Education 2.0 & 3.0

"Here's how bisynchronous classes offer engaging learning experiences for students in Higher Ed with a blend of real-time interaction and self-paced instruction ...

Each semester, I receive student evaluations from the courses I have taught the previous semester. Similar to most professors, I’m sure, I open the document with excitement and a bit of nervousness. I want to see what resonated and what I need to improve upon for the semester. This year, instead of teaching in-person, I taught all of my courses from home. Now don’t get me wrong, I love technology and teaching from home had some benefits, mainly avoiding an hour commute each way to school; however, it was also a disorienting experience. I had to reimagine all of my lessons for the online environment and find a way to engage students in the content for 2.5 hours. As I waited for my evaluations to load, I wondered if I had done enough to forge connections with and among my students. The depth of those connections through the organic, in-person experience, along with informal meetings around campus, seemed difficult to imagine in this screen-to-screen world. 

A part-time professor is one of many at Point Park taking innovative approaches to boost student engagement during COVID-19.

Many learning providers will be welcoming new learners to their courses in September and this new Jisc guide looks in depth at how organisations can plan an inclusive induction programme. Whether you are taking a hybrid, face-to-face or blended learning approach you will find information about accessibility, wellbeing and helpful resources. You will also find many case studies to inspire you.

"Many students look at online learning courses as a respite from the rigors of brick-and-mortar learning, but that’s only true if educators and administrators choose not to maximize the digital learning environment to challenge their student populace.  While digital learning has its limitations and flaws, it can also be used as a powerful tool to stimulate critical thinking in students. In fact, there are plenty of ways to induce such propensities for critical thought without a student even being aware of it!"

This is a second guest post written for students by students Matty Trueman, Kai Ackroyd, Curtis Alexis-Jones, Gagan Warinch and Eimantus Lukocius. We are final year students at Sheffield Hallam University. Intro The way students learn remotely is becoming more and more important as universities transition to online teaching. With many students facing a number…

The way students learn remotely is becoming more and more important as universities transition to online teaching. With many students facing a number of challenges during this current time, it’s important that there are answers to some of the questions that might have arisen. This blog post aims to provide an informative guide on how students can improve their remote learning experience, with the following questions being answered: how to stay motivated, how are other students learning, how to support your peers and how to be more social.

Education plays a significant role in everyone’s lives. It helps in the growth of personality and transforming identity. Not to mention, but most of us have spent our childhood at school. During this time, we did/do many things that directly affect our lives and have been important for us in the long. Although at times, we fail to recognize its relevance, in some way or the other, they affect our lives. In our life, academic learning is one such thing that contributes a lot to make us a complete human being. Good qualities and habits get developed during this stage of life and stay with us forever.

The major part of this academic life revolves around classrooms, lectures and other extra-curricular activities. Also, during this academic stage, we have to go through various grading and assessment processes, which make us confident and enhance our perseverance. For instance, academic writing is an integral part of the school module and often carries a significant amount of marks for students. Academic writing is a tedious process, and most of us write different assignments and projects just to achieve better marks. These grades play a vital role in building up our career and are crucial enough in positioning us as a scholar.

"Many students see no relevance between their education and the real world, and say they are struggling to find meaning in their education or find a career direction, according to a new survey from …"

"10 Digital Learning activities to take into the classroom as a tech coach or teacher ..."

"Lumio is a new online learning platform that you can use to create and deliver engaging lessons wherever you are and wherever students are ..."

When the COVID-19 pandemic forced me to move my courses online, I recorded my synchronous online class sessions so students could review them later. However, student feedback and reflection on my course goals revealed collaborative note-taking as an alternative way to provide a record of each class session.

My first indication that recording class sessions might be problematic came halfway through the semester. One of my students, a first-generation student, I’ll call Erica, approached me to discuss her performance in the course. I was surprised to hear that Erica felt she was underperforming in class because she was consistently turning in excellent work.

As society has evolved, so too has education. To meet the changing needs of our world, an explosion of online education has focused on adult learning. Adult education covers a wide range of topics, as many adult learners strive to improve their lives through professional development or changing careers (Mace and Bacon 2019).  For career fields that require hands-on work and interactions with clients, for example, online education presents a unique challenge for educating adult learners. Therefore, to reach these students, understanding appropriate educational models in an online format is essential (Diep et al. 2019). As society changes to include more online learning opportunities, the field of education must stay abreast of these shifts and use these strategies to provide the best education possible for new and longtime professionals. When teaching courses online, consider applying evidence-based strategies to improve engagement, satisfaction, and comprehension for your students of all ages. The following five tips have been developed from research geared toward pivoting live classes into effective online or blended learning courses.

When hundreds of spring and summer undergraduate courses were abruptly moved from onsite to online delivery in the wake of COVID-19, several faculty and students nationwide reacted with panic and uncertainty. Currently, instructors are busy preparing for the 2020-2021 academic year where several students will continue taking courses online. At my institution, fall academic courses will be primarily virtual (along with several others across the nation), with some in-person and hybrid instruction for performance-based, clinical, and laboratory courses, and some students living on campus.

Teachers outfitted with smart glasses monitoring student progress prompted students to work harder -- even when the glasses weren't working.

Learning remotely and online can present new challenges, or just put a strain on your existing learning strategies. You might be finding that you’re being provided with a lot of learning materials such as powerpoint slides, video, readings or handouts. What do you do with all this material, and how can you make sure you’re learning effectively rather than just staring at your screen, with nothing really going in?

Listen to Helen, one of our tutors, suggesting a few strategies to ensure that you’re actively engaging with learning materials and getting the most out of them.

https://youtu.be/mw-6066s1vQ It has been my pleasure to have shared a platform with Alan Tait, hosted by Tim Read, for a webinar today (yesterday Central European Time) entitled 'How to Engage and Support Students Online'. This is the EDEN (European Distance Education Network) community's response to the demands put on staff to teach remotely, many for…

Framing questions the right way—and scaffolding the right kinds of responses—can help teachers avoid blank stares and awkward silences.

What do you do when your question is met with blank stares? In “When You Get Nothing But Crickets,” Jennifer Gonzalez of Cult of Pedagogy shares a few ways to avoid those long, awkward silences after you pose a question. 

An engaging learning experience in which students are fully immersed in the content is driven by six variables, according to new research.

The State of Engagement 2019 report, from edtech SaaS provider GoGuardian, features insight from hundreds of students, teachers, school leaders, and IT administrators to identify the specific factors contibuting to an engaging learning experience.