Authors: Jane Bozarth Dr. Jane Bozarth is the Elearning Coordinator for the North Carolina, USA, Office of State Personnel. She is the author of ELearning Solutions on a Shoestring; Better than Bullet Points: Creating Engaging Elearning with PowerPoint; From Analysis to Evaluation: Tips, Tools, and Techniques for Trainers; and Social Media for Trainers, coming out in August 2010. Nuts and Bolts: Spaces April 1, 2014 For a change of pace, here’s a look at the new school of medicine building at Duke University. Nuts and Bolts: Expectations March 4, 2014 How can you spark a conversation between 12,000 employees in 66 countries … simultaneously? Nuts and Bolts: Building Community February 4, 2014 The rise of social media and the accompanying interest in social learning is generating a lot of talk about community building. Nuts and Bolts: Happy New Year 2014 January 7, 2014 As 2013 fades away, take time to remember and apply what we learned. Nuts and Bolts: Directions December 3, 2013 We need new words.
What skills should we be teaching to future-proof an education? Some time last year I spent quite a bit of time reflecting on what skills we could be focusing on in higher education to “future-proof” a degree. What skills will stay relevant no matter what future careers look like? There are two frameworks used and endorsed in K-12 education: Partnership for 21st Century Skills and Equipped for the Future. I felt that the lists not quite right for adults that are returning or seeking an education. Focus Manage your information streamPay attention to detailsRemember (when you need to)Observe criticallyRead with understandingSet and meet goals Explain Media literacy (determine and create the right media for the job)Present ideas digitallyDesign for the audienceDepict data visuallyConvey ideas in textSpeak so that others understand Interact Advocate and influenceResolve conflict and negotiateCollaborate (F2F or virtually)Guide othersLead Analyze Interpret dataMake decisionsThink criticallySolve problemsForecastFilter information Flex Learn Possibly Related Posts:
Teaching for Enduring Understanding Earlier this summer I discussed the idea of backward design, which comes from Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe’s excellent book Understanding by Design. Recall that backward design is a three-stage process, in which you as a teacher first identify your desired results for a class, then determine what would count as evidence that your students did or did not reach those results, and finally, design your learning experience around your desired results and evidence. The idea behind backward design is simple, yet it’s something I find myself relearning again and again. Even now, as I prep for the upcoming semester, I am tempted to focus on what I want my students to read, rather than what I want my students to understand. It’s a testament to my perennial rediscovery of backward design that I wrote virtually the same sentence as above in my earlier post on backward design—and had forgotten I had done so. The outer ring represents knowledge “worth being familiar with” for students. Return to Top
Planning a Class with Backward Design It’s easy to switch into automatic pilot mode when it comes to planning a course. It goes something like this: (1) we look at the topic of the course we’re assigned to teach, (2) we select enough essential/canonical/anti-canonical reading material to fill out fifteen or so weeks, and then (3) we plot that reading onto a calendar. Instant Syllabus! I found myself falling into this very mode of course design recently, as I began planning an upper-level science fiction class for Fall 2011. I’ve never taught this particular course, although I’ve been an avid science fiction reader for years. That was it. So what’s the problem with this method? In their excellent book Understanding by Design, Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe call the process of designing courses around learning goals “the backward design process.” For example, they offer a three-stage diagram of the backward design process that looks deceptively simple: Imagine a set of three concentric rings. Return to Top
Relaxing in the Digital Garden: How to Thrive in the 21st Century "Garden." "Relax." Those are the answers to two questions I've been asked more often than any other on this Now You See it book tour that began back in August. I know those words don't seem as if they are the key to success in the digital future, so let me explain. “Garden” is the answer I give most frequently to parents and educators when they ask what I see as the most important characteristic of successful schools. The operative learning principle goes back at least as far principle that goes at least as far back as John Dewey’s idea that all learning should be related to the actual experiences of the child, to contemporary Project-Based Learning methods, and to the idea reiterated by many educators, including the National Academies that the most important 3 R’s” are relationships, rigor, and relevance. But what does all this have to do with the digital age? And why “relax”? Let’s put our experience in perspective. And so are our kids. They are not being damaged by the Internet.
Seven Principles of Effective Teaching: A Practical Lens for Evaluating Online Courses Note: This article was originally published in The Technology Source ( as: Charles Graham, Kursat Cagiltay, Byung-Ro Lim, Joni Craner, and Thomas M. Duffy "Seven Principles of Effective Teaching: A Practical Lens for Evaluating Online Courses" The Technology Source, March/April 2001. Available online at The "Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education," originally published in the AAHE Bulletin (Chickering & Gamson, 1987), are a popular framework for evaluating teaching in traditional, face-to-face courses. We, a team of five evaluators from Indiana University's Center for Research on Learning and Technology (CRLT), recently used these principles to evaluate four online courses in a professional school at a large Midwestern university. Taking the perspective of a student enrolled in the course, we began by identifying examples of each of Chickering and Gamson's seven principles. Conclusion References
Best Practices « SHSUOnline Blog Welcome to the Best Practices for Teaching online or as we like to call it: Strategies for Success in your Online Course page. No matter what tool you use or technological journey you embark upon, is the method and not the medium that will help you ensure success in the online, face-to-face and hybrid courses you are teaching. These best practices/strategies will help you with organization, communication, time saving, assessment as well as many other areas. Just looking at this list of best practices, it is easy to understand how you might feel overwhelmed. Record an Video Introduction for your Course Record an introduction video introducing yourself and the course organization. You can create your own video introduction and post it or here at SHSU Online, we can get you in our studio where the possibilities as you can see above are limited only by your imagination. Use a “Virtual Office” Discussion Forum for Course Questions Let’s face it, we all “misplace” e-mail. Employ a Syllabus Quiz
Pedagogy and Moodle Let's sit back and really reflect on the pedagogy that is at the core of what we, as online educators, are trying to do. Definition of Pedagogy One definition of pedagogy in Wiktionary says The profession of teaching The activities of educating, teaching or instructing Wikipedia has a much longer page on Pedagogy. Moodle in three short paragraphs The heart of Moodle is courses that contain activities and resources. There are a number of other tools that make it easier to build communities of learners, including blogs, messaging, participant lists etc, as well useful tools like grading, reports, integration with other systems and so on. For more about Moodle, see and particularly the main community “course” called Using Moodle. Social Constructionism as a Referent I have these five points on a slide which I use in every presentation I do. Jason Cole from Open University recently referred to these as “Martin's five laws” (ha!) Finding a balance Progression Community Hubs