http://www.merlot.org:80/merlot/ A search of MERLOT materials Copyright 1997-2013 MERLOT. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 12:15:42 PDT Wed, 22 May 2013 12:15:42 PDT http://www.merlot.org:80/merlot/images/merlot.gif http://www.merlot.org:80/merlot/ 44 34 http://www.merlot.org/merlot/viewMaterial.htm?id=76942 NCTAF’s research and publications have positively impacted teaching quality in schools and districts across the country for almost 20 years. Our research has informed the growth of professional teaching standards, the birth of organizations that strengthen the teaching career from induction to mastery, and the national discussions about methods to encourage and develop teacher knowledge and skills. NCTAF’s first groundbreaking report, What Matters Most: Teaching for America’s Future (1996)(pdf), called for “competent, caring, qualified teaching in schools organized for success” and sparked a national dialogue about the importance of high quality teaching. http://www.merlot.org/merlot/viewMaterial.htm?id=433985 The Center for Teaching Excellence authored this white paper, Building from Content to Community: [Re]Thinking the Transition to Online Teaching and Learning, to serve as a resource for faculty who are teaching online or are considering making a transition. We hope this paper serves as the starting point for conversation and reflection as you begin this process yourself. http://www.merlot.org/merlot/viewMaterial.htm?id=377010 Marie Sontag offers a new learning theory to shape K-12 teaching. Sontag's social and cognitive connectedness schema (SCCS) theory recognizes the changes in the way students obtain and integrate new information and offers a structure for instructional design that fosters learning by accessing students' strengths in these areas. "The cognitive-connectedness schema structures a student's ability and desire to know how what they are learning connects to a larger picture." NOTE: You will have to join Innovate to access the article, but it is free to join. http://www.merlot.org/merlot/viewMaterial.htm?id=347478 Journal article on authentic assessment and facutly development http://www.merlot.org/merlot/viewMaterial.htm?id=358794 Web 2.0 has emerged into a large, growing, and developing world of content and platforms. Gaming has rapidly expanded into a global industry. In contrast course management systems have developed along very different lines. We examine ways for the CMS to connect with these two worlds, outlining areas for possible development: increased hyperlinking, internal platforms and instances, and extruded applications. Additionally we consider ways by which the CMS can learn strategically and conceptually from Web 2.0 and gaming. http://www.merlot.org/merlot/viewMaterial.htm?id=639093 The author provides background into the history of language policies in the United States and proposes a set of principles and policies to ensure that there is no linguistic discrimination. http://www.merlot.org/merlot/viewMaterial.htm?id=367524 An article about social networking safety. The abstract reads, "Recently, public attention has focused on the possibility that social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook are being widely used to sexually solicit underage youth, consequently increasing their vulnerability to sexual victimization. Beyond anecdotal accounts, however, whether victimization is more commonly reported in social networking sites is unknown...״ http://www.merlot.org/merlot/viewMaterial.htm?id=358796 The proliferation of immersive, three dimensional virtual environments presents educators with a moment of creative possibility in designing the next generation of computer-assisted learning. At the same time, the fact that these environments may be inscribed with particular value sets and power relations presents educators with a burden of pedagogical responsibility. This paper attempts to begin a conversation about some of the hidden considerations that may be confronted as virtual learning environments become more accessible, acceptable, and assessable. The author challenges the view that virtual environments are reliably neutral venues for the creation of virtual identities that escape the culturally constructed power configurations of the offline world. Indeed, the very dichotomy between real and virtual is itself questionable. While the promise of virtual learning environments is real, it is often unrealized. Educators have a responsibility to critically engage the implicit assumptions embedded in the technology they would ask students to use. http://www.merlot.org/merlot/viewMaterial.htm?id=639101 The purpose of this digest is to introduce four key principles of practice found in classrooms in which content and language instruction effectively converge: 1. Clear content and language outcomes are planned for each lesson. 2. Learners are provided with goal-directed opportunities to interact with each other and with the teacher to jointly reflect on and build specific content knowledge and skills. 3. Teachers provide learners with tasks that promote the development of reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills within the content areas. 4. Outcomes are reviewed, consolidated, and assessed during lessons. http://www.merlot.org/merlot/viewMaterial.htm?id=360253 Online learning is used in many institutions of higher education with course offerings ranging from complete online degrees to hybrid virtual and physical courses. Online learning environments are complex environments using a variety of technologies and tools to overcome time and location restrictions. The research presented in this article focuses on a web-based asynchronous learning environment and the integration of usability factors into the evaluation of student learning outcomes. Usability tools are often employed in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) to measure the quality of a users experience when interacting with a web site and could potentially impact learning in web-based online learning environments. This study investigates the relationships between usability factors and learning outcomes in an online learning environment as well as differences in learning outcomes and system usability between several selected student groups, including student computer competency scores, gender, age, and student standing. The results of this survey-based study highlight the importance of integrating usability factors into the evaluation of learning outcomes in online learning environments.