Comments for Agile Learning

Comment on Flipping Out by ACRLog » Can We Flip the Library Classroom?

ACRLog » Can We Flip the Library Classroom? — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 13:39:57 +0000

[...] good to me. Much of the discussion I’ve seen lately has raised interesting points about the place of technology, pointing out that while lecture videos may be useful, they’re not necessarily a required [...]

Comment on A Crowdsourced Rubric for Evaluating Infographics by Students build infographic rubric « NspireD2: Learning Technology in Higher Ed.

Sat, 28 Apr 2012 12:35:29 +0000

[...] his blog, “Agile Learning”, Derek Bruff recently wrote about A Crowdsourced Rubric for Evaluating Infographics. It’s an excellent example of combining effective teaching strategies with well-chosen [...]

Comment on Tips for Using Twitter as Part of a Personal Learning Network by Mak WK (Singapore)

Mak WK (Singapore) — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 09:13:49 +0000

Hi Prof Derek.
I have yet to jump onto this bandwagon, but I guess I have to, since I am starting on as an Educational Technologist. So I am very interested and fascinated to know what in the world can 140 characters do to accentuate learning. Will keep a look out of your postings. Thanks

Comment on Questions Worth Asking about Educational Technology by Brainstorming a workshop for online teaching « esquetee

Brainstorming a workshop for online teaching « esquetee — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 13:59:33 +0000

[...] Questions worth asking about educational technology http://derekbruff.org/?p=2092 [...]

Comment on Questions Worth Asking about Educational Technology by The Future of Educational Technology? | Center for Teaching | Vanderbilt University

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 13:03:22 +0000

[...] particular technologies, and the importance of identifying what Vanderbilt uniquely offers. See this recap for a bit more on these [...]

Comment on Revolution or Evolution? Technology and Higher Ed by The Future of Educational Technology? | Center for Teaching | Vanderbilt University

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 13:03:05 +0000

[...] but aren’t as comfortable jumping in with both feet as some of our early adopters. (See this post on my personal blog for more thoughts on this topic, including some thoughts on the pace of change [...]

Comment on Flipping Out by Stacey Roshan

Stacey Roshan — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 15:35:16 +0000

Great post! To support my second statement (which doesn’t make as much sense when taken out of context), I do believe that technology is a tool that gives up an opportunity to do things inside or outside of the classroom that we would be unable to do without it. I didn’t mean, at all, that videos were the “technology”. In history, for instance, embracing the technology might mean starting a collaborative discussion via wiki or google docs to get the conversation flowing BEFORE class. Also, I would never say to start with the technology. I’m all about observing and tweaking — and looking to technology to possibly offer a solution to a problem. For me, the video lessons outside of the classroom were my solution to the anxiety problem I faced in my class. I didn’t look first at the technology and think about creative ways that I might be able to incorporate it into the classroom (though that’s not *necessarily* wrong either – I don’t believe there is a right or wrong way to do all of this).

To me, flipping the classroom is about shaking up the traditional classroom dynamic – as you say – and making the classroom experience a more meaningful one. There really isn’t one definition of the flipped classroom, and as I’ve just written in a recent post on my blog, my structure changes depending on what class I’m teaching.

Thanks again for this post!
-Stacey Roshan

Comment on Flipping Out by Debie

Debie — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 05:56:10 +0000

Thanks, Derek, for this wonderful, thoughtful explanation! As a humanist (English, even!), I would just say there are plenty of humanists who don’t spend class time nearly so purposefully as the examples you have given here. Indeed, students often leave those classrooms wondering what in the heck they “learned.”. In training first-time teachers of writing, I used to ask TAs to move away from asking themselves, “what will students DO” (for homework, in class, etc.) and instead of ask, “what will doing that thing I have cooked up in my head DO FOR them?”

In some ways, the notion of inverting or flipping the classroom just creates opportunities to ask this kind of question. And once you ask it, and really consider the answer, it’s hard to go back to a monologue or wandering discussion.

Comment on Pinterest, Gender, and Platform Selection by Derek Bruff

Derek Bruff — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 03:48:33 +0000

No worries, Rudy. Glad to know the antagonism wasn’t intended.

Your point about the limitations of Pinterest leads me to consider two different kinds of social bookmarking work in which students might be asked to engage. Type A: Bookmark really great sources on a particular topic, and lots of them. Type B: Find one example for a particular topic.

Type A requires a social bookmarking tool that accepts all sources, because you don’t want a student to leave out an important source just because s/he can’t bookmark it on the chosen platform. Type B, however, does not require such a robust social bookmarking tool. A given student just needs to find *one* Web page worth bookmarking that can be bookmarked by the chosen platform.

I see from your blog that you’re a librarian. It makes sense to me that an assignment of Type A might be more useful for the teaching that you do. In my case, a Type B assignment was sufficient, which lowered the bar for tool functionality. If I had asked my students to assemble an annotated bibliography on, say, data visualization (a Type A assignment), then Pinterest wouldn’t have been up to the task, whereas Diigo would.

Thanks again for your comments.

Comment on Pinterest, Gender, and Platform Selection by Rudy

Rudy — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 00:37:07 +0000

Derek, thanks. Sorry if antagonism came through, my first response was pretty strong, and I tried to wash all that out; it sounds like I missed some. (I really don’t see the two tools as alike, so I was curious how you came to think of them as options for a single assignment)

I came across this blog because of the focus on Pinterest, which I am doing a lot of work with currently. One thing I have found is that the image requirement is actually a severely limiting factor. It’s not a small thing. Many of the ways we were going to use Pinterest at my place of work have had to be scrapped because the content was not very likely to have images. The online universe is actually more texty than one might guess

Looking forward to hearing the student’s thoughts!