Do you call on one of your students in class every two to three minutes? Do you ask students what they know about a given topic before telling them what you know? Do you hold your students accountable through testing? These are just a few of the ways that Tara Gray and Laura Madson say you can engage with your students. They point to twenty years of research that shows that engagement in a classroom improves student learning. They point to one study of six thousand physics students that compared classes using passive lecture to classes using interactive techniques that allowed for discussion among students and between the professor and students. The study showed that students in classes that used interactive approaches rather than lecture learned twice as much. Their research paper gives some quick tips on improving engagement in your class.
YOUR BRAIN AND GOOGLE
Google wants to be the third "side" of your brain and they are not shy about admitting it. Google Glass, the wearable progeny of Ivan Sutherland's augmented reality display, the mobile phone, and science fiction -- accompanied by curiosity, excitement, and fear. Later this year, for less than $1,500, consumers will be able to get their hands on Google Glass, and we will begin to witness techies talking to their spectacle-mounted Google display and recording photos, video, and audio of their surroundings. "We want to make Google the third half of your brain," said Glass frontman and Google co-founder Sergey Brin said in 2010. That's what has some people worried about Glass. The third half of your brain could be perceived as your digital hemisphere locked in a Google cloud that captures all your interactions through the Glass lens and other Google access points, although Google would contend that the third half of your brain refers to a future search engine that "understands exactly what you mean and gives you back exactly what you want." Whatever the interpretation, Glass is a gateway to Google's goal to super-serve your digital soul.
UPCOMING WORKSHOP
The Center for Academic Excellence at Fairfield University is hosting their 12th annual Summer conference May 29-31, 2013. The Innovative Pedagogy and Course Redesign conference celebrates and showcases excellence and innovations in all areas of teaching, faculty support and development, the scholarship of teaching and learning, and community-engaged teaching and scholarship. The conference is interactive and provides an opportunity to learn from other participants, to build connections and collaborations and to reflect upon the meaningfulness and impact of our work as educators and scholars.
THIS IS OUR COMPETITION
Earlier this year Capella University and the new College for America began enrolling hundreds of students in academic programs without courses, teaching professors, grades, deadlines or credit hour requirements, but with a path to genuine college credit. The two institutions are among a growing number that are giving competency-based education a try, including 25 or so nonprofit institutions. Notable examples include Western Governors University and the Kentucky Community and Technical College System. These programs are typically online, and allow students to progress at their own pace without formal course material. They can earn credit by successfully completing assessments that prove their mastery in predetermined competencies or tasks -- maybe writing in a business setting or using a spreadsheet to perform calculations.
