Building Off of Bloom: Writing Progressive Learning Objectives
One of the bedrock concepts of designing residential curricula and learning plans is the ability to write effective learning objectives. Writing effective and measurable learning objectives, however, is often more difficult than it may seem. The deeper one delves into learning theory and curricular design, the more nuanced one realizes these concepts are.
Technology Is A Tool, NOT A Learning Outcome
All too frequently, we become enamored with the bells and whistles of technology without taking a step back to examine our goals for using it. Bill Ferriter, of the Center for Teaching Quality, created the following image to demonstrate how learning to use technology can be conflated with learning what technology can enable us to do. It provides an excellent reminder that as educators, although it is important that we teach students about how digital tools work, it is even more important that we enable and empower students to explore and use these tools to… Read More
What Does Connected Learning Look Like?
Connected learning holds the promise of re-invisioning what education can look like. In many ways, we have talked about the ideal of connected learning for years, but it wasn’t until the advent of the internet and social media, in particular, that we have had the tools to make it a reality. The beauty of social technology is the affordances it allows: spreadability, searchability, visibility, and the democratization of content production. Functioning similarly, the idea of being able to create one’s own PLE (Personal Leanring Environment) or PLN (Personal Learning Network) allows one to… Read More
8 PechaKucha Video Talks From #SAgrads and Future Student Affairs Professionals
This past semester while teaching in Merrimack College’s Higher Education Program, I played around with a new assignment for my students. Instead of the standard end-of-the-year “lessons learned” presentation in my practicum class, I had my students do it in a PechaKucha-style format. As you may remember, PechaKucha is 20 slides set to automatically advance every 20 seconds resulting in a presentation that lasts 6 minutes and forty seconds. At first I was skeptical of assigning my students such a difficult presentation style, some of whom have not had extensive presentation experience, but… Read More
Examples of #SAgrad Online Professional Portfolios
In the practicum course I taught in the Merrimack College Higher Education program this semester, I had the students experiment with the creation of online portfolios. Online portfolios can be an excellent opportunity to promote reflective practice as well as give students a leg up in the job search. They can follow you throughout your career and be an excellent public space to archive your thoughts and achievements. The assignment I gave to the students, as outlined in the syllabus, read: Students will create a reflective online portfolio of their fellowship and… Read More
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