As we approach the Sustainability poster competition, held during April – or “Earth Month” – I thought it would be appropriate to have a “green” blog post. (Plus, even though I’m not Irish, St. Patrick’s Day is this coming weekend!) So, how can you adopt more environmentally friendly practices into your teaching and research? There…Continue Reading Think green!
Motivation and the medium
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…Continue Reading Motivation and the medium
Seven Principles at WPI: Technology as a Lever
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…Continue Reading Seven Principles at WPI: Technology as a Lever
Introducing Video Workshops in the Classroom
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!…Continue Reading Introducing Video Workshops in the Classroom
3, 2, 1…Explain!
My favorite “Explainer”, Lee Lefever, just posted a new blog about the new age of the video explanation. In it, he postulizes that perhaps 2012 will usher in a new genre for video: “Drama, comedy, documentary, advertising and explanation.” Lee does a great job of explaining (no surprise there) why this trend is being enabled and adopted globally,…Continue Reading 3, 2, 1…Explain!
Wikipedia! Wikipedia… Wikipedia??
While we all acknowledge that Wikipedia is not primary literature and should not be cited as a resource in most academically oriented works, we also are cognizant that Wikipedia is the first stop for many of our students on the way to more in depth research. Not today! Today Wikipedia’s English language site is in blackout mode! Why you might ask? It political…Continue Reading Wikipedia! Wikipedia… Wikipedia??
How are our students communicating? Let me count the ways!
As the new term approaches many faculty across campus are beginning to reach out to their students. This got me thinking about the what tools our students using for electronic communication. According to the 2011 ECAR National Study of Students and Information Technology in Higher Education (http://www.educause.edu/library/ERS1103), Email and Texting are students’ two most common electronic communication tools…Continue Reading How are our students communicating? Let me count the ways!
Rethinking composition: Bring on the audio!
As we head off to the holiday break many of us are thinking about how courses will run in the Spring semester. For some it is logistical question, but for others it may be larger questions of course delivery and project design. I was reminded recently of an interesting article in EDUCAUSE Quarterly on rethinking…Continue Reading Rethinking composition: Bring on the audio!
LMS Unconference
WPI is pleased to be participating in NERCOMP’s LMS unSIG Unconference this March! Whether your campus has adopted an out-of-the-box learning management system (LMS), an open source solution or has developed a home-grown course management system (CMS), challenges surrounding management, deployment, assessment, upgrades, training, support, security and integration with campus resources are universal. The LMS…Continue Reading LMS Unconference
Responsibly using the wild, wild world of social media
Fair warning: This post contains more questions (we like to think of them as thought-provokers) than answers about navigating the world of social media. We’d love to hear your thoughts – please comment! Can Facebook get you fired? Or maybe worse, not even hired? Boston University School of Management Professor Kabrina Chang recently spoke about…Continue Reading Responsibly using the wild, wild world of social media