23 Nov 2009: Blended Learning (CALL)

I like learning about Computer Assisted Language Learning. This is a field of study that I think will become exponentially valuable as we move into the 21st century. Increasingly, people need to know more than one language. But, what are the best ways of helping learners to acquire second-language skills?

I believe that there is much merit in considering blended learning tools. Blended learning is defined as learning in a kind of hybrid methodology. It includes human face-to-face time as well as instructional/learning activities supplemented by various technologies. In this way, blended means mixed, flexible learning.

I think it's also interesting to define the term learning. Generally, this means mixing information with interaction. So, how should that interaction look? It could look several different ways, depending on the learners. This is profound and yet so simple: learning should be tailored for and by the learner!

"Learning is a sense-making activity in which the learner seeks to build a coherent mental representation from the presented material." (Richard Mayer)

The quality and quantity of comprehensible input and comprehensible output is essential to effective learning. Effectiveness of instruction is typically connected to high fidelity around interaction between learners and teachers as well as between learners and learners.

11 Nov 2009: EPortfolios in Higher Ed

Debra Biser
EPortfolios in Higher Ed

Issue Discussion Facilitation – ePortfolios in Higher Ed November 7, 2009

biserd @ 9:26 pm

Objectives

• Understand what an ePortfolio is
• Recognize ePortfolio application and uses in higher education
• Review best practices for ePortfolio integration

Readings
Both articles below are from Peer Review (Winter 2009, Vol. 11, No. 1). Please skim the first article and read the second. These are located in the ProQuest database so you will need to login with your NetID and password.

• E-portfolios at 2.0-Surveying the Field
• Electronic Portfolios a Decade into the Twenty-first Century: What We Know, What We Need to Know

Learning Activity
Assemble in groups of three or four, review one of the ePortfolios below and answer the following questions:

- Can you find examples within ePortfolios where student engagement and metacognition is detectable?
- What do you see as you look through these ePortfolios that illustrates learning has taken place? How do you think this compares to traditional methods of teaching such as lecture and assessment?
- What do you know about a student by looking at an ePortfolio as opposed to looking at a transcript/resume?

• Group 1 – Amy
• Group 2 – Jessica
• Group 3 – Patrick
• Group 4 – Phong

ePortfolio Examples

Skim through a few of these (I suggest one in each category) to get an idea of what ePortfolios look like and how they differ based on application.

Student-Centered Active & Enriched Learning

• Assessment for Learning (collect, select, reflect) – reflection, metacognitive skills, integrative learning
• Examples of Use – first-year-to-capstone (for graduation) ePortfolios, leadership ePortfolios

Examples

• Foothill College – Elizabeth Barkley’s ePortfolio
• LaGuardia Community College, CUNY – Risa Itabashi’s ePortfolio
• Rhode Island School of Design – Daniel Zatkowsky’s ePortfolio

Student Showcase

• “Educational Passport” which may include Active Learning activities or be integrated into the Student-Centered Active Learning ePortfolio
• Examples of Use – for future employment, internships, grad school, and to show family/friends

Examples

• San Francisco State University – Mieko Swartz’s ePortfolio
• San Francisco State University – Daniel DeFoe’s ePortfolio

Collaboration

• Peer/faculty review, may be a part of Student-Centered Active Learning portfolios or created for this purpose only.
• Examples of Use – course research (often “owned” by instructor), project/group work to be assessed by instructor

Examples

• Victorian Short Fiction Project – BYU
• Learning in Greece – Project Blog Communicating with Students
• Blogical Minds – 5th Graders’ Class Blog
• Soka University of America – Learning Clusters Vocabulary
• Kansas State U – Michael Wesch – Digital Ethnography

Institutional/Program ePortfolios

• Assessment of Learning – a drop-box or place to store artifacts to be “picked up” by assessors
• Examples of Use – course, program and/or institutional assessment (outcome alignment)

Examples

• Cal State – East Bay Institutional ePortfolio
• Cal State – Sacramento Sociology Department ePortfolio
• College of Humanities – Assessment at BYU

If You Would Like to Know More . . .

Further Reading

• The TLT Groups list of activities that can be supported with ePortfolios
• ePortfolio tag search at Academic Commons
• e portfolio and eportfolio tag search at Educause
• e portfolio and eportfolio tag search at Campus Technology
• eportfolio tag search at Inside Higher Ed

Research Communities

• iNCERP Emergent Findings & Final Reports – These reports are from universities which have worked with the Inter/National Coalition for Electronic Portfolio Research to adopt ePortfolio strategies and solutions at their campus. A number of these reports, especially from cohort III participants, were cited in the Peer Review journal.
• ePortfolio Action and Communiation
• The Association for Authentic, Experiential and Evidence-Based Learning
• ePort Consortium
• The Association of American Colleges VALUE project

What Other Campuses are Doing

• Washington State University
• New Century College at George Mason University
• California State University
• LaGuardia Community College
• Alverno College
• Spelman College
• Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology

Leading Researchers

• Trent Batson
• Darren Cambridge
• Helen Barrett
• Kathleen Blake Yancey
• Barbara Cambridge
• Helen Chen
• Tracy Penny-Light

Rubric Examples

• VALUE Proejct
• University of Wisconsin-Stout

9 Nov 2009: Storytelling as Instructional Technology

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Change agents = More powerful with story (STICKY)
Learn how to story well and then connect it to the field of expertise
Watch human behavior and create your own stories that you can share to others connecting to stories cognitively as well as emotionally Don't just get people to know something, but to motivate them to change.

Power of narrative to teach principles & morals
Less powerful in teaching processes (step-by-step)

Create a culture of a company through story
Encourage people to share their stories

Sacredness of story (JoanE sharing it as if it were hers)
Owning our own story (e.g. Emily Bates telling my stories)
Importance of memory to life (clones in The Island movie)

Tease out the literary license in stories from the actual facts
There is not necessarily one truth in a story
There is power in many viewpoints (many stories)


Can we be mis-taught by story?
We may glean our own knowledge without all clarity.

Power of story to teach morals and principles
Is story also powerful for step by step?
Could stories also have extra details that don't pertain and could convolute?
Could stories teach the wrong things (e.g. Disney Effect - Pocohantos)
Story telling has power as we tailor it to our audience.
Story has to be relevant
Family history

Can storytelling be an instructional technology?

How do stories enhance instruction?
In what way are stories useful in a class setting?
In what ways do stories help you remember things?
In what way do stories promote learning in individuals?
What are the shortcomings of stories in instruction?

As you read the following material, think about your own experience. How have stories affected your behavior, your decision-making process, your learning, or your schooling? Do you recognize the elements of a good story in any of the instruction practices we are studying?

Abrahamson, C.E. Storytelling as a pedagogical tool in higher education. Education. 118(3). Link to full-text

Most of the great stories follow a common thread which was outlined as a "monomyth". A summary of the qualities of the monomyth can be found here, at this link to a summary of "Hero with a Thousand Faces" by Joseph Campbell: Click
As you are reading, try to see if you can match the parts of the story to a favorite story of yours. (A movie, a book, a novel.)

Call of Stories: Teaching and Moral Imagination: Click here for link to Google Books preview
This book is also available in its entirety as an e-book by searching the BYU Library catalog. At least read the first chapter. Read more if you have time.

The book "Made to Stick" has a preview on its site and talks about the strengths of storytelling in helping people remember things. We recommend reading the entire preview: Made to Stick

This is an example of how storytelling can be influential in training situations: Click here for PDF
The article of interest starts on page 14.

If you have time to listen to a podcast, this one on design thinking talks about storytelling: Click here

As you read and think about these things, try to recall a story you heard at some point in your life that had a significant impact on you. It could be a novel, a movie, a personal experience shared by a friend, or any other sort of story. Write down the story to bring to class as an example. (You don't have to write out the whole story, just enough so you can remember it when the pressure is on.)

Also, pay attention to the conversations you have and the classes you are in at school or church throughout the next little while. Watch for stories. Jot them down in a notebook as you hear them. Consider their effectiveness for instruction. What makes them effective or not effective?

VoiceThread Links (tutorial)

Jered Borup's VoiceThread

4 Nov 2009: Educause Quarterly

Educause Quarterly
Openness in Delivering Education
Interview with David Wiley
Key Takeaways

Performance Improvement Quarterly
International Society for Performance Improvement

INNOVATE
Bi-monthly, Social Networking
Themes:
distance education, open education, virtual environments/communities/worlds
social networking software, new theories of learning, stronger communities and collaboration, helping disadvantaged learners, constructivism, situated learning, social connectiveness and cognitive connectiveness schemata

Contributors: James Morrison, Stephen Downes (edublogger, open learning), Marc Prensky
H. Sapiens Digital: From Digital Immigrants and Digital Natives to Digital Wisdom (F/M 2009)
- technology affects us on a cellular level
- it changes how we process information on a cellular level

Prensky: The way we use technology is changing our memory capacity
People who are good multi-taskers are selected out (social darwinism)
We have a greater potential for asking the question, "What if?"

American Journal Evaluation
Process-oriented approach to cultural competency
Collaboration - evaluators need to learn from stakeholders
Based on Bandura's social learning theory
Soccer players as teachers - the use of role playing
Athletes are selling things - why not have them sell education

Australasian Journal of Education
- 2 specific references to wikis and educaiton, podcasting, vodcasting
- instructional design
- electronic technologies (handhelds)

International Society of the Learning Sciences
Founders: Chris Hoadley, Janet Kolodner, Tim Koschmann
* Foster new ways of thinking
* Publish research articles
* Promote engaging and thoughtufl
* Particularly design-based research
* Important ideas taht can change our understanding of learning as well as the practice of ed
* How do we develop knowledge through social construction?

Quarterly Review of Distance Education
- Authors: Reigeluth, Gibbons, Graham
The effects of email messages in a distance learning university on perceived academic and social support, academic satisfaction and coping
Tali Heiman
Open University of Israel
People who received emails performed about the same, but felt better

Tech Trends
AECT Journal
2,000 members, 24 states, six international affiliates
10 Division
International Division
ICT International

Performance Improvement
International Society for Performance Improvement
Present it as a process change, not a performance change
Preach My Gospel (Ch. 8)
Ballard: "If we don't set goals in our lives,we can reach a ripe old age and not have achieved what we wished." We must learn to set goals and acheive them for eternal progress.
Isn't progress about ordinances? And, ordinances are essentially goals (benchmarks) to achieve.
Pres. Monson: "When performance is measured, performance improves. When performance is measured and reported, performance accelerates."
Is the work of an apostle really just about being a Human Performance Technologist?

"Studying scriptures will change behavior more than studying behavior will change behavior." - Packer?

President Boyd K. Packer, an apostle of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints:

"True doctrine, understood, changes attitudes and behavior.

"The study of the doctrines of the gospel will improve behavior quicker than a study of behavior will improve behavior. Preoccupation with unworthy behavior can lead to unworthy behavior. That is why we stress so forcefully the study of the doctrines of the gospel" ("Little Children," Ensign, Nov 1986, 16).

CALL
quantitative mostly (pre/post language assessments), surveys
Learning English with the SIMS for L2 Learning

Journal of Interactive Learning Research
Rigorous and Socially Responsible Interactive Learning Research
Examining difference of Phase 1 and Phase 2 learning
Pedagogy is important for making web technologies work for soft skills development
"the time is drawing near that print alone will be unfeasible"