Teaching for Enduring Understanding. Earlier this summer I discussed the idea of backward design, which comes from Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe’s excellent book Understanding by Design. Recall that backward design is a three-stage process, in which you as a teacher first identify your desired results for a class, then determine what would count as evidence that your students did or did not reach those results, and finally, design your learning experience around your desired results and evidence.
The idea behind backward design is simple, yet it’s something I find myself relearning again and again. Even now, as I prep for the upcoming semester, I am tempted to focus on what I want my students to read, rather than what I want my students to understand. It’s a testament to my perennial rediscovery of backward design that I wrote virtually the same sentence as above in my earlier post on backward design—and had forgotten I had done so. I trust (hope?) Note the word “uncoverage” here.
Return to Top. Imagining the Future of the University. [This is a guest post by Lisa Spiro, the director of NITLE labs, editor of the Digital Research Tools Wiki, and author of Digital Scholarship in the Humanities blog. You may find her on Twitter as @lisaspiro. -GHW] I sometimes hear that the classroom of today looks and functions much like the classroom of the 19th century—desks lined up in neat rows, facing the central authority of the teacher and a chalkboard (or, for a contemporary twist, a whiteboard or screen.)
Is this model, born of the industrial age, the best way to meet the educational challenges of the future? What do we see as the college classroom of the future: a studio? A reconfigurable space with flexible seating and no center stage? As Rice University celebrates its centennial and looks forward to its next 100 years, it hosted a dialogue on “ The Future of the Research University in a Global Age” at the De Lange Conference on February 27-28. In many ways, universities’ present and near future seem gloomy.
Untitled. Astronomy Education Review. Applied Math and Science Education Repository - Home. Case Studies. Speaking About... Course Redesign. Course Redesign Webinar Thursday, February 27, 2014 and Friday, February 28, 2014 *If you missed this Speaking About Course Redesign online conference or would like to access the recorded sessions or PowerPoint slides, please visit our PAST SESSIONS page.
Course redesign is the process of restructuring an entire course to achieve better learning outcomes and lower costs by taking advantage of the capabilities of technology. Our online conference speakers, who have participated in successful course redesigns, will discuss a variety of issues such as: understanding when and why to redesign, how to get started with course redesign, and things to consider while planning a course redesign. All you need is a computer, an Internet connection, and a phone! Join just one or any number of the sessions listed below. All sessions are live with Question & Answer time included. All times are Eastern Standard Time Looking for more course redesign resources? Harvard Seeks to Jolt University Teaching - Teaching. By Dan Berrett Cambridge, Mass.
A growing body of evidence from the classroom, coupled with emerging research in cognitive psychology and neuroscience, is lending insight into how people learn, but teaching on most college campuses has not changed much, several speakers said here at Harvard University at a daylong conference dedicated to teaching and learning. Too often, faculty members teach according to habits and hunches, said Carl E. Wieman, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist and associate director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, who has extensively studied how to improve science education. In large part, the problem is that graduate students pursuing their doctorates get little or no training in how students learn. "It really requires someone to be doubly expert," Mr.
Such approaches would demand much more of students and faculty. "We assume that telling people things without asking them to actively process them results in learning," Mr. Mr.
Don't Lecture Me. Rethinking the Community College Classroom Experience. Digital Learning | Feature Rethinking the Community College Classroom Experience By Bridget McCrea01/04/12 Santa Monica College is engaging students in new ways with the help of a digital learning studio that the southern California-based community college rolled out last fall. Funded by a $2 million Department of Education Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institution Program (AANAPISI) grant, the studio includes multiple screens with advanced touch technology, special education software, a Smart Response system with 24 clickers, and eight iPads. Regina Jennings, project manager, said the project was based on SMC's goal of strengthening its minorities program through the use of experimental technologies. "The grant provided an opportunity to get the biggest bang for our buck and introduce technologies that could serve our entire student population," said Jennings.
Working with Albert J. Changing Education Paradigms.