Using Content Curation Tools to Engage Students

When I was in college (for 12 years I might add) there were really only three sources of information available to students: 1) Instructor 2) Textbook 3) Library. This was not such a distant past. A mere two decades ago I finished my undergrad, and I graduated with my PhD in 2001. I don’t think learning, or even how we learn, has changed all that much since then. But what has changed is access to information and how that access might actually distract from learning.

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Turnitin Study Shows Impact of Plagiarism Prevention and Online Grading at Higher Education Institutions

Turnitin, the leader in originality checking and online grading, today announced a new study analyzing the impact of plagiarism prevention and online grading technology at U.S. institutions of higher education. The study shows that schools using Turnitin reduced unoriginal writing by 39 percent and that the number of papers graded digitally increased 100-fold over the five-year study.

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10 Assessment Design Tips for Increasing Online Student Retention, Satisfaction and Learning, part 2

In the part one of this article, we started our exploration of assessment ideas for your online courses. We explored the value of designing ample opportunities for formative feedback. We examined the value of authentic assessments and the dangers of using assessment as a punishment. We also reflected upon alternatives or enhancements to the traditional letter grade system, as well as designing with the realization that most learners approach our courses as a buffet rather than a pre-served meal, and the implications for our assessment plans.

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2014 Horizon Report Identifies Top Ed Tech Trends, Challenges

The New Media Consortium (NMC) and the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI) have released the 2014 Horizon Report. This year’s NMC Horizon Report identifies the “Online, Hybrid, and Collaborative Learning” and “Social Media Use in Learning” as fast moving trends likely to drive substantive changes in higher education over the next one to two years.

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10 Assessment Design Tips for Increasing Online Student Retention, Satisfaction and Learning

How much time do we put into the design of the assessment plans in our online courses? Is most of that time focused upon summative graded assignments that factor into the course grade? Or, do they also include opportunity for practice and informal feedback?

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Expanding the Definition of a Flipped Learning Environment

The term flipped classroom has become a hot topic in higher education. Ideas about and opinions about flipped learning environments vary. Some consider it simply another way of talking about student-centered learning. Others view flipped classrooms as the most cutting-edge approach to learning. Still others see flipping as just another fad that will eventually run its course.

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Good Teaching as Vulnerable Teaching

I was recently asked by a friend and colleague to review her syllabus. She wanted to make sure she had enough policies to address all the classroom issues that now emerge. Policies regarding plagiarism, class cancellation procedures, references to various official university handbook codes, and even mandated contingencies for an H1N1 virus outbreak were dutifully laid out. Indeed, the syllabus, despite some mention of the course itself, read far more like a legal document than an introduction and a guide to a classroom experience.

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Open-education Partners Hope to Save Students $10 million by 2015

Taking aim at the high cost of commercial textbooks, Rice University-based publisher OpenStax College today announced a partnership with open-education pioneer Lumen Learning that is projected to save students $10 million over the next two years by facilitating the adoption of free, online textbooks by colleges and universities.

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Creating a Learner-Friendly Online Course

Cynthia Schmitt, senior director of continuing education at Florida Institute of Technology, tries to make the online learning experience comfortable and efficient for students. Students want their courses to be convenient, easy to use, responsive, and accessible so that the technology does not get in the way of learning. Here are some ways Schmitt recommends achieving these goals:

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Humor as a Strategy in Writing Across the Curriculum

We all understand that writing is important and our students should do it well. Even so, many professors feel uncertain when teaching it, especially when their subject area is something far removed from “Composition 101.” Even instructors who work on writing skills find it challenging to maintain momentum when their own academic content inevitably requires attention. Moreover, students, many of whom are easily stressed, worry that their grades will suffer when an “outsider” teaches writing. Some colleges have found it hard to sustain Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) programs just because of this. But it isn’t a lost cause. Writing need not be so frightening and teaching it can be fun…for both students and instructors. And the writing lessons themselves don’t have to detract from any other academic content. Really!

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