Prezi and Anatomy of Course Design

NOTE: Use the arrows to click through the Prezi. You can click "play" to watch the YouTube videos embedded in the Prezi; however, please click "pause" if you want to move forward before the video has completed.


Earlier in the week, I conducted a workshop in CTLT's Summer Blitz Series entitled "Anatomy of Course Design." We had a great turnout and an excellent discussion of several factors associated with the design and redesign of courses (face-to-face, hybrid, online). I used an online presentation option, Prezi (www.prezi.com), to organize the flow of the workshop (see my Prezi above). Prezi is an alternative to using PowerPoint and uses a unique philosophy in presentation design and delivery. Instead of a linear flow of slides, as in PowerPoint, your Prezi is constructed on a "canvas" and a path is created through various parts of the Prezi. This is an excellent way to demonstrate the integrated nature of the topics you are discussing and YouTube (and other flash-based videos) can be easily integrated into the Prezi. I invite you to visit the Prezi site to see some examples of very good Prezis (unlike my initial attempt above) and to reflect on how you could use this technology in your courses. An excellent use of this technology could be student-generated Prezi presentations that cover specific topics. The workshop earlier in the week touched on issues, in Dan Pink's book A Whole New Mind, such as design and symphony. Constructing a Prezi may allow students' to use their creativity to design a Prezi that synthesizes various elements of a topic in unique ways using text, images and video.

Please note that at the end of the Prezi above, entitled ANATOMY of Course Design, a stick figure can be seen in the background (this is the type of creativity that will take me places!)


If you have any thoughts on Prezi, please click comments and share them with us.

Daniel Pink on Motivation

On his Technology and Learning Blog, Joshua Kim recently had a post about grade inflation and the possibility that grades are a discouraging force in terms of student creativity and originality. In this post, he mentions a TED talk by Daniel Pink on the science of motivation (see presentation above). This is a truly interesting talk about motivation and the apparent mismatch between what scientists have discovered about motivation and current business practices. I invite you to watch Pink's TED presentation and think about how this topic might apply to higher education.

Top Ten Teaching Mistakes

The 2009 Teaching and Technology Forum recently concluded and it was an excellent opportunity to reflect on effective teaching practices centered around the theme of Connect-Engage-Empower. By contrast, a colleague recently sent me a link to a post at the Tomorrow's Professor Blog about the top ten teaching mistakes (written by Richard M. Felder). I am not sure if my friend was trying to send me a message or hoping I would share this post with the university community. In any event, I invite you to read the post linked below and provide your comments and thoughts on the list.

Top Ten Teaching Mistakes Post:
http://tomprofblog.mit.edu/2009/09/02/370/


Mistake #10. When you ask a question in class, immediately call for volunteers.
Mistake #9. Call on students cold.
Mistake #8. Turn classes into PowerPoint shows.
Mistake #7. Fail to provide variety in instruction.
Mistake #6. Have students work in groups with no individual accountability.
Mistake #5. Fail to establish relevance.
Mistake #4. Give tests that are too long.
Mistake #3: Get stuck in a rut.
Mistake #2. Teach without clear learning objectives.
Mistake #1. Disrespect students.