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Assessment For Learning
[social-bio] “Students can, with difficulty, escape from the effects of poor teaching, they cannot (by definition if they want to graduate) escape the effects of poor assessment.” (Boud, 1998) Think back to your experience as an undergraduate. How did you decide what to focus on in the hours outside the classroom? What drove your priorities in selecting what work to dedicate time to? If you were anything like me your decisions were driven by what you thought would get you a good grade. Don’t get me wrong, I was there to learn and was passionate about the subject I was studying. But I was also practical. I had limited time…
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What Do Automobile Engines and Educational Innovation Have in Common?
[social-bio] Recently, someone recommended that I read “Design Research for Sustained Innovation” by Carl Bereiter. Although, the article was published in 2002, I found it to be very relevant today. The premise of the article is that, “innovative practices seldom win out against those with a long evolutionary history” (p. 321). This is not only true in education, but in all aspects of human life. He makes a thought-provoking comparison between innovation in education and innovation in the automobile engine. The automobile engine has drawbacks related to the reciprocating piston that were recognized early. Bereiter explains that the a “better engine” called the Wankel engine was invented in the 1920s,…
- Academic Integrity, Assessment and Evaluation, Curriculum Development, General, Instructional / Course Design, Instructional Strategies, Program Evaluation
The Academic Honesty Bonus: Another Advantage of an Aligned Curriculum
[social-bio] In my role as a Curriculum Development Specialist, I get to talk with faculty about their programs and the many reasons to examine and renew curricula in higher education. In recent months, another advantage to an aligned curriculum has come to mind for me: academic honesty. I posit that the three following relationships hold generally true, and promote academic honesty among students. When faculty alert students to the progressive nature of the curriculum and convey to students how what they are learning now prepares them for, not only life after graduation but for future courses, students can better recognize the benefit of deep learning. For example, students can come…
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New Bridges and Curriculum Renewal
[social-bio] On the opening day of Saskatoon’s new bridge, my son insisted that we check it out. I am so glad he did!!! All the inconveniences of the past few years have come together so elegantly linking parts of the city that seemed so far apart before. What use to be at least a 30-minute drive is now a quick streamlined, pothole-free trip. For a curriculum consultant, the long-term planning of the bridge—100 years apparently—the vision, and the various stages from start to finish offers several lessons for large-scale curriculum construction and renewal: Have a clear purpose and vision. What is it that will be accomplished by this change? What…
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Learning Through Osmosis
[social-bio] By Carolyn Hoessler The phrase “learning by osmosis” conjures ideas of sleeping with a textbook or sitting near the smart students. What about in the classroom? Lecturing while students passively listen is like letting the difference in osmotic pressure between the students’ brain and the instructor’s brain (or the classroom air) be the driving force to promote transport or diffusion of knowledge. This statement is paraphrased from a recent conversation with a faculty member about how faculty are expected to learn about the culture of their departments (another post, perhaps) and students are expected to learn when sitting listening in a classroom. As I learned in the conversation,…
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To Be, or Not to Be (an Academic)
[social-bio] Now that I am (finally) nearing the end of my MA in Philosophy, I face the student’s dilemma: What now – work or more school? Work is certainly an appealing option, since being a broke student sucks. However, meaningful work is hard to find. Pursuing a PhD is worth it intrinsically, and can (actually) open doors to meaningful work. Either way, the future is uncertain, and uncertainty is anxiety inducing. I blogged last year about the value of acquiring ‘professional skills’ while studying, since current grad students face either fierce competition in a shrinking academic job market or a world outside the academy that might not understand what a…
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Craving Creating Time
[social-bio] By Carolyn Hoessler To what extent are our tasks and our days predictable, or our decisions clear-cut? The days of police, firefighters or emergency medical personnel are unpredictable, but so is anyone who has their door, phone or email open to their colleagues, students and the rest of campus. As we manage meetings, queries and emails the way a station handles trains, we often crave blocks of time. We seek the moments of immersion in planning, thinking or creating where ideas can flow or at least be worked through without interruption. Why might these full mornings focused on a project matter? Paul Graham suggests programmers and other “makers”…
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Marginal Revolution University Joins the Online Education Arena
[social-bio] Marginal Revolution University (MRU) is named after a successful blog called ‘Marginal Revolution’ that is updated daily by George Mason University development economics professors Tyler Cowen and Alex Tabarrok. Cowen and Tabarrok founded MRU. The blog’s title should give most readers a pretty good idea about what sort of commitments Cowen and Tabarrok bring with them to the courses they offer for free online. During the late 19th century, a ‘marginal revolution’ in economics brought an end to the prevailing labour theory of value, which was supplanted by the use of mathematical calculations of marginal cost and utility to explain economic phenomena. Setting the author’s commitments aside is not…
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Observations From a Returned Prairie Girl
By Carolyn Hoessler This month marks a full year since arriving on the banks of the South Saskatchewan River. After growing up in the Red River Valley area of Manitoba and spending over a decade in Ontario, I was back to the Prairies. In arriving here, I came to a land familiar in landscape but distinct in the people and places. What was different and why does it matter to a University? The land around us shapes who we are if we stay still long enough to listen to what the seasons can teach us. This is what I have noticed. Inspired by the winters, our buildings are connected. Even…
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Teaching Perspectives Inventory (TPI) and Reflective Teaching
[social-bio] One of the activities we do in GMCTE’s Introductory Instructional Skills course is the Teaching Perspectives Inventory (TPI) to help participants define what “good teaching” looks like to them. Five different perspectives related to teaching are reflected in the TPI. Most people hold one (maybe two) dominant teaching perspectives; many also have a “back-up” perspective. The five perspectives are not necessarily mutually exclusive, but represent very different and sometimes opposing beliefs about teaching. The five perspectives in the TPI are: Transmission – Content is king (or queen) in this perspective. Teachers are responsible for presenting the subject matter correctly, systematically, memorably and efficiently. Apprenticeship – This perspective reflects a…