Best Practices and Cool Tools

There are a lot of worth looking videos online about online teaching and learning this is one

This is one about first time online teacher:


This is about using simulations:


This is about audiovisual aids (multimedia) to enhance learning

About online teaching

Have a look at this video http://youtu.be/9krBzBMlHVE 

and this one

Pulling students in

As we finish the semester I find that some students were willing to dip in and some were waiting to be pulled in. I feel like some students taking the class were thinking that they had to take it for some external reason unfamiliar to them, this of course is not the first time! It looks like every year with a new set of students we face the same'ol issue of motivation. Now motivation is a product of self-knowledge and maturity, and is necessary to produce engagement in the class. As engagement is the product of motivation and active learning and not an ingredient provided by the teacher. This is a common misconception: good teachers produce student's engagement in the classroom. Good teachers provide the conditions for engagement within an active learning setting, but will not be able to engage the student if the student is not motivated. And there are many reasons why the student might not be motivated, one is lack of self-esteem! Here is were a good teacher might be able to do something, there are according to Jack Canfield 100 ways to enhance self-concept in the classroom  and 100 ways to build self-esteem and teach values but at the end is for the student to take ownership of their performance, their education, and their future.    

Commencement

Commencement is a long tradition in the academic world, represents the transition from student life to that of a "professional." So one expects that the ceremony will give an insight of how those years spent as a student make a mark on the character and ethos of the individual. When one observes the changes in those who one met a few years back and then see how they have matured and evolved, there is no other feeling but the satisfaction of being a participant in that process.
So how would "Commencement" look when students get their education through online programs, what king of relationship will be developed between students, instructors, teachers, and professors; not to mention administrators? Will it be possible to witness the evolution and maturation of a young student through the critical years of traditional college?
Or is the new paradigm of online education only effective when educating adults? These are questions that many in the academic world are addressing.
My feeling is that with the complicated and diverse nature of humans, no one system will fit all. Hybrid systems will always be more effective and will have the advantage of adaptability in a fast changing world.

“How much do students here learn? How do you know?”

These questions posed by David Brooks in an article in the NY Times are symptomatic of the need to assess education, but Brooks is missing the point when tries to use some pseudo  quantitative information related to the "amounts" learned by students in college.
This misguided attempt to measure gain is skills using Arum and Roksa's study “Academically Adrift", where they "found that, on average, students experienced a pathetic seven percentile point gain in skills during their first two years in college and a marginal gain in the two years after that." But then Brooks mention that the numbers are "disputed" and continues by saying "but the study suggests that nearly half the students showed no significant gain in critical thinking, complex reasoning and writing skills during their first two years in college." So why use the suggestion of the study if the numbers are contested?
There are other ways of knowing how education is affecting one's life and ways to quantify the benefit of higher education for instance the average income of tax payers with or without a four-year college education. The percent of unemployed with or without a college degree and so on. So when Brooks ask parents to ask the question to college administrators "How much do students here learn?" is misguiding them as a more appropriate question would be: How do you assess the quality of the education provided here?
This question will make parents more involved in their children's education and will also help them to see the need of hard work and commitment when choosing a career more so today when STEM majors are lagging way behind other industrialized nations.    

Talent

What it takes to learn?
One of the most talked virtues in teaching is "making difficult concepts easy to understand". One can struggle with this idea for it not only requires engagement from the teacher but also from the student, and the objective (might be course content) not being easily accessible to a simple interpretation.
As a metaphor one can use the idea of a symphony: how can one understand even enjoy a piece by Stravinsky if one hasn't a basic knowledge of harmony, melody, or rhythm?
Stravinsky Conducts Firebird http://youtu.be/5tGA6bpscj8
You can teach making it fun and using games like this video can show http://youtu.be/FKg0Edb0LSI
but it will always be necessary for all to be engaged! Here is where "talent" becomes part of the learning "equation" as talent will be an individual attribute. Not everyone has "an ear" for music, or "a leg" for soccer! So how can we know what kind of talent is needed for a particular subject? And once we know what king of talent is required can we (teachers and councilors) help students develop such talent?
As we all we do in life everything is connected so one way to address this issue would be to find the links to the motivation needed for the development of such talent. Also we have to know the scope of the requirements in that particular field, for example a student seeking a degree that would allow him/her work as a pharmacist in retail might not need a course in quantum chemistry but one working in research might need. So can we know what the future will be for that student? Or by not teaching quantum chemistry to pharmacy students are we restricting the scope of the student's future?

Mrs. McVey's class

I got a very encouraging email today from Mrs. April McVey telling me that she has been using some environmental references from my website at Warner Pacific College. This is one of the wonders of the internet that you design your writings and postings targeting a narrow audience and you never know who else will be part of it. I want to openly thank Mrs. McVey for taking the time to let me know about this and also for letting me know of a broken link that I had there. It is through this kind of ineraction that we can improve continously our endevour in teaching and learning. Thanks so much Mrs. McVey!