Making Online Learning More Engaging in Higher Education
Edu-(Tech)niques
by colingally
5M ago
With my recent work in Maynooth University (MU) in Ireland and my ten years of refining and teaching the courses we offer in the MAET program at Michigan State University (MSU), Ive been pontificating and procrastinating on what is current state of play with making more engaging online content in the higher education realm. Using Multiple Platforms for Collaboration/Communication At MSU we utilise Slack alongside our Brightspace D2L learning platform. This is the latest in a long line of platforms we have added to encourage collaboration and communication amongst our students. Discussion foru ..read more
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The Effectiveness of Infographics
Edu-(Tech)niques
by colingally
5M ago
When I was teaching TL517 Digital Technology in Higher Education to lecturers in Maynooth University I was tasked with elevating certain elements of the blended module. I noticed that a lot of reflections and understanding was in the form of forum posts and replies. Something that I have had great success with in teaching online with Michigan State University and with students in middle school is with creating infographics. Simple right? Basic right? The overwhelmingly positive reactions that I got from the lecturers at Maynooth and the connections that they made with what they could do with i ..read more
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Virtual Reality in Education
Edu-(Tech)niques
by colingally
5M ago
Back a billion years ago, Google was throwing out trial periods of cardboard goggles at us to stuff our phones into so we could look around a 3D static environment. It was fun for the students but was it of any immense benefit? The jury was out on that. It was all a bit of overkill for a virtual field trip. Were students engaged? Yes, undoubtedly, but we weren’t integrating them in any way meaningfully and the trial periods didn’t encourage us to purchase any amount of the cardboard box VR goggles. Of course nowadays, VR platforms, apps, and technology have evolved now to be more education fr ..read more
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What Are We Teaching Anymore?
Edu-(Tech)niques
by colingally
6M ago
Going back to teaching MYP Design after a few years away has been eye opening and frown inducing. AI and the dawn of pressing buttons to automatically create things is upon us. Even tools like Canva have pivoted with AI tools to allow us all to create without…creating. Kinda. Criterion A (Inquiring and Analysing) has become a minefield of navigating AI generated thought-speak. Now when you think the writing isn’t coming from the students’ own brains you have to check for plagiarism and AI. Criterion B (Developing Ideas) has become a prompt for Midjourney or Dall-E. Or ChatGPT. Or Bard. Criter ..read more
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What’s the difference between ChatGPT3.5 and ChatGPT 4.0?
Edu-(Tech)niques
by colingally
1y ago
The title of this blog post reads like the start of a lame nerdlinger joke. Actually let’s see how 3.5 and 4.0 finish this potential belly buckler… 3.5’s attempt: Booo! Garbage. And yes, I tried other prompts and role playing. If you want to test for ChatGPT, it’s simple…test for humour. You wouldn’t invite 3.5 to a casual dinner party..funeral, maybe. 4.0’s attempt: Wait a minute……I smiled at this….what the?…then a smily face and a door to illustrate its crafty joke construction…cheeky monkey…:) And herein lies the difference between 3.5 and 4.0. It comes across smarter and more adept at s ..read more
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Ponderings on AI in Education: Part 1 of Infinite
Edu-(Tech)niques
by colingally
1y ago
I don’t want to structure this too much for fear of being labelled as using ChatGPT. Or I could have just prompted ChatGPT to play the role of a paranoid, fearful, educator posting about AI in education…oh noooo, I’ve gone all cross-eyed…I recently had a viral cornea infection I feel like I’m owed one eye-related idiom. I have many thoughts about AI in education but nothing really that well formed. Lots of disparate feelings and opinions…unlike the throngs of AI specialists and prompt engineers who have popped up on LinkedIn and Twitter. I could proclaim I’m one of those. But I’m not. First o ..read more
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Using Pictionary to Explore Concepts in MYP Design
Edu-(Tech)niques
by colingally
1y ago
The hardest part about teaching and learning in a concept based curriculum is….teaching and learning based around concepts! Instead of teaching about volcanoes you teach through the lens of “change” in the area of science. This concept of…concept based learning…is especially tricky with new students (and new teachers). The definition of a concept reveals why: “an abstract idea” Abstract. Existing in thought or as an idea but not having a physical or concrete existence. So the learning journey is more blurry and not as prescribed. Which is great! You just have to plan it properly. Whilst teachi ..read more
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“Would you rather…?” random wheel spinner to use with students
Edu-(Tech)niques
by colingally
1y ago
Following on from racking my brains with coming up with other more engaging “ice breakers” for MS students the notion of “Would you rather…?” activities came about. Trawling the internet I found numerous websites with different degrees of appropriate questions and put them all in to a Wheel of Names wheel. This has proven worthwhile now with two batches of middle school students both in Finland and in Japan so give it a go, I’ve done all the hard work for you! Here’s the link so that you can use mine. Anytime you close the page and re-open it, any questions that you removed will be back so don ..read more
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One Night Ultimate Werewolf With Middle School Students
Edu-(Tech)niques
by colingally
4y ago
I hate ice breakers. The traditional ones. Adults hate them. Students hate them. As I said before (to the internet wall) I have 25 minutes a week with 8 middle school students. There’s a mix between 6, 7, and 8 grades so finding common ground to get . So instead of Googling “student ice breakers” like I’ve done in the past (which subsequently had me vomiting soon thereafter) I googled “quick board games for 10 players”. Why? I have 25 minutes. The students have limited patience. I have limited patience. One Night Ultimate Werewolf came up prominently in the results. The description: One Nigh ..read more
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IB Learner Profile with Animals…Yeah, Why Not?
Edu-(Tech)niques
by colingally
4y ago
Meh, I like animals so I made some IB Learner Profile posters with animals. That is all. PDF download from Google Drive. Large file download (you won’t be able to preview them but you can see them below). All photos from Google Image Search  “Labelled For Non Commercial Reuse with Modification ..read more
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