Recently, on “Pi Day” (3.14, or March 14 for the non-nerds out there) I was reading an article about the benefits of learning programming on the Raspberry Pi, a micro-computer that costs only $35 dollars, and all the ways that it helps tinkerers learn programming and solve obscure issues by creating their own software and hardware … Continue reading Raspberry Pi and the Benefits of Diving into the Deep End
I teach in the First-Year Writing program at DePaul, and during Autumn Quarter especially, my classes consist mostly of freshmen. I love to watch how their demeanors evolve throughout the quarter as they become more confidently part of DePaul’s academic community—but joining this community isn’t natural for everyone (and wasn’t for me when I was … Continue reading Reframe Intelligence to Help Students Succeed
I think it is safe to say we have all experienced some form of stress in our life–whether it be in our personal life or at work. Stress isn’t always a bad thing. Sometimes stress, in small doses, can help you perform better and keep you safe when in dangerous situations. This week we had several interviews … Continue reading Stress: The Good, The Bad, and The Downright Ugly
For the past year and a half I have had the opportunity to work with a lot of great faculty members at DePaul University. I design online courses for the School for New Learning (SNL), DePaul’s online school. As a result, I rarely get the opportunity to meet in person many of the adjunct faculty … Continue reading Embracing Adjunct Faculty
When I began my classes for my M.S.Ed. in Instructional Technology (IT), I was often looked upon as an odd duck. Most of my classes were full of classroom teachers, school librarians, and administrators looking to be in charge of a different area. So here I was, a musician in their midst (and a jazz … Continue reading Instructional Design and Music: Can They Coexist?
I attended the Council on Global Affairs’ International Women’s Day Global Health Symposium. The focus of the day was on the health of the next generation for women and girls locally, nationally, and internationally. The keynote panel focused on new initiatives and challenges with implementation. Rebecca Winthrop, the Director for the Center of Universal Learning … Continue reading Tipping the Balance Towards Scalability
In May of 2014 The Journal asked the question, “Adaptive Learning: Are We There Yet?”. In this article, John Waters gives a nice overview of what adaptive learning is. Waters defines adaptive learning as “an approach to instruction and remediation that uses technology and accumulated data to provide customized program adjustments based on an individual … Continue reading Adaptive Learning in the University Classroom
DePaul University’s Global Learning Experience (GLE) is a relatively new initiative that was established to provide students with opportunities to engage in collaborative projects, mediated by technology, with students abroad. GLE exposes students, some who have never traveled out of the country or considered studying abroad, with an opportunity to journey to another country via … Continue reading Courses without Borders: Global Engagement with Students Abroad
On the first day of class, I asked my students, “How many of you have a smart phone?” Everyone raised their hands. “Great!” I said. “Take them out—if they aren’t already—because you will do a lot of messaging in this class. Go to WeChat.com and download the app to your phone.” After the students created … Continue reading Learning by Messaging: Social media apps and the classroom
Online and hybrid learning are so commonplace nowadays that many students have experience with them even before they leave K-12. However, with the increasing ubiquity of this mode of instruction, there are certain challenges that we encounter along the road to “teaching a good class.” Looking back to the beginnings of online teaching and learning, … Continue reading Teaching Online…For Real This Time