Pedagogy

The Innovating Pedagogy report is an annual overview of edutech from the Institute of Educational Technology at the Open University. The 2013 report, the second in the series, selects 10 emerging innovations from the long list of existing technologies which the institute believes have the potential to make a significant impact on education. These are not technologies which are in development or even new, but rather technologies and ideas which are already being effected but have room to expand. The report ranks each innovation in terms of potential impact and timescale for implementation, describes its current application, and then explains the pedagogy behind the innovation and how it could be re-envisioned for maximum impact. The second innovation the report describes is the use of badges to accredit learning.

Potential impact: high
Timescale: medium (2-5 years)

The Innovating Pedagogy report is an annual overview of edutech from the Institute of Educational Technology at the Open University. The 2013 report, the second in the series, selects 10 emerging innovations from the long list of existing technologies which the institute believes have the potential to make a significant impact on education. These are not technologies which are in development or even new, but rather technologies and ideas which are already being effected but have room to expand. The report ranks each innovation in terms of potential impact and timescale for implementation, describes its current application, and then explains the pedagogy behind the innovation and how it could be re-envisioned for maximum impact. The first innovation the report discusses are MOOCs or "Massive open online courses".

Potential impact: large
Timescale: short (1-2) years

A recent article in Faculty Focus by Dr. Ronald Jones from Ashford University approached the difficulty of keeping students engaged in an online classroom to the same level of a traditional classroom. Dr. Jones research showed a statistically significant correlation between the time a student spent logged in to an online course and his grade. While he admits that correlation doesn't imply causation, the research seems to suggest that maximizing student engagement can significantly improve student outcomes. In a blended classroom, the instructor has control over how much time students spend in the classroom, so the variable becomes introducing that same level of engagement into the blended aspects of the course. While Dr. Jones focuses his five tips on the online course, they can be easily adapted to work for a blended course. The tips reproduced below are Dr. Jones' original tips, with modified descriptions to fit with blended learning classrooms.

The question on the mind of the educator, blended learning enthusiast or otherwise, when faced with online courses is always the same: as EdSurge asks, "Do online courses work?" Supporters and detractors alike have been attempting to answer this question for years, citing mixed anecdotal result and conflicting research. Now, SRI International is attempting to provide closure to at least one part of the question by extensively reviewing online Alegrba 1 courses in a report called "Supporting K-12 Students in Online Learning: A Review of Online Algebra 1 Courses." The report, which is the first phase of a larger study, examines six online course providers and profile their strengths and weaknesses. Algebra 1 is slightly outside the purview of most college-level educators, but the report doesn't stop with reviewing these courses. The study is focused on three research questions:

Thinking Context is a recent post by John Warner on his Inside Higher Ed blog, "Just Visiting," where Warner considers and discusses the implications of the language educators use. Regardless of whether or not the particular terms he discusses - peer review vs. peer response, workshop vs. laboratory, research paper vs. researched essay, etc - are relevant to your field and your classroom, he raises important points about the necessity of deliberate language in the classroom. These standardized education terms, as he points out, are often communicating more than we intend, and can set an unintended tone for assignments and activities.

While Warner's article is focused on the traditional classroom, his argument has interesting implications for the world of blended education, where the terminology is less established, less conventional, and more flexible. As we are beginning to arrive at mutually agreed upon and communally understood language, it's important to think through the implications of the terminology which is gaining traction.

WebWriting is a born-digital, open-access "book-in-progress" sponsored by the Trinity College Center for Teaching and Learning. It deals with issues concerning when, how, and why the web can be used for teaching writing by incorporating essay concerning basic but difficult questions about the risks and benefits of using the web, reconfiguring pedagogy to use online resources, and finding the right tools. The book also deals with specific issues like "How to organize simultaneous peer review with Google Doc" and "Balancing Public Writing and Student Privacy". The site is powered by WordPress's CommentPress Corp plugin, which allows users to interact with the text by leaving comments on sections, pages, or the entire document. The book also includes an annotated "Bibliography-in-progress," complete with links to the cited sources, which creates a small but concise resource library for users interested in the topics WebWriting approaches.

I was struck by two themes running through the conference presentations this year:

First, the importance of "closing the loop," or bringing the online components of a blended course back into the classroom in some way. Kristine Rabberman, for example, talked about the importance of opening class discussions with insightful observations, questions, or debates from her course's online discussion boards and blogs, as part of her strategy for fostering a deeper, sustained intellectual conversation online and in the classroom. This resonated with feedback we received on student surveys of courses that were part of the NGLC blended learning study project. Rightly or wrongly, students perceived online work that was not recognized in some way as being unimportant or ancillary to the course. Making these activities "low-stakes" (i.e., giving some points or credit for completing them) rather than "no-stakes" was one common mechanism faculty used to signal that online materials were important, but student survey responses and experiences faculty shared suggest that discussing students' online work in class as Kristine did or explicitly communicating how you are using student's online work to diagnose and address problems -- for example, by going over a problem you noticed students were having trouble with in online homework, might be as, if not more, effective. 

First, I would like to thank everyone who helped to make this year's Blended Learning in the Liberal Arts Conference a success. Our in-house catering, conference, and housekeeping teams and my student assistants, Yichen Liao and Angela Rosenberg, did a stellar job of making sure we were well-fed and everything ran smoothly behind the scenes. The fact that they were able to do so immediately following Bryn Mawr's graduation celebrations (and for the students, weeks of exams) is a testament to their talent and dedication!

I would also like to thank our 15 presenters, who agreed to expose their teaching and their discoveries to public scrutiny, so that we all might learn from the experience. Recordings of their presentations and any slides and materials they've shared are archived on our conference website -- just click on the title of a presentation in the schedule to see everything associated with it.

The conference was a huge success, attracting about 100 registered guests from over 30 institutions, not counting many Tri-College faculty and staff who dropped into sessions as their schedules permitted. As always audience questions and comments and the informal conversations over breaks and lunch were one of the most valuable and interesting aspects of the event.

Learning isn't only about receiving material, but also about being able represent that material in new and interesting ways. Sites like Prezi and Spicynodes offer presentation methods that are web-friendly, open to collaboration, and "read" in more interactive ways than traditional presentation methods.

Resources covered:
Prezi
Spicynodes

Prezi's presentation method is based on the idea of "zooming," which allows user to brainstorm in a more natural, fluid fashion and then easily convert their thoughts into a presentation. Prezi suggests a variety of classroom uses, including more engaging teacher lectures and class collaboration.

Spicynodes also provides a more visually dynamic way of presenting information. In particular, Spicynodes is a great tool for concept mapping in the sciences, and for students to create their own maps of ideas for more effective studying. While the Spicynodes interface can be overwhelming at times, its capability to keep multiple "nodes" on screen simultaneously is useful for mapping complex ideas. Spicynodes also suggests classroom applications, including some sample lesson plans for teaching using Spicynodes.