The idea of flipping the classroom has gained a lot of popularity in the press & among proponents in recent years. In principle, the “flipped” classroom is no different to traditional homework tasks of assigning readings before the next class: The teacher gives learners an assignment, a reading, a video to watch, &/or exercises to… Continue reading Online is already flipped: Transforming the flipped classroom with online learning
Category: Learning
Online ELT & CALL activities in Moodle
Great news! For those of us who use Moodle to create online English language learning/teaching (ELL/ELT) activities & courses, things just got better. Previously, I’ve held off from writing about H5P because, although it is very useful & has great potential, I found the Moodle integration problematic & difficult to manage, but with the latest Moodle upgrades I think that we can take online ELL/ELT to a whole new level.
Monitoring & supporting students during online synchronous lessons
Introduction In this article, I have a suggestion for ways to improve the quality of English language teaching (ELT) via webinar apps, e.g. BigBlueButton, Blackboard Collaborate, Adobe Connect, Cisco WebEx, or Zoom, while making minimal changes to learning & teaching as they are currently being practised as emergency remote teaching due to the COVID-19 pandemic… Continue reading Monitoring & supporting students during online synchronous lessons
Learning Styles, Mindsets, and Adaptive Strategies
Do learning styles promote learning? Are they helpful for learners at the various stages/levels of their development of understanding in their subject areas? Should learners use learning styles psychometric tests to determine how they should view their study habits and how they approach studying? In this article, I argue that far from being helpful, the… Continue reading Learning Styles, Mindsets, and Adaptive Strategies
Online Cognitive Apprenticeship
A Cognitive Apprenticeship Approach to Student and Faculty Online Learning and Teaching Development: Enculturing Novices into Online Practitioner Environments and Cultures in Higher Education In a previous article, How prepared are learners for elearning? I wrote about the difficulties in identifying if learners are “ready” to study online and some suggestions for possible ways to identify… Continue reading Online Cognitive Apprenticeship
How prepared are learners for elearning?
What makes a learner ready to study online? How do they know? How do they find out? In an attempt to address the issue of the higher student attrition (drop-out) rates in distance education (DE) and elearning than in face-to-face classes, it’s becoming more common for educational organisations to try to evaluate learners’ to find… Continue reading How prepared are learners for elearning?
A limitation of direct instruction and what we can do about it
Teachers in professional development sessions, discussion forums, and informal conversations often recognise that there are issues affecting their learners’ attention and learning, despite their best efforts to design and plan clear, concise, interesting, engaging, purposeful, and meaningful lessons. I’ve frequently heard teachers, novice and experienced alike, searching for ways to make their classes more engaging… Continue reading A limitation of direct instruction and what we can do about it
Ratings systems on social platforms can have unexpected effects
This is a quick post to share a recently published paper, How Community Feedback Shapes User Behavior, that examines the effects of ratings systems and up/down voting on social networking platforms and services. I go on to discuss some questions it raises for online social learning. Abstract Here’s the abstract to How Community Feedback Shapes User… Continue reading Ratings systems on social platforms can have unexpected effects
Are teacher-led and learner-led approaches compatible?
As learner-led/learner-centred learning and teaching oriented methods and principles gain attention and popularity, teachers, curriculum developers, and instructional designers are incorporating them into learning activities and courses. Many report mixed results and issues when they do so. The following article examines one possible contributing factor to such results and issues. Defining terms Firstly, I’m not… Continue reading Are teacher-led and learner-led approaches compatible?
What can learners and teachers do to limit corporate surveillance while working online?
Since security and surveillance expert Edward Snowden blew the whistle and leaked damning NSA documents to investigative journalists Laura Poitras and Glenn Greenwald, the implications and ramifications of the NSA’s dragnet surveillance, partly enabled by IT giants like Google, Microsoft, and Facebook, have been cause for concern everywhere, and not least in elearning. As educators… Continue reading What can learners and teachers do to limit corporate surveillance while working online?