cynthiasite

This *unpublished* webpage titled When Capable Students Fail: The Academic Sustainability Gap offers some intriguing information for those who teach writing at the college level, especially those who teach basic or developmental writing courses. The most practical information comes from the page on "Closing the Gap," which lists 7 things teachers can do to help close the gap between ability and sustainability.

FactCheckED.org is a website set up for educators as a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center. It aims to help students learn to sort the wheat from the chaff when it comes to finding facts and understanding spin.

This is no small feat! This great site offers several lesson plans that could prove useful in helping students develop their critical thinking skills. I happen to like the ones titled "Building a Better Argument," "The Credibility Challenge: In Search of Authority on the Internet," "The Language of Deception," and "Monthy Python and the Quest for the Perfect Fallacy."

I use a sociological approach in my intro to literature courses, which I typically teach in the spring semesters. In each class, a section of the readings are devoted to socioeconomic class and labor issues and in each class my students struggle to understand what "class" really means. Most are quick to identify themselves as "middle class" without, I suspect, knowing for a fact whether or not they actually are "middle class." It just sounds like the "right" thing for Americans to say.

This is why I was thrilled to discover the New York Times graphic How Class Works. In addition to allowing users to enter their own information to see where they rank in comparison to other Americans, the site teaches students that four factors are commonly used to gauge wealth: occupation, education, income, and wealth.

My colleague Chris Conzen, our Director of Campus Activities, sent the following information about the Student Online Readiness Tool (SORT) to me. This site allows students to assess their comfort and ability to succeed in an online environment. Chris notes, "from what I hear, this is especially useful for non-traditional learners who are more likely to believe they may not be able to handle distance learning, but who also may benefit the most given the smaller windows of time they traditionally have to attend classes."

Might be a useful tool to ask your online students to complete, or at least review at their leisure, prior to the start of your online courses!

Last year, I discovered Gel.

Not THAT kind of Gel. The conference/open learning project called Gel, which stands for "Good Experience Live," in NYC.

The website's "about" page describes Gel as "a conference and community exploring good experience in all its forms -- in business, technology, art, society, and life. Instead of focusing on just one thing (design, technology, user experience, business, etc.) like many conferences, Gel touches on many things. This challenges attendees to find, and learn from, the patterns that underlie good experience, even in disciplines vastly different from their own."

Make Internet TV is a project conceived by the Participatory Culture Foundation, a 501c3 non-profit based in Worcester, MA, with a goal to provide open-source tools and services that give people ways to engage in their culture.

Make Internet TV offers an easily comprehended guide, with step-by-step instructions, for shooting, editing, and publishing videos online as well as how to ensure that you have an audience for your videos. The guide starts with a primer about equipment and walks you all the way through promotion of your video creations.

Enjoy!

I discovered the free online whiteboard called Skrbl last spring and have been wanting to share with colleagues. Seems like it could really prove useful for distance ed faculty who teach in the areas of math, science, or the arts. 

Skrbl is described on its website as a "simple and easy online multi user whiteboard" that lets you text and sketch with others online. You can also share files and pictures via Skrbl.

Looking to use podcasts in your online classes, but not sure how to get started? Check out these resources: 

• Rehberger, Dean. "Using and Understanding Digital Audio in the Classroom." http://english.ttu.edu/Kairos/11.2/topoi/rice/workshops.htm

• Cooper, Alicia. "Coop's Word on Podcasting & Blogging." http://soul4real.wordpress.com:80/ or http://drcoop.pbwiki.com/

• Mitsuma, Kunio. "Delivering Audio & Video to Students." http://faculty.kutztown.edu/mitsuma/faculty/general%20interest/podcast/
  
  
• Richardson, Will.  Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms.  Thousand Oaks, CA:Corwin Press, 2006.

• Krause, Steve. Broadcast Composition :  Using Audio Files and Podcasts in an Online Writing Course. C&C Online, Fall 2006. http://www.bgsu.edu/cconline/krause1/index.html