http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2014/01/beyond-angry-birds-five-apps-that-test-your-physics-skills/
All the above games have physics in common but they’re also all in 2D. If students love these games, consider challenging them with 3D and even 4D games that put physics knowledge to the test. Valve’s Portal series is a great choice, or look into the equally mind-bending first-person games Antichamber or Quantum Conundrum, both of which go beyond the boundaries of Newtonian physics and Euclidean geometry.
http://blogs.hbr.org/2014/10/the-real-revolution-in-online-education-isnt-moocs/
Say a newly minted graduate with a degree in history realizes that in order to attain her dream job at Facebook, she needs some experience with social media marketing. Going back to school is not a desirable option, and many schools don’t even offer relevant courses in social media. Where is the affordable, accessible, targeted, and high-quality program that she needs to skill-up?
http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2014/10/a-problem-solving-game-for-teachers-and-administrators/
This activity empowers all stakeholders. It gives everyone an opportunity to share pain points and observations and to brainstorm solutions. By building a card deck of context-specific pain points and observations, there’s buy-in from the start. All participants have a vested interest in the cards they create. Likewise, the activity has enough structure built in to drive toward solutions.
Smartphones, tablets, e-readers — today’s students have a variety of mobile technologies at their fingertips. Here’s a look at some mobile-learning resources from Edutopia and around the web.
https://chroniclevitae.com/news/768-teaching-and-the-university-of-tomorrow
MOOC promoters continually claim that their products provide technologies that have never appeared in face-to-face classrooms. While I don’t disagree that my courses have lacked fun ways to draw molecules (because I teach in the humanities), I do find their insistence that traditional higher ed lacks technological advances to be odd. If you took the MOOC prophets seriously, it would seem that all real-time professors do is lecture to bored students. – See more at: https://chroniclevitae.com/news/768-teaching-and-the-university-of-tomorrow#sthash.RuCJxbAU.dpuf
What I believe Kelly Backer [intentionally?] misses to say is that MOOC claims to be progressive, meaning “a new mode/model” of teaching, but it relays on the old (from medieval times) values: the attempt to put “skin in the game” or pay for certificates, fails, since, according to Backer, the employers don’t care about those certificates. It is not sufficient to “move” the teaching process in the “future,” if the evaluation process remains in the medieval terms.
http://higheredmanagement.net/2014/10/22/stuck-in-the-90s-online-course-design-in-traditional-higher-education/
Of course, not all aspects of online course design require a team of specialists, a longer development time, and more funding. Some things can be done quickly, cheaply and by individuals with focused skill sets.
But technology can, when built with a deep understanding of how students learn, meet both of these needs. We can build online courses that provide students with hundreds of opportunities to test their knowledge. Using scientifically-based learning analytics, we can provide each learner with immediate, context-specific feedback. We can build software that constantly responds to each student’s cognitive and educational differences and serves up activities that address these differences.
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Michael
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Judith
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Alex
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Maria
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Alex
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Judith
http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2014/10/survey-finds-teachers-underutilize-resources-for-digital-games-in-the-classroom/
Certain types of games are favored over others, and that duration plays a key part. “Teachers tend to use shorter form games that could be finished in a class period or just a few minutes. Because developers realize that teachers can fit a shorter form game into a classroom period, they’re going to make those games.”
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http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2014/06/surprising-insights-how-teachers-use-games-in-the-classroom/
The 2015 Teaching Professor Conference is the place to hear about the latest pedagogical strategies.
The cut-off date for submitting a proposal to the
2015 Teaching Professor Conference is approaching fast!
All proposals must be submitted by October 31, 2014.
The Teaching Professor Conference is known for attracting a roster of high-quality, engaging presenters; that’s why we’re asking you to be a part of next year’s event. If you have previously submitted a proposal for past conferences, we sincerely ask you to submit again. And if you have never submitted a proposal for a session or poster session, we ask that you seriously consider this opportunity to share your expertise at the conference.
The 12th annual Teaching Professor Conference will be held May 29-31, 2015 at the Sheraton Atlanta Hotel, Atlanta, GA.
Featured topical areas are:
Topical Area 1: Instructional Design
Topical Area 2: Activities that Engage Students
Topical Area 3: Teaching Specific Types of Students
Topical Area 4: Instructional Vitality: Ways to Keep Teaching Fresh and Invigorated
Topical Area 5: Teaching and Learning with Technology
Topical Area 6: Creating Climates for Learning
Topical Area 7: Faculty Development
For more information about the proposal process and how to submit your proposal, please click here: http://www.teachingprofessor.com/conference/proposals.
The Teaching Professor Conference is three intensive days of plenary sessions, preconference workshops, sessions, poster sessions, and more. Here is your chance to be a part of it in 2015.
Deadline for proposal submissions is Friday, October 31st, 2014.