The Second Naiveté of Online LearningPosted on August 5, 2013 by Timothy SnyderIncreasingly, online learning is a part of theological education. And yet, the vast majority of current professors were trained in traditional classrooms. Many of us are finding ourselves teaching in settings we ourselves have never had to learn in. How can educators embrace a second naiveté towards online learning?While I was working on my master’s degree, I remembering attending a workshop on “developing a teaching philosophy.” I was in the early stages of applying to doctoral programs so I thought it would be a good chance to learn how many of my professors reflect on their vocation as teachers.
More Backward Course Design: Getting Learning Done!Posted on August 1, 2013 by A+ Brooke Lester, CuratorImagine yourself at term’s end, talking with a sympathetic faculty colleague, or with a partner or family member. Your head is full of final papers or exams, ranging from exceptional to disappointing, and you cry out, “Argh! I just want them to ‘get’ that…(your rant here)!”If you can complete that sentence, then you have all you need for a start on “backward course design,” an idea fundamental to the widely-used framework Understanding by Design (book by McTighe and Wiggins), and having some similarity to David Allen’s Getting Things Done system of task management. Jane S. Webster blogged here at Seminarium on her own experience with “backward course design,” inspiring in me the same impulse I get when I meet someone with whom I share a love of some obscure musician: an urge to shout “Me, too!” and then talk everybody’s ear off on the subject….
ACE Series Part II: Asserting ACE Arguments One Paragraph at a TimePosted on August 1, 2013 by Richard NewtonThe assertion is an endangered species. With stunning regularity, I read student papers where paragraphs are flush with facts but lacking in authorial opinion. And if my conclaves with other teachers are any indication, you’ve noticed this too.I hear ya’. What can possibly be confusing about the assertion? You take a topic. You take a stance on it. Bada bing, bada boom, you’ve written a assertion.Nothing to it, right? But if you want students to bulk up their anemic arguments, then it’s worth looking at why many struggle with assertions….