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Course Metaphors
Courses as conversations – this metaphor was first brought to my attention several years ago by a VCU professor, Deb Cowles. Inspired by The Cluetrain Manifesto (Rick Levine, Christopher Locke, Doc Searls, and David Weinberger, 1999) where markets are conversations. I did not pause to ask her more or stop to think much about it then. Recently, I tried to pick up a book I started a few years back and the author (Petersen, 2005) talked about how his book is a conversation because conversation implies a back-and-forthness, several voices engaged in considering,…
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Crafting a Learning-Centered Syllabus
Every course design is philosophy and belief in action. –Manifesto for Teaching Online, written by teachers and researchers in online education, University of Edinburgh 2011 [This was first posted in Engaged Learning blog, another blog I maintain for work. This is a companion blog post to the eLearning Bulletin Board Poster on the 4th Floor of Wohlers Hall, College of Business at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The poster is an abridged version of what a motivational syllabus looks like. It is intended to serve as a discussion stimulus only.] As instructors,…
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Practical Formative Assessment Tools
I had the privilege of using some formative assessment tools in my face-to-face classes the last semester. That is, instead of suggesting tools for faculty to integrate in their lessons. This is a good thing — to learn and implement, research and practice– the symbiosis we instructional designers need to acquire or develop as education professionals. Both facets are equally important in helping us become great designers and educators. I call these tools “practical” because they are not time-consuming to use, nor is there a steep learning curve. The following are tech tools I…
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Visible Thinking: Land Mines for Explosive Learning
Those who teach know that on some days we question if what we do is making any dent in our students’ armors (shields some put up, unintentionally, maybe). This week had one of those days, and several others that were not so. Those good learning-teaching days? They are not of the kind Tim Slater wrote about. The kind where students sit passively to just watch me, watch videos, take notes (or not) and listen (or not). No, a good teaching/learning facilitation day is when the students speak, a lot, with focus…
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A Reflection on Teaching: Connecting with Learners
After performing a thrilling paso doble that went silent for several bars – allowing the audience to understand what DiMarco experiences when he’s dancing – he says he realized the Mirrorball was within reach. “That really hit me hard, and I felt like, ‘I have the potential of winning this,’ because I could feel the audience really connecting to me, and I thought that was the whole point of me being on Dancing with the Stars. It wasn’t about the dancing itself, it was about me connecting to the audience.”…
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A Critical Conversation about Instructional Design
Dear Maha, Thanks for the interesting conversation around the use of the terms Instructional (versus Learning) Design. I will do my best to respond to your question about resources and add some quick thoughts along the way. “Instructional” Theories Several scholars in the field have written about the history of ID. It’s been a while since I completed doctoral studies in ID and I don’t have all my books with me. Robert Reiser and Michael Molenda have written about the history and philosophical origins of ID. As to ID theories,…
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In Faculty Words: From Desire to Educated Ability to Promote Inclusivity
Faculty Development. A phrase I’ve long considered rather odd and incongruous. Maybe it’s because I’ve been emotionally damaged by the words of one of my ID professors in grad school. He told me that faculty (in his world) hate the term “faculty development” because they are already developed. They don’t need to develop anymore. They are possibly open to training, but not development. Another reputable ed psych and edtech professor who upon learning that I was going to tread the path of a practitioner (and not join the hallowed halls…
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Online Teaching is like Learning a New Language
Online Teaching is Like Learning a New Language Is online teaching like learning a new language? Do bilingual (or multilingual) teachers find it easier to switch from face-to-face to online teaching? For several weeks, I pondered these questions as I tarried at the intersection of two/three facets of my life — online teaching, online course design and learning French (Français or Française?). The second question is a hypothesis I intend to investigate! Le magazine de l’Alliance de Singapour 1993 [Back Story: When I was twelve or thirteen, I wanted to learn…
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The Making of a Course Trailer
The course trailer is up on YouTube. Although it runs for less than 2 minutes, it entails a tremendous amount of work. Many people chipped in to help out given the tight time-frame we had to churn it out. To them I owe a debt of gratitude. Their names were not mentioned in the credits and I would like to use this space to express my appreciation to them.Thank you, in no particular order, Alice Westerberg, Suzie Fairman, Molly Ransone, Emma Gauthier, Aditi Jain and Arianna DeCastro (both the actresses), Marcus…
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Faculty & Student Perceptions of Teaching Resource Use
A comparison of VCU student (n=337) and faculty responses (n=323) in the 2014 ECAR Surveys regarding tools/resources they wish their instructors would use MORE of (rated 5 on a scale of 1-5) and those that faculty MOST wish to be skillful at (click on image to enlarge): Ranking of faculty and student perceptions of resources students want more use of and faculty want to be more skillful at. A comparison of VCU student and faculty responses in the 2014 ECAR Surveys regarding tools/resources they wish their instructors would use LESS of (rated…
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Olé Days 2 & 3
Days 2 and 3 of OLE offered participants more new ideas to refresh pedagogical perspectives and work on their course sites. 1. Moving Images (In both sense of the word “moving”) Collage of video stills from course trailers of 4 VCU professors Molly Ransome shared with the participants course trailers of Ryan Cales, Jason Coats, Dianne Jennings, Gardner Campbell and a few other instructors. The trailers were each fabulous in their own ways. Gardner’s trailer is a self-made one that made us chuckle (and I’m not saying this because he…
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Online Teaching and “Body Language”
Image description: A quotation by Jenifer Ringer, “Terry taught ballet as if it were very important and precious.” Vignette 1: “Terry taught ballet as if it were very important and precious.” – Jenifer Ringer, Dancing Through It: My Journey in the Ballet. Image Description: Feet clad in ballet shoes standing on pointe position A line in a book given to me during the early days of losing my parents; supposedly the heroine’s victory over her struggles would inspire me. A short sentence fraught with meaning and implications. I especially love…
