A History of the Studio-based Learning Model
"Studio-based instruction and learning has become a hot topic in K-12 education today. Knowing the origins of studio-based learning in education, as well as in art and architectural education can provide us with a deeper understanding of the purposes and goals of studio-based methods. Much can be gained by educators to the turn of the century for guidance in translating the new popular studio-based learning model developed in architectural education."
(Jeffery A. Lackney, 2 August 1999)
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
EDUCAUSE: 7 things you should know about flipped classrooms
"The flipped classroom is a pedagogical model in which the typical lecture and homework elements of a course are reversed. Short video lectures are viewed by students at home before the class session, while in–class time is devoted to exercises, projects, or discussions. The video lecture is often seen as the key ingredient in the flipped approach, such lectures being either created by the instructor and posted online or selected from an online repository. While a prerecorded lecture could certainly be a podcast or other audio format, the ease with which video can be accessed and viewed today has made it so ubiquitous that the flipped model has come to be identified with it.
The notion of a flipped classroom draws on such concepts as active learning, student engagement, hybrid course design, and course podcasting. The value of a flipped class is in the repurposing of class time into a workshop where students can inquire about lecture content, test their skills in applying knowledge, and interact with one another in hands–on activities. During class sessions, instructors function as coaches or advisors, encouraging students in individual inquiry and collaborative effort."
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
Collaborative peer learning through pair programming
"Pair programming is a style of programming in which two programmers work side–by–side at one computer, continuously collaborating on the same design, algorithm, code, or test. One of the pair, called the driver, types at the computer or writes down a design. The other partner, called the navigator, has many jobs. One is to observe the work of the driver, looking for defects. The navigator also has a more objective point of view and is the strategic, long–range thinker. Together, the driver and the navigator continuously brainstorm a solution. Periodically, the programmers switch roles between the driver and the navigator."
(Laurie Williams, 2007)
Williams, L. (2007). "Lessons learned from seven years of pair programming at North Carolina State University." SIGCSE Bull. 39(4): 79–83.
CONTRIBUTOR
Liam BirtlesSHARE
Limitations of the Decision Cycle Model of Interactive Interfaces
"One central idea missing from the decision cycle model is the notion that goals are often not fully formed in an agent's mind. As anyone who has ever tried to write an essay knows, we do not always act by moving through a decision sequence where we have a clear idea of our goal. Often we explore the world in order to discover our goals. We use the possibilities and resources of our environment to help shape our thoughts and goals, to see what is possible, and we have no clear idea of what we want to do any more than we always have a clear idea of what we are going to write before we begin the process of writing. This is a different orientation than the classical Cartesian view that we know things internally and just communicate fully intact thoughts in external vehicles. In this more dynamic interactionist view, the action of externally formulating thoughts is integral to internally formulating them too. We do not have a clear and distinct idea in mentalese awaiting expression in English or French. The very action of putting 'thoughts' in words helps to formulate them. If this is generally true about many of our actions it means that the goal of an interactive interface is not merely to allow users to do what they want to do, it must also allow them to discover what they want to do. ...
The overhaul I propose to the decision cycle model begins by noting that the way we cope with badly formulated goals and plans is by relying on two facts: we tend to operate in the same workplace over time, and we are usually clever enough to figure out on-line what we must do next. If one observes most creative activity it is apparent that there are both planful and improvisational elements to it. Creative activity is improvisational because agents are opportunistic -- they pursue ideas and possibilities as they emerge regardless of whether those ideas or possibilities have been anticipated. Creative activity is planful because the skilled agent tries to prepare the environment so that he or she has the greatest chance of stumbling on excellent ideas and possibilities. Thus, although an agent may not know, in advance, what he will create, he knows that by doing certain actions, or by arranging the environment in a certain way, or by laying out certain tools, he is doing the best he can to put himself in a position to recognize unimagined possibilities. This setting up the environment to facilitate on-line choice and improvisation I call preparation. It is a key component of skilled activity. There are others. To accommodate them in a decision model requires adding new forms of action, and new forms of interactivity throughout the decision cycle."
(David Kirsh, 1997)
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
SCALE-UP: solving the shortcomings in traditional physics instruction
"Studio/workshop classes such as SCALE–UP (Student–Centered Activities for Large Enrollment Undergraduate Programs) give instructors another choice by replacing the lecture/laboratory format with 4–6 hours of activity–based instruction per week, typically in 2–hour blocks. This format has several advantages over the traditional lecture/laboratory format. Because the entire class is taught in the same room with the same students and instructors in each class, all activities, including laboratory experiments, can be arranged to build on one another in sequence for greater learning impact (14) than when some activities are taught in small sections running parallel to the lecture course. When a lab section is taught as a separate course, it is often weeks or at best a few days ahead of or behind the lecture, and for some students, the lab course is not even taken in the same term as the lecture. Additionally, even in an interactive lecture, students can avoid instructors by hiding in the middle of the row, away from the aisles. In the studio format, instructors can freely circulate and interact with any group at any time."
(Robert Beichner and Jeffery Saul)
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
