account that allows you to publish up to 40 books. (Plus there is pricing for schools and districts.)

And who knows…? This type of thing might just produce the next J.K. Rowling or a J.J. Abrams.

Book Creator -- check it out

Book Creator -- check it out

Book Creator -- check it out

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DC: Should law schools be pulse-checking what’s happening with space travel?!

On 07/26/2021, in Daniel S. Christian, law schools, leadership, legislatures / government / legal, policy, political science, by Daniel Christian

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