One of the sessions I attended focused on choosing online activities that support learning objectives. The session talked about integrating the absorb, do, and connect approach; an idea put forth by William Horton, an eLearning guru.

Absorb activities impart facts. A learner may read an article, listen to an audio explanation, or watch a short video, etc. to access and acquire the information. This is sometimes seen as a passive learning activity, but our brain is most likely not in a passive mode as we process the new information and try to make it fit into our existing knowledge framework.

One way to make a seemingly passive learning activity more active is to augment the activity. The University of Arizona Library uses a system called Guide on the Side to augment their library instruction. Watch their tutorial about how to find articles using JSTOR. http://www.library.arizona.edu/applications/quickHelp/tutorial/searching-jstor

In this class, you will learn about using technology tools for teaching distance learning courses. We will discuss options and best practices for asynchronous and synchronous distance classes, as well as “blended” classes that offer both in-person and online options. Adult learning principles will be reviewed. We will examine and discuss examples of software and website tools in teaching.

The class is taught “asynchronously” using the Moodle course management system, so you can complete the classwork at a time convenient for you. Allow approximately 2 hours per week for independent classwork. There are 4 weeks of assignments, readings, and discussions, with the 5th week saved for a “catch-up” week. Upon completion of the class you will receive 8 MLA CE credits.

The class is free and open to residents of the U.S. Class enrollment is limited, so we do ask that you check your schedule to be sure you have time to complete the class.

To register: http://nnlm.gov/ntcc/classes/schedule.html

Researchers are finding (see links below for two recent Time magazine articles) that talking to ourselves, known as self-talk or instructional self-talk in the literature, helps us focus on the task at hand so we can learn and use the new skill again without having to rely on talking to ourselves every time.

Speaking for myself (I think that might be a pun), when I practice out loud, I can almost feel the new pathways being forged in my brain. It’s sort of like acting. You have to learn the lines. Practicing helps you know what you are going to do and say.

So, whatever you call it, practicing your speech or presentation or instructional material out loud, helps the synapses in our brains to make connections between what we think and do.

Read more about the subject:

Time Magazine April 25, 2012
http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/04/25/talking-to-yourself-may-actually-be-a-good-idea/

Time Magazine May 23, 2012
http://ideas.time.com/2012/05/23/talking-to-yourself-not-so-crazy-after-all/

Read his blog post at: http://www.brianbennett.org/blog/ugly-learning/

During the webinar, the leader gave participants a few minutes to quietly read a particular section of the workbook.  When he asked if the participants appreciated that time, most said yes.  He suggested that we consider adding “quiet time” to our own training sessions.

First of all I am interested in what keeps people coming back to a learning experience that involves more than just a single session.

It turns out there is something called adult learner persistence according to the New England Learner Persistence Findings from the New England Literary Resource Center (NELRC).  The following, from their website, lists six “drivers” that fulfill affective needs:

1. Sense of belonging and community
2. Agency
3. Relevancy
4. Clarity of purpose
5. Competence
6. Stability

Please view the NELRC short but effective summary at http://goo.gl/GIHlM

Secondly since I hear the word “feedback” so often I wanted guidelines to define and flesh out my simple understanding. ASCD (formerly the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development) has a chapter from, How to give effective feedback to Your students by Susan M. Brookhart at the link below

http://goo.gl/cDWKS

In summary the feedback should be about the:

• Task
• Processing of the task
• Self-regulation
• Self as a person

The emphasis should be on the strengths and weaknesses of the performance, to help create strategies that will help improve performance, to help the student connect their work with their intention, and to help position the student as the one who did and will do the work.

The breakdown of these principles of effective feedback seems quite straightforward. Imagine instructing someone on how to properly eat a whole lobster. Even when sitting on your hands and shutting your mouth while the learner figures out how to do it, it is so hard to be an encouraging cheerleader while giving effective prompts.  It is hard to resist taking the lobster apart yourself.  Giving good feedback is hard to do.

Enter Julie Dirksen [http://goo.gl/WJWsc]. Julie holds a master’s degree in Instructional Systems Technology. In a recent post to the PeachPit blog (PeachPit Press is a publisher), Julie referred to Haidt’s ideas and suggested that we attribute too much power to the rider, in terms of how well the rider can control the elephant. Dirksen goes on to  apply Dr. Haidt’s views of the rider, the elephant and the human brain and came up with Nine Ways to Get and Keep Your Audience’s Attention. Julie writes about “talking to the elephant”.  Visit this URL to read Julie’s insightful and challenging suggestions for creating an engaging presentation [http://goo.gl/dPpaO].

For more interesting talk about the brain, watch this TED Talk:

http://goo.gl/Y5M1z