Chalkboards and projectors are familiar tools for most college faculty, but when new technologies become available, instructors aren't always sure how to integrate them into their teaching in meaningful ways. For faculty interested in supporting student learning, determining what's possible and what's useful can be challenging in the changing landscape of technology. Arguing that teaching and learning goals should drive instructors' technology use, not the other way around, Intentional Tech explores seven research-based principles for matching technology to pedagogy. Through stories of instructors who creatively and effectively use educational technology, author Derek Bruff approaches technology not by asking "How to?" but by posing a more fundamental question: "Why?"
Find out how to apply learning science in online classes The concept of small teaching is simple: small and strategic changes have enormous power to improve student learning. Instructors face unique and specific challenges when teaching an online course. This book offers small teaching strategies that will positively impact the online classroom. This book outlines practical and feasible applications of theoretical principles to help your online students learn. It includes current best practices around educational technologies, strategies to build community and collaboration, and minor changes you can make in your online teaching practice, small but impactful adjustments that result in significant learning gains. * Explains how you can support your online students * Helps your students find success in this non-traditional learning environment * Covers online and blended learning * Addresses specific challenges that online instructors face in higher education Small Teaching Online presents research-based teaching techniques from an online instructional design expert and the bestselling author of Small Teaching.
The research is clear: online learning works best whenfaculty build regular, positive, and interactive relationships withstudents. A strategy that helps forgesuch a relationship is the use of videos. Student satisfaction and courseengagement levels also increase with the use of instructor-generated videos -the subject of this book. Beginning by outlining the different types of videos you cancreate, and what the research says about their effectiveness, Karen Costaexplains how they can be designed to reinforce learning, to align with andpromote course outcomes, and to save you time across your courses. She thendescribes how to create successful videos with commonly available technologiessuch as your smartphone, and without a major investment of time, demonstratingthe simple steps she took to develop her bank of videos and build herconfidence to deliver short, straightforward learning aids that are effectiveand personal. EmbeddedQR codes in the text enable you to view sample videos and screencasts thatbring the book's advice to life as you read. If you've been wanting to include videos in your teachingbut haven't found the time or confidence, this book will help you to develop asimple and sustainable video development process, supporting both your successand the success of your students.
Blended (also called hybrid) classrooms, in which face-to-face interaction is intentionally combined with online activities to aid student learning, are becoming more and more common. Most recently, "flipped" classrooms have become a popular method for teaching because more time for active learning in-class can be gained by moving content delivery such as lecture to outside-of-class homework using technology tools such as video or lecture capture. The blended model is proving to be an environment that provides more self-directed, technology-mediated learning experiences for students who will be incorporating technology more and more into their professional lives post-college. The Blended Course Design Workbookmeets the need for a user-friendly resource that provides faculty members and administrators with instructions, activities, tools, templates, and deadlines to guide them through the process of revising their traditional face-to-face course into a blended format. Providing a step-by-step course design process that emphasizes active learning and student engagement, this book will help instructors adapt traditional face-to-face courses to a blended environment by guiding them through the development of course goals and learning objectives, assignments, assessments, and student support mechanisms with technology integration in mind. It will also help instructors choose the right technologies based on an instructor's comfort level with technology and their specific pedagogical needs. The book will help each instructor who uses the text to develop a unique course by making choices about their course design based on student learning needs for their chosen topic and discipline. Every component of the workbook has been piloted with faculty designing and implementing blended courses and then revised to better meet the needs of faculty across a range of comfort levels with technology use. The Blended Course Design Workbookincludes detailed instructions for each stage of course design alongside specific activities that the reader can complete. The book is unique because it facilitates a step-by-step process for blended course design with specific templates and tools that can be used across disciplines. Additional resources and handouts are posted on the book page as well as the author website, www.bcdworkbook.com.
From wired campuses to smart classrooms to massive open online courses (MOOCs), digital technology is now firmly embedded in higher education. But the dizzying pace of innovation, combined with a dearth of evidence on the effectiveness of new tools and programs, challenges educators to articulate how technology can best fit into the learning experience. Minds Online is a concise, nontechnical guide for academic leaders and instructors who seek to advance learning in this changing environment, through a sound scientific understanding of how the human brain assimilates knowledge. Drawing on the latest findings from neuroscience and cognitive psychology, Michelle Miller explores how attention, memory, and higher thought processes such as critical thinking and analytical reasoning can be enhanced through technology-aided approaches. The techniques she describes promote retention of course material through frequent low‐stakes testing and practice, and help prevent counterproductive cramming by encouraging better spacing of study. Online activities also help students become more adept with cognitive aids, such as analogies, that allow them to apply learning across situations and disciplines. Miller guides instructors through the process of creating a syllabus for a cognitively optimized, fully online course. She presents innovative ideas for how to use multimedia effectively, how to take advantage of learners' existing knowledge, and how to motivate students to do their best work and complete the course. For a generation born into the Internet age, educational technology designed with the brain in mind offers a natural pathway to the pleasures and rewards of deep learning.
Other Selected E-books
Handbook of Research on Creating Meaningful Experiences in Online Courses by Lydia Kyei-Blankson (Editor); Esther Ntuli (Editor); Joseph Blankson (Editor)
ISBN: 9781799801153
Publication Date: 2019-11-29
While online courses are said to be beneficial and many reputable brick and mortar higher education institutions are now offering undergraduate and graduate programs online, there is still ongoing debate on issues related to credibility and acceptability. There is some reluctance to teach online and to admit and hire students who have enrolled in online programs. Given these concerns, it is essential that educators in online communities continue to share the significant learning experiences and outcomes that occur in online classrooms and highlight pedagogical practices used by online instructors to make their courses and programs comparable to those offered face-to-face. The Handbook of Research on Creating Meaningful Experiences in Online Courses is a comprehensive research book that examines the quality of courses in higher education that are offered exclusively online and details strategies and practices used by online instructors to create meaningful teaching and learning experiences in online courses. Featuring a range of topics such as gamification, professional development, and learning outcomes, this book is ideal for academicians, researchers, educators, administrators, instructional designers, curriculum developers, higher education faculty, and students.
What does it mean to be a productive professor inhigher education? What would it feel like to have more peace and productivity?To have nothing fall through the cracks? The Productive Online and OfflineProfessoris written for today's busy higher education professional.Through an exploration of what it means to make work meaningful, this bookoffers practical strategies and tips to support higher education professionalsin efficiently managing and effectively using a wide range of technologies andproductivity tools. Higher education instructors will find this guide helps them to fulfill theirteaching roles with excellence and to build engaging relationships withstudents while also successfully managing other priorities in theirprofessional and personal lives. The Productive Online Professorassists those who teach online and blended courses with managing their personal productivity. Faculty are often expected to provide support and feedback to learners outside of normal work hours in non-traditional classes. Programs that are designed with more asynchronous content may cause faculty to perceive that it is difficult to ever press the "off button" on their teaching.The author offers guidance and suggests software tools for streamlining communication and productivity that enable faculty to better balance their lives while giving rich feedback to students. Part1 addresses the challenges in defining productivity and presents a workingdefinition for the text. Part 2 describes the ability to communicate using both synchronous andasynchronous methods, along with ways of enriching such communication. Part 3 describes methods for finding, curating, and sharing relevant knowledgeboth within one's courses and to a broader personal learning network (PLN). Part 4 examines specific tools for navigating the unique challenges ofproductivity while teaching online. It includes ways to grade more productivelywhile still providing rich feedback to students. Part 5 shares techniques for keeping one's course materials current andrelevant in the most efficient ways possible. The Productive Online Professoris a practical guide for how to provide high quality online classes to diverse students. This book shares specific technology and other tools that may be used in charting a course toward greater productivity. It is intended to be a professional resource for fulfilling our roles with excellence and joy, while managing other priorities in our personal and professional lives.
The changing student body in American higher education demands a new approach to teaching, one that moves toward inclusive, hyperpersonalized learning environments that have much in common with games and social media. Kevin Bell's Game On! presents dynamic case studies of gamer educators and game-derived techniques to help instructors creatively formulate their own teaching strategies. Breaking gamefully designed classes into their component parts, Bell analyzes what these classes are actually doing and explains why they work. He offers faculty a rubric to assess their own courses for their propensity to engage students, particularly those from low socioeconomic and high-risk populations. Bell explores how game design, pedagogy, and intrinsic motivators can level the playing field to produce rigorous learning environments that are as addictive to all participants as the latest apps and social media systems. He also discusses best practices, lays out the broader context of computer-mediated teaching and learning, and considers the challenges and opportunities that gamification presents. Instructors would do well to consider the key tenets of successful games if they are to engage and graduate the coming generations of learners. Bell's careful analysis of the theories behind gamification, cognitive science, and instructional design will help them to do just that.
Teaching in Blended Leaning Environments provides a coherentframework in which to explore the transformative concept of blendedlearning. Blended learning can be defined as the organic integration ofthoughtfully selected and complementary face-to-face and onlineapproaches and technologies. A direct result of the transformativeinnovation of virtual communication and online learning communities,blended learning environments have created new ways for teachers andstudents to engage, interact, and collaborate. The authors argue thatthis new learning environment necessitates significant role adjustmentsfor instructors and generates a need to understand the aspects ofteaching presence required of deep and meaningful learning outcomes.
Blended learning provides the flexibility to accommodate the varied requirements of pedagogies, disciplines and levels of course, together with the needs of a wide variety of learners. However, anyone concerned with the integration of online tutoring to support students appropriately may need to reassess current practice. This book adopts a pragmatic and common-sense approach to blended learning by situating the use of online media within a well-grounded teaching and learning strategy. It provides practical ideas for the successful implementation of blended strategies, including good practice in both asynchronous and synchronous tutoring, appropriate assessment design for developing successful blended learners, and innovative approaches to professional development for distance tutors. It is illustrated with a wide variety of examples and comments from students and practitioners in both distance and campus-based environments in 13 different countries. Since the first edition was published in 2006, there has been great interest in Web 2.0 technologies and their potential for use in an educational environment. This second edition has therefore incorporated many new examples of good practice, making use of a combination of tried and tested tools as well as blogs and wikis for supporting students. There has also been a recent rise in the use of activity-based learning and interest in its potential for supporting students in distance and online environments. The new edition incorporates many new exemplars of learning activity design in Part Three, to illustrate approaches to the development of critical, independent learners.
Research has shown that although learners in higher education may be familiar with using technology in their social lives, they do not always use effective strategies when learning online. Drawing on research into student experiences, this book provides 53 practical ideas for teachers and lecturers who are supporting students on blended or fully online courses, or indeed in traditional teaching contexts. Each of the 53 ideas provides a learning activity to help students develop their study skills and habits, so that they can learn confidently and effectively in the digital age. The book is designed to dip into for ideas that dovetail with your own practice. The topics covered are wide-ranging. They include: time management skills; self-regulated learning; personalizing the online learning environment; collaborative learning; presenting work online; online assessment; experimenting with playful learning; and reflection and blogging. Contents: Publisher's abstract; Preface; Acknowledgements; Introduction; Chapter 1 Activities to get started; Chapter 2 Activities to encourage contribution; Chapter 3 Activities to make learning personal; Chapter 4 Activities to encourage time on task; Chapter 5 Activities for lifelong learning.
Are your virtual training tools ready for a tune-up? You've discovered the best way to reach remote audiences without boarding a single plane. And you've learned that an effective virtual training program is relatively short, highly relevant, and extremely engaging. Now you need the tried-and-true tools that will make your next program an all-out success. Virtual Training Tools and Templates: An Action Guide to Live Online Learning offers proven resources for delivering top-notch virtual training programs. Make expert trainer Cindy Huggett's professional array of virtual tools your own, and discover new perspectives from a range of training trailblazers. You'll find their real-world lessons learned and get full access to their secrets of the trade. Starting with a simple four-step process (get started, get ready, get buy-in, and get going), Huggett helps you select the right technology, then offers detailed sections on how to design content, develop activities, and work with both facilitators and producers. And if you're wondering how to prepare participants and evaluate program results, Huggett does not disappoint. Follow along as she guides you with new and relevant tips, tools, and templates every step of the way. A virtual training pioneer, Huggett wrote this book for you - instructional designers, facilitating trainers, learning coordinators, and training managers. And she continues to experiment with creative techniques and hone her skills so you can jump in with confidence. This complete guide builds on the author's popular The Virtual Training Guidebook - use them together or on their own to delve into Huggett's holistic approach to virtual training.
"For those who think online learning can't be truly interactive, Patti Shank and her colleagues clearly demonstrate--in hundreds of examples--that it can. The real lesson in The Online Learning Idea Book is that technology doesn't build interactive learning; creative thinking and good, solid instructional design does. Using even a smidgen of the great ideas in this book will increase the learning effectiveness of any online program." --Marc J. Rosenberg, consultant, and author of Beyond E-Learning "Patti Shank has collected great ideas about online learning and teaching from all over the globe. If you are an online instructor or instructional designer looking for new ways to involve and engage your learners, you'll be inspired by this book!"--Terry Morris, associate professor, William Rainey Harper Colleges Filled with techniques, tools, tips, examples, resources, and dozens of "great ideas,? this invaluable resource helps people who are looking to build online instructional materials -- or improve existing materials -- discover and implement what the best and brightest in industry and education are doing to make online learning more engaging and compelling. Increase your know-how in the following areas: Look and Feel: how to increase ease-of-use Graphics and Multimedia: how to make instructional graphics engaging and compelling Activities: how to make instruction itself engaging and compelling Tools: how to use a variety of online tools Instructional Design: how to design better and faster.