Cartoon planet : micro-reflection through digital cartoons – a case study on teaching and learning with young people

Young learners of today tend to show little enthusiasm for formal schooling. This does not necessarily mean pupils are not interested in learning or developing new skills and competences. In fact, the opposite often happens in the informal settings they belong to. Finding ways of transferring pupil’s informal learning into the school setting is therefore important. This paper gives a brief overview on the development of informal learning activities to encourage young people’s active reflection on their informally acquired competencies through the use of web technologies. The researchers also explore the role of the teacher, and the need of a participatory learning environment in a less formal classroom. Reflections on the experiences and recommendations are also provided

Cartoon planet: Micro-reflection through digital cartoons - a case study on teaching and learning with young people

The young learners of today tend to show little enthusiasm for formal schooling. This does not necessarily mean pupils are not interested in learning or developing new skills and competences. In fact, the opposite often happens in the informal settings they belong to. Finding ways of transferring pupil’s informal learning to the school setting is therefore important. This paper gives a brief overview on the development of informal learning activities to encourage young people’s active reflection on their informally acquired competencies through the use of web technologies. The researchers also explore the role of the teacher, and the need of a participatory learning environment in a less formal classroom. Reflections on the experiences and recommendations are also provided

A Faculty Development Workshop for High-Value Care Education Across Clinical Settings.

IntroductionDespite rising health care costs, trainees frequently do not receive formal high-value care (HVC) training. As medical education often occurs through informal learning, it is imperative that medical educators be prepared to teach HVC concepts across clinical settings.MethodsThis workshop was created to provide frameworks for teaching HVC across four pediatric educational settings: (1) case-based conferences, (2) inpatient rounding, (3) ambulatory visits, and (4) conversations with patients and families. Frameworks were developed based on literature review, content experts' knowledge, and internal assessment and feedback. The workshop was divided into two sections: a didactic overview of HVC education and interactive small-group sessions to practice application of the Toolkit for Teaching High-Value Care. At the end of the workshop, participants completed the Prescription for High-Value Care to create a personal action plan.ResultsThis workshop has been presented at both national and local pediatric conferences. From over 89 evaluations (83% response rate), participants felt the workshop met objectives, served as a valuable use of their time, and provided useful resources. Evaluations elicited specific actions that participants gleaned from workshop content along with proposed behavior changes, such as creating HVC case-based conferences at their home institution and initiating more value-based discussions.DiscussionThis workshop has been successfully presented in both national and local settings and has been well received by participants. The workshop is targeted for clinical educators and aims to address the gap in faculty development for HVC education

Media Culture 2020: collaborative teaching and blended learning using social media and cloud-based technologies

The Media Culture 2020 project was considered to be a great success by all the partners, academics and especially the students who took part. It is a true example of an intercultural, multidisciplinary, blended learning experience in higher education that achieved it goals of breaking down classroom walls and bridging geographical distance and cultural barriers. The students with different skills, coming from different countries and cultures, interacting with other enlarges the possibilities of creativity, collaboration and quality work. The blend of both synchronous and asynchronous teaching methods fostered an open, blended learning environment, one that extended the traditional boundaries of the classroom in time and space. The interactive and decentralized nature of digital tools enabled staff and students to communicate and strengthen social ties, alongside participation in the production of new knowledge and media content. For students and lecturers, the implementation of social media and cloud platforms offered an innovative solution to both teaching and learning in a collaborative manner. By leveraging the interactive and decentralised capabilities of a range of technologies in an educational context, this model of digital scholarship facilitates an open and dynamic working environment. Blended teaching methods allow for expansive collaboration, whereby information and knowledge can be accessed and disseminated across a number of networked devices

Two Boats, Three Summers, Five Universities, One Dozen Instructors, and Sixty-Five Teachers: A Collaborative Oceanography Field Program for Earth Science

A three-day field workshop was an integral component of the graduate-level course entitled, Oceanography, that was offered by Virginia Earth Science Collaborative Project (VESC) to help Virginia educators earn the earth science teaching endorsement. The VESC partner institutions that offered Oceanographngeorge Mason University, James Madison University, the University of Virginia Southwest Center, and Virginia Commonwealth University-lacked direct access to research and education facilities en the coast. The College of William & Mary, another VESC partner, provided this resource through the Virginia Institute of Marine Science’s (VIMS) Eastern Shore Laboratory in Wachapreague, Virginia. The field program agenda and activities were developed and conducted by a team comprised of VESC oceanography faculty, Virginia Sea Grant educators, and a scientist from VIMS. This collaboration resulted in a program design used as the basis for six workshops conducted over three summers. Seventy-nine Virginia middle school and high school science teachers took part in the six workshops, conducted in July of 2005, 2006, and 2007. This article describes the workshop activities and provides perspectives on its design and implementation from the viewpoints of Virginia Sea Grant educators who served as field instructors

Scoping a vision for formative e-assessment: a project report for JISC

Assessment is an integral part of teaching and learning. If the relationship between teaching and learning were causal, i. e. if students always mastered the intended learning outcomes of a particular sequence of instruction, assessment would be superfluous. Experience and research suggest this is not the case: what is learnt can often be quite different from what is taught. Formative assessment is motivated by a concern with the elicitation of relevant information about student understanding and / or achievement, its interpretation and an exploration of how it can lead to actions that result in better learning. In the context of a policy drive towards technology-enhanced approaches to teaching and learning, the question of the role of digital technologies is key and it is the latter on which this project particularly focuses. The project and its deliverables have been informed by recent and relevant literature, in particular recent work by Black andIn this work, they put forward a framework which suggests that assessment for learning their term for formative assessment can be conceptualised as consisting of a number of aspects and five keystrategies. The key aspects revolve around the where the learner is going, where the learner is right now and how she can get there and examines the role played by the teacher, peers and the learner. Language: English Keywords: assessments, case studies, design patterns, e-assessmen