Oct
30
Chunking content guides learning through content scaffolds organized in logical progression. Our brains process information best through progressive and logical sequencing. Which is why in a play, Act I always preceds Acts 2, 3 and so on.
Karla Gutierrez at Shift’s eLearning Blog posted three ideas to consider when “chunking” eLearning content:
Begin with your curriculum standards or Common Core standards. Then, Gutierrez writes, “organize information in a logical and progressive way by defining modules, then sections and finally topics. Start by separating conceptually related content in large pieces and use them as modules. Divide modules into smaller pieces, these will become your sections. Continue this process until the content divided into themes or topics.”
Transition from one content point to the next. I think it is important to embed “back” and “next’ arrows for easier flow. I recently reviewed a course without these simple-to-add tools and the cumbersome navigation was distracting. Gutierrez explains, “The truth is learners tend to scan content…they don’t ready 100% of what is on the screen. By chunking information you can get them to learn what it’s really important. So remember: start with basic and broad concepts and build upon them. If a screen seems to have a lot of text, strategically cut it into 2 different slides.”
Gutierrez provides 9 tips for organizing information at screen level:
Gutierrez cautions, “Remember that learners DO NOT want courses loaded with text-heavy, time-consuming content. Therefore, don’t include all content that is in front of you. Ask yourself first if you really need to include all the information.”
Once you determine what is the most relevant, add links to the remaining or extension content or create an infographic to convey information. Also, query students as the course progresses to ascertain their level of comfort and mastery of the information provided. This will greatly add to the effectiveness and longetivity of the inevitable re-writes “tweaks” of your course content.
Oct
29
As seen on RefDesk’s Site of the Day: Vote411.org
“Build your ballot with our online voters’ guide! Type in your address to see the races on your ballot. Candidates’ positions can be compared side-by-side, and you may print out a “ballot” indicating your preferences as a reminder and take it with you to the polls on Election Day. Check out our resources for military and overseas voters! Vote411.org: Election Information You Need http://www.vote411.org
This is a timely website to use with students in government, history, or social studies classes. Students can enter their city, state, and zip code and local voting places, issues, election, and voter’s guides will display.
Vote411 also has a Facebook page
Oct
26
It is that point in the school year when the newness of school has worn off, the personality of both teacher and student are flourishing, and perhaps, a little motivational “umph” is needed to make it until semester’s end.
Enter Full-contact teaching. “Full-contact teaching also involves targeting individual students that need help, finding out what their challenges are, getting to know them, and offering invitations and opportunities to succeed,” Johnson write in his blog at Edutopia.org/Ben Johnson’s blog.
Johnson compares full-contact teaching to football. As this analogy is lost on me, after reading his blog post, I differentiated his content similarity more toward shopping on Black Friday (i.e. get in there and git ‘er done). The analogy is yours to make and his points are encouraging.
Oct
25
Building eLearning courses? The following list highlights 20 principles of learning every teacher/trainer should know.
Oct
23
Students learn mathematic skills and concepts best when there is a learning atmosphere of fun and connection. Gisele Glosser at Math Goodies knows this and has developed Math Mania Competition so you can coach your class to victory in the worldwide Math Mania Competition!
Math Mania is an event designed around new VmathLive®, a web-based online math solution that creates a stimulating learning environment for students in grades 2-8. The event brings students from around the world together in friendly competition. View contest rules and watch the Math Mania movie trailer.
Learn more about new VmathLive.
Learn more about Math Mania and what to expect.
Oct
20
Problem solving is natural to young children because the world is new to them, and they exhibit curiosity, intelligence, and flexibility as they face new situations. National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, 2000, p. 116
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Oct
18
Word Cloud created by Helen Teague using Wordle
In How Students Learn, Dr. Adisack Nhouyvanisvong presents a key component central to learning gathered from research – the delivery of specific, timely, and focused feedback. Dr. Nhouyvanisvong summarizes the research illustrating the effectiveness of feedback, outlines four different types of feedback and their reltionship to phases of learning and states why feedback works and what types of feedback don’t work. Lastly, Dr. Nhouyvanisvong presents educational tools to support the delivery of specific, timely, and focused feedback.
Download: How Students Learn (415k .PDF file)
Oct
17
I learned about fractions when my teacher, Miss Wolf brought pies into class everyday for a week at Marine View Elemenary. Each day, she cut the pie into different segments to represent numbers and fractional increments. My love of pie and fractional math was born all those decades ago!
This website continues in the tradition Miss Wolf began all those decades short years ago.
Top 10 books to teach fractions to kids
This blog registered on Edubloggers Directory.
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