Using Clickers to Teach Biology-Based Material in a Developmental Psychology Class

This talk will describe a study designed to assess if clicker technology during a lesson can improve learning relative to traditional lecture alone. A control group was exposed to the stages of prenatal development via traditional lecture, and an experimental group was exposed to the material via an exercise that used clickers. A pretest showed no difference before the intervention. A posttest showed that the clicker group had significant gains indicating clickers may facilitate learning of science-based material.

Making Learning Possible : Nätbaserad utbildning vid Högskolan Dalarna

Högskolan Dalarna (HDa) har gjort ett strategiskt/medvetet val genom att betona den pedagogiska utvecklingen för nästa generations lärande (NGL) och har under flera år utvecklat nätbaserade kurser. NGL centrum är ett nav i den pedagogiska utvecklingen på HDa. Vår roll är att möjliggöra studenters lärande. (Ramsden 2003). Vid vår högskola fokuserar vi på olika datorsystem som stödjer lärandet och möjliggör synkron interaktion och kommunikation, både vid seminarier och under föreläsningar. Vi har valt och utvecklat system som stödjer lärandet och kontakten mellan studenter och lärare på ett bra sätt, fokus ligger inte nödvändigtvis på den nyaste teknologin. Vi anser att det är viktigt att skapa förutsättningar för sociokulturella miljöer vid nätbaserade utbildingar och därför är seminarier och samtal mycket viktiga i våra utbildningar. (Säljö 2000). Vi har definierat tre huvudbehov för lärandeprocessen och vi har valt system för informationsutbyte (Fronter), Adobe Connect för seminarier och Videochat - vårt egenutvecklade system för föreläsningar. Vi vet sedan många år att föreläsningar hjälper studenterna att förstå litteraturen bättre. Ett LMS (Fronter) är ett sätt att samla information såsom scheman och uppgifter. Där sker diskussioner om innehåll och kursupplägg, inlämningar, nyheter och meddelanden. När det gäller föreläsningar har vi valt att använda ”live-streaming” med möjlighet att spela in föreläsningen. Vi betraktar varken Adobe Connect eller vår Videochat som virtuella verktyg. De möten som genomförs med dessa verktyg är på riktigt. Studenter och lärare vittnar ofta om att de interagerar mer i ett seminarium via Connect än vad som sker i en fysisk föreläsningssal och bekräftar den pedagogiska närheten. HDa har system som är säkra men vi tror samtidigt på öppenhet och lättillgänglighet. Vi välkomnar gäster in i systemen för att skapa transparens. Läraren har möjlighet att låsa mappar i vårt LMS och göra dem både säkra och privata. Vi vill berätta och visa för intresserade konferensdeltagare hur vi på Högskolan Dalarna jobbar generellt med nätbaserade verktyg men också visa på mer specifika lösningar som har uppskattats av våra studenter och lärare.   References Ramsden, Paul (2003). Learning to teach in higher education. 2. ed. London: RoutledgeFalmer Säljö, Roger (2000). Lärande i praktiken: ett sociokulturellt perspektiv. [Learning in practice - A sociocultural perspective]. Stockholm: Prisma

Making learning possible - Nätbaserad utbildning för funktionsnedsatta studenter

Making learning possible - Nätbaserad utbildning för funktionsnedsatta studenter Högskolan Dalarna har gjort ett strategiskt/medvetet val genom att betona den pedagogiska utvecklingen för nästa generations lärande (NGL) och har under flera år utvecklat nätbaserade kurser.  Detta innebär även att ibland måste anpassa våra system för t.ex. hörselskadade studenter. Högskolan har en lång tradition av teckentolka föreläsningar i sal. Vi har även under en längre tid teckentolkat inspelade föreläsningar. Efter att ha provat olika sätt att spela in dessa har vi nu landat i ett system där originalföreläsningen är till vänster och tar upp c:a 80% av skärmen. Teckentolken syns i de resterande 20% till höger. Eftersom vi använder samma system för teckentolkningen som våra lärare har i studion blir det ”strömlinjeformat” då vi bara behöver hantera ett system och får den automatisering som är inbyggd. När det gäller seminarier använder vi oss av Adobe Connect. Lärarna, teckentolken och studenterna (även de hörselskadade) är i ett rum där läraren visar sina dokument, samtalar med studenterna o.s.v.. Teckentolken och den hörselskadade studenten har ett extra rum i Connect där tolken syns. När studenten ska prata så tecknar studenten och det taltolkas av tolken i Connect-rummet med läraren. För detta har teckentolkarna ett separat rum/studio med två skärmar för att kunna se och höra båda Connect-rummen. Vi rekommenderar studenten att också ha två skärmar. Teoretiskt borde detta även kunna användas för en hörselskadad lärare men det har inte gjorts några försök hos oss. Vi vill visa med ljud och bild för intresserade åhörare hur vi har byggt detta arbete och hur hinder kan överbryggas. References Ramsden, Paul (2003). Learning to teach in higher education. 2. ed. London: RoutledgeFalmer Säljö, Roger (2000). Lärande i praktiken: ett sociokulturellt perspektiv. [Learning in practice - A sociocultural perspective]. Stockholm: Prisma

Learning by Reading : A literature study on the use of authentic texts in the EFL upper elementary classroom

The English language is widely used throughout the world and has become a core subject in many countries, especially for students in the upper elementary classroom. While textbooks have been the preferred EFL teaching method for a long time, this belief has seemingly changed within the last few years. Therefore, this study looks at what prior research says about the use of authentic texts in the EFL upper elementary classroom with an aim to answer research questions on how teachers can work with authentic texts, what the potential benefits of using authentic texts are and what teachers and students say about the use of authentic texts in the EFL classroom. While this thesis is written from a Swedish perspective, it is recognized that many countries teach EFL. Therefore, international results have also been taken into consideration and seven previous research studies have been analyzed in order to gain a better understanding of the use of authentic texts in the EFL classroom. Results indicate that the use of authentic texts is beneficial in teaching EFL. However, many teachers are still reluctant to use these, mainly because of time constraints and the belief that such texts are too difficult for their students. Since these findings are mainly focused on areas outside of Sweden, additional research is needed before conclusions can be drawn on the use of authentic texts in the Swedish upper elementary EFL classroom.

What schools teach us about educating poor children in Chile?

Includes bibliography

Accuracy in dictation after improvement of reading and copying skills in a student with learning difficulties

The aim of this study was to use systematic teaching in a clinical setting using software to teach reading and writing in one boy with learning difficulties and obtain accurate performance in dictation. In the pre-test, the student showed good performance in matching-to-sample tasks (96% in matching printed words to dictated words; 88% in matching pictures to dictated words), although he obtained a low percentage of correct answers in the dictation of constructed responses (52%) and manuscripts (24%). The teaching strengthened the selection of printed words matched to dictated words and copying words. The student obtained 100% correct answers in the teaching tasks. In post-tests of dictation, he obtained 100% correct answers in constructed response and 96% correct answers in manuscripts. The results indicate that carefully teaching copying may promote accuracy in the performance of responding to minimal units in dictation tasks.

Teaching and learning discourse analysis: some ideas on the use of ICTs

[EN]ICTs have played a major role in transforming the way we teach and learn. The purpose of this paper is to present some ideas on how ICTs can be implemented in the teaching and learning of discourse analysis. ICTs offer valuable material to help explain key theoretical concepts of discourse analysis and to examine linguistic and social reality. A tweet, a video song, a speech, an advertisement or a hoax-mail may enhance students’ motivation and stimulate critical thinking.

An Active Learning Module for an Introduction to Software Engineering Course

Many schools do not begin to introduce college students to software engineering until they have had at least one semester of programming. Since software engineering is a large, complex, and abstract subject it is difficult to construct active learning exercises that build on the students’ elementary knowledge of programming and still teach basic software engineering principles. It is also the case that beginning students typically know how to construct small programs, but they have little experience with the techniques necessary to produce reliable and long-term maintainable modules. I have addressed these two concerns by defining a local standard (Montana Tech Method (MTM) Software Development Standard for Small Modules Template) that step-by-step directs students toward the construction of highly reliable small modules using well known, best-practices software engineering techniques. “Small module” is here defined as a coherent development task that can be unit tested, and can be car ried out by a single (or a pair of) software engineer(s) in at most a few weeks. The standard describes the process to be used and also provides a template for the top-level documentation. The instructional module’s sequence of mini-lectures and exercises associated with the use of this (and other) local standards are used throughout the course, which perforce covers more abstract software engineering material using traditional reading and writing assignments. The sequence of mini-lectures and hands-on assignments (many of which are done in small groups) constitutes an instructional module that can be used in any similar software engineering course.

Developing Dramatic Movies to Teach Interdisciplinary Collaboration to Allied Health, Medical and Nursing Students

Many times a Hollywood movie has scenes that are useful to illustrate aspects of health care practice. However, it is often impractical to use an entire two-hour movie in class, and a clip or two really does not convey the dramatic picture that the complete movie reveals. [See PDF for complete abstract]

Using Video iPods to Teach Nursing Skills to BSN Nursing Stu

The use of technology has increased in several teaching institutions. These technologies include podcasting, webbased teaching and simulation. The purpose of this project is to compare student performance between students who are taught nursing skills by faculty demonstration and those taught nursing skills delivered via video iPods. [See PDF for complete abstract]

Using virtual reality to teach special populations how to cope in crisis: the case of a virtual earthquake

The unique characteristics of special populations such as pre-school children and Down syndrome kids in crisis and their distorted self-image were never studied before, because of the difficulty of crisis reproduction. This study proposes a VR setting that tries to model some special population's behaviour in the time of crises and offers them a training scenario. The sample population consisted of 30 pre-school children and 20 children with Down syndrome. The VR setting involved a high-speed PC, a VPL EyePhone 1, a MR toolkit, a vibrations plate, a motion capture system and other sensors. The system measured and modelled the typical behaviour of these special populations in a Virtual Earthquake scenario with sight and sound and calculated a VR anthropomorphic model that reproduced their behaviour and emotional state. Afterwards one group received an emotionally enhanced VR self-image as feedback for their training, one group received a plain VR self-image and another group received verbal instructions. The findings strongly suggest that the training was a lot more biased by the emotionally enhanced VR self-image than the other approaches. These findings could highlight the special role of the self-image to therapy and training and the interesting role of imagination to emotions, motives and learning. Further studies could be done with various scenarios in order to measure the best-biased behaviour and establish the most natural and affective VR model. This presentation is going to highlight the main findings and some theories behind them.

Learning about Self Far From Home: A Pre-service Teacher’s Intercultural Development During an International Program

Preparing teachers to effectively teach culturally diverse students, teacher educators advocate for the use of cross-cultural field experiences, including international study abroad programs. This paper reports on a qualitative case study of two pre-service teachers’ intercultural development during a semester-long teacher education study abroad program in London, England. Findings indicate that international experiences provide a catalyst to move pre-service teachers forward in their intercultural development. Implications include the need for multicultural teacher educators to take a developmental approach to pre-service teacher education informed by theories of intercultural development and cultural learning developed within intercultural communications.

Using service-learning to encourage community health advocacy among high school students

The project outlined throughout this program management plan aims to develop a health-focused student advocacy group in the San Antonio Independent School District (SAISD). At its core, this project will be an opportunity for SAISD students to engage in service-learning, through which they will learn and develop by designing, organizing and participating in meaningful public health service experiences. ^ This program management plan addresses the genuine need for public health community education by using the service-learning model as a framework to engage students to effect change. The plan delineates the process by which the student advocacy group is to be assembled, selection of service-learning project, project objectives, technical objectives, and communication requirements. Ideally, the plan should help to facilitate project coordination, communication, and planning, and to support the direction of resources. The appendices that follow also provide useful tools with which to follow through with project implementation. ^ The plan is about more than providing a tool to educate students about the health issues in their community. It is about providing a way to teach health advocacy and self-interest and encourage civic engagement via public health. Students have the potential to positively effect lasting change among their peers, in their schools and in the community.^

Learning and Assessing Competencies: New challenges for Mathematics in Engineering Degrees in Spain.

The introduction of new degrees adapted to the European Area of Higher Education (EAHE) has involved a radically different approach to the curriculum. The new programs are structured around competencies that should be acquired. Considering the competencies, teachers must define and develop learning objectives, design teaching methods and establish appropriate evaluation systems. While most Spanish universities have incorporated methodological innovations and evaluation systems different from traditional exams, there is enough confusion about how to teach and assess competencies and learning outcomes, as traditionally the teaching and assessment have focused on knowledge. In this paper we analyze the state-of-the-art in the mathematical courses of the new engineering degrees in some Spanish universities.

ASYTRAIN: a new methodology for teaching and learning antennas

This paper presents ASYTRAIN, a new tool to teach and learn antennas, based on the use of a modular building kit and a low cost portable antenna measurement system that lets the students design and build different types of antennas and observe their characteristics while learning the insights of the subjects. This tool has a methodology guide for try-and-test project development and, makes the students be active antenna engineers instead of passive learners. This experimental learning method arises their motivation during the antenna courses.