TECH VERSUS INNOVATION
Matt Read writes a blog titled Confessions of a Community College Dean. His most recent post provokes us to think about technology versus innovation, specifically as it relates to teaching. "My grandmother collected absurd kitchen technology, which made visits fun. There wasn’t an inside-the-egg-scrambler or fry baby on the market that she didn’t have. She had a microwave oven back when nobody did; I remember watching her “nuke” a hot dog, and both of us enjoying its twisty death throes. As an adult, I realize that I inherited the gadget gene from her. My platform agnosticism -- I’ve had phones that ran Android, iOS, and even webOS -- is only partially about comparison shopping or avoiding cultism; it’s largely an excuse to try all sorts of new stuff. PC at work, Chromebook on the road?  Why not?  On Wednesday, though, I had two separate conversations about innovation on campus that I realized later had a common theme: tech and innovation aren’t the same thing." Read more here.


WHY DID YOU GIVE ME A BAD GRADE
Feedback that is both affirming and corrective is necessary for people to learn. Defined as information on the results of one’s efforts, feedback that is clear, specific and timely motivates students to improve. Since feedback is most often connected to grading that follows assigned work or assessment activities, Walvoord and Anderson say that grading “…encompasses tailoring the test or assignment to the learning goals of the course…offering feedback so students can develop as thinkers and writers, communicating about students’ learning to appropriate audiences, and using results to plan improvements in the classroom…”. Thus assessment provides feedback for both learners and teachers. Read more here. 

WIKIPEDIA AS A SOURCE
The battle to stop our students from using online resources like Wikipedia is long over. What we must do now is help our students to understand how best to use Wikipedia. Matthew Vetter, an academic specializing in digital rhetoric and humanities, has a nice post about his efforts in this area. He writes, "Working with Wiki Ed opens up possibilities for how we teach, how that teaching engages the world, what our students accomplish in the classroom, and what kinds of conversations we can have about critical issues related to humanities and digital culture." Read more here.