Don't you just love reading academic content in a one-size-fits-all format? Wait, you don't? Of course you don't! Who would? What a dry and terrible way to learn!
We have so many amazing learning aids available to us today that is is still fairly amazing to me that so many instructors hang all their hopes for student learning on textbook reading assignments and classroom lecture. We can do better. We have to understand that, while texts are important, they are not the be all and end all in learning. Read on, whether you currently agree or not. I've got an online presentation here that might help you or win you over.
We have so many amazing learning aids available to us today that is is still fairly amazing to me that so many instructors hang all their hopes for student learning on textbook reading assignments and classroom lecture. We can do better. We have to understand that, while texts are important, they are not the be all and end all in learning. Read on, whether you currently agree or not. I've got an online presentation here that might help you or win you over.
In keeping with the "learning should be engaging" theme, this presentation is provided in Prezi format. If you are not familiar with Prezi, you should be, especially if you are ever required to present information to other people in a visual format. PowerPoint is great and powerful, but you have to be a bit of a PowerPoint ninja to not bore the pants off of your audience. Prezis are extremely engaging and, because the presentations are hosted online, they are also extremely portable and shareable. Go to Prezi.com, learn more, and then spice up your next presentation with a touch of visual flair. Your audience might actually stay awake. For that matter, they might actually pay attention!
This presentation is free and open to anyone interested in it. Make a copy of it and edit it if you like. I assert no copyright over the content within this presentation. In fact, smarter people than me came up with the data. I strongly encourage you to reference the two reports I mention in the presentation. They are outstanding.
I hope this Prezi is helpful in convincing you that total reliance on a textbook for learning is ridiculous. Expecting today's modern learner to read hundreds of pages from a textbook and then discuss it at length in class is preposterous. For better or worse, those days are behind us. From here, we can either chose to adapt how we teach and still convey important information to our students, or we can choose to vainly hold on tight to yesterday's instructional model while wondering why our students aren't learning and blaming them for our own shortcomings.
Comments welcome! Fly (and teach) safely, my friends!
This presentation is free and open to anyone interested in it. Make a copy of it and edit it if you like. I assert no copyright over the content within this presentation. In fact, smarter people than me came up with the data. I strongly encourage you to reference the two reports I mention in the presentation. They are outstanding.
I hope this Prezi is helpful in convincing you that total reliance on a textbook for learning is ridiculous. Expecting today's modern learner to read hundreds of pages from a textbook and then discuss it at length in class is preposterous. For better or worse, those days are behind us. From here, we can either chose to adapt how we teach and still convey important information to our students, or we can choose to vainly hold on tight to yesterday's instructional model while wondering why our students aren't learning and blaming them for our own shortcomings.
Comments welcome! Fly (and teach) safely, my friends!