Image source: rmsylte.visibli.com

Schools are using Facebook more than you think, and in some pretty surprising ways too! Read 50 Great Ways Colleges Are Using Facebook.

Hopkin also raises the critical point that social media learning will not work if merely tacked on to traditional (read: top-down) learning. Personally, I’ve had teachers who posted questions to an online discussion board with the intention to harness social media, but failed to think through how to guide the discussion, or even to participate in it themselves.

source: thetechnologycafe.com

The result? Each student in my class (including me) posted the obligatory three postings and no more. Contributions were piecemeal and mostly one-directional. I learned more about the subject by trawling real blogs and forums out there that were delightfully active, engaging, and enlightening. A 20-minute Skype chat with a classmate gave me more insights on the subject than the teacher’s 5MB slidedeck ever could.

Read more about the elements of successful social media learning by Hopkin here. His key point is that there is no one successful model of social media learning. Instead, one needs to take the effort to understand the school culture and situational needs of the class, and figure out together with students the model that works best for them and the teacher.

Not in the world of education, where even Harvard University is reassessing its teaching practices to respond to changes in students and the workplace.

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Source: toonpool.com

An insightful article by American author and lecturer Alfie Kohn criticises the use of number and letter grades in school, which, according to Kohn, motivates students to seek better grades rather than knowledge.

Kohn suggests several ways to derive more authentic ways of assessment, including having teachers develop a set of criteria for assessment using students’ input. Kohn also suggests alternatives to grades, such as written comments by teacher to student, or having students evaluate one another in student-led conferences.

After reading this excellent article on the virtue and value of solitude, carve out one minute (yes, you can do it) and simply immerse yourself in your quiet place.

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According to The U.S. Department of Education (2009), students perform better in online courses than in face-to-face courses. The best performance, however, is achieved in hybrid courses that blend online and face-to-face learning. This is because blended learning offers:

• More time-on-task
• More control over the learning process
• Greater opportunities for reflection

These three factors of blended education can also benefit educators. Just because digital learning is student-centric does not mean the role of the teacher is diminished. Michael B. Horn, co-founder and Executive Director of Education of Innosight Institute, talks about why digital learning will liberate teachers.

Reference

U.S. Department of Education, “Online Learning: A Meta-Analysis and Review of Online Learning Studies”, prepared by Barbara Means, Yukie Toyama, Robert Murphy, Marianne Bakia, and Karla Jones, 2009

Virginia Tech professor John Boyer gives his World Regions class of 3,000 students a once-in-a-lifetime learning opportunity: A Skypersation (Skype conversation) with Aung Sun Suu Kyi on December 5, 2011.

Do read more about Boyer’s “disruptive” learning methods here.