Friday Fragments, July 31

Punctuation, group work & a model for picking technology that works for our classes.

What I’m reading:

Punctuation! As an English instructor, I love this handy chart about punctuation rules.

Image credit to Curtis Newbold, The Visual Communication Guy

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Group Work! This article on using roles in group work discusses the Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL) method for defining groups roles and encouraging more effective group work.

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I appreciated this Edutopia article on the SAMR model of technology tools integration, because it asks us as instructors to think first about what we want to do, and second about what technology might be available to help us to do that better.

Image credit to Edutopia/CC

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In a remote classroom, substitution might be recorded lectures rather than live ones - a fairly direct change that doesn’t substantively change the learning experience (unless you integrate some microlecture techniques). Augmentation could be using a quiz tool like Kahoot instead of a paper quiz - basically the same end result, but it works better (functional improvement) in the remote environment. Modification could be creatively using backchannels, like the LMS chat function or a Twitter hashtag, to provide space for students who might not speak up in a remote synchronous class to share their thoughts. Redefinition might be inviting a guest speaker to join your class, or taking advantage of all the virtual field trips (broad range of science related field trips here) that have popped up over the past few months.

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This week I was a panelist in a webinar sponsored by the Student Opportunity Center on experiential learning in the remote/socially-distanced classroom. We chatted about flexible design strategies and tools to help instructors plan for fall - whether that’s online, hybrid, in-person, or some undefined combination. Recordings of our talk and the session the week prior, plus slides and a resource list are still available, if you’re interested.

Thanks for reading!