Posted on No Comments on Using Google Docs for Team Project Collaboration

Using Google Docs for Team Project Collaboration

Most of us have at least heard about Google Docs but may have been too busy to explore this application or consider what it might offer to us or our students.  A colleague, Julien Marion, and I discussed this last week while we were having lunch.  I had used Google Docs only in a superficial way up to this point, but after our discussion I began to explore this application more fully.  I discovered an amazing tool which not only allows real-time collaboration on papers and spreadsheets, but also tracks revisions so that Instructors can see who has made contributions.  I’ve included a short video below which I found on YouTube.  There are hundreds more on the same topic (i.e. “Using Google Docs for Collaboration”).  I really encourage you to watch this short video and perhaps even show it in your class and encourage your project teams to give it a try.   You could even reserve the computer lab and set up a real-time experiment with your class. If you decide to give this a try, I would be interested to hear how your experiment turned out, as well as how to make using Google Docs even more effective.  There are likely many more ways you can think of to use this application; again, I would be interested in hearing your thoughts and ideas, email me at: rupchurch@belhaven.edu



Posted on No Comments on Using Evernote in the Classroom

Using Evernote in the Classroom

I just read the article posted in the Chronicle of Higher Education with the title: Using Evernote in the Classroom.  For those of you who may not know, Evernote is a computer program WITH mobile applications for Android and Apple whose primary function is to store information in a way that easy to retrieve.  It syncs information across all devices so that what you save to Evernote from your computer is also available on your mobile device or the other way around.  It has a free version which I have yet to exhaust and a premium (paid) version with even more functions.

The article describes ways to use Evernote to support your teaching and would make a great repository for your class notes and materials.  the information can be tagged for even easier recall and shared.  There is also a link to an Evernote Notebook which is full of ideas on how to effectively use this program.  In that notebook there are a variety of other articles such as:  “5 Tips to Use Evernote for Academic Achievement,” “7 Smart Ways to Use Evernote for Research,” “How academics use Evernote to make life easier.”

This program has been around for quite a while and only gets better with more functions.  One of the functions I especially like is the “webclipper” which provides an icon at the top of my browser so that if I find an article I like, I can click on that icon and it “clips” a copy and stores it in my Evernote notebook.

Read through the article and the links and give it a try.  Its free and I have found it a great tool.

Posted on No Comments on 20 Collaborative Teaching Tips

20 Collaborative Teaching Tips

Because most faculty default to teaching the way they were taught, i.e. LECTURE, I am constantly on the look out for examples and ideas for fostering a more effective pedagogy.  This is an article on teaching tips which can be used with some modification in any classroom.  College instructors will be MUCH more effective if they can realize the goal is Student LEARNING, not teaching in the traditional sense of pontificating from the lofty peak of knowledge to the beggars down below.  That may seem funny, but it is too often true.

Here is the link to the article:  20 Collaborative Teaching Tips.  Hope you enjoy it AND hope you use some of them.  Yes, collaborative teaching requires more preparation, but the pay-off in student learning is HUGE!

Posted on No Comments on Group Work / Team Projects

Group Work / Team Projects

Most of the undergraduate and some of the graduate courses in Belhaven University’s Adult Studies programs required Group Work/Team Projects.  The benefits of developing the ability to work in teams is obvious and most students recognize the importance of developing these skills.  Paradoxically, most students express extreme dislike of having to participate in Team Projects.  In most cases the dislike arises out of perceived inequity of workload, perceived relevance, and the possibility of receiving a lower grade due to a lower performing team mate.   Many faculty have asked about resources which they can use to provide a better experience for students as well as lessening their own frustration in providing guidance and appropriate assessment.

In researching this, I ran across a series of articles which I think you will find useful:

How Can I Monitor Groups

Group Work Strategies to Ensure Students Pull Their Weight

What are the Benefits of Group Work

What are the Challenges of Group Work and How Can I Address Them?

How Can I Assess Group Work?

Group Project Tools

You will also find multiple other links within these articles which you can follow to find even more information on this topic.  The Team Project can be a powerful learning opportunity for our students.  Taking the time to learn more about how to make the best use of the Team Project is definitely worth the effort.

Posted on No Comments on How to Accelerate Learning and Change Lives

How to Accelerate Learning and Change Lives

There are two kinds of change that individuals experience: incremental change and deep change. “We frequently make incremental changes: We make adjustments, we elaborate on a practice, we try harder, and we exert a greater degree of control. In other words, we attempt to solve the problem using the assumptions we currently hold. Deep change is more demanding because it requires the surrender of control….It involves embracing purpose and then moving forward by trial and error while attending to real-time feedback.”

To read the full article: How to Accelerate Learning and Change Lives by Michael McKinney

Posted on No Comments on Welcome!

Welcome!

This blog will be focused on providing helpful and relevant information for those teaching in the Adult Studies programs for Belhaven University. I think you will find the information on this page interesting and hopefully something herein may inspire you to try something different.

You may have heard me share that one of our core values is Student Centered Learning. I feel strongly about that, but I also know that it doesn’t happen accidentally. In fact, Student Centered Learning requires more from the Instructor: more thought about what will achieve learning, more preparation, and more effort in the classroom.  It requires a willingness to experiment with different activities and learning models. The information on this blog will hopefully inspire each of us to become better teachers who are passionate about student learning.

I encourage you to subscribe to this blog and stop in occasionally to look through the material in specific categories.

I also want to thank you for your dedication and passion to prepare our students academically and spiritually to serve Christ Jesus in their careers, in human relationships, and in the world of ideas.

Blessings,

Rick