COLTT Conference - What a Deal?

COLTT Conference - What a Deal?

I have been fortunate enough to attend at least one day of the Conference for Online Learning and Teaching with Technology (COLTT) for the past 3 years.  Every year I leave saying what a great deal! This year was no exception except I attended 1.5 days of the conference.  If you aren't familiar with the conference, it a 2 day conference held at CU Bolder.  The cost is very low and the administrative side of the conference gets better every year.  You can find all the details about the conference at: https://www.cu.edu/coltt/conference

I wanted to share a few of the gems that I took away from the conference.

                                Flipped Classroom/ Higher Order Thinking/Just In Time

• I went to several session around the Flipped Classroom, Higher Order Thinking, and Just In Time.  I came away thinking how each of these are intertwined and really support each other with minor adjustments to the process.  They really do focus on getting the student engaged and making the best use of the face to face time. 
• Just In Time takes the Flipped Classroom one additional step by having the student engage in course material prior to class and provide the instructor with information about the material.  This allows the instructor to bring that information into the classroom and also better understand what to focus on within the classroom. 
• One session I went to was called Unflipping the Classroom.  In Plato's day students got together discussed topics and then went to the expert.  Aristotle kind of flipped this by going more to the learn by listening to expert talk about the topic model.  So "Unflipping the Classroom" is referring back to the original and also a good marketing strategy for the talk. 
• As with any term, there is concern that "Flipping the Classroom" can just become another buzz word.  We shouldn't think in the box, or outside the box, we should think like there is no box. 
• Speaking of terms, the term "Essential Organizing Ideas" was introduced, and I left thinking isn't this the same as Learner Outcomes?
• Whatever students can learn without you, they should, and then come to the class to learn more and practice.   For classroom we really need to promote this approach.  The big question I can't answer is, how do we incorporate this method into online learning.  Any and all thoughts are appreciated on this. 

                           Additional Tidbits or Gems

• According to one study, the number one complaint from students regarding online instruction was a lack of instructor interaction. 
• The elements of thought are not a linear process.  Website on higher order thinking: http://www.improvewithmetacognition.com/  This site has a really good Blog.
• The act of writing improves engagement and learning. Hyperlinks in the text reduces reading comprehension.  Oops, ignore the hyperlinks above!
• Confirmation that multi-tasking increases the number of mistakes.  We need to focus, but in today's world that is becoming harder and harder.  When the brain has information overload, it tends to shut down instead of focusing. 
• Taking notes by hand increases retention. 
• I really enjoyed Dr. Jeff Loats contrast with teaching and treating diabetics. He is stressing that we need evidence based teaching. Can you imagine going to your Doctor and asking how he is going to treat you since you are a diabetic and getting a response, I tried this before and it seemed to work. We need to have evidence that what we are doing is working. 
• Forget the screens, since in the future we could have brain to brain transmission.