This is yet another post that got lost in the jungles of my bloglines account. Very nice article on five basic instructional design principles. The points are made neatly and well.
I often look at instructional design and wonder if that would be a good place for me, but I’m afraid of losing the right to teach in the process. I love developing curricula. I used to be quite good at creating good, viable curriculum on any topic you handed me on very short deadlines. I miss those days.
I’ve been giving some thought to my education lately. I still aspire to the ranks of masters and phd, but I still haven’t quite convinced myself of where I want to end up, so I am still out of school. Perhaps I ought to consider a trip to UW and talk with some of their departments this summer.
Posted by Rebecca as Information Architecture at 10:36 AM EDT
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I have less than fond memories of the first two years of college. That’s not entirely accurate. I loved college. I have less than fond memories of Norlin Library.
Every single class I took at the University of Colorado had half the course materials on reserve in the library, which usually meant battling anywhere from 30-300 other students to get to the materials to copy them in order to have them for class discussions and homework assignments. Even better was the fact that the library staff never enforced the rules of the reserve, and more often than not, material was never returned so students couldn’t use it. With a busy schedule, any college stodent was challenged to get their materials in a timely manner.
Some schools got smart and created a system where teachers could have course books printed with much of the material and offer them for purchase in the bookstore. Some professors have decided to take a different route and make their course material available online.
Of course, there is the debate of the impact of either practice on the copyright of the material included and the saleablity of the source of the material. "Fair use in education" seems to be one of those sticky topics. As long as outside material is used in class, this is going to continue to be an issue.
Posted by Rebecca as Responsibility at 5:21 PM EDT
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It seems like only a year or so ago I was reading about the use of A Simple Life as a classroom simulation. The general idea was to take the game and structure meaningful instructional components so that students could move about a given area of the game and learn things socially and experientially. Now it seems to be more commonplace to develop educational simulations through these multiple-player online games.
I recall that the idea was considered a bit radical at the time, and even frowned upon because games apparently cannot teach anything. As a gamer and a teacher, I was always interested by this theory that playing games cannot teach you anything valuable. (Yes, I understand that there is a large contingent that supports the use of various types of games in educational settings.)
Some of the benefits of including games as part of your instruction include fostering problem solving, communication, and developing strategies. I’ve long held the belief that children who have become involved with TCGs are even learning some skills that will serve them well as adults: negotiating, assessing fair prices, networking
Found via Stephen Downes
Posted by Rebecca as Teaching methods at 9:11 AM EDT
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As I may have mentioned before, I am developing an interest in information architecture and information literacy. With all of the information easily accessible out in the world today, I think both are very important. Credibility is a very hot, and very easily misapplied, commodity these days, and we have to be prepared to consider the credibility of every source.
The Joint Information Systems Community (JISC) has developed a list of information literacy skills (i-skills) that are important to foster in students (and the rest of us) including: "the ability to ‘identify, assess, retrieve, evaluate, adapt, organise
and communicate information within an iterative context of review and
reflection’." It’s not terribly different from the skills we commonly teach in reading courses as we prepare students to discern whether something they’re reading is fact or opinion, nonfiction or fiction.
The ability to read critically is a very necessary skill in this age of information overload.
Found via the Information Literacy Weblog
Posted by Rebecca as Information Architecture at 11:52 AM EDT
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Recently, I’ve come across several articles about the possible future of computers grading student essays. I know there are some programs out there already doing this based on an algorithm, but I really have to wonder if they’re effectively doing their job.
For about two years, the only job I could find was grading the open-ended responses on tests given around the country. I sat at a computer for six hours a day and read essays on various topics, and then rated them based on a set rubric. We were given examples of each point value to help us determine the scores. Those caught scoring based solely on the length of the essay were given a stern talking to, and eventually invited not to return to work.
The reason for this, and why I think a computer algorithm is not going to be able to replace human scorers, is becuase some students were very talented at writing five pages of absolutely nothing. It would be the same sentence reworded twenty different ways. There were people who would have given this a top score because it had five pages (the maximum length), when the content acutally met the criteria for a much, much lower score. Similarly, there are some very succinct writers who can effectively convey their argument in a couple of pages. The content warrants a top score, but some who were looking for length and keywords would give it a much, much lower score because of its length.
From personal experience, I think that a computer will never be able to discern the difference between a well-written concise essay and a long-winded essay that says nothing.
Articles found via Wired and Stephen Downes
Posted by Rebecca as Responsibility at 8:12 AM EDT
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The past two weeks have been filled with a lot of teaching. I had forgotten how much I enjoy teaching, and being around young people. I still don’t have all of my with-it skills back, but I’m definitely headed that way.
It feels so nice.
I’m still trying to read a lot and blog about what I’m reading, and one of the things that was supposed to be pointed to this week is this post on incorporating career development and e-portfolios.
Even though I haven’t touched my ELGG in months, I still read, and I’m still completely fascinated by the living functionality of e-Portfolios.
Posted by Rebecca as e-learning at 5:42 PM EDT
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As a teacher, I’ve always seen myself more as a facilitator than the major point of knowledge. This is probably why I’ve always been drawn to guided discovery and informal teaching methods and settings.
Many students, however, are trained in formal learning methods, so when they are introduced to these alternate learning situations that put them center stage, they may have difficulty making the transition from passive to active learners.
Here’s a great post on facilitating students’ shift into active learner, while still maintaining the value of the teacher’s interactions.
Posted by Rebecca as Teaching methods at 11:25 AM EDT
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This morning, I finally got some pieces up on eBay for auction. Feel free to wander over and take a look.
You can tell from this posting that marketing is really not my strength, and that I was half awake as I was renaming my old selling account to JewelryNiche. I’ll fix it at the next available opportunity.
If you feel so inclined, bid on a piece or two. These are great pieces that just need a good home and someone to appreciate them.
I’m planning to start new auctions every Sunday, but don’t particularly feel like spamming my readership with announcements of new pieces. There will be a link to my auctions in the sidebar. (If you would rather have me put a small "New pieces are up on eBay" message on here, please comment. I’m flexible.)
Posted by Rebecca as Uncategorized at 10:04 AM EDT
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I’m starting to develop a strong interest in information literacy and information architecture, so I’ve started reading a number of blogs that explore both topics. Recently, I read this interesting post on organizing information skills seminars to best appeal to the target group.
Found via the Information Literacy Weblog
Posted by Rebecca as Information Architecture at 9:41 AM EDT
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Last week, a fellow teacher and I were talking. We were both completing our first month and both of us are just moving into teaching the subject we’re most comfortable teaching.
When we started, we both explained what our strengths were (math for me, reading for her). Then, she was started in math and I was started in reading. This week we were both trained in our respective areas and are starting to work more in our correct areas (although learning both the math program and the algebra program in the same week has been a bit tricky on my part).
We got to talking about this, both thinking it was a bit odd that we had each been started out in our weak subject. Then it occurred to me: we were trained in our weak subject area first because it was figured we could handle both subjects better if our weak subject was strengthened a bit before we went on to teach our comfortable subjects.
Time will tell if we’re right, and if that was just a bit of training brilliance.
Posted by Rebecca as Teaching methods at 8:51 AM EDT
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