Using Video in Online Teaching

Here's a good piece I found today in Faculty Focus

DreamBox Learning

I just got reconnected with a long-lost friend and found out he's working for DreamBox Learning, IAA's 2010 Breakthrough Start-Up of the Year.  They offer some unique learning opportunties and cater to multiple learning styles.  Check out this short video message from their founder: 

The “24B4” principle

Regardless of whether I'm teaching college, or high school, or whether it’s my communication, film production, speech or marketing course, I always include Time Management in my curriculum.  Here's a helpful little pdf that we use at Northwest Christian High School.  It might be a little juvenile for college students, so feel free to rip and tweak as you please.  In my high school class, we have a contest to see who can come up with the stickiest message each week.  One student came up with "24B4," meaning that a student should always aim to finish a project 24 hours before the due date.  That way, if he gets sick, has a computer problem, or whatever, he's still got time.

I just spent six weeks with an eLearning director...

Watch this short film and see what I learned about online education; past, present and future.

Eliciting class participation - good article in today’s Faculty Focus

US Dept of Education finances National Center for Advanced Research and Information in Digital Technologies

Here's a short podcast with Karen Cator, director of the Office of Educational Technology.  Thanks Dr. Leslie Hitch for sharing this:

What does acting have to do with teaching?

I took this quote from my favorite professor at Northeastern University. – JM

“Being a good teacher is to elicit knowledge from all of available resources, class readings, video, teacher knowledge and experience, and student prior knowledge and experience...I'd have to say that with each online class that I've taken I've learned a lot about what I think works in this environment and what does not work, and so in my experiences teaching online and hybrid classes at the K-12 and higher education level I've learned from experience as a student how best to perform as a teacher.  I think that one needs to be both a teacher and a student to truly master both.  Similar to my advice to students about acting in front of and behind the camera...one will become a better actress if she learns how difficult it is to be on the other side, and vice versa.”

Patrick Daly
Professor, Northeastern University (and lifelong student)

Money for nuthin’ and your books for free

Public domain HTML books were the brainchild of Eric Eldred, a computer programmer for the Navy in the mid-1980's.  Eldred's daughter had an assignment using the book The Scarlet Letter.  He found it online, but it was unusable, so he cleaned it up, added some links and created the first HTML book.

The beauty of Public Domain HTML books is that you can add links to help other readers, or lead the them to similar works.  And the text can be copied into other texts or easily searched.  Says Lawrence Lessig, in his book The Future of Ideas (2001), “...because it lives on the Web, it is available to anyone anywhere – including to people who can’t afford to purchase that particular work to be included within search engines.”

I can think of a plethora of individual or collaborative assignments that would benefit our students from Eldred’s vast collection, available at Eldritch Press.

Cell Phones in the Classroom, Yay or Nay?

Do cell phones have a place in the classroom?  They’re prohibited at Northwest Christian High School, where I teach, and I used to think the policy was a no-brainer.  But with slow, outdated computers and way too much down time, I’m not sure I agree anymore.  When I spend half a class period troubleshooting one of my student’s computers while he or she twiddles her thumbs, I can't help but think, “This kid has a tiny computer (iPhone, or whatever) in his backpack, why don't we just use that for the time being?”

It seems like most secondary school kids have cell phones now days, but we’re actually laggards compared to many developed countries.  In 2004, Marc Presnky wrote, “In some countries and groups – such as students in parts of Japan, Korea, Europe and the Philippines – cell phone penetration is over 100 percent, which means that individuals own and use two or more of these devices.”

Rick McKinnon, eLearning Director at South Puget Sound Community College, and instructor at The Evergreen State College, says, “Why not have students tweeting suggestions to each other during class?”  Presnky goes on to say, “For as U.S. educators are busy banning cell phones in schools, millions of students in China and Japan, the Philippines, and Germany are using their mobile phones (respectively), to learn English; to study math, health and spelling; and to access live and archived university lectures.”

So, my question for you is, are we fighting a losing battle?  Would our energies be better spent learning how to utilize technology (and engaging our students in the ways they're engaged off campus?)

 

Have you seen The Khan Academy?

Some of you already know about this, but this is for those who don't.  Check out all the free instruction here, and tell me if you're not amazed that this was produced by one man.  Thanks Dr. Rick McKinnon, eLearning Director for South Puget Sound Community College, for sharing this site: The Khan Academy