A couple of Chronicle of Higher Ed blog pieces I thought were interesting and worth sharing here:
The first is “Killing the Lecture With Technology, Part 1:”
Earlier this month, The Chronicle wrote about New York University’s attempt to reprogram the roles of some professors in large undergraduate classes, using technology to free them up for more personal instruction. The article prompted other professors to share similar examples of strategies they’ve used to shift class time away from lectures. Here are three of their stories:
And indeed, that’s what they do. There are definite pros and cons with online classes, but I think it makes a lot of sense to move most of the lecture kinds of classes into this format.
The second piece was one I just stumbled across this morning: “Williston State, in North Dakota, Gives iPads to Its Full-Time Professors.” The headline says it all, pretty much: Williston State, which is a 2 year school, gave iPads to their full-time folks, and the goal is to see how they might use them. I had heard rumors that there was going to be a pilot program with iPads here, but I don’t think it has materialized, which is a shame. I plan on using my iPad for lots of teaching stuff this coming fall.
