Category: Higher Education

Suggested Reading for 12/17/2008

The Coming Storm by Chris Lehmann
There are starting to be some stories breaking about what may be the single greatest crisis facing education and our society — college. The recent stories…about the rising cost of college, …scholarships being cut…and the inevitable ramification of the credit crisis on student loans suggest that we are headed to a major crisis of higher education.

Life on the Cutting Edge by Steve Dembo
It’s not unusual when somebody shares a tip with me and then appends it by saying, “But I’m sure you already knew about that already.” I always find that funny because the only reason that I am familiar with so many sites and applications, is because people have learned about them and taken the time to share them! Rarely would I ever be so bold as to say that I was the ‘first’ person to discover something. It’s like we’re playing a giant game telephone, but in a multi-linear fashion.

Now for Some Comic Relief…

The 25 Best Exam Blunders from Times Online
We all have to fail sometimes. But there’s something glorious about failing with style.

Online College Course Turned into a Game

David Wiley says that teachers can learn a lot from online video games — the kind where players pretend to be orcs and wizards and work together in teams to slay dragons….Mr. Wiley will invite students who sign up for his spring course (which is about online teaching methods) to be an artisan, a bard, a merchant, or a monk and go on learning “quests” together.

Although he’s using a game metaphor, Mr. Wiley says that dividing students up into teams and asking them to work on group projects are time-tested teaching techniques — ones that the best video games happen to make use of. “If you reverse-engineer a popular multiplayer game, they’ve somehow encoded all these things about what good learning ought to look like,” he argues….And Mr. Wiley is inviting anyone to play along. Although only students at Brigham Young who enroll and pay for the course will get official credit, Mr. Wiley is inviting anyone else to participate informally free.

….When asked whether the playful approach might somehow dumb down the learning experience, Mr. Wiley defended the course. “I challenge you to find a meatier class in terms of the kind of skills students have to develop and the kind of project they have to pull off in the end,” he said. (Source: The Chronicle of Higher Education)

Suggested Reading for 11/15/2008

New ISTE Book on Cell Phones for Learning

Innovative Professional Development Portal Enriches Teacher Education

The END to Copyright Confusion~and a New Beginning

iPod Instructional Uses

Quality and Online Learning

Eleven Interesting Ways to Use Google Docs in the Classroom

My Proposal to Use Google Docs for Online Reporting to Parents

Be the Match, Not a Match

Teacher Tenure: A Battle in the Capital

Publishing Articles in Educational Technology Journals

Give Us the Real World

I just read Teachers to Curriculum Creators: Give Us the Real World. Data from a nationwide survey of 800 math, science and technology teachers indicates that when asked “What characteristics are most important in a curriculum resource?” more than two-thirds of the teachers selected “Shows real world connections.” The least selected response (4%) was “Raises test scores.”

These findings make me wonder how well aligned legislation, standards, textbooks and resources, and curriculum are with educators’ views and classroom practice. Hmmm…What do you think?

Suggested Reading for 10/02/2008

Why Do Teachers Not Practice What They Believe Regarding Technology Integration?

Cover the Material – or Teach Students to Think

2008 DonorsChoose.org Challenge

Embedded Education Reporters

Joint Statement of CoSN and ISTE Hailing Passage of Internet Safety Education Legislation

View my Shared Google Reader for more suggested reading.

Noteworthy from NECC

I’m still trying to catch up from my recent trips to Kannapolis, EduBloggerCon and NECC. I have notes, pod/vidcasts and photos that I intend to share but more pressing matters (Family, research and writing, preparations for professional development workshops and 2nd summer semester courses) have kept my attention. Here are a few things that I want to make sure I at least go ahead and point out.

Measuring What Really Matters: The 21st Century Skills Assessment Project
“…a collaborative effort designed to create viable methods of assessing of higher order learning outcomes, and the higher-order skills required by independent, lifelong learners.”

  • This handout provides a good overview of the project and includes the current iteration of the assessment instrument.
  • SIGTE Forum: Assessing 21st Century Skills–Next Steps – NOTE: I’m interested in exploring this further with those sharing an interest in this. Perhaps we could set up an online discussion group or something. Drop me a line if you are interested.

ISTE’s Classroom Observation Tool (ICOT)
"A FREE online tool that provides a set of questions to guide classroom observations of a number of key components of technology integration."

Ed Tech Action Network
"ETAN provides a forum for educators and others to engage in the political process and project a unified voice in support of a common cause – improving teaching and learning through the systemic use of technology. ETAN’s mission is to influence public policy-makers at the federal, state and local levels and to increase public investment in the competitiveness of America’s classrooms and students."

Possible Federal Funding for Educational Technology
There is a possibility that we will see more funding for educational technology and perhaps even a large funding program similar to the PT3 initiative.

Write Elected Officials about Educational Technology Funding

We learned about this possible opportunity during the Teacher Educators (SIGTE) meeting during NECC. I’ve been intending to write a post about it, but I think my good friend, Drew, covers all the high points. The following message was originally posted on The Playground.

The U.S. House of Representatives has approved legislation to fund an educational technology initiative. However, the U.S. Senate looks to be undecided on whether they will support funding. You can be involved. Go to the Ed Tech Action Network and put your zip code in the box at the top of the page. It will generate a letter to your U.S. Senators that you can modify as you see fit. In the next month, there is a chance that we will see more funding for educational technology and perhaps even a large funding program similar to the PT3 initiative.

Please take some time and voice your opinion,
Drew Polly

NECC This Afternoon

Here are the presentations/discussions that I attended/ participated in during the first half of this afternoon.

A Plan for Wiki Adoption by Ken Pruitt
Ken’s presentation was an adaptation of Stewart Mader’s Wikipatterns. Ken shared suggested strategies for implementing the use of wikis at all levels.

Educational Technology and the Law facilitated by Jon Becker and Scott McLeod
While preparing for the Teaching and Learning with Web 2.0 seminar I’ve realized how important it is that I become more knowledgeable about copyright, intellectual property, plagiarism, and related topics. I especially liked how they were able to pose existing IRL analogies for the virtual situations under discussion.

I’m off to the the much anticipated (at least by me) poster presentation of the ISTE Classroom Observation Tool. I plan to share what I learn soon.

NECC This Morning

I’ve spent most of today participating in the following sessions and meeting online friends in the Bloggers’ Cafe. I’m looking forward to the presentation of the ISTE Classroom Observation Instrument (ICOT) later today. I’m curious to see how it stacks up against similar instruments like LoTi. Perhaps I’ll get a chance to post my thoughts about it. For now, here’s what I’ve attended to day.

Diigo: A Swiss Army Knife for Your Browser by Maggie Tsai, Diigo Co-Founder
Maggie gave a crash course in the basic features and use of Diigo. After her presentation she asked to interview me on camera and I reluctantly agreed. I shared some of the most common ways that Diigo is being used by my students, teachers with whom I mentor in professional development, and by me. She also asked me to share ways that I thought their technology could be improved and I reiterated ideas that I’d previously shared on Miguel’s discussions (here and here) related to this topic. I was pleased with her responses to my technical and design suggestions (She even contacted the engineers about one of the issues while we were talking.) and she provided Diigo’s rationale for why the ads, for now, will continue to exist throughout the tool. She assured me that they are indeed considering

Creating a Ning Network from Scratch by Steve Hargadon
If you want to learn about setting up your own Ning you might as well learn from the master. I’m comfortable using this “tool” but Steve provided useful insight regarding design and implementation which I found valuable.

Using Understanding by Design (UbD) to Create Technology Rich, Deep Learning Unit Plans by Chris Lehmann and Marcie Hull
There are oodles of similar models out there but I found this one to be practical but thorough. I’m going to take another look at Understanding by Design when I return home.