My colleague, Stephanie Wade, Lecturer SBU Writing and Rhetoric, shared with me, “What speech do we like best? Language expresses who we are, and who we want to be. It can also unite or divide us.” about language prejudice. I had to think of how faculty tend to view our students’ microblogging and texting as dummying down the English language and communications… NIMC (Not In My Classroom). Are our language skills falling to pieces or are we transitioning to another format?  Is Web 2.0 applications ruining the English Language? I look forward to your comments. 

http://www.pbs.org/speak/speech/

Blog Post on Thoughts on Learning Spaces

Take a look at the Digital Repositories and Preservation blog ( http://repositoryblog.com/?p=12 ) and the post “Thoughts on Learning Spaces Presentation” – Joan Lippincott, Coalition for Networked Information, Associate Executive Director. Joan’s presentation is at http://www.cni.org/tfms/2008a.spring/abstracts/PB-computer-lippincott.html and her publications are at http://www.cni.org/staff/joan_publications.html . I haven’t heard the term GEN Y used since the ’90s, but whether you agree or disagree with this post, it’s worth thinking about. The post runs deeper than designing learning spaces for students. And, this is a k-12 and higher education issue … Here’s a quote from the blog post http://repositoryblog.com/?p=12 : “You know why a student would prefer to look at a picture or watch a video? Because it’s way easier than reading something that would nearly always be more informative about the subject at hand. You know why a student would be more interested in producing, say, a video than writing a paper? Because writing well is DIFFICULT and it’s far easier to gloss up poor research by packaging it in a video format that appears to involve a lot of work. Yes, older people who think that games, social networks, collaborative learning environments, and the creation audiovisual mashups are the future of education, the basic message I’m sending here is that young students don’t want to learn, they want to play, and presentations like the one I saw today essentially seem to be saying that we need to support this play (masked as educational needs) as much as possible in order to try to get some learning in there.” I’d like to hear some thoughts and comments from our group on this issue. It’s an important topic. Please comment on the discussion forum, “Are we experiencing a Generational Gap in Education?” (I’ll keep my mouth shout, since most of you know my thoughts on this matter) Another blog post worth looking at – Brave New Classroom 2.0 “A vision of Students Today (& What Teachers Must Do)” http://www.britannica.com/blogs/2008/10/brave-new-classroom-20-new-blog-forum/

Jellies in Education?

If you’re a friend in my Facebook, you’ve noticed Allison Kipta’s post link on Jellies in the Workforce - http://www.alexlinsker.com/2007/09/05/democracy-ingredients-to-make-jelly/At Stony Brook University’s Faculty Center we’re forming Faculty Learning Communities and the jelly concept has me thinking. I’d like to hear other’s thoughts and suggestions. Can we use this concept in education. I’m wondering, also, to promote active learning in the large lecture halls. Organizational Democracy - http://www.alexlinsker.com/2007/09/05/democracy-ingredients-to-make-jelly/ The handbook - http://www.alexlinsker.com/handbook/ BTW, I’m Nancy McCoy-Wozniak on Facebook

Process Oriented Guide Inquiry Learning

There are so many learning methods out there, but I thought I’d share this one. Our Stony Brook Chemistry Department uses POGIL methods with their first year students. Professors David Hanson and Troy Wolfskill found that first year students weren’t able to enter into problem based learning activities because they lacked the basic background knowledge and critical thinking skills to participate in the problem based learning activities. David and Troy developed a POGIL program for the students using a printed workbook, team guides and an innovative learning management system, LUCID.Project Description: The POGIL approach involves creating a learning environment where students are actively engaged in mastering a discipline and in developing essential skills by working in self-managed teams on guided inquiry activities. Thus, in addition to promoting more effective understanding and mastery of course content, another focus of POGIL is on the development of important student process skills in areas such as information processing, critical thinking, problem solving, teamwork, and communication. Has anyone else used the POGIL method in their discipline? Dr. Hanson has developed it for Chemistry, but the more I look at it, the more I’m convinced this method can be used in all disciplines. Professor Wolfskill’s LUCID provides the perfect electronic interface for students to work within and outside their groups.  Please comment on POGIL and other learning methods that work for you.  POGIL http://www.pogil.org/ Contact David.Hanson@sunysb.edu LUCID Contact Troy.Wolfskill@sunysb.edu