Archive: "Can't You Just Lecture to Me?"

Last week, I was a featured keynote presenter for the inaugural Learning 2.0 Conference.  It was a great experience.  My favorite part was just the excitement and magical sensation of knowing I was sitting here in my home office presenting to a group of educators who were tuning in from around the world.  It was a truly global audience -- so very cool.

If you missed my presentation, here is the title, description, and link to the archive which will launch Blackboard Collaborate.  Enjoy!  And check out the recordings of the other keynotes here.

"Can't You Just Lecture to Me?" Strategies for Transforming Reluctant Learners when Teaching with Emerging Technologies 

Have you heard that line before? Teaching with emerging technologies requires not only a new technical toolkit but also a new set of skills for transforming reluctant students from passive into participatory learners.  In this presentation, I will share stories and strategies from my own classes, showcased in my new book Best Practices for Teaching with Emerging Technologies, to assist college instructors with supporting students who are reluctant to embrace new forms of learning, use social media for learning activities, and play an active role in a learning community.  Links to handy PDF guides will be shared to assist you with building a foundation for student success in your Learning 2.0 classroom. 

Click here to access the Blackboard Collaborate Recording, when prompted selected "Allow" or "Run" to initiate the session: http://tiny.cc/bfjvjw

September VoiceThread Events

Each month, I host two events for VoiceThread's higher education community: a webinar and an online office hour.  The events are geared towards showcasing effective practices of VoiceThread in college learning and providing assistance to educators who are teaching with VoiceThread (or want to learn how).  Recently, we moved the office hour event to Google+ Hangouts!

September 2012 Higher Ed VoiceThread Events:

Diversifying Instruction in Large Lecture Classes with VoiceThread

Friday, September 14th, 2012

12:00 PDT/ 3:00 EDT

Click here to register for free! 

This webinar will feature the teaching innovations of 

Ginger Shultz, 

Lecturer of Chemistry

at the University of Michigan

Many instructors struggle to understand how to use collaborative technologies to support large, lecture-based classes. In this webinar, you will learn how Ginger Shultz employs VoiceThread in an organic chemistry laboratory course that enrolls 350-850 students. Ginger will discuss how her use of VoiceThread has enabled her to foster greater community in her face-to-face classroom, as well as unveil the unique learner perspectives that often get lost in large classes. These outcomes allow Ginger to understand the flow of her students learning and make shifts in her instruction, as needed.

Hangout with Michelle and the VoiceThread Team

Tuesday, September 18th, 2012

3:00 PDT/ 6:00 EDT

I use Google+ Hangouts on Air to engage in live online learning sessions with 

college educators who have questions about how to teach with VoiceThread. 

Bring your questions and topics for discussion!  

Up to 10 participants (including me!) can participate in a live Hangout but an 

unlimited number may view the streaming video on my blog here.

To learn how to participate, click here.

My Book is Now Available: Best Practices for Teaching With Emerging Technologies

At last, my book, Best Practices for Teaching with Emerging Technologies, has published! The paperback and hardcopy versions are now available directly from Routledge and Amazon.

A Kindle version will be available on Amazon and an eBook option will also be available via Routledge shortly, although I have no exact date about either.

This has been a huge project and I am very grateful for all the instructors who shared their practices, ideas, resources, advice and willingness to review the book.  Thank you so much to you all! 

I wrote this book so it would be relevant to both 2- and 4-year instructors who are both experienced and completely new to the idea of weaving web-based technologies into their classes.  It is packed with practical advice and ideas, always keeping students and learning as the central focus.  Rather than an explosive list of new technologies to check out, you will find relevant tips and showcases from college classrooms, infused with my own personal journey about how social media and web 2.0 technologies revolutionized my vision of teaching and learning.  The book is accompanied with an online resource site, as well, which is intended to augment your learning as you read and encourage you to expand your horizons and use of new tools in your own professional development.

I will continue to share related events and discussions about the book on my blog, Twitter, and Google+! Cheers!

Paying it Forward.

Since 2007, I have openly shared my experiences, my work, my ideas, questions, and my frustrations here on my blog.  I know there are many who read but don't comment -- and that's quite ok.  I can't put into words how amazing it feels to me to attend a conference and have complete strangers introduce themselves to me, sharing their gratitude for all that they've learned from my blog.

This week my son started middle school and it has been a rather difficult transition for him.  So, as any mom would, I'm doing everything I can to try to help him.  He has been given the task to sell magazines.  Typically, our family buys one or two to support the school and we leave it at that but this year, I thought I'd try something different.  I thought I'd weave this into my blog as an opportunity for my readers to "pay it forward" and send a silent note of thanks or a thumbs up to me if you have learned something from my blog over the years.  I regularly turn down advertisement offers and guest blog post offers for my blog in an effort to maintain integrity on my site.  I feel confident I've maintained a consistent experience here for educators to share and learn together and today, I ask you to give back for my son, Jack, who is truly the bravest young person I know.

The proceeds go to Springview Middle School. I hope you'll consider purchasing a magazine subscription or two for yourself or as gifts for the upcoming holiday season.  Thank you!

Learning 2.0 Conference: 8/20-24, Free, Online Learning!

Next week I will be presenting at the Learning 2.0 Conference, organized by Steve Hargadon and the great leaders at Classroom 2.0 in support of Connected Educator Month.  I hope you'll join me!

Learning 2.0 is a free, online, open conference that begins on Monday, 8/20/12 and runs through Friday, 8/24/12.  Learn more about the conference and view the schedule of events here.  All sessions will be presented in Blackboard Collaborate, a web-based e-conferencing system. All sessions will also be archived.

Join me for:

Can't You Just Lecture to Me?

Strategies for Supporting Reluctant Students 

when Teaching with Emerging Technologies

Tuesday, August 21st

1pm PDT/ 4pm EDT

Keynote Session

How Content and Learning Changes

When Students Become the Online Teachers

Friday, August 24th

12:00 PDT/ 3:00 EDT

General Session

Learn more about the conference here:  http://www.learning20.com 

Twitter hashtag is #learning20

Looking forward to learning with you!

Archive of the First Hangout On Air: August VoiceThread Office Hour

I just wrapped up my first Hangout On Air which was the new environment I'm using for my monthly online VoiceThread office hour.  The archive of the Hangout is embedded below if you'd like to view it and learn!  It was fun!

The Event in Review

I was joined by 4-9 colleagues (the number varied throughout the hour) which was a great number for the group.  The flow of the video could certainly have been smoother and I hit some very rocky experiences with the screenshare function which was too bad but the conversation was great.  

I am reflecting now on how great it felt to be joined by so many educators who have successfully completed my Building Online Community with Social Media class (offered through @One).  In that class, college professors are introduced to the key tenets of online community and learn how elements like social presence, collaboration, and personalized learning contribute to breaking down a learner's isolation in online classes.  In the class, students learn to effectively scaffold and support a student's affective learning with VoiceThread, and other social media-related tools, by participating in our own learning activities. Then then they create their own VoiceThread activity at the end of the class which fosters their social presence and demonstrates their ability to develop a collaborative learning activity.  

It warms my heart to reconnect with so many of you -- sorry, I'm getting mushy here but it really is a nice feeling -- and see so many of you continue to be tirelessly dedicated to exploring new ways to meet the needs of your students, in the face of our crummy budget mess and the lack of support you find around you.  

Pedagogically, our conversations flowed from how to have students share student-generated VoiceThreads with an instructor and then with an entire class to comparing VoiceThread to a discussion forum, and reflecting on how to use VoiceThread in conjunction with other assessment tools (like blogs, traditional assessments, papers, etc.) to scaffold learning up through the highest levels of critical thinking.   

Next Month

I'll be making a separate blog post in the coming weeks about the day/time of my September Hangout on Air but if you'd like to plan to join us, I urge you to click here and add me to your Circles on Google+.  This is the only way you'll have the option to join and participate in the Hangout (see option one below).

I am taking suggestions about what the topic should be for the September Hangout On Air -- please share your idea in the form of a comment on my blog or reach me on Twitter @brocansky. Thanks!

Also, I am interested in being crystal clear about the fact that you have ways to access each Hangout on Air.  I know this is new to most of us so feel free to leave a comment here if you have a question and I'll do my best to answer it.  

1. Option 1: Join and participate in the the Hangout on Air from Google+.  If you join this way, the system's default is to display your presence via your webcam.  After you have joined, you will have the option to turn off your webcam and participate via audio only or you may also participate via text chat if that's your preference.  Of course, I encourage video participate when it's possible and meets your needs.  There are seats for up to 10 participants (including me).
2. Option 2: View the live stream on the Hangout page of my blog.  Each time I launch a Hangout on Air, I will embed the video stream here for live viewers to access it. The archive of the video will remain there until the new Hangout on Air occurs. Moving forward, I'll be establishing a method of storing all the links too. Unfortunately, I am unable to provide live or delayed captioning the Hangouts nor the archives.

Hangout Tomorrow with Michelle & the VoiceThread Team

Hangout with Michelle and the VoiceThread Team

Tuesday, August 14th 

3pm PDT/ 6pm EDT

Topic:  Strategies for Increasing Student Voice and Video Comments

Participation options explained below!

Each month, I hold two events for the higher ed VoiceThread community: a webinar showcasing different ways that college professors are using VoiceThread, and an online office hour that is an opportunity to engage in a less formal conversation about teaching with VoiceThread.  Office hours are your chance to ask logistical "how to" questions which I respond to visually using the screenshare feature and engage with other educators about topics related to teaching with VoiceThread.

Beginning tomorrow, I am making a change and using Google+ Hangouts on Air as the platform for my monthly VoiceThread office hour.  I'm excited about this change and hope you will be too!  Please join in.  You will have two options for participating.

Options for Participating in the Google+ Hangout On Air

• Option 1: Participate -- Up to 10 people (including me and the VoiceThread team member) will be able to join in on the live, online discussion.  The live participants will have the opportunity to participate in video chat (you can choose to disable your video camera and participate through voice only) to ask questions and share ideas.  First come first serve!
• To join as a participant, you must add Michelle to your Circles in Google+.
• Then at the scheduled time of the Hangout, you will see a notification in your Google+ feed that the Hangout has begun. Click "Join Hangout."
• Option 2: View Only -- While the Hangout is in progress, a live stream of it will be embedded in the "Hangout" page of my blog.   An unlimited number of viewers may watch the live Hangout by visiting that page.

The "Other" Learning Domain: Developing Emotional Intelligence in a Digital Age

Why is it that the cognitive domain of learning plays such a visible, central role in mainstream conversations about learning theory and practice in higher education while the affective domain frequently takes a back seat?  Sprinkled throughout the web, we find visuals of Bloom's taxonomy of the cognitive domain (nowadays usually the revised version) in a myriad of formats.  Here are the results of a Google Image Search using the terms "Blooms taxonomy." Take a peek.  How many results illustrate the affective domain?

The cognitive domain is, of course, critical to learning and I do not intend to belittle its importance in any way here.  But I think it's important to unveil the lack of critical discourse that has developed around the affective domain as our learning landscape has gradually moved into the online environment in recent years.  The affective domain contributes to the development of a student's motivation, confidence, how relevant they perceive the content to be, and how meaningful their learning experience is to them (Polhemus, Shih, Richardson and Swan, 2000).  The affective domain shapes learning into a meaningful, relevant, life changing experience.  All of these factors are critical contributors to powerful, inspirational online classes (Zvacek, 1991).

The affective domain, according to Donald Clark, "includes the manner in which we deal with things emotionally, such as feelings, values, appreciation, enthusiasms, motivations, and attitudes." As an online teacher, these are critical skills that contribute to my students' effectiveness to participate as a member of our learning community.  Fostering these skills is a gradual process that begins in week one and progresses throughout each week and is practiced and improved upon in each of our activities.  For this reason, the activities (or most of them), need to be designed with tools that foster a participatory environment and empower students to develop a shared sense of purpose in the community.

As online educators, we must be consciously aware of how we are fostering our students emotional and social learning in online environments and explore how hybrid environments can expand and heighten these skills in a class.  Doing so will ensure that pedagogies that leave out socialization, which were so eloquently refuted by Cathy Davidson here, will not become mainstream delivery methods within higher education in the future.  We must cultivate the emotional intelligence of our students and understand what that means to do so within a 21st century context.

At the top of this post is a graphic I created to illustrate how I use VoiceThread, a web-based participatory tool that fosters conversations around media, to foster the affective domain.  I welcome your comments and questions, as I consider this a working draft.  What tools do you use that scaffold the development of the skills in the affective domain in an online class?  And how do you employ them?

___________

References

Polhemus, L., Shih, L-F., Richardson, J.C. and Swan, K. (2000). Building an affective learning
community: Social presence and learning engagement. Paper presented at the World Conference on
the WWW and the Internet (WebNet); San Antonio, TX.


Zvacek, S. M. Effective affective design for distance education. Tech Trends. 1991; 36: 40-43. 

Learning 2.0 Conference: Virtual, Free, Global

Join in on the Learning 2.0 Conference, August 20-24, 2012 -- a free, international, virtual conference that is being organized with leadership from Steve Hargadon and many other fabulous educators associated with Classroom 2.0. 


I am honored and excited to be included in the awesome line-up of keynote speakers: Julie Evans, Heidi Hayes Jacobs, Sugata Mitra, Marc Prensky, Audrey Watters, Yong Zhao.

This event is entirely free and open.  All sessions will be presented in Blackboard Collaborate and will engage an international audience of educators who are passionate about exploring the ever shifting nature of education into a new, learning 2.0 culture. 

The call for proposals is now open!  Share your great ideas!

Learn more about the Learning 2.0 Conference here.

VoiceThread Higher Ed Events for August: Webinar & New Hangouts with Michelle!

Each month, I hold one VoiceThread-sponsored webinar and one online office hour in support of effective teaching and learning with VoiceThread throughout the higher education community.  This blog post shares details of my next webinar, as well as an exciting change I'm making to my online office hours.  Starting this month, I'll be using Google+ Hangouts!

Higher Ed Webinar

• Watch Learning Bloom: Understanding, Analyzing, Evaluating, and Creating with VoiceThread

• Register here (free!):  https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/662817034

This webinar will feature the teaching innovations of Vicki Phillips, General Education Coordinator and English faculty at Rasmussen College.  Vicki will share her own holistic VoiceThread teaching integration plan that scaffolds the use of VoiceThread to support all levels of Bloom's taxonomy of the cognitive learning domain.   Specifically, Vicki will demonstrate how she uses VoiceThread in her literature and developmental English classes to:

• Transform students from information consumers into content creators. Vicki’s students create a research-based VoiceThread with a written script in lieu of writing a paper. 
• Develop concise, just-in-time grammar modules to support her own developmental English learners. Links to these resources are shared to support all students across the region. 
• Foster online discussions that lead to strengthened relationships between students in F2F classes and provide opportunities for enhanced reflection.

Hangout with Me in Google+ and Learn to Teach with VoiceThread

• August "Teaching with VoiceThread Hangout" will be held on Tuesday, August 14th at 3pm PDT/ 6pm EDT.

This month, in the spirit of innovation and experimentation, I am shifting my online office hour concept to Google+ Hangouts.  If you are unfamiliar with Hangouts, you can learn more about what they are here and it is my hope that you will consider this an opportunity to try something new and learn about about VoiceThread -- two great objectives!  

Essentially, each month I will schedule a one-hour "Teaching with VoiceThread" Hangout.  The day/time of the Hangout will be announced here on my blog, on Google+, and on Twitter (follow me @brocansky) and on the VoiceThread webinars page.  

To receive an invitation to this Hangout when it begins, all you need to do is go to my Google+ profile page and add me to your Circles. You can do this right now by clicking this link and then clicking on the "Add to Circles" button at the top of the page.  This process does require you to have a Google account (which you already have if you have a gmail and/or YouTube account).

When I initiate the Hangout at the scheduled time, you will receive an invitation in your Google+ feed.  Just click on the "Join Hangout" link and you should get in just fine. If you are using a browser other than Chrome, you will likely need to install a plug-in your first time.  Users without a webcam are able to participate with text chat while still being able to view the video presentations/demos on their screen.

I will be using the "Hangouts on Air" feature which means the Hangout itself will be limited to ten actively participating contributors (first come first serve so get there early!).  After the first ten seats are filled, you will take an "audience" seat which means you will be able to view the live stream.

If this all seems complicated, give it a try.  I promise, it's really not so bad.  And, trust me, I'm learning too! You just might like it and see lots of dazzling opportunities for teaching and learning!

Have a question?  Leave a comment here and I'd be happy to answer it.