Los mitos del aprendizaje en línea

Más de un tercio - seis millones - de todos los estudiantes en la enseñanza superior en los EEUU tomaron al menos un curso en línea en el otoño de 2011. Sin embargo, a pesar de su creciente popularidad, el aprendizaje en línea sigue visto de forma negativo por los políticos, los reguladores, y algunos miembros de la comunidad académica, especialmente la facultad.

Hay seis mitos que comúnmente son utilizados para combatir el aprendizaje en línea:
Mito # 1: El aprendizaje en línea reducirá la necesidad de la facultad.
Mito # 2: Todos los cursos en línea son los mismos.
Mito # 3: La calidad de los resultados es menor para un estudiante en línea que para aquel que ha recibido la misma instrucción en el salón
Mito # 4: El aprendizaje en línea es sinónimo de instituciones con fines de lucro.
Mito # 5: Credenciales ganado en línea no son aceptados por los patronos.
Mito # 6: No sé si la persona que hace el trabajo es la persona que recibe el crédito.

Para leer este artículo de John Ebersole en la revista Forbes, oprima aquí

Modelo para el Diseño de Actividades Colaborativas Mediante la Utilización de Herramientas Web 2.0

Actualmente se percibe un  nuevo rol de la informática, cuya principal característica podría ser la sustitución del concepto de  las herramientas de Internet como de “sólo lectura”, por el de “lectura-escritura”, redimensionando el acto educativo al convertirlo en un espacio más interactivo, propiciando actividades colaborativas de aprendizaje. No obstante, esta actividad se ha realizado algunas veces sin ningún rigor en cuanto a su elaboración y evaluación de resultados, especialmente en el aprovechamiento de las mismas para las actividades colaborativas. Entonces surge la siguiente interrogante, ¿Es posible proponer un método confiable y eficaz para capacitar a los docentes en el diseño de actividades colaborativas mediante la utilización de herramientas Web 2.0? Esta propuesta es el diseño de un método, dirigido principalmente a los docentes, que les posibilite la estructuración de actividades colaborativas con estas herramientas y estimular la incorporación de la tecnología  más eficientemente en los procesos de enseñanza y  aprendizaje.

Para la información completa, oprima aquí.

Salones de clase a través del lente

El fotógrafo Julian Germain ilustra los salones de casi todo el mundo en su serie Retratos de Aulas, que capta las caras de los estudiantes que probablemente preferirían estar durmiendo o jugando juegos de video en países como Bangladesh, Nigeria e Inglaterra.

Para ver la serie, oprima aquí.

Revolución en la educación estadounidense

The latest report from GSV Advisors, "American Revolution 2.0," does not shy away from using bellicose rhetoric to highlight the significance of today's education battles. (A glance at the cover, or the table of contents, immediately sets the tone.) But once you get over the cloying zealotry (and we highly advise that you skip the U.S. history primer in the beginning), you'll likely find that Michael Moe and the three co-authors have done their homework, serving up a healthy dose of tables, charts, graphs, and profiles of the big players and companies at the forefront of the edtech biz.

Para bajar el estudio, oprima aquí.

Recursos gratuitos para docentes e investigadores

La educación prohibida

FOR PROFIT HIGHER EDUCATION: THE FAILURE TO SAFEGUARD THE FEDERAL INVESTMENT AND ENSURE STUDENT SUCCESS PREPARED BY THE COMMITTEE ON HEALTH, EDUCATION, LABOR, AND PENSIONS UNITED STATES SENATE

A report from the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) committee on the for-profit college industry  arrives at some dismal conclusions. (4-volume PDF here, but the summary is more digestible.) The key phrases that the Washington Post uses to summarize the findings: "most students don't graduate," "really expensive," and "you're paying for it."

Para leer el informe, oprima aquí.

Key National Education Indicators: Workshop Summary

The education system in the United States is continually challenged to adapt and improve, in part because its mission has become far more ambitious than it once was. At the turn of the 20th century, fewer than one-tenth of students enrolled were expected to graduate from high school, and it was only in the 1960s that the expectation that all students would graduate became widespread (National Research Council, 2001). Today, most people expect schools to prepare all students to succeed in postsecondary education and to prosper in a complex, fast-changing global economy. Goals have broadened to include not only rigorous benchmarks in core academic subjects, but also technological literacy and the subtler capacities known as 21st century skills.

As these changes have taken place, education research has become increasingly clear in pointing to some of the key elements that make teaching and learning successful, and educators and leaders are under intense pressure to apply this knowledge every day in improving schools.

These high expectations mean that the American public has pressing questions about how well students are learning and how well schools are doing. Existing measures reveal some uncomfortable though important truths about gaps in student achievement and schools that are not succeeding, and they also highlight areas of considerable strength. But existing measures do not provide answers to all the questions that have been raised.

To identify the most important measures for education and other issues and provide quality data on them to the American people, Congress has authorized the creation of a Key National Indicators System (KNIS). This system would be a single web-based information source designed to help policy makers and the public better assess the position and progress of the nation across a wide range of areas.

Para una copia del informe, oprima aquí.

Innovating Pedagogy 2012

The potential for differing expectations between students and teachers using digital technologies also can create an unpredictable environment in an atmosphere dominated by accountability. How digital technologies are best used in higher education teaching and learning is slowly emerging, although the use of digital technologies in learning and research have become entrenched.

A small group of academics, with strong educational technology research and teaching experience, have adapted the format of the New Media Consortium  Horizons reports and have produced a very exciting and novel report about innovating with pedagogy. The report, Innovating Pedagogy 2012, the first in a series of annual reports from The Open University, selects and discusses ten pedagogies where information and communications technologies (ICT) can make a difference.

Innovating Pedagogy 2012 discusses how university educational leaders can innovate with pedagogy using e-books, short courses, assessment, badges for accrediting learning, massive open online courses (MOOCs), open scholarly publishing, seamless learning, learning analytics, personal inquiry and community knowledge building. The discussion for each innovation is rich being informed by research, and based on experience and information from colleagues globally. The central focus for viewing the pedagogical innovations is on ‘the theory and practice of teaching, learning, and assessment’ (p. 6). The discussions are backed-up with a list of resources that are a mixture of research, pilot projects and comments about successful innovative programs in higher education.

Para ver la copia de Innovating Pedagogy 2012, oprima aquí.

Libro gratis: Continuing Innovation in Information Technology

Information technology (IT) is widely understood to be the enabling technology of the 21st century. IT has transformed, and continues to transform, all aspects of our lives: commerce and finance, education, employment, energy, health care, manufacturing, government, national security, transportation, communications, entertainment, science, and engineering. IT and its impact on the U.S. economy-both directly (the IT sector itself) and indirectly (other sectors that are powered by advances in IT)-continue to grow in size and importance.

In 1995, the National Research Council's Computer Science and Telecommunications Board (CSTB) produced the report Evolving the High Performance Computing and Communications Initiative to Support the Nation's Information Infrastructure. A graphic in that report, often called the "tire tracks" diagram because of its appearance, produced an extraordinary response by clearly linking government investments in academic and industry research to the ultimate creation of new information technology industries with more than $1 billion in annual revenue.

Used in presentation to Congress and executive branch decision makers and discussed broadly in the research and innovation policy communities, the tire tracks figure dispelled the assumption that the commercially successful IT industry is self-sufficient, underscoring through long incubation periods of years and even decades. The figure was updated in 2002, 2003, and 2009 reports produced by the CSTB. With the support of the National Science Foundation, CSTB updated the tire tracks figure. Continuing Innovation in Information Technology includes the updated figure and a brief text based in large part on prior CSTB reports.

Para una copia del libro, oprima aquí.