Most people who have tried using virtual reality think it’s cool -- if at first a little nausea-inducing. Augmented reality and 3-D printing and scanning at their best elicit awestruck expressions. Can these tools help students learn? Can institutions with limited budgets pull off ambitious projects? Can skeptical faculty members be convinced to experiment with unfamiliar technology? At their core, three-dimensional technologies allow students to “go places they couldn’t otherwise go or do things they wouldn’t otherwise do,” said D. Christopher Brooks, director of research at Educause. Virtual reality environments transport users to space or inside microscopic cells; augmented reality gives students superpowers of object manipulation. These experiences don’t spring up overnight, though. They require structured collaborations between instructors, instructional designers and IT units. Read the entire Inside Higher Ed article here.

We all know Dr. Benjamin Bloom for his taxonomy but did you know that he also wrote about how learning occurs under different methods of instruction? Using research conducted by two of his doctoral students (which he guided), the 2 Sigma Problem emerged. The instructional methods were identified as conventional, mastery and tutoring. Although written in 1984, I am struck by the lack of movement from the conventional teaching method although active teaching leading to active learning has made an impact and continues to grow as practitioners discover news ways to ignite student performance. Of course we are left wondering which mode worked the best? Bloom, Anania, and Burke found that using the conventional mode of instruction as a baseline, students under mastery learning saw a one-sigma (standard deviation) improvement in performance. Students who received one-on-one tutoring saw a two-sigma improvement. As Alfred Essa, Vice President of R&D and Analytics at McGraw-Hill Education, explains "A one sigma is roughly a one-letter grade in improvement. It can be the difference between a student failing a course and passing a course—and most educational interventions don’t come close. If one sigma of improvement is huge, two is monumental." You can read Bloom's article here.

Have you ever had one of your students ask you why they needed to learn something? Many of our students feel like anything they spend time learning should be relevant. Have you ever been stumped when they asked you the question? Rohit Metha found himself in just that sort of situation while teaching a wireless communication class to senior engineering majors. He writes, "Personally, wrapping my head around the concepts of probability took me several years. As a result, it has had a serious effect on my understanding of the world in general, including my position on some crucial political, medical, and spiritual issues. When my student asked me for why it was relevant, I tried to explain why I cared about it and how it connected to wireless communication. I could tell that he did not care about either of my reasons. This bothered me for weeks, perhaps, months. Well, it still kind of does. But, it led me to wonder what could I have done differently? Last year, now working as a researcher in literacies at MSU, I found my answer." Sometimes it is beneficial to look at what we are teaching and consider why we are teaching it. Maybe like Rohit, it will help you enhance your teaching skills. He didn't stop there. He decided to write down his five ways that we can make learning relevant for our students which you can access here. He closes the post with what could be his teaching philosophy saying, "Our goal is to have them on-board with the things that we have learned to value and care about, so they can be good, literate, and emotional citizens who value each other and the world they live in."

TECHNOLOGY PROMOTES REAL WORLD SKILLS
Meg Conlan has a good article about how using technology in the college classroom (F2F and virtually) is preparing students for the real world after graduation. She writes, "Landing that first post-grad job may be difficult, but many college seniors think they’ve got the digital skills employers want, thanks to their time on campus. That insight comes from McGraw-Hill Education’s third annual Workforce Readiness Survey, which states that 52 percent of students surveyed believe that their use of technology during college classes and study sessions will help them secure a job."

HOW TO WRITE THAT PERFECT TEST QUESTION
Assessment tools offer tremendous advantages to both the instructor and the learner, and are thus an important part of instructional design. Despite their importance, developing quality assessments is not as simple or straightforward as one might think. A great deal of care needs to go into developing quality assessments to ensure that the question actually assesses the target knowledge rather than something else, such as test-taking skills. Additionally, the instructor needs to remain open to revising questions based on learner performance—if all students get a single question wrong or right, both are considered poor questions and both should be removed from the test because they’re actually not testing anything. Thus, instructors need to pay attention to student performance on each individual testing item to ensure each one is doing its job of actually assessing the target knowledge. Are you looking to improve your test-question writing skills. Here is an article with some basic tips.

GROUP WORK PROVIDES GROWTH OPPORTUNITIES
Dr. Lindsay Doukopoulos notes, "Teaching first-semester freshmen presents some unique challenges. You are teaching them not only your subject, but also how to be college students. One of the best strategies I have found is to begin with a collaborative project that asks them to research their new home: the campus." Read the entire article here.