Our January 26th discussion focused on chapter 6 of Teaching in a Digital Age.
Key takeaways from the discussion:
- Share information in multiple ways to support cognitive load, and prevent information overload.
- Digital Visitor and Resident model can support the adoption of technology and online teaching/learning.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Visitor_and_Resident
- Time is needed to take advantage of the supports available – Ed Tech, BCcampus
- This is a particular challenge/struggle for term instructors.
- Humanizing education for students, being empathetic. Empathy must also extend to us from SLT.
- Most helpful services offered by Ed Tech:
- Recordings of workshops
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- The more advertising the better – is more aware now and more likely to use them. The more resources are used, the more likely they will be funded long-term.
- The short “how-to” videos are very useful. And the recorded TCDC/Ed Tech workshops are great! The calendar linking to other resources.
- Ideas for sparking students’ curiosity:
- Hard to know if you have sparked students’ curiosity.
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- Weekly activity – sends students on a mission, response/feedback is required.
- Predictability can encourage participation/reduce confusion.
- Reflections instead of discussion can be more engaging.
- Rubrics can reduce marking time, even for discussions.
- Discussion tool can be used as a journaling/reflection tool – can mark 2 or 3 times a semester – self-assessment is also an option – time does need to be spent with students to increase understanding of rubric and share examples of good reflections and assessment.
- Concerns raised in the book club discussion include::
- The book’s comments related to residential schools perceived as racist.
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- The book’s perspective on culture seen as problematic.
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- No invitation to integrate what we bring to the classroom to co-create a classroom culture.
- The chapter should be called components of the learning environment, rather than building a learning environment.