The summer is a great time for catching up on projects that get lost in the flurry of the busy fall and winter terms. With the roll out of LEARN (replacing UW-ACE) and all the associated changes and transitions that we have been facing, one part of the old UW-ACE system that is in my prevue and that was getting short shrift is the Instructor Resources Repository (IRR). However, with LEARN more on course and the slower pace of the spring term, I’m glad to say that we have almost completed the migration of the IRR to the Learning Object Repository (LOR) in LEARN. Continue reading Launching the new Instructor Resources Repository in the LOR of LEARN
Category: New Educational Technologies
iClick? iClick not. — Dan Gan, CTE Co-op Student
Over the years, teachers and professors alike are coming up with new, innovative ways for students to learn and retain information. One of the more recent additions to these gadgets is the iClicker, an electronic response device used in different schools across Ontario. Now, we must ask ourselves a simple question: Is the iClicker actually effective? Through my experience with this gadget, from pondering whether or not to take it out in class, punching in the classroom code, and trying my luck on the day’s set of problems, in no way did it appeal to me. Continue reading iClick? iClick not. — Dan Gan, CTE Co-op Student
Student Engagement Practice: An Engineering Experience — Samar Mohamed
What is Student engagement? Why is it important? And how is it achieved? These are questions that instructors think about all the time. Most instructors would like their students to be engaged with their course material because it will ultimately lead to students’ deeper learning of the course concepts.
A simple definition of student engagement states: “students make a psychological investment in learning” [1].
In a previous blog posting, Donna Ellis, our CTE director, described a model that is based on making connections between the instructor, the content, and the learner in which the learner and his learning experience are at the center of the learning process and how making these connections helps engage students in their learning. In another previous blog posting my colleague Katherine Lithgow talked about the pedagogical benefits of considering learning as a social activity and discussed how this can help students to engage with their course material. Continue reading Student Engagement Practice: An Engineering Experience — Samar Mohamed
Post-Secondary Education: A Forecast — Marlene Griffith Wrubel
I recently attended a panel discussion on Imagining Canada’s Future at Congress 2012. The three speakers, Dan Gardner, Don Tapscott and Diana Carney talked about the difficulties of predicting future changes in Canada over the next twenty years. What is clear is that change will happen and technology seems to be an undeniable force behind these changes. Tapscott encouraged us to participate in the change through his words, “the future is to be achieved”. This panel discussion left me wondering about the future of post-secondary education. I want to share two scenarios. Continue reading Post-Secondary Education: A Forecast — Marlene Griffith Wrubel
Simulation Modelling Tool EJS — Paul Kates
Simulation Modelling Tool EJS
EJS (Easy Java Simulations) is an active, open-source software project designed for instructors and students to graphically model differential equations.
It allows selecting graphical display elements like graphs, input elements like sliders and parameter variable boxes and output animation elements
to build a simulation of a differential equation model with little to no programming. Equation solvers are built in, as are the basic user interface elements that can be so time-consuming to add into programs. Should you wish to go beyond the basic features of the software, optional programming in Java can be added. Continue reading Simulation Modelling Tool EJS — Paul Kates
Privacy and Cloud-based Tools — Scott Anderson
There are many free tools and applications available on the web (in “the cloud,” so to speak) for instructors and students to use to support and enhance their teaching and learning. A few examples include:
- CATME (for group members to evaluate their peers about contributions and group dynamics),
- Google Docs (for creating and sharing a collaborative document by a group),
- MindMeister (for creating a concept map),
- Screencast-O-Matic (for creating short screen-capture videos). Continue reading Privacy and Cloud-based Tools — Scott Anderson
New and Improved NETsavvy — Mark Morton
NETsavvy is a site that I maintain that’s devoted to identifying best practices for New Educational Technologies. Over the past couple of months, I’ve been working on updating and expanding that site. Nearly 50 new educational technologies are now included there, organized into 9 different categories. The latest category to be added is devoted to “Outliners” — that is, tools that you or your students can use to organize information. Check out the new and improved NETsavvy at netsavvy.uwaterloo.ca.