The Pedagogy of the 21st Century

Best Teaching Tip of the Week

SoftChalk
   “We have acquired a content course design (well, lesson design really) software called SoftChalk. I really like the activities you can add--drag 'n drop, crossword, quiz poppers, etc. It's a little expensive, but they do offer a 30-day free trial. Check it out.” -Paula Calahan, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN

Best Teaching Tip of the Week

Make Personal Connection
   “My top best practice idea is this: Read every student introduction post and make one personal connection with that student in my response to them (i.e. "I also love that movie...especially the part where...." or "Oh, I see you live on a farm! I live in the city, but I raise chickens. Do you have chickens on your farm?" or "I see that you work part time at Applebees. I have to say that their fried onion appetizer is my favorite.") Kind of dumb, I know, but for me to make that connection online with each student helps me get to know my students more quickly.” -Rebecca George Bandy, Northwestern College, Shoreview, MN

Best Teaching Tip of the Week

Yes, Call Your Students
   “I personally CALL every student the week before class begins (or however many days in advance my D2L opens.) (This is for a college class.) I have already e-mailed them about the course at this time. If I can talk to them personally great, but I also leave voice messages. I state that they have an email with directions for logging into the class, and their first assigment is already up. Then I start monitering the site to make sure students are getting in.
   “When students do not log into the class before the first day, this is a red flag. Then I TRY to talk to each student either before, during, or after class to make sure that they have the INTERNET. This of course does NOT mean that they will take my suggestion and drop if they can not access the internet regularly. But at least I will have let them know what is expected.” -Sara O’Hara, Pima Community College, Tucson

Where Some of Our Best Teachers Are

Want to know where some of our best young teachers are?

Well, they are in our Gender in the Classroom online course.  But too many are working as tellers in banks, "in the medical field" as one put it, and other jobs outside the field of education.

The reason is that they cannot get jobs as elementary school teachers.

A shame, because they have an enthusiasm, a base of experience that older teachers do not have, and a different more 21st century perspective that will enable their students to learn lots. 

Best Teaching Tip of the Week

Screen cast tool
   “For 15 minute or less embeddable and linkable screen casts, screencast-o-matic is simple and fast. You can download them for future use, save them on the site, or embed or link them immediately.”  -Kelli Stair, South Bend Community School, South Bend, IN

Best Teaching Tip of the Week

Long Live PowerPoint!  
   “I can't say enough about Powerpoint as a tool for everyone, audio and animation. It slices it dices for the average Joe that doesn't want to have to learn Photoshop and Flash to have a fabulous looking presentation. Just visit the online Microsoft and there are nice template choices.” Kelly Siemens, New Egypt, NJ

Best Teaching Tip of the Week

Change Welcome Page Every Unit
   “I think it important to remember that the homepage (or welcome page) is not the homepage of a traditional website, it is more a 'portal" to your class, that will ultimately end at a given time (year-end, semester). It is never static, it is an organic and constantly changing entity, that requires interaction from both the instructor and the participant. Changing the homepage on at least the "modular" basis is important. The "look" and style of the portal is very important to me....” Jane Noble, Louisiana State University Eunice, Lafayette, LA

Best Teaching Tip of the Week

Use an Avatar
   “In several of my online classes, I use Voki to create an avatar that communicates important announcements throughout the semester. Most of my students like my avatar, but I have had one or two comments about how creepy it is when she moves her eyes with the cursor. You can type in your message and use a predesigned voice, or you can use a microphone to record your message in your own voice. I change the background and my avatar's outfit to meet the season/holiday/event that is occurring at the time I post the message. Some students have been so enthused that I've had several send me a reply via email using an avatar they created! If anyone is interested, here is the link to Voki: http://www.voki.com/ It is FREE!” -Menka Brown, Piedmont Technical College, Greenwood, SC

Best Teaching Tip of the Week

Skimming vs Reading
   "Skimming is an absolutely necessary skill in this day and age of Info Overload. There is no possible time to read everything in depth on a subject as one did years ago. One has to target an area of major interest and through the means of "skimming" determine if the info at hand is the area of to be targeted.
   “Skimming is different from actual reading in that the former is quick glancing for key chunks of info that is draws major interest. Actual reading is soaking in for long-term absorption. Once skimming takes place, one can go back to these targeted skimmed areas for further "reading" that lacked previously.” - Jeannine Gurnack, Twinsburg, OH

Best Teaching Tip of the Week

How to Skim
   Ken Riggs of Humboldt, Saskatchewan, says,”I took a course on Time Management years ago which taughts tips on how to skim document. Just a quick google search came up with these two sites.http://42explore.com/skim.htm
http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/09/skimming-and-scanning-using-the-times-to-develop-reading-skills/