Confusors - Technical educational terms that are used in different ways

http://www.tltgroup.org/discussions/Confusors.htm

If agreement on the meanings of terms is not reached, arguments may follow. For example:

Course

1. Teacher, students, materials and what happens among them. Each term, each "course' is unique because (at the very least) the students change. This definition is held inconsistently -- many people would agree with it, yet almost no "course evaluations" include assessments of the contributions of the students.

2. The materials used for instruction. This definition is implied by the question, "Who owns the course?" which is a question about control of intellectual property, not about slavery.

3. Teacher and the materials the teacher uses (but not the students) - implied when someone says, "I'm teaching the same course again this year."

Bill Vilberg

305-284-3949 (work); 786-218-3052 (cell); 305-255-9138 (home)

[ED-TECH] Joy Beverly - Excellence in Teaching presentation - Tuesday, 2/14

Ed-Tech mailing list members,

Please note and share with your colleagues that Joy Beverly, one of last year's Excellence in Teaching award winners, will be presenting her teaching practice on Tuesday, February 14th, at 12:30 PM in Whitten University Center. Joy has looked at some of our students' social needs that impact our ability to meet their academic needs. More details can be found at the www.snurl.com/excellence page, which has links to the practices of all the 2005 Excellence in Teaching award recipients. If you are available, I encourage you to sign up for this session.

Lunch will be served and seating is limited. Registration is required. You can sign up for the session by going to the www.snurl.com/individuality address.

Pursuing Academic and Social Integration through Highlighting Individuality

2005 Excellence in Teaching Award Winner
Joy Beverly
College of Arts & Sciences, Mathematics

How can we encourage our students to have quality interaction, both academically and socially, in ways that help them to grow as scholars and individuals? This workshop will present inexpensive and practical ways to increase academic and social integration within the classroom through highlighting individuality. The two major components of this practice, name-calling and interviewing, will be outlined, as well as techniques for learning students' names. Some of the supporting research for this practice will be presented, as well as exploration of the possible benefits to both instructors and students, including better class interaction and discipline, more group study and better instructor evaluations.

Tuesday, February 14, 2005
12:30 PM - 1:20 PM
Whitten University Center
Room 226 A/B, (Flamingo Ballroom)

As with our other sessions, a recording and any handouts will be made available on the "Lunch and Learn Series" page on the IAC web site, www.miami.edu/iac, for those who cannot attend. You can also register from this page.

Bill Vilberg

305-284-3949 (work); 786-218-3052 (cell); 305-255-9138 (home)

[ED-TECH] First Lunch and Learn, Monday, Feb 6, 12:20 PM - April Mann

Ed-Tech mailing list members,

 

Registration is now open for the first Lunch and Learn session for Spring 2006.  Go to www.snurl.com/aprilmann to fill out the registration form.  If you have trouble with that link, go to www.miami.edu/iac and click on the Lunch and Learn Series menu item.

 

April Mann, one of the 2005 Excellence in Teaching Award winners, will be talking about "The Personal Course Guide."  This is a learning activity that could be applied to every course, in my opinion, and it could increase in student learning.  What really makes this session exciting, to me, is that it focuses on student learning.  When teaching, we often focus on course content, teaching techniques, or assessment processes.  We often lack a clear answer to the question, "How do students learn in this course?"  In April's learning activity, students distill the most important information in the course as well as their learning goals, down to a single page.  This process, repeated during the course, helps them to learn what the course is about, and how it is relevant to their lives.  April will do a much better job of explaining things.

 

I encourage you to come and participate in this lunch and learn session.  The session will be recorded and made available on the www.miami.edu/iac > Lunch and Learn Series page for those who cannot attend,  

 

Lunch will be served. Registration is limited and required.  If you will be attending, please note the starting time (12:20 PM) and the location (Whitten Student Union, Room 226-A/Flamingo Ballroom).

 

Bill Vilberg

Assoc. Dir. of Instructional Advancement

 

 

Apple does coursecasting

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY APPLE MOVES INTO COURSECASTING

Apple Computer will allow colleges to set up customized portions of the iTunes Music Store to distribute course content and other audio and video material. The free service, announced on Monday, will let institutions limit use of some materials to certain people and make other content available to all.

From 1/25/2006 Daily Report from the Chronicle of Higher Education

 

Bill Vilberg

305-284-3949 (work); 786-218-3052 (cell); 305-255-9138 (home)

 

Rise in absenteeism

This report, from EDUPAGE, discusses a drop in attendance as lecture notes are posted on-line.  The pop quiz response seems totally wrong.  Rather than threatening the students, why not recognize that they can learn much of the material without hearing it live in a classroom.  How can the classroom time be used to enhance learning?  If the time is valuable, the students will attend, in my opinion. 

SOME FACULTY SEE DOWNSIDE OF TECHNOLOGY

Despite the obvious benefits of putting lecture materials online, some faculty have seen a sharp rise in absenteeism that results from students' having access to class content over their computers. Terre Allen, a communication studies scholar at Cal State Long Beach, said that when she posted most of her notes online, attendance in her classes dropped from about 65 percent to only about 35 percent. "Too much online instruction is a bad thing," she said. Faculty at other institutions have reported similar drops in attendance when lecture notes are available on the Web, and many have adjusted their approach to teaching in an attempt to deal with the change. Some, like Lee Ohanian, an economics professor at UCLA, only post selections from lecture notes. Others have resorted to giving more pop quizzes, including test questions that specifically are not covered in the notes posted online, and offering extra credit to students who show up for class.

Los Angeles Times, 17 January 2006

http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-me-noshow17jan17,1,3883942.story

 

Bill Vilberg

305-284-3949 (work); 786-218-3052 (cell); 305-255-9138 (home)