Hi, I spent a bit of time thinking about the idea of teaching students to understand technology after the readings this week and I can’t say that I took it the same way you did. I feel like we have been discussing identifying reliable sources, etc extensively in higher learning for as long as I’ve been in it. I suppose I thought they were referring more to letting students know what a url really is or how connections between websites and platforms exist.

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Hi Cherice, that rationale stood out to me, too. Blogging for classes has always made me feel more self-conscious than anything else, but I got the impression from the readings this week that blogging might help us to keep an eye on our ability as researchers to phrase our work and thoughts with the non-academia public in mind and keep us in touch even when we’re not actively doing outreach. Good luck fulfilling your goal this semester.

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Hi, something I wondered reading the “Networked Learning . . . ” article, not being at all familiar with Kuh, was what really was meant by a “high impact practice.” It sounds like you’re very familiar with the concept. What is this impact supposed to be? The article seems to imply that it is employability?
Thanks

I like your perspective on face to face communication which no doubt is very important. But, networked learning provides a platform to reach out to people who are not necessarily in your geographic range, and would have been difficult to reach out to, otherwise.

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Hey Savannah, I’ve heard of Radiolab but I’ve never heard of Undark. I’ll have to check them out. Thanks!

That is a great way of thinking about it Arash. Thanks for pointing that out!

Thanks for your comment Cherice. I will definitely keep that in mind!

Hi Sarah, thanks for sharing your thoughts! I find your experience so relatable to my graduate school experience, specially since I started working on my research after completing the course requirements. I think it has been possible because there is not really any way to get an F or an A in research; I stopped being less conscious about it! I agree that even though the experience causes a lot of stress over the course of time, research is more like following a “trial-error-further improvement” approach, keep at it and eventually developing a “thick-skin” like you did! Thanks,

I think your shift in mindset to true learning vs. running after a grade is such a neat way to look at education. I wonder how we can push toward more of this in the undergrad setting?

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Hi. You make an excellent point, writing “Instructors should ask the question of their course: do the assignments teach more than just the assigned topic, and can I put my course topic in real-life contexts?” Vox had a great article several years ago about how we’re teaching economics wrong. As in many things, the applicability of a topic or concept in a real world example is missing from many courses — especially at the undergraduate level, but not restricted to it by any means. The other piece of what you wrote lends itself to the idea of teaching interdisciplinary. Beyond the classroom, this is the real skill that is needed for virtually all teams and projects. Thank you for your blog and I look forward to reading more throughout the semester.

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