Teaching with Technology: A

ConversationClare Brett, Curriculum, Teaching & Learning,

OISE

Innovation Committee, Faculty of Nursing

April 19th, 2011

Agenda

Upcoming directions in teaching with

technology

Overview of technologies for teaching

The role of social presence in online

courses and programs

Upcoming directions in teaching

with technology Technically:

◦ Cloud computing—so smaller faster more powerful machines, mobile, always internet accessible, streaming multimedia

◦ Broadly an increase in user-generated content, customization, user control

Educationally◦ technical changes have initial impact on social contexts,

the broader culture—then to higher education.

◦ Self-organizing systems: more student-generated content, integrating and working collaboratively with ideas; distributed group interaction.

◦ Case-based learning & other more complex, open-ended and authentic learning scenarios; immersive learning environments student-mediated rather than teacher-generated.

Added Value?

A technology enhances the teaching or learning opportunities in some way.◦ Frees up class time to focus on complex

problems, or cases or higher order activities { e.g. answering online questions before class; podcasts of lectures}

◦ Allows instructor to track student understanding on the fly {e.g. using clickers}

◦ Extends opportunities to interact with material and ideas {e.g. problems presented online, web-based simulations or cases accessible before and after class}

◦ Provides authentic learning experiences that connect classroom with real world {e.g. wikis, simulations, learning journals/blogs}

Overview of technologies for

teaching

Clickers

Clickers make lectures more interactive;

Prompt students to engage more deeply with the material;

Can be used to maintain interest, test understanding, or motivate small-group discussion

Are they effective?

More constructive activity; opportunity for social engagement -- should promote learning;

Data from Harvard, MIT, and others showing effectiveness of Peer Instruction in terms of:◦ increased student performance

on tests;

◦ reduced drop-out rates

◦ reduced failure rates

What could you do with them?

Peer discussion example:

◦ Give students a question that tests their

understanding of a difficult concept

◦ Call for a vote

◦ Allow two minutes for peer discussion

◦ Call a second vote

◦ Display the results and address any

outstanding confusion

Podcasts

What are they? Why use

them?

Concerns about Podcasts?

Students won’t show up for class,

leading to:

Fewer interactions between students

and prof;

Loss of student opportunity to interact

with peers, ask questions, etc.

Poor development of student time

management skills, self-discipline;

Increased drop-out rates.

Are these reasonable

concerns? Students appreciate having recorded

lectures;

Not all students use them;

Students see them as most useful for review purposes;

May discourage some students from attending class.

The instructional challenge: How can Podcasts be most effectively used?

◦ e.g., Providing review materials for difficult concepts

◦ e.g., Freeing up class time for more interactive learning activities

Via ITunes or home made

Quicktime

I use small videos made with either

Screenflow (Camtasia) or Quicktime for

online courses.

Wikis—what are they?

Collaborative, open, web-based writing environments

E.g. wikipediahttp://www.wikipedia.org

Anyone can edit the contents of any webpage.

Learners can add and format text and create hyperlinks between webpages.

You can create new pages so the site can grow as you add material.

Instructional value?

Can provide a model of text development—they potentially offer a view of the process of idea development in writing.

Students become participants in the improvement of the course, and develop a persistent, developing resource for students after graduation.

Contributing to wikipedia or other public

resources increases visibility of institution and

increases authenticity of student learning.

Reflective Journals/Blogs

Support the process of integrating

ideas within and among courses.

Can be directed or open-ended

Can be self or instructor assessed.

Means to both direct and assess

student learning for both instructor and

student.

Powerful learning tool (Brett, 2009)—

peer support and

modelling, metacognitive growth.

Learning Journals

Electric Archaeology: Digital Media for

Learning and Research

Second life Education

Immersive Learning

Environments

Immersive Learning

Environments Characterized by:

◦ Embodied and Immersive learning experience

◦ Situated in a virtual world that can model any real world contextSecond

Life

◦ Role playing brings learning to life

◦ Can model complex and authentic situations—very appropriate for medical learning

◦ Thought to be more motivating and relevant as a learning context for the net generation raised on video games and social media

◦ Research on the learning effectiveness of these and other web 2.0 tools are still emerging.

◦ Shows promise for incorporating new, more comprehensive forms of assessment (Clarke-Medura&Dede, 2010).

◦ Emerging potential uses in nursing and other health care domains (for a review see Hansen, 2008, JMIR).

Assessment principles using

technology: To provide continuity between instruction and assessment by using

learner-centred assessments which complement learner-centredactivities.

Construct course with a wide range of learning activities and assessment measures that will appeal to a range of learners and at the same reduce the opportunities for plagiarism and cheating.

Encourage and assess learner contributions to discussion.

Use rubrics to establish performance expectations and to provide a meaningful basis for self-assessment or teacher assessment.

Always provide prompt feedback on assessments and assignments. This both encourages engagement and reduces anxiety among learners.

Treat online quizzes and tests as open-book learning experiences and design them with this in mind. This will reduce instructor anxiety about cheating!

Use a variety of more extended measures such as projects, learning portfolios, self-assessments and ongoing assessment of discussion contributions.

(Taken from Palloff, R. M. & Pratt, K. (2009). Assessing the Online Learner: Resources and Strategies for Faculty. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, CA )

Current Research

Private—public contexts

Recommend: other entries; journal articles

Community: social presence, identity

Collaborative writing environments

Build-a-case environment

E.g. COIL at Bridgepoint Health;

(Collaborative Online Interprofessional

Learning)

Collaboration with UT

Using video, simulated patient

records, interactive exercises to create

cases in different areas:

diabetes, complex chronic care.

References Benton, T. H. (2009). Online learning: Reaching out to the skeptics. The Chronicle of Higher Education,

September. [Accessed October 2009, http://chronicle.com/article/Online-Learning-Reaching-Out/48375/]

Brett, C., Forrester, B., & Fujita, N. (2009). Learning journals as an instructional and self-assessment tool for epistemological growth in online learning. Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology. 35(1), 1-18.[Accessed October 2009: http://www.cjlt.ca/index.php/cjlt/article/view/517/247]

Brett, C. Links to various educational technology presentations, including this one: http://grail.oise.utoronto.ca/blog/clare/publications-presentations/

Bruns, A. & Humphreys, S. (2005). Wikis in teaching and assessment: The M/Cyclopedia project. WikiSym, International Wiki Symposium, October, 2005, San Diego, CA. [Accessed October 2009, http://eprints.qut.edu.au/2289/].

Clarke-Midura, J., &Dede, C. (2010). Assessment, Technology, and Change. Journal of Research, Education and Technology, 42 (3).

Ferriter, B. (2009). Learning with blogs and wikis. Educational Leadership. 66(5), 34-38. [Accessed October 2009, http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational_leadership/feb09/vol66/num05/Learning_with_Blogs_and_Wikis.aspx]

Hansen M. M, (2008). Versatile, creative, immersive & dynamic virtual 3-D learning environments: A review of the lieterature. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 10 (3). http://www.jmir.org/2008/3/e26/

Palloff, R. M. & Pratt, K. (2009). Assessing the Online Learner: Resources and Strategies for Faculty. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, CA .

Peters, V., & Hewitt, J. (2010). An investigation of student practices in asynchronous computer conferencing courses. Computers & Education, 54, 951-961.

Reynard, R. (2008). Avoiding the 5 most Common mistakes in using blogs with students. T.H.E. Journal, October. [Accessed October 2009, http://www.campustechnology.com/Articles/2008/10/Avoiding-the-5-Most-Common-Mistakes-in-Using-Blogs-with-Students.aspx]

Rimer, S. (2009). At MIT, large lectures are going the way of the Blackboard. NY Times, Jan 12. [Accessed October 2009, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/13/us/13physics.html?_r=1

Contact Information:

Clare Brett, PhD, Department of

Curriculum, Teaching & Learning:

clare.brett@utoronto.ca

http://grail.oise.utoronto.ca/blog/clare/

about/