Furl http://www.furl.net/ http://backend.userland.com/rss http://www.furl.net/member/hrallis.rss Furl archive. Sun, 23 Nov 2008 14:31:47 GMT http://www.furl.net/item/39910154/forward http://www.furl.net/item/39910154 Tue, 18 Nov 2008 17:04:43 GMT assessment Staying the Course: Online Education in the United States, 2008 represents the sixth annual report on the state of online learning in U.S. higher education. This year’s study, like those for the previous five years, is aimed at answering some of the fundamental questions about the nature and extent of online education. A collaborative effort between the Babson Survey Research Group, the College Board and the Sloan Consortium and supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation the study is based on responses from more than 2,500 colleges and universities 3 http://www.furl.net/item/39909654/forward http://www.furl.net/item/39909654 Tue, 18 Nov 2008 16:43:56 GMT assessment Read Rick Stiggins' white paper ASSESSMENT MANIFESTO Rick Stiggins of ETS Assessment Training Institute has written a white paper detailing the need for balanced assessment systems in America’s schools if we are to succeed in our mission to help all students learn. Download a PDF of the Assessment Manifesto and share it with your colleagues. 3 http://www.furl.net/item/39345103/forward http://www.furl.net/item/39345103 Tue, 04 Nov 2008 14:01:26 GMT human relations, diversity 5 http://www.furl.net/item/39234090/forward http://www.furl.net/item/39234090 index page of Nov 2008 edition of Educational Leadership Sat, 01 Nov 2008 12:03:01 GMT Teaching 3 http://www.furl.net/item/39233824/forward http://www.furl.net/item/39233824 Sat, 01 Nov 2008 11:48:30 GMT Teaching Solving Behavior Problems Together Caltha Crowe How can teachers stop student misbehavior? Try asking the student. Whenever he was asked to write, Andrew, a verbally articulate 3rd grader with learning difficulties, fell apart. During our daily writing workshop, he would lie on the floor, kick his feet, and refuse to write. I would sit beside him and offer support in getting started, but the tantrums would only continue. At a time when he was calm, I asked Andrew to talk privately with me to see if we might figure out a way to make writing go better for him. Andrew accepted my invitation, and in the course of our conversation, we together realized that he was always too tired to think at writing time. Andrew then chose a solution: We'd create a special time for him to write first thing in the morning, when his energy was high. This didn't solve all of Andrew's problems, but he finally began to do some productive writing. 3 http://www.furl.net/item/39233803/forward http://www.furl.net/item/39233803 Sat, 01 Nov 2008 11:47:13 GMT Teaching The Goals of Differentiation Carol Ann Tomlinson Differentiated instruction helps students not only master content, but also form their own identities as learners. After visiting a high school biology class, I asked the teacher why she thought it was worth her effort to set up that day's lab so that students could complete it in several different ways. She looked puzzled at the question, but her answer was direct: "Why do I do this? Because it makes me a better teacher and it makes my students more successful learners." Knowing this teacher, I'm fairly certain that her concept of making her students "more successful learners" extended beyond covering more content knowledge. The ultimate aim of the work that went into preparing for the lab—her detailed knowledge of her students and her efforts to differentiate instruction to meet their individual needs—was to help her students become focused, motivated, and independent learners. Much more than instruction in biology was going on in that classroom. Differentiated instruction is student-aware teaching. It is guided by the premise that schools should maximize student potential, not simply bring students to an externally established norm on a test. To grow as much and as rapidly as possible, students must not only learn essential content, but also increasingly take charge of their own lives as learners. 3 http://www.furl.net/item/39233792/forward http://www.furl.net/item/39233792 Sat, 01 Nov 2008 11:46:18 GMT Teaching As the geeky father of a 9-year-old son and an 11-year-old daughter, one of my worst fears as they grow older is that they won't be Googled well. Not that they won't be able to use Google well, mind you, but that when a certain someone (read: admissions officer, employer, potential mate) enters "Tess Richardson" into the search line of the browser, what comes up will be less than impressive. That a quick surf through the top five hits will fail to astound with examples of her creativity, collaborative skills, and change-the-world work. Or, even worse, that no links about her will come up at all. I mean, what might "Your search did not match any documents" imply? It's a consequence of the new Web 2.0 world that these digital footprints—the online portfolios of who we are, what we do, and by association, what we know—are becoming increasingly woven into the fabric of almost every aspect of our lives. In all likelihood, you, your school, your teachers, or your students are already being Googled on a regular basis, with information surfacing from news articles, blog posts, YouTube videos, Flickr photos, and Facebook groups. Some of it may be good, some may be bad, and most is beyond your control. Your personal footprint—and to some extent your school's—is most likely being written without you, thanks to the billions of us worldwide who now have our own printing presses and can publish what we want when we want to. On the surface, that's an unsettling thought—but it doesn't have to be. In fact, if we are willing to embrace the moment rather than recoil from it, we may find opportunities to empower students to learn deeply and continually in ways that we could scarcely have imagined just a decade ago. 3 http://www.furl.net/item/39233751/forward http://www.furl.net/item/39233751 Sat, 01 Nov 2008 11:43:48 GMT Teaching These are the messages of a YouTube video called "A Vision of Students Today," the work of Michael Wesch's anthropology class at Kansas State University. Last time I checked, it had 2,700,347 views and 7,813 comments. Many of the comments suggest that traditional teaching practice does not meet the needs of students who have at their fingertips an array of data sources, exciting outlets for creativity and collaboration, and—depending on how you look at it—either short attention spans or amazing abilities to multitask. 3 http://www.furl.net/item/39160668/forward http://www.furl.net/item/39160668 Thu, 30 Oct 2008 10:03:43 GMT tea Understanding By Design Resources 3 http://www.furl.net/item/39127795/forward http://www.furl.net/item/39127795 Wed, 29 Oct 2008 10:42:00 GMT Distance education Abstract This study identified the important factors influencing faculty members’ decision to use or not to use any form of online course management applications (OCMA) in higher education. A polynomial logistic analysis led to a statistical-artifact hypothesis: factors did exist that correlated faculty members’ technology adoption decisions. Motivational factors such as Self-efficacy or Philosophy had a strong impact on the probability of using OCMA relative to the reference category of the non-use of OCMA; Teaching experience or Peer-pressure or Class-innovation had no impact; Time was shown not to be a factor. Additionally, this study suggested specific ways in which administrators might play an important role in supporting faculty members’ decisions toward online education. This study was guided by four research questions. It examined six hypothesized independent factors. A random sample of four hundred teaching faculty members in the University of Maine was invited to participate via print surveys. 4