Kansas State U. Students Read Half of Class Material

Provocative video Michael L. Wesch has posted on YouTube about how students learn. He is an assistant professor of cultural anthropology at Kansas State University. View the YouTube video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGCJ46vyR9o

See more detail about how this was created by going to the Wired Campus article at http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/article/?id=2462.

Do you have a learning list?

Came across this quote in a post from Learning Journal Blog:

"'Jim Collins, in an essay in Learning Journeys, wrote, 'A true learning person also has a 'to-learn' list, and the items on that list carry at least as much weight in how one organizes his or her time as the to-do list.' I happened to read that the other day and it has stayed with me."

http://www.diigo.com/annotated/95fccdc98749461d6a210df71fc4b387

Gasoline Solutions: Block Classes, Online, and Car Pooling

George Bagwell brought this Chronicle article to our attention today--what various community colleges are doing to help students continue taking courses at a time when gasoline is so costly:

http://chronicle.com/free/v54/i41/41a01701.htm?utm_source=cc&utm_medium

Learning Exchange

Tal Hardman said he was taking a long bike trip to see his cousin after school was out and said he would be blogging it. We talked about sound files from the telephone. I'd used Gabcast and was experimenting with this year's phone tool called Jott.

Jott is a web-service (free account) that let's a person call a phone number and create posts that are turned into text and voice, and can be sent to various other applications or services, like a blog or Twitter (mini blogging).

I knew Jott went to Twitter, but Tal figured out how to call Jott and have it post directly to his blog: http://talbotdale.blogspot.com/

Thanks, Tal. I passed it forward to someone who is blogging Ride the Rockies and
is sending photos from his phone and using Jott to make text and audio posts.

Faculty Professional Development Fund: Johann Aberger Shares Back

Greetings All,

Johann Aberger sent this post to describe how the CMC Faculty Professional Development Fundsupported his learning experience and how it he shared it back with colleagues:




Johann writes:

In May, Outdoor Education instructor Johann Aberger, was given the professional development opportunity to attend an American Mountain Guiding Association (AMGA) Rock Instructor Course in Boulder, Colorado. This ten-day course focused on training participants in the skills and techniques used while instructing and guiding rock climbing experiences in a multi-pitch environment. The course took place in Eldorado Canyon, and addressed the management and movement of multiple clients, technical descents, and high-angle rescue skills. Safety, managing risk and the application of industry standards while considering student rewards and empowerment were emphasized.

Bringing this experience back to CMC, Johann presented his findings to a small group of CMC Outdoor Educators on Independence Pass. They spent a beautiful day climbing and discussing the nuances of guiding while exploring different faces of the granite outcrops that litter the continental divide. The afternoon was dedicated to rescue scenarios, simulating access and extrication of an injured person from a high-angle environment. Of the experience, Aberger comments, “I am so fortunate to receive support for this kind of professional development opportunity from the college—and having ten days off to go climbing isn’t so bad…”

Thanks, Johann! If you have also received CMC Faculty Professional Development Funds, this blog is a great way to share back the learning in a presentation here. Contact Alice Bedard-Voorhees if you would like to do so: mailto:avoorhees@coloradomtn.edu.

More Web2.0 Resources at a CO Wiki

Last week I participated in an adult education/ESL group training with Web 2.0 tools hosted by Colorado Department of Ed. The partipants tried out all sorts of tools in the interest of creating learning content and activities and increasing student participation and engagement.

Here is a wiki that describes what the tools do and how to get them. Almost all are free. Additionally, if you have tips to add, feel free to do so. That is the great capacity of wikis.

http://chiresources.pbwiki.com/

Free Book for Using Web 2.0 Tools

I was reading Liz Davis' blog post on preparing students for the 21st century. She is offering a free download of her book on using Web2.0 Tools --it is filled with screenshots that walk you through getting started with everything from Gmail to Googledocs, to blog, to Twitter, and wiki. You can also buy a print copy for $10.00. Opportunity to download or purchase appear at this link: http://www.lulu.com/content/2526346

Nobel Carl Weiman on Teaching and Learning in the Sciences

It thrilled me that the year Physicist Carl Weiman won the Nobel (at CU at the time), he also won a national teaching award.

http://oncampus.macleans.ca/education/2008/06/02/out-with-the-lecture/2/

The above article details Weiman's recent presentation about how teaching students to apply the learning resulted in learning that stuck at a much higher rate than students who sat in traditional lecture. While this almost seems like old news, these remarks can't be taken for granted. The article references studies and surveys of students to this end.

Says Weiman: "Professors need to tell their students why the subject is worth learning, how it connects to the real world, and how it is connected to other concepts the students understand."