Beyond flipping classrooms

Here is an interesting article by Cathy Davidson that challenges the notion of the flipped classroom being good enough to make a difference.   The article is Why Flip The Classroom When We Can Make It Do Cartwheels? and it does a great job of describing how they have gone beyond flipping classes at Duke to applying the principles under study to real world challenges.

Innovating the 21st-Century University: It’s Time! (EDUCAUSE Review) | EDUCAUSE

Innovating the 21st-Century University: It’s Time! (EDUCAUSE Review) | EDUCAUSE

Here is an interesting article that describes several very interesting ideas for creative innovations that we could implement at our institutions.

Many of the ideas are not new and focus on the value of collaborative learning and teaching. The authors do emphasize the importance of re-inventing our universities or they will become obsolete.

Check it out and post comments.

Rod Corbett

The Next Generation of e-Learning Software

I recently read this white paper from Educause about the current status of e-learning systems and what the next generation systems should be and it is very thought provoking. You can find it at http://www.educause.edu/er/erm06/erm0643.asp

I was very impressed about how the model of the next generation system, described at the end, reflected the concept of a personal learning network that centres on the learner. This is a concept that I have been reading about for a few years and I feel that I personally have constructed my own personal learning network to meet my professional development needs. So, here is a model of how this could be extended to our students, as life long learners. And I had a chat with one of the authors of this paper, Ali Jafari, and he is building the system and offering it to us. It is call epsilen and you can look at it at http://www.epsilen.com/

It is worth the read. After reading it, consider how we can start to change our thinking about our e-learning systems to meet the needs of 21st century students. And if we don't will the students be attracted to the institutions that do? I wonder if this is just like 10 years ago when we were considering getting on the e-learning bandwagon or being left behind. I suspect it is.

I am putting a group of people together who would like to collaborate on discussing these issues and helping to move us ahead. Email me if you would like to join us at RodCorbett@gmail.com

Please place comments here.

A Wiki Replaces the Textbook in a Boston Colllege Classroom

Here is an interesting article about how an instructor is using a Wiki and other Web 2. 0 tools to enhance learning in his classroom, but he has gone so far as to replace the textbook. The students have to love that.

Check out the article at http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9030802 and let us know what you think out it.

Rod

Teaching Naked: Should you do it? Yes!

Okay, so this is not be about teaching without clothes on but this is a very good article about not letting educational technologies get in between you and your students.

What I get from this article is that we would be more effective teachers if we stopped using so much technology in our scheduled class-time to present content or have quizzes. But we should use the technology to develop content and admin quizzes outside of scheduled class time so we can use that valuable time to have more open, less structured discussions and other interactive learning activities. The notion of teaching naked is to prepare to take some risks in your classes, with less content to hide behind and allow the students to set the directions of the activities more.

The article explains this much better so click here to access this great article by Jose Antonio Bowen and post a comment on what you think about it.

Rod

Predictions for 2007

What new and cool innovations are going to happen in 2007? Lisa Neal, Editor-in-Chief, eLearn Magazine has published a list of predictions from several of the gurus in the field of e-learning. These include Don Norman, Elliot Massie, Stephen Downs, Curtis Bonk, and many more.

Click here to access the article and post your comments below. Do you agree? Do you have your own?

Selecting an Open-Source Online Course Development and Delivery Platform: An Academic Perspective

Clayton R. Wright, a long time member of ADETA shared this attached article that he authored with me and gave me permission to share it here. He presented it at the Pan-Commonwealth Forum in Jamaica in October 2007. You can reach Clayton at crwr77@gmail.com.

Click here to access the PDF file of Selecting an Open-Source Online Course Development and Delivery Platform: An Academic Perspective by Clayton R. Wright

e-Learning Environmental Scan

I was just sent the URL to this document. It is an e-Learning Environmental Scan that had been prepared for Alberta Education in March 2006.

The report addresses the following:

• needs and preferences of today’s students
• needs and preferences of today’s employers
• issues in e-Learning
• trends and promising practices in e-Learning

You can access the report from http://www.education.gov.ab.ca/technology/elearning/scan.pdf

In Defense of Cheating

In Defense of Cheating by Don Norman

Don Norman’s essay on “cheating” is actually a very thought provoking reflection on our learning assessment practices and why cheating shouldn’t matter. Essentially, the message I took away from reading this is that we need to make our learning assessments more collaborative because those of the skills required in today’s workplace. If we design our assessment to be more project based, personalizable and collaborative then cheating becomes a non-issue.

In courses that I teach for the University of Calgary, I have design all of my assessments to be project based that require the students to complete projects to solve needs from their own life contexts. I encourage them to collaborate and even have them post their assignments to the class for peer feedback before I grade them. I also give a large portion of the grade to their own analysis and reflection about their work and conclusions.

I feel this gives them a stronger learning experience as they need to look at how their peers have applied the concepts and principles under study to a variety of different contexts and they most critic their own work, demonstrating their own thoughts and abilities of perform the objectives I hope their are learning. This is especially true in my online classes where I never meet my students face-to-face.

Read the essay and leave comments.