The Law MicroStudio
As we mentioned in the last newsletter, the MicroStudio is up and running. In this video introduction to the space, Professor Horrigan demonstrates possibilities.
See below for resources reflecting educational concepts that may be of interest to you:
Constructive Alignment
December's book of the month is available as an ebook through the Library system. Read it on your Kindle or tablet.
Biggs, J., Tang, Catherine So-kum, & Ebooks Corporation. (2011). Teaching for quality learning at university what the student does (4th ed.). Maidenhead, England ; New York: McGraw-Hill/Society for Research into Higher Education/Open University Press
Content and Delivery
A couple of interesting reports; neither should be taken as a 'single source of truth' but they give a good overview of two important areas:
- The state of video in education 2015
- Learning to Adapt: Understanding the adaptive learning supplier landscape
Tech tools and ideas
Not everything has to cost money. Changes and additions to units can be made at little or no financial cost.
Have a look at the selection included here. These do not, at this stage, have support via eSolutions HelpDesk. They are worth a look however, as most could be used, in some capacity, in your teaching. The blue text links to further information and video.
- Kahoot - Kahoots are games and quizzes that can be embedded in your Moodle Unit.
- Quizlet - Great little micro-learning tool that is useful for learning LOTS (lower order thinking skills)
- EdPuzzle - This very easy-to-use product allows you to add interactive content to any video and provides analytics about students’ interactions with the video. EdPuzzle is easy to use and it's free!
- MySimpleShow - The 'Common Craft' style of video is becoming a little dated but they are still quite effective if used sparingly. Checkout MySimpleShow and make free videos that you can download or publish to YouTube.
- H5P - It's early days but this looks like a promising product that has a Moodle plug-in. Not quite stable yet, but a good one to keep your eye on. We’ve mentioned this in a previous Ed Newsletter.
- Filmora - This is an easy-to-use, video editing application. Its feature set is similar to Camtasia and, as with any tool, deciding between the two should be based on the task at hand. There is a free trial. Have a go and let us know what you think.
- Explain Everything - This is a flexible and widely used tool. In fact, it’s very popular in schools. Explain Everything is a neat little collaborative and interactive whiteboard tool. It's not free, but is easily affordable.
- *Bonus for Students* AudioNote - This app is easy to use and encourages students to take notes that align with lecture audio. Here's a video that demonstrates.
- Plickers - This provides a way of encouraging student participation in polling without the embarrassment of letting others know what choice has been made. The unique design of cards makes it difficult for students to check the cards of others before committing to an answer. Students hold up their card while the teacher uses a phone app to scan the room and ascertain a result. Simple and very clever. Standard cards are free.
Would you like to integrate some of these tech tools into your unit/s? Let us know, we're happy to work through a customised solution for your unit needs.
Webinars that may be of interest
Join the conversation, or just listen to some interesting webinars:
On the horizon
What are some of the hot topics on the agenda:
- A 'Netflix for Education'? Why LinkedIn's new product should give us pause
- Lost among the realities: A guide to Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Reality
- The Horizon Report - Higher Education 2016
Journals of interest
- Legal Education Review
- The Law Teacher
- Journal of Active Learning in Higher Education
- British Journal of Educational Technology
- Australasian Journal of Educational Technology
- AND … A Tertiary Practitioner’s Guide to Collecting Evidence of Learner Benefit
The Moodle 3.1 upgrade happened over the weekend ( 9 to 12 December). We now have access to new functions such as:
- Better interface labelling, organisation & navigation
- Improved support functions for large classes
- Additional quiz question types
- Greater consistency between modules
Several weeks ago Heath Graham (MU-OLT) hosted a webinar on Moodle 3.1 which covered all of the changes.
View the recording (55 Mins)
Peer Instruction/Assessment
Eric Mazur "Peer Instruction in Introductory Physics: A Method to Bring About Positive Changes in Students’ Attitudes and Beliefs".
News from the Lawfully Good Teaching Symposium
Thursday 1st December gave rise to the inaugural Making a Difference Teaching Symposium. It was hosted by Monash Law at MULC. For those of you who attended, here are some reminders from the day. For those unable to make it, here are some highlights.
Twitter competition winner: Marc Cheong, Faculty of IT. Picture below or follow this link to view the original.
Our Guest Speaker
Sarah Mason from UniMelb’s “Visible Classroom” project challenged us to rethink how and why we evaluate our teaching. Her session is available to view here.
Discussion Panel
Associate Professor Kris Ryan, from MU-OLT, facilitated a discussion on the influence technology is having in the workplace and the success or failure of faculties to keep up in providing students with exposure to necessary workplace information and skill development.
Panel members, Professor Bryan Horrigan (Law), Associate Professor Chris Wright (Medicine), Genevieve Grant (Law) and Jonathan Li (Electrical and Computer Systems Engineering) took us through a variety of ideas and posed principles for future implementation. View the discussion here.
Teaching Slams
These 7 minute presentations covered a multitude of topics and gave insight into teaching ideas that work. Slams were delivered by Monash staff from across faculties. Here is the video evidence. See the symposium website if you’d like to contact any of the presenters for further details.
BIG things: Gerry Nagtzaam (Associate Dean Education) - Gerry.Nagtzaam@monash.edu
Teaching and learning: Tammy Smith (Snr Educational Designer) - Tammy.Smith@monash.edu
All things visual: Amanda Wyness (Multimedia Specialist) - Amanda.Wyness@monash.edu
Administration concerns: Mike Neuzerling - mike.neuzerling@monash.edu
SETU and compliance information: John Page - John.Page2@monash.edu
Moodle and UGM assistance:
Lynda Ea or Komala Vaidhyanathan - law-ugadmin@monash.edu or law-pgadmin@monash.edu