Import Test : Web Links

The World Question Center

Matt Scales — Wed, 02 Mar 2005 11:00:00 GMT

The "Edge World Question Center" offers an rich diversity of viewpoints in response to a provocative question that is presented each year. The opportunity to respond to any of these questions is available by invitation only, with some of the leading minds in a range of fields and disciplines being represented.

The question for 2005 is - What Do You Believe is True Even Though You Cannot Prove it? Some of the questions that have been previously addressed include the following:

2004- WHAT'S YOUR LAW?
"There is some bit of wisdom, some rule of nature, some law-like pattern, either grand or small, that you've noticed in the universe that might as well be named after you. Gordon Moore has one; Johannes Kepler and Michael Faraday, too. So does Murphy."

2003- What are the pressing scientific issues for the nation and the world, and what is your advice on how I can begin to deal with them?"
Imagine that you were under consideration for the position of "science adviser" to the president and had to address this question.

2001-What Questions have Disappeared?

2000- What is Today's Most Important Unreported Story?

1999- What is the Most Important Invention in the Past Two Thousand Years...and Why?

The World Question Center initiative served as a stimulus in generating the idea for an "Educational Question of the Year" project to be hosted on our COPPER Blog. Stay tuned for a future post which will provide more details of an effort we hope will result in a stimulating exchange of ideas around an educational question or issue.

What's Been Published?

Matt Scales — Mon, 29 Nov 2004 11:00:00 GMT

Looking for a resource or reference? The "What's Been Published Database" lists over 2 million published items (primarily books) in 121 sub-databases, many of which reflect academic disciplines. Click on the following link to explore this online resource:
"What's Been Published"

KartOO - Visual Display Search Tool

Matt Scales — Mon, 15 Nov 2004 11:00:00 GMT

KartOO is a metasearch engine that displays your results as a concept map. Your search topic generates concepts which branch to related websites. Clicking on a concept focuses the search even further. Finally there are related topics on the side of the screen which can be added to define your search even further. For those of you that prefer to organize your ideas visually in the form of a diagram or concept map, KarTOO may be a preferable way to search the Internet for resources when compared to the linear lists offered by most search engines.

Click here to use KartOO

Your Search Starts Here

Matt Scales — Mon, 04 Oct 2004 10:00:00 GMT

The Blog is now Search Central - Start Your Web Searches Here! (Simply scroll down the left side of this page to "Search the Web" links.) One of the most valuable aspects of the Internet is its ability to search for information on almost any subject from a vast library of web pages. Unfortunately, this ability is also accompanied by a great deal of frustration and lost time as we often find that our web search has not returned resources that are relevant to our topic. The fact that your search has uncovered 750,000 results is not comforting if the first 25 or so are not of help. There are two keys to successful online searching. The first is to use a search engine that is not only most appropriate for the task, but presents its results in a manner you prefer. (Most of us tend to use the search function within our browser or continually use the same search engine such as Google). The second key is the way in which you word your search topic or question. This week on the Blog we will address both issues. For now, if you scroll down the left side of the page you will notice a list of annotated links under a "Search the Web" heading. We've provided a list of some of the more popular and useful search engines. When you have a few minutes, experiment with three or four of these by submitting the same search topic to all. I used the "scholarship of teaching and learning" as my sample topic. Notice that there may not only be differences in your results, but variation in the way these results are displayed and organized. We'll discuss some of the differences between these search engines and provide tips to more successful searching during the coming week. If you have any favorite search engines or helpful searching tips, feel free to comment below.

Diversity in the College Classroom

Matt Scales — Fri, 23 Jul 2004 15:30:51 GMT

Jack Mino from Holyoke Community College has suggested the following foundational web resource dealing with diversity and inclusion in the classroom. UNC, Center for Teaching & Learning: Teaching for Inclusion: Diversity in the College Classroom http://ctl.unc.edu/tfitoc.html • Chapter 1: "Your Diversity, the Academic Culture, and Teaching and Learning Styles" • Chapter 2: "Strategies for Inclusive Teaching" • Chapters 3-14: Student Profiles

Infed - The Encyclopaedia of Informal Education

Matt Scales — Wed, 05 May 2004 10:00:00 GMT

Infed, the "Encyclopaedia of Informal Education" describes itself as site to "explore key ideas, practices and thinkers in informal education and lifelong learning." One of the entries in this online resource that appears relevant to our work is dedicated to Donald Schon who is described as follows: "Donald Alan Schon (1930-1997) trained as a philosopher, but it was his concern with the development of reflective practice and learning systems within organizations and communities for which he is remembered." The following selection from this website captures some of Schon's key ideas: Donald Schon on learning and the loss of the stable state: The loss of the stable state means that our society and all of its institutions are in continuous processes of transformation. We cannot expect new stable states that will endure for our own lifetimes. We must learn to understand, guide, influence and manage these transformations. We must make the capacity for undertaking them integral to ourselves and to our institutions. We must, in other words, become adept at learning. We must become able not only to transform our institutions, in response to changing situations and requirements; we must invent and develop institutions which are ‘learning systems’, that is to say, systems capable of bringing about their own continuing transformation. The task which the loss of the stable state makes imperative, for the person, for our institutions, for our society as a whole, is to learn about learning. What is the nature of the process by which organizations, institutions and societies transform themselves? What are the characteristics of effective learning systems? What are the forms and limits of knowledge that can operate within processes of social learning? What demands are made on a person who engages in this kind of learning? Donald A. Schon (1973) Beyond the Stable State, Harmondsworth: Penguin. Pages 28-9 Reproduced from the encyclopaedia of informal education www.infed.org

LookSmart

Matt Scales — Fri, 30 Apr 2004 10:00:00 GMT

LookSmart's FindArticles web site assists you in locating online articles on a wide range of subjects from 700 publications (featuring more than 3.5 million articles). For example, a search for references to "The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning" returned 964 results, with some potentially interesting links for our cluster.

How People Learn

Matt Scales — Wed, 28 Apr 2004 10:00:00 GMT

The National Academies Press offers over 3,000 books online for free in addition to their fee-based materials. They focus primarily on the fields of science and health, but also include a section on education. One of the available selections "How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School" (John D. Bransford, Ann L. Brown, and Rodney R. Cocking, editors) addresses the science of learning and thus is particularly relevant to the scholarship of teaching and learning. The text is available at the following address: http://www.nap.edu/html/howpeople1/

Doing It Differently

Matt Scales — Wed, 14 Apr 2004 10:00:00 GMT

Sometimes we can get a fresh perspective on the educational process by examining colleges that are unique or distinctive with respect to the learning experience they offer their students. Two such colleges that come to mind are Alverno College and Warren Wilson College. Alverno College is a four-year, liberal arts, college for women, located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Its motto, "An education like nowhere else, except the real world," reflects its emphasis on "ability-based education." Alverno is well respected for an innovative academic program that develops the following abilities: # Communication # Analysis # Problem Solving # Valuing in Decision-Making # Social Interaction # Developing a Global Perspective # Effective Citizenship # Aesthetic Engagement Warren Wilson College's motto "We're not for everyone.....but then, maybe you're not everyone", reflects another unique approach. Located in the mountains of North Carolina, this four year college's mission is "to provide an education combining liberal arts study, work, and service with a strong commitment to environmental responsibility and experiential opportunities for international and cross-cultural understanding in a setting that promotes wisdom, spiritual growth, and contribution to the common good." Warren Wilson backs up their mission statement by requiring every student to work 15 hours a week on one of the 110 campus work crews (for which they are compensated with a $2400 reduction in the cost of tuition). This amounts to 480 hours of work over the four years. In addition, they are required to have contributed 100 hours of service-learning prior to graduation. Warren Wilson has a working farm maintained by the students and features a new EcoDorm, an environmentally friendly living space. While we may not all be able to easily identify with both of these institutions based on their location, student population, cost of tuition, etc., they demonstrate how it is possible for a college to intentionally create a unique and inspired higher education learning experience.

Critical Thinking

Matt Scales — Wed, 07 Apr 2004 10:00:00 GMT

Tim Van Gelder's site "Critical Thinking on the Web" is a valuable collection of online resources on the topic, including information related to the popular educational challenge, promoting critical thinking in students. Update: In response to the discussion of critical thinking under the "AAHE Colloquium" post, the following link provides a range of definitions of critical thinking: Definitions of Critical Thinking on the Web:

Searching for Knowledge Can be Fun

Matt Scales — Wed, 31 Mar 2004 10:00:00 GMT

Rob Kaulfauss (Middlesex Community College) recommends the following web sites as excellent starting places for students looking for information, explanations, or doing web research on general topics (rather than the usual Google search). He reports that students seem to enjoy using these resources and may continue to visit the sites after their original search has been completed. About.com http://about.com/ Volunteer guides put together reference pages of organized links to Web sites on almost every subject you can think of. A more intelligent and thoughtful alternative to Google keyword searches or Yahoo! directories of links for general subjects. HowStuffWorks.com http://www.howstuffworks.com/ Covers, not only technology stuff, but entertainment, travel, money, and people. Includes both introductory and in-depth explanations, diagrams, and links to more information on the Web. SoYouWanna.com http://www.soyouwanna.com/index.html "SoYouWanna.com teaches you how to do all the things nobody taught you in school. If you're looking for explanations online, the wild goose chase ends here." [excerpted from the site]

Online Resources for Faculty

Matt Scales — Wed, 24 Mar 2004 10:00:00 GMT

The following site was recommended by Judith Kamber in a recent comment under the Open Forum. It contains such a rich variety of online resources for teaching and learning that I thought it should be featured as our Wednesday site of the week. You're being provided with links to over 75 websites for the price of one! Online Resources from Faculty Development Associates Note: If you discover any websites when exploring the above link that you find particularly useful, informative, stimulating, etc., feel free to mention them in our comments section, or send your feedback to me at margulisd@middlesex.mass.edu. I'll be glad to highlight some of these sites in our future weekly "recommended website" posts.

Mummies the Word

Matt Scales — Thu, 18 Mar 2004 00:37:46 GMT

The National Geographic web site is a good example of how multiple online resources can be combined to create an experience that is both educational and entertaining. For example, the feature on the Inca "Mummy Bundles of Puruchuco" from the March 17 "highlights" includes a streaming video presentation, amimated flash demonstration, an online article, photographs, an interactive mystery, and a discussion area. Can we imagine creating and/or using web sites that utilize these features in our teaching?

Open Knowledge

Matt Scales — Wed, 10 Mar 2004 11:00:00 GMT

What if there was one location that everyone who wished to share their expertise could visit, leave their knowledge, view and freely use what others had written, and know that someone with additional knowledge might add to what they had created? Sounds amazing or perhaps chaotic. Either way it exists. The Wikipedia is such a place. It's a free online encyclopedia created by people like you and me. In fact, you can visit the site at any time, add a new entry in your discipline (or anything else you would care to contribute), and edit someone else's work as well. And the concept actually seems to work surprisingly well. Check out some topics in an area of interest using their search feature. I noticed they did not have an entry for the "scholarship of teaching and learning." Perhaps we should create one.

The Diversity Web

Matt Scales — Wed, 03 Mar 2004 12:00:00 GMT

Thanks to Donna Duffy for forwarding this week's featured website: http://www.diversityweb.org/ The Diversity web is a resource of the Association of American Colleges and Universities. It provides examples of curricular issues, research topics, and current trends relating to diversity issues on campuses.