This vodcast is a panel discussion about how the World Wide Web is rapidly evolving into a highly interactive learning tool. Michael Singer hosts David Barnes of IBM, Michael Zermuellen of Stephens Institute, and Stephen Socolof of New Venture Partners. Listen to what these industry insiders have to say.
This vodcast is made available by Spotlight.
The exciting news is that these web applications free users from the limitations of their operating system! How’s is this? Web applications are through the web browser which handles any translation needed to get the operating system to do whatever. So the same web application can be run on computers running DOS/Windows, Linux, OS/X, AIX, and any other operating system.
Mid-western students do not like to speak in public. They are not used to challenging authority
even though they may disagree with it. Fortunately, there are some ways to get them to step out of their shells but it takes some effort.
One way is to introduce a little controversy into the discussion. Bringing up a hot issue like “should we withdraw the troops from Iraq” is a powerful way to draw students out. One of my favorite strategies is to use have students view a film such as Fahrenheit 911 and then respond to a controversial question in a discussion board forum.
I tried this for the first time about 7 years ago out of desperation. I set up a controversial discussion for each of the 15 weeks of the semester. I was pessimistic about getting much participation so I required my students to participate in only 3 forums. To maintain fairness I also wanted to establish a ceiling on the number of points students could earn. So I setup the grading system so students earned points on 3 and only 3 forums and waited.
Participation was off the charts! The was a wide range in the quality of comments in the forums. Some were funny. Others were irreverent. At times I had to moderate some flaming discussions. But authentic discussion was happening. Students were debating with each other and even challenging me. It was fantastic!
How good was it? The students were only on the hook to participate in 3 discussion board forums. I knew we had exceeded that number but I was shocked to find out the average number of forums each student participated in was over 13. Yes! We have exceeded the goal by 433%.
I also use academic controversy in the classroom. It is successful there too but I don’t have any metrics on it to share with you.
This program provides an entertaining explanation of podcasting. What is it? How much tech-stuff do I need to use them? Why do I care about them? If you don’t know this one is for you. Invest 3 minutes and learn something today.
I can’t properly convey how exciting educational technology is becoming. There is so much to share with you I am compelled to just dump it all into this blog in one great big lump. But then it would be far too much for any of us to digest. So I will just say the world wide web and educational commons are quickly moving beyond the point of freeing us from the limits of time and space. It is empowering us to create online courses and new materials far superior to those we commonly use today.
I know it sounds like science fiction but it is true. Believe me. I am more skeptical than most educators and I’ve become a true believer.
TED brings us Richard Baraniuk’s talk about how educators are beginning to replace the old model of publishing educational content. We can now reduce costs while customizing the content of our learning matierals! Through collaborative efforts educators are drastically decreasing the time it takes to include current content in their texts. Its all happening today and the community of collaborators is growing daily.
Do you like playing with legos? Braniuk participates with Rice University’s Connections program. It is just one of many emerging collaborative environments where participants use common computer technology to create, rip, mix, and burn learning materials. These are the skills our students use for their own entertainment. With these skills educators add new content and blend it with other blocks to produce their customized texts. Watch this video and see how empowering it can be.
What about copyright law? Hear how Creative Commons is building a new from of intellectual property protect that promotes sharing and openness.
Join the collaborative community of learners now! Really. The water is fine.
This is a very exciting vodcast and its produced with the quality TED is known for.
TEDTalks offers some of the best content you can add to your Blackboard course. Each talk, usually under 20 minutes, is given by a leading expert in his/her field and is produced with the best quality available. These talks are made available to the public domain by means to Creative Commons so you can feel free to use them for your classes.
Nicholas Negroponte has lead a distinguished career heading up the Media Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Under his watch the department was directly involved in the research ad development of much of the computer technology we take for granted today. He is a man who knows what he is talking about!
Nicholas Negroponte talks about the One Laptop Per Child initiative. You can’t help catching his enthusiasm about this educational initiative. In fact, he is so enthusiastic that he took this on as his seminal mission upon stepping down as Chair of the prestigious MIT Media Lab.
This talk would make an excellent jumping point to engaging computer science students in a discussion of ethics. Ought we make an inexpensive computer for the children of the third world? What’s in it for us? Why should we care about the global economy?
If you’re wondering about the progress of this initiative view this update. I won’t tell so you’ll have to watch.
These are great talks and are ideal for inclusion into courses dealing with technology and education. I’m sure there are several other subject such as economics that may benefit from them. They are both brief and entertaining.
You can find these programs on YouTube as well as help adding them to your online course material. If you need more help just email me or leave a comment here.
