WATER COOLER TALK
When teachers tell me about some new strategy or approach they’ve
implemented, I usually ask how they found out about it and almost always
get the same response: “Oh, a colleague told me about it.” I continue
to be amazed by the amount of pedagogical knowledge that is shared
verbally (and electronically) between colleagues.
And I’m equally impressed by the spirit of sharing. Even if it’s an
idea I thought up myself, one I’ve spent time and energy developing that
I could ostensibly copyright or patent, if you want to use it—go right
ahead. It’s yours. There are no intellectual property rights on good
teaching ideas, and that’s a beautiful part of our culture. So writes Dr. Maryellen Weimer in a new post about pedagogy sharing. You can read the entire post here.
THE BLENDED WAY TO SUCCESS
Did you know that blended courses, that meet face-to-face and online throughout the week, have some of the highest completion rates and students report that they are very effective at helping them learn? Jennifer Patterson Lorenzetti has an interesting post about blended courses and offers, "Think about what it takes to make a blended learning class successful.
Of course, you need a faculty member who is able to teach the course, a
robust set of learning objectives, a clear instructional design that
integrates both the online and face-to-face aspects, and the
instructional content required to successfully teach the course. But
you also need support of librarians who can help students with varied
types of assignments, academic advisors who can effectively counsel
students into the right kind of blended course for their learning style,
plus various student support services that can help students with
variable campus attendance requirements navigate registration, book
purchase, and payment. Indeed, the decision to offer a blended course
or program can influence the entire university." Read more here.
GROUP ASSIGNMENTS FOR ELEARNING CLASSES
Group assignments teach students far more than simply what they glean
from the research they conduct and the project they complete. Astute
students will also learn important lessons about communicating clearly, establishing plans and schedules, and collaborating in a proactive and positive manner. They may also hone their leadership skills along the way.Students taking online courses gain the additional benefit of learning to work with others in technology-mediated settings. To learn more about this topic, click here.
Showing posts with label blended learning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blended learning. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 2, 2016
ENCOURAGING STUDY GROUPS AND EXAM PREP
Do you spend class time on exam reviews? Dr. Maryellen Weimer provides a concise list of ways you can handle this efficiently during class. She writes, "Here are two frequently asked questions about exam review sessions: (1) Is it worth devoting class time to review, and (2) How do you get students, rather than the teacher, doing the reviewing? Instead of answering those questions directly, I decided a more helpful response might be a set of activities that can make exam review sessions more effective." If you don't have the extra time in your classes, you should suggest that your students form study groups. They can book a study room in the Academic Learning Center or the Library. If they let you know when and where they are meeting, you can even stop by for a 15-minute check-in to see if they have any questions.
DIGITAL DISTRACTIONS ON THE RISEDo you spend class time on exam reviews? Dr. Maryellen Weimer provides a concise list of ways you can handle this efficiently during class. She writes, "Here are two frequently asked questions about exam review sessions: (1) Is it worth devoting class time to review, and (2) How do you get students, rather than the teacher, doing the reviewing? Instead of answering those questions directly, I decided a more helpful response might be a set of activities that can make exam review sessions more effective." If you don't have the extra time in your classes, you should suggest that your students form study groups. They can book a study room in the Academic Learning Center or the Library. If they let you know when and where they are meeting, you can even stop by for a 15-minute check-in to see if they have any questions.
Have you noticed an increase in the amount of time students spend on their electronic devices, even during class time? A recent study showed that on average, students use their devices 11.43 times in a typical class. The digital distractions research also tried to determine student's motivation for using their devices during class when it obviously can cause them to miss important material. The study even asks them about what they think the consequences should be for students caught using their devices despite being warned or banned. You can find an overview of the study here.
IS A BLENDED CLASS IN YOUR FUTURE
As our online program continues to grow both in numbers of students and in the courses we are offering, the progression to hybrid or blended classes is a natural progression. We are already offering some hybrid classes but would certainly like to grow the number. The great thing about hybrid class (identified by classes that meet mostly online but have a few face-to-face sessions) is the student success rate is usually higher than either fully online or traditional face-to-face classes. Here is an interesting story about the growth of this type of delivery method. If you are interested in learning more about offering a hybrid class, please contact Susan Nealy.
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
HURRICANE ISAAC
The post-Isaac BRCC campus looks amazingly well. We hope that our students, faculty and staff made it through the hurricane unharmed as we make the move back to "normalcy."
GROW YOUR DEPARTMENT
Are you looking to increase the number of majors in your discipline. A panel, Active Learning: Engaging Activities to Create Eager Students, at the annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association pointed to ways to draw students to your classes. The session featured accounts from faculty members -- at community colleges and four-year institutions who teach both introductory and upper-level courses -- who have moved beyond standard textbook-and-lecture teaching methods to make anthropology more tangible, and make it come alive. What they learned suggests that the best way to save anthropology on college campuses may well be to allow students to actually experience anthropology by using active learning experiences.
BLENDED LEARNING
You may have heard of the term blended learning and wondered what it meant. Blended learning in its simplest form is about having students use online tools to communicate, collaborate, and publish to develop the 21st-century skills they need to succeed. With blended learning, teachers can use online tools and resources as part of their classroom instruction. Using many of the online tools and resources students already are using for social networking, blended teaching helps teachers find an approach that is more engaging for this generation of students. The benefits of blended learning include giving students a variety of ways to demonstrate their knowledge while appealing to diverse learning styles and fostering independent learning and self-directed learning skills in students, a critical capacity for lifelong learners. Liz Pape has more information in her article Blended Teaching and Learning.
WHAT DO YOUR STUDENTS HEAR
Susan M. Brookhart has written a good article on the benefits of formative assessment. She says, "Feedback is effective only if it helps students improve their work. Thus, the most important characteristic of feedback is that students understand it and use it. Whether or not feedback is effective depends on what students need to hear, not what you need to say." She goes on to explain how assessment can help a student improve and gives a number of suggestions for effective feedback.
The post-Isaac BRCC campus looks amazingly well. We hope that our students, faculty and staff made it through the hurricane unharmed as we make the move back to "normalcy."
GROW YOUR DEPARTMENT
Are you looking to increase the number of majors in your discipline. A panel, Active Learning: Engaging Activities to Create Eager Students, at the annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association pointed to ways to draw students to your classes. The session featured accounts from faculty members -- at community colleges and four-year institutions who teach both introductory and upper-level courses -- who have moved beyond standard textbook-and-lecture teaching methods to make anthropology more tangible, and make it come alive. What they learned suggests that the best way to save anthropology on college campuses may well be to allow students to actually experience anthropology by using active learning experiences.
BLENDED LEARNING
You may have heard of the term blended learning and wondered what it meant. Blended learning in its simplest form is about having students use online tools to communicate, collaborate, and publish to develop the 21st-century skills they need to succeed. With blended learning, teachers can use online tools and resources as part of their classroom instruction. Using many of the online tools and resources students already are using for social networking, blended teaching helps teachers find an approach that is more engaging for this generation of students. The benefits of blended learning include giving students a variety of ways to demonstrate their knowledge while appealing to diverse learning styles and fostering independent learning and self-directed learning skills in students, a critical capacity for lifelong learners. Liz Pape has more information in her article Blended Teaching and Learning.
WHAT DO YOUR STUDENTS HEAR
Susan M. Brookhart has written a good article on the benefits of formative assessment. She says, "Feedback is effective only if it helps students improve their work. Thus, the most important characteristic of feedback is that students understand it and use it. Whether or not feedback is effective depends on what students need to hear, not what you need to say." She goes on to explain how assessment can help a student improve and gives a number of suggestions for effective feedback.
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