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Learning Principles - Enhancing Education

Learning Principles - Enhancing Education
The following list presents the basic principles that underlie effective learning. These principles are distilled from research from a variety of disciplines. Students’ prior knowledge can help or hinder learning.Students come into our courses with knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes gained in other courses and through daily life. As students bring this knowledge to bear in our classrooms, it influences how they filter and interpret what they are learning.

Could online learning spell the end of snow days? by eSchool News Could the internet mean the end of snow days? Some schools think so, and they are experimenting with ways for students to do lessons online during bad weather, potentially allowing classes to go on during even the worst blizzard. “Virtual snow days” would help ease pressure on school calendars. Because districts are required to be in session for a certain number of hours or days, losing teaching time to winter weather can mean extending the school day or cutting short spring break or summer vacation. Could the internet spell the end of snow days? More districts experiment with online instruction to keep school going during bad weather From staff and wire reports Read more by staff and wire services reports May 18th, 2011 “Virtual snow days” would help ease pressure on school calendars. Could the internet mean the end of snow days? “Virtual snow days” would help ease pressure on school calendars. And canceling school in the winter, when some of the most difficult material of the year is covered, risks leaving students with a learning deficit heading into the spring, when many states administer standardized tests. “Even if you can’t continue on at the same pace, being able to keep students on track can make a huge difference,” said Doug Levin, executive director of the nonprofit State Educational Technology Directors Association. Virtual learning, which has been widely used by colleges and universities for years, is becoming more viable for younger students as teachers and administrators grow comfortable with the technology.

Critical Thinking Skills Are Critical – Education Vision Leadership In Tony Wagner’s book, The Global Achievement Gap, critical thinking and problem solving skills are listed among the main skills the 21st century learner needs to be a productive, successful member of society and to compete with students in a global world. The Partnership for 21st Century Skills also lists critical thinking skills as one of the 4 essential components of learning and innovation. Dr. However, when I reflect on much of what is done in schools, I’m still seeing the scale tipped toward the acquisition of knowledge and rote memorization of information. At the web site CriticalThinkg.org to think critically is defined as: Critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action. Art Costa’s Levels of I

Model of the Moment by Steve Kolowich, Inside Higher Ed These arrangements are unusual beyond the oddity of anointing a Utah-based institution as a state university of Indiana and Washington. (Online education is common at public universities, and Indiana and Washington are no exceptions.) Rather, the main point of departure has to do with Western Governors’s pedagogical model, which focuses not only on teaching new skills but also on awarding credits for existing ones. No classes, no lectures, no fixed academic calendar. Model of the Moment The terms “outsourcing” and “workforce development” are rarely allies in Rust Belt states like Indiana, where the loss of manufacturing jobs has driven an increase in demand for postsecondary degrees that point to vocations that will not soon be exported overseas. But Indiana’s leaders have embraced an outsourcing solution to the state's outsourcing problem. In the aftermath of 2008's financial bloodbath, Indiana was facing a challenge shared by many state governments. The state needed to gut its budget while simultaneously increasing capacity at public universities, especially for adult learners who needed training for new or better jobs. Gov. Mitch Daniels decided that, instead of paying to expand online programs at its existing state institutions, Indiana would contract with a private university outside its borders. Enter Western Governors University, a private, nonprofit, regionally accredited institution headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah. Competencies, not Courses Perfect pitch

Alternate Pedagogies and Experiences In writing about mobile for higher education, other than meeting learner administrative and information needs, I obviously focused more on the formal learning roles mobile devices could facilitate. And one of the things that has been of interest to me is looking differently at pedagogies. Traditional In the traditional view, we activate the learner’s interest, we present them with the concept, we provide examples, we have them practice (with feedback), and we conclude the learning experience. Navigable/adaptive For one, we don’t need to stick to the traditional order. This approach also provides the necessary structure to support adaptive systems, which can present different objects at different times. Problem-based The approach I typically refer to as the problem-based approach (similar approaches are seen in case-based, project-based, and service learning) essentially puts the problem, an overarching practice, first.

Long-Term Memory: A User’s Guide Ms. Malamed, I recently started my journey in obtaining my Masters degree in Instructional Design and Technology. This week in our class we are focusing on learning processing and that “all learning involves forming associations between stimuli and responses” (Ormrod, Schunk, & Gredler, 2009, p.49). Until now I did not realize there were so many different types of memory. Up until know I feel I have been naïve in regards to memory. I’m looking forward to more great articles in the future! Heather References: Ormrod, J., Schunk, D., & Gredler, M. (2009).

More Than a Dozen Ways to Navigate an E-Learning Course A question I’m asked quite often is whether or not to offer instructions on course navigation. It’s a good question because while many courses do have instructions, sometimes they just don’t seem necessary. I addressed this in a previous post where I asked if you need instructions on how to use an elearning course. In today’s post we’ll take a look at some real examples of how people have dealt with the course instructions. Examples of E-Learning Course Instructions When I was reviewing the recent Articulate guru submissions I was struck at the many different ways that people introduced their courses and how they offered navigation tips. The Interface Tour This is probably one of the more common approaches to course navigation. Click here to view the demo. One potential issue with this approach is that a detailed overview of the navigation bogs the course down from the start. Some client demand this type of introduction to the course. No Instructions Please Click here to view the demo.

Moving beyond self-directed learning: Network-directed learning This site has been created to foster discussion on how our thinking, learning, and organizational activities are impacted through technology and societal changes. Since the original publication of Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age, I've been approached by many people requesting additional thinking and discussion. Four tools are available to provide dialogue: Blog for my personal reflective thoughtsWiki for collaborative content creationDiscussion forums for discussion on issues impacted by a connectivist view of learningEmail list for discussions on technology, networks and learning Most resources on this site are intended for public viewing, but contributing to the wiki or discussion forums requires registration. Please create your account by clicking the "join" text on the top, right-hand corner. If you are interested in general learning and technology trends, please visit my elearnspace site.

Bonk's Last Principles of Instruction: A Baker's Dozen Plus One More... I have a colleague here at Indiana University (IU) who asked me for some of my teaching tips yesterday. We chatted on several of them over tea and a bagel at Panera. After reflecting on her question for a day, I just sent her the following 10 teaching tips. When combined they might help others...perhaps. Keep in mind that these are off the top of my head. Bonk's Last Principles of Teaching/Instruction (I just made these up…therefore, they might just be called “Bonk.” And, before you start critiquing these, please keep in mind, I am just giving advice to a friend and colleague. 1. b. c. d. 2. b. c. d. 3. b. c. d. 4. b. c. d. 5. b. c. d. 6. b. c. d. 7. b. c. d. 8. b. c. d. 9. b. c. d. 10. b. c. d. As I said, I hope these help others think about their teaching. 11. b. c. d. 12. b. c. d. 13. b. c. d. 14. b. c. d. Ok, those are the 14 Bonkian Last Principles of Instruction (at least for tonight; tomorrow they might be totally different). Again, the above list was created for a friend.

Evolving the E-Learning Experience for the 21st Century What always stuns me are vendors who state they know what their learners want, but in reality have no clue, because they themselves do not see the technology and its usage among the masses. A greater number of people, worldwide are using SaaS then ever before, mobile products, tablets – especially the iPad – is growing at a feverish pace, people are using online storage, beyond just placing photos and media, and open source is continuing expansion. Each one of these features could be implemented into systems in six months or less. Each one is available today on the Internet for free and these types of products are gaining mass in the global market. Your end users make up that mass, and a statement I hear often is that people aren’t staying in the systems to fully benefit from it. E-Mail The growing number of businesses leaving Microsoft Outlook to Internet e-mail is amazing. Online Storage i.e online hard drives The whole premise of this product began for two reasons Reality Virtual Desktops

Conveying Tacit Knowledge in eLearning By Shelley A. Gable Tacit knowledge can be challenging to teach in formal training, but it's not impossible. So how can we convey tacit knowledge in eLearning? Ikujiro Nonaka has been researching knowledge creation in organizations for over 15 years, which includes trying to understand the nature of tacit knowledge. Nonaka characterizes tacit knowledge as concepts we understand intuitively, but struggle to explicitly explain or describe in writing. If you’ve ever stumped subject matter experts by asking how they made certain decisions, you may have stumbled upon tacit knowledge. Can you clearly explain how to maintain balance when riding a bicycle? So, back to our original question: How can we convey tacit knowledge in eLearning? Storytelling is an excellent approach to tacit knowledge. You can include stories in eLearning via text, audio, and/or video. Social interactions can also help. What examples can you think of? What are other examples of tacit knowledge that come to mind?

Failure is an Option: Helping Students Learn from Mistakes May 16, 2011 By: John Orlando, PhD in Teaching and Learning Failure is one of the best teachers. Most of what I learned about home maintenance I learned from my mistakes. The military understands the benefits of failure and actually gives soldiers tasks that they know will lead to failure at some point as a part of their training. Similarly, pilots are trained on simulators and given a variety of emergency situations until they fail. But instead of using failure as a valuable teaching tool, education discourages it as, well, a sign of failure. One way to reverse this trend is by using gaming in education. We must also rethink the purpose of grading itself. I asked him how this could square with this reputation for toughness. This story proves wrong the view that low grades are a sign of rigor. We learn to write by making mistakes and correcting our mistakes. Consider how to incorporate failure into your teaching in order to generate success. Recent Trackbacks [...] not the journey ahead.

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