Student Smartphone Use Doubles; Instant Messaging Loses Favor - Wired Campus - The Chronicle of Higher Education
Student Smartphone Use Doubles; Instant Messaging Loses Favor
By Kelly Truong
Smartphone use among college students has almost doubled since early last year, a study by a researcher at Ball State University found.
The study confirms what has become common knowledge: cellphones are almost ubiquitous on college campuses, with 99.8 percent of students owning one or more. But in the national survey of about 500 students—which has been conducted twice a year since 2005—new details emerged on the kind of phones they own and how they use them.
The Souls of the Machine: Clay Shirky’s Internet Revolution - The Chronicle Review - The Chronicle of Higher Education
The Souls of the Machine
Clay Shirky says the Internet revolution has only just begun.
This is worth reading, I think. Enjoy!
It’s been awhile since I posted anything here and the reason is simple: I have a new job and we moved across the country. I am now working at the University of Oregon as a Research and Instructional Technologist, in beautiful Eugene, Oregon. We’ve been here a little over three weeks now and are settling in–me into my job and my family into this place. I think we’re going to like it here quite a bit.
Over the coming days I hope to update this with some of the work projects that I have going on and try to explain my understanding of the world of higher education, as brief as my time has been here. I have been a little reluctant to try and do that as I have just really gotten started with all of this. I might change my mind, too, but I do think this is a good place to start. So, bear with me.
I want to say thanks to all of my friends in Virginia who I will miss greatly at the VSTE Conference and at other events, but I also know that we’ll see each other in this online world, which is a very nice thing. It makes the leaving and the change not-quite-so-hard as it might have been.
Cheers!
Tags: changes, life, moving
Handbook of Emerging Technologies for Learning - Emerging Technologies for Learning
Some weekend reading for those who are interesting. There’s a lot here, but it looks worthwhile.
These Lectures Are Gone in 60 Seconds - Chronicle.com
Take a 60-minute lecture. Cut the excess verbiage, do away with most of the details, and pare it down to key concepts and themes.
What’s left? A “microlecture” over in as few as 60 seconds. A course designer for San Juan College, a community college in Farmington, N.M., says that in online education, such tiny bursts can teach just as well as traditional lectures when paired with assignments and discussions.
I found this article very interesting as it really seems to push the limits and ideas of ways to present material in an educational setting. I’d be interested in attending a class with this as the format. Rarely do I read about ways to move beyond our current system of education and this seems intriguing to me. Not that it is perfect, mind you, but it might fit the needs of some learners and some learning contexts well. Another article on this her at the Open Education Blog. Enjoy!
Bridging Differences: Confusing Test Scores With ‘Being Well-Educated’
This came to me via Tim Lauer’s site today. I sometimes think we can get so wrapped up in the test score that we forget what it means to be well educated. These are conversations that we need to have with each other as educators as well . . . .
The more high stakes the data, the more corrupt become the data—which I’m told is called Campbell’s Law. We poison the well once we promise folks more money for “better data.” When “data” (e.g. test scores) are in the driver’s seat, beware. We also need more independent “juries” to analyze and make recommendations based on independent information. The phrase itself “data-driven,” rather than “data-informed,” gives me the chills.
We also need sensible longitudinal research, to explore the connection between test scores, school models, etc., and “doing better” 10 years out. This is uncharted territory. We might explore, in short, what “doing better” could or should mean in real life.
Being taught early, over and over, that making a predetermined “wrong answer” (out of a predetermined four or five) has serious intellectual and social consequences is dangerous. It leads to bad pedagogy. It’s precisely in school that it’s important to value the exercise of judgment based on evidence rather than being taught how to slyly “guess” at the one “right” answer.
Opinion | Replace the WASL but do it right | Seattle Times Newspaper
The article linked above is from The Seattle Times and it is about the idea of replacing their state standardized test, the WASL, with online standardized tests. When I read this piece, I kept agreeing over and over. Some of the choice quotes from the piece:
But the bigger validity question is: Does the test make any difference? Are college professors more pleased with students who have passed the test? Are employers? The answer is a resounding, “We don’t know.” States are afraid to ask this question because, if the answer comes up, “No,” they will be seen to have spent millions, even billions, of dollars for nothing. But informal studies by journalists have yet to turn up a positive instance. So forget all the fear-mongering rhetoric that we need these tests in order to compete with China and in the global economy.
These are the kinds of questions that I continue to ask in terms of our state standardized test, the SOL. What difference do these tests really make in terms of these kids’ lives? Do they really make any difference at all, except for states to say that they have X percent passing at Y level? Another quote:
A passing score tells you only how many kids jumped over the barrier you put in their path. It does not tell you how high they jumped.
Yes! This is something I’ve understood for a while now, as do most educators. Yet, most teachers are being judged on what percentage of their class has jumped over the barrier.
Another issue is what about the students that don’t make the passing score of 400 by one point. What if they score 399 and they’re not in the group of passing students? Are they left behind then? Could it be that they just guessed wrong on one question?
Finally, the author wraps it up by laying out the idea (false idea) that testing is something you do after you’re done teaching. Why? Shouldn’t we have assessments that are relevant and meaningful to the student so that they know what they’ve accomplished or where they’re lacking in understanding? Is a test the only way to assess? Of course not.
Read this one. It’s good.
Google Earth, Google Ocean: mysteries of the seafloor are mapped for the first time
This looks like it could be another fine offering from Google. I just downloaded this and will be giving it a try before my workshop on using Google Earth in the classroom later this week. Enjoy!
This past Monday I ran a 6 hour SmartBoard training workshop for a group of teachers at one school. We focused on the features that are in the new SmartNotebook 10 software mainly. I had quite a range of skill sets and comfort levels in terms of the teachers I was working with, so I approached it in a way that allowed all of the teachers to get something out of the day. Here’s what worked for me:
1. Demonstrate a little bit. I started the day off with some demonstration of the basic tools that are in the new software. This took a little over an hour. My goal was to only take an hour so that I wouldn’t lose their attention and also so that we could have maximum time back in the classroom working.
2. Provide “play” time. I set up the workshop so that the majority of the time was spent with the teachers in their classrooms working with their SmartBoards. My experience has taught me that the one thing teachers need a lot of for learning technology is time. Time to try it out, experiment and play. Doing this allows each teachers to use their own learning style to come away with skills that they need at their own level. We spent 4 of our 6 hours doing this: playing, working, experimenting, creating.
3. Float. I floated while the teachers worked. I went from room to room to try and answer questions during the work time. I also had a portable phone with me so that the teachers could reach me whenever they needed to. This kept me very busy as each time I went into a room with teachers there were questions to answer.
4. Share. At the end of the day, we all came back and I asked the teachers to share something that they learned and discovered. I prepped them for this by letting them know ahead of time that we would have this time for sharing. I encouraged them to share what they learned, even if they thought it wasn’t that significant. The way I see it is that it might not be a significant item to someone else, but it is to them, so why not share with the group? So, we shared. We could have shared more, too, as this group was in a very sharing mood.
This format isn’t one that I will use always, but in this case, it worked very well. It is one to keep in my bag of tricks for doing Staff Development, too. Perhaps this will be helpful to you, too!
Tags: software, Staff Development, training
Report Finds Online Threats to Children Overblown - NYTimes.com
This doesn’t surprise me. As a matter of fact, I think a lot of educators have already known this from working with their students. Have there been some problems? Sure. Is bullying more of a problem? Yes. It makes me rethink how Internet Safety and the curriculum that is used to teach this is implemented.
