Co-Hosting and Collaborative Networked Teaching Posted on October 30, 2014 by Nathan LoewenCollaborative networked teaching and learning has the potential to address a yawning gap between the strategic objectives for internationalization of higher education institutions and their actualization. In so many cases, institutions place “internationalization” in their vision, mission statements and strategic plans; it is usually the case that internationalization is either poorly realized or overlooked. The conventional thinking about internationalization focuses on student mobility abroad, garnering international students, founding niche programs, leadership centers or extension campuses abroad, sending delegations to establish MOUs and pitching MOOCs or distance programs online. To support these conventional strategies requires significant investments in staff, infrastructure, travel, administration, legal consultation, accreditation, and so on. These conventional strategies are rarely sustainable over the long-term, and they are incredibly difficult to scale-up.
Student-Centered, Teacher-Centered, Pedagogy, OH MY! Posted on October 22, 2014 by Cari CrumlyThe field of education can engender a great number of buzzwords, such as “student–centered,” “teacher-centered,” and “pedagogy.” These are the three primary terms discussed in the Seminarium Elements book, Pedagogies for Student-Centered Learning: Online and On-Ground. Student-centered vs. teacher-centered—what does that mean? Does it mean online vs. face-to-face? Does it mean students become the teacher and the teacher becomes the student? Does it make a difference on the content/curriculum, lessons, or activities that are or will be used during instruction? What pedagogies are commonly used with student-centered learning vs. teacher-centered learning, and do any of these cross over? What do professionals in the field have to say and contribute to student-centered learning?
What is Learning? Posted on October 8, 2014 by Holly InglisLearning outcomes – learning styles – learning assessments. We use the word learning in a lot of different contexts but what exactly is the nature of learning and how can educators work to enhance more effective student learning? Israel Galindo, Dean of Lifelong Learning at Columbia Theological Seminary, makes the bold assertion that learning is not an outcome of teaching…
Forks in the Road/Nodes in the Web toward Digital Learning Posted on October 6, 2014 by A+ Brooke Lester, CuratorI usually don’t see the fork in the road at the time I take it. It’s only looking back that I can say, “Huh. Made a choice there.” Or, occasionally, “Huh. Made a meaningful choice there.” As 2008 slid into 2009, a recent addition to the rank of PhDs and already-long-time member of the adjunct-faculty class, I read a blog post–I suppose for me in that year it must have been a blog post, rather than a Tweet or a Facebook status update–by Dr. A.K.M. “Akma” Adam, recommending his readers’ attention to a *then* recent digital learning video by Michael Wesch. It was “A Portal to Media Literacy” (2008), following upon Wesch’s “The Machine is Us/ing Us” (2007). Both presentations concern learning and the digitization of text…
Metacognition: Teach Me How to Learn! Posted on March 31, 2014 by Jane S. WebsterWhen we shift our task as educators from those who deliver content to those who help students learn how to learn, we see that they still learn the content that we cherish, but they have also developed skills that will take them far into the future with success. And as we become more conscious of students’ learning, we will become more attuned to their needs, enabling us to intervene in just the right place at just the right time…