I’ve been assisting or promoting blended learning since the 90’s! In one of my German lit classes (when I was a student), I recommended that we move part of the discussion online. My school had just implemented a new online discussion tool combined with a picture-based class roster. I learned about it and thought it …
Author Archives: wtaylor
Fair warning for flipped classrooms
Professor Steven Neshyba at the University of Puget Sound sent a warning to his students that they really needed to view the short videos before they came to class. “I couldn’t help noticing that some of you came to last week’s Thursday/Friday session with little or no preparation and consequently did not benefit very much …
Why aren’t we using open education resources?
The answer is two-fold, I think. But let me back up for those who may not know: an open education resource is a textbook or learning object (website, video, simulation, etc.) that has been created for anyone to use freely. Some are even open to modification and integration into other projects for free. These are …
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What we do at CC in this digital age
Distance education has been around for quite a while (remember hearing about correspondence courses? one started in 1728), then radio and television-based education entered the scene and now we have online education, with MOOCs, Khan Academy and the rest. I think online education as we now know it is still in its infancy and I’m …
Let your students know how they’re doing
One of the nice things about small class sizes is that it’s fairly easy to know how your students are doing. If they’re talking in class and doing well on assignments and quizzes, it’s not too hard to have keep their pulse and help them succeed…right? Back when I taught English composition in Ecuador, I …
The unholy trinities of classroom technology usage | Dangerously Irrelevant
Ouch. Scott McLeod makes a good point, though. The comments suggest two different models for technology use in the classroom. I feel that using these technologies is not bad, if you are using them for the right reasons. Keeping students engaged? Sure. From The unholy trinities of classroom technology usage | Dangerously Irrelevant. The unholy …
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Classroom technology, innovation and the block plan
Classroom technology can be a powerful tool for education — but only when it’s used properly…The trouble is that technology has developed so quickly that most education systems haven’t been able to keep up, Michael Fullan told a crowd at the University of Oklahoma. NewsOK.com reported something the ATS team has known for quite a …
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NMC Horizon Report 2013 at EDUCAUSE ELI 2013
The NMC 2013 Horizon Report is out and was announced at EDUCAUSE ELI 2013! The conference has been great so far with lots of ideas and neat topics; I’m looking forward to reviewing some sessions I had to miss. The report looks at the horizon for the next five years for higher education. It’s interesting …
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Make your own textbook and Open Education Resource – Gooru
Pearson Learning Solutions has announced project Blue Sky, which allows an educator to custom build a set of learning resources from the Pearson library of content as well as open-content resources, such as MIT Open Courseware, Wikitionary and 23 other providers. This pilot test is limited to psychology, but Pearson is soliciting interested professors …
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University of Mary Washington gives domain names and web hosting
The University of Mary Washington has started a project called Domain of One’s Own. Now before you jump to the conclusion that each student will get a domain name this year, read a little about this pilot project after the break:
