Academic Transformation

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A key issue in 2018 for academic institutions is the idea of institutional and educational transformation. Everyone agrees that higher education has changed permanently with the advent of technology, changing student demographics, and new research about how students learn best. But will the pace of change slow in the future? Gilbert, Crow, and Anderson write in the Stanford Innovation Review that, "We expect that in the coming years, long-standing models of higher education that prefer tradition and stability will be supplemented, if not displaced, by new models that embrace organizational innovation, responsivity, and adaptation."

Other educators and researchers see the same trends continuing and accelerating in the future. Emma Zone from Colorado Technical University says, "We must be nimble as we redefine the truths we have used as our foundation [in higher education]. At the intersection of this redefinition we find discussions of technology, data, and engagement." But how do we change? What does it mean to have a "nimble" and "innovative" organizational model? Both sources provide a few key recommendations that I will explore in this blog post.

10-Point Rubric for Online Education

What constitutes good online education? Consider my 10- point rubric as a starting point: 

1. Facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity. If a course does not inspire students to learn, it is a failure right out of the gate. I like to use the “guide on the side” model rather than the “sage on the stage“ model of teaching and learning.
   
2. Promote and model digital citizenship and responsibility. To me, one of the most important skills that is developed in college is perspective taking and empathy. Students in my courses should learn to appreciate and value the contributions of each team member and to challenge their own assumptions about thinking and learning.
   
3. Ongoing, varied, and frequent assessments are conducted throughout the course to inform instruction. I believe that one of the most important components of learning is timely, accurate, and complete feedback. This feedback must be provided both to the teacher and to the students in order to inform learning. Formative and Summative assessment are integral parts of teaching and learning.
   
4. The course provides opportunities for students to engage in higher order thinking, critical reasoning activities, and thinking in increasingly complex ways. I believe in modeling and teaching the four C’s of 21st-century learning: communication, collaboration, creativity, and critical thinking.
   
5. Course design reflects a clear understanding of all students’ needs and incorporates varied ways to learn and master the curriculum. I believe that varied learning and teaching styles promotes retention, transfer, and application to real life. Many of my favorite courses were varied and challenging.
   
6. The course learning objectives describe outcomes that are measurable and all learning objectives are clearly stated and written from the students perspective. Without clear learning objectives, teachers have no idea what they’re assessing and students have no idea what they were supposed to have learned. Developing and describing clear learning objectives should be one of the first steps in instructional design.
   
7. The instructional materials contribute to the achievement of the stated course and module/unit learning objectives. The purpose of instructional materials and how the materials are to be used for learning activities are clearly explained. I appreciate a well organized course and I always really like to know how to get an A. I owe that to my students as well.
   
8. Learning activities provide support for interaction that support active learning. I am a huge believer in active versus passive learning. I know for myself, when something is real to me and seems to make a real difference in my life I tend to pour myself into it. When I think about the best courses that I’ve ever taken in my life, I was in charge of my learning. I got out what I put into those classes. It may be easier to sit on the sidelines and watch someone else perform but I learn best when I am partly in control of the pace, depth, and sequence of my learning.
   
9. Teachers continuously improve their professional practice, model lifelong learning, and exhibit leadership in their school and professional community by promoting and demonstrating the effective use of digital tools and resources. It may be because I am young, but I really appreciate teachers who understand digital literacy and model best practices in the area of technological integration. Everything in my life is constantly being taken over by technology and learning is no different.
   
10. Collaborate with students, peers, parents, and community members using digital tools and resources to support students access and innovation by modeling digital age work and learning. Too often we believe that good teaching consists of teachers creating their own original work. Good teaching, instead, is about using existing tools and collaborating with others in the community to support student innovation. We model what students will do for the rest of their lives: work with others in humility.

Works Cited:

• QM Rubric

• National Standards for Quality Online Courses - iNACOL

• iste nets-t

Digital Wisdom

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As you may remember, we discussed the term "digital native" coined by Marc Prensky back in July. I think we should reflect on how old this digital immigrants/ digital natives talk actually is. Prensky noted a sea change in K-12 students… two years before I graduated from high school (2001). An entire generation has been through the education system since this term was coined. If anything, the trends he noted 17 years ago have accelerated.

Prensky has since written other articles that are well worth mentioning. The first is about what technology ISN'T good at. With so much of the education world moving rapidly toward digitization, what role do physical teachers play? As teachers, we must be aware of the weaknesses inherent in whatever delivery medium we're working in at the moment. Prensky says we must come to grips with three questions:

1. How do we use the technology wisely? 
2. How do we find best symbiosis of brain and machine? 
3. What should we outsource to machines, and what should be reserved for humans and human minds?

He says, "I would propose empathy as the most important element a good teacher offers that technology cannot replace." Empathy goes far beyond content delivery (which machines are often better at) to understand each learner as a unique human individual with strengths, weaknesses, passions, and propensities. At its core, Presky says, empathy means that teachers like students... and want to help them. Would you agree?

In a second post he also identifies "passion" (basically enthusiasm) as something that is irreplaceable by technology.  He says, 

"While teachers think, quite rightly, that their own passion for their subject is important, and hope to inspire their students by showing that passion, a teacher’s goal now must additionally be to bring each student to the material they are teaching through each student’s own passion, whatever it may be."

Prensky argues that a resource like Khan Academy - which has one good lesson for just about every subject out there - should have 100 good lessons for each subject, each approaching the subject from a unique angle or passion. He gives the example of teaching math using music examples and music theory for students passionate about music.

This conversation dovetails quite nicely into Prenky's writing about digital wisdom and knowing how to use technology to its fullest extent. When we use digital technology we're faced with ethical and moral dilemmas as well as more pragmatic problems and questions:

1. What should we memorize vs allow a machine to remember for us? 
2. Should we allow machines like smartphones and wearables to enhance and extend our minds? 
3. When should we allow digital calendars and to-do lists to plan and prioritize our lives? 

Easy answers don't exist. In your lifetime computers moved from room-sized monstrosities to pocketable, wearable supercomptuers. They will continue to take over more and more of our lives and even move into our physical bodies. The answer is not to avoid technology or to demonize it. The only workable solution is to teach and model digital wisdom and digital literacy so that our students will know how to interact wisely with technology for the rest of their lives. 

Works Cited: 

1. http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.pdf  
2. http://www.wisdompage.com/Prensky01.html
3. http://marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky-What_Isn't_Technology_Good_At-(Part%202)-EDTECH-Nov-Dec-1012.pdf
4. http://marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky-What_Isn't_Technology_Good_At-EDTECH-Sept-Oct-1012.pdf
5. https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/04/worlds-first-cyborg-human-evolution-science/ 

7 Things You Should Know About...

This week on the education blog we'll look at a resource that may fill an existing gap for you: EDUCAUSE's library of "Seven things you should know about..." 

These short meta-analyses provide a synthesized, at-a-glance summary of many pressing issues in education today. Each entry also features case studies and examples that provide down-to-earth help for everyday practitioners such as ourselves. I believe you'll find these resources informative but also accessible and easy to read. Enjoy!


For example:

Seven things you should know about:

1. Research on Active Learning Classrooms
2. Developments in Learning Analytics
3. The 2017 Key Issues in Teaching and Learning
4. Personalized Learning
5. Institutional Self-Assessment 
6. Cross-Institutional Collaboration
7. Developments in Instructional Design 
8. Gamification of Education

And many more. The archive goes back to 2005 and contains about 150 discrete articles. 

Thoughtful and Timely Feedback

Providing clear, timely, substantial feedback to learners is a foundational principle of modern educational learning theory. Why does feedback matter so much?

When I was in ninth grade my algebra teacher labeled me as one of the dumb kids. In fact, I was struggling with a course design problem related to feedback. Many times, she would provide feedback on my algebra assignments weeks or even months after I turned in the work. At that point, it was too late to implement her suggestions to improve my performance on the next assignment.

Contrast that experience with my experience taking algebra in college. By the time I took college Algebra, an online learning tool called MyMathLab had revolutionized homework and feedback for Algebra students. Rather than face the harsh criticism and personal judgment of my teacher months after I had done my assignments, MyMathLab provided impersonal, instant feedback for me, allowing me the freedom to fail without feeling singled out as a person of below average intelligence. I aced the course and all subsequent Algebra and math courses I took in college.

The primary difference between my algebra teacher in high school and the automatic, algorithmic learning program was that I received instant feedback on each step of the process. My feedback was always 100% accurate. The feedback the computer gave me was always accompanied with videos that showed me how to do the problem correctly, passages from the textbook that explained the learning concepts, and the computer would even solve the problem for me if I chose and give me a new, similar problem to solve.

In developing a professional teaching practice, providing timely and complete feedback to learners shows our respect for their work. Student work is the heart of a course. Our goal as teachers should be to to empower students to become scholars, subject matter experts, and skilled practitioners of their Biblical craft. My goal in Apologetics is not to cover all the content or subject matter, although those are one important element of the course. My goal is to train Biblical apologists who are capable, confident, and yet humble. My goal is to instill an attitude of gentleness and respect but to develop the skill of making a defense for the classic doctrines of the Christian faith.

No teacher that I know loves grading. I would challenge you, however, that we ignore the centrality of feedback at our own peril. Easy assignments that give the illusion of learning will not leave students satisfied for the long term with the learning they experienced at Bible School. 

Populi gives us new and exciting ways to gather data and provide feedback for our students. For example, the lessons feature of Populi allows us to have an intelligent conversation with our students about the amount of time they spent engaging with the material, the number of words that they generated in discussion forums, and the frequency and depth of their engagement with the material.  

I hope that the following verses will spur us on to appreciate and value the opportunity and privilege we each get to hone and sharpen student’s skills as they faithfully demonstrate their learning for us:

Proverbs 15: 31 If you listen to constructive criticism, you will be at home among the wise (NLT)

Proverbs 3:12 “For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth. ” (KJV)

Proverbs 11:14  “Where no wise guidance is, the people fall, but in the multitude of counselors there is safety.” (AMP)