2015 archive
Game On: Physics Teacher Creates World of Classcraft
http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2013/04/30/game-on-physics-teacher-creates-world-of-classcraft/
World of Classcraft, a not-so-subtle nod to the world’s most popular online role-playing game
n a manner similar to other role-playing games, students assume a class—in this case a Mage, a Warrior, or a Healer—that each boasts specific abilities. Working in teams of roughly six to eight students, Young said each student aspires to gain experience points related to positive classroom interactions, and avoid losing hit points for negative activities.
For example, students get 50 experience points for finding a mistake in class notes; 60 points for answering a classroom question correctly; and 100 experience points for good attitude and participation throughout class.
Alternately, students get -10 hit points for arriving late to class and arguing with the game master (teacher) and -30 points for not fishing homework.
Procedures, Projects, and Programs: Florida State University’s Digital Studio Tutor Handbook
http://praxis.technorhetoric.net/tiki-index.php?page=PraxisWiki%3A_%3AProcedures_Projects_Programs
http://wr.english.fsu.edu/Johnston-Digital-Studio/About-Us
Digital (Re)Visions: Blending Pedagogical Strategies with Dynamic Classroom Tactics
http://praxis.technorhetoric.net/tiki-index.php?page=PraxisWiki%3A_%3ADigital_Revisions
I therefore approach that aspect of the FYW class with this baseline assumption: Most of the eighteen- to twenty-year-olds who attend The University of Arizona already communicate via digital technologies in various ways and can learn to use template-based applications with relative ease, especially if they are first given time during class to collaborate on penalty-free projects with select applications.
Beyond that initial experimentation with the capabilities and functionality of new technologies, what FYW students most need to learn in our limited time is a thing or two about conventions that span across many online publishing venues and multimodal genres (such as nonlinearity and linking) and basic design principles (such as visual organization, coherence, and impact). Also essential are multiple conversations about fair use, copyright, and other ethical concerns regarding representation of self, others, and ideas that students must consider when going public with their compositions. Such an approach builds on what Stuart Selber (2004) calls the “functional literacy” of digital technology that FYW students typically bring to these classes, challenging students to develop critical and rhetorical literacies and become questioners and producers of digital texts.
I ask my FYW students to translate their written public arguments (open letters; letters to editors, public figures, or organizations; opinion columns; perspective-forwarding creative nonfiction) into more visually and/or aurally oriented arguments (via Prezi or YouTube; through the creation of editorial cartoons, infographics, public service announcements or other multimodal texts). (For more information, see the assignment sheet
Prezi Design Strategies
http://kairos.technorhetoric.net/18.1/disputatio/apostel/index.html
Does social media make room for critical thinking?
social media critical thinking
Sinprakob, S., & Songkram, N. (2015). A Proposed Model of Problem-based Learning on Social Media in Cooperation with Searching Technique to Enhance Critical Thinking of Undergraduate Students. Procedia – Social And Behavioral Sciences, 174(International Conference on New Horizons in Education, INTE 2014, 25-27 June 2014, Paris, France), 2027-2030. doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.01.871
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Bailey, A. (2014). Teaching Alice Walker’s The Color Purple: Using Technology and Social Media To Foster Critical Thinking and Reflection. Virginia English Journal, 64(1), 17.
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Eales-Reynolds, L., Gillham, D., Grech, C., Clarke, C., & Cornell, J. (2012). A study of the development of critical thinking skills using an innovative web 2.0 tool. Nurse Education Today, 32(7), 752-756. doi:10.1016/j.nedt.2012.05.017
Baldino, S. (2014). The Classroom Blog: Enhancing Critical Thinking, Substantive Discussion, and Appropriate Online Interaction. Voices From The Middle, 22(2), 29.
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Ravenscroft, A., Warburton, S., Hatzipanagos, S., & Conole, G. (2012). Designing and evaluating social media for learning: shaping social networking into social learning?. Journal Of Computer Assisted Learning, 28(3), 177-182. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2729.2012.00484.x
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finding ways to capture meaningful informal learning experiences by explicitly linking these to formal structures, and providing frameworks within which informal learning can then be validated and accredited (Cedefop Report 2007).
Education is clearly a social process but it is probably much closer to an ongoing discussion or debate than an extended celebration with an ever-expanding network of friends (p. 179, Ravenscroft et al.)
the community of inquiry (COI) model developed by Garrison and Anderson (2003) and social network analysis (SNA). European Commission-funded integrated
project called MATURE (Continuous Social Learning in Knowledge Networks), which is investigating how technology-mediated informal learning leads to improved knowledge practices in the digital workplace
Key to using social media is the ability to stand back and evaluate the credibility of a source of information, apart from the actual content. While developing this critical attitude toward traditional media is important, the attitude is even more crucial in the context of using social media because information didn’t go through the vetting process of formal publication. Can the student corroborate the information from multiple sources? How recent is this information? Are the author’s credentials appropriate? In other words, the ability to step back, to become aware of the metatext or metacontext is more important than ever.
Coad, D. T. (2013). Developing Critical Literacy and Critical Thinking through Facebook. Kairos: A Journal Of Rhetoric, Technology, And Pedagogy, 18(1).
Many instructors believe that writing on social networking sites undermines the rhetorical skills students learn in class because of the slang and abbreviations often used on these sites; such instructors may believe that social networks are the end of students’ critical awareness when they communicate. Johndan Johnson-Eilola and Stuart A. Selber (2009) contended that electronic writing forms actually require “sophisticated skills of understanding concrete rhetorical situations, analyzing audiences (and their goals and inclinations), and constructing concise, information-laden texts, as a part of a dynamic, unfolding, social process” (p. 18). It is this dynamic process that makes social networking a perfect match for the composition classroom and for teaching rhetorical skills: It helps students see how communication works in real, live rhetorical situations. Many students do not believe that communication in these media requires any kind of valuable literacy skills because they buy into the myth of how the news media portray social networks as valueless forms of communication that are decaying young people’s minds. This is why I introduced students to the passage from Invisible Man: to get them thinking about what kinds of skills they learn on Facebook. I found the text useful for helping them acknowledge the skills they are building in these writing spaces.
Stuart A. Selber (2004) in Multiliteracies for a Digital Age criticized so-called computer literacy classes for having “focused primarily on data representations, numbering systems, operating systems, file formats, and hardware and software components” rather than on the task of teaching students to be “informed questioners of technology” (p. 74). In a time when, as Sheelah M. Sweeny (2010) noted, “the ability to stay connected with others is constant,” it is increasingly important to engage composition students in critical thinking about the spaces they write in (p. 121). It is becoming clearer, as technology giants such as Google® and Apple® introduce new technologies, that critical literacy and critical thinking about technology are necessary for our students’ futures.
Valentini, C. (2015). Is using social media “good” for the public relations profession? A critical reflection. Public Relations Review, 41(2), 170-177. doi:10.1016/j.pubrev.2014.11.009
p. 172 there is no doubt that digital technologies and social media have contributed to a major alteration in people’s interpersonal communications and relational practices. Inter- personal communications have substantially altered, at least in Western and developed countries, as a result of the culture of increased connectivity that has emerged from social media’s engineering sociality ( van Dijck, 2013 ), which allows anyone to be online and to connect to others. Physical presence is no longer a precondition for interpersonal communication.
(Jiping) The Pew Research Center ( Smith & Duggan, 2013 , October 21) indicates that one in every ten American adults has used an online dating site or mobile dating app to seek a partner, and that in the last eight years the proportion of Americans who say that they met their current partner online has doubled. Another study conducted by the same organization ( Lenhart & Duggan, 2014 , February 11) shows that 25% of married or partnered adults who text, have texted their partner while they were both home together, that 21% of cell-phone owners or internet users in a committed relationship have felt closer to their spouse or partner because of exchanges they had online or via text message. Another 9% of adults have resolved online or by text message an argument with their partner that they were having difficulty resolving person to person ( Lenhart & Duggan, 2014 , February 11). These results indicate that digital technologies are not simply tools that facilitate communications: they have a substantial impact on the way humans interact and relate to one another. In other words, they affect the dynamics of interpersonal relations
“unicorn” companies — startups that reach a $1 billion valuation before their IPO. IPOs: Initial Public Offerings
Evernote, the first dead unicorn
http://www.businessinsider.com/evernote-the-first-dead-unicorn-2015-9
But unicorns are no longer so rare, and failure is part of a healthy economy’s means of turning over into new ideas and new leadership. With tech in the midst of a wide-ranging boom, there are other, more financially-stable and innovative companies hungry to hire away talent into positions better suited to the employees and the economy as a whole.
Aside from anecdotal stories like the Zirtual mess, unicorns don’t simply vanish over the weekend like Bear Sterns. Unicorns die a slow death as their core products lose relevance, new product initiatives fail, user growth slips away, costs mount, and key employees and talent drain from the system.
After a multi-year period of what can only be described radio silence from Evernote, the company made a change at CEO in late July of this year. Phil Libin, a member of the founding team who had repeatedly talked about building Evernote into a ‘100 year company,’ was departing and handing the role over to Google Glass executive Chris O’Neill.
Aside from Evernote’s success in China, the Evernote of 2012 sounds little like that of 2015. The short-term market conditions that Evernote of 2012 worried about failed to materialize
Evernote competes with Dropbox, Box, iCloud, and Google Drive in cloud storage, Instapaper and Spool in web clipping, and Photoshop and Gimp in image editing as Evernote acquired image annotator Skitch last year. The wealth of established competitors indicate a challenge for Evernote, but also a clear need for its products. Libin tells me he doesn’t see competitors as Evernote’s biggest threat, though.
Most business customers are using other products already that more than adequately address the need of a note taking application. Many customers have long converted to Google Apps, which bundles document sharing (and spreadsheets, and ‘power point’) into a larger, more valuable suite of products centered around Gmail. Microsoft’s OneNote is available for free, and its collaboration tools are available already for organizations running Microsoft’s Office 365.
The most interesting shift away from an Evernote-like model is Slack, which has seen its own meteoric growth into the unicorn club. Slack’s power is not just as a messaging platform; it’s a real, live, categorized and searchable history of business happenings sorted by channel.
From now until October 7, Khan Academy and Breakthrough Prize are seeking video submissions that explain a challenging and important concept or theory in mathematics, life sciences, or physics. If you’re between 13 and 18, and you have a passion for explaining ideas and concepts creatively, you can enter the Breakthrough Junior Challenge!
Learn more about the Breakthrough Junior Challenge
Not only can you dig into a topic that you’re passionate about, but there are also great prizes to be won, including a $250,000 scholarship for you, a $50,000 award for your teacher, and a state-of-the-art $100,000 science lab for your school. The winner will also be invited California, where the prize will be awarded in front of the superstars of science, Silicon Valley, and Hollywood.
If you enter, you’ll view and assess other participants’ videos in a peer-to-peer review process. Submissions will then be assessed by leaders in science, technology, and education selected by Khan Academy and by Breakthrough Prize laureates. The judges will select a winner based on how engaging, illuminating, and creative their video is, and how challenging the concept is to understand.
The deadline for submissions is October 7, so register today at http://www.breakthroughjuniorchallenge.org. We hope you’ll be inspired to get involved – and share your passion for understanding the world!
Learning made visible: successful ePortfolio patterns across the U.S.
- Register for first AAEEBL webinar of 2015-2016 on September 16 at 1 pm US EDT. Jeff Yan of Digication addressing
“Learning made visible: successful ePortfolio patterns across the U.S.”
Jeff, a former academic, is the CEO of Digication, one of the most successful eportfolio companies in the U. S. He will help us understand the big picture: how are eportfolios being used on campuses and what works best.
This Webinar is co-sponsored by AAC&U, EPAC and IJeP.
Once you register, you will see an acknowledgement page with the URL to go to on Wednesday. You will not need a password.
Recording available:
https://aaeebl.adobeconnect.com/_a1112910704/p7rqj8k25l4/?launcher=false&fcsContent=true&pbMode=normal
The International Journal of ePortfolio (IJeP) is a double-blind, peer-reviewed, open access journal freely available online. http://www.theijep.com/
https://pathbrite.com/
https://pathbrite.com/u1545957793/profile
digication https://www.digication.com/
Pebble Pad http://www.pebblepad.co.uk/
Portfolium https://portfolium.com/
Using an ePortfolio to Assess the Outcomes of a First-Year Seminar: Student Narrative and Authentic Assessment; http://www.theijep.com/pdf/IJEP133.pdf
http://eportfolio.nd.edu/
Association for Authentic, Experiential and Evidence-Based Learning http://www.aaeebl.org/
themes: strong admin support, instructional design
crowdsourcing: teacher asks students to respond to critical thinking q/s and students populate their eportfolio
make learning visible for ” students, faculty, institution and employer
E-Portfolios: Competency Marketplaces For Colleges
http://www.forbes.com/sites/ryancraig/2015/07/29/e-portfolios-competency-marketplaces-for-colleges/
only 13% of Millennials are using LinkedIn and only 7% more have future plans to do so. As I think about it, this makes sense. LinkedIn’s content isn’t directed at traditional-age college students. And few students have professional relationships or relevant work experience to show, which is the whole point of $LNKD.
How does the ePortfolio support in helping students achieve those goals. The ePortfolio should not be another thing they (and the faculty) need to do on top of everything else they are already doing.
The password paradox
http://fcw.com/articles/2015/09/09/the-password-paradox.aspx
“Don’t blame the users for finding a workaround,” Christman said, making the case that good security shouldn’t keep employees from being able to get their jobs done.
Stop saying “passwords,” Christman urged, and start saying “identities.”
