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Trent Batson, professor of English, director of academic computing, entrepreneur and bon vivant, has an article in Campus Technology exploring the role of Web2.0 in education, particularly higher education. He observes:
For decades, a minority among educators has advocated alternate forms of teaching and learning. The umbrella term for these alternate forms is “open education,” (cf Opening Up Education, Kumar and Iiyoshi, MIT Press, 2008). The litany of alternate forms is long: co-op learning, experiential learning, service learning, internships, semester abroad, field study, authentic learning, problem-based learning, adult education, extension courses, and on and on. Each of these alternate forms was designed with the assumption that traditional classroom learning was the norm.
With the dawning of Web 2.0, these alternate forms of teaching and learning are now becoming the “native” forms for this age. Open education, open knowledge, and open resources are different faces of the Web 2.0 revolution in higher education.
…
from Trent Batson, “Why is Web 2.0 Important to Higher Education?”, Campus Technology, April 15, 2009. http://campustechnology.com/articles/2009/04/15/why-web-2.0-is-important-to-higher-education.aspx. Image from Batson’s Web2.0PortfolioInitiative, http://www.trentbatson.com/
First it was Flickr, now its YouTube. Hoorah for the Library of Congress as they begin to place portions of their vast video holdings on this popular site.
First collections include the 2008 National Book Festival author presentations, the Books and Beyond author series, “Westinghouse” industrial films from 1904, scholar discussions from the John W. Kluge Center, and the earliest movies made by Thomas Edison, including the first moving image ever made.
Watch for more in future:
http://www.youtube.com/user/LibraryOfCongress
Responding to Diversity Issues in the Classroom: A Developmental and Social Justice Approach
Friday, April 10, 2009 9:00a.m. to 12 Noon in Allen House, room 204.
This half day workshop engages participants in building an understanding of how to have meaningful conversations about diversity issues and how to confront difficult situations more effectively in the classroom context. Participants will gain a deeper understanding of both the dynamics of interpersonal conflict in general and practical responses that promote understanding and critical thinking. Using case scenarios, you will practice interpersonal skills and productive responses to interpersonal conflicts related to cultural and/or social justice.
Facilitated by Sherwood Smith, Director, Center for Cultural Pluralism and IPS faculty.
Register by sending an e-mail to: mheining@uvm.edu2.
The Office of the Assoicate Provost for Multicultural Affairs and Academic Initiatives presents Blackboard Jungle 2 Symposium March 27 and 28. For more information and to register visit the website
The Center for Teaching and Learning is pleased to present two events associated with professional development opportunities offered this week:
- Multicultural Education at UVM: Dialogue on Dimensions,Monday, March, 30, 12:00 – 1:30 pm
UVM’s Diversity Requirement seeks to advance multicultural education at the curricular level. During this colloquium, faculty who are teaching approved Diversity 1 and 2 courses will examine their courses through the lens of Dr. James Banks’ “dimensions of multicultural education,” discussing content integration, knowledge construction, prejudice reduction and equity pedagogy. - Universal Design For Learning in the 21st Century,
Wednesday, April, 1, 9:00 – 10:30 am
Workshop: In any semester, approximately 75% of UVM faculty will teach a student with a documented disability. Universal Design For Learning (UDL) outlines course development and teaching strategies that will not only meet the needs of those students, but will also enhance learning for all students. Join us for a discussion on applying UDL principles and strategies to meet our diverse student needs related to physical and cognitive ability, social class, primary language, ethnicity and culture.
For more information and to register, please go to the “Events” link on the left menu.
Is there an added added academic value in incorporating multimedia scholarship into student projects? This is the question addressed by Mark E. Cann of USC in a recent article titled Multimedia in the Classroom at USC: A Ten Year Perspective. This past fall he recast a previous essay assignment into a group multimedia project in order to compare previous students’ written work to current students multimedia work. He graded them according to the same basic criteria (clarity, coherence and cogency) and wondered if they would ” produce more insightful analyses than conventional written essays.”
He found four ways in which the students’ multimedia projects differed positively from the written version. According to Cann, multimedia scholarship invited or encouraged students to:
- “prioritize and dramatize their main points by highlighting text, incorporating eye-catching images, or employing engaging video clips. This contrasted to conventional papers where students often buried their main point in the middle of a paragraph or expected it to emerge miraculously from the
text.” - “assume multiple perspectives by using hyperlinks…While students might have done the same class analysis in a traditional essay, the fact is that they had not done so until their use of new media prompted them to experiment with multiple perspectives.”
- ” layer their analyses. Students were able to explore an issue in depth by employing hypertext links to break it down into major components, then analyze major components by using links to break them down into subcomponents, and so forth.”
- experiment with interactive analysis. Students were able to use new media to demonstrate how making one choice likely results in one set of outcomes and subsequent options whereas making a different choice likely results in a different set of outcomes and subsequent
options.
He goes on to describe how a grant had allowed a group of faculty from the university to develop and discuss similar projects between 1998 and 2003. Some of the challenges the group found were “that teaching and doing multimedia scholarship was extremely time-consuming for faculty, TAs, and students” and that there was a “tension between devoting class time to course content and devoting class time to training students in basic computer skills.” They concluded that “the time and tensions were tolerable because multimedia scholarship did in fact add academic value to our classrooms. However, we learned from our discussions that multimedia scholarship added academic value to our classrooms in very different ways. We also learned that we all had trouble explaining to each other exactly how multimedia scholarship added academic value to our classrooms.”
That experience led to the development of a university-wide Honors Program in Multimedia Scholarship. Developing that program, and undergoing the review process, forced the participants to articulate how multimedia can add academic value to student scholarship.
Implementing the program has confirmed the belief that multimedia “requires students to become adept in the use of new media tools” but that it can “develop students’ capacity for active learning and creative scholarship.” Faculty also “emphasized the importance of multimedia scholarship for enhancing
students’ analytical skills. Several faculty members emphasized the utility of new media for investigating multiple perspectives on issues, facilitating interactive understanding, and addressing issues involving contingency and ephemera.” Some felt that “employing new media promises to develop students’ capacity for active learning and creative scholarship. Multimedia authorship demands that students not simply receive meanings but also participate in the construction of meanings.” Others agreed that “multimedia scholarship promises to strengthen students’ ability to communicate their research and findings to other people.”
Cann concludes the article with a discussion of the recommendations the USC program has made for the program. These can be useful “best practices” for anyone contemplating the addition of multimedia projects into their course. Full article at:
http://www.academiccommons.org/commons/essay/multimedia-classroom
Blackboard’s wiki option has made it easier for us to experiment with this collaborative writing application, but designing good wiki assignments remains challenging. There are a number of web sites that assert that wikis can be powerful learning tools, a number of sites that discuss how to create wikis, and the usual line up of sites that promise that wikis will cure all ills. The following article goes beyond the hype and basic how-to by describing three challenges to creating wiki assignemnts, and suggesting how they might be used to better support learning.
Reynard, Ruth. “3 Challenges (with Benefits) to Wiki Use in Instruction,” in Campus Technology. Feb. 11, 2009.
According to Reynard, current writing about wikis promise that they will “highlight higher-level thinking skills that teachers would love to see developed in their students. The reality is, however, that just as with any actual use of technology in instruction, there are always challenges, not only in practical terms with familiarity with the technology itself but, more importantly, in a pedagogical sense as the benefits to teaching and learning are examined more thoroughly. How can the instructional uses of a wiki be maximized to ensure this higher level of engagement with students?”
She continues that “There is a temptation with using a tool like the wiki for teachers to simply introduce the tool and ask the students to use it, and then watch to see what happens…While knowledge around this is still growing, we do know from teaching in general that students respond poorly to badly designed assignments with no real purpose articulated as to their connection with the learning outcomes or direct benefit to the student’s overall learning experience.”
The challenges she addresses are:
- Creating Meaningful Assignments: Motivation
- Grade Value for Constructed Input: Affirmation
- Collective Knowledge Use: Learning
The suggestions she provides are simple, concrete, and probably quite effective. Good reading for anyone who is considering using wiki assignments in their course.
The Center for Cultural Pluralism will celebrate its 10 year anniversary on January 29, 2009. The Center has announced their spring programming, which includes guest speakers Dr. Lee Kneflekamp speaking on “MicroAgressions in the Classroom” (Jan. 30) and Dr. Scott Page, “The Science of Complex Systems and Systems Scholarship” (Feb 2009). For a full list of films, workshops and events visit their web site.
The Office of the President and the Office of the Associate Provost for Multicultural Affairs and Academic Initiatives are hosting a multi-day celebration honoring the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Most notably, human rights advocate and community activist Martin Luther King III will speak on Thursday, Jan. 22 at 4 p.m. in Patrick Gymnasium. For details about all events, please visit the Office of Multicultural Affairs and Academic Initiatives web site.
This fellowship program is designed as a seminar to help faculty develop a strong background in service-learning pedagogy. By developing a service-learning course, participants will strengthen service-learning knowledge and skills. Fellows will meet every other week during the Spring 2009 semester for 2 hours and commit to offering a service-learning course within a year of completing the program.
To learn more about the program, visit the CUPS web site
Applications for the Fellowship program are due November 7,2008.
April 15, 12:15 – 1:45 pm, Livak Room, Davis Center
The tragic events at Virginia Tech, and more recently at Northern Illinois, have had a profound impact on the way colleges and universities are viewing and responding to campus health and safety issues.
This panel presentation, including student, staff and faculty representatives from departments including Police Services, the Center for Health and Wellbeing, the office of the Dean of Students and the General Counsel’s office, will examine the ways in which the University of Vermont is responding to these issues here on our campus, and will also consider broader national trends and challenges. The presentation will provide an opportunity to reflect upon the changing roles and responsibilities of faculty and staff, best practices around campus health and safety issues, legal and privacy concerns, and evolving standards and practice around managing high risk campus behavior.