Searching for "brain and learning"

students blogs

Helping Students Develop Voice While Blogging

http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/work_in_progress/2014/10/helping_students_develop_voice.html

  • Being a proficient writer takes time: practice, practice, practice. Teachers should provide students specific, on-going feedback to help students improve their writing. With each draft, the teacher should offer relevant effective feedback that will allows students to work on specific skills.
  • Just because you are a proficient writer doesn’t mean others will enjoy reading your writing; this takes time too. Proficient doesn’t always mean engaging (refer to the first bullet)
  • All writing has value, even bad writing… maybe especially bad writing because it is a starting point and that is often the hardest place.
  • If you don’t know how to start, just start writing whatever comes to mind without the burden of worrying if it makes sense – that will come later. Sometimes a brainstorm works well too in a notebook if you can’t jump right to the writing on the blog.
  • Revision isn’t a suggestion, it’s a necessity – sometimes writing the same thing three different ways or more offers perspective, this perspective provides choice to the writer later for what best suits the finished piece.
  • It’s okay if even finished writing isn’t perfect. Perfect is a writing myth. All writing can always stand to be improved, so when a piece feels finished, it probably is for now and that’s what matters most. Ask yourself, “Does this piece communicate the message I intended? Are all questions answered about what I’ve written about?” If the answers are yes, it’s done.
  • Mistakes will happen on blogs – it’s okay, we’re all human and we all mistakes. It’s even okay to leave the mistake up there unless it’s offensive. Students can always revise drafts or published posts later if errors are found. It’s all a learning process.

 

 

Full Spectrum Lights in Miller Center

From: lrs_l-bounces@lists.stcloudstate.edu [mailto:lrs_l-bounces@lists.stcloudstate.edu] On Behalf Of Hubbs, Susan
Sent: Sunday, September 14, 2014 5:38 PM
To: Northenscold, Melissa A.; lrs_l@stcloudstate.edu
Subject: [LRS_l] Re: Full Spectrum Lights in MC – Brainstorm Session Monday

Dear Colleagues,

I have started a bibliography beginning with books and articles that LRS owns or has access. I have not prettied it up. I will send a copy to Missy. Missy, I also went and pulled the 3 books LRS owns off the shelf. They are on a chair in my office. I will also look for some good websites and add those.

Dr. Norman E. Rosenthal, MD is one of the leaders in this field.  LRS owns his Winter Blues book, 1998 but he now has a newer edition.
Winter Blues, Fourth Edition: Everything You Need to Know to Beat Seasonal Affective Disorder., Sept. 2012. I would like to suggest that LRS purchases a copy.  In the older edition, chapter 7 is entirely about light therapy.

Because light therapy is used as part, or sometimes all, treatment for seasonal affective disorder (SAD) which can also be part of a larger concern of depression, there should be a large sign encouraging people to seek out help from the SCSU counseling center, suicide prevention hotline, other depression URLs, etc.

Yours thinking of Robin Williams.

Susan

Susan Hubbs

Professor

Miller Center Library

320.308.4996

shubbs@stcloudstate.edu

 

 


From: lrs_l-bounces@lists.stcloudstate.edu [lrs_l-bounces@lists.stcloudstate.edu] on behalf of Northenscold, Melissa A.
Sent: Friday, September 12, 2014 10:59 AM
To: lrs_l@stcloudstate.edu
Subject: [LRS_l] Full Spectrum Lights in MC – Brainstorm Session Monday

In partnership with the Counseling and Psychological Services department, we will have full spectrum lights in the Miller Center (in the space to the south to the Dean’s Office) from roughly October 1 thru roughly May 1.

 

You are invited to join a brainstorming session at 1 p.m. on Monday in MC 135G.  We will discuss ideas regarding placement of lights, layout of space, promotion/marketing, and assessment.  Please feel free to send ideas via email as well.  If you’re not available to attend on Monday, but interested in getting involved, I will send notes after the meeting that include the next meeting date.

 

********************************

Missy Northenscold

Administrative Director

Learning Resources Services

St. Cloud State University

720 4th Ave S., MC 135E

St. Cloud, MN 56301

(320) 308-2022

On the Edge of Chaos: Where Creativity Flourishes

On the Edge of Chaos: Where Creativity Flourishes

http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2014/05/on-the-edge-of-chaos-where-creativity-flourishes/

To foster creativity, teachers can make room for more freedom around activities in class

project-based learning as a way that educators are beginning to introduce choice, and thus freedom, into school work, making space for at least some creativity.

To develop ideas that could be considered creative, the brain has to be both stable and flexible at the same time.

Should Coding be the “New Foreign Language” Requirement?

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/coding-new-foreign-language-requirement-helen-mowers

Coding, Cognition and Communication

In terms of cognitive advantages, learning a system of signs, symbols and rules used to communicate — that is, language study — improves thinking by challenging the brain to recognize, negotiate meaning and master different language patterns. Coding does the same thing. Students who speak English and Mandarin are better multitaskers because they’re used to switching between language structures. Coding, likewise, involves understanding and working within structures.

Foreign language instruction today emphasizes practical communication — what students can do with the language. Similarly, coding is practical, empowering and critical to the daily life of everyone living in the 21st century.

Coding is Ubiquitous

Programming is the global language, more common than spoken languages like English, Chinese or Spanish.

5 Reasons Why You Should Teach Kids to Code ~ Educational Technology and Mobile Learning

http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2013/10/5-reasons-why-you-should-teach-kids-to.html

https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims/2013/11/19/finland-eyes-programming-classes-for-elementary-school-students/

Why We’re Learning about Coding in Our 6th Grade Writing Class

http://www.middleweb.com/11559/learning-coding-in-writing-class/

Should coding replace foreign language requirements?

http://www.educationdive.com/news/should-coding-replace-foreign-language-requirements/361398/

Washington state and Kentucky have both proposed legislation that mirrors this trend, with Washington asking that students be allowed to count two years of computer science courses as two years of foreign language studies.
In an October post, Washington Post columnist Valerie Strauss wrote that coding is something like “cursive 2.0” — a practice that will soon become compulsory in schools across the nation.

Collaborative cloud-based tools to consider, Real-Time Collaboration Tools

5 Free Cloud-Based Document Collaboration Tools to Power Your Productivity

http://ow.ly/qkji8

  1. Evernote
    Learn More about Evernote with These Excellent Video Tutorials ~ Educational Technology and Mobile Learning 
  2. Google Docs
    Kaizena: add audio comments to the  content of your Google documents http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2013/10/a-great-tool-to-add-audio-feedback-to.html 
  3. MindMeister (paid, might want to skip it)
  4. Trello
  5. WordPress

http://www.21things4teachers.net/3—collaboration-tools.html#!

Lino

Doodle  – Meeting Wizard

Google Drive, formerly known as Google Docs

The 10 best powerPoint Alternatives!
http://www.powtoon.com/blog/10-best-powerpoint-alternatives/

33 Highly Useful Presentation Tools
http://smallbiztrends.com/2009/09/33-useful-presentation-tools.html#!

Prezi http://philpresents.wordpress.com/2011/08/30/two-reasons-i-dont-recommend-prezi/

http://popplet.com/
http://stampsy.com
https://www.slideshark.com

20 Options for Real-Time Collaboration Tools

http://edtechreview.in/news/news/products-apps-tools/825-20-options-for-real-time-collaboration-tools

Neat Chat: It is one of the easiest and fastest ways to have online conversations with a group of friends or colleagues. It provides a clean, fast and robust chat room where you can share files, send private messages and even access conversations that happened in your absence.

Today’s Meet: Allows you to have quick conversations in private online chat rooms. It has a back channel which gives you the ability to adjust your audience’s needs and emotions. In your chat room you can use live stream to make comments, ask questions and use that feedback to tailor your presentations to address your audience’s needs

Zoho Writer: Is a powerful rich text-editor for Android devices, which allows you to create documents seamlessly with a rich feature-set. You can either save these docs in local devices or cloud devices like Zoho Docs. Zoho Docs workspace is a collaboration tool, which allows you to share work on the same doc with other people in real-time.

Scriblink: Is a free digital whiteboard that users can share online in real-time. It can be used by up to 5 users at the same time. It can be used just for fun or for more practical things like layout planning, concept diagramming, or tutoring a friend.

Stinto: Is for creating free chats and inviting others to join just by sending a simple link. It allows you to share photos and images with others. You can upload photos, sketches, diagrams, etc. to your chat for others to view.

Mind42: Allows collaborative online mind-mapping and brainstorming. It runs in your browser and allows you to manage your ideas alone or while working in a group. It allows you to quickly create, manage and edit the data structure required for mind maps.

Scribblar: Offers you an online whiteboard, real-time audio, document upload, text-chat and more. It is a perfect online-tutoring platform. You can use it to revise artwork and images; create brainstorming, product demos, interviews and tests.

CoSketch: Is a multi-user online whiteboard designed to give you the ability to quickly visualize and share your ideas as images. Anything you paint is shared in real-time and can be saved and embedded on forums, blogs, etc.

Twiddla: Is a real-time online collaboration tool, which allows text and audio chat in real-time. It also allows you to review websites within the application.

Etherpad: Is an open source online editor providing collaborative editing in real-time. You can write articles, press releases, to-do lists and more along with your friends or colleagues all working on the same doc at the same time.

Tinychat: It lets you create a private chat room in an instant, the URL of which can be emailed to others to participate in real-time. It is very easy to use and also has features to support video capability.

FlashMeeting: Is an easy-to-use online meeting application. A meeting is pre-booked by a registered user and a URL, containing a unique password for the meeting, is returned by the FlashMeeting server, which is passed on to the people who want to participate.

BigMarker: It combines messaging, file sharing and video calls into one place. BigMarker communities have features for conferencing for up to 100 people, presenting PowerPoints and other docs, sharing your screen, recording, storing, exporting sessions and more.

Meetin.gs: Is a web and mobile meeting organizer which brings the benefits of online collaboration to both online and offline meetings. It provides a dedicated online meeting space for scheduling, material sharing and agenda setting.

Conceptboard: It provides instant whiteboards to create a platform for you to communicate with your team. Feedback on visual content is easy and there is support for tasks, reports and more. It simplifies and improves collaboration on visual content and accelerates collaboration processes within your team.

Speek: Allows you to simply organize conference calls. Speek uses a personal or business link instead of a phone number and PIN for conference calls. Participants can join or start a call from their phone, web or mobile browser. You can see who’s joined, who’s talking, share files, use call controls and more.

Draw It Live: Is a free application that allows you to work together with other people to draw in real-time. You can create a whiteboard and share its URL with other people to let them join.

LiveMinutes: Is an online conferencing app. A unique URL address is created for your conference that you can share with people you want to connect with. You can share audio, virtual whiteboards, documents, etc. and a feature to share videos is coming soon.

FlockDraw: Is an online whiteboard based painting and drawing tool. It makes it easy to draw online free with multiple people participation. There can be unlimited people in a room with drawing updates in real-time.

VIDquik: Is a video-conferencing platform where you can connect and talk with anyone you want. You just need to enter the Email of the person you want to call, they click on the link and the two of you are in a web-based video call.

1 6 7 8