I’ll be blunt: Blackboard Learn has all the visual appeal of a 1950s warehouse.
In terms of usability, it’s like trying to navigate an aircraft carrier when you really need a speedboat.
Learning matters.
That may seem like a truism in the world of education – at least it should be – but it isn’t.
All too often, schools and teachers, colleges and professors worry more about covering the right material than helping students learn. They put information above application. They emphasize the what rather than the why and the how.
At workshops for graduate teaching assistants on Monday, I shared one of my favorite quotes about education.
It’s from Joi Ito, director of MIT’s Media Lab. In a TED Talk on innovation last year, he said: “Education is what people do to you. Learning is what you do to yourself.”
After a session at the KU Teaching Summit last week, I spoke with a faculty member whose question I wasn’t able to get to during a discussion.
Earlier this week, I interrupted two students in a small room at Spahr Engineering Library at KU.
Microsoft’s Office software has long been the standard in business and education.
In a webinar this week, though, Microsoft showcased an online amalgamation of its software that looks very much like a learning management system.
Self and Oswald halls are the first new dorms to open at KU in nearly 50 years (There was a link, but the page no longer exist).
The living spaces look much like what you’d expect from dorm rooms. The informal spaces, though, provide a modern, visually appealing take on informal, collaborative learning. (They are also great for just hanging out.)
The new dorms were open for tours late last week. Here is some of what I found.
David McConnell sees both benefit and paradox in active learning.
McConnell, a professor of marine, earth and atmospheric sciences at North Carolina State University, spoke to members of the geology department at KU last week about his research into active learning and his work in helping others adopt active learning techniques in their classes.
By Doug Ward
In one of my favorite poems, Taylor Mali mocks sloppy writing, juvenile articulation, and the general inability to put together words in a meaningful way. That poem, “Totally like whatever, you know?,” was brought to life by Ronnie Bruce’s animation (below), providing even more punch to Mali’s magnificent ending:
Because contrary to the wisdom of the bumper sticker,
Doug Ward