Teaching and Learning in HE

This is one of those articles I have to think about befofe I agree or disagree or find some middle ground. Is lurking an authentic behaviour?

Many teacher want to get their classes online for various reasons. The info here will help anyone set it up more professionally.

Some really interesting reflections and comments in this article. What makes the current form of MOOCs particularly challenging for the learner? Poonam argues that effective learning materials involve the learners and makes a case for the interactive MOOC - the iMOOC. "Those wanting to build iMOOCS – or at least include greater learner interactivity into their courses – could gather inspiration for their instructional design strategy from interactivity building tools."

Certain "truisms" run through articles written on MOOCs. One of the more consistent "stories" repeated from article to article involves the completion rate of MOOCs, hovering around 7%. There are many reasons why MOOCs have low completion rates, but typically the "story" is told as one of MOOC design failure, as in this piece. Quote from this article: "“To engage learners and keep them interested in the course - and motivated to continue and complete it, there’s a need to develop MOOCs that are highly interactive (iMOOCs). No wonder that MOOCs’ learner drop-out rates are extremely high,” [Poonam Jaypuriya] commented. “According to our information, typically, we’re seeing only seven or eight per cent of learners completing courses.” I agree with the 7% completion rate, which matches my hands-on experience. But I disagree with the assessment of why 93% of my students did not complete my MOOC. In fact, let's consider the admission requirements for a MOOC. Typically, a student submits an email address. There is no transcript verification, there is no statement of commitment (i.e. how much this "learner" will prioritize a free class when other life and work events occur during the course), and no really penalty from just dropping out of the course at any time for any reason. MOOCs are a fascinating experiment, and while some MOOCs clearly have a way to go to fully leverage the full and already available possibilities of a quality engaging online education, that is not the fundamental reason for low completion rates. MOOC providers need to figure out how to secure learning commitments from students. And to play the contrarian on this issue, I would argue that the top retention tools of traditional higher education have been tuition cost, admissions standards, and verifiable transcripts, not the quality of course design (and I mean course design principles as opposed to faculty reputation). 

This app could be well placed in between mainstream media (con: what Vicotia Beckham ate for lunch is more important than residents of an entire region in South Darfur didn't) and blogs (con: noise, redundancy, copy and paste "journalism"). It offers an in-depth look at a particular topic through a curation by professional journalists. Here is what Track180 wants to be:

"It's essentially an engagement platform to expose readers to all sides of an issue and help form opinions. And instead of trying to chase the tail of the ever-elusive tiger that is news, Track180 focuses on under-the-radar news that has not yet trended mainstream. Instead, it's more feature-y on the cusp material like the persecution of bloggers in Russia or human rights abuses. If you're looking for entertainment gossip and sports, this isn't the place for you."

Worth a try

przewodnik po Otwartych Zasobach Edukacyjnych z przykładami zalet dla różnych typów odbiorców.

A great intro to Evernote by LIfehacker. Great for getting started with Evernote (like me)

This article is a great place to start when you are trying to get your head around all the different online options you have to manage your reading, information intake, notebooking and social bookmarking. Evernote, diigo, Springpad, Pocket, and many more information management tools are described here.

useful

Many teacher want to get their classes online for various reasons. The info here will help anyone set it up more professionally.

Some really interesting reflections and comments in this article. What makes the current form of MOOCs particularly challenging for the learner? Poonam argues that effective learning materials involve the learners and makes a case for the interactive MOOC - the iMOOC. "Those wanting to build iMOOCS – or at least include greater learner interactivity into their courses – could gather inspiration for their instructional design strategy from interactivity building tools."

Certain "truisms" run through articles written on MOOCs. One of the more consistent "stories" repeated from article to article involves the completion rate of MOOCs, hovering around 7%. There are many reasons why MOOCs have low completion rates, but typically the "story" is told as one of MOOC design failure, as in this piece. Quote from this article: "“To engage learners and keep them interested in the course - and motivated to continue and complete it, there’s a need to develop MOOCs that are highly interactive (iMOOCs). No wonder that MOOCs’ learner drop-out rates are extremely high,” [Poonam Jaypuriya] commented. “According to our information, typically, we’re seeing only seven or eight per cent of learners completing courses.” I agree with the 7% completion rate, which matches my hands-on experience. But I disagree with the assessment of why 93% of my students did not complete my MOOC. In fact, let's consider the admission requirements for a MOOC. Typically, a student submits an email address. There is no transcript verification, there is no statement of commitment (i.e. how much this "learner" will prioritize a free class when other life and work events occur during the course), and no really penalty from just dropping out of the course at any time for any reason. MOOCs are a fascinating experiment, and while some MOOCs clearly have a way to go to fully leverage the full and already available possibilities of a quality engaging online education, that is not the fundamental reason for low completion rates. MOOC providers need to figure out how to secure learning commitments from students. And to play the contrarian on this issue, I would argue that the top retention tools of traditional higher education have been tuition cost, admissions standards, and verifiable transcripts, not the quality of course design (and I mean course design principles as opposed to faculty reputation). 

What is screencasting? Why would you want to record your computer screen, anyway? Well, I’m glad you asked! Recording what is happening on your screen can be a pretty useful tool for teachers who want to create video tutorials or presentations for their classrooms, and many teachers are usingscreencasting tools in their flipped classroom models

Screencasting is a great way to recycle your conference talks on your blog

A brief intro into the MOOC universe: Who backs what?

GREAT DIGITAL DELIVERY

Remarkable how this subsector has taken off! Does anyone have a link to a critique and categorization?

You could have knocked me over with a feather!

This is a great discussion and ideas.