![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Galveston, Day 3
Mar. 30th, 2007 07:32 pmBreakfast
I had a lovely breakfast with people who talked about things that were actually interesting. There's a community being built for disabled people who can almost but not quite live independently. Indiana offers some cool-sounding four-summer language immersion programs. Costa Rica has pathways between all their preserves so that animals can travel between them. In some cultures, iguanas are low-tech refrigerators: You put your leftover food in them and then when you're out of food, you eat the iguana.
General Session - Distance Learning on the Front Lines
In this panel talk with soldiers who are distance learning students, I got to hear one person say that the main reason people join the military is to get an education. Interesting. I don't think that's true, but it must be true for a lot more people than I suspected.
They had some advice for other students: Start with a course you feel you can succeed with because distance courses are different from classroom courses and take some getting used to. Then try to get ahead as quickly as possible so that if something comes up, you can still complete the class. Third, don't just take classes to get the piece of paper; try to actually learn things from them. And fourth, if you do get into trouble, let someone know what's going on; it's quite likely that you will get special accommodations.
Advice for course designers: Have alternatives to library research. Describe exactly what resources will be required before someone signs up because internet connections may be slow as well as discontinuous. Have the syllabus ready before the official start date so students can have more time. Split two-hour tests into two or four sections. A lot can happen in two hours and a student may not be able to finish a whole test or find a proctor to be available for a whole two hours.
Lurking: A New Learning Style?
Some people think lurkers should be penalized for not participating, but an informal study showed that just because they're not contributing doesn't mean they aren't learning. Grades don't seem correlated to post number.
For some reason the presenters found it difficult to comprehend that online, just as in the real world, you can really only handle a few big mouths at a time, and those who talk the most aren't necessarily those who have the most to say.
Of course you're also more likely to lurk when you're still learning the ropes or you don't have much time or you're feeling information overload.
Someone suggested that the presenter look into the new research on bystanders.
The Texas Course Redesign Project
These presenters said that course redesign is not about putting courses online but about re-thinking curriculum. In this project, professors from several campuses work together to redesign courses to teach students better and make it more likely that they will finish without spending more money.
In a US history classes, they had different approaches such as "CSI Roanoke," assigning roles and voting on whether Texas joins the Union, and having a trial for Philip Nolan (was he just rounding up horses or was he spying?). They chose situations where the reality is unknown or otherwise could have easily gone more than one way.
In a Calculus I class, they had these challenges:
* disagreements about when Calculus I ends. They decided to include all the material of the longest courses, and each faculty member could use only what they needed.
* textbook issues - people feel almost religious about textbooks and their approaches. The solution was to allow any textbook.
* calculator issue - people are strongly pro or con. The solution was to segregate materials for each method - each faculty member could choose the ones they wanted.
* there's never enough time to develop these things. The solution is to start as soon as possible; "don't wait for the funding," start as soon as the course is approved.
Digital Magic: 7 Easy Steps for Effective Digital Story Telling
Using the free application Photostory, you can apparently import photos, re-order them, add titles, add a recording or music, add transitions, and thus put together an impressive slide show.
Most of the examples were extremely schmoopy this-is-your-life things. One was an almost interesting history lesson. The presenter spent a lot of time throwing out different resources.
A Pedagogical Pilgrimage: Applications for Online Learning
We got to see a redesigned course on Chaucer (which I learned is pronounced CHAW-ser, not CHOW-ser, at least if you have a New York accent). The home page was a map of the route from London to Canterbury, and each stop represents a new lesson. Timelines and other diagrams could also make good front pages.
The instructor wanted to have a lot of "live" materials, not just text. So she might show some Old English text along with a recording of her explaining some things about it. And she linked to good BBC snippets on related topics such as a Chaucer biography and information about different kinds of pilgrimages in other faiths (Mecca, the Ganges) or even in modern times (Graceland).
Each student got one of the characters and had to do various projects using the perspective of that character. So they would do research on things like that character's profession, and they would write much more interesting papers than the stuff she used to require. Plus the new topics were just about impossible to plagiarize.
Bullies and Technology
Now you can't get away from bullies just by going home or getting out of a class. And bullies can be just as bad as you might guess (it's slow to load, and the introduction is the part we watched at the presentation).
These hints were recommended:
* use a gender-neutral user name
* keep your primary e-mail address for friends only
* google and yahoo yourself
One lady feels that attitudes changed before technology got big because of an assignment she used to give. After reading Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado," she would ask students to write an essay about a time when they exacted revenge and about how guilty they felt. After a certain point, students quit saying they felt guilty and started saying they felt good. She quit giving this assignment.
Pretty Flying Things
Then we had an overly long break. I scoped out the location of the party to come, then walked around Moody Gardens. I learned that hummingbirds drink all kinds of goo, not just nectar, and some of it is pretty disgusting. I also learned that it may take Monarch butterflies up to five generations to migrate to Mexico.
Party Like a Pirate
Food, music, gambling. Once again I managed to completely clear a table by sitting at it. Then I left, too. I looked at some magazines back at the hostel. There was one car other than mine in the parking lot.
I had a lovely breakfast with people who talked about things that were actually interesting. There's a community being built for disabled people who can almost but not quite live independently. Indiana offers some cool-sounding four-summer language immersion programs. Costa Rica has pathways between all their preserves so that animals can travel between them. In some cultures, iguanas are low-tech refrigerators: You put your leftover food in them and then when you're out of food, you eat the iguana.
General Session - Distance Learning on the Front Lines
In this panel talk with soldiers who are distance learning students, I got to hear one person say that the main reason people join the military is to get an education. Interesting. I don't think that's true, but it must be true for a lot more people than I suspected.
They had some advice for other students: Start with a course you feel you can succeed with because distance courses are different from classroom courses and take some getting used to. Then try to get ahead as quickly as possible so that if something comes up, you can still complete the class. Third, don't just take classes to get the piece of paper; try to actually learn things from them. And fourth, if you do get into trouble, let someone know what's going on; it's quite likely that you will get special accommodations.
Advice for course designers: Have alternatives to library research. Describe exactly what resources will be required before someone signs up because internet connections may be slow as well as discontinuous. Have the syllabus ready before the official start date so students can have more time. Split two-hour tests into two or four sections. A lot can happen in two hours and a student may not be able to finish a whole test or find a proctor to be available for a whole two hours.
Lurking: A New Learning Style?
Some people think lurkers should be penalized for not participating, but an informal study showed that just because they're not contributing doesn't mean they aren't learning. Grades don't seem correlated to post number.
For some reason the presenters found it difficult to comprehend that online, just as in the real world, you can really only handle a few big mouths at a time, and those who talk the most aren't necessarily those who have the most to say.
Of course you're also more likely to lurk when you're still learning the ropes or you don't have much time or you're feeling information overload.
Someone suggested that the presenter look into the new research on bystanders.
The Texas Course Redesign Project
These presenters said that course redesign is not about putting courses online but about re-thinking curriculum. In this project, professors from several campuses work together to redesign courses to teach students better and make it more likely that they will finish without spending more money.
In a US history classes, they had different approaches such as "CSI Roanoke," assigning roles and voting on whether Texas joins the Union, and having a trial for Philip Nolan (was he just rounding up horses or was he spying?). They chose situations where the reality is unknown or otherwise could have easily gone more than one way.
In a Calculus I class, they had these challenges:
* disagreements about when Calculus I ends. They decided to include all the material of the longest courses, and each faculty member could use only what they needed.
* textbook issues - people feel almost religious about textbooks and their approaches. The solution was to allow any textbook.
* calculator issue - people are strongly pro or con. The solution was to segregate materials for each method - each faculty member could choose the ones they wanted.
* there's never enough time to develop these things. The solution is to start as soon as possible; "don't wait for the funding," start as soon as the course is approved.
Digital Magic: 7 Easy Steps for Effective Digital Story Telling
Using the free application Photostory, you can apparently import photos, re-order them, add titles, add a recording or music, add transitions, and thus put together an impressive slide show.
Most of the examples were extremely schmoopy this-is-your-life things. One was an almost interesting history lesson. The presenter spent a lot of time throwing out different resources.
A Pedagogical Pilgrimage: Applications for Online Learning
We got to see a redesigned course on Chaucer (which I learned is pronounced CHAW-ser, not CHOW-ser, at least if you have a New York accent). The home page was a map of the route from London to Canterbury, and each stop represents a new lesson. Timelines and other diagrams could also make good front pages.
The instructor wanted to have a lot of "live" materials, not just text. So she might show some Old English text along with a recording of her explaining some things about it. And she linked to good BBC snippets on related topics such as a Chaucer biography and information about different kinds of pilgrimages in other faiths (Mecca, the Ganges) or even in modern times (Graceland).
Each student got one of the characters and had to do various projects using the perspective of that character. So they would do research on things like that character's profession, and they would write much more interesting papers than the stuff she used to require. Plus the new topics were just about impossible to plagiarize.
Bullies and Technology
Now you can't get away from bullies just by going home or getting out of a class. And bullies can be just as bad as you might guess (it's slow to load, and the introduction is the part we watched at the presentation).
These hints were recommended:
* use a gender-neutral user name
* keep your primary e-mail address for friends only
* google and yahoo yourself
One lady feels that attitudes changed before technology got big because of an assignment she used to give. After reading Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado," she would ask students to write an essay about a time when they exacted revenge and about how guilty they felt. After a certain point, students quit saying they felt guilty and started saying they felt good. She quit giving this assignment.
Pretty Flying Things
Then we had an overly long break. I scoped out the location of the party to come, then walked around Moody Gardens. I learned that hummingbirds drink all kinds of goo, not just nectar, and some of it is pretty disgusting. I also learned that it may take Monarch butterflies up to five generations to migrate to Mexico.
Party Like a Pirate
Food, music, gambling. Once again I managed to completely clear a table by sitting at it. Then I left, too. I looked at some magazines back at the hostel. There was one car other than mine in the parking lot.