An ongoing conversation about assessment, teaching and learning in general, and, more specifically, about higher education and the community and technical colleges of Washington State.
Check out the Son of Citation machine... http://citationmachine.net/index2.php
that allows users to put in their citation components and it generates the
correct APA (or other) format.
For example, I went to the site, chose APA, filled in a few fields, and the "Son of Citation" machine provided the following citation: Light, N. M. (2012, December 24). [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5184637762230200062
Like lemmings, too many American colleges are mindlessly rushing out to find a way to deliver online education, and more and more often they are choosing Coursera. The company, founded this year by two Stanford University computer scientists, has already enrolled more than two million students, has engaged 33 academic institutions as partners, and is offering more than 200 free massive open online courses, or MOOC's.
A college's decision to jump on the Coursera bandwagon is aided—and eased—by knowing that academic heavyweights like Harvard, Stanford, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are already on board. As one college president described it to The New York Times, "You're known by your partners, and this is the College of Cardinals."
In our haste to join the academic alphas, many of us are forgoing the reflection necessary to enter this new medium. Our resolve to act swiftly belies the serious nature of this next phase of higher education's evolution. There are critical pedagogical issues at stake in the online market, and MOOC's have not done nearly enough to deal with those concerns.
From Hack Education
Audrey Watters
December 3, 2012
The Year of the MOOC
...it’s not surprising that 2012 was dominated by MOOCs as the trend started to really pick up in late 2011...
...obstacles to the adoption of and accreditation for MOOCs by the university establishment were (are) still overwhelming enough that Dave Cormier listed (MIT and) MOOCs as one of his “black swans for education in 2012” when he made his education predictions for the year. (A “black swan” is an unexpected, but game-changing event.)...
...Back to Cormier, the guy who coined the term “MOOC” back in 2008, long before Stanford’s massively-hyped online artificial intelligence class. That’s an important piece of education technology history that’s been overlooked a lot this year as Sebastian Thrun and his Stanford colleagues have received most of the credit in the mainstream press for “inventing” the MOOC.
But MOOCs have a longer history, dating back to some of the open online learning experiments conducted by Cormier, George Siemens, Stephen Downes, Alec Couros, David Wiley and others. Downes and Siemens’ 2008 class "Connectivism and Connective Knowledge,”for example, was offered to some 20-odd tuition-paying students at the University of Manitoba, along with over 2300 who signed up for a free and open version online.
Noreen's note: I enrolled in the first MOOC led by George Siemens and Stephen Downes and enjoyed it for a while. Alas! I, like so many others, did not complete the course. (Forgive me?) I still believe that what George Siemens was onto with connectivism is what we are going to be more and more focused on in the future.
Odd. I thought the postings from earlier in the year would have been in the top ten, having been available for a longer period of time. Perhaps this is because the viewing audience has grown over the past year.
Wondering who's reading along with you? Most of the postings are viewed from the United States (12,169) with a few from the following countries: Russia (306), Germany (49), Canada (41), France (35), Israel (17), United Kingdom (14), South Korea (11), Ukraine (11), and China (8).
In any case, the following are the top 10 viewed postings of 2012 on this "On Teaching and Learning" blog:
The Seattle Times
December 17, 2012
Katherine Long
In a trend called flipping the classroom, new technology tools and different approaches to learning are changing the way some college faculty teach their courses. That may mean turning a lecture into homework so more class time can be spent on practice and problem-solving. Read more...
“Recent research is making clear that if our goal is for students to enter and move through programs of study that lead to completion of a credential, remedial education as it is currently practiced simply cannot get us there,” the group said in a statement, which was jointly written with the Charles A. Dana Center at the University of Texas at Austin, the Education Commission of the States and Jobs for the Future.
Core Principles for Transforming Remedial Education: A Joint Statement
December 2012
Chareles A. Dana Center
Complete College America, Inc.
Education Commission of the States
Jobs for the Future
Core Principles
1. Completion of a set of gateway courses for a program of study is a critical measure of success toward college completion. 2. The content in required gateway courses should align with a student’s academic program of study -- particularly in math. 3. Enrollment in a gateway college-level course should be the default placement for many more students. 4. Additional academic support should be integrated with gateway college-level course content -- as a co-requisite, not a prerequisite. 5. Students who are significantly underprepared for college-level academic work need accelerated routes into programs of study. 6. Multiple measures should be used to provide guidance in the placement of students in gateway courses and programs of study. 7. Students should enter a meta-major when they enroll in college and start a program of study in their first year, in order to maximize their prospects of earning a college degree.
The call for papers is now open for the QM Works! Great Northwest Regional
Conference planned for April 25 & 26, 2013. The deadline for submitting
proposals is January 18, 2013.
Click here to find information about the track topics and
presentation proposal suggestions. Presentation proposals can also be submitted
from that link. Information about pre-conference workshop offerings and pricing
of the workshops and conference can be found by clicking here.
Registration will open soon. The conference will be held at The Heathman Lodge in Vancouver WA and hotel reservations
are now being accepted.
OCCRL has just released two evaluation reports addressing the Illinois College and Career Readiness Pilot Program. The CCR Pilot was created through an act of the Illinois Legislature. Seven community colleges participated in the program. The two new reports pertain to the final year of the program and contain data and analyses from site visits, teleconference discussions, interviews, student test scores and surveys administered over the course of the past year.
The Academic Intervention Results report examines students participating in the interventions at all seven sites and provides an analysis of the institutions' success in reducing remediation. An important aspect of the Year-Five Report is its conceptual model (see p. 12) for the College and Career Readiness programs. The dimensions of this model are based on the extensive discussions with each of the college program leaders. The model provides a theoretical framework around which the report analyzes the practical and localized contexts in which sites went about implementing their interventions.
‘Teach Tech’ bachelor’s degree approved, SSCC will offer
it next fall West Seattle Herald, December 7, 2012
A new bachelor’s degree in Professional Technical Teacher
Education will be offered by South Seattle Community College in the fall
of 2013. The new “Teach Tech” degree was approved December 6 by the State
Board for Community and Technical Colleges.
Associate-degree holders who work in professional-technical fields – such welding or construction – will be able to earn a bachelor’s degree and teaching credential in workforce education, and then teach their trade at a community or technical college or corporation. Read more...
The Washington State Student Achievement Council staff compile weekly lists of local (WA State) and national articles relating to higher education. See the link below to subscribe.
We hope you enjoy this
installment of electronic news clips brought to you by the Washington Student
Achievement Council. Please note that some sites may require you to
register or subscribe before reading the complete articles.
The Januray 2013 issue of RAT Tracks: Routines And Tips
Sheet which focuses on Reading Logs is now available.
In each monthly tips sheet, RAT Pack Leader and ABE/GED instructor Michele
Lesmeister, focuses on just one Reading Apprenticeship® routine to help
guide instructors in using Reading Apprenticeship in their classrooms to
improve student reading comprehension. Here is a list of some past
issues/topics:
Sept. 2011 = Using a Personal Reading History
Oct. 2011 = Using Readers Strategy Lists (RSL)
Nov. 2011 = Conducting Think-Alouds
Dec. 2011 = Writing 25-Word Summaries
Jan. 2012 = Using RA Framework to Teach Vocabulary
Feb. 2012 = Schema
March 2012 = Metacognition
April 2012 = Talking to the Text
May 2012 = Modeling
June 2012 = Year End Wrap-Up
(no issues published July – Sept. 2012)
October 2012 = Four Dimensions of the Reading
Apprenticeship® Framework
Education Portal Claims a Million Students for Free
Online CLEP Prep Courses
By Dian Schaffhauser 12/03/12
A company that offers free video courses to help students
prepare for exams that will earn them college credit claimed that it had
reached a million students in its first year of operation. Education Portal
recently added its 18th course. Each course offers sets of short video clips as
well as transcriptions and assessment materials that help participants prepare
to take a CollegeBoard
College-Level Examination Program (CLEP) exam in order to earn college
credit and opt out of introductory courses.
Unfinished business: more adults go back to college USA Today, December 5, 2012
According to the report “Degrees of Opportunity”, roughly
38% of the 17.6 million undergraduates enrolled in higher education in 2011
were over the age of 25. There are many reasons adults, or so-called
non-traditional students, seek a college degree or credential at a later stage
in life. Some are just beginning their college journey as an undergraduate.
Others are returning to continue what they started as an 18- or 20-year-old
student. And some adult learners are heading back to college to pursue
additional training as the demand for higher-skilled workers increases. Read more...
Just got off the phone with Jack Shrawder, former aviation instructor and current principle of Teaching for Success. Jack has been compiling information for faculty professional development for the past 23 years and supports faculty in several ways. If you'd like a sampling of what Teaching for Success is about, you can sign up for a free service that will provide you with 2 teaching tips each week. Of course, if you want to sign up for paid access to additional materials and courses, you may do so through a link at the bottom of each teaching tips email. Jack promises me that you won't receive any other solicitations - just your teaching tips messages. Please post your comments and let us know how you've used the tips or content you access through the Teaching for Success site.
Washington State Community and Technical College Faculty:
We have a large number of seats available in the following online QM trainings
- at no cost to individual faculty or colleges -
3-step process to reserve your seat:
1. Please communicate with your elearning director (or QM rep),
and have them request the number of seats desired by email (Brook Bane at BBane@sbctc.edu)
2. Once it is approved by email, please fill out the Google form
for each participant (http://goo.gl/v0Hfx).
3. After which, SBCTC eLearning will create a QM account for
faculty, and register them for the workshop.
The two-year SBCTC Canvas implementation began on July 1,
2012. ·30 CTCs will have a Canvas environment by
December 13, 2012. Canvas migration is under discussion at the remaining
colleges. ohttps://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AsjtbZTPZJ4_dF9MS0RMblZMUWRQd0RSNkM1TmpSQ2c#gid=0 ·The University of Washington and Eastern Washington
University purchased Canvas off the SBCTC contract and are implementing for
their students.Western Washington
University and WSU Spokane purchased pilot contracts, and the other four-year
institutions are discussing moving to Canvas as their current contracts
expire. ·23 colleges and universities participated in
developing a shared faculty training course which is currently offered at many
CTCs and through SBCTC. Canvas has
decided to adopt as their official faculty training course ·SBCTC staff are integrating Canvas with SMS,
Tegrity, Collaborate, and eTutoring ·SBCTC staff are developing programming so
colleges can use SMS integration to share enrollments in Canvas ·Faculty at Cascadia, Peninsula, and Seattle
Central are using Canvas to offer MOOCs starting in January
With funding from the Gates Foundation and from the
Washington Legislature, the Washington community and technical colleges are
finding or developing course materials for the 82 most common courses with that
goal that students pay $30 or less for course materials. The first 42 courses
were released October 31, 2011, and have already saved students more than $1.2
million.The second 40 courses will be
released in March 2013.http://opencourselibrary.org For more information, see:http://sbctc.edu/college/_e-elearningprojects.aspx
SBCTC eLearning Services
Tegrity:The
SBCTC contract with Tegrity ends June 30, 2013.Do we renew or do an RFP? Blackboard Collaborate (formerly known as Elluminate): Current
contract ends June 30, 2014. Blackboard Student Services (24x7 Tier 1 tech support
formerly known as Presidium): Contract ends June 30, 2014. Active discussion on whether colleges continue
to need 24x7 Tier 2 tech support.Canvas
users report very few problems that can be solved by outside Tier 1 support. Western eTutoring Consortium:Now managed by SBCTC.
·Offers 17 subjects to all students at 43
institutions in 6 western states oTen
four-year institutions, 27 Washington CTCs, 6 CTCs in Oregon and Utah ·In 2011-12, our tutors responded to o2,380
eQuestions o10,183
writing submissions o5,877
online chats
State Authorization:States can require colleges to be authorized to serve at a distance
those students who live in the other state.Regulations vary by state. http://stateregulations.wikispaces.com/
OPEN grant with Creative Commons:SBCTC is a partner in this grant to provide
support to TAACCCT grantees that are developing open content. http://open4us.org
2013-15 Legislative Request:SBCTC is requesting $6 million to help
colleges increase use of open resources by hiring instructional staff to help
faculty find and use open resources, by supporting a common library platform
that is integrated into Canvas, and by working with faculty groups to use Open
Course Library and other materials to develop open textbooks. Definition of Core Technology:How do we define “core” technology?WACTC Technology has asked a work group from
IC, WSSSC, ITC and BAC to come up with a definition.
Are the learning
management system and the integrated library platform core technologies?
$3.5 million grant aims to
increase digital, career, and college-readiness skills of adult English
learners
Below and attached is a news release announcing the $3.5
million I-DEA grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
The first 10 college grantees were named today during the State Board business
meeting: Big Bend Community College, Institute for Extended Learning (Spokane
Falls CC), Lake Washington Institute of Technology, North Seattle Community
College, Pierce College Puyallup, Renton Technical College, Seattle Central
Community College, Shoreline Community College, Tacoma Community College, and
Walla Walla Community College.
Sent to: State Board members, Presidents, Presidents’ Assistants,
Trustees, PIOs, and SBCTC staff
Sherry Nelson | communications and outreach associate
Washington State Board for Community & Technical Colleges slnelson@sbctc.edu | p (360)
704-4308 | f (360) 704-4415 | c (206) 369-6509
From: Sherry Nelson
Sent: Thursday, December 06, 2012 3:16 PM
Cc: Laura McDowell; Sherry Nelson
Subject: NEWS RELEASE: $3.5 million grant aims to increase digital, career, and
college-readiness skills of adult English learners
$3.5 million grant aims to increase digital, career, and college-readiness
skills of adult English learners:10 community and technical colleges grantees announced today
OLYMPIA, Wash. – Students with low-level English skills will have access to a
new set of technology-enhanced educational resources and tools thanks to a $3.5
million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The State Board forCommunity and Technical Colleges (SBCTC) announced the Integrated Digital
English Acceleration (I-DEA) project grant today.
The program — which builds on the success of the nationally recognized IntegratedBasic Education and Skills Training (I-BEST) initiative — targets adult
learners in the lowest three levels English as a Second Language.
By the end of the project pilot, I-DEA learners will increase English language,
digital, and career and college readiness skills with fewer hours of
instruction than learners in traditional programs.
Among other goals, college and partner community-based organizations (CBOs)
will create open source curriculum and identify best practices of
technology-enhanced instruction that allow more students to be served with less
in-class instruction. Courses and techniques developed with the grant will be
open sourced, allowing colleges and CBOs in Washington and around the world to
replicate I-DEA.
“This generous grant means our colleges can develop innovative,
technology-based tools to tap the potential of a growing and under-served
population,” said Marty Brown, SBCTC executive director. “Not only will it lead
to better skills and better jobs for the students; their success increases the
economic vitality of the state.”
In its first year, the project will support 10 college and CBO learning hubs
across the state, adding 10 additional partner sites in the second year and the
remaining 14 college-CBO partnerships in the third year. Eventually, I-DEA will
serve about 1,600 adult learners in cohorts at all 34 community and technical
colleges and partner CBOs.
The first 10 college grantees were named today during the State Board business
meeting: Big Bend Community College, Institute for Extended Learning (Spokane
Falls CC), Lake Washington Institute of Technology, North Seattle Community
College, Pierce College Puyallup, Renton Technical College, Seattle Central
Community College, Shoreline Community College, Tacoma Community College, and
Walla Walla Community College.
Instructors and technology coaches will be trained to use a suite of online
tools to create and refine online learning modules based on I-BEST’s core
components.
Students will use eLearning resources — including open source online
instructional tools — for 50 percent or more of their learning experience at no
extra cost, with loaned laptop computers and online access provided to ensure
availability of reliable technology. Targeted student support includes online
advising and e-tutoring.
The project lays a foundation to prepare students to enter I-BEST and other
post-secondary programs to gain job-specific skills.
I-BEST is a teaching model that challenges the traditional notion that students
must complete all basic education before beginning a job training program; an
approach that often discourages students, because it is time-consuming and the
basic skills classes alone do not qualify for college credit. I-BEST pairs two
instructors in the classroom – one to teach technical skills content and the
other to teach basic skills in reading, math, writing or English language – so
students can move through school and into jobs faster. And I-BEST students
start earning college credits immediately.
I-BEST has demonstrated the effectiveness of applied skills, rigor, and support
services to accelerate student performance and progress to college and career
readiness. U.S. Department of Education Under Secretary Martha Kanter recently
recognized I-BEST as the only program proven to move this population of adults
further and faster to postsecondary education credentials.
# # #
The State Board for Community and Technical Colleges is led by a
Governor-appointed board and provides leadership, advocacy, and coordination
for Washington’s system of 34 public community and technical colleges. Each
year, nearly 500,000 students train for the workforce, prepare to transfer to a
university, gain basic math and English skills, or pursue continuing education.
National Federation for the Blind condemns Amazon’s push to
put kindle e-books in schools. See the short video included in the
article below which contrasts the lack of accessibility in kindle reader with
an accessible e-reader. Read more...
Last Thursday and Friday (Nov. 29-30), a group comprising faculty, faculty development coordinators, eLearning directors, and information technology leads met up to discuss strategies for leading transitions in higher education.
Here is a summary provided by one summit participant:
My Take Always from the Summit
Facilitating Change Models
William Bridges focuses on transitions and the psychological changes that lie behind behind significant organisational change.
He maintains that the situational changes are not as difficult for companies to make as the psychological transitions of the people impacted by the change. Read more...
Dr. John Kotter 8-Step Process for Leading Change *Having
a Simple and Clear Vision for the Change is Key *Email is not enough,
communication needs to be done at multiple levels *Walk the Talk *Short term
wins keeps everyone energized and focused on the goal *Never let up and change
up the theme or change agents for a fresh look
MOOC Discussion
Daphne Koller: What we're learning from online education.
SBCTC new faculty course in canvas, we should get on
board with this. (Note: New Faculty Learning Community) . . .
Student online advocates (Note: Navigators)- this is an idea that some
colleges are trying where courses have a student advisor set as an observer
role in Canvas and their job is to monitor student progress and help students
getting through the first 3 weeks; how to log in, best practices for using
convesations, discussions, and communicating with their instructors.Might be something we can talk to advising
about.
Using Kotter 8 step process for leading change and
starting a CHANGE culture in IR.The
steps are there for directors and implementation leads on how to plan for the
change.Using email, face to face,
andmultimedia to get the word out prior
to change and getting the buy-in from the team.We really could have used this in the Canvas rollout as well.Looking back there was not a clear vision
that we communicated to the campus on the move to campus.This probably need to come from Instruction
on figuring out a positive vision that faculty can support. . . Better vision
statement:Canvas empowers our students
for success
There was also a discussion on MOOCs in the system and
how that would benefit not just the University systems but the mid level
colleges.
We need a better online orientation for Canvas
students.Work with DE on improving the
experience, not sure if the face to face model works.Maybe better to offer an online course and
also use to introduce Tech Cafe and have someone available at Tech Cafe for the
face to face support.
Stanford, California
- The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, an independent
research and policy organization based in Stanford, CA, has received a $460,000
grant from The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation to support research on the
Carnegie Unit and its role—past, present, and future—in American education.
Created by the Carnegie Foundation in 1906 to raise academic expectations in
secondary and post-secondary education, the now century-old Carnegie Unit
continues to serve as the de facto standard for measuring student progress
toward high school graduation and through college. Though the time-based
Carnegie Unit was not intended to measure, inform or improve the quality of
teaching or learning, it became and still remains the near-universal metric for
student attainment across our nation’s secondary and higher education systems.
But as expectations for schools and students have risen dramatically and
technology has revealed the potential of personalized learning, the Carnegie
Foundation now believes it is time to consider how a revised unit, based on
competency rather than time, could improve teaching and learning in high
schools, colleges, and universities.
The Foundation is excited to lead a program of research and analysis that will
lay the groundwork for a potential redesign of the Carnegie Unit. The project
will include substantial input from a range of stakeholders and will culminate
in the release of a report that analyzes the value of the Carnegie Unit in
today’s educational context and examines the potential consequences of creating
a new unit of learning.
Thomas Toch, a Carnegie
senior managing partner, and Elena Silva, a senior
associate for research and policy, will lead this project from the Carnegie
Foundation’s Washington, DC, office. For more information about the program and
the Carnegie Foundation please contact Gay Clyburn, associate
vice-president for public affairs and continuing programs, at clyburn@carnegiefoundation.org or
650-566-5162.
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