Comments for Grow or Pay

Comment on Reconsidering teachers’ roles – how to do it without hitting the system wall? by Munther Al-Hassan

Munther Al-Hassan — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 17:46:06 +0000

I cannot but agree with what you have said. It just makes sense. The irony is that I have just recently contributed to the (current) “system” by writing specification for a system wide assessment for one course that forces all faculty teaching the same subject across 10 colleges or so to use the same course material and delivery method. The penalty for not conforming to the system will undoubtedly be paid for by the students. They will simply not do very well in the exam or at worst they will fail. I can also see it from the other side. Teachers are human and some may not do the best for their students. The question is if we do not have quality assurance what is the alternative? Trust is good but you can not trust everyone, all the time, can you?

Comment on Professional blogs – a treasure too frequently overlooked in higher education by Matt Elsberry

Matt Elsberry — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 05:20:42 +0000

Just wanted to comment about finding one of my photos used in a blog. It is very interesting to see my work pop up all over the place. Thank you very much for giving me credit for the photo =) … Also, as a web designer, very nice read!

Comment on Reconsidering teachers’ roles – how to do it without hitting the system wall? by The 1st Working After-Seminar Day | UOC UNESCO Chair in e-Learning Blog

The 1st Working After-Seminar Day | UOC UNESCO Chair in e-Learning Blog — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 15:58:14 +0000

[...] Reconsidering teachers’ roles – how to do it without hitting the system wall? [...]

Comment on Reconsidering teachers’ roles – how to do it without hitting the system wall? by Danielle Hartman (@danielle6849)

Danielle Hartman (@danielle6849) — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 13:41:42 +0000

I agree. We just went through a two-day training with a group which, to me, closely resembled the Shanghai model. They took the standards and cut anything that might lead to pleasure, innovation, and creativity. In two days they took the high morale of the school and made the staff feel disrespected and ineffective. This is not the way to effect change. We need innovation, respect, and leadership. We need coaching. Teachers want to be good. If they aren’t being effective, teach them how to be. To drill, drill, and drill some more is not the way to effect change. It is not the way to prepare students for life in the 21st century.

Comment on Self-directed learning + Full teacher control = Impossible by vibekefussing

vibekefussing — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 22:25:54 +0000

Fabulous, good points well expressed – unfortunately am too exhausted from teaching to engage my brain properly but thank you so much for the stimulating argument.

Comment on Introducing social media assisted teacher education in Berlin by International E-Learning Conference 2011, Bangkok, Thailand « Blog // Emergent, Canopy & Understory

Mon, 28 Mar 2011 10:05:28 +0000

[...] can find more information about the teacher training program from Hanna’s blog post Introducing social media assisted teacher education. The slides of our IEC2011 presentation can be found from Marko’s [...]

Comment on Introducing social media assisted teacher education in Berlin by International E-Learning Conference 2011, Bangkok, Thailand : Emergent, Canopy & Understory

Wed, 19 Jan 2011 04:45:55 +0000

Comment on Professional blogs – a treasure too frequently overlooked in higher education by jdig17

jdig17 — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 21:15:09 +0000

Sinikka and Matt,

Just wanted to say great points! Very insightful! We must ensure that we use technology the right way in education and make sure that we teach technology etiquette. We certainly don’t want our students blogging on professional sites they way they type during their text messages to their friends. This is a bit of a concern and should be taught at the high school level. We can’t just assume since they are used to the technology that they know how to use it professionally.

Thanks for your thoughts!

Comment on Introducing social media assisted teacher education in Berlin by Hanna Teräs

Hanna Teräs — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 07:20:02 +0000

Thank you for the comment Milja! This is a very good question. To ensure all student works are kept safe the teacher either downloads the assignments to herself and keeps them safe for the required time or, in case of larger works, they are sent directly to the teacher and not stored in any social media environment at all. However, most of the things that students do are not assignments like this, but dialogue either in written or spoken format, blog posts, sharing of resources etc – and these are better compared with “active participation in the classroom”, if you like. It’s not very much based on individual written tasks, but the few ones are stored by the teacher.

Comment on Introducing social media assisted teacher education in Berlin by Milja

Milja — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 18:32:19 +0000

This sounds great! I only have one question. If you only use social media tools how can you make sure that student assignments are kept safe for 6 months as it is required by law?