Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Engaging Learners with New Strategies and Tools

I've embedded an interactive graphic organizer made with Prezi for this blog assignment. If you're not familiar with Prezi, there are just a couple of things to be aware of to view the organizer easily. Both the Reflection section and the Why/Benefits section of the assignment are inside the Prezi.

Recommended Viewing Instructions
  1. Click on the arrow in the bottom middle of the Prezi to activate the organizer.
  2. After you click on the main arrow, you'll see some more menu options appear. Click on the light gray "More" in the bottom right of the Prezi window, then select "Full Screen."
  3. Click on the Arrow in the bottom middle of the screen to move through the graphic organizer.
  4. To see it all, keep clicking until you see "The End."
Optional: (While in full screen mode, click on the "target circle" in the lower right (it's just to the left of "More") to zoom out and see the whole organizer at a glance.)

Thanks!

8 comments:

  1. Hey Mike, I am bummed I wasn't able to load the prezi. It told me I have an error. Is it something I am doing wrong? It looks great from what I can see inside box, but I would really like to see your post. Thanks Karen

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  2. Hi Karen,
    Sorry that you had trouble viewing this. I had inadvertently set the Prezi as "Private," so that may have been the problem. I've fixed that.

    If you try it again and still have problems, you might try the direct link:
    http://prezi.com/r4azmdisrbb4/engaging-learners-with-new-strategies-and-tools/

    If that doesn't work, it would probably mean you'd want to update Flash on your computer.

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  3. Mike

    Awesome display. It looks like a fun program to work with. I am glad that all blogs I have read so far seem to post similar technologies. Your reasons and benefits were spot on. It seems natural to use these for distance learning.

    Cheers

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  4. Mike

    I love your concept of the graphic organizer. This is an excellent presentation. Congratulations man! One can always depend on the Prezi tool, it will never let let one down, unless we messed up in using it.

    You did explain the tools and their benefits. That's great.

    One question. Were we suppose to focus on the online learning environment only? I asked that because you mentioned 'meeting in person' as one of the tools of communication.

    Finally, I love the reflection at the end. It's great.

    Congrats on work well done.

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  5. Hey Mike, I thank you for checking posts and changing it so that it is not private. I loved your prezi presentation. I also liked how you referenced Bloom's taxonomy. I often think of the word "synergistic" to describe the last rung on his pyramid. I liked your personal philosophy assigning tasks to students and letting them choose their tools and medium! Thanks for a great post!

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  6. @Linda - Thanks!

    @Milton - Thanks! We actually use occasional face-to-face meetings in our online programs. Used well, I think they can help a ton. People always appreciate meeting a real person.

    @Karen - Thanks for coming back to check it again! I think the extension from Problem Based Learning is Challenge Based Learning. I don't know much about it yet, but it involved ill-defined problems, much like we'd face in real life. I think with the right group of students it could be very powerful.

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  7. Mike

    You are correct. Walden, for example, does use F2F when it conducts academic residency. It's expensive, but necessary.

    But can the secondary institution afford this, if and when online learning education captivates this level of education in the future?
    This is a question for another platform, there is no need to debate it now.

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  8. I support the others comments, excellent presentation and great tool, although it took me a few minutes to figure out how to go full screen, then navigate around the tool.

    ReplyDelete