EDUCAUSE 2011 Recap [VIDEO]

November 8th, 2011

As anyone who was there can attest, EDUCAUSE 2011 was an awesome conference — awesome, and busy. We had a great time chatting with other attendees, demoing our college readiness course in the exhibit hall, and soaking up as much edtech expertise and enthusiasm as possible.

Our video guy Ian put together a time lapse video of people moving through the EDUCAUSE exhibit hall. See if you can spot yourself!

The music in the video is by Dubology.

Dizzying, right?

Beyond marveling at the sheer number of people in the exhibit hall, the other highlight of our conference experience was hearing your visions of the next generation of learning. Our team spent two days roaming the exhibit hall, asking attendees to answer one simple question:

What do you see as the future of education?

From cloud computing to mobile learning to personalized education, your answers covered all the latest tech innovations. Other predictions: “global,” “accessible,” “challenging,” and “very different” (now there’s a vision we can get behind!).

We entered each respondent into a drawing for an iPad; Bob Cape, the CIO of the College of Charleston, was the lucky winner.

What was the highlight of your EDUCAUSE experience?

 

 

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Posted in Education & Technology, Knewton | 1 Comment »

The EdTweet Show: Parents Against Tech, PBS, and More

November 3rd, 2011

In this week’s episode of The EdTweet Show, Jess and Dave run through tweets about “tech moms,” Parents Against Tech, and more.

Check out the full list of EdTweets below:


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Posted in Education & Technology, Knewton | No Comments »

5 Ways to Make Students Smarter

November 2nd, 2011

elearn_2006_28A version of this article originally appeared on Getting Smart (http://www.gettingsmart.com).

Self-perception, social expectations, and previous experiences shape our academic ability more than we realize. Just think: how many times does your belief that you are gifted at something combine with positive external validation to help you overcome challenges in that area, increase your confidence, and lead you to explore that area more thoroughly and take more risks than others might?

Similar dynamics apply to school. Students who perceive themselves as “smart” tend to be more resilient and show greater perseverance in school, which ensures that they perform better academically, continue to put themselves in situations that require cognitive work, and so forth. Success breeds more success. On the other hand, many students dislike school because a combination of factors lead them early on to believe that school is “not for them.” This results in poor performance and negative feedback, which further reduces student interest in school as well as the likelihood of future academic exploration and exposure.

In order to improve student performance and self-esteem, we need to break this cycle and prove that intelligence is malleable and that students can control their academic destiny. Adaptive learning, a teaching method premised on the idea that the curriculum should adapt to each user, is the sort of limitless technology that is up to the challenge of untangling the cyclical effects of self-perception and social expectation on students’ academic performance.

“Adaptive learning” is a term that has been tossed around a good deal recently in edtech circles. When most people use this buzzword, what they’re really discussing is “single point adaptivity,” which evaluates a student’s performance at one point in time in order to determine the level of instruction or material he receives from that point on. When I refer to adaptive learning, I mean a system that is continuously adaptive–that responds instantaneously (or near-instantaneously) in real-time to each individual’s performance and activity on the system. Such a program may respond to multiple facets of a student’s activity (self-identified preferences, time spent, choice patterns) as well as his performance (whether his answers are right or wrong) on assessment items.

Here are 5 ways in which continuous adaptive learning can promote the idea that intelligence is malleable and help each student control his or her academic destiny.

1) Pace of feedback. By providing instantaneous (or near-instantaneous) feedback and reducing the amount of time between evaluation and completion of work, adaptive learning can reduce the anxiety associated with schoolwork and encourage an ethos of revision and iterative development. If neither success nor failure is final, the learning process becomes geared toward exploration and long-term development rather than grades and crash studying. All this shifts the emphasis from talent to effort and promotes the idea that one can control his own ability.

2) Targeted focus. By allowing each student to focus on what he or she most needs to work on at any given point, adaptive learning helps students concentrate on maximizing their own individual potential rather than meeting externally defined one-size-fits-all standards; this encourages them to harness a deeper and more intrinsic motivation. Also, by providing specific feedback that focuses on the work done (“great job developing a clear thesis statement”) instead of on innate ability (“you’re a talented writer”), a computerized adaptive learning system can help students develop a healthy perception of their own ability and the value of hard work and effort, further promoting the idea that intelligence is malleable.

3) Flexibility of presentation. Since adaptive learning continually adapts to the performance, preferences, and activity of the user, it can deliver material in a way that appeals to different types of intelligence (linguistic, mathematical, spatial, etc). After discovering how each student learns best, an adaptive system might show one student a video, another a diagram and another an essay on the same subject. Ideally, it would be able to remediate student weaknesses through their strengths, allowing student curiosity in one area to fuel interest in every other and thus multiplying the positive effects of every learning experience. All this promotes a spirit of inclusiveness in school and prevents students from shutting down in subjects where they don’t feel gifted.

4) Productive social opportunities. Adaptive learning can help re-envision the social space of the classroom, giving students opportunities that break down the artificial dichotomy between “smart” and “stupid.” Through an adaptive learning system, teachers can use data regarding performance, learning style, and preferences to create cohorts of students who complement each other academically. In an English class, for instance, a teacher might create mini workshops of 4 people each, with each workshop composed of an “organization” master, a “style” master, a “grammar” master and a “clarity of purpose” master. Teachers can also use such a system to create opportunities for peer evaluation that allow students to grapple further with the material at hand (it’s an age-old principle that you don’t truly learn something until you teach it yourself).

5) Improving self-awareness. Self-awareness is ultimately what allows students to rebound from failure and understand that their poor performance is not a reflection of innate ability but rather a misunderstanding of something very specific. While developing greater self-awareness is a natural byproduct of learning, adaptive learning can stimulate and speed up the process by inserting “reinforcement” moments into cognitive work–moments that prompt a student to reflect on the problem-solving process, underscore the concept behind the solution, or describe the structure of some body of information. Even if a student happens to correctly guess the answer to a question, he will not be able to complete the lesson without proving his grasp of the underlying concept. Any online learning program can achieve these aims in a basic way, but an adaptive system can bring reinforcement to a new level by evaluating how well such moments are working and by providing reflective moments (and even longer exercises) tailored for each learner’s idiosyncratic style.

Posted in Adaptive Learning, Featured, Knewton | No Comments »

The Twitter Guide to the 2011 Sloan-C International Conference on Online Learning

November 1st, 2011

At a conference like the Annual Sloan-C International Conference on Online Learning, tweeting is an integral part of the agenda.

Heading to Disney World for the 17th Annual Meeting  and want to make sure you stay connected? Here’s a list of Twitter feeds to keep an eye on.

We’ve put all these accounts and more onto this handy Twitter list for your convenience: http://twitter.com/#!/Knewton/sloan-c-conference-2011

If you’re attending the conference and want to be added to the list, just tweet @knewton!

Official Sloan Consortium Feed

@sloanconsortium

Official Conference Hashtag

Follow the hashtag #aln2011 for the latest conference news.

Speaker Twitter Feeds

Note: This is not an exhaustive list of speakers or sessions. The listings include only sessions whose speakers had publicly findable Twitter feeds. Consult the full conference program for all the sessions at the conference. If you are speaking at the conference and would like to be included, please leave a comment or tweet @knewton. 

@kernkelley
Kern Kelley, Computer User Educators, Inc.
Session: Google Workshop for Educators, Nov 9, 9:00am (Full Day Session)

@technostats
Phil Ice, Ed.D, American Public University System
Session: Ask the Experts, Nov 9, 9:00am (1/2 day session)

@mchaney
Roger McHaney, Kansas Sate University
Session: Ask the Experts, Nov 9, 9:00am (1/2 day session)

@renapalloff
Rena Palloff, Fielding Graduate University
Session: Matching Training to Experience: A Phased Approach to Faculty Development, Nov 9, 9:00 am (1/2 day session)

@rayschroeder
Ray Schroeder, University of Illinois at Springfield
Session: eduMOOC: An Open Online Class without Limits, Nov. 9, 9:00 am (1/2 day session)
IELOL Workshop (Invited Session), Nov 9, 1:00 pm (1/2 day session)
Online and on the Move: Mobile Online Learning, Nov 10, 1:40 pm
Exploring the Uses and Effects of Online Homework Nov 11, 1:40pm

@emilyboles7
Emily Boles, University of Illinois at Springfield
Session: eduMOOC: An Open Online Class without Limits, Nov. 9, 9:00 am (1/2 day session)
Online and on the Move: Mobile Online Learning, Nov 10, 1:40 pm (80 minute session)
Using Design-Based Research to Incrementally Improve Online Courses Nov 11, 10:40am

@bchaloux
Bruce Chaloux, Southern Regional Education Board
Session: State Authorization: Out of the Woods and Into the Forest?, Nov 9, 9:00am
IELOL Workshop (Invited Session), November 9, 2011 – 1:00pm
AAA Policy Discussion: Authorization, Accreditation, Access, November 9, 2011 – 2:15pm
The Sloan-C Vision for Scale, November 10, 2011 – 10:40am

@wcet_info
Russ Poulin (WCET-WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies)
Session: State Authorization: Out of the Woods and Into the Forest?, Nov 9, 9:00am

@txtbks
Nicole Allen, US Public Interest Research Group
Session: In Search of Affordable Textbooks: How OER Can Reduce Costs, November 9, 2011 – 12:00pm
The State of Open Textbooks, November 9, 2011 – 1:30pm

@kayetbee
Dr. Kaye Shelton, Lamar University
Session: From Good to Great: A Systematic Method for Creating Exceptional Rubrics for Assessment and Teaching, November 9, 2011 – 12:00pm
Using the Quality Scorecard for the Administration of Online Education Programs: A Panel Discussion, November 9, 2011 – 12:45pm

@wpoutcomes
Andrew McCann, Waypoint Outcomes
Session: From Good to Great: A Systematic Method for Creating Exceptional Rubrics for Assessment and Teaching, November 9, 2011 – 12:00pm

@christomer
Christinger Tomer, University of Pittsburgh
Session: In the Clouds: Building a Virtual Computing Laboratory, November 9, 2011 – 12:00pm
Impacts and Satisfaction of Student Learning Cohorts: Findings of a Comparative Assessment, November 9, 2011 – 2:15pm

@swapitt
Sue Alman, University of Pittsburgh
Session: In the Clouds: Building a Virtual Computing Laboratory, November 9, 2011 – 12:00pm
Impacts and Satisfaction of Student Learning Cohorts: Findings of a Comparative Assessment, November 9, 2011 – 2:15pm

@curtmadison
Curt Madison, University of Maine System
Session: Building an Advanced Blended Learning Environment, November 9, 2011 – 12:00pm

@calimorrison
Cali Morrison, WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies
Session: Informing Adult Learners with Data – the College Choices for Adults Model, November 9, 2011 – 12:00pm

@datacooker
Dr. I. Elaine Allen, Babson Survey Research Group
Session: Tracking Online: Nine Years of Measuring Online Enrollments, Trends, Attitudes, and Biases, November 9, 2011 – 12:45pm

@wendydrexler
Wendy Drexler, Brown University
Session: Designing for Learner Empowerment: Supporting Learner Autonomy in an Open Online Course, November 9, 2011 – 12:45pm

@learninghouse
Daniel Kalef, The Learning House
Session: Building and Scaling – Best Practices for Online Program Development and Implementation, November 9, 2011 – 12:45pm

@tbcavanagh
Thomas Cavanagh, University of Central Florida
Session: Tales From the Winner’s Circle: Award-winning Online Faculty Discuss the Secrets of Their Success, November 9, 2011 – 12:45pm
The Next Generation Learning Challenge and Online Learning: A Report on Selected Projects, November 9, 2011 – 2:15pm

@jmcvaydyche
Jennifer McVay-Dyche, Southern Oregon University
Session: Assessment and Evaluation: Going Beyond the Norm,
In the Clouds: Building a Virtual Computing Laboratory, November 9, 2011 – 12:00pm
Cognitive Interviewing in the Evaluation of Survey Questionnaires and Online Assessment, November 11, 2011 – 10:40am
Measuring Gender Differences in Sense of Community Among Learners in an Online Master’s Program November 10, 2011 – 4:30pm

@wallyboston
Wallace Boston, Ed.D., American Public University System
Session: Cognitive Interviewing in the Evaluation of Survey Questionnaires and Online Assessment, November 11, 2011 – 10:40am
Students at Risk: The Shifting Roles of Public Higher Education and For-Profit Colleges and Universities, November 10, 2011 – 10:40am

@sebastianrdiaz
Sebastian Diaz, Ph.D., J.D., West Virginia University
Session: Cognitive Interviewing in the Evaluation of Survey Questionnaires and Online Assessment November 11, 2011 – 10:40am

@tjoosten
Tanya Joosten, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
Session: Access and Opportunity: A Comprehensive Strategy for a Blended Learning Initiative, November 9, 2011 – 1:00pm

@maryniemiec
Mary Niemic, University of Nebraska
Session: Access and Opportunity: A Comprehensive Strategy for a Blended Learning Initiative, November 9, 2011 – 1:00pm
State Perspectives on Online Learning: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow, November 10, 2011 – 10:40am

@lcr1
Lawrence C. Ragan, Penn State University
Session: IELOL Workshop (Invited Session), November 9, 2011 – 1:00pm

@SocialMediaUIS
Michael Cheney, University of Illinois at Springfield
Session: Outside the LMS: Social Media and Online Learning, November 9, 2011 – 1:00pm

@Knewton_Ken
Ken Goldstein, Knewton
Session: Adaptivity and Student Performance Implications in the College Classroom, November 9, 2011 – 1:30pm

@amyroche
Amy Roche, Penn State University
Session: Faculty Going Rogue: Streamlining Faculty Development for Hybrid Course Development & Delivery, November 9, 2011 – 1:30pm

@boisje37
Jennifer Boisvert, SUNY Empire State College
Session: Best Practices for Student Learning Assessment in Online Courses, November 9, 2011 – 1:30pm

@jsener
John Sener, Sener Knowledge LLC
Session: The Never-Ending Battle: How to Convince Your Skeptics That OL is OK, November 9, 2011 – 2:15pm
The Seven Futures of Online Education November 10, 2011 – 3:50pm

@pshea99
Peter Shea, University at Albany, State University of New York
Session: The Next Generation Learning Challenge and Online Learning: A Report on Selected Projects, November 9, 2011 – 2:15pm
Using Learning Presence to Uncover Self-regulation in the Community of Inquiry Model, November 10, 2011 – 11:25am
Because We Can: The Era of Big Data November 10, 2011 – 1:40pm
Factors and Strategies That Impact Online Community College Student Persistence, November 10, 2011 – 3:50pm

@alexpickett
Alexandra Pickett, The SUNY Learning Network
Session: The Next Generation Learning Challenge and Online Learning: A Report on Selected Projects, November 9, 2011 – 2:15pm

@sjohnsonhere
Scott B. Johnson, University of Illinois
Session: ION, MVCR, and the Master Online Teacher and Online Learning Administrator certificates, November 9, 2011 – 2:15pm

@jennifersparrow
Jennifer Sparrow, CUNY, School of Professional Studies
Session: Minding the Gap: Integrating ePortfolios in Fully Online Degree Programs for Adult Learners, November 9, 2011 – 2:15pm

@fjaebli
Fred Aebli, Penn State University
Session: Managing and Delivering Online Student Team Based Projects, November 9, 2011 – 2:15pm

@kthompso
Kelvin Thompson, University of Central Florida
Session: Is Student Blogging a Suitable Alternative to Online Discussions? A Connected Stance Applied, November 9, 2011 – 3:00pm
The Teaching Online Pedagogical Repository: An Open Faculty Development Resource, November 11, 2011 – 10:40am

@drpmcgee
Patricia McGree, The University of Texas at San Antonio
Session: Pedagogy in Blended Courses, November 9, 2011 – 3:00pm

@lrainie
Lee Rainie, Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project
Session: The New Education Ecology, November 9, 2011 – 4:15pm

@cgreen
Cable Green, Creative Commons
Session: The Obviousness of Open Policy, November 10, 2011 – 8:50am

@jjlwn
Janet Poley, American Distance Education Consortium
Session: The Sloan-C Vision for Scale November 10, 2011 – 10:40am

@nancybhastings
Nancy Hastings, University of West Florida
Session: Factors Influencing Virtual Patron Satisfaction with Online Library Resources and Services, November 10, 2011 – 10:40am

@testorip
Peter Testori, Bay Path College
Session: A Multi-Faceted Approach to Establishing and Maintaining Online Course Quality November 10, 2011 – 10:40am
The Bay Path College Three-Tiered Approach to Online Faculty Development November 11, 2011 – 1:40pm

@ambervaill
Amber Vaill, Bay Path College
Session: A Multi-Faceted Approach to Establishing and Maintaining Online Course Quality November 10, 2011 – 10:40am
The Bay Path College Three-Tiered Approach to Online Faculty Development November 11, 2011 – 1:40pm

@wendygorton
Wendy Gorton, American International School of Chennai
Session: Going Google: Your Passport to Bringing Your Institution Together with Google’s Collaborative Tools
NP-Whoa! How NPOs Can Deliver Effective Online Training, Consulting, and Grantwriting From Afar November 10, 2011 – 4:30pm

@dcbphd
D. Christopher Brooks, University of Minnesota
Session: Squaring the Circle: The Impact of Transforming a Course to Fit the Classroom November 10, 2011 – 1:40pm

@debadair85
Deb Adair, Quality Matters Program
Session: Institutional Policy & Quality Matters Standards: The Impact of Policy on Course Quality, November 10, 2011 – 1:40pm

@skissel
Dr. Suzanne Kissel, SunGard Higher Education
Session:When the Student’s Academic Journey Meets the Mobile and Social Network Journey – Expect Great Results! November 10, 2011 – 1:40pm

@henrycalphinjr
Henry C. Alphin Jr., Drexel University
Session: Student Perspective Panel: Best Practices to Increase Online Success for Students with Disabilities November 10, 2011 – 1:40pm

@deonezell
Deone Zell, California State University, Northridge
Session; Open Textbooks: Research Findings on Affordability, Acceptance, Accessibility and Learning Outcomes November 10, 2011 – 1:40pm

@professorjosh
Joshua Mordock, Valencia College
Session: Millennials, Social Media, and Education: Connecting with Your Students Using Twitter and Facebook, November 10, 2011 – 1:40pm
Howl At Engagement with Wolfram Alpha November 11, 2011 – 1:40pm

@davidrobins2155
David Robins, Kent State University
Session: A Seductive Online Program for Adult Learners: Designing Courses and Curricula for Engagement, November 10, 2011 – 1:40pm

@dscaso
David Caso, Empire State College
Session: Putting the Pieces Together for Instructor Success November 10, 2011 – 1:40pm

@rzotti
Robert Zotti, Stevens Institute of Technology
Session: Synchronous Vs. Asynchronous Online Instruction: In Search of the Right Balance November 10, 2011 – 1:40pm

@loriski72
Lori Kupczynski, Texas A&M University-Kingsville
Session: Technology Use in Online Learning: The Disconnect Between Faculty and Students November 10, 2011 – 1:40pm
Cross-Institutional Online Course Development: A Model for Collaboration, Development, & Design November 10, 2011 – 2:25pm
Cooperative Learning in Distance Learning: Research to Practice November 11, 2011 – 10:40am

@mmktax
Michelle Kline, Penn State University
Session: So You Think You Can Teach Online, Prove IT! November 10, 2011 – 1:40pm

@john_g_
John Gillmore, University of Central Oklahoma
Session: Developing Advanced Imagery for Use in Online Courses November 10, 2011 – 1:40pm

@epri
Enoch Park, Pfeiffer University
Session: Connected Behind the Clouds – Educational Clouds for Distance Learning November 10, 2011 – 1:40pm
Connect, Serve, and Learn – Overcoming Barriers of Service Learning Through Technology
November 11, 2011 – 11:25am

@anngh
Ann Garnsey-Harter, Shoreline Community College
Session: Sure, We Can Write a Blueprint for a Virtual College by Next Quarter & Double Enrollments by 2020 November 10, 2011 – 2:25pm

@umuccyberteam
Jeff Tjiputra, University of Maryland University College
Session: Hands-on Lab Projects in an Online IT Course: Virtualization or Simulation? November 10, 2011 – 2:25pm

@pep_alan
Alan Regan, Pepperdine University
Session: 21St Century Presentations November 10, 2011 – 2:25pm
Pilot to Production: Lessons on a Successful LMS Change November 11, 2011 – 10:40am

@hbsiemens
Henrietta Siemens, Fresno Pacific University
Session: Web 2.0 Tools for Assessment? How to Choose Web-Based Tools to Measure Online Student Achievement November 10, 2011 – 2:25pm

@sameneman
Sam Eneman, University of North Carolina Charlotte
Session:Teaching Blended Learning Pedagogy Through a Blended Learning Faculty Development Program November 10, 2011 – 2:25pm
Reaching Faculty in a Busy World November 10, 2011 – 3:50pm

@mschiefner
Mandy Schiefner, University of Duisburg-Essen
Session: Digital Critical Literacy in Teacher Education – Findings From a German Research Project November 10, 2011 – 2:25pm

@DrJfierro_
Dr. Jose Fierro, Florida State College
Session: Increasing Online Faculty Virtual Presence in the E-Classroom by Exemplifying the Desired Behavior November 10, 2011 – 2:25pm
Using Data to Effectively Evaluate Faculty and Increase Student Success November 11, 2011 – 10:40am

@GoingOn_Network
Melissa Loble, GoingOn
Session: It’s Their Life: Applying New Media and the Social Web to Engage Students Beyond the Course November 10, 2011 – 3:50pm

@ncmart
Nick Martin, TechChange
Session: It’s Their Life: Applying New Media and the Social Web to Engage Students Beyond the Course November 10, 2011 – 3:50pm

@dwicksspu
David Wicks, Seattle Pacific University
Session: Students’ Perception of Collaborative Small Group Projects Using Synchronous and Asynchronous Tools November 10, 2011 – 3:50pm

@lumpea
Andrew Lumpe, Seattle Pacific University
Session: Students’ Perception of Collaborative Small Group Projects Using Synchronous and Asynchronous Tools November 10, 2011 – 3:50pm

@leifnelson
Leif Nelson, University of Wisconsin – Green Bay
Session: Finding Meaning in the Knowledge Network: A Syncretized Approach to Online Instruction November 10, 2011 – 3:50pm

@griffiths44
Robert Griffiths, The Ohio State University
Session: Making an Impact: Collaborating Across Campus to Produce Exemplar Courses November 10, 2011 – 3:50pm
Ideas Labs: Breaking Down the Silos November 11, 2011 – 11:25am

@boriasax
Boria Sax, Mercy College
Session: E-Portfolios and the Classroom Community November 10, 2011 – 4:30pm

@lisarapple
Lisa Rapple, SUNY Empire State College
Session: Creating a Community of Inquiry Through Social Bookmarking November 10, 2011 – 4:30pm
A Practical Approach to Collaborative Learning Initiatives Using Wiki-mediated Environments November 10, 2011 – 4:30pm

@mmawn
Mary Mawn, State University of New York, Empire State College
Session: STEM Faculty Development in an International Setting: Lessons Learned November 10, 2011 – 4:30pm

@stark_eduTech
Moon-Heum Cho, Kent State University
Session: Design and Development of Online Student Orientation in Higher Education November 10, 2011 – 4:30pm

@kadebowale
Kayode Adebowale, Stony Brook University
Session: The Impact of Learner and LE Factors on Student Learning Outcome in Online Learning Programs At SBU November 10, 2011 – 4:30pm

@hrheingold
Howard Rheingold
Session: My Explorations of Social Media and Social Media Literacies in Teaching & Learning November 11, 2011 – 8:50am

@hrastinski
Stefan Hrastiniski, KTH Royal Institute of Technology
Session: Student-Student Online Coaching: The Case of Math Coaching, November 11, 2011 – 10:40am

@sorry_afk
AJ Kelton, Montclair State University
Session: The Online Program Development Team (OPDT): Leadership Through Engaging the Campus Community, November 11, 2011 – 10:40am

@lbogl1
Len Bogle, University of Illinois
Session: Using Design-Based Research to Incrementally Improve Online Courses November 11, 2011 – 10:40am

@ds_mccoy
Daniel McCoy, University of Florida
Session: Scaffolding for Sophistication in the Online World: User Design for Professional Development November 11, 2011 – 10:40am

@professoradel
Adel Abundawass, University of West Georgia
Session: Computer Science Experience: Tools and Techniques for an Effective Online Class in Computer Literacy November 11, 2011 – 10:40am

@andrewshean
Andrew Shean, Ashford University
Session: Online Professional Development November 11, 2011 – 11:25am

@karensba
Karen Skibba, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater
Session: How to Build Thriving Online Learning Communities November 11, 2011 – 11:25am
Instructors Transform Pedagogy When Teaching Adults in a Blended Program November 11, 2011 – 2:25pm

@bcitn
David Shulman, Broward College
Session: B-AWARE: Awareness Systems for Enhancing Virtual Team Presence in Online Learning Environments November 11, 2011 – 1:40pm

@bzawawi
Boshra Zawawi
Session: Grounded Design for Online Problem-Based Learning: A Theory to Practice Approach November 11, 2011 – 1:40pm

@damirapon
Damira Pon, University at Albany, SUNY
Session: Bilingual Russian-English Online Cyber Security Curriculum November 11, 2011 – 1:40pm

@brian_macon
Brian Macon, Valencia College
Session: Howl At Engagement with Wolfram Alpha November 11, 2011 – 1:40pm

@kgulbrandsen
Karen Gulbrandsen, UMass Dartmouth
Session: Blended Learning Impacting Student Learning November 11, 2011 – 2:25pm

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Posted in Education & Technology, Knewton | 1 Comment »

Bringing the Study Group into the 21st Century

November 1st, 2011
Why exactly are study groups so effective? According to R. Keith Sawyer, a professor of education at Washington University, study groups work because they “provide a way for students to make the lecture notes their own.” Rather than simply reviewing notes in their dorm rooms, students engage in dynamic discussions that both reinforce their understanding of the material and challenge them to see it from different perspectives.

How exactly does this happen?

Students teach each other casually in study groups. They paraphrase lecture notes, explain the same concept or body of information in multiple ways, and think of analogies and metaphors to help clarify their explanations. While one student is speaking, others may chime in or posit questions that force everyone in the group to reassess their understanding of the material.

All this has the effect of allowing students to see how others are structuring and storing the same information in their memory–which often leads to accelerated development for students whose primary challenge is that they do not know how to organize information.

Furthermore, the repetition that study groups encourage–the act of going through problems multiple times and reviewing facts and formulas–can help reinforce and strengthen understanding. Just as the best learning programs weave text, video, and diagrams together to appeal to students with different learning styles, successful group work often incorporates a variety of activities (paraphrasing, debating, drilling, and outlining being just a few examples) so that all students’ needs are met.

Study groups can be extremely rewarding on an interpersonal level as well.

Students learn how to work together to reach academic goals, and how to give and receive feedback graciously. On top of reducing feelings of loneliness and isolation, group work motivates students to help their peers by providing a natural form of social acknowledgment for those who excel at doing so. This increases the “surface area” of the classroom by facilitating interaction between students who wouldn’t otherwise come in contact with each other. And it benefits teachers by reducing the burden of instruction and allowing students to help each other, so that they come to class more prepared and with more incisive questions to ask.

Recognizing the value of study groups, Knewton’s Math Readiness Course for CollegeTM provides a dashboard that allows teachers to group students who are working on the same material together. Using the reporting features, teachers can also arrange peer review opportunities and form groups of students whose abilities complement each other. The possibilities are endless.

Looking to incorporate study groups into your classroom? Here are a few tips:

1. Be creative about grouping. You can group students together who are working on the same material at the same time. You can also get creative and form groups of students whose levels or abilities complement each other. In a composition workshop, for instance, you might place students in groups of four or five, with each student acting as the “master” or “gatekeeper” for a different aspect of your grading rubric (organization, style, grammar, clarity of purpose, etc).

2. Get full mileage out of the group structure. Assign students projects that really require a group effort: designing a “museum” exhibit, performing a short play. If students can accomplish the task individually, they are likely to be less effective in a group and may resent those who are pulling less weight.

3. Connect group work to the outside world. One way to accomplish the above is to design projects that require significant research and interaction with the world beyond school. You might make some students responsible for researching online communities or infiltrating certain networks (which is remarkably similar to the kind of work they may be asked to do on the job in the future, and has the added benefit of developing digital literacy skills). Together, students can evaluate the veracity of the information and synthesize findings.

4. Perfect through data. Think about group orchestration as something that can be infinitely perfected. Study groups aren’t just a way to check off an “activity” box or make sure that your class is a multi-faceted experience; group work is a significant way to prepare students for careers that involve teamwork and people skills. Just as companies optimize the way that employees work together, so you can use tools to collect data on the efficacy of study group exercises and improve the activities from year to year.

5. Provide just enough direction. Don’t be afraid to provide strong, clear direction if necessary (although if students are highly self-motivated, you may want to be more open-ended). Lay out specific goals for group work and if possible, allocate some time in class for students to get started on their projects together.

6. Allow students to report on the group work in different ways. Ever notice that students feel more attached to group work if they’re required to speak for the group in some way? Whether it’s through a presentation or a report, requiring students to be accountable for the group will expand their sense of ownership.

Posted in EdTech, Education, Technology | No Comments »

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