Gardening and teaching.. for a better community

“Kids should not have to leave their community to live, learn and earn in a better one.”

Learn Google Search Tips – a MOOC

Power Searching with Google is a free online, community-based course showcasing search techniques and how to use them to solve real, everyday problems. It features:

Six 50-minute classes.
Interactive activities to practice new skills.
Opportunities to connect with others using Google Groups, Google+, and Hangouts on Air.
Upon passing the post-course assessment, a printable Certificate of Completion will be emailed to you.

http://www.google.com/insidesearch/landing/powersearching.html

The Peeragogy Project – Self- Learning

“Learning is a social, active, and ongoing process.” Howard Rheingold

For more infomration The Peeragogy Handbook

Visual Notetaking on the iPad

Great tips on how to use various drawing programs to sketch on your iPads. This tutorial also includes how to record and add audio.

Blogging within an LMS is just wrong!!

I should of know when I saw the word “blackboard”. I am participating in the new MOOC by Dr. Curtis Bonk on “Instructional Ideas and Technology Tools for Online Success”

This is from the internal site.
“This is not right — blogging within an LMS. I would much prefer to blog on my own blog and then be able to subscribe (RSS) to some of the students. Obviously with so many, it would not be easy to do all, but being contained with this site defeats the purpose of blogging. So this post is also going to be on my own blog.

This is about my 10th MOOC, and I as very interested in how this was going to be presented. Most MOOC’s I am called a “lucker” because I do not choose to participate much in the “social” part. I read everything or watch the videos so I am getting something out of these classes. This is my choice usually or sometimes, it is just too overwhelming because of the number of students and the way forums and blogs like this are presented. I am having to agree with Lisa blog post on her own blog on “Leaving an open online class blogging within a closed system. ”

Motherboard TV: Douglas Rushkoff in Real Life | Motherboard

“For someone who likes to talk about the virtues of disconnecting, the media critic Douglas Rushkoff seems surprisingly always on.”

Alex Pasternack has written a great article about Douglas Rushkoff. He talked to our Howard Rhiengold alumni group a few months ago and he is well worth listening to.

Motherboard TV: Douglas Rushkoff in Real Life | Motherboard.

Interview with Stanford Libraries Curator Henry Lowood

” ..in order to transfer one’s knowledge more effectively while preserving one’s reputation, is very interesting.”

Why I Flipped My Classroom

http://www.fi.ncsu.edu/project/fizz/

From http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aGuLuipTwg&feature=related

Duke lets professors chose to ban laptops in classrooms

This week in the Duke Chronicle, the daily newspaper, there was an article that I was shocked to see. Band laptops… I could not believe that an article like this would even be considered today. I hope one of your most esteemed alumni have not read this – Tim Cook — the CEO of Apple.

I guess those professors do not remember their days of sitting listening to the “sage of the stage”. I do or rather, I don’t…… I do not remember most of my classes nor my professors. That is how much impact they had on my life. I tired to take notes (this was before computers) but mostly I doodled and had many things going though my head. But I am not alone. Research in neurology has proven, we or our brains cannot concentrate for very long. We may have some periods of “flow” in which we are so engaged that we loose track of time. But I can guaranteed this rarely happens in the classroom, most of us are looking at the clock and counting the minutes.

As students day are taking online classes and using iPads or smart phones in their K-12 education, I can only imagine that they will be even less engaged in a classroom like this. I am not saying that all Duke professors are saying this or believe in this. Cathy Davidson (founder of HASTAC), Tony O’Driscoll (leader in virtual worlds), Steven Craig (whose chemistry class in one of the first on iTunes U.,) the Duke School of Nursing using virtual worlds to learn. At least your medical school and new cancer center are moving into the 21st century. Every student should be required to learn the skills necessary for their future – content creation, communication, collaboration, critical thinking, creativity. How are you teaching your students these skills? One of the things that really struck me was when one of Duke’s students mentioned she could type much faster than writing notes.

I could give you a list of videos and article on the web that would show you how wrong you are, but you need a computer to read them. Howard Rhiengold, Sebastian Thrun, Khan Academy, Sir Ken Robinson, and Sugata Mitra, would be a real good start. In my opinion, professors should not be given this option. It should be a mandate by administration that computers need to be used by students in the classrooms, and it is up to the professors to keep your students engaged. I used to teach where all my students sat in front of computers in the classroom and online…. it is not that hard but you will have to change the way you think of yourself…. and your teaching ability. Students should be in the center and not the professors.

University 2.0 – Sebastian Thrun

http://new.livestream.com/channels/556/videos/112950

He quit Stanford to be able to reach many students instead just a few.