Wallenberg Blog

Some Experts See "Huge Potential" In Open Course Initiative.
August 3, 2009
http://chronicle.com/article/Obamas-Great-Course-Giveaway/47530/

The Chronicle of Higher Education (8/3, Parry) reported, "If the Obama administration pulls off a $500-million-dollar online-education plan, proposed in July as one piece of a sweeping community-college aid package," online courses such as those developed by Carnegie Mellon University's Open Learning Initiative "could become part of a free library available to colleges nationwide," including community colleges. Some education experts say there is "huge potential in serving...students with open courses," helping them to "explore careers," providing "confidence before returning to school," and improving "improve retention once they get there," among other benefits. Notably, it could "guarantee standards 'whether you are in a more impoverished, underserved, or remote area of the country,'" one expert said. The article also discusses potential funding methods, notes examples of online course material developed by Carnegie Mellon and MIT, and provides an in-depth assessment of "what role the government would play in financing and disseminating" open courseware.

MIT Sloan Management Review
July 2009
http://sloanreview.mit.edu/special-report/design-thinking/

DESIGN THINKING
Hard skills from a soft science
Not a Thing, But a Way

Design thinking — distinct from analytical thinking — has emerged as the premier organizational path not only to breakthrough innovation but, surprisingly, to high-performance collaboration, as well. “It’s not about the pretty,” says one design-thinking practitioner, “it’s about the productive.” In this special section of articles, interviews, illustrated cases and research findings, the Review explores how to put design thinking to work.

Hawaii Pacific University's Teaching and Learning Center has a useful searchable FAQ database of various essays related to teaching and learning issues.

http://faq.hpu.edu/tlc/faq-pro/index_hpu.php

The Chronicle pf Higher Education
By Scott Carlson
July 28, 2009
http://chronicle.com/blogPost/In-the-U-of-Rochesters/7499/

Teaching, Learning + Technology at Stony Brook has launched a new TV show, viewable over the Internet, which features Stony Brook faculty and staff using innovative approaches and best practices in teaching, and applications of educational technology that have had a positive effect on student learning. Interviews are 15-30 minutes long and focus primarily on faculty members. Video and pictures of the application of the innovation or best practice are included in each show where possible. The interviews are intended to provide a balanced look at both the benefits and challenges of adopting a particular approach to teaching and learning and should be useful to faculty and faculty developers at any campus.
Please visit the show's web site at https://tlt.stonybrook.edu/FacultyServices/FacDev/TVShow/ for more information and to view the show. You can also follow the show on-

Facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/Stony-Brook-NY/Innovations-in-Education/127244955162
YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tyyffbxno-o
Twitter http://twitter.com/sbu_iie

Clive Thompson on the New Literacy
Wired Magazine
August 24, 2009

http://www.wired.com/techbiz/people/magazine/17-09/st_thompson

A brief article that includes an interview with Professor Andrea Lunsford and a compelling conclusion:

We think of writing as either good or bad. What today's young people know is that knowing who you're writing for and why you're writing might be the most crucial factor of all.

This blog, Technology and Learning: A space for conversation and debate about learning and technology, posted on the Inside Higher Ed has some interesting thoughts and useful ideas.

http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/technology_and_learning

Check out this posting in particular and two lessons learned:
http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/technology_and_learning/the_importance_of_getting_it_wrong

The first thing learned from this experience was that when having classes create media projects (as opposed to traditional papers) it is necessary to set very hard limits on the numbers of these projects.

The second lesson I learned was that in introducing new teaching methods it is necessary to enforce limits on students technological use, as they will gravitate to the more robust and time intensive tools if you let them.