Eric Mazur on new interactive teaching techniques | Harvard Magazine Mar-Apr 2012
In 1990, after seven years of teaching at Harvard, Eric Mazur, now Balkanski professor of physics and applied physics, was delivering clear, polished lectures and demonstrations and getting high student evaluations for his introductory Physics 11 course, populated mainly by premed and engineering students who were successfully solving complicated problems. Then he discovered that his success as a teacher “was a complete illusion, a house of cards.” The epiphany came via an article in the American Journal of Physics by Arizona State professor David Hestenes. He had devised a very simple test, couched in everyday language, to check students’ understanding of one of the most fundamental concepts of physics—force—and had administered it to thousands of undergraduates in the southwestern United States. Mazur tried the test on his own students. Some soul-searching followed. Serendipity provided the breakthrough he needed. “Here’s what happened,” he continues. “It’s not easy.
A College Professor Who Doesn’t Lecture
Uncategorized Flickr:ShutterKingKT By Sara Bernard Dr. Q: How does teaching in a virtual classroom differ from a traditional classroom? A: I’ve been teaching both online and in person since 2001. Q: What do you think are the benefits of online universities? A: The flexibility is unbelievable. What we’re going to see happen is that some of the less solid universities are going to close their doors, and the more favorable ones will have more students. Plus, the flexibility goes both ways. Q: What are the drawbacks? A: There’s a little bit of isolationism. For students, sometimes they feel it’s hard to get the help they need. Also, brand new this quarter, Strayer University hooked up with another company called SMARTHINKING to offer additional tutoring and writing help. Q: What software interfaces do you use? A: There are two main players: Blackboard and eCollege. Q: Do you think online universities will become more prevalent in the coming years? A: Absolutely. Related
Study: Kids Are the Road to Tech Innovation
Over the course of 2010, Latitude Research completed a multi-phase innovation study, Children's Future Requests for Computers and the Internet, asking kids across the world to draw the answer to this question: "What would you like your computer or the Internet to do that it can't do right now?" This study is part of a larger research initiative by Latitude that positions younger generations as a window into the future of technology, capable of informing tech experiences that resonate with people of all ages. Download the study summary (PDF) for Children's Future Requests for Computers and the Internet. Kim Gaskins is Director of Content Development at Latitude, an international research consultancy. Visit latd.com/ for other studies in Latitude's open innovation series. More than 200 kid-innovators, ages 12 and under, from North America, Latin America, Europe, Africa, South Asia and Australia, submitted drawings of their imagined technologies. To view a larger version, click here.
Flexible Opportunities
Teaching innovations
No country for old ideas, this
So, I've been in New Delhi this week as a keynote speaker at the EdgeX conference. It was great to catch up with George, Dave, Stephen and Grainne, and to meet Jay Cross, Clark Quinn and LesFoltos. Viplav Baxi and the team were the most amazing, hospitable hosts, and it's been a real pleasure to be here. I thought I'd share a few of my own perceptions from the visit, although one has to accept they are based on a very limited scope of India, but for what it's worth. Start-up fever - It feels like a very exciting place to be at the moment. Scale, scale, scale - It is the numbers in India that make drive a lot of this. Beware the undead - there are a lot of US and UK universities hovering around India, trying to sell their model as a solution. Beware the bubble - while it did feel like a very exciting time, the reality of India is never far away and it may be that the task is just too great to be sustained.
9 Characteristics Of 21st Century Learning
The label of “21st Century learning” is vague, and is an idea that we here at TeachThought like to take a swing at as often as possible, including: –weighing the magic of technology with its incredible cost and complexity –underscoring the potential for well thought-out instructional design –considering the considerable potential of social media platforms against its apparent divergence from academic learning Some educators seek out the ideal of a 21st century learning environment constantly, while others prefer that we lose the phrase altogether, insisting that learning hasn’t changed, and good learning looks the same whether it’s the 12th or 21st century. At TeachThought, we tend towards the tech-infused model, but do spend time exploring the limits and challenges of technology, the impact of rapid technology change, and carefully considering important questions before diving in head-first. The size of the circles on the map are intended to convey priority. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.
Twitter Tips: 5 Reasons People Unfollow You
Why should you care whether @MindaZetlin follows you on Twitter or not? You shouldn't. But if these five annoying habits are turning me off, there's a good chance I'm not the only one. 1. "Exciting news! I know there are consultants out there earnestly telling their clients to "stay on message" at all times. 2. For some reason, there is a significant number of Twitter users whose profiles are in English, but their tweets aren't. 3. Consider this tweet from earlier today: "RT @ScLoHo: RT @awelfle: @AmyL_Bishop @douglaskarr and what about @scloho? I'm sure that means something to someone, but not to me. 4. If you're a savvy Twitter user, you probably know that a tweet beginning with the @ symbol appears only in the stream of that user, plus any other users who follow you both. But those tweets also show up when someone looks at your timeline. 5. If you want to make me happy, retweet something I tweeted.
