I was involved recently in an interesting email “discussion” prompted by a query from a professor interested in how other profs manage student conduct in class. The professor had been experiencing a significant number of students using their laptops, cell phones, and iPods during the lecture and was asking for suggestions on how other instructors were addressing situations where students were using laptops during classes to answer emails, look at unrelated web sites, play games etc. Continue reading Laptops and Student Learning – Katherine Lithgow
Category: New Educational Technologies
Twitter and Higher Ed – Mark Morton
You’ve probably already heard about Twitter, a micro-blogging application that appeared in 2006 and which has surged in popularity over the past year. Oprah, for example, is now on Twitter, and CNN offers news updates via Twitter. Posts to Twitter (which are called tweets) are brief — no longer than 140 characters, which is perfect for sharing a quick update about what you’re doing or reading, for disseminating a web address to a useful site, or for asking your Twitter “followers” a question. Universities have also begun to use Twitter to good purpose. Continue reading Twitter and Higher Ed – Mark Morton
Wikis: Which One is Right for You? – Mark Morton
Wikis are an online tool that allow numerous individuals to access and edit the same document at the same time. They are a powerful educational tool in the right situations, but the problem is that there are scores of wiki applications — which one is best for your purposes? Well, to help you choose, you might make use of the online Wiki Wizard, which asks you a series of questions and then recommends a handful based upon your responses. Try the Wiki Wizard here.
Personal Brain – Mark Morton
I like maps. This may seem odd, given that I have no sense of direction (either literally or metaphorically) and that I don’t like to travel. But it’s true, I can happily pore over maps of cities that I’ve never heard of and countries that I’ll never visit. Perhaps it’s the illusion of of order that maps provide: everything is in its place, fixed into position by the mighty power of the cartographer’s pen. This may also be why I like concept maps and concept map software. Continue reading Personal Brain – Mark Morton
Learning Through Peer Discussion – Mary Power
It seems intuitive that group discussion can enhance the learning experience. We (or at least I do anyway) almost often think of discussions occurring among a small group of individuals. Yet there is a growing body of research evidence indicating that discussion based collaborative learning is a powerful tool that can be used even in large class situations. Continue reading Learning Through Peer Discussion – Mary Power
Notes from a teaching developer conference 1: Mark Federman’s Keynote – Trevor Holmes
Several CTE staff members have been at EDC 2009, this year’s iteration of a conference specifically for Educational Developers. It’s a lively group, full of helpful people who prefer to collaborate and share (rather than compete and hoard). After the usual welcoming remarks and housekeeping notes, we had the unusual experience of dramatic readings from two publications (Making a Difference and Silences, both projects of the 3M Teaching Fellows’ Council of our parent organisation, the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education). Continue reading Notes from a teaching developer conference 1: Mark Federman’s Keynote – Trevor Holmes
Google Docs – Mark Morton
The purpose of technology is to allow us to do things more easily or more efficiently so that we have more time and energy to invent more technologies. That, at least, would seem to be one way of describing human history, from the invention of the wheel, to the steam engine, to the first vacuum-based hair-cutting systems. Whether this technological progress has had a positive impact on the human condition is, I think, open to debate. Personally, I rather doubt that we are any happier now than our predecessors were a century, three centuries, or thirty centuries ago. True, we don’t have to contend with the bubonic plague or demonic possession; but neither did our ancestors have to deal with TV shows involving Tyra Banks or with being on hold with Bell Canada for half an hour. Continue reading Google Docs – Mark Morton