March 2016 archive

slow professor

The slow professor

The authors of a new book challenge what they call the “frantic pace” of contemporary university life.

MOIRA FARR | March 29, 2016
My note:
In 2002, “slow food” was celebrated. As against “fast food” http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1152040.
In 2014, NPR aired a similar story regarding “slow medicine”: http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2014/12/05/368736643/if-slow-is-good-for-food-why-not-medicine
Finally, academia is catching up with the “slow” movements.
Berg, M., & Seeber, B. (2016). Slow Professor: Challenging the Culture of Speed in the Academy. University of Toronto Press, Scholarly Publishing Division.
“Distractedness and fragmentation characterize contemporary academic life”
A number of factors. Over the last two decades, we’ve seen increases in class sizes, the casualization of academic labour, administrative bloating, the shift toward quantification of our time and our output. Pressures to publish, new technology, the downloading of tasks and the confusion it creates – these all have led to a situation where we spend less time talking face-to-face with each other and more time multitasking. There seems to be less sense of community and collegiality.

online learning lingo

Proportion of Content

Delivered Online

Type of Course

Typical Description

0%

Traditional

Classroom-based teaching with assignments and activities which students pursue independently of each other.

1 to 29%

Web Facilitated

Web resources and technologies are used to facilitate what is essentially a face-to-face course. May use webpages and course management systems (CMS) to post syllabuses, readings and assignments.

30-79%

Blended / Hybrid

Course blends online and face-to-face delivery. Substantial parts of the content are delivered online and discussions, team projects and activities and web safaris are used for learning. The number of face-to-face sessions is decreased as the volume of online activity increases.

80+%

Online

A course where all, or almost all, of the content is delivered online with no or a very small number of face-to-face meetings.
  • Synchronous learning
  • Asynchronous learning

Flipped Classroom

Competency-Based Learning

open learning
Flexible learning (badges)

Gamification

Immersive Learning Environments

Adaptive Learning and Assessment

Systems
Simulation
Immersive Tutoring

++++++++++++++++++

Glossary of Online Learning Terms http://theelearningcoach.com/resources/online-learning-glossary-of-terms/

E-Learning Terms
http://www.bpcc.edu/educationaltechnology/glossary.html

PaGamO free gamification

PaGamO Offers Free Gamification for Teachers

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2016/03/29/pagamo-offers-free-gamification-for-teachers.aspx

By Joshua Bolkan,  03/29/16

The first-ever online social gaming platform for education, PaGamO is based on the principles of classic board games like Risk and Settlers of Catan.

Teachers can create assignments, assessments and homework within the platform. Assignments can be delivered to custom groups of students according to their needs, and the platform provides statistics offering insight into student abilities and areas in need of additional work.

more on gamification in education in this blog:

https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims/?s=gamification&submit=Search

beyond threaded discussions

Dynamic Discussion Artifacts: Moving Beyond Threaded Discussion in an Online Course

https://moqi.zoom.us/j/672493176

PPT is converted to iSpring.
rubric and examples of the technology they might use (for podcast etc). They are tech ed master students, so they have the background.

differentiated instruction.

michael.manderfeld@mnsu.edu

more on discussion in education in this blog:

https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims/?s=discussion&submit=Search

mindfulness programs in school

What Changes When a School Embraces Mindfulness?

http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2016/03/30/what-changes-when-a-school-embraces-mindfulness/

The program is a blend of neuroscience, social and emotional tenets like empathy and perspective taking, and mindfulness, a practice which many schools have already started exploring. Several programs teach mindfulness in schools, including Mindful Schools.

More on mindfulness in education in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims/?s=mindfulness&submit=Search
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims/?s=contemplative&submit=Search

digital economy

Where the Digital Economy Is Moving the Fastest

phone plans to consider

my note: the alternative for VoIP is growing – next to Skype, Google hangouts, FB Messenger to mention only view, not Google and Snapchat are elbowing their way… Free options for education. It will be difficult to standardize; who will provide a platform, which will allow to pole students what of all those choices they want to use for education?

Google just announced a new service called Fiber Phone — here’s how it works

http://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-google-fiber-phone-2016-3

If you’ve used Google Voice, Google’s app that provides select phone services, then many of Fiber Phone’s features will be familiar to you. You’ll get cheap international-calling options and be able to choose your own phone number, and your voicemails will be transcribed and texted to you. It also includes spam filtering and a “do not disturb” function.

Fiber Phone will be available only as a $10-per-month add-on

+++++++++++++

Snapchat is maturing by playing catch up.

http://money.cnn.com/2016/03/29/technology/snapchat/

Snapchat now allows people to make voice calls, send audio messages, and send video messages.

quizzes for practice and training

Five Types of Quizzes That Deepen Engagement with Course Content

By:

Tropman, E., (2014). In defense of reading quizzes. International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 26 (1), 140-146.

Brame, C. J. and Biel, R., (2015). Test-enhanced learning: The potential for testing to promote greater learning in undergraduate science courses. Cell Biology Education—Life Sciences Education, 14 (Summer), 1-12.

Collaborative quizzing
Quizzing with resources
Quizzing after questioning
Online quizzes completed before class

++++++++++++++

Top Five Tips for Creating Training Quizzes

++++++++++++

More on the use of quizzes as a conversation starter and/or training tool (versus assessment tool) in this IMS blog

https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims/2012/11/28/quizzes-and-fun-games-gamification/

analytics in education

ACRL e-Learning webcast series: Learning Analytics – Strategies for Optimizing Student Data on Your Campus

This three-part webinar series, co-sponsored by the ACRL Value of Academic Libraries Committee, the Student Learning and Information Committee, and the ACRL Instruction Section, will explore the advantages and opportunities of learning analytics as a tool which uses student data to demonstrate library impact and to identify learning weaknesses. How can librarians initiate learning analytics initiatives on their campuses and contribute to existing collaborations? The first webinar will provide an introduction to learning analytics and an overview of important issues. The second will focus on privacy issues and other ethical considerations as well as responsible practice, and the third will include a panel of librarians who are successfully using learning analytics on their campuses.

Webcast One: Learning Analytics and the Academic Library: The State of the Art and the Art of Connecting the Library with Campus Initiatives
March 29, 2016

Learning analytics are used nationwide to augment student success initiatives as well as bolster other institutional priorities.  As a key aspect of educational reform and institutional improvement, learning analytics are essential to defining the value of higher education, and academic librarians can be both of great service to and well served by institutional learning analytics teams.  In addition, librarians who seek to demonstrate, articulate, and grow the value of academic libraries should become more aware of how they can dovetail their efforts with institutional learning analytics projects.  However, all too often, academic librarians are not asked to be part of initial learning analytics teams on their campuses, despite the benefits of library inclusion in these efforts.  Librarians can counteract this trend by being conversant in learning analytics goals, advantages/disadvantages, and challenges as well as aware of existing examples of library successes in learning analytics projects.

Learn about the state of the art in learning analytics in higher education with an emphasis on 1) current models, 2) best practices, 3) ethics, privacy, and other difficult issues.  The webcast will also focus on current academic library projects and successes in gaining access to and inclusion in learning analytics initiatives on their campus.  Benefit from the inclusion of a “short list” of must-read resources as well as a clearly defined list of ways in which librarians can leverage their skills to be both contributing members of learning analytics teams, suitable for use in advocating on their campuses.

my notes:

open academic analytics initiative
https://confluence.sakaiproject.org/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=75671025

where data comes from:

  • students information systems (SIS)
  • LMS
  • Publishers
  • Clickers
  • Video streaming and web conferencing
  • Surveys
  • Co-curricular and extra-curricular involvement

D2L degree compass
Predictive Analytics Reportitng PAR – was open, but just bought by Hobsons (https://www.hobsons.com/)

Learning Analytics

IMS Caliper Enabled Services. the way to connect the library in the campus analytics https://www.imsglobal.org/activity/caliperram

student’s opinion of this process
benefits: self-assessment, personal learning, empwerment
analytics and data privacy – students are OK with harvesting the data (only 6% not happy)
8 in 10 are interested in personal dashboard, which will help them perform
Big Mother vs Big Brother: creepy vs helpful. tracking classes, helpful, out of class (where on campus, social media etc) is creepy. 87% see that having access to their data is positive

librarians:
recognize metrics, assessment, analytics, data. visualization, data literacy, data science, interpretation

INSTRUCTION DEPARTMENT – N.B.

determine who is the key leader: director of institutional research, president, CIO

who does analyics services: institutional research, information technology, dedicated center

analytic maturity: data drivin, decision making culture; senior leadership commitment,; policy supporting (data ollection, accsess, use): data efficacy; investment and resourcefs; staffing; technical infrastrcture; information technology interaction

student success maturity: senior leader commited; fudning of student success efforts; mechanism for making student success decisions; interdepart collaboration; undrestanding of students success goals; advising and student support ability; policies; information systems

developing learning analytics strategy

understand institutional challenges; identify stakeholders; identify inhibitors/challenges; consider tools; scan the environment and see what other done; develop a plan; communicate the plan to stakeholders; start small and build

ways librarians can help
idenfify institu partners; be the partners; hone relevant learning analytics; participate in institutional analytics; identify questions and problems; access and work to improve institu culture; volunteer to be early adopters;

questions to ask: environmental scanning
do we have a learning analytics system? does our culture support? leaders present? stakeholders need to know?

questions to ask: Data

questions to ask: Library role

learning analytics & the academic library: the state of the art of connecting the library with campus initiatives

questions:
pole analytics library

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

literature

causation versus correlation studies. speakers claims that it is difficult to establish causation argument. institutions try to predict as accurately as possible via correlation, versus “if you do that it will happen what.”

++++++++++++

More on analytics in this blog:

https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims/?s=analytics&submit=Search

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