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MN e-learning Summit – July 30-31, 2014

MN e-learning Summit – July 30-31, 2014

Summit Schedule and Session

University of Northwestern – St. Paul 3003 Snelling Avenue North St. Paul, MN 5

Plamen Miltenoff will be presenting
“Social Media in Education: Best Practices for Learning/Teaching, Communication and Administration” http://sched.co/1rQpi0z

#mnsummit2014

MOOC Copyright for Educators & Librarians Kevin Smith, M.L.S., J.D., Lisa A. Macklin, J.D.,M.L.S., Anne Gilliland, JD, MLS

Copyright for Educators & Librarians

by Kevin Smith, M.L.S., J.D., Lisa A. Macklin, J.D.,M.L.S., Anne Gilliland, JD, MLS

thread Wk 1 – T2: Copyright: Shortened or Lengthened? – PART 1

Follow the money” was mentioned as a way to understand the concept of copyright and copyright law

Copyright lengths should be shortened.  Term lengths like these rarely benefit actual people.  They benefit corporations, be it publishers or things like Disney.

Karen Lightner: I can see the usefulness of bringing the US into line with the Berne Convention, so that we are in line with other nations’ laws. But the additional 20 years we have added for individuals and the incredibly long period for corporations goes against, I believe, what the founding fathers intended when they specified for a limited time.

Edwin A Quist: There are collections of so-called production music issued with licenses to be used for educational videos.  We have at least two sets of these in our music library (in various styles: rock ,classical, world, electronic, etc.) — but don’t expect great art!  Also WikiMedia Commons has some CC licensed music.

Brad Whitehead: I have no quarrel with protecting corporate trademarks — Disney characters or Nike swooshes, etc. — but maintaining monopolies on creative works for such extended periods primarily  enriches publishers with no benefit to the creators.

Nicholas Theo: There are definitely works created where it can be next to impossible to find the owner, or their descendant 20 years after the creation of the work. I have also witnessed when you do track these people down that they want an exorbitant sum of money for permission to use their creation even when there has been absolutely no interest in it. In the end no deal is made. On the other hand I work with two small non profit organizations whose body of work is of value. The material is actively used, and the body of work is a core asset for the organization. What happens to each organization once the copyrights expire? One organization faces this reality in 2015. The Internet permits an environment where decades of work may be used, and in some instances in ways the original material was never intended to be used. For instance, written passages can be misquoted and there will no longer be a legal mechanism to halt this practice.

Karen Case: I would be curious to know if the Youtube video with Mozart would have been removed if the link was made private.

Susan Martel: I think about The Hobbit which was published in 1937.  The author, Tolkien, died in 1973, and I remember his books being popular in the seventies and the eighties.  It was fairly recently that movies were made based on his books.  It seems fair (and I hope that it is the case) that he left a great legacy behind to his family so that they could continue to receive income from his work.  If Tolkien’s works were in the public domain by the time the movies were made, it is just an easy way for those working in the movie industry to become even wealthier without having to pay anything to the author or his beneficiaries.  Not all works have the kind of potential that Tolkien’s did, but without a crystal ball to predict the future it may be difficult to predict accurately what works will have continued success for generations and which will just be a flash in the pan.

Charles N. Norton: There is something called “Good Faith” effort that many archives hold to that tends to be the “standard” when trying to use copyrighted material for educational use, but it really only applies when you know who the copyright holder is and for whatever reason they simply do not respond to your requests. It does not remove the authors rights and, in fact, many times one does end up having to remove shared material after the fact because the copyright holders finally does get around to denying permission.

Lesli Moore: I’m glad to see some discussion about Open Access to works.  Perhaps instead of shortening the term, creators can circumvent the terms by offering open access using Creative Commons.

Jef Gielen: There are pros and cons. Do we find it reasonable that heirs take benefit from a work they did not contribute to at all ? To me, this is not evident. On the other hand, the copyright can be in hand of foundations trying to continue the work of an author – e.g. by means of scholarships. That’s another story ..

Resources:
Here is a complete list of all the suggested readings for the Copyright for Educations and Librarians Course. Click here for a downloadable PDF version of the Suggested Readings that contains the full URL links.

Week 1

 

Week 2

Week 3

Samples:

OPTIONAL – Resources on music copyright:

Sources for examples:

For the history behind the controversy over “The Lion Sleeps Tonight,” listen to these three YouTube videos:

  • Linda’s “Mbube” – 1939 (start at 0:21)
  • The Weavers with Pete Seeger “Wimoweh” – 1952 (start at 1:13)
  • Tokens “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” – 1961 (start at 0:15)

Week 4

Generation Z – the time of emojis approaching

Millennials Are Old News — Here’s Everything You Should Know About Generation Z

http://www.businessinsider.com/generation-z-spending-habits-2014-6#ixzz35n9ubTYy

GenZ

GenZ

https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims/2014/09/19/the-distracted-generation/

Generation on a Tightrope

http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/review_of_higher_education/v037/37.2.miller.html

Generations X,Y, Z and the Others – Cont’d 
http://www.socialmarketing.org/newsletter/features/generation3.htm

Beyond Millennials: How to Reach Generation Z

http://mashable.com/2014/08/20/generation-z-marketing/

52% use youtube or social media for typical research assignments

generation z

Infographic from:

http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/gen-z-infographic-can-help-marketers-get-wise-future-159642

http://www.brucemayhewconsulting.com/index.cfm?id=20209

http://rainmakerthinking.com/assets/uploads/2013/10/Gen-Z-Whitepaper.pdf

http://casefoundation.org/resource/millennial-impact-report/?gclid=CjwKEAiAgranBRDitfSQk_P7vnMSJAAhx5G5yH0Qf8TIHUzwYj_0sVDSRz1GIANFzY8c_z5wMCidaRoCG2vw_wcB

 

Backchannel: is it only K12 moving that direction?

backchannel — a digital conversation that runs concurrently with a face-to-face activity — provides students with an outlet to engage in conversation.

In a recent article by Edutopia:
The Backchannel: Giving Every Student a Voice in the Blended Mobile Classroom. (n.d.). Edutopia. Retrieved May 28, 2014, from http://www.edutopia.org/blog/backchannel-student-voice-blended-classroom-beth-holland

the author brings yet another argument in support of using the BYOD movement in K12 to promote usage of mobile devices and social media FOR the learning process, rather then seeking ways to shut them off.
It seems that Higher Ed is lagging behind in their paradigm shift toward Backchanneling.
What do you think must be done at SCSU to seek the usage of mobile devices and/or social media to involved students in the learning process?
Pollard, E. A. (2014). Tweeting on the Backchannel of the Jumbo-Sized Lecture Hall: Maximizing Collective Learning in a World History Survey. History Teacher, 47(3), 329-354.
http://login.libproxy.stcloudstate.edu/login?qurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ebscohost.com%2flogin.aspx%3fdirect%3dtrue%26db%3dkeh%26AN%3d96310010%26site%3deds-live%26scope%3dsiteCamiel, L. D., Goldman-Levine, J. D., Kostka-Rokosz, M. D., & McCloskey, W. W. (2014). Twitter as an in-class backchannel tool in a large required pharmacy course. American Journal Of Pharmaceutical Education, (3),
http://login.libproxy.stcloudstate.edu/login?qurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ebscohost.com%2flogin.aspx%3fdirect%3dtrue%26db%3dedsgao%26AN%3dedsgcl.369220588%26site%3deds-live%26scope%3dsiteAagard, H., Bowen, K., & Olesova, L. (2010). Hotseat: Opening the Backchannel in Large Lectures. EDUCAUSE Quarterly, 33(3),
http://login.libproxy.stcloudstate.edu/login?qurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ebscohost.com%2flogin.aspx%3fdirect%3dtrue%26db%3deric%26AN%3dEJ901491%26site%3deds-live%26scope%3dsite

Cronin, J. J. (2011). The Classroom as a Virtual Community: An Experience with Student Backchannel Discourse. Business Education Innovation Journal, 3(2), 56-65.
http://login.libproxy.stcloudstate.edu/login?qurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ebscohost.com%2flogin.aspx%3fdirect%3dtrue%26db%3dbuh%26AN%3d69910193%26site%3deds-live%26scope%3dsite

Pohl, A., Gehlen-Baum, V., & Bry, F. (2012). Enhancing the Digital Backchannel Backstage on the Basis of a Formative User Study. International Journal Of Emerging Technologies In Learning, 7(1), 33.
http://login.libproxy.stcloudstate.edu/login?qurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ebscohost.com%2flogin.aspx%3fdirect%3dtrue%26db%3dedo%26AN%3d79851144%26site%3deds-live%26scope%3dsite

Jarrett, K., & Devine, M. A. (2010). How to use backchanneling in your classroom. Education Digest, (1), 41.
http://login.libproxy.stcloudstate.edu/login?qurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ebscohost.com%2flogin.aspx%3fdirect%3dtrue%26db%3dedsgao%26AN%3dedsgcl.235654153%26site%3deds-live%26scope%3dsite

Reid, A. (2011). Social media assemblages in digital humanities: From backchannel to buzz. doi:10.1108/S2044-9968(2011)0000003019
http://login.libproxy.stcloudstate.edu/login?qurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ebscohost.com%2flogin.aspx%3fdirect%3dtrue%26db%3dedselc%26AN%3dedselc.2-52.0-84887477876%26site%3deds-live%26scope%3dsite

The Teacher’s Guide To Twitter

The Teacher’s Guide To Twitter

 http://www.edudemic.com/guides/guide-to-twitter/

Create, Don’t Just Consume
Connect and Network
Share Your Resources

Guide To Education-Oriented Twitter Hashtags

Guide To Education-Oriented Twitter Hashtags
http://edudemic.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/education-twitter-hashtags-730×1805.jpg

Getting Connected

With these tips and tools, you’ll be able to get connected with the people that matter most to you on Twitter.

  1. Follow experts: Get useful information from other experts in your field.
  2. Twitterholic: With Twitterholic, you’ll be able to find the most popular users on Twitter.
  3. Make friends with your competition: It may seem counterintuitive, but connecting with your competition can help keep you in the know and well networked.
  4. Twitter Fan Wiki: Find a directory and more in this wiki.
  5. Don’t follow too many new people at once: Follow too many people without reciprocation, and you’ll come off as a spammer.
  6. TwitterPacks: Check out this tool to locate people according to their interest group.
  7. WeFollow: Find people by industry or hobby using WeFollow.
  8. Follow back: When you discover new followers, be sure to follow them back if they are interesting or offer value to you.
  9. Keep your follow ratio balanced: Follow too many people without being followed back, and you will seem spammy, but if you have lots of followers that you don’t follow back, you’ll come off as snobby.
  10. Localtweeps: You can use this tool to filter tweets by zip code.
  11. Participate in Twitter events: Be a part of #followfriday, #musicmonday, and similar events to be a part of the community.
  12. Geofollow: Search for others in your location with this site.
  13. Twitterel: With Twitterel, you can find users with common interests.
  14. Twinfluence: Use Twinfluence to discover users with good reach, velocity, and social capital.
  15. Twellow: Use Twellow to find Twitter users based on category.
  16. Twitter Snipe: Twitter Snipe will auto follow users based on your niche.
  17. Talk to people about their interests: Show that you’re human by discussing things that are important to others.
  18. Follow your followers’ followers: Check out the follow lists of people you find interesting and connect with them.
  19. Be patient: Amassing Twitter followers doesn’t happen overnight. Be patient, and you’ll build a group of valuable followers.

Search

Put Twitter’s massive amounts of information to work by using these search tips and tools.

  1. Twitority: This search engine offers results based on Twitter users with authority.
  2. TwitterLocal: Search for tweets around a specific area with the help of this tool.
  3. Use keyword tricks: Take advantage of the advanced search option on Twitter.
  4. Use quotation marks: If you’re looking for a specific term, put it in quotation marks to get better results.
  5. Twithority: With Twithority, you’ll find Twitter search results with authority.
  6. Use hashtags: If you come across a useful hashtag, click on it to see what else you’ll find.
  7. Subscribe: Keep up with useful keywords and hashtags by setting up an RSS subscription for them.
  8. Pay attention to trends: Stay on top of the latest in your field by seeking out and participating in trending topics. For instance, students enrolled in political science degree programs may want to follow trending topics related to upcoming local and state elections.
  9. Retweetist: Retweetist shares popular trends, topics, and people using retweets on Twitter.
  10. Tweet Volume: With this tool, you can find out if your keywords are popular on Twitter or not.
  11. Tweetmeme: Check out Tweetmeme to learn about retweeting stats for articles on Twitter.
  12. Twitt(url)y: Find out about hot news with this tool that sorts URLs by how frequently they are mentioned in tweets.
  13. Twackle: With this aggregator, you’ll be able to find news and more in a single destination.
  14. Twitter Sniffer for Brands: Twitter Sniffer makes it easy for you to keep track of conversations about you on Twitter.
  15. Twuoted: Find popular quotes with this site that follows the #quote hashtag.
  16. Tweet Scan: Follow Twitter conversations by keyword and category using Tweet Scan.
  17. Monitter: Stay on top of 3 keywords at once with this keyword search tool.
  18. Pay attention to timing: Monitor the most popular hours for your Twitter followers, then concentrate your most important messages in those hours for more effective tweeting.

Organization

With these tips and tools, you can keep all of your information on Twitter well organized.

  1. Use a tool to manage Twitter: Don’t let your research get lost-use a tool to organize everything.
  2. Tweetdeck: Make use of this tool to organize tweets from various groups into easy to manage categories.
  3. Don’t try to read everything: You will be on Twitter all day and all night if you try to read every single tweet from your followers-just drop in when you can.
  4. My Tweeple: This tool will help you organize the people you’re following.
  5. Tweetree: See your Twitter stream in a tree with organized conversations using Tweetree.
  6. Make good use of alert tools: Make sure you’re not missing good conversations by setting up alerts that will tell you when friends and other Twitter users discuss keywords you’re interested in.
  7. Tweet Clouds: Analyze your keyword usage with this tool.
  8. Twitterator: Monitor groups of people while staying organized with the help of this script.

Authority Building

Follow these tips and use these tools in order to establish yourself as an authority in your field.

  1. Own your brand: Even if you don’t want to use your real name on Twitter, at least claim it so that no one else can use it against you.
  2. Be retweetable: Share tweets that others will want to retweet.
  3. Use popular tweets as blog posts: If you share a site or bit of information that turns out to be very popular, use it as a jumping off point for a blog post.
  4. Use your real name as your Twitter name: Be more personal and authoritative by using your real name.
  5. Respond: Don’t just sit in your ivory tower-talk back to the people who want to engage with you.
  6. Share your credentials: Let people know why you’re an expert in your field.
  7. Shake things up: Offer a good variety in your stream of links, blog posts, retweets, responses, and questions.
  8. Just don’t spam: Don’t do it-no one likes it, and it won’t be tolerated.
  9. Share information: Gain a reputation as an expert by sharing helpful links, resources, and more.
  10. Be sincere: Be honest and considerate in your tweets and replies.
  11. Find out authoritative keywords: See which keywords the authorities in your niche are using.
  12. Discuss what’s hot: Share your opinions and resources on what’s currently moving on Twitter.
  13. Don’t go crazy with links: Avoid using your Twitter account just to post links to your blog.
  14. Point out interesting information: Don’t just talk about yourself, discuss what’s happening in your field.
  15. Follow authorative accounts: Populate your Twitter neighborhood with people who have authority.
  16. Promote your Twitter URL: Share your Twitter name on your email, blog, Facebook, and other locations online so people can find you.
  17. Slow down: Don’t clog up your followers’ Twitter screens-keep your Tweets relevant and interesting, not inane and constant.
  18. Don’t always talk about yourself: Talk about more than just your own agenda.
  19. Be helpful: Spread goodwill by answering questions, introducing others, and offering recommendations.
  20. Reply to others: Get involved with the people you follow and engage in the Twitter conversation with replies.
  21. Show your personality: Show off the person behind the brand on Twitter.
  22. Use keywords: Use keywords that are important to your field to attract followers.

Getting Value

Follow these tips to make sure you’re getting value out of your Twitter experience.

  1. Networking: Meet offline with others in your field to get great value out of Twitter.
  2. Be useful: Give advice, resources, and more.
  3. Fill out your bio: Make sure people know where to go to find more information about you.
  4. Use Twitter on your blog: Keep your blog updated up to the minute with Twitter.
  5. Stop abuse in its tracks: Use Twitter to find out who is badmouthing you, and use action to stop it.
  6. Connect with complementary businesses: Find value in Twitter by getting connected with others that can support your business or niche.
  7. Enjoy ambient knowledge: With Twitter, you’ll be able to stay on top of news in your field around the clock.
  8. Listen: Just listen, and you’ll find interesting and useful information.
  9. Promote events: Use Twitter to promote live and virtual events like seminars, sales, and more.
  10. Ask for help: Get instant feedback by asking for help on Twitter.
  11. Meet your customers: Use Twitter as a way to interact with your customers, whether through the service or in real life.
  12. Listen to your critics: Find out what people are saying about you, then respond to it and act on it.

How To Connect With Students On Twitter

  1. Don’t require that students follow your account.
  2. Commit to posting at regular intervals. 
  3. Vary the time of day of the posts.
  4. Post links to content that is user friendly.
  5. Know your audience’s interests. 
  6. Don’t just retweet, generate original links. 
  7. Suggest people, organizations or magazines to follow.
  8. Be personal. 
  9. … yet avoid the overly personal comments. 

Twitter Rules Every Teacher Should Know

Rule #3

If you’re adding the Twitter logo to some marketing materials, here’s how to properly format it all. Same goes if you’re just adding in the Twitter Bird to other materials. Useful to know.

twitter advertising guidelines

Rule #4

Always capitalize the T in Twitter and Tweet. Seriously. That’s a little-known rule that basically everyone doesn’t follow but it’s worth trying to remember!

A Useful Twitter Cheat Sheet

A Useful Twitter Cheat Sheet

Twitter Tips For Students and Teachers

See Also: A Visual Guide To Twitter For Beginners

  1. Actually complete your bio. You’ll get more mileage out of your Twitter account if you actually create a profile that says something about you, offering potential followers information about your interests, professional or otherwise.
  2. Learn the basics. Learn the basic terminology for Twitter and the major functions it can perform by doing a little reading on helpful social media blogs beforehand. You’ll thank yourself later.
  3. Get some style. Before you send out your first tweet, decide what kind of tweeter you want to be. The London School of Economics and Political Science offers up three major styles here so you can learn more about the subject.
  4. Learn from others. One of the best ways to learn how to use Twitter is to spend some time seeing how others have set up and been using their accounts. Luckily, there are tons of other academics on Twitter to learn from.
  5. Don’t be mean. The Internet is full of people who are all too happy to say some pretty harsh things, but just because they’re incredibly tactless doesn’t mean you have to be. Never say anything on Twitter you wouldn’t want people to find out about, or wouldn’t say in any other situation. If people are hassling you, ignore them and move on.
  6. Announce that you’ll be joining a hashtag chat or conference. If you’re going to be tweeting more than usual, let your followers know in advance so they can choose to tune out if they’re not interested in your live tweeting or chatting.
  7. Actually respond in a reasonable amount of time. If someone asks you a question or directs a tweet your way, respond as soon as you can, just like with email or any other digital communication, especially if you’re using Twitter in your courses.
  8. Be gracious and say thank you. A little bit of gratitude goes a long way on Twitter. If someone helps you out or shares your research, don’t forget to say thanks.
  9. Make mistakes. No one is perfect, and if you’re new to Twitter you’re probably going to have a few gaffes along the way as you learn the ropes. That’s OK! Don’t let it slow your enthusiasm for using the social site.
  10. Start your own hashtag chat. Twitter chats have exploded in popularity in recent months, so get in on the trend while the getting’s good. Start your own chat on an academic topic, or chime in on other bigger existing chats for a chance to network.
  11. Find and use some hashtags. You’ll make it easier for others to find your tweets if you add a few relevant hashtags here and there.
  12. Do ‘Follow Friday’. Every Friday, Twitter explodes with suggestions on who to follow. Offer up your own and you may just end up in someone else’s suggestions.
  13. Share the stuff you’re reading. Reading a story on a site like Edudemic? Found an amazing article in pop-science about your research field? Share it! If it’s interesting, it’ll probably get retweeted and passed around, and you might just interest a student or two to boot.
  14. Reach out and connect with someone. Not everyone you connect with on Twitter has to be in your field or even in academia. In fact, you might enrich your research and your professional life by reaching out to other fields and professions.
  15. Do some backchannel talks. Whether you have students post to Twitter during class or ask them to share comments during a presentation, these backchannel talks can help facilitate conversation and provide a record of a shared learning experience.
  16. Create your own classroom hashtag. One way to keep classroom tweets organized is by having a shared hashtag that all students use. Just make sure no one else is using it!
  17. Connect Twitter to Moodle or Blackboard. You can help push students to interact using Twitter by adding a Twitter widget to your Blackboard or Moodle site for the class. Follow the instructions here to get started.
  18. Don’t mandate your students follow you on Twitter. Don’t force students to follow you on Twitter unless it’s part of the course. Let them decide to follow or not.
  19. Be happy (see #5 above). You don’t have to be super serious on Twitter to earn students’ respect. In fact, loosening up could just help improve your rapport with your students.
  20. Live-tweet a conference or event (see #6). Share your conference-going experience by tweeting updates about it throughout the day to your followers.
  21. Share some of your lesson plans. Educators and academics can come together to share and collaborate on lesson plans quite easily using Twitter.
  22. Collaborate with other teachers / parents / students. If you find you have similar interests with another academic, use Twitter to work together on research ideas, classroom solutions, and other topics.
  23. Collaborate with other classrooms in your school, district, or another country.Why work alone when you can connect with other college classrooms? That’s just what many college classes are doing these days.
  24. Host reading discussions. Holding a reading discussion over Twitter gives everyone a chance to chime in, even shy students who might not otherwise speak up.
  25. Actually use Twitter for writing assignments. Want to teach your students the art of brevity? Assign them poetry or prose to be written on Twitter.

The Teacher’s Guide To Twitter Hashtags

Are you looking to figure out exactly which Twitter hashtag is the right one to follow? There’s no shortage of options and it can feel overwhelming. Sure, there’s the popular #edchat and #edtech hashtags most of us follow. But what about the more focused tags that you’re missing out on?

#edapp

educational apps

#elearn I’d suggest using this rather than the longer #elearning
#flipchat chat platform for flipped classroom educators. See here.
#flipclass platform for those interested in the flipped classroom.
#flippedclassroom Obsolete. Use the shorter #flipclass. All about the flipped classroom
#gbl game-based learning
#globalclassroom Good for finding global collaboration / connections, sharing #globaled practice. Official chats run monthly over 3 days. Click here for schedule
#ipadchat name speaks for itself. See here.

10 technology hallmarks for every campus

10 technology hallmarks for every campus

http://www.ecampusnews.com/technologies/technology-hallmarks-campus-099

1. High-speed wireless broadband.

According to the Center for Digital Education’s recent “2013 Yearbook: Technology Innovation in Education,” over 80 percent of education institutions surveyed said that wireless broadband was their “top priority for IT investment.”

2. 24/7 IT support.

We have 24/7 support for emergencies and much of our staff, just like at a hospital, are on call. That’s not a perk for the campus, it’s a necessity.

3. The cloud.

The cloud can also: acquire and implement the latest software and application updates; streamline enrollment and admissions processes; and turn to subscriptions that are scalable and provide options, says Edudemic.

4. Digital textbooks.

Planning for digital textbooks means not only boosting mobile device capabilities on campus, but helping faculty learn to implement digital resources into their course.

5. 21st Century PD for faculty and admin.

From offering a MOOC on classroom management online solutions, to hosting a PD session on Twitter, campus admin should offer multiple options for PD delivery, just like how faculty should offer students multiple options for learning–there’s no better way to teach something than to model it first!

6. MOOCs.

[Read: “3 pros and 3 cons of MOOCs.”]

7. Online course management system.

From sending in-class emails to checking grades, course management systems, like Blackboard, offer faculty and students a fairly intuitive way to manage courses more efficiently.

8. Big Data…

Future-proofing universities are beginning to deploy storage solutions to help manage the unstructured data in physical, virtual and cloud environments. More modern storage solutions are also open source for a high learning curve but low cost.

9…security.

precautions can range from scanning existing databases on the university’s servers to determine where personal information is located and then, depending on the database, destroy the personal information or add more digital security; as well as put cybersecurity systems through a series of penetration tests to highlight security shortcomings.

[Read: “University data breach prompts ‘top-to-bottom’ IT review.”]

10. Social media done well.

of the major ways campuses use social media well is by serving up both “cake” and “broccoli,” or balancing the content that is important and good for the school (broccoli) and the content that is fun and delicious (cake). “If you share enough cake, your audience will consume the occasional broccoli,” she advises.

Minecraft: Games and Gamification

The Minecraft Experience Panel Presentation Games for Change NYC April 24th 2014

http://www.minecraftexperience.net/G4C2014+Panel

Extended Description:

Last year at G4C Nick Fortugno threw some controversy into the conversation about Minecraft by suggesting Minecraft was not a game but a toy. The proposed panel extends that conversation by asking what is the Minecraft experience, can it be defined or categorised and what as game designers and exponents can we take from understanding its zeitgeist and the impact it has had on the serious gaming landscape?

In 2012/23 at both GLS and G4C many presenters made jokes about including the obligatory Minecraft slide and for very good reasons. Minecraft is arguably a game of immense impact. It has been embraced as part of learning programs focussing on seemingly disparate areas from digital citizenship, history, coding and the maker movement. It is probably the first game brought into the classroom by teachers to leverage the out of school groundswell of existing player excitement. It’s impact is multi generational and perhaps more global than any game before it. The fan base and user community/ies are strong and well supported and exemplar of the potential Jim Gee describes for Big G game. This panel proposes to leverage that Big G space in the lead up to Games for Change 2014 and to honor the voices of its players.

Minecraft has been variously described as a game, toy sandpit, learning space, creative environment, virtual world, and game-infused service. But what really are the affordances of this blocky 16 bit program and how can we even begin to define its value to learning? Enter the Minecraft Experience, a global crowdsourced program managed by Bron Stuckey of The Massively Minecraft Project. People engaging in Minecraft activities about the globe are being invited to describe Minecraft in all its contexts and adaptations. The categories for these experiences will emerge from the crowd sourced content as members contribute thoughts, media, resources and questions to build the __Minecraft Experience__ evidence base.

This panel of notable speakers has been drawn together to answer provocative questions about Minecraft’s success and define its relationship to and impact on learning. The panelists have been chosen to represent play in many contexts formal education, informal learning, self-organised learning, schools and non-school contexts. They include game designers, educators, researchers, learners and parents who have each had a personal and professional experience of this and many other games.

Panelists take a position on the Minecraft experience and use the resources provided by members of the project to inform, support and evidence their case.

How are players, educators and researchers invited to contribute?

  • project wiki to prod, poke, stimulate and support crowd sourced content and dialog
  • live youth speakers on the panel
  • social media and wiki activity in lead-up using selected #minecraftproject
  • video inclusions of educators, parents, kids/youth arguments, evidence and questions
  • promotion of youth media pieces from existing YouTube etc to support and stimulate various provocative dialogs
  • livestream of the panel to global contributors with live feedback and questions.

Who could benefit from joining this project and attending the G4C 2014 panel session?

  • Educators seeking to understand Minecraft’s value to learning
  • Programs seeking to adapt Minecraft as part of a program of impact or change.
  • Game designers seeking to build in its wake
  • Anyone wanting to consider issues of fidelity, adaptation, constructionism, popular culture, and impact in gaming.

http://www.stevehargadon.com/2014/04/learning-revolution-conference-schedule.html

http://www.connectsafely.org/teacher-teaching-minecraft-looks-like/

http://www.pearltrees.com/#/N-f=1_10785583&N-fa=3358517&N-p=105030132&N-play=0&N-s=1_10785583&N-u=1_372724

http://gamesandimpact.org/members/bronst/activity/friends/

excellent discusssion for and against students’ group work on LinkedIn’s “The Teaching Professor”

For those students who hate group work Manager’s Choice

Editor, Faculty FocusTop Contributor

A Lone Wolf’s Approach to Group Workfacultyfocus.com

“I’d really rather work alone. . .” Most of us have heard that from a student (or several students) when we assign a group project, particularly one that’s worth a decent amount of the course grade. It doesn’t matter that the project is large,…

  • jasim

    jasim hussein

    Professor of Pediatrics, Consultant Pediatrician at Babylon Medical College, Iraq

    It may be related to shyness, introversion , improper self confidence, phobia or due to little knowlege

    David L.Ron K. and 2 others like this

  • Steve WethingtonSteve

    Steve Wethington

    College Professor at College of the Mainland

    we train students to join the workforce. Team work is key. None of this lone wolf , inner child stuff. You cant be a nurse, a plant worker, someone in business unless you can teamwork……….

    if you want to be an academic , even then you have others in your department , you teach . whether they are shy, introverted makes no difference. We humans are a pack type animal.

    You can make all the esoteric analogies you want. But in this world , its a we world not an I one.

    Art L.David L. like this

  • Alan Dobrowolski, MBAAlan

    Alan Dobrowolski, MBA

    Professor (Adjunct) at Manchester Community College

    With the demographics that I work with, I do not feel that group projects are particularly productive. One thing we must always be sure of before assigning a group project is whether or not doing so supports the objective of the course. That said, a mandatory group project might not be appropriate, say, in an accounting class, where group dynamics and playing well with others is not particularly a focus of the class objective.

    For business classes, I give the option of group vs. individual project – but make it clear that the expectation multiplies by the number of group members. Our students work different schedules and all commute to class – the logistics alone can be overwhelming. Who’s going to watch the kids and the dogs?

    Historically, group projects can be particularly overly stressful for students requiring accommodations and/or are living with physiological or mental health issues. When a group project is assigned, it is incumbent upon the instructor to ensure any such issues are addressed.

    Assigning a group project now also makes us responsible for ensuring that the group functions appropriately, and the role of each group member is clearly identified so that you are able to assess performance. “Free riders” are an inherent reality in group projects, and as with public goods, someone still has to pay the price. (I have used a group project in an economics class – with a student “plant” to demonstrate the “free rider.”)

    Overall, I feel that group projects should only be assigned in a controlled structured environment, otherwise someone will always feel left out. I use scheduled group projects only in classes where doing so meets a course objective, as I feel this is fairest to all of the students.

    Grace T.Shagufta Tahir M. and 5 others like this

  • Brian R MurphyBrian R

    Brian R Murphy

    Professor of Fisheries Science at Virginia Tech

    No doubt the ‘lone wolf’ phenomenon is real, and we as educators have created it. Our educational system has reinforced to students that individual performance is supreme, and that is how they have generally been judged. Students have spent years polishing their capabilities to excel individually, and then suddenly we are saying that they need to not only work effectively in teams, but also figure out how to push team efforts to an excellent level so that their individual grade does not suffer due to below-average performance by other team members. So, first we need to be more consistent in our message(s) to students. We should be talking about critical professional skills (higher-level thinking, problem solving, communication, and teamwork) from the time they enter our university. And our curricula and courses should be designed to help them develop these skills. In the meantime, we should do all that we can to help them be successful in their new and unfamiliar teamwork roles. One way I have tried to reduce surprises and conflicts is to require student teams to develop a team charter before they commence any work. A charter lays out goals and methods for the team, along with expectations for team members and agreement on how conflicts will be resolved. I have students start at this link to learn about the benefits and structure of team charters: http://www.clarosgroup.com/jumpstart.pdf.

    Shagufta Tahir M.Alan D. and 5 others like this

  • Grace Turner Ph.D.Grace

    Grace Turner Ph.D.

    Founder, Clavester University College Ltd; Clicking Connections; Oh Gracie! Sorrel jelly, wine and short stories

    I find that getting students ready for team work is the way to go:

    What it is

    What is expected

    Roles of each member

    Employability factors from the task other than a grade (ie what skills they will learn to transfer to the working world as supervisors or workers)

    Fun

    Social benefits and the like

    I use it often with all my groups as one of the objectives of the courses I write or deliver.

    Dr Turner

    David L.Stephen W. L. and 2 others like this

  • Darrin Thomas, PhDDarrin

    Darrin Thomas, PhD

    Adjunct Lecturer at Asia Pacific International University

    I was one of those students who hated group work. The reason for me at least was because the group would slow me down. Often when people work in groups accountability goes down and people go off task. I remember being in groups were nobody wanted to do the assignment but wanted to socialize. In the real world this is not as bad because people are being employed and paid money so they have some motivation to work together.
    Sadly, there are times were students need to work in groups. However, if I have a student who insist on working alone I tried to make accommodations for them because that student used to be me.

    Ron K.Grace T. like this

  • Shagufta Tahir

    Shagufta Tahir Mufti

    Associate Professor , Anatomic and Clinical Pathology at King Abdulaziz University

    Top Contributor

    I agree with Alan that team projects should be chosen only if they are required to support the ILOs.However although the course may or may not require the team project we should keep in mind that all graduates are sooner or latter going to work outside the institution with people whom they dont know at all.If they are not encouraged to deal with their own familiar peers (at a relatively more flexible stage of their lives) I dont see how we can expect them to demonstrate standard collegiality later on in their careers.So I think team projects do groom our students with culture, grace , dignity and respect above all.It fosters life long professional relationships in which the team members become invested in each others ” development and well-being”

    Yes! a serious challenge to team project is that of ” free riders” because they can potentially annoy and de- motivate delligent students.In my experience there has always been a note of caution in using “team projects ” since team’s performance is difficult to implement which I suppose is about ” performance mangement”.

    This can be addressed by choosing the right design for the project that should be designed in a way that individual efforts are observable and measurable keeping the number of students to small.There are different models of team projects .I think “additive tasks where the individual inputs are added together so that the group productivity is determined by the individual contributions of all group members” are the best .The monitoring can be done by the direct supervision of the facilitator or by peers. We may also indirectly stress the potential for reputational consequences for poor individual effort that may work into motivating their engagement next time.
    Team composition is an important determinant of team performance. Allowing teams to form autonomously with like-minded individuals who have self-selected into the team knowing who they will be working with are likely to perform better.But as an educator I have experienced that learning outcomes are better met with heterogeneity within the team.
    Other way of engaging ” free riders” into teams is by using a mechanism to make the P & P well known to all students at the begining and by continuous monitoring of effort so that at the end they could share in a reward only if there is substantial evidence that they have worked hard enough to deserve it.

    Ron K. likes this

  • Mary BissonMary

    Mary Bisson

    professor at University at Buffalo

    1. complicated schedules. I generate groups with catme.org, which will take into account parameters that you determine (schedules, grades, etc.), allowing you to say what should and should not match, and how important it is, in order to come up with groups. I often modify the groups based on what I know of the individuals, but the main thing they help with is sorting the schedules. There is a catme users group on Linked In.
    2. loafers. When I grade a group project, 1/3 of the grade is the overall project (and each member of the group gets the same grade), 1/3 is for the individuals’ performance (in presentation, answering questions, etc.) and 1/3 of the grade is peer grades. Every student grades the other members of the group. My assessment of the students’ contrubutions, and their peers’ assessment, is usually very close, but being allowed to grade their co-workers gives the student a little bit of feeling of input that helps to deal with the feeling of unfairness in being burdened with an uncooperative group member.

    Frances T.Grace T. and 5 others like this

  • Steve WethingtonSteve

    Steve Wethington

    College Professor at College of the Mainland

    my group projects , except for one, are all where i can observe.

    that being said i hear every semester the “i work better alone or it’s not fair to grade me with a group”

    inevitably i ask them what “field” they are going into? we don’t need sole workers in the fields we ready them for.

    1. the entire group gets the same grade.
    2. all the groups , usually 4 or 5 of 4 or 5 students each, grade each other by student and by group.
    3. everyone has same instructions……build a model for the physical folks, make an oral presentation ,3 to 5 minutes each student, in front of entire class and me, and bring it all together with a written report on the subject of a minimum of 20 pages for a C grade.

    One of our Profs adds this little tidbit……..if after 2 weeks into the 5 week assignment, the team wants to remove someone for lack of commitment or participation, they can vote them off the team.

    BUT they all have to put that in writing AND say why……….AND SIGN IT

    the tossed student can then do the entire project all by themselves………BUT they lose one grade. so from an A to a B for example. WHY? it’s a team project and they know it ahead of time……

    this isn’t Burger King and NO you can’t have everything YOUR own way in work either….

    the other students are harsher graders then i usually turn out to be to….

    David L.Grace T. and 2 others like this

  • Stephen W. LambertStephen W.

    Stephen W. Lambert

    Nonprofit & Community Leader, Educator, Researcher

    I love and concur with Grace’s comments above!

    David L. likes this

  • Robin LaukhufRobin

    Robin Laukhuf

    P-T Faculty at Howard Community College

    I have to admit I never liked team projects at first. I would be one that would rather do it myself and on my time, but with the way the world is today that is not a good idea anymore. You have to be able to work on virtual teams. Employers want to know that students have that skill. I always have the teams fill out an evaluation that I only read on their team members.

  • David

    David Muschell

    Former Professor at Georgia College & State University

    Mary Bisson’s recognition of two flaws of group work, coordinating schedules and accounting for those who “loaf” through the project, is very real. I hated college committees for a third reason: conflicting learning styles (I’m being polite about the clashes). Some need reflection and contemplation before decision-making, others need visual prompts to facilitate understanding, and still others were more interpersonally oriented and needed to talk it over with someone, etc., etc. The notion that our society is “team” oriented is flawed. Most of our organizations are authoritarian, including the law, education, business, and the military. There is someone at the top who makes decisions–a judge, a teacher, a CEO, a general–and those below must follow. Only about 20% of us, on average, actually participate in one of the few “democratic” group activities: Juries.

    My group projects were mainly during class time, during which I broke the large group into smaller ones, conducted an activity, and had a return to the larger group for reporting results.

    Brian Murphy is right about our fostering individual success as the prime focus of our educational evaluation, yet working in groups is important. Learning to subjugate the self for a larger goal involving others is an important awareness, and those who cannot do this become outlaws…or CEOs or professors (being facetious here).

    Shagufta Tahir M.Ron K. like this

  • Rana ZEINE, MD, PhD, MBARana

    Rana ZEINE, MD, PhD, MBA

    Assistant Professor at Saint James School of Medicine

    I have observed marked improvement in group projects after providing the students with a workshop session on the Tuckman Stages of Team Development. Once they understand the causes of the Storming phase, they readily adopt the leadership strategies for moving into the Norming and Performing phases.

    Ron K.Robin L. and 3 others like this

  • Robin LaukhufRobin

    Robin Laukhuf

    P-T Faculty at Howard Community College

    Rana,
    Thanks for the resource. I will look into using that.

  • Ron

    Ron Krate

    Professor and Founder International Professors Project

    Top Contributor

    @David… Why did you not point to Wall street bankers?

  • Ron

    Ron Krate

    Professor and Founder International Professors Project

    Top Contributor

    To date, the lone wolf being more or less in a group, is more or less solvable/unsolvable— without detriment to the wolf or the group

  • David

    David Muschell

    Former Professor at Georgia College & State University

    Tuckman has fun ideas because he rhymes, but the “stage” idea can be misleading since groups don’t always necessarily progress in these phases or the phases overlap. Having taught small group communication at my college, I can say that Tuckman’s (and Jensen) ideas came out of his research in the 60’s and 70’s and have been criticized for “overreaching” when trying to formulate neat stages, but his work has been very influential. Still, consideration of the purpose of the group, its “chemistry,” and the outside pressures guiding it is important. A family discussion at Thanksgiving is very different from small groups of students asked to analyze a short story, or a Senate committee charged with examining a marriage rights bill. Whether they neatly go from Forming to Storming to Norming to Performing is questionable (Tuckman later added “Adjourning” as a fifth stage).

    And Ron, I thought I had pointed to Wall Street bankers when I mentioned outlaws.

    Ron K. likes this

  • Ron

    Ron Bridges

    Biology Professor at Pellissippi State Community College

    To David Muschell,

    You are incorrect about military decision making. While generals (and colonels and majors) do have to make snap decisions in the midst of combat, the planning for combat operations is a lot more group based than most civilians think. The book “Into the Storm’ by General Fred Franks (co-written by Tom Clancy) describes the degree of collaboration between higher and lower levels of command and between adjacent units. The military understands that the best ideas don’t always come from the top. The lower ranking leader is often closer to the action and able to provide a different perspective.

    Nanette W. likes this

  • David

    David Muschell

    Former Professor at Georgia College & State University

    You have to have extreme admiration for Frederick Franks, but saying that the military structure is not authoritarian may overlook the fact that most of the best authoritarian leaders take input from others, especially those closest to the decision making theater, before making a decision. If a judge doesn’t look at precdents, a teacher at educational psychology, or a cop at the law, we can get bad decisions. The worst authoritarian leaders ignore those below them and dictate.

  • Yaritza FerreiraYaritza

    Yaritza Ferreira

    Professor of Curriculum, Educational Management and Research at UNEFM

    I applaud Mary for raising this reflection in the group because it is a reality that we are in our teaching performance and hardly we have strategies, but Rana, Brian and Grace made ​​some interesting proposals that we can apply.

  • Ron

    Ron Krate

    Professor and Founder International Professors Project

    Top Contributor

    @David …I apologize for missing Wall Street going David.

    There many other instances of overvaluing a theory, a law or an idea, since almost no reader or student, or even a professor will check the research design and statistics and logical analysis of all such.

    Mallow’s “theory” of personalty was disproved fifty years ago(?), but as the following years rolled by, HR professionals and many other admins were attached to the theory at the hip. It was a nice contribution to use as a subjective guideline for further work, but not to assume the hierarchy postulated almost always works–and even almost perefect does not a theory make–its considered to have been disproven.

    Many people have a miserable childhood: physically and/or emotionally, and go hungry but pretty well climb the ladder toward self actualization.

  • Ron

    Ron Krate

    Professor and Founder International Professors Project

    Top Contributor

    @David …I apologize for missing Wall Street going David.
    There many other instances of overvaluing a theory, a law or an idea, since almost no reader or student, or even a professor will check the research design and statistics and logical analysis of all such. Masow’s “theory” of personalty was disproved fifty years ago(?), but as the following years rolled by, HR professionals and many other admins were attached to the theory at the hip. It was a nice contribution to use as a subjective guideline for further work, but not to assume the hierarchy postulated almost always works–and even almost perefect does not a theory make–its considered to have been disproven.

    Many people have a miserable childhood: physically and/or emotionally, and go hungry but pretty well climb the ladder toward self actualization.

  • Ron

    Ron Bridges

    Biology Professor at Pellissippi State Community College

    Yes the military is authoritarian, but Soldiers also have to work in groups. All of my military training courses were taught in the small group style. My work as a staff officer was all done within small groups. And in Gen. Franks book he explains a lot about the reflective nature of his decision making process. How he would have his staff develop multiple possible plans and then not choose one until he had a chance to reflect on it. As he stated (paraphrasing a bit from memory): he often waited until the situation developed a bit and then the best option presented itself.
    I think that it is important that students learn that group work of some time is required in all professions. Whether the group gets to make the decision or only pitch a particular plan, they stil have to work together to finish whichever job they are given.

  • Alan Dobrowolski, MBAAlan

    Alan Dobrowolski, MBA

    Professor (Adjunct) at Manchester Community College

    Not sure how the discussion digressed to military groups – or quoting Tommy Franks as a reliable source – but institutions such as the Army and Marine Corp do operate as small groups. The “basic” in basic training emphasizes the breaking down of individuality and being rebuilt to “all you can be” as part of a “group project.”

    No place for that in accounting class.

    The use of “small group” or team project instruction permeates throughout the public sector – whether military or civilian. But your added value to any group or organization remains what you contribute as an individual; first you must learn as an individual before you can effectively contribute to a group.

    Group dynamics are important, but should not affect the individual outcome if not part of the learning objectives in the curriculum. I spent little time as a staff officer in the Army and never did figure out what the group think was leading to “decisions” that were handed down – and thanks to line officers like James Blunt who think as individuals, and disobeyed orders from General Wesley Clark, that we succeed as nations.

    (probably not the best source, but an accurate summary:
    http://hubpages.com/hub/1999-Showdowns-in-Kosovo-Russia-vs-NATO-US-vs-Britain

    David L.Ron K. like this

  • Davina BrownDavina

    Davina Brown

    Professor of Psychology at Franklin Pierce University

    I use team work in classes where, as Alan mentioned above, a particular goal is enhanced. However, I never make the project worth more than 20% of the final grade because I once saw a stellar student miss out on admittance to his preferred grad school (he was admitted to another) due to one B on his transcript (from a course where the team grade was 60%).
    I also believe that equating classroom team work with the world of employment is a terrible mistake. They are just not apples to apples! The people I work with have a lot more in common with me than students in a class room have with each other; and this class room heterogeneity is at it’s worst in the freshman and sophomore years. As for the team I work with, we have identical advanced degrees in the same field. All of us competed during hiring with other applicants, yet we, not those others, got hired. The chances that our personalities would mesh well are not guaranteed, but the odds are a lot higher than randomly throwing together a group of students.
    Also regarding actual employment, there are many jobs that do not require team work, and shy people or those with Asperger’s, for example, tend to self-select and gravitate to these positions. One example is a family member who works at the American College of Surgeons in Chicago. He sits in an office all by himself editing manuscripts and may see his boss once a week. Though this is not my idea of a fun time, he loves his job.

    Rae J.David L. like this

  • Wethington

    Wethington Steve

    Assistant Professor Process Technology at College of the Mainland

    Question: if you go into a workplace right out of College , what are you?

    answer: A freshman in the workplace. A lot of book learning maybe, but damn little practical experience.

    Teamwork is a requirement for the majority of folks outside Academia. You don’t have to like the other, you sure as heck don’t have to have the same outside interests.

    But you do have to work together. The Team will have type A’s and type B’s and folks who play well with others and folks that don’t. There for sure are no guaranties, but i know of none except death and taxes anyways. There is a valid reason for teaching teamwork. It has a function in life and in the workplace.

    and i see the “Asperger’s clause too. Which just in last few months has been called into question, if it even exists. If 5 % are that way, we modify everything and NOT teach or lead the other 95%? I modify my entire class for the same percentages? (and i know you can argue whatever that % should be and miss the point)

    We do student NO service by NOT getting them out of their comfort zone in this regards.

  • David LutherDavid

    David Luther

    Professor at Cambridge College

    Top Contributor

    The so called “Lone Wolf” is of vital importance to the group.

    “It is easy to live for others, everybody does. I call on you to live for yourself.”
    ― Ralph Waldo Emerson

  • Kip

    Kip Coggins

    Assistant Professor at Univ of Manitoba, Inner City Social Work Program

    Top Contributor

    I use group work for several classes and find that my students are apprehensive about this style UNTIL I explain that although it is “group” work they will ONLY be graded on their portion. For example, when I have the 4 groups go out to do a community assessment on the 4 sections: demographics, community characteristics, community services, and strengths and challenges, I have each student take a portion of their section and present their 4-5 page paper, as a poster presentation, in which they are quizzed about their poster and the information they gathered on the community for their particular section. Each student in each group has their section to present and defend, while at the same time they must all work together to ensure that their section is accurate! And I make sure to reinforce this grading system every class until the poster presentation, which is usually the last class before the final exam. I find that when this is explained properly, at the beginning of the class, and reinforced when the assignment is discussed, then there are fewer questions/problems. Students need to learn the importance and value of teamwork.

    Rae J.David L. like this

  • Amy Lynn HessAmy Lynn

    Amy Lynn Hess

    Associate Professor at Herzing University

    I have personally always hated group work – whether as a student or as an employee. Quite frankly, working with others lowers the quality of the work I could do on my own. Either that, or I end up doing all the work myself, anyway, because I have lazy group members. However, I also accept that I have to do it, so when required, I do it, and “we” produce a mediocre outcome. When I’m allowed to work alone, I get excited about the possibilities, get creative, excel, the product is better, and it’s delivered faster.

    I don’t blame students for hating group work. When they say they hate group work (when I DO assign it, and I DO), I tell them that hating something is no reason not to learn to do it and no reason not to do it and do it well. “For example,” I tell them, “I also really hate doing the dishes.”

    Hui L. likes this

  • Rana ZEINE, MD, PhD, MBARana

    Rana ZEINE, MD, PhD, MBA

    Assistant Professor at Saint James School of Medicine

    It can be very difficult when individual group members simply do not have any competencies relevant to the group assignment. However, working in teams in which individual members contribute their highest level of expertise or talent to the project generates outcomes that are greater than those that could be produced by a single person working alone.

    Kip C.David L. and 1 other like this

  • Wethington

    Wethington Steve

    Assistant Professor Process Technology at College of the Mainland

    and BINGO !!!!!!!!!!!!! Rana Thank you very much. That is EXACTLY why we should do teams in college.

    BTW………….rarely in 30 + years in 5 different sets of Plant experiences have i ever been asked if i wanted to join a group. I was assigned.

    I was not the lead in the group more then i was. When i was leader, i was “graded” on how the team did. The sum of the parts is most often better then just 1 part. This ” I excel when i am working alone” besides being egocentric is most often NOT true in more Industries and careers then it is.

    Steve Jobs , Bill Gates, et al might be really impressive individuals no doubt, but Apple, Goggle, Microsoft, and every top 500 company is team work oriented.

    Art L.David L. and 2 others like this

  • Michael RoachMichael

    Michael Roach

    Assistant Professor

    Here’s what I would see…the high achievers didn’t like group work because they ended up carrying the lesser achievers. The lesser achievers didn’t like group work because they were unveiled as lesser achievers.

  • Wethington

    Wethington Steve

    Assistant Professor Process Technology at College of the Mainland

    maybe, but that is the real world isn’t it? Sometimes i was the high achiever , some times not so much……….It isn’t us vs them………..it’s how do you work in teams to get the “job” or “assignment” done? and maybe more importantly how do i feel about the job i am doing?

    and with peer grading input, every one in class knows who is who just like in real world.

    I was turned down for a promotion once early on in my career field. The Boss 2 levels up said he couldn’t afford to lose me cause i was such a great member of the team……….

    Boy did i hem and haw and get bent………..then my direct boss came to me and asked me if i trusted him and his boss or not?

    i had to say yes since that was the truth………i got more of a raise and moved into a more visible spot on other teams then the fella who got promoted.

  • Kip

    Kip Coggins

    Assistant Professor at Univ of Manitoba, Inner City Social Work Program

    Top Contributor

    I agree with Rana and Wethington! I know that my wife has standards and she told me of one bad experience where she had to expel a member of her group and then explain to the prof why. After receiving a 1 page group assignment, which was due the following week, one group member choose not to submit anything until 10pm the night before the assignment was due for the 8am class. This was after repeated phone calls and emails asking for her input! So the next morning, this group member was told that her name would be removed from the next assignment, with a handwritten explanation that she had not contributed to the assignment and the prof was also given copies of the unanswered emails for the week! The funny thing, the assignment was on Humanities and covered free will. My wife told the prof that the other group members and she were using their collective “free will” and asking this student to be removed from the group. It was done, as the prof used his free will and placed her in another group — where she caused them havoc for the rest of the semester! The problem with group work stems from conflicting personalities rather than one person maybe not wanting to do “real” work to get the job done.
    But she knows that she can be hard on group members and tells them in the beginning. If you tell students that this is about teamwork and the ability to show respect for others talent, time, skill, etc, and communicate your feelings in a non-confrontational way, then group work can be amazing.
    Currently my wife is helping to mentor my 4 groups writing their portion of their class community assessment, so she is helping to reign 24 different personalities and working/writing styles so that these students individual papers can be edited into one cohesive paper. Yes, group is challenging for some, as trying to overcome the need to control everything can be exhausting.

  • Kip

    Kip Coggins

    Assistant Professor at Univ of Manitoba, Inner City Social Work Program

    Top Contributor

    Michael – maybe the “lesser achiever” did not appreciate the demeaning tone used by those who thought they were the “higher achievers.” I know that once group members start to label others, then that shows a lack of respect. While there are (many) times that group members may not contribute what they need to the group as a whole, it is up to the instructor to be made aware of this “problem” and let the students know that there is a solution to the situation of one or several members of a group not pulling their weight and doing their job to get the project done. That is why I grade on individual work within the group assignment- that way, the students still need to work together in order to ensure that the group project is well covered/presented and at the same time one member is not carrying the academic work load for the entire group. Group work is team work!

  • Susan Jaworowski, Ph.D.Susan

    Susan Jaworowski, Ph.D.

    Associate Professor and Program Director at Paralegal Program, Kapi`olani Community College

    Having the group spirit falter because one member doesn’t show up consistently can negatively impact the final project. However, in the real world for which I am preparing my students, they will run into good teammates and bad teammates, and they will need to produce the best work they can, despite any slackers. This is my strategy.

    I give only one group project as semester (and not in each course) in recognition of the difficulty that students have in collaborating with each other in a non-residential community college setting where 75% of the students work. I assign a maximum of three people per team and I give them a description of the three roles that are important on this team – the coordinator, the scribe, and the document preparer – and each team gets to decide who gets which role. This gives them a structure right from the start and helps manage expectations.

    In addition to the rubric for the project, I also provide them, right from the start, with a team member rubric that allows them to rate their team members as participating at a 100%, 80%, 60%, 40%, 20% or 0 level. I tell the students that if one of their members is slacking, that they will have to pitch in and do the work so that they produce a quality product, but that their teamwork multiplier will be applied to their colleague (so that if the team product receives 25 points, the two dedicated members get 100% of that, or the full 25 points, while a somewhat less productive member could get an 80% rating and thus earn only 20 points, or a real slacker get 40%, or 10 points). I reserve the right to make the final judgment in case of conflict.

    So each student knows that they cannot coast with penalty – the individual grade they get will be adjusted according to their peers’ perception of them. So far, I have not had many team member downgrades, and no challenges to a group’s decision to downgrade the contributions of one of its members.

    Robin L. likes this

  • Robin LaukhufRobin

    Robin Laukhuf

    P-T Faculty at Howard Community College

    I agree that it helps to reinforce that they will be evaluated privately to me from their group members. I guess there will never be a perfect situation in teamwork; but when it works the members of the team can learn from it. The real world workplace will have obstacles along the way and the more practice the better.

    I have had students say well if I was working in the workplace with this team I would quit. I try to explain to students that is not always an option. Working with team members is here to stay.

    David L. likes this

  • Alan Dobrowolski, MBAAlan

    Alan Dobrowolski, MBA

    Professor (Adjunct) at Manchester Community College

    In my function as an employment counselor, I would never consider recommending a customer take a position or place a client in a job where they are not comfortable. There is a job out there for everyone, that they will enjoy as part of their own fulfillment. If someone is uncomfortable with group work, we would not attempt to place someone in such a position, that could very well be paramount to failure.

    Working with team members, as an overpowering concept, is overrated. That goes to the current warm fuzzy that people are happier if they socialize with the people they work with. Another not so bright idea – effectively, it breaks the workplace into age groups. Let’s face it – the years I worked as a ski instructor, my “peers” (and I do hate that term) were almost young enough to be my grandchildren. Not only did we not socialize outside of work, but a lot of folks probably would ave thought it was creepy for me to be hanging around with teenage boys and girls!

    While at work, we may have to suffer participating with others for a project, there are usually some major differences than in the classroom. Most likely, the team has been chosen because of the unique skills they bring to the project. Their will be a designated arbitrator or team leader, and it is not just a random group of people who may or may not ave similar goals. Although we mean well in academia, are we really satisfying the need for any particular skills or are we blindly following our own “intuition.”

    Having been to faculty and staff meetings that may take weeks just to come up with a mission statement, one must question whether or not we are helping or hurting students by having them participate in our personal version of group dynamics. I don’t teach HVAC – I leave that to the experts. Same with group dynamics – let’s have the black belts (re: General Electric) take the lead. Better yet – maybe we should send faculty to Six Sigma Certification. http://www.ge.com/sixsigma/SixSigma.pdf

    Amy Lynn H. likes this

  • Dr.Maj. Kappagomtula CLDr.Maj. Kappagomtula

    Dr.Maj. Kappagomtula CL

    Professor at VIT University

    The root cause for all maladies in executing any large sized projects in any Country lies in this very basic ‘hatred’ to get associated with group tasks or assignments by the students. It may sound strange, but it is true through empirical proof. The very fact that Chinese are very successful in their ventures, be it the Olympics or in delivering mega projects, with a spectacular finish are all linked into their cultural inheritance to consider themselves as a part and parcel of a large family at all times and in all places. The elements of Guanxi (establishing personal rapport with one another), the Mianzhi phenomenon (influence of Face), and their indomitable ethnographic bonding (‘minzhu de jing mi jie he) all play predominant roles in their work environment. In contrast to Chinese, people in other parts of the world are all influenced by their ‘self centric’ attitude and the desire to excel and compete with peers as an individual rather than as a group. Where ever there is a cohesion between the team members, as in the case of sports / games, the clear results of success can be easily discerned due to synergy creation. If the culture of group work is indoctrinated into the young minds right from their preliminary schooling days, by designing mini projects involving team participation, we as teaching fraternity can really transform our society in a great way!

    David L.Grace T. like this

  • howard doughtyhoward

    howard doughty

    professor at Seneca College of Applied Arts and Technology

    First, the “theory” –

    In schools, colleges and universities, students are mainly graded on their individual competence as demonstrated in examinations of one sort or another. Assessment of personal performance and individual accountability for achievement are – like it or not – endemic to the liberal tradition (broadly defined) that has been increasingly part of Western culture since the early political theories of possessive individualism articulated by Hobbes and Locke. They are also essential to Western concepts of fairness, to what’s left of the idea of a “meritocracy,” and to concepts of unfairness such as collective punishment for the bad acts of a few (never mind coercion in the interest of creating “snitches” – as in “you’ll all get a detention until you ‘rat out’ the kid who hit the teacher in the back of the head with a piece of chalk … or a snowball”).

    Group work (along with group-think and group-speak) may well be the order of the day (or the day after tomorrow) in the organizational-cum-corporate society (never mind that all members of the group are ready and willing to stab their colleagues in the back at an opportune moment and to win some sort of reward/promotion for doing so); however, we must at least acknowledge that an undiminished sense of personal responsibility and a complete dedication to teamwork are fundamentally contradictory – the potential problems this poses for employees’ mental health are enormous, if only in terms of issues of cognitive dissonance.

    Now, the practice –

    We all know (or should know) that assigned group work is mainly a farce. For example, tasks are almost never equally shared. The “smart kids” do the work and the dullards ride the coat-tails … especially if the smart kids are also easily intimidated and the dullards carry weapons. In any case, when all members of the group receive the same grade for an allegedly collaborative accomplishment, the ones who were mainly responsible for whatever success was achieved will inevitably feel resentment and the laggards will feel empowered for having “gamed the system.” Neither is a commendable result.

    But, please, don’t get me wrong. I am a tremendous supporter of working in groups … provided that the groups are self-selected. Throughout undergraduate school and at least for my first postgraduate degree, I benefited a great deal from working with colleagues-friends in informal arrangements running from organized “study groups” in preparation for examinations to extended and unstructured “seminars” that could go for hours after a class (with or without libations at a local pub). In fact, I regard these often seemingly endless chats about this or that to have been essential to whatever learning took place for me and, I think, for others as well.

    The point?

    The trick is to distinguish between authentic “education” and “job training” in the sense of practice for corporate success by mirroring the “labour process” of employment and the “learning process” of education. As with most insinuations of the “business model” into the “academic atmosphere,” the results can be at best ambiguous, often oxymoronic and mostly a sham.

    Incidentally, at a near-by university, several students were expelled for “plagiarism” in that they had gathered in a study group (online, I think) “brainstormed” about what was likely to be on the final exam, assigned responsibility for members to come up with answers to one or more questions, shared the information and – when the exam was written – got “caught” for providing almost identical word-for-word responses. So, it seems that not only the students but also the professors and the authorities above them are totally confused about what all of this means and may portend for a very uncertain future.

    Amy Lynn H. likes this

  • Amy Lynn HessAmy Lynn

    Amy Lynn Hess

    Associate Professor at Herzing University

    Self-selected groups are definitely the way to go. I have had very interesting issues, though, where after a time, no one would select a certain person for their group. That person had to wander around the room asking groups to please accept him in the group. Thank you for this wonderful post and the reminder that education is not all “job training.”

    David L. likes this

  • hassan ashourhassan

    hassan ashour

    I do like team work. It is inspiring, fun, and let you communicate with others and build life-time friendships. Sometimes, group work hold you back, but it pays off when you meet people might need your help. This might release and ignite your mental reasoning, which will make you smarter.

    Rae J.David L. like this

  • Christina HunterChristina

    Christina Hunter

    Teaching at Humber College

    anyone have any advice for students who fail because their group members plagiarize?

  • Alan Dobrowolski, MBAAlan

    Alan Dobrowolski, MBA

    Professor (Adjunct) at Manchester Community College

    Howard and I often don’t agree – but spot on this time around!

  • Steve WethingtonSteve

    Steve Wethington

    College Professor at College of the Mainland

    The fact that one uses self – selected teams might work if all were of the exactly same motivation i suppose. I have seen “hi-performance” teams before, doesn’t usually work except maybe in a research environment.

    We here select the teams. Why? Because of demographics, mixing the students up. They come to us not from the same demographic , except maybe for ivy-leaquers. We mix races, sexes, ages, family backgrounds, and the students demonstrated or even perceived abilities.

    We give them projects including hands-on, oral, written, and presentations on subjects they know little if anything about. We set a timeline and send them off. As a Prof i nudge, cajole, push a little, send in right directions for info, and educate….

    Take more time then a lecture? damn sure it does……But the outcome, oh the outcome when a team gets accomplishment that the project works!!!!

    I have even seen teams who were successful, turn around and help other student teams reach the finish line. WITHOUT ME ASKING THEM TOO!!!

    And they all Cheered and laughed and bonded thru it all……..Their eyes lite up, they hug each other, a sense of accomplishment is born showing how teamwork……..WORKS!!!!!

    Anybody ever seen a high school or college debate team win??? WOW……..

    I am not as eloquent as Howard. But i teach in a real world . :

    “The trick is to distinguish between authentic “education” and “job training” in the sense of practice for corporate success by mirroring the “labour process” of employment and the “learning process” of education. As with most insinuations of the “business model” into the “academic atmosphere,” the results can be at best ambiguous, often oxymoronic and mostly a sham.”

    Teams aren’t back stabbing, cut your throat minded or bad things. Neither is business. To even imply such when discussing what i believe we are to do as educators and mentors is ludicrous. You want to develop that side ?

    I certainly don’t. It’s always amazing to me what stops Academia from investing in what supposedly is our concerns, the students.

    Like it or not students need to go to jobs after college. Most of those jobs will NOT be academic in nature.

    I rarely got to “pick” my teams i worked on. In Academia i sure haven’t. In workforce , omg i mean jobs…….GASP….in the “real “world, the same was true.

    Doctors work together in surgery with all sorts of specialized training to ensure the outcome, a healed patient. Businesses can’t run without teamwork. The Military , far from what has been said here, may have top down leadership, but you can not fix a jet or ship or tank all by one person.

    We tell the students “you can either be an agent for change in your life……or get run over by it”

    i see a lot of the latter in this discussion.

  • Grace Turner Ph.D.Grace

    Grace Turner Ph.D.

    Founder, Clavester University College Ltd; Clicking Connections; Oh Gracie! Sorrel jelly, wine and short stories

    Re grade and plagiarism:

    All group members have a collective responsibility where a group task is concerned. One cannot say not me, but the others. The grade is to be the same in my book.

    Christina H. likes this

  • Christina HunterChristina

    Christina Hunter

    Teaching at Humber College

    yes, that’s the traditional line… any divergent suggestions or solutions to address the issue?

  • Tery

    Tery Griffin

    Assoc. Professor at Wesley College

    My students are definitely fans of forming their own groups. What I did this semester was let them pick a topic, and also tell me if there were people in class they wanted to work with. For people who had other people they specifically wanted to work with, I tried to accommodate them. For people who did not know the other students well enough to know whom they wanted to work with, I assigned them to groups by the topic they were interested in.

    I have a question for those of you who let students form their own groups, though. How do you handle that in a class of, say, 20-30, when the students don’t really know one another yet?

  • Rae JohnsonRae

    Rae Johnson

    associate professor, faculty of art at Ontario College of Art & Design

    At OCAD University in Toronto, i give my students a group assignment as their first assignment. I allow them to form their own groups and intervene when they are uncertain.
    The students produce a short performative drawing using old-school overhead projectors and drawings on acetate, creating a narrative or music to accompany the images. I video their performances and later together we review the projects and offer critique based on the predetermined criteria. The project is only worth 20% of their total grade for the course in order to factor in the coasters. The results vary from year to year.

    The project is not so much about product, although of course it is an important factor, but rather about learning to work in a group – how to organize themselves and utilize each others strengths to best advantage. Even in the arts, we are dependent on each other to form our ideas and forward them through the creation of exhibition venues for example. Often, after this project, students find peers and friendships emerge which sometimes continue long after they have graduated. In a large university setting is often hard for students to connect with one another, and let’s face it, so much learning comes from informal discussions among peers as from formal lecturing at the front of the lecture hall. And in the professional world, the discussion goes on after a degree is achieved.

    Christina H.David L. and 1 other like this

literature on online teaching

A former SCSU faculty asked me to help her with literature regarding online learning; she is applying to teach complete online somewhere in the South.

Hey Plamen, Do you have any reading suggestions regarding teaching online? I am applying for a job at ?????? and the program is completely online. I want to be current with the literature if I happen to get an interview.

Hey ???,

It is a simple question, with ever growing complex answer. 2013 was announced as the “MOOC” year and that term literally killed the tag “online education.” Most of the literature on online teaching now is subdued one way or another under MOOC.

However, there are still authors, who are widely cited as “foundational.” E.g.: Susan Ko, Paloff and Pratt

Ko, S., & Rossen, S. (2010). Teaching Online: A Practical Guide. Taylor & Francis.

Palloff, R. M., & Pratt, K. (2010). Collaborating Online: Learning Together in Community. John Wiley & Sons.

Palloff, R. M., & Pratt, K. (2009). Assessing the Online Learner: Resources and Strategies for Faculty. John Wiley & Sons.

Moore, M. G., & Kearsley, G. (2005). Distance education: A systems view (2nd ed.). Belmont, CA: Thomson/Wadsworth. http://isites.harvard.edu/fs/docs/icb.topic541040.files/Moore%20Theoretical%20Basis%20for%20Distance%20Education.pdf

Moore, M. G. (2013). Handbook of Distance Education. Routledge.

There is a long list of articles, which I am collecting through the years. You can peruse them and choose any further readings, if you want…

 

Adolphus, M. (2009). USING THE WEB TO teach information literacy. Online, 33(4), 20-25.

Andersen, M. H. (2011). The world is my school: Welcome to the era of personalized learning. Futurist, 45(1), 12-17.

Borja, R. R. (2004). New player in online school market pursues profits. Education Week, 24(15), 8-8.

Brooks-Kirkland, A. (2006). Podcasting for learning. School Libraries in Canada (17108535), 25(4), 44-48.

Ćukušić, M., Alfirević, N., Granić, A., & Garača, Ž. (2010). e-learning process management and the e-learning performance: Results of a european empirical study. Computers & Education, 55(2), 554-565.

Ćukušić, M., Alfirević, N., Granić, A., & Garača, Ž. (2010). e-learning process management and the e-learning performance: Results of a european empirical study. Computers & Education, 55(2), 554-565.

Ćukušić, M., Alfirević, N., Granić, A., & Garača, Ž. (2010). e-learning process management and the e-learning performance: Results of a european empirical study. Computers & Education, 55(2), 554-565.

de Freitas, S., & Veletsianos, G. (2010). Editorial: Crossing boundaries: Learning and teaching in virtual worlds. British Journal of Educational Technology, 41(1), 3-9.

Department of education report: Its importance, one year later. (cover story).(2010). Distance Education Report, 15(12), 1-7.

Falloon, G. (2010). Using avatars and virtual environments in learning: What do they have to offer? British Journal of Educational Technology, 41(1), 108-122.

Hrastinski, S., Keller, C., & Carlsson, S. A. (2010). Design exemplars for synchronous e-learning: A design theory approach. Computers & Education, 55(2), 652-662.

Karagiorgi, Y., & Symeou, L. (2005). Translating constructivism into instructional design: Potential and limitations. Educational Technology & Society, 8(1), 17-27.

Keengwe, J., Schnellert, G., & Miltenoff, P. (2011). Technology and globalization in higher education., 2535-2538.

Ketelhut, D. J., Nelson, B. C., Clarke, J., & Dede, C. (2010). A multi-user virtual environment for building and assessing higher order inquiry skills in science. British Journal of Educational Technology, 41(1), 56-68.

Kim, P., Ng, C. K., & Lim, G. (2010). When cloud computing meets with semantic web: A new design for e-portfolio systems in the social media era. British Journal of Educational Technology,41(6), 1018-1028.

Kolowich, S. (2009). MIT tops world ranking of university web sites. Chronicle of Higher Education, 55(24), A15-A15.

Leach, J. (2008). Do new information and communications technologies have a role to play in the achievement of education for all? British Educational Research Journal, 34(6), 783-805.

Levine, A., Levine, A., & Dean, D. R. (2012). Generation on a tightrope : A portrait of today’s college student. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Mangu-Ward, K. (2010). Teachers unions vs. online education. Reason, 42(4), 44-50.

Nistor, N., & Neubauer, K. (2010). From participation to dropout: Quantitative participation patterns in online university courses. Computers & Education, 55(2), 663-672.

Ramig, R. (2009). Social media in the classroom. Multimedia & internet@schools, 16(6), 8-10.

Ramig, R. (2009). Social media in the classroom. Multimedia & internet@schools, 16(6), 8-10.

Schiller, K. (2009). Augmented reality comes to market. (cover story). Information Today, 26(11), 1-46.

Šumak, B., Heričko, M., & Pušnik, M. (2011). A meta-analysis of e-learning technology acceptance: The role of user types and e-learning technology types. Computers in Human Behavior, 27(6), 2067-2077.

Tallent-Runnels, M., Thomas, J. A., Lan, W. Y., Cooper, S., Ahern, T. C., Shaw, S. M., et al. (2006). Teaching courses online: A review of the research. Review of Educational Research, 76(1), 93-135.

Tallent-Runnels, M., Thomas, J. A., Lan, W. Y., Cooper, S., Ahern, T. C., Shaw, S. M., et al. (2006). Teaching courses online: A review of the research. Review of Educational Research, 76(1), 93-135.

Tallent-Runnels, M., Thomas, J. A., Lan, W. Y., Cooper, S., Ahern, T. C., Shaw, S. M., et al. (2006). Teaching courses online: A review of the research. Review of Educational Research, 76(1), 93-135.

Wang, H., & Shao, M. (2008). Desire2Learn for quality matters., 1335-1339.

 

 

trends in technology for educators

Campus Technology, a leading periodical in the use of technology in education, lists for consideration the 2014 technology trends for education:
http://online.qmags.com/CPT0114?sessionID=C7111775BEF0C4C4395CA1903&cid=2335187&eid=18574#pg7&mode1
  1. Mobile Platforms and Bring Your Own Device (BYOD)
  2. Adaptive Learning (personalization of online learning)
  3. Big Data (predictive analysis)
  4. Flipped Classroom
  5. Badges and Gamification (assessment and evaluation)
  6. iPADs and Other Tablets (mobile devices)
  7. Learning Management Systems (on SCSU campus – D2L)
The Journal
http://online.qmags.com/TJL1213?sessionID=636697C7BEEE44D50F47CB83E&cid=2410461&eid=18560#pg15&mode1
has a similar list:
  1. BYOD (it is a trend going up)
  2. Social Media as a Teaching and Learning Tool ( trend going up))
  3. Digital Badges (split vote, some of the experts expect to see the us of badges and gamification as soon as in 2014, some think, it will take longer time to adopt)
  4. Open Educational Resources (split vote, while the future of OER is recognized, the initial investment needed, will take time)
  5. Desktop Computers (it is a trend going down; every market shows a decline in the purchase of desktop computers)
  6. iPADs: (trend going up)
  7. ePortfolios (trend going down)
  8. Learning Management Systems, on SCSU campus – D2L (split vote). LMS is useful for flipped classroom, hybrid and online education uses CMS, but gradual consolidation stifles competition
  9. Learning Analytics, Common Core (trend going up)
  10. Game-Based Learning (split vote), but the gaming industry is still not to the point to create engaging educational games
Regarding computer operating systems (OS):
  1. Windows (trend going down)
  2. Apple / Mac OS X (split vote)
  3. iOS (iPhone, iPAD etc) (trend going up)
  4. Android (trend going up)
The materials in these two articles are consistent with other reports as reflected in our IMS blog:
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims/2014/01/10/mega-trends-in-technology/
IMS offers an extensive numbers of instructional sessions on social media, D2L and other educational technologies:
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims/2014/01/12/technology-instruction-sessions-for-spring-2014-on-scsu-campus-available/
Please consider registering for any of the sessions and/or request sessions customized to you classes and needs: http://lrts.stcloudstate.edu/library/general/ims/default.asp
Please email us with any other suggestions, ideas and requests regarding instructional technology and instructional design at: ims@stcloudstate.edu
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Twitter: @scsutechinstruc #techinstruct
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