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It seems pretty clear to everyone in my field that zoom is not great. Maybe we just stomach that fact under the current circumstances? Like how we stomach education by compulsion? Wish I saw more thinking in this direction instead of complaints about zoom. Or just don’t use zoom https://twitter.com/samplereality/status/1238103125300559872
For the record, I don’t think this is brand-specific. I’d extend this to Blackboard’s version as well.
Continuing my brainstorm of strategies: I've been playing with the idea of making most of the class content available from the first day of class. My job as a pedagogue then focuses on helping students navigate all the material, rather than transmitting all the material.
The collection of course material then becomes a microcosm for the subject in general. I'm teaching them how to learn and how to research, but the bowling lanes just have bumpers on them.
One example would be to make a tree structure that represents the archive of material on something like @readingsupply https://reading.supply/explorer - so there is a visual component to this and the "navigation" metaphor becomes a little more literal
The ultimate goal would be to train students to ADD to this tree themselves.
An alternative way of teaching this research process might look to @knovigator. https://knovigator.com/quest/learning-with-knovigator-3gv1qv0g
I think it is valuable to pay attention to what bloggers are doing. If you work with text, you can't ignore how bloggers are rethinking what text can do online. inspired by this post by @tomcritchlow https://twitter.com/tomcritchlow/status/1258063790517649408?s=20
Most importantly, I think, is rethinking how texts (blogs) RELATE. NOT how they are transmitted. This is the wrong question. The right question: what networks came together to produce this text, and what networks emerge out of it. Watch the word "blogchain" @vgr
For more on blogchains: https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2019/03/21/constructions-in-magical-thinking/ and https://tomcritchlow.com/2019/07/17/blogchains/
This is game changer on knovigator! https://twitter.com/metamitya/status/1259956539290464258?s=20
Instead of making a lecture that is one indissoluble chunk, you can break up a lecture into multiple micro lectures which you thread and branch off of each other.
These lectures can branch for depth, going deep on various aspects of the lecture. Students have the agency to choose which aspects they go deep on when (or if at all). You also have the ability to respond directly to student questions on specific parts of lecture with video.
These videos are nice because they capture the personality and flexibility of talking in-person with the potential adaptability, accessibility and efficiency of asynchronous classrooms. The classroom is still a living organism, it just breathes differently. Better than zoom.
Asynchronous classrooms cannot mimic or capture the dynamic improv of an in-person classroom. It's a mistake to try to simulate this. But these branches present the opportunity for a different kind of improv that is less instantaneous but maybe (ultimately) more helpful.
I need to make this for my classes. Or... my department needs to make this for all our classes. @FordhamTheology @timeflaneur @TaylorJOtt @HolmanMK @thedialogist @Dulle048 @profpuen @pwballa who else am i missing? https://twitter.com/lalizlabeth/status/1260317987480846338?s=20
We don't have to agree on all the skills, we just have to map them. Also, importantly, this is not a map of subjects/topics or readings.
Some skills that @johncseitz pointed me to when he got me into uncoverage pedagogy: narrativity, evidence, empathy, analogy, style, self-reflection. Also, writing a thesis. This becomes a #1 focus in most classes once we start writing together. https://twitter.com/AGWilsonn/status/1224896031927820288?s=20
So many crucial notes in this video: in zoom you can't stop looking at yourself; online you have to act to be visible; if you aren't posting you don't exist; what you aren't doing is just as important tho; how can we just be (together)? https://twitter.com/DrewCoffman/status/1261359980025794561?s=20
I like the turn to considering how video games mediate space and participation.
I still need to flesh the idea out more fully. this video by @nakeyjakey on how red dead redemption 2 takes away the agency of the player forever changed how I think about teaching. now I develop "sandbox syllabi". https://twitter.com/AGWilsonn/status/1210109246987276289?s=20
video games as pedagogy https://twitter.com/AGWilsonn/status/1190361510452723712?s=20
These theses are great for rethinking the shape of an asynchronous class room. https://twitter.com/Jessifer/status/1263146477905489921?s=20
Yes! the point is non linearity. The opportunity of online pedagogy is that we don't necessarily have to herd students along the same linear path. https://twitter.com/RobertHaisfield/status/1263471159808581636?s=20
Non-linear pedagogy is not new. If we shed awkward tech terms and forget the expectations of modern standardized education we might see how this approach has been practiced at least as early as the 2nd century and almost certainly earlier. @ancientjew https://www.ancientjewreview.com/articles/2019/11/2/book-note-in-the-image-of-origen
Because they are small (short) they are also do-able. If a student's curiosity leads them down a new path, they don't have to now stomach an extracurricular hour of lecture or textbook reading. https://twitter.com/RobertHaisfield/status/1263471163650510849
The brevity incentivizes curiosity and exploration. They can dip in... hmmm. ok... go a little further. But what about this? Go back up a thread. Pursue a new path. Ask a question. A new path appears!
Development could work exactly like these twitter threads. Text can be a neutral medium for some students to engage. But also the option of video allows for a more nuanced or conversational approach. https://twitter.com/RobertHaisfield/status/1263471161243045894?s=20
This shows the powerful way that both the teacher AND the student retain agency in this class<room>. Curation + Explorable options. https://twitter.com/RobertHaisfield/status/1263471164820729864?s=20
Online classrooms will always fail to be in-person classrooms. So why not make them something else? https://twitter.com/RobertHaisfield/status/1263471165953249286
This approach is not a silver bullet. There are different problems that would need a lot of serious thought to resolve. This problem solving would demand re-evaluation on the basic goals of our pedagogy. https://twitter.com/RobertHaisfield/status/1263471167807148035?s=20
I want to highlight this concept of skill trees. It's a related idea that could be leveraged online or in-person. It's use could help construct a feedback loop to solve the open-ended problem posed above. https://twitter.com/RobertHaisfield/status/1263471169165983744
@katiekathryn55 has posed this approach to pedagogy in the form of an rpg with a well-defined end point that the student works toward and re-playable levels to improve on. https://twitter.com/katiekathryn55/status/1261761088422633479?s=20
Some initial ideas for building skill trees into your signature pedagogy: https://twitter.com/AGWilsonn/status/1261790533070061568?s=20
This is true of unthinking moves to asynchronous, which is why asynchronous has to be (completely) re-thought. Thing is, the learning process IS asynchronous, fragmentary, branching. The class session may plant the seeds but they grow on their own time. https://twitter.com/babette_babich/status/1264849686982283264?s=20
Maybe the solution doesn’t exist. Or maybe it just hasn’t been tried yet.
I don’t think there’s one solution either. Its encouraging for me to see initiatives that have already been going for a long time now and are using this time to really dig in together in positive ways. https://twitter.com/remikalir/status/1252663390415323142?s=20
Threaded below (and above and above above) are not "solutions" or "replacements" but attempts at imagining a hypothetical New Testament class that is: asynchronous, online, emancipatory, student-driven, sandbox, rogue-like, emergent. Because why not? https://twitter.com/AGWilsonn/status/1275497386765430784?s=20
@katiekathryn55 awesome thread on how game design can help us re-think course design. I'm riffing on a lot of this in what came out above at different points. https://twitter.com/katiekathryn55/status/1265798918874464256
Especially here https://twitter.com/AGWilsonn/status/1275527071670906881
