Gamers solve medical problem

http://news.yahoo.com/online-gamers-crack-aids-enzyme-puzzle-175427367.html 

"Online gamers have achieved a feat beyond the realm of Second Life or Dungeons and Dragons: they have deciphered the structure of an enzyme of an AIDS-like virus that had thwarted scientists for a decade."

Lisa

Student Engagement and Student Achievement

I've read a couple of articles lately about student engagement versus student achievement.  Clearly they aren't the same thing, but for years we've worked on adding student engagement to our online classes (usually through the latest cool Web 2.0 tool) on the theory that student engagement leads to student achievement.  A recent article in Faculty Focus written by Jennifer Patterson Lorenzetti asked the question "Is there too much interaction in your online courses?"  The research she quoted panned learner to learner interaction.  I was left with a couple of questions though - I wanted to see what learner to learner interaction was expected of students.  

For years we've all added discussion areas to our courses on the theory that building a community of learners will increase course completion rates.  And I think they probably do increase success rates, if they are carefully designed.  On the other hand there are a lot of discussions in courses that really aren't discussions -- they are a lot more like busy work.  Particularly in first year community college courses it is unrealistic to expect learners to manage a good discussion of the course material on their own.  Valuable discussion happens in the online world the same way it happens in the classroom -- under the guiding influence of the course instructor.  An instructor can help learners apply content to their own lives and can help them move through the content in a timely manner, without wasting everyone's time.  Expecting new learners to do that by themselves is a lot like leaving the classroom for an hour every week and expecting your students to focus on the content in a productive way.  And good luck with that. :^)

Can Students Learn to Learn?

Several articles I've read lately note that we sometimes focus on teaching/learning content to the exclusion of teaching students how to learn the content. Colleges have long recognized that some students need help in learning how to learn, but often the tools provided have been segregated from the "actual" coursework that students complete.

All this makes me wonder if I'm doing enough in my classes to help students learn? Add to that the plethora of teaching tools and techniques I read or hear about daily, and I sometimes feel completely overwhelmed by the possibilities! So many methods for improving learning are available, and it seems that I just don't have the time to do justice to it all! Then I wake from my nightmare and realize that we are all constrained by time and resources, and that even just a little step in class can do a lot to help students learn to learn.

I've blogged here before about an extra-credit project in my accounting classes. I don't typically provide extra credit for a variety of reasons, but this activity is sort of like disguising those yucky vegetables in fruit juice. You don't know how good it is for you when you drink it! I allow students to earn back a maximum of 15 points, 1 out of 2 points missed on each exam question, by demonstrating to me through calculations, examples, or description, that they do indeed understand the question they missed. They like it because it's extra credit, I like it because it encourages students to do something they should be doing to learn anyway.

This link leads to a recent article from Inside Higher Ed that outlines strategies for helping students. "News: Can Students Learn to Learn?" Some great ideas appear here!

Humor Break

10 Reasons to Ban Pens and Pencils from the Classroom:

http://mindshift.kqed.org/2010/11/10-reasons-to-ban-pens-and-pencils-in-the-classroom/

Lisa

End of the Semester

Here we are again--the end of another semester. Last spring I had a remarkable group of students. A few of them had some issues and asked to submit work late, but overall they met the due dates scheduled. This summer, I had many students who wanted to submit work late, and several who are as we speak quite upset with me that I wouldn't "give" them a C, even though they quite obviously didn't demonstrate mastery of the course competencies. I try ever-so-gently to remind them that I don't give grades; they earn them, but some still don't quite get it.

Is it the 10-week term? Maybe I just forget from one short term to another how much more difficult it is for students to stay on schedule. Is it summer? Do students have too many other activities going on? I know in general I would much rather be doing something outside than doing homework.

Whatever it is, I count my blessings for those students who take their education and courses seriously enough to not tell me, "I had four other classes I was working on, so I need to turn my homework for your class in late."

Voice Thread - Demonstrating Online Presence

This is a dry run of a presentation I'm giving tomorrow.  It's rushed because I was worried about time limits on Voice Thread -- I am still using the free account.

Here's the animoto:





Lisa

Teaching College Math Online

I listened to a fascinating interview with Dr. Maria Anderson of Muskegen Community College on teaching calculus online.  Maria uses Twitter to form a community both for its immediacy and its ease of use.  She comments that it can be easy to get a little detached from exactly what the students are working on at any one time.  To combat this she asks them to tweet a minimum of ten times a week with what they are learning. 

The class uses Jing to post their work, so they can show work without fussing with math and the keyboard.

The interview includes a discussion of how Dr. Anderson uses the discussion boards and why she uses old-fashioned paper and pencil proctored exams.

Well worth your 1/2 hour:  http://teachingcollegemath.com/2011/08/podcast-interview-about-teaching-online-calculus/

Lisa