Disqus - Latest Comments for bwatwood

Re: Promise and perils of collaborative classes - Luminaris

Britt Watwood — Fri, 17 Apr 2015 11:18:29 -0000

Nice post! I think that few of us communicate adequately the fact that projects like this are messy ... and that the best learning lies in the messiness.

Re: Luminaris - Luminaris

Britt Watwood — Fri, 10 Apr 2015 10:56:00 -0000

Nice post! To your good resources, I would add Susan Ambrose's book How Learning Works. Lectures and demonstrations can be enhanced by being mindful of the seven principles she lists around prior knowledge, knowledge organization, motivation, mastery, practice and feedback, course climate, and self-directed learners.

Re: Weebly - Website Creation Made Easy

Britt Watwood — Tue, 03 Mar 2015 16:08:05 -0000

I like (and have used) the concept of crowdsourced readings. With some of the online tools, it is pretty simple to set up a Google Form that when submitted gets aggregated on a class blog. Two open ended questions I typically have on this form is "key points" and "why is this relevant to OUR class". The relevancy question can sometimes surface some interesting new perspectives.

Re: Weebly - Website Creation Made Easy

Britt Watwood — Tue, 03 Mar 2015 15:55:02 -0000

Nice post! I just came from a faculty inquiry group in which the topic of discussion was competency-based learning. Some in the room noted the disconnect between modularizing learning topics into competencies without having some holistic view of the big picture as well. It seems to me that the six skills you noted suggest bigger picture ideals that need to be integrated into any specific module on a particular competency.

Re: Lids Down, Phones Off - Luminaris

Britt Watwood — Fri, 20 Feb 2015 11:03:30 -0000

Definitely an interesting post ... and I know faculty that will want to hold this post up high as validation of their banning mobile devices in their classrooms.

But ...

Rather than a general rule of "banned unless..." or invited (as I have done in my classes), perhaps it is time to be more nuanced. Few of us have 1-3 hour classes of pure lecture. Most of our classes have periods of micro-lecture, periods of group work, and periods of full class discussions. Perhaps it is time to focus on when devices might enhance the activity and when the devices (for all the reasons Shirky mentioned) might detract. Then we as faculty can be purposeful and mindful to share this reasoning with students and get their buy-in.

Thoughts?

Re: The Dilemma of Student Engagement - Luminaris

Britt Watwood — Mon, 16 Feb 2015 10:39:08 -0000

Mark, I like how you differentiated between emotional and intellectual engagement. I also liked your five strategies. I would suggest a sixth - reflection. Having students reflect weekly (privately in journals or publicly through blogs) helps student organize their knowledge, integrate the loose pieces, and evaluate their progress.

Re: Whacha Runnin’ on Yer Mac These Days? (Dec 2012)

Britt Watwood — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 15:50:36 -0000

After years with Dell products, I have just gotten my first MacBook Air laptop, so your post is extremely timely (at least for me!) Thanks!

Re: Blended Learning, and Distance considerations

Britt Watwood — Sat, 29 Sep 2012 07:57:51 -0000

Technically, you are correct...but my point is that whether it is intentional or not, the web is being used by students.

Re: Blended Learning, and Distance considerations

Britt Watwood — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 09:43:18 -0000

Some good points, and I like the focus on learning outcomes. I would suggest that there are no longer any courses that are not web enhanced (...though it may be the students that are on the web and not the professor). :-)

Re: louisgray.com: The Blog's Place In A World of Microblogging: Not Dead Yet!

Britt Watwood — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 14:37:14 -0000

Your ending mirrors comments Scott Rosenberg has in his book Say Everything. I discussed my own reduction in blogging due to microblogging in a post today:

http://bwatwood.edublogs.or...

Re: 'Rules Of Thumb' Leave a Comment

Britt Watwood — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 18:50:20 -0000

Just finished the book and thoroughly enjoyed it. I posted to my blog today an examination of the the first 13 rules and their application to higher education and online teaching and learning - http://tinyurl.com/ktt7zb. I'll be continuing through the rest of the rules. Thanks for pushing my thinking!

Re: Cool Cat Teacher Blog: The "C" Word: Are you Salve or Sandpaper?

Britt Watwood — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 08:57:52 -0000

Our prayers are with you. As a cancer survivor myself, I know that it IS a scary word, but it is also not a death sentence. It simply reinforces how precious every moment is...and that we should all live every moment to its fullest. You are a good model of that!

Re: Cool Cat Teacher Blog: Kicking off the school year: Web 2.0 Style w/ Cell Phones

Britt Watwood — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 10:57:20 -0000

Might blog about this later, but this post was required reading in my online class. Thought you would be interested in how one visiting teacher from Jamaica answered my discussion forum question: http://tinyurl.com/5uvbxk

Re: Cool Cat Teacher Blog: Lauren O'Grady Says to Drop the Buzzwords! (A point worth listening to!)

Britt Watwood — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 08:13:57 -0000

Interesting post, Vicki. I'll have to check out her blog and twitter stream. One thought - elearning is also a convenient "tag" for delicious/diigo. So if we stop using it, what do we use for the tag??? :-)

Re: http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/2008/08/fab-five-of-time-life-management.html

Britt Watwood — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 15:27:48 -0000

Great list of tools with examples of use. Just wondering if yesterday's announcement by Jott that they are going to start charging is impacting your planned student use?

Re: Quotes & Questions - Chapter 2: Sharing Anchors Community

Britt Watwood — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 13:24:33 -0000

Two related comments or questions - First, are classes "non-institutional groups"? In many ways, I think that they are...and the social side of the web can potentially help them form community, which I think is valuable in a learning context. Second, I would ask how these tools are changing work within established groups as well. I find that I am closer to my two colleagues here in our Center due to our use of Twitter, SMS, and blogs, but we tend to include others from the network in our "conversations."

Re: Quotes & Questions: Here Comes Everybody

Britt Watwood — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 13:17:58 -0000

Great idea! I feel the same way about this book and have been bugging my colleagues to read it!