The Educause Center for Analysis and Research (ECAR) has released the latest version of its annual report, ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology, 2013. Key findings included: Students recognize the value of technology but still need guidance when it comes to better using it for academics. Students prefer blended learning environments while beginning…
Category: Contemplating Tech
Can You Give Up Your Mobile Device for a Weekend?
Would you like to ditch your mobile device this holiday weekend? Do you think you could do it? Read what happened when one person tried. My weekend Without the iPad Image: Creative Commons.
Using an Online (Paperless) Syllabus
A recent post by Amy Cavender on The Chronicle of Higher Education‘s ProfHacker blog explores the possibilities afforded by a syllabus that is fully online—as a web page that you can update during the semester without having to re-print the syllabus for your students. The post follows a sequence of previous articles on ProfHacker showcasing…
Teaching Students Technology Skills
As the Spring 2013 semester begins to draw to a close, now is a good time to reflect on how we can help our students learn and use technology. Kim Mann, writing for the Academic Technology blog for College of William & Mary, has three simple suggestions:
10 Tips for Successful Multimedia Assignments
You’ve given your students an assignment that includes multimedia as a major or minor component (e.g., a poster, photo, or video project). What steps can you take to help them succeed? Dave Underwood, Academic Technology Consultant and blogger at the University of Colorado, suggests 10 key steps you can take to help students excel at…
How Many Open Browser Tabs is Too Many?
Is your web browser really slow? Does Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, or Google Chrome keep crashing on you? Do you keep dozens of tabs open and become mystified and/or angry when your system slows down- or even worse, crashes on you? Well, knock it off! You are asking too much of your computer and Web…
Technology and Pie: Low-Tech Games for Learning
“The increase in student engagement is beneficial not only for the students but for the instructor, as well. When your students are engaged, it is infectious.”– Corinne Auman On Thursday, February 21, OIT hosted a “Technology and Pie” session that provided an introduction to the use of “low-tech” games for learning. Instructors Kate Freedman (History…
Using Multiple Choice to Test for Knowledge Comprehension
With the semester well underway and midterms approaching, you may already be using or are thinking about using an online or in-class multiple choice exam for your course. While many instructors use this time-honored format to test knowledge recall and recognition, multiple choice exams can be used for testing knowledge comprehension. Jonathan Sterne, Associate Professor…
So, what, exactly, is a “MOOC”?
In 2012 and 2013, so far, there has been a lot of talk about massively open online courses, which are commonly known as “MOOCs”. Almost every session that we attended at the 2013 EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI) Annual Meeting mentioned MOOCs, and the 2013 Horizon Report predicts that MOOCs will see widespread adoption in higher…
Distraction Free Writing
Helping you accomplish all of the things you need to do before breakfast remains the focus of many technologies. Some software helps us remain productive; to-do lists, notes, and all the other digital nags and sound effects that remind us what we should be doing, when we should be doing it, and where. And then there’s…
Video: Changing Education Paradigms
Professor Nat Turner reminded me about this great YouTube video you might enjoy on education paradigms:
Using the iPad for Presentations
Apple’s iPad was released last April so this marks the first semester that faculty might consider using it in a planned way in the classroom. An activity many instructors have expressed interest in is the use of the iPad as a presentation device. After some initial testing I would suggest that this first generation of…