YouTube has launched an EDU channel, which Dan Colman, Director & Associate Dean of Stanford’s Continuing Studies Program, describes thusly:

Here’s a little breaking news: Today, Google has launched YouTube EDU, which centralizes the content from over 100 universities and colleges (get list here).  This robust collection gives you access to lectures by professors and world-renowned thought leaders, new research and campus tours. At the moment, you can access over 200 full courses from leading universities, including MIT, Stanford, UC Berkeley, UCLA, Yale and  IIT/IISc.  And it’s all searchable within YouTube EDU. (h/t Stephen Downes) read more »

Jeffrey Young writes about the downsides of lecture capture, podcasts, and the like in a recent article in the Chronicle.  He notes that some professors are becoming aware that spontaneity could be hindered as we use technology to capture what happens within the four walls of the classroom.  It's more than not wanting our bloopers to end up on YouTube.

Recording class sessions so students can review them online is becoming routine on many campuses. But all that taping can lead to "uh-oh moments," such as when a professor's joke about the college dean ends up on YouTube, or a private comment to a student after class is inadvertently broadcast.

Phyllis Tutora, director of George Washington University's master's program in project management, says she's recently gotten a few frantic phone calls from professors seeking to edit out portions of their lecture videos. In one case, she says, a professor let the class out early, and the system recorded his conversation with a student over why she was failing the course. Officials removed the exchange before the video went out to other students — which was good, since federal law requires colleges to keep students' grades private.

Some lecture bloopers caught on tape are funny (well, for those who enjoy a certain kind of humor). At the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa, one professor left his wireless microphone on while taking a bathroom break, and watery sounds were audible on the class recording until officials cut out that section.

Such mishaps underline a much bigger issue, though: How can colleges and professors protect the traditional freewheeling spirit of the classroom while still offering students the benefits of online recordings?

There is more to the article, and I encourage you to read it.  A metaphor for an ever watching eye used to be Big Brother, where the concern was that there was a hidden overseer watching our every move.  In this age of ubiquitous recording technology, Big Brother isn't the government or some authority: instead, is it social mores or one's own conscience, knowing that our lectures will be made public and accountable to a type of "crowdsourcing"?  

Garvey

J. Garvey Pyke, Ed.D. | Center for Teaching and Learning | UNC Charlotte

As you may have seen in the news item I posted to the CTL website, the Sloan Consortium (aka Sloan-C) has put out a call for papers for their upcoming conference this fall.  The conference is fantastic: tons of research based, practical knowledge being shared and discussed.  Of the conferences of its kind that I have been to, I can honestly say it is the best one.

Sloan-C also has other resources that I would encourage you to explore, such as their publications and workshops (NOTE: UNC Charlotte has a full membership to Sloan-C, which will allow you to take their online workshops at no cost to you--just send us an email and tell us which workshops you would like to attend).  We have received good feedback about the workshops, including faculty testimonials.

Garvey

J. Garvey Pyke, Ed.D. | Center for Teaching and Learning | UNC Charlotte

"For undergraduates, technology is first about communication." So says the The ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology, 2008 (p.10).  I have long believed that the beauty of IT in courses is this aspect precisely: it opens new avenues for discussion among students, between faculty and students, etc.  The course technology can be used to keep students on track via messages and alerts.  Or it can be used to turn 75 students into 15 small groups for discussion (this can be done in the face-to-face classroom, too, but it can be easier to set up online for some people).  The communications possibilies go on. 

Interestingly, the study also notes on p. 11 that most students (59.3%) "prefer only a 'moderate' amount of IT in their courses...[a] finding [that] has been consistent over the past five years' studies, even as new technologies have emerged and the overall digital environment has become increasingly dense" [emp. mine]. The students noted that they value highly the face-to-face classroom experiences.

Does this mean that we've hit a saturation point?  Consistent data over five years tend to say so.  More from the article:

Benefits of IT in courses according to students nationwide (p.12):

• Convenience
• Ability to take courses that would otherwise be unavailable

Drawbacks of IT (p.12):

• Lack of face-to-face interaction detracts from learning
• Online courses facilitate cheating
• Technical problems still exist
• Online courses require students to teach themselves, making the courses too demanding  

Of course, there is a lot more in this 124-page report.  For example, 66% of students cited convenience as a benefit of IT, whereas only 46% said IT increased learning and only 32% said IT increased engagement (p.13). To those of us in the instructional systems technology side of things, these findings are not shocking.  I personally take the "no significant difference phenomenon" quite seriously (i.e., there are no significant differences in learning outcomes when comparing different delivery systems--face-to-face or otherwise).  It is not surprising that students are somewhat ambivalent about the IT in courses.  For even the minority who said that IT increased learning or increased engagement, I would argue that it is the underlying principles of engagement or learning that are due the credit, not the delivery medium.  However, the delivery medium can be an excellent impetus for changing one's teaching methods, so I do not want to diminish the impact IT has.  I'm just saying: if a face-to-face, lecture based course becomes and online, discussion based course, and student engagement and learning outcomes are improved, it is because it went from a passive form of learning to an active one (i.e., and not because it went from one delivery medium to another: it is the change in instructional methods that is significant).

Please read the report.  Or at least the executive summary of key findings.  What does it tell you about your students?  Your teaching?

Garvey

J. Garvey Pyke, Ed.D. | Center for Teaching and Learning | UNC Charlotte

Over at Sloan-C's website, blogger kayeshelton lists 11 time saving tips when teaching online:

1. Carefully Develop Online Course Materials
2. Course Schedule
3. Write a Welcome Note
4. Syllabus Quiz/Activity
5. FAQ Discussion
6. Print Out Student Introductions
7. Check Email Newest to Oldest
8. Use Grading Rubrics
9. Keep a Response Template
10. Allow Students to Facilitate Discussions
11. Back Up Your Gradebook
 

Of course, this is only the list.  There is a description of each one on the site.  Check it out.

Garvey

J. Garvey Pyke, Ed.D. | Center for Teaching and Learning | UNC Charlotte

Dr. Bruce Taylor, the Director of the Center for Adolescent Literacies at UNC Charlotte, recently wrote to us to tell us how much he was enjoying the Sloan-C workshops he signed up for:

I am in two SLOAN C workshops—one taught by Phil Ice—and they are very well done. I’m learning a great deal about online teaching and learning. I was a bit overwhelmed by the number of emails I was getting from all the posts being added. After I got into the conversations, I began to look forward to them. In any case, I wanted to you know I am getting some great ideas for blended and online teaching. I thought you’d like to know...

If you have any feedback for us about Sloan-C workshops or anything else we provide, we would love to hear about it.

Garvey

J. Garvey Pyke, Ed.D. | Center for Teaching and Learning | UNC Charlotte

Piggybacking on my recent post about wikis, I wanted to add some info about what wikis can be used for and how to get better student use out of them.  Wake Forest has a good overview of what wikis are and their instructional uses.  I learned about this site from an article in Campus Technology that poses three challenges to using wikis in instruction.  The article's author, Ruth Reynard, outlines some considerations when using wikis such as how the instructor should give explicit instructions for wiki projects and how to grade such work.

Garvey

J. Garvey Pyke, Ed.D. | Center for Teaching and Learning | UNC Charlotte

A lot of interesting applications are being designed for the iPhone, and the latest one I've seen is an attendance taking app (named, surprisingly enough, "Attendance").  Not sure how useful this might be for you, but it could be worth a look.  Now if they could integrate it with Banner... (h/t Brad Spry)

Garvey

J. Garvey Pyke, Ed.D. | Center for Teaching and Learning | UNC Charlotte

The NYT reports that students' sense of entitlement is driving grade grubbing these days.

“I think putting in a lot of effort should merit a high grade,” [said Jason Greenwood, a senior kinesiology major at the University of Maryland.] “What else is there really than the effort that you put in?”

“If you put in all the effort you have and get a C, what is the point?” he added. “If someone goes to every class and reads every chapter in the book and does everything the teacher asks of them and more, then they should be getting an A like their effort deserves. If your maximum effort can only be average in a teacher’s mind, then something is wrong.”

Sarah Kinn, a junior English major at the University of Vermont, agreed, saying, “I feel that if I do all of the readings and attend class regularly that I should be able to achieve a grade of at least a B.”

More:

“I tell my classes that if they just do what they are supposed to do and meet the standard requirements, that they will earn a C,” [Prof. Marshall Grossman] said. “That is the default grade. They see the default grade as an A.”

A recent study by researchers at the University of California, Irvine, found that a third of students surveyed said that they expected B’s just for attending lectures, and 40 percent said they deserved a B for completing the required reading.

My CTL colleague and education profession Dr. Maria Yon would likely say this is an excellent example of the Millennial Generation's sense of entitlement, having been brought up in the K12 self-esteem movement.  It seems like one possible explanation.  What else?  Do our students at Charlotte view effort and achievement as synonymous, in terms of expected grade?  

From time to time, I hear about faculty at UNC Charlotte using wikis for student projects.  According to our data, I would guess that somewhere between 4% and 10% of our faculty are using them. They are commonly used to document IT projects, for example, or to collaborate on a project or publication.  It seems that they could be used for active learning, critical thinking, and other desirable, higher order skills (according to some).  Are you using wikis in your course?  How?  Why? 

Similar percentages go with blogs.  Blogging can faciliate student-to-student and faculty-to-student interactions.  It can be used to show off projects or perhaps be used for journaling.  All of these are greates uses, so what are you using them for? 

Do you want to use wikis or blogs but haven't done so yet?  I'm curious about all of this.  I keep hearing about them but would like to hear more locally.

Garvey

J. Garvey Pyke, Ed.D. | Center for Teaching and Learning | UNC Charlotte