Teaching Methods and Materials
« Previous EntriesColleges Build Software to Help Professors Create Podcasts of Their Courses
Tuesday, August 5th, 2008In a few years it will be strange for professors not to podcast their lectures, as colleges move to install equipment in every classroom that can record and upload audio and video from classes. Berkeley is leading a charge to build open-source software to make podcasting in the classroom easier, working with Apple’s iTunesU.
Read […]
The Best Video Turtorial Websites: Watch and Learn Almost Anything
Wednesday, July 30th, 2008Ever wondered how to use
chopsticks ? Or how to
change your car battery ?
Or apply mascara ? Or how
to seduce your boss ?You
can find video answers to
almost anything you can
think of in the following
websites:VideoJug.com
[Life Explained on Film] -
The largest online collection
of “How-To” video tips and
demonstrations on topics
as varied as cooking Indian
food, home improvement
tips, folding t-shirts,
impressing your boss or
how to kiss someone
passionately.You can
download VideoJug video
guides to your iPod, embed
them in webpages or if
you’re on a slow
connection, just read the
text transcripts. You will be
a more practical
Are PowerPoints Good Pedagogical Tools?
Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008In November last year I
wrote about my concerns
about powerpoint misuse in
an entry called do you
hand out your handouts.
Emeritus Prof John Sweller
has presented research
showing that powerpoints
are not really good
pedagogical tools. Basically
the human mind cannot
effectively take in,
process, understand and
remember information
which comes simultaneously
from two sources.
Therefore the lecture two
sources of input (heavy
powerpoints and the
lecturer’s voice)
becomes a cognitive
overload for the short-term
memory. This work is part
of his development of
cognitive load theory
(wikipedia). Sweller writes
on his website: Cognitive
load theory (e.g. Sweller,
1988; 1994) is an
instructional theory
generated by this
Association for Business Communication
Friday, July 18th, 2008 The Association for Business Communication (ABC) is an international organization committed to fostering excellence in business communication scholarship, research, education, and practice.
The membership of the ABC, like the field of business communication, is richly interdisciplinary, drawing members from such fields as management, marketing, English, speech communication, linguistics, information systems, to name only a few. […]
Ten Tips for Improving Your Lecturing Style
Tuesday, July 15th, 20081. Have a motivational title for each lecture, the type you might expect to read in a news headline. 2. Begin with an introductory analogy and refer to it throughout the lecture. 3. Provide an overview or a preview of information to be discussed, the ideas to be presented, or the importance of the information to […]
Announcing Business Communication Today, 9th Edition
Friday, June 20th, 2008This is the first text that can prepare students for today’s electronic communication challenges, and the only text with model documents in every important medium.
The leading text in the field for more than two decades, Business Communication Today is now more current and vital than ever.
The thoroughly revised ninth edition offers dozens of updated […]
Anti-Plagiarism Tech Traps Cheating Students
Tuesday, June 17th, 2008
University admissions body Ucas is using automated detection technology to spot plagiarised applications from students.
Ucas ran a trial of the CopyCatch software from CFL Software on 50,000 university applications last year because of rising numbers of students bootlegging material for the personal statement section of the form.
Although Ucas has its own guide to writing a […]
How RSS Is Used in Education
Wednesday, June 20th, 2007RSS and Education
Academia has embraced
RSS as a means to
educate, but scrutinizing
how educational institutions
are using RSS feeds in their
daily routines show RSS is
utilized can vary across
different industries. 1.
Share Resources
Academics are using social
bookmarking websites to
share quality websites that
relate to their area of
expertise with colleagues
and students. RSS and
Education
Web 2.0 Takes on Colleges and Universities: The Dawn of Education 2.0
Monday, April 23rd, 2007In the shift from an
intellectual economy of
push, to one of pull, the
evolving participatory
media are making their
impact felt . It is no longer
enough to pump out
information like gasoline
and expect authentic
learning to take place - the
new generation of learners
demand to be engaged,
active and part of a
collaborative knowledge
building community.
Here’s why:
’’The online
MySpace community has
ballooned to more than 160
million members in just a
few years. Over 200,000
new members sign up each
day; it is one of the most
visited Internet sites in the
world. The social
networking site of choice
for most students is
How to Lecture and Keep Them Engaged
Tuesday, February 13th, 2007The world over, lecturing is
a common teaching
technique. I can still
remember back to my
undergraduate days the
guy who slept in the back
row of the 300-seat
auditorium during my
biology class. The alarm on
his watch would go off
precisely one minute before
the lecture was scheduled
to finish. Apparently he
was not inspired. Few
students were. Sometimes
lecturing is unavoidable.
And often, business people
too are asked to give a 45
minute speech or
presentation or even
longer. These kind of
situations tend to force
presenters into a didactic
method of
teaching/presenting or a
“boring lecture.” But it does
not necessarily have to be
that way.Presentation
