Matt’s Notes
Happy Monday! Or whatever day it happens to be when you’re reading this! Doug & I dug into a fairly substantial topic over the weekend… namely the how’s and why’s and wherefores of demonstrating learning… an especially especially significant conversation in the world of ed tech… and, more broadly, the learning sciences in general… how do we make learning explicit? This is, no doubt, something we will be returning to periodically throughout the life of this show! For our first takes on this, please click below as per your preferences…
We’ve got way more questions than answers… and we wouldn’t have it any other way! #ednontech
So… the past few days I’ve been fairly industrious (?) inasmuch as I’ve updated the Ed non-Tech Sandbox for the first time in ages. I am sure Doug and I will be speaking to this to one degree or another in coming episodes…
Rather than go “fully techy” in the text of these notes, I’ve prepared a brief “bonus” video speaking to this process… a rationale for the choices made when updating the site… hopefully this satisfies the need to justify what we’re up to… Doug and I both believe strongly that it’s important to demonstrate our emerging approaches to teaching and learning vis-à-vis educational technology and/or instructional media and/or whatever your preferred term and associated jargon… and we’re probably overdue for an episode revisiting our preferred terms and the implications for practice and scholarship, come to think of it!
As these notes are more than a little media-heavy already, I’ll leave it at that for now. Thanks to Doug for selecting a topic and resources which cut across many of the other discussions we’ve had thus far! Thanks to anyone out there anywhere who is checking this out! While we might be having these conversations anyway, it really is you that makes this a worthwhile endeavor… full stop!
He persists! As long as there are media, Robert Johnson will be there. Whatever kind of bargain he struck with persons or entities unknown… you can’t argue with the results!
Doug’s Notes
Demonstrating learning
The normal and conventional goal is writing to demonstrate learning … But there is another important kind of writing that is less commonly used and valued, and so I want to stress it here: writing for learning.
Elbow, P. (1994). Writing for learning—not just for demonstrating learning. University of Massachusetts, Amherst, 1-4.
Using “many different measures” doesn’t mean giving your students eight multiple-choice tests instead of just a midterm and final. We know now that students learn and demonstrate their learning in many different ways.
Suskie, L. (2000). Fair Assessment Practices Giving students equitable opportunities to demonstrate learning. AAHE BULLETIN, 52(9), 7-9.
Students indicated that the new strategies allowed students to do self-study under the guidance of the course lecturer and that this enabled them a level of convenience not allowed under the traditional teaching methodology.
George, M. L. (2020). Effective teaching and examination strategies for undergraduate learning during COVID-19 school restrictions. Journal of Educational Technology Systems, 49(1), 23-48.
McLoughlin’s Inclusive Pedagogical Model demonstrates that it is extremely important to combine student involvement with real world tasks and underscores the notion that one cannot obtain knowledge without collaboration and active participation.
Singh, J., Steele, K., & Singh, L. (2021). Combining the best of online and face-to-face learning: Hybrid and blended learning approach for COVID-19, post vaccine, & post-pandemic world. Journal of Educational Technology Systems, 50(2), 140-171.
Word of the Podcast
Demonstrate
Phrase of the Podcast
I love a good malapropism.
Question of the Podcast
Growing up, how often were you given the opportunity to demonstrate learning differently?
Thanks so much for spending some time with us today! We hope we’ve met… or exceeded… your expectations for an education podcast! In any case, we look forward to joining you again sooner rather than later!
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