Technology for Teaching and Learning

Motivation and the medium

by Erin

In the book “Distance Education: A Systems View”, authors Michael Moore and Greg Kearsley discuss the various ways to deliver instruction. One statement that particularly resonated with me was the idea that “Motivation is a more critical variable than the medium…” The variety of instructional tools that are present today can provide both instructors and [...]

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Blackboard 9.1 Feature Spotlight: Add Test Student

by Jes

Late last week we added a new tool to the Blackboard 9.1 server called “Add Test Student.” This tool allows instructors to easily create a student account on the server “YOURUSERNAME_s” that you can enroll into any of your courses.  So the first question that comes to mind is: ‘Why would I want to do [...]

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Blackboard 9.1 Feature Spotlight: Paste from Word

by jcotnoir

So you’ve toiled on a lengthy piece of text, and now you’d like to make this available to your students as a new announcement, content item, or threaded discussion in your Blackboard 9.1 site.  And let’s say you’ve really outdone yourself this time, too.  Using Microsoft Word, your page looks like a veritable Mona Lisa [...]

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Seven Principles at WPI: Technology as a Lever

by Kate

Several years ago – dare I say it – before blogging took off, I wrote a short piece for our TTL team e-newsletter on applying the “Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education” (Chickering and Gamson, 1987) based on the follow-up “Implementing the Seven Principles: Technology as a Lever” (Chickering and Erhmann, 1996).   Since [...]

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Introducing Video Workshops in the Classroom

by Jim

I teach workshops on media production, often focusing on empowering students to create videos and web pages of their own, and I have plowed through all sorts of snags along the way. I’d like to take a few minutes to share with you some of the things I’ve run into, some strategies I’ve devised, and some thoughts about how all of this works. I’d also really like to hear your thoughts, ideas, and methodologies!

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