Like many who work in my field, I’ve been thinking (and talking and Zooming but precious little writing) about online learning in the last few months. Here, at last, are a few of my thoughts. To me, one of the issues that is most getting in the way of ensuring students learn is the labeling Read More
Category: Teaching & Learning
Critical Thinking
The question of “what should we teach?” is a perpetual one for educators. Some describe it as a pendulum and believe their job as an educator is to hold the pendulum as the bottom of its arc. Other believe the pendulum belongs on either extreme. Yet others ride the pendulum and just adopt the most Read More
The Assumptions Teachers Make
First, educators make assumptions about the students who enter their classrooms. Sometimes these assumptions are accurate, sometime not. Sometime these assumptions inhibit teaching and learning, sometimes they promote it. These assumptions can be cultural or socioeconomic, reflect expectations regarding prior knowledge and experience, reflect certain values or expectations. Perhaps the most difficult aspect of these assumptions to overcome is that neither the teacher nor the student may be aware of Read More
Elevator Pitch on Teaching and Learning
Ostensibly, teaching and learning are directly associated. Teachers teach what they have planned, learners learn what they are expected to learn; that learning is demonstrated on the tests we administer, everyone leaves the classroom fulfilled. Reality gets in the way of this plan, however. Students do not learn what teachers teach… they learn things other than what was taught… the tests may not even Read More
The Essence of Deeper Learning
This concept has been kicking around in my mind for many months now (during which time it has appeared in this blog). I think I am finally getting to the essence of how I think about it. Many scholars and organizations have proposed variations on deeper learning; each variation is accompanied by suggestions for describing Read More
Significant Learning
Fink (2003) proposed a taxonomy of significant learning that reflects the aspects of learning commonly cites by advocates for deeper learning. According to Fink, significant learning comprises: Foundational knowledge which is the information that is transferred in the Standard Model of Education as well as broader concepts that help organized information; Application which finds learners using the foundational knowledge to solve (or at least attempt to solve) Read More
Digital Badges: A Credential Whose Time is Now?
The idea of digital badges has been kicking around for a few years. The microcredentials are exactly what the names suggest: Badges are credentials; they are awarded when a learner has completed some experience that leads the awarder to believe the learners can do things now that they couldn’t do previously. Badges are micro-credentials; they Read More
Discussions for Deeper Processing
“What is it weakest part of your online or blended course?” is a question I have posed to faculty who teach online. A synopsis of one of the most commonly encountered answers is: I’m afraid my students feel the same about my discussions as I do. They post and respond, and I tell them “say Read More
Can We Agree We are Wrong?
There is so many ideas about teaching and learning that are kicking around in the literature, the blogosphere, and the popular culture that some of them must be incorrect–we know this is true because many of these are contradictory. Let’s clarify that we are wrong about three of these… and these are three that are Read More
Conceptualizing Technology in Education
As information and computer technology (ICT) has become more deeply embedded in curriculum and instruction, technology planning has become an essential part of school leadership. School leaders are expected to take steps to ensure students use technology for diverse learning activities, so infrastructure must be installed and managed, and teachers must be trained in its Read More