Jeffry Curtis

Hi Philip,

"Rather the point that I wanted to make was that VPD needs, I think, to consider pedagogy as part of the discussion with instructors in situations where classroom instruction is considered the gold standard and that we need to replicate the f2f experience online."

With all due respect, IMHO the "gold standard" is not so golden anymore. How we address this with VPD?

Just a consideration. I don't want to play the pendant with words here.

J

"They are very visible on campus, so admin and even some other faculty just brush them aside as early adopters and want to focus more attention on the others."

Hi Jen,

Interesting phenomenon eh?

All are told to achieve excellence, yet as they strive towards their goals they get bad vibes. It does not always give warm fuzzies for those involved.

Development and Technology

It should be noted that early adopters will use and discard technology at a greater rate than the norm.

Most of my professional development is self-directed. Counting my Firefox tabs I currently have 34 tabs open. I read (often re-read), digest, synthesize and reflect on current research.

Technology Discard

An example of technology discard would include Internet Explorer 7. I can say that the only time I have trouble with it is when I use it(required by some sites). If the technology does not work well, with minimal fuss, I am moving on. I've no time to prove out systems or software for the under developed. And don't get me started on classroom response systems. (~!| What a time sucker.

Time

There is always the time challenge Jen.

My children are grown and technology is my hobby. I spend (have spent) untold hours learning so that I can facilitate student learning. Many do not have this opportunity to learn (or TAKE the opportunity). Just as we are learning in the technical trades, learning new technologies will need to be subsidized in order for it to be done. The consequences? Well...go to a PowerPoint presentation, with documents for slides, that is read to you and it should be obvious.

I agree with the posters who have commented on the 'community of learners' angle. Parker Palmer might be out of style, but the connection with students needs to be the focus of our professional development. How do we continue to connect with students? What technologies are they using? How do we use those technologies in learning (I hesitate to say 'classroom' because it really is so much more than the classroom now)? Do we, as educators, have the power to give up the 'gold standard' of the classroom and accept that there may, there just MAY, be another way that our current and future students learn?

Student Learning

After all student learning is what we are all about...isn't it?

So just what effect does VPD have on student learning?

http://www.cartoonbank.com/product_details.asp?mscssid=1HFQWBBDM96U9LNMNTMTH5C3SCGC97EA&sitetype=1&did=4&sid=68259&pid=&keyword=powerpoint&section=all&title=undefined&whichpage=1&sortBy=popular

Thank you Geoff for bringing up PowerPoint.

I had a strong anti-PowerPoint bias long before I found Tufte. I like his work and ideas though. I swear…if people insist on putting massive text in a slide and READING it to me much longer I will scream; publically. 

This is a good primer on PowerPoint construction that many have found helpful.

http://www.agoodmanonline.com/publications/how_bad_presentations_happen/index.htm

OK...I registered in Twitter months ago, but the "following" thing...it's almost wrong. (~!|

---

The blog is cool, but even though there are many signed up few seem to participate regularly.

We have this issue in a couple of our industry sites, but one is 50,000+ in size so that one rolls fairly well. It seems that the same people always participate. I write it off to the Pareto principle; it seems to hold for students too.