The education soft skills that are the most useful, effective, and versatile for everyone in education—from student to admin—are here for you to consider.
Tuesday, August 30, 2016
What Are The Education Soft Skills That Can Change Everything?
Sunday, August 28, 2016
How The Activity Learning Theory Works
How The Activity Learning Theory Works
Vygotsky's earlier concept of mediation, which encompassed learning alongside others (Zone of Proximal Development) and through interaction with artifacts, was the basis for Engeström's version of Activity Theory (known as Scandinavian Activity Theory). Engeström's approach was to explain human thought processes not simply on the basis of the individual, but in the wider context of the individual's interactions within the social world through artifacts, and specifically in situations where activities were being produced.
In Activity Theory people (actors) use external tools (e.g. hammer, computer, car) and internal tools (e.g. plans, cognitive maps) to achieve their goals. In the social world there are many artifacts, which are seen not only as objects, but also as things that are embedded within culture, with the result that every object has cultural and/or social significance.
Tools (which can limit or enable) can also be brought to bear on the mediation of social interaction, and they influence both the behavior of the actors (those who use the tools) and also the social structure within which the actors exist (the environment, tools, artifacts). For further reading, here is Engeström's own overview of 3 Generations of Activity Theory development. The first figure shows Second Generation AT as it is usually presented in the literature.
5 Tips for Getting Started with Student Choice – John Spencer
Student choice goes beyond simply picking an item out of a menu. It's about self-directed students taking charge of their own learning. Here are some of the ways students can own the learning process:
Stretch student collaboration skills with Breakout EDU
There is a new platform for immersive learning games that's taking classrooms across the world by storm. Based on the same principles as interactive Escape The Room digital games — which challenge players to use their surroundings to escape a prison-like scenario — Breakout EDU is a collaborative learning experience that enhances critical thinking and creativity while fostering a growth mindset in students.
There are two types of games available for teachers to run in their classrooms: the physical games (which are the main games) use the Breakout EDU box (or any box with a hasp that can be locked) with a set of locks, and the digital games which only need internet-connected devices.
Gameplay revolves around a Breakout EDU box that has been locked with multiple and different locks including directional locks, word locks, and number locks. After listening to a game scenario read by the teacher, students must work together to find and use clues to solve puzzles that reveal the various lock combinations before time expires (usually 45 minutes). Teachers can either purchase the Breakout EDU kit, which includes a plastic or wooden box and a set of locks, or the individual pieces of the kit can be ordered from Amazon directly. Either way, it takes about $100 to get started with the physical games; the digital games are free.
Learn more / En savoir plus / Mehr erfahren:
32 Research-Based Instructional Strategies -
You want to teach with what's been proven to work. That makes sense.
In the 'data era' of education that's mean research-based instructional strategies to drive data-based teaching, and while there's a lot to consider here we'd love to explore more deeply, for now we're just going to take a look at the instructional strategies themselves.
Friday, August 26, 2016
Visible Thinking
Visible Thinking involves several practices and resources. Teachers are invited to use with their students a number of "thinking routines" -- simple protocols for exploring ideas -- around whatever topics are important, say fractions arithmetic, the Industrial Revolution, World War II, the meaning of a poem, the nature of democracy. Visible Thinking includes attention to four "thinking ideals" -- understanding, truth, fairness, and creativity.
Flipping Large Classes: Three Strategies to Engage Students
As we continue our ongoing series focused on the flipped classroom in higher education, it's time to tackle another frequently asked question: "How can I flip a large class?"
Sunday, August 21, 2016
Sir Ken Robinson: How to Create a Culture For Valuable Learning
that it's important for young people to become economically independent and self-sufficient. But to do that, he argues, they shouldn't all learn the same thing. Instead, they should be learning to be adaptable, to be innovative, to flow with change, to collaborate and other globalized skills that will apply to whatever area of work they are passionate about pursuing. An education can help expose students to different life paths and support them in finding their passions, while giving them the transferable skills to attack any problem.
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Friday, August 19, 2016
5 Great Resources for Instructional Designers
Instructional Designers will benefit from these five great resources.
Thursday, August 18, 2016
Sir Ken Robinson: How to Create a Culture For Valuable Learning
that it's important for young people to become economically independent and self-sufficient. But to do that, he argues, they shouldn't all learn the same thing. Instead, they should be learning to be adaptable, to be innovative, to flow with change, to collaborate and other globalized skills that will apply to whatever area of work they are passionate about pursuing. An education can help expose students to different life paths and support them in finding their passions, while giving them the transferable skills to attack any problem.
Learn more / En savoir plus / Mehr erfahren:
37 Ways Teachers Can Use Pinterest In The Classroom
One of the newest and best of these online tools is Pinterest, which has quickly become a favorite among educators. Using online "pinboards" teachers can save everything from photos to blog posts in one easily accessible and usable place.
Tuesday, August 16, 2016
3 Ways to Become a More Effective Learner | #EffectiveLEARNing #LEARNing2LEARN #ModernEDU
We may graduate from school, but we never stop learning. New jobs, new roles, new relationships: all require the acquisition of new knowledge. To stop learning is to stop improving.
Despite its importance, so many of us develop bad habits and faulty techniques that undermine our ability learn effectively, says Nate Kornell, an associate professor of cognitive psychology at Williams College who studies learning strategies.
Below, Kornell outlines three fundamental principles to learn by.
1. Embrace discomfort
2. Stop cramming
3. Make connections
Learn more / En savoir plus / Mehr erfahren:
Monday, August 15, 2016
We Need to Teach Kids Creative Thinking, and We’re Teaching Them the Opposite
"Education is far less about a set of facts than a way of thinking," says professor and theoretical physicist Lawrence Krauss. "And therefore what I always think should be the basis of education is not answers, but questions."
Student Centered Instructional Methods (Infographic)
I'm a teacher. Now what do I do? There are several ways to engage learners in the classroom. Here are a few ideas if you get stuck. Additional resources: http://ift.tt/1Pu3CAz/~steck/Petrina%20Text/Chapter%204.pdf http://ift.tt/18l1BIQ http://ift.tt/23fOpgJ http://ift.tt/1REOK8T/~wertsmg/teachmeth.htm ~Mia
Sunday, August 14, 2016
A Model for Teacher Development: Precursors to Change
Teachers need to receive training on models of change. Teachers should be trained in identifying their own professional development needs based on their classroom performance, areas that they aren't performing up to par based on their own personal self-assessments as well as feedback from students, colleagues, and supervisors followed by intentional processes to help make positive changes in their work environments.
Friday, August 12, 2016
Ludwig - Find your sentence
Ludwig is a smart translator and linguistic search engine which helps you to find the perfect word or sentence to express your ideas
Gamification to encourage learner autonomy
This post tries to pull together a couple of things I have been thinking about recently. The first was a post I saw on the 21st Century Fluency Project blog a few weeks back. The title of the article 'How I Turned My Classroom into a 'Living Video Game' caught my eye and before I even had time to read it I started thinking about how the factors that create motivation in computer games could be applied to the classroom.
Thursday, August 11, 2016
Designing Your Own Personal Learning Environment - by Stephen Downes
Workshop at TCU International e-Learning Conference 2016, Bangkok, Thailand. Please see http://ift.tt/2av9kYP for slides. Help us caption
Learning: It's All About the Connections
Connection and all of its implications is one of the most important concepts in understanding, engaging in, and facilitating powerful learning experiences.
Know Students Better: 15 Tools for Formative Assessment @tonyvincent
When teachers know their students well, they can build strong connections that lead to better learning. Knowing students' interests, strengths, and weaknesses help teachers tailor learning experiences for their students. Formative assessment is how teachers collect information about what students know, don't know, and want to learn. Formative assessment takes many forms, including exit tickets, discussions, games, and quizzes. These kinds of informal assessments can also help teachers get to know their students as learners and as people.
There is a very wide variety of digital formative assessment tools that can be used for free (often charging for extra features). I've written a little about 15 of them below. Most of these tools work with any web browser, so they are great for laptops, computer labs, iPads, Chromebooks, tablets, and smartphones.
How to Become and Remain a Transformational Teacher
Transformational teachers share best practices, build mentoring relationships, observe their peers, keep things fresh, model their subject's usefulness, and demonstrate caring beyond what they teach.
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