“Embrace” is probably too strong. “Acquiescence” suggests too much passivity. Whatever word you choose, though, the data indicate that American faculty members -- whether grudgingly or enthusiastically -- are increasingly participating in and, to a lesser extent, accepting the validity of online education.
Perhaps when we consider the silent voices, we should distinguish between those that are drowned out, and those that simply never shout out at all. Self censured, not silenced.
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| Photo by You X Ventures on Unsplash |
Marc Prensky knows how to make a big statement. Here's his latest: "People, In the future, will increasingly mean newly empowered symbiotic human hybrids who can, as individuals and teams, apply the strength of their unique blends of human and technology components to creating new and positive value and solutions to local and global problems.
“The big issue for the world is not to create more or new jobs, but to figure out effective ways for people to be compensated for whatever series of world-improving projects they want and choose to do.”
Can't say I disagree with him.
See also: The No-Collar Workforce, Deloitte.What the World Needs from Education is a little deeper dive than usual blog fare, but it's worth the time. It provides a framework for moving forward through the technological evolution and its pedagogical impact on teaching and learning, but also the world beyond degree attainment. This piece forces us to reevaluate our objectives for ourselves and for our learners.
Symbiosis with technology — i.e. tools becoming indispensable parts of us — is, of course, the story of human development. The question of what we keep in our human heads (i.e. our dreams, passions, compassion, warmth, kindness, good, ethical behavior) and what we delegate to our extensions (e.g. calculation, memory, speed, accuracy, analysis, connection) has been a human issue since the invention of the abacus and writing. Today this integration is speeding up incredibly.
Finding new evolving integration opportunities — and realizing them seamlessly — is perhaps the most crucial task for humans in the coming years and centuries. It is what will lead to the solutions of all our pressing problems, which neither technology alone, nor humans unintegrated with it, will be able to fully deal with. Helping each individual find his or her unique, appropriate and ideal “style” of hybrid symbiosis is perhaps the central challenge of future education. And yet, no one has adequately addressed the issue in those terms.
What are the core competencies that faculty innovators need in order to be successful in making sustained changes in and beyond their classrooms? While sitting under the starry Arizona desert sky near Bioshphere 2 during an NSF-sponsored workshop focused on the intersections of STEM education; diversity, equity, and inclusion; and innovations in learning, we decided to bring this question to our colleagues working in higher education learning innovation.Can't stand the suspense? See the full list at Educause Review.
(May require login; faculty and staff of Educause member universities like UAH may create a profile at no cost to log in.)
The idea of “calling Google” might be new to some people – but thanks to a new partnership launched in March 2019, Be My Eyes users can now establish a video link with a Google accessibility expert in seconds.
The unexpected emotional and physical upheaval caused by a hurricane at the beginning of an academic year was challenging for many institutions in the Carolinas. One faculty member shares the lessons he learned and describes how the experience has shaped his approach to teaching.
In a talk that's part history lesson, part love letter to graphics, information designer Tommy McCall traces the centuries-long evolution of charts and diagrams—and shows how complex data can be sculpted into beautiful shapes. "Graphics that help us think faster, or see a book's worth of information on a single page, are the key to unlocking new discoveries," McCall says.
My first reaction was to roll my eyes when I read the title of this paper, because the designation of 'award winning' professors is unscientific at best. I remained sceptical on reading about the "five different roles: facilitator, course designer, content manager, subject matter expert, and mentor," because I know there's a lot more than that. But persisting with it paid off as it turns out to be an interesting and thorough article. There's a good (though not comprehensive) list of competencies (table 4) and an emphasis on the need for quality online instructors to be strong online learners themselves. The authors write, "Our study emphasizes the need for instructors to maintain a strong willingness to learn and grow in their pedagogical and technology skills. This requires seeing oneself as a lifelong learner, allotting time to learn about online teaching and learning, staying abreast of the latest research, theories, and techniques of teaching online, experimenting with technologies, making mistakes and learning from them." Too true.
User experience (UX) design is the process of creating products that provide meaningful and relevant experiences to users. This involves the design of the entire process of acquiring and integrating the product, including aspects of branding, design, usability, and function.As educators, it behooves us to think about UX and to apply the basic principles of sound UD (Universal Design) to any coursework we put online whether for an on-ground, hybrid, or asynchronous online course. UX goes beyond but includes issues of ADA accessibility and acknowledges and addresses the vast differences in how humans interact with digital content. It stands to reason that a well designed user experience can only benefit teaching and learning outcomes.
Skeptics will, I’m sure, insist that podcasts, videos, and websites are not writing assignments.
I would argue that they absolutely are. They require students to organize materials in a similar way and to literally write out their scripts. And just because these arguments are not made in a dry, formal prose style doesn’t mean they aren’t effective or smart. In most cases, I’ve found that students who choose to do one of these nontraditional research projects are making better arguments and end up putting a lot more effort into the overall project.
We (the Open Education Group) ... are in the process of identifying early career researchers and/or qualified Masters/PhD candidates in the United States and Canada for a fellowship to research topics related to Open Educational Resources (OER).Apply here! The deadline is May 15th.
Successful candidates will publish papers relating to the educational outcomes that take place when OER and/or open pedagogy are substituted for traditional learning materials and approaches. OER Research Fellows will receive funding to attend two conferences, one of which will be the Open Education Conference in Phoenix, AZ, October 30–Nov. 1, 2019. The second conference will be the 2020 OpenEd conference (date and place to be determined).
In addition, Fellows will receive mentoring in OER research and guidance in identifying, researching, and writing specific OER projects. Small stipends will be made available to OER Research Fellows who successfully complete the program; the overall funding support for Fellows will be approximately $5,000 (including conference costs and stipend).
Phil Plait was on a Hubble Space Telescope team of astronomers who thought they may have captured the first direct photo of an exoplanet ever taken. But did the evidence actually support that? Follow along as Plait shows how science progresses -- through a robust amount of making and correcting errors. "The price of doing science is admitting when you're wrong, but the payoff is the best there is: knowledge and understanding," he says. (TED.com)
Where I teach — a small, primarily residential liberal-arts college — there was a time when professors would have avoided online teaching like the plague. Five years ago I wasn’t teaching any online courses. This semester, my entire course load is online. And so is next semester’s.
What’s interesting is how many of us who work at "traditional" colleges — where dorms and dining halls occupy equal pride of place with classrooms and laboratories — are now trying to figure out how to create an online version of a face-to-face courses we’ve been teaching for years.From 4 Lessons From Moving a Face-to-Face Course Online at Chronicle Vitae.
We’ll discuss hot topics trending in the Ed tech world, host Alabama specific topics and Canvas-defined sessions. We’ve jam-packed the agenda with awesome sessions from educators, innovators, and thought leaders from in Alabama.
Plenty of ed-tech goodness—new skills and techniques, networking, collaboration, idea-sharing, and other fun—for Canvas users and non-Canvas users alike. We promise there’s something for everyone! Join us for a full day of learning and awesomeness or risk suffering in everlasting FOMO.
There is no cost to attend this event and lunch will be provided. Space is limited so reserve your seat now, for a full day of nothing less than awesome.
NGDLE is an ecosystem of interconnected and flexible applications that support learning through five key domains: interoperability; personalization; analytics, advising, and learning assessment; collaboration; and accessibility and universal design.Even if we're on the front end of teaching and learning and not actually building these learning networks ourselves, it behooves us to be part of the conversation about how they are designed and implemented and well-versed on how they work and impact teaching and learning.
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| Gratisography features "quirky" photos that can be fun and engaging! |
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| LIVE WEBINAR: Thursday, 11/8 at 1 pm CDT |
After a great deal of thought—while digesting developmental research and theory by cognitive psychologist Abigail Housen and others—we realized the problem. What MOMA visitors really needed was what Wyla needs: not answers but permission to be puzzled and to think. Consent to use their powerful eyes and intelligent minds. Time to noodle and figure things out. The go-ahead to use what they already know to reflect on what they don’t: the first steps in learning. Again, not answers but ways to figure out things on their own. ...
... Here’s one way to think about our conundrum: our teaching seemed to engage audiences, but not enable them. Although attentive and appreciative, visitors still didn’t learn viewing skills, facts, or ideas; we didn’t even empower them to be keen observers.
This led to confusion: when you consistently command the attention of viewers, and when they praise and thank you for your efforts, it is hard to face that, when tested later, they retain little of what you taught.
Explore the importance of faculty presence for student success in distance education. Learn how to analyze, evaluate, and improve your level of instructor presence in your courses. (Includes supplemental guides and transcript.)Does the link not work? You must be logged into the Magna 20-Minute Mentor site in order to view it. Everyone who works for UAH has free access to the Magna 20-minute Mentor Series. It's easy to register to gain unfettered access to quick "bite sized" video mentoring that's easy to fit into any schedule! Learn how to register on the Online Learning Faculty Resource Site.
