Educational Technology: Motivating Students and Enhancing Learning

Educational technology is such a rabbit-hole. There are thousands of blogs, websites, TED talks, and journal articles about ways to integrate tech into your teaching environment. At the same time, there are thousands of teachers- of all grades- who bemoan the short attention span of students, who battle with personal tech in class, and who advocate for simpler teaching.

Librarians are more cutting edge than they typically think they are when it comes to being early adopters of new technology. In spite of our clunky ILSes, or perhaps because of them, libraries have pushed url-link resolvers, proxy server authentication, and web-asset management forward for years and years. The downside to that is that we tend to think students benefit only from our management of the technology instead of teaching them more about how things work and allowing students to really be in control of the tech.

Learning Theory and Student Motivation

Back when I took education courses, I admit I found the theory of teaching incredibly interesting. That's not too surprising, since I had a History BA; that discipline exists to ask questions and critique the status quo, and to look at the meaning of ideas. What I really enjoyed was the variety of learning theories and how really, a good teacher applies numerous theories throughout her day in the classroom in order to keep students engaged in different parts of their brains. When we look at Bloom's Taxonomy, it is so temping to make every lesson's goal land on the higher tiers; a lesson isn't sophisticated enough if it doesn't employ higher order thinking. But the reality is, some skills and thinking just need to be recall, like adding, subtracting, and spelling.

Integration and Alignment (aka: finishing my assignment)

My previous post got me through question 1 of our assignment, forcing me to review my situational factors and how they integrate with my course goals. The rest of the questions stumped me, so I skipped ahead and moved through the worksheet that actually designs the course and gets down to the nitty gritty. I thought I would hate it. Turns out, the designers of THIS course knew what they were doing, because the worksheet was meaningful, applicable, and involved higher level thinking about the details of my learning module. I think part of my issue is that I am building from scratch, so thinking about learning activities, assignments and assessments was incredibly necessary, and in reality, takes a lot of time and intentional thought.  It was overwhelming to break down a library session into manageable pieces because I tend to think of it as a giant pie, instead of all the ingredients separately.

Integration and Alignment (aka: dang it)

Our instructor said in the lecture that this week of work would be the most difficult of the four. And as I look through our second assignment, I'm also looking for a way to leave the computer and go get some coffee, hoping that this post will be written when I return.

Alas, I don't think homework works that way.

Assessment- It Has to Happen

Critical Pedagogy- a Christian way to teach?

I read a lot of books. Some I remember, and some I forget. Some I wish I would forget, and some, I'm surprised that I remember them so clearly.

During my sophomore year in college, all the student leaders were in a seminar class to develop leadership skills, process our various leadership roles, and learn how to be a supportive community (this was at a Christian, liberal arts college on the west coast). This seminar class introduced me to Henri Nowen, Ronald Sider, and another little book I won't forget (its the one in the middle):

 

(Thank you, Ron Benefiel)

I have not read the book since then, but some lessons stick with a person.

My Introduction to Critical Pedagogy

"Unlike perhaps any other institution in the world, they [public schools, colleges and universities] embrace the long view and nurture the kind of critical perspectives that look far beyond the present.”~ Drew Gilpin Faust, current president of Harvard University

Critical Pedagogy is something I sort of peek through the window to check on every once in awhile, just to see if it's still there (via Twitter chat, obviously:) ).

Week 1: Forumulating Significant Learning Goals

Like many colleges and universities, mine is engaged in an assessment overhaul. We do not have an assessment culture on our campus, and there has been a concerted effort from the Dean's office to create one. This has been a long and painful process for many, as I am sure anyone in higher education can attest. Teaching faculty are not accustomed to defining goals, outcomes, and mapping course sequences towards departmental visions. Even for someone like myself, who has (albeit limited) a K-12 background, this process had brought out out some of my worst characteristics: I hear "assessment matrix" and I become sullen, sassy, or socialist, depending on the day.

Week 1: Wait, There's Homework? Developing Situational Awareness

Any teacher knows that the best homework allows the student to interact with and apply the course materials to a specific context, whether the goal is mastering physics equations, prescribing medication to a patient, or assessing relevant sources for a research project. After sitting in dozens of workshops and conferences about information literacy, it is a relief to have the time and accountability to work through my goals for a library session and create something with purpose so I don't end up like Calvin:

Why Instructional Design

Instructional Design is one of the trendy, educator-speak kinds of words that drive my professor-husband crazy. It's right up there with "assessment matrix", "learning outcomes", "rubrics," learner-centered teaching" and the like. As someone who thought she would be a high-school history teacher after graduating from college in 2001 and as the sister of an amazing teacher (who is the pioneer of a STEM-based charter school in my hometown), I know that instructional design is just a fancy word for what good teachers have always been doing. You think about what you want students to know, how you (the teacher) will know that they know it, and then the lesson plan is how you get from the one to the other. Currently, that's called "instructional design."