Teaching and Learning
To match the changes in higher education’s student demographic, methods of instruction must transform as well. Today’s students have constraints on their time and bring more experience to the classroom than ever before. Instruction must adapt to ensure the needs and expectations of students are being met.
I Think I Finally Understand McLuhan
Albert Powell | Director of Learning Technologies, Colorado State UniversityI’ve always been fascinated by the simple elegance of Marshall McLuhan’s assertion “The medium is the message,” and I’ve found a way to use it in explaining an important concept…
Finding Balance: Blended Learning for Practitioners and Researchers
Rob KadelSince the earliest days of distance learning, educators have debated whether delivering instruction electronically actually works. Whether through VHS tapes in the earliest correspondence courses or today’s complex and adaptable…
Low-Tech Teaching in a High-Tech World
Zoë Cohen | Assistant Professor in the College of Medicine Tucson, University of ArizonaOnline teaching isn’t new. In the 1960s, people took correspondence courses, where teachers would mail assignments to students to complete and return. In the computer age, these courses were moved…
What Is A Diploma Mill?
Bernard Bull | President, Goddard CollegeWhat is a diploma mill? Scan the web and you will find a range of answers. Some think of them as scams posing as legitimate schools, taking money in exchange…
A Scientifically Sound Approach to Lifelong Learning
Jeffrey S. Russell | Dean of Continuing Studies and Vice Provost for Lifelong Learning, University of Wisconsin-MadisonMake It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning (Harvard University Press) begins with a provocative statement: “People are generally going about learning in the wrong ways.” You might bristle at…
Stop Talking and Start Doing: How to Deliver 21st-Century Student Engagement and Education
Michelle R. Weise | Chief Innovation Officer and Senior Vice President of Workforce Strategies, Strada Education NetworkIt’s interesting to see the evolution of the conversation within education reform circles. The “college for all” access agenda seems to have had its day. Getting in is no longer…
The Edges of Pedagogy: Defining (and Promoting) Actual Safe Spaces for Student Engagement
Randall Stauffer | Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs, Woodbury UniversityHigher education has traditionally been a top-down endeavor, which, at least superficially, seemed to work reasonably well. After all, students are typically in receive mode as professors share their expertise…