Education Commons^™

Moving Academic Support Services And Resources Online: Lessons Learned, Alyssa Darden

The International Institute for Innovative Instruction Blog

As Franklin University shifted to all remote services in mid-March of 2020 due to COVID, our Learning Commons support services of library, academic support, and testing worked quickly to provide equitable services in an online environment. Services pivoted by offering only online tests proctored by ProctorU, moving all tutoring appointments to the online model, and a dedicated focus to of preferring library acquisitions in e-content only format.

Introducing The Learning Lounge Podcast, Joel Gardner

The International Institute for Innovative Instruction Blog

At Franklin University’s International Institute for Innovative Instruction, we design and develop learning experiences for students and clients all over the world. From clarifying learning goals and shaping a learning strategy to integrating quality content and creating effective materials, this work can be complex. Instructional media is one of these components, and if done right, it can increase learning and make a course more engaging. In my experience, however, creating quality media can be difficult, especially when working with teams of faculty, staff, and instructional designers who are dealing with heavy workloads and competing priorities.

Enter Bradd Birmingham, the Director …

Modeling: Online Students Need Demonstrations, Too, Matthew Barclay

The International Institute for Innovative Instruction Blog

How many times have you seen children pretending to be their sports heroes while playing basketball or soccer? How many teens or adults have you seen wearing a movie star’s hairstyle or adopting the clothes of another favorite celebrity? How often have you observed people mimicking media personalities in voice, gestures, sayings, etc.? Have you ever found yourself doing something because someone else did it and you thought it was a great idea? Of course you have. Whether it was beneficial or damaging in the long run, you have most likely done something only because someone you esteemed did it.

Interactive Textbooks: What The Future Holds, Natalya Koehler

The International Institute for Innovative Instruction Blog

Many educational publishing companies are creating digital textbooks, and like their traditional print counterparts, e-texts can be expensive. The common complaint about commercial textbooks is their high cost. Between 2006 and 2016, the prices of textbooks used in higher education increased by 73 percent (Senack & Donoghue, 2016).

Mind Maps Allow Our Students To Paint A Picture!, Barbara Carder

The International Institute for Innovative Instruction Blog

When Fred Barnard said that “a picture is worth a thousand words” back in 1927, odds are that he wasn’t thinking about mind maps in higher education, but his idiom was true then and it remains true today.

Five Challenges For New Online Instructors, Constance Wanstreet

The International Institute for Innovative Instruction Blog

A boot camp for new online instructors focused on five challenges related to transitioning to online teaching, building spaces for learning, preparing students for the work of online learning, managing the classroom & assessing learner outcomes.

My Reflections On The Association For Educational Communications And Technology (Aect) 2017 International Convention, Lewis Chongwony

The International Institute for Innovative Instruction Blog

From November 6 – 11, 2017, the Hyatt Regency Jacksonville Riverfront in Jacksonville, Florida was a beehive of activity, as members of the AECT, one of the oldest professional organizations, passionate about uncovering better ways of helping people learn, congregated for the 2017 convention. With close to 400 concurrent sessions, several workshops, and more than 1,000 attendees, the place was beaming and brimming with excitement and an aura of freshness as attendees imbibed from pots of research, best practices, and experiences of speakers and peers both in sessions and during breaks. Looking around, I could easily tell that the 2017 …

Why Your Course Needs An Editor, Carolyn Levally

The International Institute for Innovative Instruction Blog

Instructional design is definitely an iterative process; we design courses, get feedback, make adjustments to the course, etc. But who is reviewing our courses and providing us with feedback? More than likely, the Subject Matter Expert (SME) or the instructor who will be teaching the course reviews the course design. Having SMEs review the design is excellent, as they know the content and the course objectives best. However, at the International Institute for Innovative Instruction, we also strongly recommend that all courses be reviewed by a content editor.

E-Textbooks: Making Course Resources More Accessible And Affordable, Patrick Bennett

The International Institute for Innovative Instruction Blog

The affordability of, and accessibility to, lower cost course resources such as textbooks and supplementary materials in higher education is a growing concern in the United States. Currently, the process of textbook adoption has been left mostly unregulated at the federal, state, and university levels (Hill, 2015). In traditional settings, ultimately, the university selects the required textbooks and students are required to purchase them. In economic theory, this is referred to as the Principal Agent Problem.

How To Use Media Effectively In Online Courses, Carolyn Levally

The International Institute for Innovative Instruction Blog

In the online higher education community, course designers are constantly trying to develop courses that reach beyond the learner simply staring at a static screen. With the instructor and the learner at a physical distance, there are many features we use to try and bridge that gap, from online class meetings via Adobe Connect to discussion board postings to other engaging activities designed specifically for achieving the learning outcomes. However, when it comes to simple content delivery in an online setting, breaking through the wall of text by providing learners with more engaging media can sometimes be difficult. Many people …

Online Experiential Learning: Bringing The Courtroom To The Classroom, Karen Miner-Romanoff

The International Institute for Innovative Instruction Blog

Experiential learning (EL) is the “process whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of experience” (Corbett, 2005, p. 479). As Kolb (1984) posited, individuals learn through experience, reflection, thought, and experimentation. Knowledge and understanding are created and refined through the application and transformation of experience. Many scholars and educators agree that experience and active participation can help students connect theory to practice, develop higher order thinking skills, and enhance the educational environment (Burke & Bush, 2013; LaRose, 2011). Much research has indicated that authentic and experiential online learning experiences can lead to greater student success (Broadbent & Poon, 2015; Inan, …

The Difference Between Instructional Design, Instructional Technology, And Instructional Science, Joel Gardner

The International Institute for Innovative Instruction Blog

What is the difference between instructional design, and instructional technology, and instructional science? There are many different subsets of the field of instructional design, and in this post I will clarify the differences between these different terms.

How To Develop Yourself As A Learning Professional, Joel Gardner

The International Institute for Innovative Instruction Blog

The world is constantly changing and, as a learning professional, your role is constantly evolving. To remain relevant and have a positive impact in your profession, you must continually acquire and expand your knowledge and skills to improve yourself in your craft.

Paradox Of Social Presence In Online Learning In The Age Of Social Media, Lewis Chongwony

The International Institute for Innovative Instruction Blog

How often do you think of social presence (a feeling of being there and connected with others in a computer mediated communication) when designing and/or delivering your online course(s) or instruction? Does it even make sense to worry about it in the age of social media?

How Do Students Respond To Microlearning?, Natalya Koehler

The International Institute for Innovative Instruction Blog

Microlearning is a way of teaching and delivering content to learners in small, very specific bursts. The learners are in control of what and when they’re learning

Curriculum Design Framework In Digital Age – Revisit The Tyler Model, Xiaopeng Ni

The International Institute for Innovative Instruction Blog

Most organizations are using a learning management system. The adoption of this technology, along with nonstop technological changes and updates, has significantly altered curriculum development. The purpose of this blog post is to propose a design framework to help curriculum designers and developers plan their curriculum in ways that embrace new technologies and cope with the design complexity

Let’S Look Back: Why We Failed Online Learning In The Early 2000s, Jessie Kong

The International Institute for Innovative Instruction Blog

Online learning is not a new concept anymore, and many organizations in the United States have increased to implement online learning over decades. However, I recently realized that some of us as curriculum developers still make the same mistakes we did in the early 2000s when designing and developing online courses. Therefore, it’s good for us to think back on why we failed online learning in the past and reflect on what we learned from it.

An Investigation Of The Effect Of Using Twitter By High School Mathematics Students Learning Linear Equations In Algebra 1, Manuel Vilchez

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this quasi-experimental study was to investigate the effect of using Twitter by high school mathematics students learning linear equations in Algebra 1. This quasi-experimental study used ninth grade Algebra 1 classes that were learning linear equations for 18 school days.

First, the nonequivalent control group design, a pretest-posttest quasi-experimental design, was used in this quasi-experimental study. The research hypotheses were tested using a factorial analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) with the pretest on linear equations score as the covariate. The control group had three classes (n = 73) and the experimental group had three classes (n …

From Knowledge Sharing To Knowledge Building, Xiaopeng Ni

The International Institute for Innovative Instruction Blog

Our society is changing rapidly and innovation is becoming more recognized as a key factor for a competitive advantage. In order to prepare our students for success in innovation, it is necessary to re-examine our conventional pedagogy and to gear the design of students’ learning experience toward the unknown. So, in higher education, how can we prepare our students for innovation?

The Perception Of The Effectiveness Of Classdojo In Middle School Classrooms: A Transcendental Phenomenological Study, Michael Burger

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This transcendental phenomenological study modeled after Moustakas’ (1994) phenomenological reduction investigated the perceptions of teachers and students regarding the effectiveness of ClassDojo as a classroom management tool for three middle school classrooms at Cardinal Unified School District (pseudonym). The research questions for the study were aimed at understanding teachers’ and students’ perceptions of the effectiveness of ClassDojo as a classroom management tool as well as the necessary resources and experiences to implement it well. Furthermore, this research aimed at explaining teachers’ perceptions of how the use of this tool affected their administrators’ view of them as teachers. The participants consisted …

Improvement Of Pedagogical Laboratory Based Learning: Multimedia Enhanced Instructional Methods, Sumbul Khan

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

In engineering technology and other scientific-based education, lab-based courses play a crucial role (Ma & Nickerson, 2006). Even though laboratory experience in student learning is crucial, it faces some problems. Due to insufficient laboratory conditions that lead to overcrowding and inability to view demonstrations, the effectiveness of hands on experience declines (Tiwari & Singh, 2011; Tuysuz, 2010). Considering the limitations that constrain lab experience, investigating and implementing alternatives to enhance pedagogical laboratory based learning becomes inevitable. This study investigates multimedia enhanced pedagogical teaching methods for delivering laboratory instruction to students. The purpose of this study was to improve pedagogical laboratory …

The Relationship Of Instructor Technical Literacy To The Academic Performance Of Students In Career Academies, Jorge Gomez

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Career Academy instructors’ technical literacy is vital to the academic success of students. This nonexperimental ex post facto study examined the relationships between the level of technical literacy of instructors in career academies and student academic performance. It was also undertaken to explore the relationship between the pedagogical training of instructors and the academic performance of students.

Out of a heterogeneous population of 564 teachers in six targeted schools, 136 teachers (26.0 %) responded to an online survey. The survey was designed to gather demographic and teaching experience data. Each demographic item was linked by researchers to teachers’ technology use …

It's Not Just About The Technology: Changing The Focus From Technology To Collaboration In Videoconferencing Room Design, Tamela W. Smith

Dissertations

Videoconferencing technologies are being increasingly utilized in today’s business and educational environments. However, implementation rates continue to be lower than projected, and user perceptions on the level of collaborative environment provided by videoconferencing rooms vary widely, depending on room design. This study found that, while few videoconferencing professional characteristics impact the level of collaborative environment designed for end-users, the perceived closeness levels provided to end-users significantly impacted their perceptions on the technology. The study also found that videoconferencing professionals’ views and end-users’ views on the level of collaboration within videoconferencing environments vary significantly. By shifting the design of videoconferencing rooms …

Improving Electronic Reserve Services: A Collaborative Effort, Xiaohua (Cindy) Li, David Demers

Librarian Publications

To improve the efficiency of Ryan-Matura Library's electronic reserve (e-reserve) service, the staff of the library and the Office of Instructional Technology at Sacred Heart University codeveloped and implemented a system that streamlined the request and delivery of e-reserves for faculty and students. This system utilizes the institution's integrated course/content management system (Blackboard) along with a custom-built Web application that facilitates the request, retrieval, digitization, and delivery of e-reserve materials directly to students within their Blackboard courses.

Moving Towards A University-Wide Implementation Of An Eportfolio Tool, S. R. Lambert, L. E. Corrin

Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) - Papers

The University of Wollongong has been strategically exploring ePortfolios since 2002. Building on lessons learnt from student trials across two different disciplines in 2002/3 and 2006, the project team is on the verge of implementing a university wide ePortfolio tool customisable for all students across all faculties. This paper describes the steps taken on the road thus far, including a description and justification of a new project structure and consultative framework developed to guide the implementation.

Cross-Disciplinary Prospecting: Educational Technology Offers Up Gold For Library And Information Science Curricula, Michael J. Miller

Publications and Research

This article provides an overview of the current trends in information and communication technology affecting library services and recommends how, because of these trends, library and information science (LIS) curricula should turn an inquisitive, interdisciplinary eye toward the field of educational technology. Gaps in current LIS professional training and practice are cited, curriculum standards in LIS and educational technology programs are described and compared, and examples are presented to demonstrate how educational technology pedagogy and practice help to successfully augment library skills, service, and practice.