I recently attended the 28th Annual Conference on Distance Teaching and Learning in Madison, WI. I’ve been attending this conference for about 8 years straight. I have to say that this year was a little disappointing for a variety of reasons. I still brought home a few good tips and take aways that will share in this blog post.
First, you can access proceedings, keynote videos and resources from the conference here:
Flip Your Classroom to Increase Active Learning and Student Engagement
Bethany Stone, University of Missouri- Columbia
Key suggestions for flipping your classroom
· Post materials at least ONE week prior
· Explain all of your teaching strategies on the first day and/or in syllabus.
o Keep them informed with info and data (for example, if you did this last semester and found that 80% of students did better on the final exam when using this technique you can get better buy in right away)
· Balance motivators
· Keep lectures short; provide online; Ask that they bring their questions to class
o Take an online quiz during class regarding readings and lectures/ spend time reviewing answers to quiz and addressing questions.
· This instructor utilizes a tool called “Google Voice” during class time. This allows students to anonymously text the instructor questions during class.
· Have small group activities during class
· Immediately after class have an online quiz that goes deeper into the content to measure a level of understanding beyond the basics.
iPad apps I discovered:
Perspective is a platform for exploring, creating, and sharing audiovisual stories with data.
Today's storytelling involves a mishmash of apps, websites, blog tools, and technologies. Perspective simplifies all this by combining the essential elements of storytelling into a single iPad App.
Today's storytelling involves a mishmash of apps, websites, blog tools, and technologies. Perspective simplifies all this by combining the essential elements of storytelling into a single iPad App.
MindMeister and Simple Mind (both are free)
MindMeister is a web-based mind mapping tool. Create, view and edit mind maps online or offline and let the app synch with your MindMeister account whenever connected. Share mind maps directly from the device, or export them in MindManager, Freemind, RTF, PDF and PNG formats
SimpleMind for iOS is a Mind Mapping tool that turns your iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch into a brainstorming, idea collection and thought structuring device.
Tweeting the lesson: Social media curation in an online curriculum
Richard Edwards, Lead Instructional Designer, Ball State University
This was a 10 minute lightning session. I couldn’t write fast enough to collect the information. I find the topic intriguing. Richard talked about how with teaching and learning goals we generally have formal learning, informal learning and integrated learning. He mentioned a tool called “storify.com” that can be used as a social media aggregator. The goal is to create a higher-level of learning and context to social media data on given topics. (To teach how to create new knowledge from existing data.) There are many layers to Twitter: content and curation, crowdsourcing and chronology.
(Lightning session) Four steps for designing successful discussion topics
Alicia Pigg, Course review specialist, Online Campus, Columbia College
The main structure suggested for designing a good discussion topic will include
1. Identify the purpose and relevance
2. Select content that incorporates the use of higher-order thinking skills
3. Choose a strategy for the discussion (prompts, format, question types)
a. Scenario prompt
b. Problem-solving
c. Diagnostic questions (drawing conclusions)
d. Challenge strategy (defend reasoning)
4. Anticipate results and possible responses
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Judy Brown Keynote
“Learning in hand with mobile technology”
Check out the following great resources!
Judy mentioned some powerful statistics:
85% of phone usage is for data as opposed to just talking. (I believe it)
100 million iPads have been sold to colleges and universities.
People will touch their smart phone (for some reason) up to 150x a day! (guilty)
Some common tasks: check weather; email; when bored; when in trouble (solving unexpected problems)
Nomophobia= the separation anxiety people get when they don’t have their mobile device (phone) within reach. (oh yeah, I've broken out in a sweat when I leave my phone at home or I don't have a signal)
Judy talked a little bit about “the spacing effect,” which for me was the first time I’d heard of it.
I guess it refers to the idea (based on some research) that it is better to space out presentations/lectures rather than cramming too much in one time. So tying this in with the mobile revolution, we can provide presentations/lectures/learning content asynchronously where students can access via mobile when the time is right for them.
A powerful example Judy gave outlined a thing called “text4Baby.org.” A mother can subscribe when she gets pregnant and the service will text the mother at key appropriate times during the pregnancy (and after baby is born) with tips and healthy prompts/reminders. So they are PUSHED information at the right time. If you compared this situation with say a one-time workshop for new mothers. Those classes can be jam packed full of very important information that certainly can be challenging to remember all of the content.
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