Technology
A site that had a calendar, announcements, faculty bios, the asynchronous discussion forums, assignments, and student projects
The course web site linked rich resources supporting each text to engage students from novices to those well-informed on the texts. It included explanatory information, annotations, cultural information, critical analyses, visual interpretations of the texts including paintings, video recordings of multiple performances, and different cuts of the films.
The web site also had a series of on-line assignments that structured the learners’ reading activities. These on-line activities drew upon the students’ previous knowledge and guided them as they approached each text. In the first year of the project in 1997 students responses were recorded in a personal on-line, shareable portfolio, but after noting little use of the portfolio, the design was changed in the second iteration of the course in 1998 so that assignments were displayed directly in the discussion Forum.
The Forum had special features to support large lecture courses such as photographs of the posting student next to his/her message, organization into sections, and notification systems to alert faculty and groups to special postings. The forum was used to discuss lectures; it was where assignments were posted (they were not sent to an instructor); and was used for communication in forming project groups. The Forum was enhanced in the second year to allow direct linkage to assignments, faculty-controlled subject organization, and threaded discussion.
- Student Project Web Sites
The students in the course completed projects in the second half of the course that demonstrated their understanding of the texts. Projects were constructed in many media the first year but were limited to posters and web sites in the second. Faculty met often with students helping them to plan their projects. All projects from the previous year were available as models when the course was repeated.
The project employed several modes of project and technology evaluation: questionnaires, interviews, video interaction analysis, peer review, and ethnographic studies. Findings:
-The Forum provided a venue for discussion by quiet students and accommodated different learning styles. -The Forum and assignments helped students prepare for face-to-face meetings by discussing basic issues before class. -It added to workload of teaching staff. -There was a positive correlation between scores on papers and number of Forum postings.
Problem-based learning (PBL) is a student-centered pedagogy in which students learn about a subject through the experience of solving an open-ended problem found in trigger material. The PBL process does not focus on problem solving with a defined solution, but it allows for the development of other desirable skills and attributes. This includes knowledge acquisition, enhanced group collaboration and communication.
Experiential education is a philosophy of education that describes the process that occurs between a teacher and student that infuses direct experience with the learning environment and content. The term is not interchangeable with experiential learning; however experiential learning is a sub-field and operates under the methodologies of experiential education. The Association for Experiential Education regards experiential education as "a philosophy that informs many methodologies in which educators purposefully engage with learners in direct experience and focused reflection in order to increase knowledge, develop skills, clarify values, and develop people's capacity to contribute to their communities". Experiential education is the term for the philosophy and educational progressivism is the movement which it informed.
The Open University of Israel is a distance-education university in Israel. It is one of ten public universities in Israel recognized by the Council of Higher Education (CHE). The Open University is unique in that it does not require a matriculation certificate, psychometric exam, or other entrance exam for admission to undergraduate studies.
A lecture is an oral presentation intended to present information or teach people about a particular subject, for example by a university or college teacher. Lectures are used to convey critical information, history, background, theories, and equations. A politician's speech, a minister's sermon, or even a business person's sales presentation may be similar in form to a lecture. Usually the lecturer will stand at the front of the room and recite information relevant to the lecture's content.
Fle3 is a Web-based learning environment or virtual learning environment. More precisely Fle3 is server software for computer supported collaborative learning (CSCL).
Asynchronous learning is a general term used to describe forms of education, instruction, and learning that do not occur in the same place or at the same time. It uses resources that facilitate information sharing outside the constraints of time and place among a network of people. In many instances, well-constructed asynchronous learning is based on constructivist theory, a student-centered approach that emphasizes the importance of peer-to-peer interactions. This approach combines self-study with asynchronous interactions to promote learning, and it can be used to facilitate learning in traditional on-campus education, distance education, and continuing education. This combined network of learners and the electronic network in which they communicate are referred to as an asynchronous learning network.
This is an index of education articles.
Team-based learning (TBL) is a collaborative learning and teaching strategy that enables people to follow a structured process to enhance student engagement and the quality of student or trainee learning. The term and concept was first popularized by Larry Michaelsen, the central figure in the development of the TBL method while at University of Oklahoma in the 1970s, as an educational strategy that he developed for use in academic settings, as in medical education. Team-based learning methodology can be used in any classroom or training sessions at school or in the workplace.
Knowledge Forum is an educational software designed to help and support knowledge building communities. Previously, the product was called Computer Supported Intentional Learning Environments (CSILE). It was designed for a short period of time by York University and continued at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto, to support knowledge building pedagogies, practices and research designated in this area. In 1983, CSILE was prototyped in a university course and in 1986 it was used for the first time in an elementary school, as a full version. CSILE was considered the first networked system designed for collaborative learning. The main contributors were Marlene Scardamalia and Carl Bereiter.
The Stanford Learning Lab was an applied research organization that "carried out projects to improve the quality of teaching and learning in higher education through effective application of information technologies and the sciences of learning". It was created in 1997 on the recommendation of the Stanford University President's Commission on Technology in Teaching and Learning. Professors Larry Leifer and Larry Friedlander lead a staff of researchers, technologists, educators, and teaching and learning specialists who worked with Stanford faculty to enhance learning by students in their courses. The Stanford Learning Lab completed its work in the spring of 2002 and was followed by The Stanford Center for Innovations in Learning (SCIL), which inherited core capabilities in technology development, educational program evaluation, and learning design and continued to perform research in these areas.
A Knowledge Building Community (KBC) is a community in which the primary goal is knowledge creation rather than the construction of specific products or the completion of tasks. This notion is fundamental in Knowledge building theory. If knowledge is not realized for a community then we do not have knowledge building. Examples of KBCs are
CU Online represents the University of Colorado’s fully-online bachelor’s, master’s, doctorate, and certificate programs. Originally launched by the University of Colorado Denver in 1996, it is one of the first fully-accredited online higher education platforms. Today, CU Online offers degree programs from all four University of Colorado campuses – CU Boulder, CU Colorado Springs, CU Denver, and CU Anschutz Medical Campus.
In the history of virtual learning environments, the 1990s was a time of growth, primarily due to the advent of the affordable computer and of the Internet.
Writing across the curriculum (WAC) is a movement within contemporary composition studies that concerns itself with writing in classes beyond composition, literature, and other English courses. According to a comprehensive survey performed in 2006–2007, approximately half of American institutes of higher learning have something that can be identified as a WAC program. In 2010, Thaiss and Porter defined WAC as "a program or initiative used to 'assist teachers across disciplines in using student writing as an instructional tool in their teaching'". WAC, then, is a programmatic effort to introduce multiple instructional uses of writing beyond assessment. WAC has also been part of the student-centered pedagogies movement seeking to replace teaching via one-way transmission of knowledge from teacher to student with more interactive strategies that enable students to interact with and participate in creating knowledge in the classroom.
Social learning tools are tools used for pedagogical and andragogical purposes that utilize social software and/or social media in order to facilitate learning through interactions between individuals and systems. The idea of setting up "social learning tools" is to make education more convenient and widespread. It also allows an interaction between users and/or the software which can bring a different aspect to learning. People can acquire knowledge by distance learning tools, for instance, Facebook, Twitter, Khan Academy and so on. Social learning tools may mediate in formal or informal learning environments to help create connections between learners, instructors and information. These connections form dynamic knowledge networks. Social learning tools are used in schools for teaching/learning and in businesses for training. Within a school environment, the use of social learning tools can affect not only the user (student) but his/her caretaker as well as his/her instructor. It brings a different approach to the traditional way of learning which affects the student and his/her support circle. Companies also use social learning tools. They used them to improve knowledge transfer within departments and across teams. Businesses use a variety of these tools to create a social learning environment. They are also used in company settings to help improve team work, problem solving, and performance in stressful situations.
Interactive Learning is a pedagogical approach that incorporates social networking and urban computing into course design and delivery. Interactive Learning has evolved out of the hyper-growth in the use of digital technology and virtual communication, particularly by students. Beginning around 2000, students entering institutes of higher education have expected that interactive learning will be an integral part of their education. The use of interactive technology in learning for these students is as natural as using a pencil and paper was to past generations.
A massive open online course or an open online course is an online course aimed at unlimited participation and open access via the Web. In addition to traditional course materials, such as filmed lectures, readings, and problem sets, many MOOCs provide interactive courses with user forums or social media discussions to support community interactions among students, professors, and teaching assistants (TAs), as well as immediate feedback to quick quizzes and assignments. MOOCs are a widely researched development in distance education, first introduced in 2008, that emerged as a popular mode of learning in 2012.
A virtual learning environment (VLE) in educational technology is a web-based platform for the digital aspects of courses of study, usually within educational institutions. They present resources, activities, and interactions within a course structure and provide for the different stages of assessment. VLEs also usually report on participation and have some level of integration with other institutional systems. In North America, VLE's are often referred to as Learning Management Systems (LMS).
A flipped classroom is an instructional strategy and a type of blended learning, which aims to increase student engagement and learning by having pupils complete readings at home and work on live problem-solving during class time. This pedagogical style moves activities, including those that may have traditionally been considered homework, into the classroom. With a flipped classroom, students watch online lectures, collaborate in online discussions, or carry out research at home, while actively engaging concepts in the classroom, with a mentor's guidance.
Online learning involves courses offered by primary institutions that are 100% virtual. Online learning, or virtual classes offered over the internet, is contrasted with traditional courses taken in a brick-and-mortar school building. It is a development in distance education that expanded in the 1990s with the spread of the commercial Internet and the World Wide Web. The learner experience is typically asynchronous but may also incorporate synchronous elements. The vast majority of institutions utilize a learning management system for the administration of online courses. As theories of distance education evolve, digital technologies to support learning and pedagogy continue to transform as well.
