This semester has been a tough one for my students. We had illness, car accidents, senior capstone stress, and the typical spring fever–all of which brought a great deal of anxiety into my already-difficult class. As their teacher, I know I’m supposed to maintain a certain amount of rigor in the content and assessment of
As I referenced in a recent blog post, self-determined learners with the motivation, drive, and resources can teach themselves amazing things online. (See the blog here about two boys who taught themselves skills such as driving a car and speaking English.) What does this mean for the future of learning and the future of the
This blog was inspired by two young boys. The first, an 8 year old, really wanted a cheeseburger, so he went to YouTube and taught himself to drive. He drove past four intersections and some train tracks with complete control of the vehicle–perhaps even more rule-abiding than the average driver. He was caught at the
TPACK, meaning Technology, Pedagogy, and Content Knowledge, is an acronym brought to us by Mishra and Koehler’s (2006; 2009) studies on instructors’ abilities to combine their content knowledge with adequate knowledge of best pedagogies for teaching and best technologies to support learning. Most instructors in higher education have not had the benefit of formal pedagogy and technology