Constructivism | online learning insights The Web as a classroom is transforming how people learn, is driving the need for new pedagogy; two recently launched courses at Coursera highlight what happens when pedagogical methods fail to adapt. Divided pedagogy I wrote recently about the Fundamentals of Online: Education [FOE] the Coursera course that was suspended after its first week and is now in MOOC hibernation mode. Over thirty thousands students signed up for the course hoping to learn how to develop an online course. On the other hand there is the e-Learning and Digital Cultures course also offered on Coursera’s platform that began on the same day as FOE, yet the Digital Cultures course appears to be a smashing success if we use the engagement levels of students on social media platforms as a gauge. The Tale of the Two What made e-Learning and Digital Cultures successful and FOE not? Four orientations to learning; each embodies a belief of how people learn including the processes that bring about learning. References
Communities of practice The term “community of practice” is of relatively recent coinage, even though the phenomenon it refers to is age-old. The concept has turned out to provide a useful perspective on knowing and learning. A growing number of people and organizations in various sectors are now focusing on communities of practice as a key to improving their performance.This brief and general introduction examines what communities of practice are and why researchers and practitioners in so many different contexts find them useful as an approach to knowing and learning. What are communities of practice? Note that this definition allows for, but does not assume, intentionality: learning can be the reason the community comes together or an incidental outcome of member’s interactions. The domain: A community of practice is not merely a club of friends or a network of connections between people. It is the combination of these three elements that constitutes a community of practice. Where does the concept come from?
Locus of Control Explanations > Preferences > Locus of Control Internal | External | So what? Locus of Control as a principle was originated by Julian Rotter in 1954. It considers the tendency of people to believe that control resides internally within them, or externally, with others or the situation. Note that, like other preferences, this is a spectrum. Internal People with a high internal locus of control believe in their own ability to control themselves and influence the world around them. Rotter (1990) describes the internal locus of control as: 'the degree to which persons expect that a reinforcement or an outcome of their behavior is contingent on their own behavior or personal characteristics' Their belief in their ability to change things may well make them more confident and they will hence seek information that will help them influence people and situations. They are more likely to have expectancy shifts, where a sequence of similar events are expected to have different outcomes. External
Introducing The Map - A Proven Process For Developing Successful Online Communities Here is a simple map for those of you whom aren't on the Pillar Summit mailing list. The Map The map is based upon the online community lifecycle. Over the past few decades the lifecycle has been developed by academics, refined by practitioners and perfected by us. There are four stages to online community development. These are inception, establishment, maturity and mitosis (there is death too, but lets skip that for now). {click for larger image} Stage 1) Inception The inception stage of the online community lifecycle begins when the organization or individual begins interacting with their target audience and ends with the community achieving a critical mass of activity. The community reaches critical mass when more than 50% of growth and activity is being generated by members (as opposed to the community manager.) The goal for the community manage at this stage is to provide the initial momentum and nurture the growth and activity until it has become self-sustaining.
~ Stephen's Web Revised and Updated (minor corrections and typos only) and placed in MS-Word Document form, November 27, 2007. Click here. The version that follows below is the original (uncorrected) version). Yet another article, describing new forms of knowledge as probablistic, has crossed my desk today, and consequently it seems appropriate at this time to type a few words on the nature of distributed knowledge. It should go without saying that these are my own thoughts, and this discussion should not therefore be considered an authoritative reference on the subject. a. You probably grew up learning that there are two major types of knowledge: qualitative and quantitative. Distributed knowledge adds a third major category to this domain, knowledge that could be described as connective. This is more than just the existence of a relation between one entity and another; it implies interaction. This is why it is incorrect to represent distributed knowledge merely as a type of probabilistic knowledge.
What Is Communilytics? : A community analytics funnel in practice Teaching Students to Embrace Mistakes For the last ten years, we've worked one-on-one with students from elementary school through graduate school. No matter their age, no matter the material, when you ask what they're struggling with, students almost universally name a subject: "math," "English" or, in some instances, "school." Doubting that all of school is the issue, we then ask to see their last test. After some grumbling, the student digs down, deep into the dark, dank recesses of his or her backpack, and pulls out a balled-up, lunch-stained paper that, once smoothed out, turns out to be the latest exam. To a teacher, this should be incredibly frustrating. The Science Behind Mistakes Telling students they need to take advantage of the feedback they get isn't just good advice -- it's established science. Picture a classical violinist rehearsing. Mistakes are the most important thing that happens in any classroom, because they tell you where to focus that deliberate practice. Credit: Hunter Maats and Katie O'Brien
Online Communities Part Three: Growing the Community inShare00inShare This report is part of the Online Communities bundle. Downloads Online Communities Part Three: Growing the Community (827 KB PDF) About this report Online Communities Part Three: Growing the Community is the third report in a series of four that focus on digital community building. The first report in this series, Starting a Community, focused on establishing communities. The third report introduces the use of email marketing to grow and enhance your community. Dispels the myth that email marketing is deadDiscusses how email marketing is the digital glue of social mediaExplores ways in which email marketing and social media go together like Batman and Robin to help grow online communities The author, DJ Waldow, is a marketer, social community manager and frequent blog author who writes from his experience building communities for clients in a variety of industries including retail, travel & tourism, and not-for profit. Table of contents
Tony Wagner’s Seven Survival Skills “The idea that a company’s senior leaders have all the answers and can solve problems by themselves has gone completely by the wayside…The person who’s close to the work has to have strong analytic skills. You have to be rigorous: test your assumptions, don’t take things at face value, don’t go in with preconceived ideas that you’re trying to prove.” —Ellen Kumata, consultant to Fortune 200 companies “The biggest problem we have in the company as a whole is finding people capable of exerting leadership across the board…Our mantra is that you lead by influence, rather than authority.” —Mark Chandler, Senior Vice President and General Counsel at Cisco “I’ve been here four years, and we’ve done fundamental reorganization every year because of changes in the business…I can guarantee the job I hire someone to do will change or may not exist in the future, so this is why adaptability and learning skills are more important than technical skills.”
The PLP model: Research-based professional learning A vast body of literature underlies the connected learning communities model — our three-pronged approach at Powerful Learning Practice. Here we cite the studies and literature most relevant to connected learning in the digital age and offer supporting points to help readers understand the rationale behind the PLP learning model here. We’ve grouped the findings under three headings — the three components of connected learning communities: professional learning communities (PLCs), personal learning networks (PLNs), and communities of practice (CoPs). After a brief description of each component’s characteristics, we delve into underlying theories, experience and knowledge, effectiveness for teacher professional development, anticipated growth or decline, challenges and dilemmas, and use of technology. Professional Learning Communities Theories Experience and Knowledge Effectiveness for Teacher Professional Development Anticipated Growth or Decline Challenges and Dilemmas Use of Technology
The Other 21st Century Skills Schooling and institutionalized education have become removed from true, instinctual, and human/humane learning. Humans have been learning since the beginning of time with major discoveries and innovations historically and currently emerging in spite of school. This is the biggest problem I have with schools – most are contrived and coercive and do not honor the innate human need and desire to learn, discover, and evolve. If order to fully understand the purpose of school, the history of its evolution as an institution needs to be understood. What follows is part of A Brief History of Education in the Freedom to Learn series published in Psychology Today: If we want to understand why standard schools are what they are, we have to abandon the idea that they are products of logical necessity or scientific insight. From the Time Magazine article, How to Bring Our Schools Out of the 20th Century I have never let my schooling interfere with my education. Like this: Like Loading...
7 Must-Have Tools For The Flipped Classroom 7 Must-Have Tools For The Flipped Classroom by first appeared on gettingsmart.com The flipped classroom uses technology to allow students more time to apply knowledge and teachers more time for hands-on education. It’s a continually changing strategy that evolves with technology. Innovative educators are usually on the lookout for the latest technology breakthroughs that will help them better organize and conduct flipped classrooms. The following tools are listed from most basic to most sophisticated and can be used alone or in tandem to make flipped classrooms more engaging. Google Drive Google Drive (Docs) has many advantages over traditional word processing programs, including real-time automatic updates visible to all users, a feature that enables robust discussion and sharing. YouTube Ideal for first-time flippers, YouTube offers a user-friendly, universally understood platform for taped lectures and other educational videos. Teachem The Flipped Learning Network Camtasia Studio
Mindsets and STudent Agency Deeper learning requires students to think, question, pursue, and create—to take agency and ownership of their learning. When they do, they acquire deeper understanding and skills, and most important, they become more competent learners in and out of school. They become better prepared to succeed in academics, but also in 21st century careers and in life. We can’t force students to develop agency and drive their own learning. It must come from within. Hierarchy of Learner Needs A large body of research in psychology and education, focused on areas such as motivation, mindset, college & career readiness, grit, non-cognitive factors, and 21st century competencies, is uncovering the critical elements needed for students to drive their own learning. Before diving in, let’s acknowledge that just like any other human being, students need to meet their physiological needs such as food, safety (physical and emotional), and connection with others. A growth mindset can be learned. Dweck.
M.I.T. Scholar’s 1949 Essay on Machine Age Is Found Photo It was a vision that never saw the light of day. The year was 1949, and computers and robots were still largely the stuff of science fiction. Only a few farsighted thinkers imagined that they would one day become central to civilization, with consequences both liberating and potentially dire. One of those visionaries was Norbert Wiener (1894-1964), an American mathematician at the . In 1949, The New York Times invited Wiener to summarize his views about “what the ultimate machine age is likely to be,” in the words of its longtime Sunday editor, Lester Markel. Wiener accepted the invitation and wrote a draft of the article; the legendarily autocratic Markel was dissatisfied and asked him to rewrite it. In August, according to Wiener’s papers, which are on file at the M.I.T. “Could you send the first draft to me, and we’ll see whether we can combine the two into one story?” But by then Wiener was traveling in Mexico, and he responded: Consider the Abacus Mass-Produced Laborers