by Karen Nichols
In celebration of Ed Tech Week next week, a number of companies are offering free webinars, ostensibly to showcase their products, but I read in our POD (Professional and Organizational Development) Network newsletter about Macmillan's webinars. A few are featuring their products, but some are for the general public and may be of interest to ed tech enthusiasts and online instructors. Go to Macmillan's Ed Tech Week webpage to register for any of these and to see all of their offerings. Let me know if you're interested in getting a group together to participate in the webinar. I can see if CAT's conference room is available. I'll also be attending a few sessions myself so please let me know if you'd like to come over and join me.
Monday, October 6th at 3pm EST
Use What Your Students Do Already: Optimizing Students' Tech Skills for Communicating
Johndan Johnson-Eilola, Clarkson University
Most college students feel comfortable working with information in a variety of technologies (sometimes too comfortable). They spend their lives, it seems, with their hands on keyboards or thumbs on smartphones. But often they (and we) do not think critically about how best to use these technologies to improve our communication practices. In this webinar, we’ll discuss ways of teaching students to more productively use technology in their writing practices across a spectrum of genres and media types.
Tuesday, October 7th at 12pm EST
The Economics of Online Education and the Future of Teaching
Alex Tabarrok, George Mason University
Online education has cost and flexibility advantages over in-class teaching. Online education also has a different cost structure than in-class teaching, namely lower marginal cost but higher and endogenous fixed costs. I discuss how these advantages and differences in cost structure will disrupt and shape the future of higher education.
Thursday, October 9th at 2pm EST
Assessment and Utilization of Non-Cognitives to Support Student Success and Retention
Paul Gore, University of Utah, and Wade Leuwerke, Drake University
This presentation will describe the role of noncognitive factors in student success. Evidence of the role of noncognitives in both academic success and retention will be explored. Methods and assessment tools will be described. Strategies that encourage students to build plans to bolster their noncognitive skills will be described, including online platforms to track and support students’ success plans.
Friday, October 10th at 3pm EST
Innovations in Assignment Design Using Technology
Rob Lue, Harvard University
Technology has transformed the ways we deliver content to our students, both in the classroom and online. Similarly it now provides new ways for us to engage students through assignments that are more collaborative, self-paced and focused on the synthesis of ideas. When these possibilities are coupled with real-time analytics on student performance and behavior, we can develop assignments that are remarkably formative for students while also allowing us to evaluate their performance. I will discuss several approaches to assignment design that take advantage of software environments such as LaunchPad.
