The Little Assignment with the Big Impact: Reading, Writing, Critical Reflection May 6, 2013 By: Geraldine Van Gyn, PhD in Instructional Design Several years ago, I came across the Purposeful Reading Assignment that was reported to encourage students to read, reflect, and write about readings assigned for class. Research (Roberts and Roberts, 2008) and experience tell us that supporting students’ reading, writing, and reflective practices is one of the most challenging aspects of learning and teaching. Although this assignment appeared to be simple, it has proven to be an influential tool for learning and has increased engagement and participation among my students. The basic assignment, also called the 3-2-1, has three requirements: Requirement 1: Students read what is assigned, then choose and describe the three most important aspects (concepts, issues, factual information, etc.) of the reading, justifying their choices. The completed assignment is submitted on an electronic template before the class when the reading will be discussed. References Novak, G. Dr.
50 really useful iPad tips and tricks With great new features like two video cameras, a faster processor and a Retina display, the new iPad is the world's best tablet device. It's also fully capable of running the latest version of Apple's iOS operating system and great apps like iMovie and GarageBand. Here we present 50 really useful iPad tips. We cover everything from customising your Home screen through to getting more from built-in apps like Mail and Safari. 10 best tablet PCs in the world today The vast majority of these tips will also work on the original iPad and iPad 2, so owners of any generation of iPad shouldn't feel neglected. For 50 more iPad tips, check out a new iPad app called 100 Tricks & Tips for iPad 2, brought to you by our colleagues on MacFormat. 1. iOS now supports folders. Your iPad will create a folder with both the apps in. 2. Double-clicking the Home button shows you all the apps that are running on your iPad in a bar along the bottom of the screen. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. The iPad supports a VPN connection.
Why Don't They Apply What They've Learned, Part I - Do Your Job Better By James M. Lang For two years I taught in a special program in which the same cohort of students took two consecutive courses with me: freshman composition in the fall and introduction to literature in the spring. In both years that I taught the two-course sequence, I was startled to see many students come back from winter break and—on their very first papers in the spring class—revert directly back to those tired strategies that I had worked so hard to help them unlearn in the fall. One such student came into my office early in the spring semester to show me a draft of her paper, and it included a lame reverse-pyramid (i.e., general to specific) introduction. She looked up at me in genuine puzzlement: "You mean that the stuff we learned last semester applies in this course, too?" D'oh! "Far transfer is, arguably," they point out, "the central goal of education: We want our students to be able to apply what they learn beyond the classroom." Many of us state that outright in our courses.
Active Learning By Diane Starke, El Paso Community College Purpose: Learning is not a spectator sport. Research has demonstrated that students learn more if they are actively engaged with the material they are studying. Key Concepts: Section 1: What is Active Learning? Active Learning is, in short, anything that students do in a classroom other than merely passively listening to an instructor's lecture. This website from Stoutland Elementary School in Missouri, provides an extensive list of the various definitions of active learning originally posted by the Teaching Resource Center at UC Davis. Powerful Partnerships: A Shared Responsibility for Learning (1998 Joint Report, American Association for Higher Education, et. al.) describes learning as an inherently active process: Learning in an active search for meaning by the learner--constructive knowledge rather than passively receiving it, shaping as well as being shaped by experience....To stimulate an active search for meaning, faculty [must]: D.C.
How to Add Typing Shortcuts to Your iPad: Make Abbreviations for Common Phrases All of us have phrases we use frequently when writing. For example, I often type “iPad Academy” or “Thanks for contacting me” in my email messages. If you have phrases you type repeatedly, you can create shortcuts (abbreviations) for these phrases. The shortcut, composed of a few characters, automatically expands to become the phrase it represents. When you create the shortcut, take care to select a series of characters that isn’t an actual word. Kim, a member of my online iPad Academy Master Class, offered this tip after viewing my Keyboard Settings video lesson. How to Fix Shockwave Flash Crashes in Google Chrome Google Chrome is becoming one of the most popular Web browsers, with an 84% increase in users over the last year. However, because Google Chrome comes packaged with so many features, some users may experience some plugins, like Shockwave Flash, to crash seemingly inexplicably. Unlike other browsers — such as Firefox and Internet Explorer, which call upon the Flash installation of the host system — Chrome includes an internal Flash installation. Sometimes, this isn’t a problem for new Chrome users. [NOTE: you might also be interested in seeing how to disable 'This Page Has Insecure Content' warnings in Google Chrome.] Other times, the duplicate installation of Adobe Flash on the OS and in Chrome will cause a conflict. It’s important to know that the warning has nothing to do with with Adobe Shockwave, which is a separate program/multimedia system from Adobe Flash. After you disable Chrome’s installation of Flash, close the tab and then close Google Chrome.
Active and Cooperative Learning The past decade has seen an explosion of interest among college faculty in the teaching methods variously grouped under the terms 'active learning' and 'cooperative learning'. However, even with this interest, there remains much misunderstanding of and mistrust of the pedagogical "movement" behind the words. The majority of all college faculty still teach their classes in the traditional lecture mode. Some of the criticism and hesitation seems to originate in the idea that techniques of active and cooperative learning are genuine alternatives to, rather than enhancements of, professors' lectures. "Active Learning" is, in short, anything that students do in a classroom other than merely passively listening to an instructor's lecture. Exercises for Individual Students Because these techniques are aimed at individual students, they can very easily be used without interrupting the flow of the class.
Hacking Prezi as a Platform for Visual Composition and Design Experimentation [This is a guest post by Kimon Keramidas, Assistant Professor and Director for the Digital Media Lab at the Bard Graduate Center. Kimon teaches about the design and material culture of technology and is tasked with integrating and implementing digital media within the curricular and research goals of faculty and students. He also leads the development of digital media and interactives for the BGC's Focus Gallery exhibitions. Find him online at and follow him on Twitter at @kimonizer. One of my favorite parts of ProfHacker is the idea of subtly hacking tools for educational purposes. But if you start to think more creatively about what Prezi’s toolset offers, you begin to realize how powerful a tool it can be for designing a wide array of visual compositions. At my institution, the Bard Graduate Center, we’ve come to realize the range of Prezi’s possibilities through a variety of different projects. Return to Top
How To Convert Prezi To YouTube Videos Anyone who has used the Prezi platform would know that creating a Prezi and uploading it to Prezi.com is easy enough, however when it comes to converting it to a YouTube video, there seems to be no native method of doing so. While you can convert PowerPoint to video formats using a native PowerPoint feature, the same cannot be said for the Prezi application. However, you can convert Prezi to YouTube by using a workaround. Capture Prezi With A Screen Recording Tool As Prezis are zooming presentations, you can neatly capture your presentation using a screen capture tool. There are many handy screencast tools for various platforms that can be used across various types of operating systems for this job. Convert Prezi To Video Format Once your Prezi presentation has been recorded, you can use the native option within your screen recording tool to convert the captured screencast to a desired video format. Upload Recorded Prezi Presentation To YouTube (1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5) Loading...
The 15 best free images websites on the Internet With the revamp of Google Images, there's a big temptation to dive on in there and start picking out photos and graphics willy nilly. The sad truth, of course, is that you can't just download any image you like and use it on your website or blog because Google found it. There is that rather annoying thing called copyright. You're welcome to have a go, but there's all sorts of internet tools out there to let photographers know what's happening to their shots. Freeimages.co.uk It's not the world's prettiest website and the search is basic to say the least, but you can't argue with a source of more than 5000 free original stock photos - particularly when they're this good. Freedigitalphotos.net Not quite as much on offer as above nor the same level of depth but Freedigitalphotos allows you to use the images for a wider range of both personal and corporate ends. Stock.xchng Image After NationslIlustrated There's only one thing you'll find here but you do get it 7700 times over. Turbo Photo Flickr
Blubbr - Create Interactive Quizzes Using YouTube Clips Blubbr is a neat quiz creation service that I recently learned about on Danny Nicholson's blog. Using Blubbr you can create interactive quizzes that are based on YouTube clips. Your quizzes can be about anything of your choosing. The structure of the quizzes has a viewer watch a short clip then answer a multiple choice question about the clip. To create a quiz on Blubbr start by entering a topic for your quiz. Applications for Education I think of Blubbr as being like TEDEd but with short video clips. Recording and Hosting Podcasts Using the Internet Archive [This is a guest post by Chuck Tryon, an assistant professor of English at Fayetteville State University, where he teaches first-year writing, business writing, and media studies courses. He is the author of Reinventing Cinema: Movies in the Age of Media Convergence and the forthcoming On-Demand Culture: Digital Delivery and the Future of Movies. He also blogs at The Chutry Experiment and tweets under the handle @chutry. This fall, I will be teaching an online course for the first time. What I did find, after several panicked phone calls to my wife, ended up fitting my workflow rather well. The first steps involve uploading the free podcast recorder, Audacity and the free LAME MP3 encoder, which helps to make the audio file accessible to most computers and audio players. But making the podcast is one thing. There are a number of other benefits to hosting your podcast on the Internet Archive. Return to Top
21st Century Icebreakers: 11 Ways To Get To Know Your Students with Technology In honor of the start of a new school year, I am sharing one of my popular posts again with you with a couple of new additions! On Monday I will begin my new job. As I’ve mentioned before, I will be working as a Technology Resource Specialist as well as teaching a couple of classes. As always, I am nervous and excited for the first day of school, and eager to meet a new group of students. As an educator, I often find myself repeating the same icebreakers each year, trying to quickly get to know my students through “Two Truths and a Lie” or a “Getting To Know You” fact sheet. In an effort to bring my own classroom to the present, I’ve put together a list of 13 icebreakers that use technology and fit with 21st century students: Have students create a Pinterest board with 10 pins that summarizes them.Ask students to create a 30 second podcast that introduces themselves. Have any other 21st century icebreakers? Like this: Like Loading...