An alternative to minimally-guided instruction
Direct instruction (DI) is one of the most empirically well-established instructional methods in education yet one of the least well-known. Championed by leading educational researchers such as John Hattie and Dylan William, DI was vindicated as most successful education program in the largest, most expensive US Department of Education project even run. Indeed, in a …
How does it sound to you?
In this month’s reading group, we’ll look at audio feedback, how it’s used and what the issues might be around its adoption. We’ll start off by discussing the background readings in 1 and 2. Further conversations will be guided by which of the ‘In practice’ texts and topics people have been most interested in (or …
How a service came under suspicion.
We like to think of lecture capture as primarily a measure towards a more inclusive education, but events of the past year lead us to question this. When read in order, the following pieces tell a story of the function creep of lecture capture, measures taken to limit this, and the consequences for trust between …
Many approaches to instructional design have a taxonomy of types of learning at their heart. Which taxonomy is the most helpful? Can we divide up learning into boxes?
We’ll focus on two types of examples: taxonomies of learning objectives and of learning activities. Optional background paper: Lee S. Shulman (2002, 25 min) provides a thoughtful background to the value and limitations of taxonomies, and includes some interpretation of Bloom’s cognitive taxonomy Then you could either pick one part to get your teeth into or select …
Ahead of the M25 ALT workshop on instructional design in July
This week we’re looking at how instructional designers go about creating online courses, particularly: Is it the same process if you’re creating professional training or academic modules? Is ‘understanding’ an acceptable learning aim? What about ‘caring’? Can you decide on learning activities in two hours or does it take two days? Background only Most …
What makes educational practice ‘open’?
In open education discourse, there’s been a shift from open educational resources to open educational practices. But what does ‘open educational practices’ mean? You can tell a resource is open because it‘s been openly licensed (allowing use and adaptation) but how can you tell if a practice is open? The readings, selected by Leo Havemann, interrogate the …
To learn, you need to do something with your information. But, perhaps not surprisingly, most of us would rather chill.
Why? And what reservations might we have before signing up to the active learning club? We suggest you start with reading at least one reading from each heading. If you are very pressed for time, read the first article and Joshua Eyler’s Storify below. Active learning works! In Active learning increases student performance in science, engineering, and mathematics (2014), Scott …
Will they take teacher’s jobs?
This month’s reading group addresses the topic of teacher bots and the use of AI in HE, which arose as a topic of interest at our last meeting. We suggest you read at least one reading from ‘Current projects’ and one from ‘Context’. But you are of course very welcome to read more! Questions to consider What are the …
The top research of 2017 as selected by the NIDL
This month’s reading group is on Thurs 1st of February 6pm at the UCL Arena Centre, Floor 10, 1-19 Torrington Place. We’ll be each be reading our personal selections from the 100% open access top ten articles of 2017 as reviewed by the National Institute for Digital Learning (Republic of Ireland). That way we should between us …
Should you recommend hardware clickers or software, or a mix of both?
What types of questions are most effective? What else do you need to bear in mind when implementing a new classroom voting solution? What does the research say? What effective practices should we be promoting to educators? Read as little or as much as you like, and feel free to bring refreshments. If you just …