Using the Internet for Active Teaching and Learning


Book Description

For courses in Computers in Education. Are you ready to make use of the power of the Internet to support your teaching? Using the Internet for Active Teaching and Learning combines both theory and practice to introduce you to the Internet's potential as a teaching tool in your classroom. With student learning as its goal, the book is organized by its functions in the classroom-from communication to locating and evaluating information, publishing information, information problem-solving, cooperative problem-solving, inquiry and discovery, and online collaborations.




Teaching in the Digital Age


Book Description

Provides a framework to help teachers connect brain-compatible learning, multiple intelligences, and the Internet to help students learn and understand critical concepts.




A Guide to Teaching in the Active Learning Classroom


Book Description

While Active Learning Classrooms, or ALCs, offer rich new environments for learning, they present many new challenges to faculty because, among other things, they eliminate the room’s central focal point and disrupt the conventional seating plan to which faculty and students have become accustomed.The importance of learning how to use these classrooms well and to capitalize on their special features is paramount. The potential they represent can be realized only when they facilitate improved learning outcomes and engage students in the learning process in a manner different from traditional classrooms and lecture halls.This book provides an introduction to ALCs, briefly covering their history and then synthesizing the research on these spaces to provide faculty with empirically based, practical guidance on how to use these unfamiliar spaces effectively. Among the questions this book addresses are:• How can instructors mitigate the apparent lack of a central focal point in the space?• What types of learning activities work well in the ALCs and take advantage of the affordances of the room?• How can teachers address familiar classroom-management challenges in these unfamiliar spaces?• If assessment and rapid feedback are critical in active learning, how do they work in a room filled with circular tables and no central focus point?• How do instructors balance group learning with the needs of the larger class?• How can students be held accountable when many will necessarily have their backs facing the instructor?• How can instructors evaluate the effectiveness of their teaching in these spaces?This book is intended for faculty preparing to teach in or already working in this new classroom environment; for administrators planning to create ALCs or experimenting with provisionally designed rooms; and for faculty developers helping teachers transition to using these new spaces.




Creating Significant Learning Experiences


Book Description

Dee Fink poses a fundamental question for all teachers: "How can I create courses that will provide significant learning experiences for my students?" In the process of addressing this question, he urges teachers to shift from a content-centered approach to a learning-centered approach that asks "What kinds of learning will be significant for students, and how can I create a course that will result in that kind of learning?" Fink provides several conceptual and procedural tools that will be invaluable for all teachers when designing instruction. He takes important existing ideas in the literature on college teaching (active learning, educative assessment), adds some new ideas (a taxonomy of significant learning, the concept of a teaching strategy), and shows how to systematically combine these in a way that results in powerful learning experiences for students. Acquiring a deeper understanding of the design process will empower teachers to creatively design courses for significant learning in a variety of situations.




Interactive Lecturing


Book Description

Tips and techniques to build interactive learning into lecture classes Have you ever looked out across your students only to find them staring at their computers or smartphones rather than listening attentively to you? Have you ever wondered what you could do to encourage students to resist distractions and focus on the information you are presenting? Have you ever wished you could help students become active learners as they listen to you lecture? Interactive Lecturing is designed to help faculty members more effectively lecture. This practical resource addresses such pertinent questions as, “How can lecture presentations be more engaging?” “How can we help students learn actively during lecture instead of just sitting and passively listening the entire time?” Renowned authors Elizabeth F. Barkley and Claire H. Major provide practical tips on creating and delivering engaging lectures as well as concrete techniques to help teachers ensure students are active and fully engaged participants in the learning process before, during, and after lecture presentations. Research shows that most college faculty still rely predominantly on traditional lectures as their preferred teaching technique. However, research also underscores the fact that more students fail lecture-based courses than classes with active learning components. Interactive Lecturing combines engaging presentation tips with active learning techniques specifically chosen to help students learn as they listen to a lecture. It is a proven teaching and learning strategy that can be readily incorporated into every teacher’s methods. In addition to providing a synthesis of relevant, contemporary research and theory on lecturing as it relates to teaching and learning, this book features 53 tips on how to deliver engaging presentations and 32 techniques you can assign students to do to support their learning during your lecture. The tips and techniques can be used across instructional methods and academic disciplines both onsite (including small lectures and large lecture halls) as well as in online courses. This book is a focused, up-to-date resource that draws on collective wisdom from scholarship and practice. It will become a well-used and welcome addition for everyone dedicated to effective teaching in higher education.




Best Practices in Engaging Online Learners Through Active and Experiential Learning Strategies


Book Description

Best Practices in Engaging Online Learners Through Active and Experiential Learning Strategies is a practical guide for all instructors and instructional designers working in online or blended learning environments who want to provide a supportive, engaging, and interactive learner experience. This book explores the integration of active and experiential learning approaches and activities including gamification, social media integration, and project- and scenario-based learning, as they relate to the development of authentic skill-building, communication, problem-solving, and critical-thinking skills in learners. Readers will find guidelines for the development of participatory peer-learning, cooperative education, and service learning opportunities in the online classroom. In addition, the authors provide effective learning strategies, resources, and tools that align learner engagement with course outcomes.




E-Tivities


Book Description

Beyond the hype of online learning lies a straightforward question: how do you really deliver worthwhile learning online? This book, based on action research, provides a simple answer to this fundamental question by exploring a key technique that enables teachers and learners to use available technologies happily and successfully. So, what are e-tivities? They are motivating, engaging, purposeful activities developed and led by an e-moderator. They are frameworks for active and interactive online learning. E-tivities are in the hands of the teachers themselves and promote active e-learning. This is not a book about the technology of online learning. Practical, accessible and direct, it looks at personalizing and customizing teaching and learning. Written for use in any topic, subject or course, E-tivities explores: the importance of activities in online learning; designing and running e-tivities; the five-stage model of teaching and learning online. Backed up extensive illustrations and case studies, and including a unique collection of 35 Resources for Practitioners, this is a book for all professionals involved in online learning.




Instruction in Libraries and Information Centers


Book Description

"This open access textbook offers a comprehensive introduction to instruction in all types of library and information settings. Designed for students in library instruction courses, the text is also a resource for new and experienced professionals seeking best practices and selected resources to support their instructional practice. Organized around the backward design approach and written by LIS faculty members with expertise in teaching and learning, this book offers clear guidance on writing learning outcomes, designing assessments, and choosing and implementing instructional strategies, framed by clear and accessible explanations of learning theories. The text takes a critical approach to pedagogy and emphasizes inclusive and accessible instruction. Using a theory into practice approach that will move students from learning to praxis, each chapter includes practical examples, activities, and templates to aid readers in developing their own practice and materials."--Publisher's description.




Web-based Instruction


Book Description

A cutting edge collection of 59 essays solicited from Web-based instructors offering a variety of perspectives, notions, and experiences in the practice of virtual teaching. The compendium introduces the evolution and status of distance learning, critical issues in Web-based learning environments such as the similarities and differences between Web-based and traditional classrooms, specific discussions on designing learning activities and electronic textbooks, an evaluation of delivery systems for instruction, and case studies of Web-based courses from kindergarten and beyond to the instruction of literature, astronomy, and foreign languages. Includes illustrations. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR




Active Learning Online


Book Description

Inspired by the recent proliferation of online courses necessitated by the COVID 19 pandemic, researcher and educational innovator Stephen M. Kosslyn offers instructors and course designers (as well as school administrations and teacher-education students) a treasure trove of active learning principles and activities for implementation in online, hybrid and in-person courses. Whether your course is synchronous (e.g., live with Zoom) or asynchronous (e.g., using video content on Canvas), this book will inject active learning into existing courses or into courses designed from scratch. In both cases, active learning will make the courses not only more interesting but also more effective; student engagement will increase, learning outcomes will be reached, and general teaching and learning experiences will be enriched.