Teaching with Technology
Teaching with technology isn’t just about staying current on the latest tools, it’s about knowing how to successfully incorporate the best tools into your teaching when and where it makes sense. This article series looks at the benefits of using technology, as well as potential stumbling blocks. You’ll also get an inside look at best practices for using technology to enhance teaching and learning – whether you teach in a traditional classroom or online.
May 9 - Creating the Perfect PowerPoint for Online Teaching
By: Errol Craig Sull in Teaching with Technology
While other forms of visual presentations have cropped up—such as Prezi and Empressr—PowerPoint remains the presentation software of choice. Yet many folks develop PowerPoint presentations without fully understanding all components of the software and/or presenter tricks that could make for much more effective PowerPoint presentations.
March 15 - Seven Steps to Creating Screencast Videos for Online Learning
By: Yvonne Ho in Teaching with Technology
When I first started teaching online, one of the most frustrating aspects was that I did not have access to an old-fashioned blackboard to give students a visual map of what I was teaching. I felt restricted by the text-based instruction of the discussion board and eventually began creating colorful flowcharts to teach essay structure, for example, or PowerPoint slides to explain the MLA style format.
February 19 - Using Podcasts to Address Concepts Students Find Difficult
By: Rob Kelly in Teaching with Technology
Whether you teach online, face-to-face, or blended/hybrid courses, podcasts can improve student learning, says Charles Morgan, chair of the mathematics department at Lock Haven University. Consider the following benefits:
February 12 - Using the E-Portfolio to Validate Student Learning
By: Ken Scott, EdD in Instructional Design, Teaching with Technology
Too often our students consider their work in the classroom as required assignments—not work that has anything to do with what they will be doing in the real world. Oh, maybe they are picking up some skills they might use in their future employment, but that’s about it. As teachers, how do we get students to understand that the work they do in our classes—such as team projects, community service, technical papers, and even research—is relevant to what they will be doing after they graduate? How do we encourage them to keep their materials and use them to validate their work as students? I think I have an answer. Teaching an e-portfolio capstone course for several years has given me a perspective that I believe should be the framework for validating student learning outcomes across all institutions of higher education.
October 30 - Students Say More Instructors Are Using Technology Effectively, ECAR Study Finds
By: Mary Bart in Teaching with Technology
Students are giving their instructors high marks for using technology effectively. Results from latest annual technology survey by Educause Center for Applied Research (ECAR) found that 68 percent of the more than 100,000 students surveyed said that most or all of their instructors effectively use technology to advance their academic success. That’s up from 47 percent just two years ago.
October 24 - Understanding the Flipped Classroom: Part 2
By: Pamela Kachka in Teaching with Technology
Editor’s Note: Part 1 of this article looked at the history of the flipped classroom. Today we look at what it takes for someone to teach effectively in a flipped classroom.
Although the flipped classroom is garnering a lot of attention of late, simply flipping the classroom alone does not increase student success. The instructor must seize the opportunity to guide and interact with the students. Looking at this new definition of homework in a flipped classroom, there are many details to consider.
October 23 - Understanding the Flipped Classroom: Part 1
By: Pamela Kachka in Teaching with Technology
The flipped classroom seems to be the latest buzz in educational trends. Is this truly a new revolutionary approach or a revision of a technique used throughout the ages? To be clear, in simplest terms, flipping the classroom refers to swapping classroom lecture time for hands-on practice time. So the lecture is done for homework usually via a video or audio file and the classroom time is spent clarifying and applying new knowledge gained.
July 13 - Adding QuizShow to Your Teaching Toolbox
By: Ken Alford, PhD in Teaching with Technology
Are you looking to try something new in your classroom? You may wish to try QuizShow!
QuizShow was created a few years ago for use at the Industrial College of the Armed Forces, National Defense University in Washington, D.C. It’s a game show-like software program that is both easy and fun to use with your students during class. Best of all, QuizShow is free of charge and has no copyright restrictions.
June 21 - Making Online PowerPoint Content Engaging: Preparing for High-Quality Narration
By: Patti Shank, PhD, CPT in Teaching with Technology
Slides, even with text and graphics on them, aren’t particularly as good as instructional content because someone needs to explain what’s on each slide. You are still the presenter and you should explain, right? (Right.)
June 11 - Be Not Afraid: Embracing the iPad and the Wonderful World of Apps in the Classroom
By: Genevieve Pinto Zipp in Teaching with Technology
As a faculty member within a School of Health and Medical Sciences at a liberal arts university, I was fortunate to participate in an initiative to increase faculty awareness and utility of the iPad as a teaching and learning tool. Each department chairperson, two faculty and two students from every graduate health science program was
