Flipping a test

 No Responses »
Apr 252013
 

One point I feel must be driven home in any discussion of educational technology is that the goal is not to use more technology but to use technology to support more active learning. The goal is to improve the educational experience; technology can enhance that in many wonderful ways.

Here’s a great example (that actually doesn’t involve an innovative use of technology.) A UCLA Behavioral Ecology Professor allowed cheating on a test.

The best tests will not only find out what students know but also stimulate thinking in novel ways. This is much more than regurgitating memorized facts. The test itself becomes a learning experience – where the very act of taking it leads to a deeper understanding of the subject.
 

KCRW’s Which Way LA blog – Cheating to Learn: How a UCLA Professor Gamed a Game Theory Midterm

Liberal Arts and Educational Technology

 No Responses »
Apr 242013
 

Inside Higher Ed points out the happy marriage of the Liberal Arts and ed tech:

A liberal arts degree works well if your job requires more communication and less coding. Lots of time giving presentations and listening to the needs of our faculty colleagues, less time at the command line. Ed tech professionals are generalists by necessity, able to communicate with a wide range of subject matter experts in our quest to help create better learning environments.

Read more: http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/technology-and-learning/liberal-arts-ed-tech#ixzz2RO3vGrET
Inside Higher Ed

I have to say that degrees/experience in ministry, pastoral care, and theological studies also applies quite well. I’m part of that club.

The Journal Nature on MOOCs

 No Responses »
Mar 282013
 

The international weekly journal of science, Nature, published a review of the current state of online learning

Online learning: Campus 2.0. Massive open online courses are transforming higher education — and providing fodder for scientific research.

Some quotes:

Virtually everyone participating in this upheaval agrees on one thing. Colleges and universities will change — perhaps dramatically — but they will not disappear.”

…

An unspoken irony weaves through almost every discussion about MOOCs: thanks to innovations such as flipping, online technology’s most profound effect on education may be to make human interaction more important than ever. As Krakauer puts it, “what’s absolutely clear is that the very large lecture hall can be completely replaced: there’s no value added over watching it at home on an iPad screen with a cup of tea. But there is also no substitute for a conversation.”

Exciting times in Higher Education

 No Responses »
Mar 222013
 

While MOOCs are all the rage, closely watched to see if they succeed at disrupting the industry, and other advances in technology are spurring innovation in education, I recall the old Chinese curse: May you live in interesting times. I also recall them pointing out that every crisis contains both danger and opportunity.

I facilitated a conversation with several faculty yesterday on the topic of the flipped classroom. (See an infographic about it under the fold.) As a homework assignment, I’m seeking examples of flipped or hybrid or blended classes in higher education, preferably in the Humanities, specifically Religion would be wonderful.

And then an Education Dive article caught my attention: 5 Technologies that are Revolutionizing Education. The 5 new technologies, identified by the Brookings Institution, are massive open online courses (MOOCs), robot assisted language learning (RALL), Minecraft, computerized adaptive testing (CAT), and stealth assessment. The report goes into considerable detail about these advancements.

I was surprised to see Minecraft on the list, but, being familiar with game-based education, I saw that it was a no-brainer. Minecraft is an open-ended simulation “game” of exploration and role playing. It looks like I’m going to have to actually join my 9 year old son in the world randomly generated on the server I set up for him on our home computer. There’s even a group of educators who have developed a MinecraftEdu resource for how to use it in multi-disciplinary education (and a mod for controlling the experience in a classroom setting.)

Oh, and stealth assessment–a fascinating prospect–involves using games to assess learning. Education can indeed be fun!

Continue reading »

Gearing up for edtech Spring ’13

 No Responses »
Jan 112013
 

Well, it’s going to be an exciting year for instructional technology here at OWU. With wireless presentations and PowerPoint-free audience responses, and even wireless mice with laser pointers!  The capabilities are expanding.

My technical training workshop this morning was the first time I’ve used a wireless mouse with a laser pointer and only the second time I’ve used TurningPoint Anywhere Polling. I’ve experienced again something adventurous teachers feel when they try something new: excitement as the session approaches, fumbling through the session, and reflecting on lessons learned after.

Perhaps I should only change one variable at a time… It will keep me–as well as my class–from getting overwhelmed. It probably also would have allowed me to better practice with one or the other. This is important advice for faculty wanting to be more agile in their teaching: with all the trial & error & learning from mistakes, it’s better to go slowly.

The wireless mouse is one that was discovered in a drawer in the training room. I recall seeing it when I first started here; I don’t recall why I didn’t use it. (That shows how much I use the drawers in there.) A student worker found it and got it working late last semester, so we hooked it up to the instructor’s workstation. It’s obviously many years old and the track ball movement isn’t that smooth. But it’s usable, may need some cleaning, and is a great tool to have and be familiar/comfortable with.

The clickers I didn’t use as much as I had planned. Being agile means being able to scale back as the moment demands. I discovered that once you set the type of question you can’t switch to another type (1-5 versus y/n, for example) in the midst of a session–at least with Quick Poll and no question list. I had several new features I had to get through hands-on introductions for, and couldn’t afford to steer too far from that path to handle other questions that came up. And, since I was introducing features that had to do with both content areas and the Grade Center, ancillary questions certainly came up.

All in all, a good session, despite my sore throat. I’m looking forward to doing more of them–a lot more of them–starting next week.

ThingLink …what?

 No Responses »
Jan 042013
 

I just learned about ThingLink, a site that allows you to make images interactive. Hmm… What’s this? Check it out for yourself. Wow!

I’m excited by the possibilities. Here’s a good example of the social web breaking barriers and mashing things together. Why let a picture’s thousand words tell the story? Why not augment that with the millions of other words that a few other pictures, videos, sounds, and comments will contribute? And, what’s more, ThingLink images are viewable in Flipboard on an iPad, which makes them usable with AirPlay in the classroom! Now you can see why the pulse quickens.

I first learned of ThingLink via an Edudemic article on innovative ways to use it in the classroom…

AirPlay here we come!

 No Responses »
Dec 202012
 

So our new iPad Mini came in last week and screen mirroring with AirPlay tests very well with the Apple TV in the conference room. Now we have to get Keynote and perhaps a laser pointer. Since the iPad has no mouse pointer, there’s no built-in way to draw the viewer’s attention to a certain point on the screen (unless this functionality is included in a particular app.)

Demonstrations of all this are being scheduled for spring.

 Older Entries