Test Post from iPod Touch

Sometimes we find ourselves in odd places with idle time on our hands. This isn’t one of those times but they surely do happen. I was wondering how easily it would be to write a blog entry during one of those times. Well, as it turns out the process is entirely satisfactory.

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Distance learning: It’s NOT about the technology!

The phrase “distance and blended learning” is sometimes used as a synonym for “online instruction” or classes delivered over the Internet. While it is true that the web is the predominant delivery medium, we must not let the medium be the message. Sure, as McLuhan postulated, the medium (the Internet in this context) has become pervasive in modern society.

The Internet has changed the way people think, the relationship between generations, and the availability of instruction. However, it is the learning that matters.

… it is the learning that matters.

As Ruth Colvin Clark and others have found, the interaction with modern technology presents challenges to student cognitive load that must be considered when designing effective online courses. David Jonassen and others have found that technology enables a different type of social constructivism than might be found in a face-to-face classroom.

But in the end, just as in the traditional classroom, it is the quality of the relationships among the professor, the content, and the student which affects learning. As in the on-ground class, the professor presence establishes the atmosphere in which the learner may interact with the content and other learners.

Homage to Dr. Dean B. Roberts

One of the things I learned along the way is a deep respect for the wisdom of age and the value of tradition. I was fortunate enough to have Dr. Dean B. Roberts as a professor, mentor, dissertation chair, and friend while completing my doctorate at Tennessee State University. Now, as then, I was and am deeply involved in instructional technology and distance learning. Dr. Roberts, on the other hand, greatly values traditional instruction including the classroom lecture.

So, one might think we would find little room to agree. However, nothing could be farther from reality. Dr. Roberts began many a sentence with the phrase, “Trust me, …”. And, it wasn’t long before his students learned that such trust would be well deserved. From Dr. Roberts I learned that an artfully delivered lecture given by a thoughtful scholar can be a rich and active learning experience.

So, when Dr. Roberts suggested we read Candide, I checked it out of the library that same day. I have read it many times since. Therefore, I am adopting Candide’s reply to Dr. Pangloss, “excellently observed, but let us cultivate our garden”  both as an homage to my mentor and as an indication of what I will strive for in this blog. I’ll make some observations, but take them as they are, the reflections of an imperfect traveler like Pangloss - possibly not excellent, but certainly well intentioned. As for what is true and genuine - it is the company of friends and loved ones and time spent in honest labor.

Life is Good at UMW

You gotta’ love John McPherson’s Close to Home comics*.  The guy has got some insight!

But sometimes, life really is good! And life is wonderful at the University of Mary Washington.
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Is chalk a pedagogical tool?

Surely chalk is dead!

Chalk is dirty, dry, and dreadful.

According to ErgoInDemand it was in 1801 that “James Pillans, Headmaster of the Old High School of Edinburgh, Scotland, is widely credited for inventing the blackboard and colored chalk which he used to teach geography.” Certainly this was a technological innovation at the time. But surely, the time for using chalk in a classroom is long past.

Can chalk be used in a pedagogically sound fashion?

Again, according to ErgoInDemand, chalk continues to enjoy some advantages over the omnipresent “dry-erase” whiteboard. Boards are now available in varying sizes and can be permanentlty mounted or installed on mobile platforms. And, yes, even the hand held “slates” of long ago. Young students benefit from the tactile feedback that chalk offers, not present in dry-erase markers on slick whoteboards. Dust-free chalk is available in many bright colors. Chalk is less expensive and cleans on hands, clothes, or board with soap and water rather than chemicals.

But really, who uses chalk anymore?