# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
This research examines technological investments institutions will spend the most time implementing, planning, and tracking in 2019, as well as the related trends that could influence institutional IT strategy.
Read full report: PDF | HTML | Other materials
Key Findings

The trends and technologies reviewed in this report were identified through an EDUCAUSE survey conducted in the summer of 2018 and completed by 297 US institutions.

Top 10 Strategic Technologies

1. Uses of APIs

2. Active learning classrooms

3. Blended data center (on premises and cloud based)

4. Incorporation of mobile devices in teaching and learning

5. Open educational resources

6. Institutional support for accessibility technologies

1. Technologies for improving analysis of student data

2. Application performance monitoring

3. Predictive analytics for student success (institutional level)

4. Integrated student success planning and advising systems (tie) IT asset management tools (e.g., CMDB) (tie)

Most Influential Trends

Five trends are influential at 61% or more of colleges and universities (listed below from highest to lowest level of influence):

1. Growing complexity of security threats

2. Student success focus/imperatives

3. Data-driven decision-making

4. Increasing complexity of technology, architecture, and data

5. Contributions of IT to institutional operational excellence

Top IT Issues Alignment

The top 10 strategic technologies are characterized by features that will facilitate student success; improve data collection, security, and use; and support IT business strategies-the themes of the 2019 Top 10 IT Issues. Read more >

Adoption Trends

Two technologies-the uses of APIs, and active learning classrooms-remain at the top of the list in 2019. Read more >

Influence on IT Strategy

Some of the most hyped trends in higher education-adaptive learning, the Internet of Things, alternative credentialing models, and artificial intelligence (AI)-are expected to have only a limited impact on IT strategy in 2019. Read more >

Reports and Supporting Materials

Infographic

Download the Strategic Technologies for Trusted Data infographic now. The graphic is publicly accessible.

EDUCAUSE members: Please log in to access all other Trends and Technologies materials.

Related Resources

Issues, Technologies, and Trends Resources

Higher education leaders and decision makers use the annual Issues, Technologies, and Trends resources-the Top 10 IT Issues, the Strategic Technologies and Trends, the ELI Key Issues in Teaching and Learning, and the Horizon Report-to know what's important and where to focus in their IT planning and management activities. When viewed together these resources provide more complete and nuanced guidance on institutional IT priorities.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Higher Education's 2019 Trend Watch & Top 10 Strategic Technologies

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This research examines technological investments institutions will spend the most time implementing, planning, and tracking in 2019, as well as the related trends that could influence institutional IT strategy. Read full report: PDF | HTML | Other materials The trends and technologies reviewed in this report were identified through an EDUCAUSE survey conducted in the summer of 2018 and completed by 297 US institutions.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.provider_name
Technology Solutions That Drive Education

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
University students are coming to class with more than just a college-ruled notebook. Modern classes look nothing like what they did just 10 years ago, thanks to an increase of technology in higher education classrooms.

As digital tools have reshaped the world around us, Susan Smith Nash, a blogger, educator and early ed tech adopter, isn't surprised that technology has become a major part of the higher ed classroom.

"The classroom should be a laboratory for life," she says.

For professors who aren't sure how best to integrate tech into the classroom, Nash recommends they start with the tools they use every day, like email or social media.

Also, mobile devices like smartphones and tablets are the primary technology tool for many students and professors.

In fact, many students like the flexibility of cloud apps because they are able to work and collaborate on the devices that fit in their pockets.

"It's really no different than bringing in a laptop, except smartphones are where students are able to record, take photos and share things quickly," says Nash.

Here are five technologies making a major impact in the higher education classroom:

1. Google Docs and Slack Grant Flexibility in the Higher Ed Classroom

Cloud tools like Google Docs are a perfect fit for students because of their flexibility, but also because they allow for real-time collaboration with students and teachers located anywhere.

New Google workflows also make it even easier for educators to build out templates in the cloud so formatting is not lost. Add-on tools supported by Google Docs make citations a breeze for students and their professors.

Thanks to a new version-history module, collaboration and productivity are also eased. With notifications on progress, students will be more effective in group projects.

In addition to cloud technology in higher education classwork, Nash also says communication apps like Slack can be a useful addition. In an EdTech blog, student Lauren Polito praises Slack as a great tool for group projects and fostering easy communication with educators.

2. Virtual Reality Facilitates Hands-On Learning

Virtual reality in the higher education classroom provides a lot of potential for immersive learning. For medical students, Anatomage Table creates virtual cadavers that allow skills to be practiced repeatedly in a safe environment. Educators in these programs can enhance teaching of certain techniques by bringing in VR to assist with visualization.

VR can also aid in hands-on experiences outside of the sciences. At the University at Buffalo, student teachers partake in VR training to practice classroom challenges they might face when they get into the workforce.

VR also has huge potential in getting students to think outside of the classroom.

VR is "absolutely invaluable for doing things like virtual field trips," says Nash. "Claudia Ruiz-Graham at ImagedReality.com has developed virtual field trips to various geological sites. VR and augmented reality can also be used in art museums to visit them virtually or on site to play explanatory videos and audio."

3. Adaptive Learning Boosts Student Success

While many universities have used IBM Watson and Microsoft Power BI to analyze data for student success initiatives, adaptive learning programs are still an emerging technology in higher education.

Experts say adaptive learning, which blends data with elements of artificial intelligence to tailor classwork to the abilities of students, will help drive academic transformation in the future.

"Adaptive learning products are already very important in assessment," says Nash. "They help map a student's knowledge and track it with outcomes and competencies. Students can build on the knowledge they have and make real strides in their ability to demonstrate their skills."

Largely, chief academic officers believe that adaptive learning technology will be integral to improving student learning outcomes, but they need more IT support to implement the tools.

4. Mondopad and Microsoft Surface Hubs Boost Collaboration

To Nash, displays are a mainstay of technology tools in the classroom, whether in the form of one large screen or several small ones. Interactive displays, in particular, foster collaboration.

Using Microsoft Surface Hubs, students and educators in the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine, are able to view and annotate resources either on the board at the field site or remotely on connected devices.

The Mondopad from InFocus combines an interactive whiteboard with a videoconferencing solution, so educators can bring in experts and content from literally anywhere.

5. Videoconferencing Technology Expands Higher Education's Reach

Videoconferencing technology itself has had a major impact on the college classroom. By equipping classrooms with cameras and high-definition displays, rural colleges have been able to bring in remote professors and offer diverse learning opportunities.

Telepresence tools have also given a voice to distance students and increased their access to classroom resources. At Michigan State University, for example, telepresence robots that use videoconferencing technology have enabled remote learners to contribute to the physical space of the classroom and take part in important interactions.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
5 Technology Tools in the Higher Education Classroom

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
University students are coming to class with more than just a college-ruled notebook. Modern classes look nothing like what they did just 10 years ago, thanks to an increase of technology in higher education classrooms. As digital tools have reshaped the world around us, Susan Smith Nash, a blogger, educator and early ed tech adopter, isn't surprised that technology has become a major part of the higher ed classroom.

# data[].attributes.body
I love the Twitter idea on this one!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Edutopia is a free source of information, inspiration, and practical strategies for learning and teaching in preK-12 education. We are published by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Alternative assessment is about as "alternative" in your average university or college classroom as alternative music: which is to say pretty mainstream. While alternative assessment was once a push-back against the old Greek and British "I teach, you learn" lecture and testing styles that represent the foundations of the western education system, almost every faculty now employs a system of assessment that recognizes the ineffectiveness of such draconian methods.

Yet universities and colleges still use standardized exams and lectures as part of their teaching practice, and assessment for measuring learning and student achievement. While they've come a long way in diversifying their assessment and evaluation tools, they still generally fall under the headings of diagnostic , formative , and summative assessment.

There is nothing wrong with these classifications for assessment. They represent an already coherent to the multifaceted realities of the modern classroom and achieving. They do, however, confine the role and structures of assessment to particular contexts that are bound to traditional definitions of what assessment really proves.

But what if you want something new for evaluating the competency of your students? What if you are looking for a way to maximize the demonstrability of content or skills for students who-while great students-are not good at taking a test. As post-secondary institutions continue to respond to mental health issues and the general sense of anxiety that underwrites the process of pursuing a degree in the current economic climate, there is an increased call for assessment strategies that recognize the limitations of students.

This post suggests ways for instructors to continue "pushing back" against mainstream assessment strategies by first identifying the opportunity for, or necessity of alternatives to the written exam, PowerPoint presentation, group project, or diagnostic quiz that can demonstrate the student has 21st century skills. There are plenty of other ways to assess student performance and understanding of the material and curriculum, and allow them to demonstrate their understanding and mastery of the subject.

What is the goal of assessment?

It might initially seem like an easy question but the goal of assessment in the modern classroom is a shifting one. If you're working to get a sense of your students, you might use a diagnostic assessment to gauge where your students fall, both on their own as well as in relation to their peers. If you are mid-semester, then you might use a formative assessment to give the student a sense of where he or she is along the continuum of comprehension or skill development. Either way, it's worth remembering that performance assessment is a tool for teaching, not a scale that determines success or failure.

Too often we see the binary notion that passing a test or being graded well makes you a success and . If you grew up in an educational system like those in the US or Canada, then you already understand the dangers of this mentality for evaluation. If you didn't, then let me just say that it's easy to identify as "a success" or "a failure", and carry that mentality forward, based on nothing more than the notion that assessment reveals some objective truth: it doesn't. that not passing makes you a failure

So looking at assessment as a tool is a useful part of the pedagogical philosophy that we learn from our mistakes. This suggests that trial and error are viable forms of discovery and effective ways to learn in a low-stakes environment. In other words, it changes the culture of assessment from "pass-or-fail" to "pass-or-learn."

The key here is to achieve a balance between a refocusing of assessment in the classroom and the existing (slower to evolve) structures that govern the role of assessment on an institutional level. This tension can be seen most clearly any time an educator says "I don't believe in As" despite the fact that the rest of the institution believe in As and, moreover, demands them when applying for professional programs and graduate schools.

So while you experiment and engage with designing new forms of alternative assessment, never forget your students and learning goals as the effective outcome. It is important to find new applications and pedagogical uses for alternative assessment, but it cannot come at the expense of our students' opportunities outside the classroom.

Subscribe to Top Hat's weekly blog recap

Get the best posts of the week delivered to your inbox:

3 alternative assessment strategies

1. Concept mapping or visual representations

This is a great strategy for diagnostic, formative, and summative assessment. Most basically, students are asked to create a visual representation of a concept, skill, or piece of information, in as comprehensive a way as possible. This not only forces students to engage with pedagogical elements on an abstract level but it also demonstrates to instructors how the students structure, connect or manipulate these elements in relation to other concepts, contexts and patterns.

Using concept mapping as an assessment means that instructors can see how their students are engaging with concepts or content beyond the student's ability to articulate that understanding through written and oral language conventions.

2. Conference and collective presentation

This at first appears to be just a new spin on presentations but it draws its nuances from the academic culture of the institution that asks students to not only draft and present their work but also manipulate it and transform it in front of their peers and in response to questions. This helps promote better student engagement in the course material as well, and can bring their strengths and weaknesses to light.

Students are assigned a series of topics. Students select a specific topic as their guiding theme and then build an interest-based presentation that allows them to play to their own strengths. Finally, students present these topics to the class knowing that everyone will be presenting similarly. From here students are asked to field questions from peers and their instructor in a way that demonstrates a free-form understanding of the topic and its broader connections and contexts in a collaborative format.

Simply, student portfolios are an attempt to respond to the "all-or-nothing" "moment of truth" culture that surrounds the exam-style assessment for learning. Student portfolios are created over the duration of a course and contain all the forms of assessment completed during this time. The portfolio provides instructors with a sense of student-growth in more detail than "Student x got 75% on test 1 but only 60% on test 2" that's historically been used as an assessment of learning and to measure competence. Anyone who has taken a test while sick, with limited sleep, while dealing with performance anxiety, or was simply having a bad day, knows that a single test or assignment does not define a student.

More than anything, student portfolios bring up the subjective nature of alternative assessment strategies. Instructors are given an opportunity to invest slightly more time but also shift the ways they assess more toward the individual students. A portfolio offers a range of works that speak to the overall progress of a student without necessarily comparing them to the other students in the class (one of the great pitfalls of traditional assessment). In this way, instructors have the opportunity to award credit for innovative technique, risk-taking, creativity, and dedication (the skills most necessary for professional development, and adapting and learning in the real world).

Look for more

However you decide to engage with alternative assessment strategies, it is important to remember that there are limitless opportunities to enrich student experience but it cannot come at the expense of student opportunities outside of the classroom. So as you search for new ways to develop alternative assessments, rubrics, and criteria to go with it, remember to look for those places where learning is being undermined by objectivity and where alternative forms of assessment for learners exist but can be renewed.

The age of ranking, defining and compartmentalizing student learning experience is coming to an end. It is the mark of an older social order defined by constrictive economic and political cultures. Alternative assessment strategies change the way instructors orient their teaching, therefore changing the pedagogical culture from one focused on the abstraction of "success" to one focused on the human experience of learning.

Get a comprehensive guide to all the assessment technology and tips on balancing formative and summative assessment.

Download How to Choose the Best Assessment Tool for your College Class ❯ ❯ ❯

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
3 New Assessment Strategies for Testing in Higher Ed | Top Hat

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Alternative assessment is about as "alternative" in your average university or college classroom as alternative music: which is to say pretty mainstream. While alternative assessment was once a push-back against the old Greek and British "I teach, you learn" lecture and testing styles that represent the foundations of the western education system, almost every faculty now employs a system of assessment that recognizes the ineffectiveness of such draconian methods.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.provider_name
Technology Solutions That Drive Education

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Learning technologist Robert Millwood's map makes learning theories more accessible than ever.

Learning theory is complex, and while the graphic below may initially seem to reinforce that idea, it actually makes a complicated topic very digestible.

Richard Millwood is an assistant professor at Trinity College Dublin, and he also runs Core Education, a nonprofit that helps schools use technology for better learning outcomes. As part of his work for the HoTEL Project (Holistic Approach to Technology Enhanced Learning), Millwood created this guide to learning theories.

On his blog, Millwood describes his motivation to collect information and resources about learning theories featured in the map:

Learning theory has been a contested scientific field for most of its history, with conflicting contributions from many scientific disciplines, practice and policy positions. With the continuing and disruptive influence of technology on information, knowledge and practice in all sectors of society it is no wonder that innovators, drawn to the interactive potential that computers bring to learning, are challenged by the theoretical basis for their innovations.

Check out the graphic below, and click here for the interactive version.

<p>VOLODYMYR GRINKO/iStock/Thinkstock</p>

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
A Map of Learning Theory Concepts, Theorists, Paradigms and Disciplines

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Learning technologist Robert Millwood's map makes learning theories more accessible than ever. Learning theory is complex, and while the graphic below may initially seem to reinforce that idea, it actually makes a complicated topic very digestible. Richard Millwood is an assistant professor at Trinity College Dublin, and he also runs Core Education, a nonprofit that helps schools use technology for better learning outcomes.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Listen to this post as a podcast:
Sponsored by Listenwise and NewseumED

Every January, I launch a brand-new edition of my Teacher's Guide to Tech. As challenging and time-consuming as it is to put this guide together every year, it's also pretty magical. I find myself sitting at my keyboard with a million browser tabs open and it happens-that moment when I come across some idea that someone has brought into the world and I think Holy cow, this is good. The thought that someone saw a problem or a need in the world, and they used code to create something brand new to meet that need-that process, that realization of human creativity, is just incredible to me. I watch as these tools come and go and change over time and I marvel at the people behind them, the risks they take, their willingness to try new stuff and push their ideas out into the world.

I don't think technology is the end-all be-all, and of course it brings new problems into our lives, but just watching the creativity behind these tools makes me so excited to live in a time when so many ordinary people can actually bring their ideas to life and watch those ideas impact the world.

So every year, I choose six of these tools that I think are worth a little extra attention. Before we get to the six-plus the two "honorable mentions" I squeezed in at the end-let's take a quick look at the 2019 guide:

The Tools

1. Equity Maps
equitymaps.com
Figuring out which students participate in a class discussion-and how often-can be a huge challenge. Equity Maps is an iPad app for keeping track of that.

You start by creating a seating chart that shows where students are sitting for a discussion. When the discussion starts, you just tap each student's icon as that student contributes to the conversation. Equity Maps keeps track of how long each student talks so that when you're done, you can get a summary of how often each class member participated, how many were active participants, and whether there was equal gender distribution among those who actively engaged.

Other features add more functionality: There are buttons to record periods of silence, pair-shares and small groups, and even a "chaos" button to keep track of times when the formal discussion dissolved into many smaller conversations. An audio recorder even lets you record the whole discussion so that you can review it later with the map, helping you and your students reflect on the quality of their participation.

Equity Maps would be a useful tool for most grade levels and subject areas-in any class where you want students to actively participate.

2. ProWritingAid*
prowritingaid.com
We have a lot of good writing tools out there, but this is one of the most comprehensive I've seen. ProWritingAid does a really deep dive into the quality of your writing, looking at everything from passive voice to overused words, from the use of clichés to sentence variety. Just compose in the tool itself, copy and paste, or upload a document and you'll get a summary report with all kinds of statistics about the strengths and weaknesses of the piece, plus suggestions for changes when you hover over highlighted places in the text itself.

Here are just a few of the things your summary report will tell you: the readability of your piece based on four different reading scales, the number of times you used certain words, the most unique words in your piece, your average sentence length (along with a graph that actually shows you where sentences of different lengths are placed), how often you used adverbs (which can weaken your writing), and how often you used weak or passive wording. It has a free and a paid version, but you can get a lot of mileage out of the free version.

If you're an English teacher you really need to take a look at this tool-it will reinforce a lot of what you're trying to teach your students, and will draw their attention to individual strengths and weaknesses, which will make it much easier to personalize instruction.

3. Google Tour Creator
vr.google.com/tourcreator
A lot of teachers are already familiar with Google Expeditions, a virtual reality platform that lets users experience hundreds of places in the world in 3D. But what you might not know is that you can now create your own tours using Tour Creator. This tool enables us to create our own tours, using imagery from Google Street View or our own 360 photos, then publish them right into Poly, Google's library of free VR and AR objects.

Students can create tours as part of a research project, use them as a way to reflect after a field trip, or even as a supplement to a creative writing project. They can be used to create tours of your school, your classroom, or your town. If your school doesn't currently have much VR technology, start with an affordable Google Cardboard -just pop a smartphone into one of these and you now have one VR headset that can be used by a small group of students.

4. Great Big Story
greatbigstory.com
Great Big Story's mission statement reads as follows: "We believe there is magic in the world and it's our mission in life to help you discover it. We search for stories showing a sense of optimism for the world...because goodness can grow through the smallest cracks in the sidewalk."

How they help us discover the world's magic is through video: short, professionally produced videos about people and phenomena all over the world, stories that will pique your curiosity and give you the sense of wonder about the world. Videos can be browsed by themes like Human Condition, Planet Earth, and Flavors (yep, all about food), or in curated playlists. There's one on America's oldest female BMX racer, one about a 12-year-old scientist who took on the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, and one on the accidental invention of the best snack food ever.

Video is becoming a well-respected form of "text" that can be consumed and analyzed as deeply as any print text, so collections like these should become a part of your school's library of options for classroom materials. One word of warning: Although the content on the site has been rated safe for all audiences on YouTube and Facebook, the videos on Great Big Story were not made specifically for a student audience, and some material will not be appropriate for younger viewers. Teachers should preview videos before sharing them with students.

5. GeoGuessr
geoguessr.com
This one is my absolute favorite.

This addictive game plunks you down somewhere in the world using Google Street view. You literally start on some country road and the whole point of the game is to figure out where in the world you are. You can navigate down the road in the app, and you can turn around and zoom in to look more closely at things, but because the game often chooses the most remote locations, you often find yourself traveling for quite a while before you see any clues. Once you do see something-a road sign, ideally, or something at least with language on it-you can start figuring it out.

I don't even know if this is following the rules, but the times I've played this, I've been amazed at the number of resources I ended up pulling together to figure things out: I do Google image matches, use Google Translate to figure out what a language even is, and even look things up on Wikipedia to figure out if I'm on the right track. I've had four or five different tabs open to try and narrow down a precise location, and all the while, I'm learning stuff. I had no idea, for example, that there was an island called Gotland off the coast of Sweden! Or that there's an animal called a springhare in South Africa that looks an awful lot like a kangaroo.

Whenever you think you know where you are, you choose a location on a map, then you're rewarded with a certain number of points based on how close you got. When you get close, it's just thrilling. This would be a fantastic option for early finishers, lame duck days, or even as a reward for good behavior. It's that fun.

6. Webjets
webjets.io
When you first look at Webjets, you might think, "Oh, it's like Padlet." And in some ways, you'd be right: In Webjets, users create boards where they gather items on cards, placing these on a desktop that feels like a bulletin board.

But with Webjets, these cards work even harder than they do on Padlet, and they come in a variety of formats: A card can contain an image, an embedded video, a live Google Doc, an attached file, or a table containing a variety of elements organized into columns. Probably the best feature is that cards can be collected into folders, where the items are listed along the left, and the selected item appears in a larger window on the right. You can keep multiple folders on one board, and all cards can be collapsed or expanded, making it easy to neatly collect large amounts of resources all in one place.

Webjets would be an excellent, flexible tool for any kind of group project or curation task, whether it's done by you or your students.

Honorable Mention

YoTeach!
yoteachapp.com
If, like me, you were completely devastated when the backchannel tool TodaysMeet shut down last year, you'll be happy to know that you can have almost the same experience on YoTeach! Just set up a free room, give your students the URL, and everyone can come on in and chat just like they did on TodaysMeet. What's even better is that you can password protect your room, participants can add pictures and drawings in the chat, and rooms don't appear to ever expire.

ClassroomQ
classroomq.com
This simple website solves a problem that so many teachers have: students waiting for the teacher's attention. Rather than have them wait with their hands up or get off-task, they can add their name to a digital queue, adding a note about what they need if they like. The teacher sees the names in the order they were submitted, and once the student has met with the teacher, their name can be checked off with a single click.

Where to Get the Teacher's Guide to Tech

Single-User Licenses:If you just want a copy for yourself, you can get a copy at Teachers Pay Teachers or on Teachable.

Multi-User Licenses: To get the guide for your team, school, or even district, you can save a lot by getting multi-user licenses. I offer the deepest discounts for these on Teachable.

Purchase on Teachable
Purchase on TpT
*Since the publication of this post, I have become an affiliate for ProWritingAid, which means Cult of Pedagogy receives a percentage of any subscription that comes through my links. This relationship was not established until after I wrote the post, and my decision to choose ProWritingAid as one of these six tools was not financially motivated in any way.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Listen to this post as a podcast: Sponsored by Listenwise and NewseumED Every January, I launch a brand-new edition of my Teacher's Guide to Tech. As challenging and time-consuming as it is to put this guide together every year, it's also pretty magical.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Everyone has their own way of learning. In this blog post, Bob Little discusses the top 10 learning theories out there and how they work.

© GettyImages/Rusm

Learning theories describe the frameworks that we use to process and retain knowledge. No doubt all of us have tried a variety of different learning theories throughout our lifetimes. But it can be difficult to find the right one to suit you and your learning style. So, here's a rundown of our top 10...

1. Behaviorism

Behaviorism assumes the learner is passive, and only responds to external stimuli, such as reward and punishment. This means that behavior only changes through interaction with the environment.

Learners are "conditioned" through exposure to a series of positive or negative stimuli.

2. Cognitivism

Cognitivism believes that the mind's "black box" needs to be opened and understood. It suggests that people process information in much the same way as computers do. As such, cognitivism is often related to studies in artificial intelligence (AI).

During the 1960s, cognitivism, which focuses on exploring mental processes such as thinking, memory, knowing, and problem solving, became the dominant learning theory over behaviorism. It argues that the way people learn depends on internal processes, rather than external stimuli.

3. Constructivism

Constructivism-based learning suggests that learning is an active process in which people create their own subjective representation of reality. These representations are subjective because new information is always linked to people's prior knowledge. For instance, their social or cultural backgrounds.

Constructivism rejects rigid learning theories like behaviorism. Instead, it argues that learning is an active, contextualized process, focused on building - not acquiring - knowledge.

Personal experience, along with the learner's environment, help to build knowledge. Learners constantly test ideas through social negotiation. And, since everyone's an individual, each person approaches it differently.

4. Humanism

Humanistic learning theories see learning as a personal act that contributes to fulfilling a person's potential. Championed by such learning theorists as Abraham Maslow, humanism has given us the term "self-actualization," as well as the concept of the teacher as facilitator.

Like cognitivism, humanism emerged in the 1960s. It focuses on human dignity, freedom and potential. One of its central pillars is the assumption that people act with "intentionality" and values. This contrasts with learning theories like behaviorism, which say that all behavior is the result of applying external stimuli. The humanist view also opposes cognitive psychology's belief that discovering knowledge and constructing meaning is central to learning.

A key humanist view is that it's vital to see the learner as a whole person, especially as he or she grows and develops.

5. Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

This framework was created by psychologist, Abraham Maslow. He wanted to understand what motivates people. So, in 1943, he put forward a theory which suggested that people are motivated to achieve certain needs. Having fulfilled one need, they seek to fulfill the next one, and so on.

Maslow presents these needs as a hierarchy, as follows:

1. Physiological/bodily needs.
2. Safety needs.
3. Love/belonging needs.
4. Self-esteem.
5. Self-actualization.

6. Experiential Learning

David Kolb published his learning model in 1984. From this, he developed his learning styles inventory. It can be applied in two ways: as a four-stage cycle of learning or as four separate learning styles. The four-stage cycle, in which learners need to touch all points, includes:

1. Concrete experience (having an experience).
2. Reflective observation (reflecting on the experience).
3. Abstract conceptualization (learning from the experience).
4. Active experimentation (applying what you've learned).

The four separate learning styles that Kolb set out are:

1. Diverging (feeling and watching).
2. Assimilating (watching and thinking).
3. Converging (doing and thinking).
4. Accommodating (doing and feeling).

In Kolb's view, people gain knowledge by learning about abstract concepts and then applying them to a range of real-life situations. In his theory, the impetus to develop new concepts is provided by new experience.

7. ARCS

The ARCS learning theory (also known as the ARCS Model of Motivational Design) was first developed by Dr John Keller. It's a mnemonic that stands for:

Attention.

Relevance.

Confidence.

Satisfaction.

ARCS is a problem-solving approach to designing learning environments that stimulate and sustain students' motivation to learn. The ARCS model is a set of categories representing the components of motivation. It can also be used as a systematic design process to create appropriate motivational enhancements for learners. ARCS is claimed - and acclaimed -by humanists, so it could also be seen as part of humanism (see above).

8. ADDIE

Another learning theory built around a mnemonic is ADDIE. It stands for the following five stages of instructional design:

1. Analyze.
2. Design.
3. Develop.
4. Implement.
5. Evaluate.

ADDIE is a high-level framework that helps provide context for what an instructional designer does. For further details of ADDIE, see our blog post on it here.

9. Elaboration Theory

Charles Reigleuth's elaboration theory (published in 1979) tries to bridge theory and practice in education. It aims to reveal the relationships between educational theory, designed learning programs, and practice.

Reigleuth's view is that content that must be learned should be put in order from simple to complex. It must also provide a meaningful context within which other ideas can be integrated. Elaboration theory comprises seven major strategy components:

1. An elaborative sequence.
2. Learning prerequisite sequences.
3. Summary.
4. Synthesis.
5. Analogies.
6. Cognitive strategies.
7. Learner control.

10. Bloom's Taxonomy

Bloom's Taxonomy was first created in 1956 by Dr Benjamin Bloom in order to promote higher forms of thinking. This includes analyzing and evaluating concepts, processes, procedures and principles - not just remembering facts or "rote" learning. The theory identifies three domains of learning: cognitive (mental skills), affective (feelings or emotions), and psychomotor (manual or physical skills).

According to Bloom it is the cognitive domain that helps people to develop intellectual skills. It is divided into six levels according to complexity:

1. Knowledge/remembering.
2. Comprehension/understanding.
3. Application.
4. Analysis.
5. Synthesis/creating.
6. Evaluation.

These six steps can be seen as a stairway that learners ascend to achieve a higher level of thinking. Once a learner has mastered a higher level of thinking, she will have mastered the lower levels, too.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Everyone has their own way of learning. In this blog post, Bob Little discusses the top 10 learning theories out there and how they work. © GettyImages/Rusm Learning theories describe the frameworks that we use to process and retain knowledge. No doubt all of us have tried a variety of different learning theories throughout our lifetimes.

# data[].attributes.body
Website for designing idiographics

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Dr. Amanda Sterk

Founder of College UnMazed

Saved $100k in total design costs and earned $30k+ in extra income

"Whether I needed visuals saved as PNG for social media, a PDF for a presentation, or any other file type, Venngage facilitated it with a few clicks."

Read Case Study on How Amanda Sterk Turned Stuffy Content into Beautiful Infographics with Venngage Read Case Study

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Venngage | Professional Infographic Maker | 10,000+ Templates

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Join over 5 Million professionals who consider Venngage the infographic maker of choice. Pick from 10,000+ professional templates made for businesses.

# data[].attributes.body
Instrumental vs Communicative Learning

# data[].attributes.body
Bloom's Taxonomy

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Print Version
by Patricia Armstrong, former Assistant Director, Center for Teaching

Background Information | The Original Taxonomy | The Revised Taxonomy | Why Use Bloom's Taxonomy? | Further Information

The above graphic is released under a Creative Commons Attribution license. You're free to share, reproduce, or otherwise use it, as long as you attribute it to the Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching. For a higher resolution version, visit our Flickr account and look for the "Download this photo" icon.

Background Information

In 1956, Benjamin Bloom with collaborators Max Englehart, Edward Furst, Walter Hill, and David Krathwohl published a framework for categorizing educational goals: Taxonomy of Educational Objectives. Familiarly known as Bloom's Taxonomy, this framework has been applied by generations of K-12 teachers and college instructors in their teaching.

The framework elaborated by Bloom and his collaborators consisted of six major categories: Knowledge, Comprehension, Application, Analysis, Synthesis, and Evaluation. The categories after Knowledge were presented as "skills and abilities," with the understanding that knowledge was the necessary precondition for putting these skills and abilities into practice.

While each category contained subcategories, all lying along a continuum from simple to complex and concrete to abstract, the taxonomy is popularly remembered according to the six main categories.

The Original Taxonomy (1956)

Here are the authors' brief explanations of these main categories in from the appendix of Taxonomy of Educational Objectives ( Handbook One, pp. 201-207):

Knowledge "involves the recall of specifics and universals, the recall of methods and processes, or the recall of a pattern, structure, or setting."

Comprehension "refers to a type of understanding or apprehension such that the individual knows what is being communicated and can make use of the material or idea being communicated without necessarily relating it to other material or seeing its fullest implications."

Application refers to the "use of abstractions in particular and concrete situations."

Analysis represents the "breakdown of a communication into its constituent elements or parts such that the relative hierarchy of ideas is made clear and/or the relations between ideas expressed are made explicit."

Synthesis involves the "putting together of elements and parts so as to form a whole."

Evaluation engenders "judgments about the value of material and methods for given purposes."

The 1984 edition of Handbook One is available in the CFT Library in Calhoun 116. See its ACORN record for call number and availability.

Barbara Gross Davis, in the "Asking Questions" chapter of Tools for Teaching, also provides examples of questions corresponding to the six categories. This chapter is not available in the online version of the book, but Tools for Teaching is available in the CFT Library. See its ACORN record for call number and availability.

The Revised Taxonomy (2001)

A group of cognitive psychologists, curriculum theorists and instructional researchers, and testing and assessment specialists published in 2001 a revision of Bloom's Taxonomy with the title A Taxonomy for Teaching, Learning, and Assessment. This title draws attention away from the somewhat static notion of "educational objectives" (in Bloom's original title) and points to a more dynamic conception of classification.

The authors of the revised taxonomy underscore this dynamism, using verbs and gerunds to label their categories and subcategories (rather than the nouns of the original taxonomy). These "action words" describe the cognitive processes by which thinkers encounter and work with knowledge:

In the revised taxonomy, knowledge is at the basis of these six cognitive processes, but its authors created a separate taxonomy of the types of knowledge used in cognition:

Factual Knowledge

Knowledge of terminology

Knowledge of specific details and elements

Mary Forehand from the University of Georgia provides a guide to the revised version giving a brief summary of the revised taxonomy and a helpful table of the six cognitive processes and four types of knowledge.

Why Use Bloom's Taxonomy?

The authors of the revised taxonomy suggest a multi-layered answer to this question, to which the author of this teaching guide has added some clarifying points:

1. Objectives (learning goals) are important to establish in a pedagogical interchange so that teachers and students alike understand the purpose of that interchange.

2. Organizing objectives helps to clarify objectives for themselves and for students.

Citations are from A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching, and Assessing: A Revision of Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives.

Further Information

Section III of A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching, and Assessing: A Revision of Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, entitled "The Taxonomy in Use," provides over 150 pages of examples of applications of the taxonomy. Although these examples are from the K-12 setting, they are easily adaptable to the university setting.

Section IV, "The Taxonomy in Perspective," provides information about 19 alternative frameworks to Bloom's Taxonomy, and discusses the relationship of these alternative frameworks to the revised Bloom's Taxonomy.

This teaching guide is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Bloom's Taxonomy. Print Version by Patricia Armstrong, former Assistant Director, Center for Teaching Background Information | The Original Taxonomy | The Revised Taxonomy | Why Use Bloom's Taxonomy? | Further Information The above graphic is released under a Creative Commons Attribution license. You're free to share, reproduce, or otherwise use it, as long as you attribute it...

# data[].attributes.body
Flipping the Classroom

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Flipping the classroom represents an ongoing paradigmatic shift in education from teacher-centered instructional strategies (eg, lecturing) to learning-centered instructional strategies (eg, active student engagement). The flipped classroom (also called reverse, inverse, or backwards classroom) is a pedagogical approach in which basic concepts are provided to students for pre-class learning so that class time can apply and build upon those basic concepts.

While the term "flipped classroom" has garnered considerable attention in recent years, learner-centered pedagogies that effectively engage students in the learning process have a long and rich history. Approaches such as problem-based learning (PBL) and case-based learning (CBL) reflect many of the same learning-centered principles as flipped learning. Within PBL and CBL, students apply a specific problem-solving process using real-world problems or case narratives to acquire new knowledge. This process may or may not require pre-class learning. However, the flipped classroom may vary from PBL or CBL in the level of guidance provided by an instructor and the types of activities used to facilitate learning, according to the following key flipped classroom elements: pre-class offloaded content, described as the process of packaging and delivering key foundational content to students prior to class; in-class active learning, represented by a wide range of well-developed and evidence-based, active-learning strategies; assessment, including diverse approaches to evaluating and providing feedback to student learning and holding students accountable for learning pre-class and in-class material; and exploration, characterized by student-initiated inquiry.

A growing body of research in pharmacy education describes various strategies for offloading content, designing active learning, and assessing student outcomes in the flipped classroom. Additional flipped approaches are described across a wide range of disciplines, including medicine, economics, and physics. While technology is not required, it is commonly used to deliver pre-class learning materials to students (eg, captured video lectures, podcasts, web-based modules, and animated e-books). However, static materials such as traditional texts, articles or websites also can be effective tools for class preparation.

In the digital age, learners are able to independently access more content than ever before, making learning (or self-regulated learning) and the placement of information critical to promoting learning outcomes. By blending the strengths of computer-mediated instruction (eg, digital interfaces, self-paced learning, online engagement) and face-to-face class time (eg, collaborative opportunities, applied problem-solving, instructor and peer engagement), the flipped classroom can effectively improve student outcomes, increase student engagement, and enhance critical thinking development. Providing students with key foundational content prior to class enables students to engage with content at their own pace, controlling when and how much content they view. When designed effectively, this pre-class work provides the foundation for in-class applied learning, which is then reinforced through after-class work and exploration.

Evidence and research aimed specifically at developing guidelines for flipping the classroom continue to emerge. The purpose of the review is to explore best practices for designing flipped classrooms, presented in the context of educational theory and using evidence-based practice.

Evidence-Based Design and Recommendations

Assessment

Within the context of the flipped classroom, faculty may need to rethink traditional approaches to learning assessment. Aligning assessment strategies with pre- and in-class learning objectives and activities is critical for optimizing student outcomes. An emerging guideline for flipped learning suggests that assessment should be used to hold students accountable for pre-class learning (). In lecture-based courses, students have traditionally been asked to prepare for class, but success in the flipped class hinges on pre-class preparation because it is required for applied learning during class. Lack of student preparation can severely limit the efficacy of the flipped classroom, and assessment can be used as a mechanism for encouraging students to learn foundational material prior to coming to class. An additional benefit to frequent low-stakes assessments of student understanding (ie, retrieval or testing effects) is it allows instructors to keep abreast of what concepts or skills are particularly challenging for students to master. However, it is important to consider the frequency of quizzes within a single course and within a given semester as quizzes can alter motivation (to focus more on grades) and can take away from time on other class activities.

Various formative and summative assessment methods can be used to provide feedback to faculty and students. Assessments can be used during interaction with peers, instructors, and other educationally relevant people (eg, standardized patients), for example, as a means of demonstrating competence and enabling self-assessment of mastery. In addition, self-assessments embedded within pre-class online learning modules can help students gauge mastery of content prior to class. Active learning exercises can be designed to provide real-time formative assessments to students and immediate feedback to faculty concerning misconceptions or gaps in student knowledge (eg, minute paper, muddiest point). The flipped classroom is designed to develop higher order thinking in students and, as such, graded assessments should provide students the opportunity to demonstrate the development of these skills (eg, open text, essay, papers, etc).

The type and weight of an assessment can significantly impact how students learn because assessments often signal to students what is important in the class. Student assessment should be tied to course objectives and key principles, and provide feedback to instructors and students. It may be worth noting that traditional methods such as paper and pen exams may not effectively reflect achievement of all learning goals. For example, communication skills or teamwork cannot be fully assessed in a paper and pen exam and, therefore, other approaches are required that are clearly matched to learning goals. Instructors should clearly communicate expectations and specify how the assessment will be evaluated at the time it is assigned. Regardless of format, assessments should enable students to demonstrate meaningful understanding and application of essential knowledge and skills.

Redesigning learning environments is a complex undertaking that often takes multiple iterations of implementation and refinement to achieve desired outcomes. When used correctly, assessments can provide: feedback about student learning and instructional design; and ongoing quality improvement feedback for the iterative process of course development. Thoughtful consideration should be given to collecting, analyzing, and using data to select relevant content, inform instructional design, manage classroom activities, and improve student learning.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Flipped Classroom - From Theory to Practice in Health Professional Education

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Flipping the classroom represents an ongoing paradigmatic shift in education from teacher-centered instructional strategies (eg, lecturing) to learning-centered instructional strategies (eg, active student engagement). The flipped classroom (also called reverse, inverse, or backwards classroom) is a pedagogical approach in which basic concepts are provided to students for pre-class learning so that class time can apply and build upon those basic concepts.

# data[].attributes.body
Flipping the Classroom

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Cite this guide: Brame, C. (2013). Flipping the classroom. Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching. Retrieved [todaysdate] from http://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/flipping-the-classroom/.

"Flipping the classroom" has become something of a buzzword in the last several years, driven in part by high profile publications in The New York Times (Fitzpatrick, 2012); The Chronicle of Higher Education (Berrett, 2012); and (Mazur, 2009); In essence, "flipping the classroom" means that students gain first exposure to new material outside of class, usually via reading or lecture videos, and then use class time to do the harder work of assimilating that knowledge, perhaps through problem-solving, discussion, or debates.

In terms of Bloom's revised taxonomy (2001), this means that students are doing the lower levels of cognitive work (gaining knowledge and comprehension) outside of class, and focusing on the higher forms of cognitive work (application, analysis, synthesis, and/or evaluation) in class, where they have the support of their peers and instructor. This model contrasts from the traditional model in which "first exposure" occurs via lecture in class, with students assimilating knowledge through homework; thus the term "flipped classroom."

What is it?

Flipped Classroom

The flipped classroom approach has been used for years in some disciplines, notably within the humanities. Barbara Walvoord and Virginia Johnson Anderson promoted the use of this approach in their book Effective Grading (1998). They propose a model in which students gain first-exposure learning prior to class and focus on the processing part of learning (synthesizing, analyzing, problem-solving, etc.) in class.

To ensure that students do the preparation necessary for productive class time, Walvoord and Anderson propose an assignment-based model in which students produce work (writing, problems, etc.) prior to class. The students receive productive feedback through the processing activities that occur during class, reducing the need for the instructor to provide extensive written feedback on the students' work. Walvoord and Anderson describe examples of how this approach has been implemented in history, physics, and biology classes, suggesting its broad applicability.

Inverted Classroom

Maureen Lage, Glenn Platt, and Michael Treglia described a similar approach as the inverted classroom, and reported its application in an introductory economics course in 2000. Lage, Platt, and Treglia initiated their experiment in response to the observation that the traditional lecture format is incompatible with some learning styles. ¹ To make their course more compatible with their students' varied learning styles, they designed an inverted classroom in which they provided students with a variety of tools to gain first exposure to material outside of class: textbook readings, lecture videos, Powerpoint presentations with voice-over, and printable Powerpoint slides.

To help ensure student preparation for class, students were expected to complete worksheets that were periodically but randomly collected and graded. Class time was then spent on activities that encouraged students to process and apply economics principles, ranging from mini-lectures in response to student questions to economic experiments to small group discussions of application problems. Both student and instructor response to the approach was positive, with instructors noting that students appeared more motivated than when the course was taught in a traditional format.

Peer Instruction

Eric Mazur and Catherine Crouch describe a modified form of the flipped classroom that they term peer instruction (2001). Like the approaches described by Walvoord and Anderson and Lage, Platt, and Treglia, the peer instruction (PI) model requires that students gain first exposure prior to class, and uses assignments (in this case, quizzes) to help ensure that students come to class prepared. Class time is structured around alternating mini-lectures and conceptual questions. Importantly, the conceptual questions are not posed informally and answered by student volunteers as in traditional lectures; instead, all students must answer the conceptual question, often via "clickers", or handheld personal response systems, that allow students to answer anonymously and that allow the instructor to see (and display) the class data immediately. If a large fraction of the class (usually between 30 and 65%) answers incorrectly, then students reconsider the question in small groups while instructors circulate to promote productive discussions. After discussion, students answer the conceptual question again. The instructor provides feedback, explaining the correct answer and following up with related questions if appropriate. The cycle is then repeated with another topic, with each cycle typically taking 13-15 minutes.

Does it work?

Mazur and colleagues have published results suggesting that the PI method results in significant learning gains when compared to traditional instruction (2001). In 1998, Richard Hake gathered data on 2084 students in 14 introductory physics courses taught by traditional methods (defined by the instructor as relying primarily on passive student lectures and algorithmic problem exams), allowing him to define an average gain for students in such courses using pre/post-test data. Hake then compared these results to those seen with interactive engagement methods, defined as "heads-on (always) and hands-on (usually) activities which yield immediate feedback through discussion with peers and/or instructors" (Hake p. 65) for 4458 students in 48 courses. He found that students taught with interactive engagement methods exhibited learning gains almost two standard deviations higher than those observed in the traditional courses (0.48 +/- 0.14 vs. 0.23 +/- 0.04). Assessment of classes taught by the PI method provides evidence of even greater learning gains, with students in PI courses exhibiting learning gains ranging from 0.49 to 0.74 over eight years of assessment at Harvard University (Crouch and Mazur, 2001). Interestingly, two introductory physics classes taught by traditional methods during the assessment period at Harvard show much lower learning gains (0.25 in a calculus-based course in 1990 and 0.40 in an algebra-based course in 1999).

Carl Wieman and colleagues have also published evidence that flipping the classroom can produce significant learning gains (Deslauriers et al., 2011). Wieman and colleagues compared two sections of a large-enrollment physics class. The classes were both taught via interactive lecture methods for the majority of the semester and showed no significant differences prior to the experiment. During the twelfth week of the semester, one section was "flipped," with first exposure to new material occurring prior to class via reading assignments and quizzes, and class time devoted to small group discussion of clicker questions and questions that required written responses. Although class discussion was supported by targeted instructor feedback, no formal lecture was included in the experimental group. The control section was encouraged to read the same assignments prior to class and answered most of the same clicker questions for summative assessment but were not intentionally engaged in active learning exercises during class. During the experiment, student engagement increased in the experimental section (from 45 +/- 5% to 85 +/- 5% as assessed by four trained observers) but did not change in the control section. At the end of the experimental week, students completed a multiple choice test, resulting in an average score of 41 +/- 1% in the control classroom and 74 +/- 1% in the "flipped" classroom, with an effect size of 2.5 standard deviations. Although the authors did not address retention of the gains over time, this dramatic increase in student learning supports the use of the flipped classroom model.

Theoretical basis

How People Learn, the seminal work from John Bransford, Ann Brown, and Rodney Cocking, reports three key findings about the science of learning, two of which help explain the success of the flipped classroom. Bransford and colleagues assert that

"To develop competence in an area of inquiry, students must: a) have a deep foundation of factual knowledge, b) understand facts and ideas in the context of a conceptual framework, and c) organize knowledge in ways that facilitate retrieval and application" (p. 16).

By providing an opportunity for students to use their new factual knowledge while they have access to immediate feedback from peers and the instructor, the flipped classroom helps students learn to correct misconceptions and organize their new knowledge such that it is more accessible for future use. Furthermore, the immediate feedback that occurs in the flipped classroom also helps students recognize and think about their own growing understanding, thereby supporting Bransford and colleagues' third major conclusion:

"A 'metacognitive' approach to instruction can help students learn to take control of their own learning by defining learning goals and monitoring their progress in achieving them" (p. 18).

Although students' thinking about their own learning is not an inherent part of the flipped classroom, the higher cognitive functions associated with class activities, accompanied by the ongoing peer/instructor interaction that typically accompanies them, can readily lead to the metacognition associated with deep learning.

What are the key elements of the flipped classroom?

1. Provide an opportunity for students to gain first exposure prior to class.

The mechanism used for first exposure can vary, from simple textbook readings to lecture videos to podcasts or screencasts. For example, Grand Valley State University math professor Robert Talbert provides screencasts on class topics on his YouTube channel, while Vanderbilt computer science professor Doug Fisher provides his students video lectures prior to class (see an example here). These videos can be created by the instructor or found online from YouTube, the Khan Academy, MIT's OpenCourseWare, Coursera, or other similar sources. The pre-class exposure doesn't have to be high-tech, however; in the Deslauriers, Schelew, and Wieman study described above, students simply completed pre-class reading assignments.

2. Provide an incentive for students to prepare for class.

In all the examples cited above, students completed a task associated with their preparation....and that task was associated with points. The assignment can vary; the examples above used tasks that ranged from online quizzes to worksheets to short writing assignments, but in each case the task provided an incentive for students to come to class prepared by speaking the common language of undergraduates: points. In many cases, grading for completion rather than effort can be sufficient, particularly if class activities will provide students with the kind of feedback that grading for accuracy usually provides.

3. Provide a mechanism to assess student understanding.

The pre-class assignments that students complete as evidence of their preparation can also help both the instructor and the student assess understanding. Pre-class online quizzes can allow the instructor to practice Just-in-Time Teaching (JiTT; Novak et al., 1999), which basically means that the instructor tailors class activities to focus on the elements with which students are struggling. If automatically graded, the quizzes can also help students pinpoint areas where they need help. Pre-class worksheets can also help focus student attention on areas with which they're struggling, and can be a departure point for class activities, while pre-class writing assignments help students clarify their thinking about a subject, thereby producing richer in-class discussions. Importantly, much of the feedback students need is provided in class, reducing the need for instructors to provide extensive commentary outside of class (Walvoord and Anderson, 1998). In addition, many of the activities used during class time (e.g., clicker questions or debates) can serve as informal checks of student understanding.

4. Provide in-class activities that focus on higher level cognitive activities.

If the students gained basic knowledge outside of class, then they need to spend class time to promote deeper learning. Again, the activity will depend on the learning goals of the class and the culture of the discipline. For example, Lage, Platt, and Treglia described experiments students did in class to illustrate economic principles (2000), while Mazur and colleagues focused on student discussion of conceptual "clicker" questions and quantitative problems focused on physical principles (2001). In other contexts, students may spend time in class engaged in debates, data analysis, or synthesis activities. The key is that students are using class time to deepen their understanding and increase their skills at using their new knowledge.

Where can I learn more?

CFT Director Derek Bruff has a good blog post on flipping the classroom with some great embedded references. Find it here: http://derekbruff.org/?p=901.

References

Berrett D (2012). How 'flipping' the classroom can improve the traditional lecture. The Chronicle of Higher Education, Feb. 19, 2012.

Anderson LW and Krathwohl D (2001). A taxonomy for learning, teaching, and assessing: a revision of Bloom's taxonomy of educational objectives. New York: Longman.

Bransford JD, Brown AL, and Cocking RR (2000). How people learn: Brain, mind, experience, and school. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.

Crouch CH and Mazur E (2001). Peer instruction: Ten years of experience and results. American Journal of Physics 69: 970-977.

DesLauriers L, Schelew E, and Wieman C (2011). Improved learning in a large-enrollment physics class. Science 332: 862-864.

Fitzpatrick M (2012). Classroom lectures go digital. The New York Times, June 24, 2012.

Hake R (1998). Interactive-engagement versus traditional methods: A six-thousand-student survey of mechanics test data for introductory physics courses. American Journal of Physics 66: 64-74.

Lage MJ, Platt GJ, and Treglia M (2000). Inverting the classroom: A gateway to creating an inclusive learning environment. The Journal of Economic Education 31: 30-43.

Mazur E (2009). Farewell, Lecture? Science 323: 50-51.

Novak G, Patterson ET, Gavrin AD, and Christian W (1999). Just-in-Time Teaching: Blending Active Learning with Web Technology. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Pashler H, McDaniel M, Rohrer D, and Bjork R (2008). Learning styles: Concepts and evidence. Psychological Science in the Public Interest 9: 103-119.

Walvoord BE, and Anderson VJ (1998). Effective grading: A tool for learning and assessment. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Footnote:
¹ Although there is widespread belief that matching students' preferred "learning styles" to instructional formats promotes learning, a 2008 review by Pashler and colleagues finds no evidence that this strategy promotes learning.
Cite this guide:
Brame, C., (2013). Flipping the classroom. Retrieved [todaysdate] from http://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/flipping-the-classroom/.
Brame, C., (2013). Flipping the classroom. Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching. Retrieved [todaysdate] from http://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/flipping-the-classroom/.

This teaching guide is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
by Cynthia J. Brame Print Version Cite this guide: Brame, C. (2013). Flipping the classroom. Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching. Retrieved [todaysdate] from http://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/flipping-the-classroom/. "Flipping the classroom" has become something of a buzzword in the last several years, driven in part by high profile publications in The New York Times (Fitzpatrick, 2012); The Chronicle...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
I read a paper called Perspectives on learning and technology: A review of theoretical perspectives"This paper provides a review of literature pertaining to theoretical references on educational practice and technology from perspectives of learning theories of the 20th and 21st centuries."

A learning theory (or theories) helps understand how people learn, thereby assisting educators, trainers and facilitators reflect on their educational practices. The three major prominent learning theories are known as behaviourist, cognitivist and constructivist, though Siemens later developed the connectivism theory as a learning theory for the digital age. The graph displays more theories and some of the major terms used.

The paper caught my interest because I am a fan of social constructivist theories of learning (think: learning by conversation) and always amazed at how differently people can think about what learning is and what it needs. For me it is obvious that Twitter can be an important learning instrument but if see you learning as acquiring new knowledge it is less obvious. 'T witter is not about learning. How can you learn from 140 characters?! I blogged about the difference before in: twittering= learning? I know my preferences but more and more I start the see the learning theories as all saying something about realities, in other words as pieces of the same puzzle. Depending on the situation a certain theory (and practice) may fit better. Interestingly the practices of people with different ideas may be pretty close...

I think the implicit learning theories people use determine how enthousiastic you are about new technologies and shape which application you see. The three theories outlined in the paper with their use of technology are:

1. Behaviourist theory
The main purpose of the behaviourist learning pedagogy is to accomplish the correct behaviour which focuses on achievable learning objectives. Behaviourist focus on learning objectives in 'to do' in the sense of describing observable behaviour. For instance, " when dealing with a complex problem X will contact relevant colleagues for input." The knowledge skills and attitude distinction is also used within this approach. In the context of online learning based on the behaviourist theory the focus is on delivering learning content with clear intended behavioural objectives, and drill and practice and 'electronic page turning'. Somehow the traditional e-learning modules.

2. Cognitivism theory
Cognitivist views of learning recognize the importance of the human mind in making sense of the material with which it is presented (Harasim, 2012; Schunk, 2012). Cognitivists sought to understand what was inside the black box of the human mind and tried to emulate it computationally. Cognitivists developed educational technologies such as intelligent tutoring systems (ITS) and artificial intelligent (AI). "In addition, online learning based on a cognitivist approach is focused on a learner's working memory and sensory system. This is done through utilising different multimedia modality (e.g. audio, visuals, animations, or video), the proper location of information on screen, screen attributes (e.g. colour, size of text, or graphics), the pacing of the information, and information chunks to avoid information overload." The cognitivism use of technology is hence very instructionally oriented, focussing on proper media to convey information. The recent focus on 'brainscience' may help to support the cognitivism practices.

3. Constructivist theory and social-constructism theories.
Constructivist learning theory views learning as a process by which a student constructs knowledge thorough interacting with more knowledgeable others; "learning starts by conversations". it is an umbrella term representing a range of perspectives on learning. Educational practices adopted the constructivist approach including situated and active learning, learning by doing, problem-based learning, inquiry-based learning, cooperative learning, collaborative learning, personalised learning, the learning community, active participatory learning, activity and dialogical processes, anchored instruction, cognitive apprenticeship, discovery learning, and scaffolded learning. The constructivist learning technologies are often associated with learning environments and Learning Management Systems such as BlackBoard, WebCT or Moodle with characteristics including the following:

providing multiple representations of reality to prevent oversimplification and represent the natural complexity of the real world;

emphasize knowledge construction and co-creatiom instead of knowledge reproduction

provide learning environments such as real-world settings or case-based learning instead of a predetermined sequence of instruction

foster reflection on learning experiences;

online learning based on a constructivist approach including learning should be an active process; learners should construct their own knowledge

I was a bit disappointed with the explanation in the paper.. I had expected a deeper explanation. I would like to add social learning (probably part of the social-constructivism group) because this theory is really charmed by social networks rather than learning management systems. See Jane Hart's use your Enterprise Social Network for workplace learning.
What I notice is that in technology/ tools, there is a code in the technology (like DNA!) and the code is determined by the people who developed the technology. Hence it makes it hard for people with a different view to use the technology for a different purpose. This code in the technology is very implicit. For instance, we use Ning, a social network for our learning trajectories whereas we could use a learning management system (LMS). However, most of the LMS we tested are way less focussed on interaction and learners in the driving seat than we like. An example: when I work with Moodle the technology invites me to prepare the course with all sections in advance. In Ning, the technology invites me to start on the fly with new discussions. This stimulates a more flexible role for the facilitator.

Lesson? It is important to know your own convictions when choosing and using technology.. and try to find 'the code in the technology' you want to buy or try.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How our learning theories shape how we use technology for learning

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
I read a paper called Perspectives on learning and technology: A review of theoretical perspectives "This paper provides a review of literature pertaining to theoretical references on educational practice and technology from perspectives of learning theories of the 20th and 21st centuries."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The Challenge

Teachers know it is not enough to be proficient in the subject area they are teaching. They also must have an understanding of pedagogy, or how students learn, particularly across the diverse learning environments we see today. A key strength is the ability to employ instructional strategies that engage students in academic discourse. In order to assess what students are thinking, we have to get them talking. This strategy is instrumental in the development of academic vocabulary for all students, especially English learners.

Thus, there is a call for professional development that guides teachers, and in turn students, in redefining their roles in the development of knowledge ( Schoen, et al., 2003). Providing teachers with professional learning in the use of instructional conversations and higher-order questioning is a critical element in laying the foundation for meaningful learning.

How do peer-conversations about a student's approach to a problem or conjecture regarding an idea develop critical thinking skills? What constitutes meaningful discourse? Is it possible to effectively increase understanding and engagement by delivering instruction through a student-centered dialogue model? In this article, we investigate the role that conversation plays throughout instruction toward building teacher capacity and student self-efficacy in subject matter knowledge.

The Purpose

To effectively meet the challenges of an increasingly diverse population of learners, we must employ a student-centered approach to teaching and learning that not only relays instructional content, but also engages students in authentic activities that elicit disciplinary discourse to construct knowledge (Anderson, 2007).

Carpenter, et al., ( 2004) proposed that students who only know what has been taught to them, without any relevant connections or meaning, will not have the capacity to apply what they have learned in new situations. This transfer of knowledge is what has been lacking for far too long in the areas of comprehension and retention.

The goal of instruction is to prepare students to be problem solvers with the ability to overcome unforeseeable challenges. Therefore, we must provide an environment where students are willing to engage in conversations that allow them to communicate their ideas. Teachers' awareness of students' knowledge can more thoroughly support meaningful learning and critical thinking ( Carpenter, et al., 2004). Unfortunately, in the traditional classroom, students are not linguistically involved in the lesson. They are the receivers of information, rarely producing opinions or suppositions. Without student voice, teachers cannot readily assess their level of understanding.

The Process

Instructional conversation is a form of a discussion-based lesson that develops students' conceptual and linguistic skills through guided discourse where all students are held accountable for participation ( Goldsmith, 2013). Students engage in scaffolded exchanges with their peers and the instructor to communicate their personal understandings and negotiate meaning of content on various levels. This use of student conversations supports the students' development of academic language and vocabulary. Teachers seek opportunities to reinforce correct pronunciation, definitions and speech patterns by modeling paraphrases of student responses to guided questions ( Echevarría, et al., 2012). These interactions also provide valuable assessment data that reveal errors in reasoning, computation or logic ( Vanderhye & Demers, 2007).

As Johnson, et al., (2013) describe: "Substantive conversations require considerable interaction that is on task and involves higher order thinking processes during the negotiation process (i.e., drawing conclusions, challenging ideas, asking questions). The discussion can have guidance but is not completely scripted or controlled by the teacher." Active involvement of all students is necessary to promote an improved collective understanding of the content. In order for students to generate authentic discourse in a coherent manner, they must be willing to engage. Teachers must provide a safe environment where students are free to express their thinking without fear.

The use of the Think-Pair-Share (TPS) model also aids in increasing student confidence ( Goldsmith, 2013). This form of turn-and-talk occurs after a teacher poses a question, when students then pause and think about their reply, pair up with a partner, and then share their responses with each other. The affective filter is lowered, and students are able to engage in a short discussion free from the eyes and ears of the rest of the class. Once the students are brought back together, they all have had the opportunity to fine tune their answer. Students who are still hesitant when called upon will have the support of their partner.

Providing students with multiple opportunities to discuss ideas with fellow students promotes peer-supported strategic thinking. Finding the "right" answer becomes secondary to discovering the process or reasoning behind a concept. The integration of this method of instruction with academically rich vocabulary and higher-order questioning is especially effective with English learners ( Goldsmith, 2013).

The Results

Teachers using substantive conversations encourage students to bring to mind their own ideas and views of a topic before engaging in rich dialogue with their peers to identify common understandings and key information, and addressing any confusion about the problem. This method of inquiry enables students to collectively think through a problem before actually beginning to solve it.

For example, a pair of chemistry students might hypothesize possible outcomes of an investigation before conducting the experiment. They scrutinize the problem as a doctor might examine a patient before determining treatment. Students learn to look for clues regarding how to approach a task or problem. They are able to view the work before them from a situational perspective, considering the academic vocabulary involved and call on prior experiences to generate solutions.

Conversation plays a vital role in the modern cycle of instruction. In order for students to begin thinking like scholars, they must be placed in an environment that supports a community of practice that operates according to scholarly behaviors. Professional learning activities for teachers must include strategies that effectively increase engagement, critical thinking, and dialogue as methods of developing student agency.

Providing students with numerous opportunities to contribute to thought-provoking discussions surrounding content increases student participation and willingness to present their ideas related to topics of instruction. Moreover, as teachers improve their capacity for using higher-order questions to guide student discourse, they also are able to more readily perceive student misconceptions and redirect students with questions that allow them to revisit their thinking, dialogue with their peers, and choose a different approach or conclusion (Johnson, et al., 2013).

Student-centered classrooms that employ substantive conversations promote voice, choice and learner identity. In this type of environment, students learn to negotiate meaning through a structure that shifts the responsibility of learning from teachers to the students.
Resources
Anderson, R. " Being a Mathematics Learner: Four Faces of Identity," The Mathematics Educator (2007).

Carpenter, T.P., & J.A. Dossey, J.L. Koehler (Eds.). Classics in Mathematics Education Research (Reston, Va.: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, 2004).

Echevarría, J., M. Vogt, & D. Short. Making Content Comprehensible for English Learners: The SIOP Model, fourth edition (Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson Education, Inc., 2012).

Goldsmith, W. " Enhancing Classroom Conversation for All Students," Phi Delta Kappan (2013) 94(7), 48-52

Johnson, P., & V. Betancourt, A. Villarreal, R. Rodríguez. Synthesis of Effective Teaching Strategies and Practices - A Handbook for Secondary Mathematics and Science Teachers (San Antonio, Texas: Intercultural Development Research Association, 2013).

Schoen, H.L., & K.J., Cebulla, K.F. Finn, C. Fi. " Teacher Variables That Relate to Student Achievement When Using a Standards-Based Curriculum," Journal for Research in Mathematics Education (2003).

Vanderhye, C.M., & C.M. Zmijewski Demers. " Assessing Students' Understanding through Conversations," Teaching Children Mathematics (2007).
Paula Johnson, M.A., is an associate at IDRA. Comments and questions may be directed to her via email at paula.johnson@idra.org.

Download our list the seven strategies for instruction of English learners in science

Listen to Substantive Conversation in the Classroom - IDRA Classnotes Podcast

[©2016, IDRA. This article originally appeared in the May 2016 IDRA Newsletter by the Intercultural Development Research Association. Permission to reproduce this article is granted provided the article is reprinted in its entirety and proper credit is given to IDRA and the author.]

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Role of Conversation in the Classroom - Promoting Student Voice through Instructional Dialogue - IDRA

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Teachers know it is not enough to be proficient in the subject area they are teaching. They also must have an understanding of pedagogy, or how students learn, particularly across the diverse learning environments we see today. A key strength is the ability to employ instructional strategies that engage students in academic discourse.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Assessment activities should be quick, enjoyable, and versatile. That's because formative assessment is best when it's ongoing and consistent. Teachers use it in their classrooms to provide critical feedback to students. It helps them to monitor and modify their instruction methods and lesson plans to improve learning outcomes. That's why we must use a variety of assessment activities and change them up frequently to stimulate both students and themselves.

Here's a list of awesome formative assessment activities that we like. They're creative, low-tech, fun and engaging for students. Best of all, they're easy for a teacher to implement on an ongoing basis anytime.

15 Formative Assessment Activities You'll Love Using

Formative assessment is an assessment that's both for learning and as learning. This continual cycle of feedback and improvement makes learning useful and effective. Try these assessment activities with your students and see the results for yourself.

1. Peer Quizzes: Students can write their own questions about the content and then quiz each other. They would also spend time going through the incorrect answers with each other to heighten their understanding.

2. 5x5 Journal: Journalling has been proven to be one of the best reflection tools around for learning. Have students journal about the five most interesting ideas they discover during a lesson. Next, they identify five things that resonate with them about each one and explain why.

3. Past Postcards: Have students adopt the personality of a historical figure and write a postcard to another historical figure from the same era. They can discuss a significant event from history that has just occurred.

4. Cool Collages: Ask students to make a collage or poster from magazine photos for demonstrating their understanding of a concept. They can use standard art materials or use apps designed for drawing.

5. Talk it Out: Students can host their own talk show and discuss the important points of any lesson. They write their own questions and answers, and can even play characters of their own creation.

6. Daring Doodles: Challenge students to use a drawing rather than words to show understanding of a concept. This is the perfect exercise for those kids who have difficulty speaking out in class.

7. Exploration Table: At the end of class, each student answers the following questions presented to them on index cards:

What did we do in class?

Why did we do it?

What did I learn today?

How can I apply it?

What questions do I have about it?

8. 3-2-1: Have students write or talk about 3 things they learned, 2 things they still want to learn, and 1 question they have. These values are interchangeable and can be used in different combinations, or with different questions altogether.

9. Four Corners: This is a great way to encourage dynamic movement while learning multiple-choice questions. Designate each corner of the classroom to represent A, B, C, and D. Students go to the corner that they believe corresponds with the correct answer.

10. Traffic Cards: Students create index cards with a large green marker circle on one side and red on the other. If they are following along and understanding the lesson, the green side of their card is upright and visible to you. When they do not understand something and need clarification, they flip the card to show you the red side. Here is an alternative method that can be downloaded for free and printed on coloured card stock for quick use.

11. Twitter Board: Students summarize what was learned in a lesson using 140 characters. Pin small strips of paper to a poster or cork board to resemble a Twitter feed.

12. Top Ten Lists: Students can write out their ten most important takeaways from a lesson plan or a class discussion. Encourage them to create lists that are humourous and fun.

13. Roll the Dice: Put a die at each desk. At the end of class, each student rolls and briefly answers aloud a question based on the number rolled:

1. I want to remember ...

2. Something I learned today

3. One word to sum up what I learned

4. Something I already knew

5. I'm still confused about ...

6. An "aha" moment that I had today

14. Enthusiasm Example Chart: Here's a great chart for not only collecting feedback but also introducing scatter plots to students. Students rank what they learned that day and how much they enjoyed the lessons. They then elaborate on a Post-It, offering details about what they found helpful to them in having a successful learning day. They can also share what prevented them from having a fulfilling day. Compile the data and discuss it in class the next day.

15. Quick Quotable: Have students create two columns on a piece of paper. On one side have them write 5 or 6 of their most favourite quotes from people they admire. In the adjoining column, have them write their own interpretation of the what the quote means to them and why it appeals to them. If they're feeling good about it, have them consider what makes a great quote as they write their own about ideas that are important to them.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
15 Assessment Activities That Are Fast, Fun, and Formative

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Assessment activities should be quick, enjoyable, and versatile. That's because formative assessment is best when it's ongoing and consistent. Teachers use it in their classrooms to provide critical feedback to students. It helps them to monitor and modify their instruction methods and lesson plans to improve learning outcomes.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Innovative formative assessment examples are part of what defines any modern classroom. They provide crucial information about what students understand and what they don't. These ungraded assessments are also valuable guides for students. It can help them enhance their performance. Teachers can use them to determine if further instruction is necessary.

Using innovative formative assessment strategies consistently and effectively removes the surprises from getting final grades. When integrated into teaching and learning on an ongoing basis, students can constantly improve and excel.

Formative assessment is assessmentaslearning. In other words, feedback is used to improve learning. One important tip from our best-selling bookMindful Assessment, is that when a number is provided, the learning stops:

"... a parent teaching a child to cook would never say, "That was 74 percent." Instead, the parent would watch, demonstrate, and allow the child a chance to get better. These acts of mindful nurturing and guidance are examples of natural learning, and we perform them instinctively."

With this in mind, think of formative assessment as not necessarily identifying what was done well or correctly. Instead, it places focus on what opportunities there are to improve.

Innovative Formative Assessment: 10 Useful Approaches

Formative assessment is assessment for learning and as learning. This continual cycle of feedback and improvement makes learning useful and effective. What follows are 10 innovative formative assessment strategies for teachers to try out.

Analyzing Student Work

A great deal of information can be learned from students' homework, tests, and quizzes.This is especially so if the students are required to explain their thinking. When teachers take the time to analyze student work, they gain knowledge about:

A student's current knowledge, attitudes, and skills about the subject matter

Strengths, weaknesses, and learning styles

Need for further, or special, assistance

This approach lets teachers modify their instruction to be more effective in the future.

Round Robin Charts

This strategy involves passing charts among groups to assess understanding. Each group of 4 or 5 students begins with a chart and some markers. The group records an answer to an open-ended question. They can also share the knowledge they have on a topic covered in class. Once the students finish the chart, they pass it on to the next group. Once every group has worked on every chart, responses are discussed as a class.

Strategic Questioning

Questioning strategies may be used with individuals, small groups, or the entire class. Effective formative assessment strategies involve asking students to answer higher-order questionssuch as "why" and "how." Higher-order questions require more in-depth thinking from the students. They can help the teacher discern the level and extent of the students' understanding.

3-Way Summaries

The idea here is to use different modes of thinking and attention to detail. Students can work in groups or individually. In response to a question or topic inquiry, they write three different summaries:

10-15 words long

30-50 words long

75-100 words long

You can even have students use Twitter. Chances are you've got a lot of students who use it already. They'll have experience communicating messages with minimal wording and characters.

Think-Pair-Share

This is one of the many formative assessment strategies that is simple for teachers to use. The instructor asks a question, and students write down their answers. Students are then placed in pairs to discuss their responses. Teachers are able to move around the classroom and listen to various discussions. It lets them gain valuable insight into levels of understanding.

3-2-1 Countdown

This is a true test of relevant and meaningful learning. When students learn something they find useful, they're likely to want to use that learning in some way. Have students end the day with this one. Give them cards to write on, or they can respond orally. They are required to respond to three separate statements:

3 things you didn't know before

2 things that surprised you about this topic

1 thing you want to start doing with what you've learned

You can also ask them different kinds of questions. These are suggestions, so feel free to make up your own.

Classroom Polls

Polls let students give responses quickly and accurately. A silent poll is perfect for those "shy" students who have trouble speaking up.These are also a quick way to check understanding using mobile technology. Try tools like Poll Everywhereor SurveyPlanet.

Exit/Admit Tickets

A simple but effective formative assessment is the exit ticket. Exit tickets are small pieces of paper or cards that students deposit as they leave the classroom. Students write down an accurate interpretation of the main idea behind the lesson taught that day. Next, they provide more detail about the topic.

Admit tickets are done at the very beginning of the class. Students may respond to questions about homework, or on the lesson taught the day before.

One-Minute Papers

One-minute papers are usually done at the end of the day. Students can work individually or in groups here. They must answer a brief question in writing. Typical questions posed by teachers centre around:

Main point

Most surprising concept

Questions not answered

Most confusing area of a topic

What question from the topic might appear on the next test

Without formative assessments, the first indication that a student doesn't grasp the material is when they fail a quiz or a test. An innovative formative assessment strategy like this can take failure out of the classroom.

Creative Extension Projects

Students can create a large scope of projects to demonstrate comprehension. Quick projects help them apply the higher-order levels of Bloom's Taxonomy. These don't have to be big and complicated. They can take a day, a half-day, or even an hour. Here are some extension ideas for quick projects:

Create a poster or collage illustrating the subject matter

Record a rehearsed skit or podcast discussing the topics covered

Build a diorama about the subject and create a narrative behind it

Let students design their own flashcards to test each other with

Keynote presentations made by students on the topic

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
10 Innovative Formative Assessment Examples for Teachers to Know

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Innovative formative assessment examples are part of what defines any modern classroom. They provide crucial information about what students understand and what they don't. These ungraded assessments are also valuable guides for students. It can help them enhance their performance. Teachers can use them to determine if further instruction is necessary.