Posts tagged ‘Technology’
MOOCs, retention, and more challenges
Wednesday, May 15th, 2013Recent stories about MOOCS and San Jose State were in the news. San Jose State professors pushed back against EdX, one of the top three providers of MOOCS. An open letter from Professors at San Jose State to Professor Michael Sandel to request he take a stand on how some public universities may use MOOCs…
MOOCs: Retention rates, challenges, and more
Tuesday, April 23rd, 2013A recent NY Times article, reminds us that MOOCs {Massive Open Online Courses] and their usefulness for credit bearing degree programs still may remain illusive. While the article rates the usefulness, the interaction with the ‘star’ professors, the variability in course content, the retention rate is still dismal. The author also indicates for many of the MOOCs he…
CC Online courses: widens achievement gap
Thursday, February 28th, 2013More recent reports suggest that online courses may widen the achievement gap. Online students are less likely to achieve a degree. Black students, male students, younger students, and students with lower grade-point averages are most susceptible to attrition in online courses. Skill sets of students enrolling in online courses. Columbia University’s Community College Research Center researchers examined 500,000 courses…
MOOC Crashes
Monday, February 18th, 2013As MOOCs [Massive Open Online Courses] expand and are absorbed/developed at colleges and universities, inevitably technology will be challenged. Early in February, a MOOC on how faculty can set up an online course crashed. Courseera who had over 40,000 faculty enrolled, had to suspend the course after only 5 days. The explanation of a ‘design’ flaw in using Google Documents…
Professional Development Newsletters
Monday, February 11th, 2013Occasional newletters on professional development at GCC May 2013 Newsletter May 2013 Professional_Dev_Newsletter 5-10-13 April 2013 Newsletter April_Professional_Development_Newsletterpdf March 2013 Newsletter March 2013 Professional_Development_Newsletter February 2013 Newsletter 2.10.13_Professional_Development_Newsletter
Technology and Activism
Tuesday, December 11th, 2012More has been in the news lately about using podcasts, twitter, and skype in the classroom. A recent article focuses on the use of twitter. Another project is using social media to connect social justice activists. Other student groups working with local labor unions use social media and old fashioned, hit the streets organizing efforts to…
Online Pedagogy
Friday, November 23rd, 2012More emphasis about online pedagogy has been discussed more. A relatively new online journal, Hybrid Pedagogy, focuses on teaching online, moving beyond the technical aspects of delivering online course content. Connectivism and Connective Knowledge is an open online course that explores the concepts of connectivism and connective knowledge and explore their application as a framework…
MOOCs
Thursday, November 15th, 2012Massive Online Open Courses [MOOCs] have received more attention. An article described the Big Three companies and others describe the training potential. A short video describes MOOCs and their potential. MOOC’s are creating partnerships with colleges to offer college credit for the online courses. More community colleges are entering agreements to use MOOCs, including Massachusetts…
Questions about Online Learning
Saturday, September 29th, 2012Online Teaching is reportedly increasing. Recent articles vary from Why I changed my mind about teaching online to the more skeptical view of Catherine Stimpson, noted feminist scholar, in her article On becoming a Phoenix: Encounters with the Digital Revolution. Indeed who will ‘serve’ colleges including the debate between the course management system, Blackboard and…
Resources from Professional Day Fall 2012
Friday, September 14th, 2012Carol Gray presented to our adjunct faculty orientation. The presentation [Welcome Adjunct Faculty! (online version)] provided tips for classroom activities, communication, contractual rights and obligations, and other resources. Teaching and Learning in Community was also presented at Faculty Opening Day by Mary Ellen Fydenkevez, Meredith Twombly and Kate Devlin. The presentation [Teaching in Communty_prof_half_day] presents ideas about how…
