In their 2001 study of term-long undergraduate group projects Bourner et al. defined “passengers” as an impediment to team functioning, referring to students who made little contribution to group work, choosing to “ride along” on the efforts of fellow students (Bourner et al., 2001). Last winter I also observed this problem as a TA in a second-year history course where term-long group projects, involving some shared team grades, accounted for the majority of students’ evaluation. Poor research skills coupled with questionable perceptions of work expectations seemed to me to be the origin of student disengagement, rather a conscious evasion of responsibility. Continue reading “Passenger” Problem and Internet Use in Undergraduate Group Projects — Danielle Terbenche
Category: New Educational Technologies
Virtual Field Tripping: A “Real” Way to Learn — Mary Power
As a consequence of a grant that I have been working on, I have been reading about “virtual field trips”. These trips are multimedia web-based experiences that take the learner to places that might not be feasibly experienced in “real-life”, due to such practical impediments as accessibility and cost. Although the format is limitless these virtual trips often are comprised of readings, maps, glossary of terms, images, video clips and may include on-line discussions with experts and or the instructor. Together these things can lead the student on an interesting and interactive learning journey. To complete the experience there is usually a (hopefully) thoughtfully designed assignmen, such as a field trip report or on-line quiz to be assessed. Continue reading Virtual Field Tripping: A “Real” Way to Learn — Mary Power
Social Networking (and Peer Tutoring) for Second-Language Learning — Mark Morton
My nephew, who is studying Korean, recently told me about a free website that facilitates the learning of a second language by making use of social networking in the form of peer tutoring. The site in question is called LiveMocha, and it’s like many websites devoted to learning second languages in that it includes content such as flash cards, vocabulary drills, and so on. What makes LiveMocha unique, though, is that its more advanced language exercises require a user to write phrases or sentences in the target language that are then assessed by another user of LiveMocha, one whose first language is the language that you are trying to learn. Continue reading Social Networking (and Peer Tutoring) for Second-Language Learning — Mark Morton
WikiTaxi: Accessing Wikipedia When You’re Offline – Mark Morton
Tired of not being able to access millions of pages of information while you’re relaxing at the cottage or stricken with insomnia on an eight-hour flight to Istanbul? Frustrated by your inability to settle trivial disputes because the pub where you and your friends are disputing doesn’t have a wireless hotspot? Those pesky scenarios can now be a thing of the past thanks to WikiTaxi, which allows you to download Wikipedia in its entirety — all three million entries — and access them on your laptop, even when the Internet is nowhere to be found. Continue reading WikiTaxi: Accessing Wikipedia When You’re Offline – Mark Morton
More technology in teaching? – Jane Holbrook
I’m spending increasing amounts of time at my computer, and I’m not particularly happy about it. On the days when my hands seem to be permanently glued to my keyboard and my eyes and brain are dulled by the glare on my monitor, I wonder how I can ever recommend to instructors that they try something new that involves technology. I suspect that instructors are also evaluating how much time and effort they are willing to put into aspects of their teaching that require more time logged in front of the screen. Continue reading More technology in teaching? – Jane Holbrook
Plagiarism and Turnitin at UW — Scott Anderson
The plagiarism detection software Turnitin will be available to all University of Waterloo instructors as of September 2009. It was piloted in the winter and spring terms of 2008 by the School of Accounting and Finance. Continue reading Plagiarism and Turnitin at UW — Scott Anderson
Flow, and how it helped me create a web resource — Mark Morton
I managed to achieve “flow” this morning. This is not, I should clarify, an admission of prostate problems, but rather a celebration of having achieved a cognitive state so engrossing that several hours passed without my noticing. The notion of flow was originated by psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, but it’s a state of mind that we all (hopefully) get to experience from time to time, either in our work or while we’re engaged in a favorite hobby. The key to achieving flow is “just manageable challenge”: that is, the task we are trying to achieve has to be one that is not so easy that it seems routine nor so difficult that it becomes frustrating. Flow exists at the upper edge of our skill set. Continue reading Flow, and how it helped me create a web resource — Mark Morton