em Blog 643

Last week in class, we discussed webinars and how they can be used to efficiently share information online. I am excited to have the chance to conduct my first ever webinar in the following weeks and will work hard to make sure it is inclusive and interactive. One problem with the webinars I have watched in the past is that they are very similar to lectures. Using software like BlueJeans will allow for conversations to take place between participants and for a moderator to watch and feed questions to the presenter. I have conducted online presentations for work previously, but they tend to be challenging in a few ways. First, questions are not well moderated. When someone has a question, they often interrupt your flow and ask it. Next, video calling is always a little strange - why do they want to see my face and how does it benefit the presentation? I would feel more comfortable just using audio, so I am happy to hear that’s what we are doing. There’s no need to distract from the int...

Last week in class, we had our one-shot workshops. The workshops centered around ethics and our team focused on privacy and access to information, looking at a case study of learning analytics and one from corporations. In all of the workshops, I felt like I heard many different voices and was glad they were discussed based. The groups did a good job managing time and used smaller discussion groups to distribute work while bringing it back together at the end, something our team could have improved.  How People Learn , Chapter 7, provides insights into what makes some teachers truly outstanding and the research that contributes to these teaching strategies. Specifically, the authors give examples from history, mathematics, and science classrooms. Behind these successful teachers are curriculums, philosophies, and situations that create positive learning experiences. Teachers in these examples have an underlying belief that learning goes beyond memorization and calculations into ...

Last week in class we completed Socratic seminars to help us see how book clubs can help people to understand readings and discuss what they think is essential. We broke into groups, and our group had to complete four different readings, or short stories, including Eleven, The Hitchhiker, and The Lottery, in addition to our choice of A Modest Proposal. Many of the authors I was unfamiliar with, and I feel really fortunate to have read them, especially The Hitchiker. It was an incredible read that prompted discussions in our group about how control can play a role in developing a narrative. I was also happy to hear the group speaking about the use of reason in A Modest Proposal to show how satire can be more than just a quick laugh. The class was relaxed, had detailed discussions about the material, and went smoothly overall. I had a good time, and now I’m much more likely to attend a local book club on my own. This week I read two articles about ethics in Silicon Valley, an area I...

Reflection on Class Last week in class, we discussed book clubs and the socratic seminar. We learned that successful book clubs are flexible for the people involved, and should not be focused around yourself. The members of the book club should feel welcome to share their opinions and should not be led to answers that the faciliatator believes is correct. Questions should not lead to specific answers and be carefully worded to allow for multiple opinions. Additionally, we talked about how book clubs can have an online component. We also practiced the socratic seminar through our discussion of an online article explaining why physical books are outdated and that Universities should adopt all online textbooks. Despite the article not being satire, it came across that way and made me believe more strongly in the idea that physical books are necessary. We have a long way to go and we will need to carefully consider the environment, database, and online experience of textbooks before rem...

Last week in class, we discussed how students learn and complete a new (to me) exercise to help analyze an online article, called LEOs. The exercise asks students to take on a specific role, like archaeologist or connector, the latter of which was my role. I was asked to connect specific quotes or aspects of the article to other classes, learning experiences, work, or anything that might help to further the explain the article. Hearing from my classmates, allowed for multiple perspectives into concerns that may not have been brought up if not for their role in the group. We also discussed transfer and appreciated hearing from my classmates about online tutoring. We discussed how context or the environment the student-tutor are in, influence the way they teach students.  Marc Prensky, advocates for colleges to shift from physical books to electronic books, a move away from ancient outdated tools better left in museums. While some students may enjoy reading physical books mo...

Last week in class, we discussed assessment, specifically looking at the formative and summative evaluations of students and teachers. In addition to talking about the differences, we spoke about how current technology, or software, integrates these types of assessments in their platform. Turnitin, a site for checking plagiarism, commonly used by high schools and colleges, helps teachers and students by identifying areas of the paper that may not be original. However, one pitfall of this software is that the assessment it returns is summative, meaning students are not being evaluated as they progress through their paper. Rather, the students find out about how they did at the very end of the process, often too late to learn from mistakes or even correct them. While Turnitin may do a poor job of formative assessment, software like Grammarly might be doing a better job. Grammarly continuously updates its results (ie grammar, spelling, and plagiarism check) as the student or user type...