Teaching with Technology

Determining the Best Technology for Your Students, Your Course, and You

The number of technologies available to both higher education institutions and individual instructors seems to grow each day. With tools that promise to increase engagement, communication, interaction, efficiencies, and learning, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. It’s also easy to make bad choices — choices that could result in wasted money, time, or learning opportunities, all the while causing undue frustration for students and faculty alike.

Mary Bart October 26, 2011

Wikis in the Classroom: Three Ways to Increase Student Collaboration

I’ve long said that professors who want to explore teaching with technology should begin with a social media tool rather than a Learning Management System. Web 2.0 tools are simple to use, invite student collaboration, and are usually less administratively clunky and complex than an LMS.

John Orlando, PhD October 3, 2011

Bring Commonplacing Back to Education

Steven Johnson attributes much of the progress humanity made in science during the Enlightenment to the widespread practice at the time of “commonplacing.” People would carry around a notebook in which they would record interesting passages that they read, comments from others, or thoughts that they had (Johnson, 86).

John Orlando, PhD September 9, 2011

Effective Uses of Video in the Online Classroom

How do you explain the learning objectives for your course, or each unit of your course? If you’re like most faculty, you probably put together a carefully crafted bulleted list of what you want students to learn. And, if you’re like most faculty, you probably know that most students give that list a cursory glance at best.

Mary Bart August 29, 2011

Why You Should Encourage Collisions Between Students

We want our students to develop original insights, and are often disappointed when discussion provides little in the way of original thought. But this is

John Orlando, PhD August 3, 2011

Digital Storytelling Can Help Boost Student Learning

Storytelling is the oldest form of education. The cave dwellers first taught their children lessons through stories. The Greeks picked up on the tradition by

John Orlando, PhD July 8, 2011

Lecture Capture Can Change Classroom Dynamics for the Better

When I heard a teacher tell me that they were creating recorded lectures for courses as homework assignments and spending classroom time on discussions and more active learning, I knew right then the value of the lecture capture tools.

Todd Conaway June 15, 2011

Bring Your Computer to Class Day

Our student newspaper recently ran a story about students bringing their cell phones and computers to class. Not surprisingly, all of the teachers interviewed were against the practice on the grounds that these devices distracted students from class material. Some went so far as to forbid students from using them in class, although you have to wonder if they can really enforce such a rule.

John Orlando, PhD June 6, 2011

Using YouTube to Enhance Student Engagement

Technology is everywhere. Some people are addicted to it and refuse to live without it. College students will say that their laptop, phone, and iPod are necessities comparable to food. So how can professors remove these technological items from the hands of the student and still keep them engaged in class discussions? Through another form of widely used technology: YouTube. Students view videos and upload them to experience visual content and to share the same. Visual tools create a connection between the content and viewer (McKenzie, 2008). Many videos on YouTube are academic and professional in nature and when used properly will reinforce classroom discussions and engage college students due to the images and audio used (Cardine, 2008).

Michelle Harris May 25, 2011

What Games Teach Us about Learning

Many teachers consider video games the antithesis of education. Boys especially are drawn in at the exclusion of all other interests (girls tend to be obsessed with social networking). But games can teach us a lot about learning. Why are games so captivating? Researchers have said that the appeal of games is that they provide two central elements: 1. achievable challenges, and 2. progressive rewards.

John Orlando, PhD April 15, 2011

Teaching with Technology

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