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Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Action Research in Education.

John Elliott (1991) defines action research as:
“Action research is the process through which teachers collaborate in evaluating their
practice jointly; raise awareness of their personal theory; articulate a shared conception of
values; try out new strategies to render the values expressed in their practice more
consistent with educational values they espouse; record their work in a form which is
readily available to and understandable by other teachers; and thus develop a shared
theory of teaching by research practice.”
   

About Active Learning

What is active learning?
  • Active learning is "anything that involves students in doing things and thinking about the things they are doing" (Bonwell & Eison, 1991, p. 2).
  • Felder & Brent (2009) define active learning as "anything course-related that all students in a class session are called upon to do other than simply watching, listening and taking notes" (p. 2).
  • Active learning strategies can be as short as a few minutes long.
  • Active learning techniques can be integrated into a lecture or any other classroom setting relatively easily. Even large classrooms can involve learning activities beyond the traditional lecture format.

Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Hair "Aquarius" AND "Let The Sunshine In" (the original Broadway cast)




Lyrics to Aquarius
When the moon is in the Seventh House
And Jupiter aligns with Mars
Then peace will guide the planets
And love, will steer the stars
This is the dawning of the age of Aquarius
The age of Aquarius
Aquarius!
Aquarius!
Harmony and understanding
Sympathy and trust abounding
No more falsehoods or derisions
Golden living dreams of visions
Mystic crystal revelation
And the mind's true liberation
Aquarius!
Aquarius!
When the moon is in the Seventh House
And Jupiter aligns with Mars
Then peace will guide the planets
And love, will steer the stars
This is the dawning of the age of Aquarius
The age of Aquarius
Aquarius!
Aquarius!
Aquarius!
Aquarius!
[ These are Aquarius Lyrics on http://www.lyricsmania.com/ ]

Thursday, February 19, 2015

Teaching in the 21st Century


 
 
 
 
I cannot comprehend questions like "Should I rent or buy?" or "Which credit card is the best for me?" if I have no knowledge of the basic facts of mathematics (ie. addition, multiplication, percentages, interest rates). How can you ask a student to find out the number of grains of sand on an average beach? Open-ended questions like this seem wonderful to ask, but create anxiety in our students since they usually aren't given the proper tools to answer the question and their short-term memories cannot hold all of the relevant information.

I do think that modelling appropriate behaviour and teaching certain skills is OK to do, but NOT as a substitution of basic facts and working knowledge. The more a student can commit to long-term memory, the more we empower our students to be able to answer the difficult questions they will face later in life.

Music Lessons Make You Smarter Infographic

Writing – Solutions to Mistakes | Halina's Thoughts

Writing – Solutions to Mistakes | Halina's Thoughts

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

About Future Learning

Spring Blog Festival: Future Learning | Mini Documentary:

 Students are the future, but what's the future for students? To arm them with the relevant, timeless skills for our rapidly changing w...
What is the future of education? Maybe this time we can consider how tech enhances - not replaces - traditional learning. 
  • How can education prepare students for living in the 21st century?
  • How can schooling change to meet meet the opportunities and challenges of the 21st century?
  • How can we prepare students to address "future-focused" issues such as sustainability, globalisation, citizenship, and enterprise?
Literature suggests we need to be future-oriented and adaptable, adopting a more complex view of knowledge, that incorporates knowing, doing, and being. Alongside this we need to rethink our ideas about how our learning systems are organised, resourced, and supported. 
 

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Spring Blog Festival: Future Learning | Mini Documentary

Spring Blog Festival: Future Learning | Mini Documentary:
Students are the future, but what's the future for students?
To arm them with the relevant, timeless skills for our rapidly changing w...

Sunday, February 8, 2015

HALINA'S LEARNING, TEACHING AND MUCH MORE....: Education Online The Latest State of Research

HALINA'S LEARNING, TEACHING AND MUCH MORE....: Education Online The Latest State of Research:

T here are both pros and cons of online education . Online learning should be seen as a complement and extension of classical forms o...

Education Online The Latest State of Research

There are both pros and cons of online education.

Online learning should be seen as a complement and extension of classical forms of learning. Not even the best online course can fully replace the personal contact with a teacher, or the human relationships that develop in a group.

All in all, traditional classes should not be replaced with online learning.


Saturday, January 31, 2015

The Secret to Learning a Language in 10 Days- Revealed!

Traditional Tips for Beginners
  1. You are like a new baby
    Babies learn their language slowly.
    First they learn to listen.
    Then they learn to speak.
    Finally, they can read and write.
  2. Listen to English every day
    Listen to English radio.
    Watch English TV.
    Go to English movies.
    Use online lessons.
  3. Make an English/ESL friend
    Make up conversations.
    Practise dialogues.
    Use beginner textbooks.
  4. Read English stories
    Start with children's storybooks.
    Try ESL readers.
    Read advertisements, signs and labels.
    Try EnglishClub.com for Young Learners.
  5. Write down new words
    Start a vocabulary (new word) notebook.
    Write words in alphabetical order (A...B...C...).
    Make example sentences.
    Always use an English-English dictionary first.
  6. Keep an English diary
    Start with one sentence.
    How do you feel?
    How is the weather?
    What did you do today?
    Write another sentence tomorrow.
  7. Visit an English speaking country
    Learn English more quickly.
    Stay with an English family.
    Hear native speakers talk.
    Have a fun experience.

Friday, January 30, 2015

USA FOR AFRICA - We Are The World




There comes a time when we hear a certain call
When the world must come together as one
There are people dying
And its time to lend a hand to life
The greatest gift of all

We can't go on pretending day by day
That someone, will soon make a change
We are all a part of Gods great big family
And the truth, you know,
Love is all we need

[Chorus]
We are the world, we are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day
So lets start giving
There's a choice we're making
We're saving our own lives
Its true we'll make a better day
Just you and me

Send them your heart so they'll know that someone cares
And their lives will be stronger and free
As God has shown us by turning stones to bread
So we all must lend a helping hand

[Chorus]

When you're down and out, there seems no hope at all
But if you just believe there's no way we can fall well well well well
Let us realize that a change can only come
When we stand together as one

eBook News

I've always felt that anything that attracts kids to reading it a good thing. From getting them to read books about movies that th...
 
Do you use eBooks?
Are you for paper books or eBooks?
What is the future of reading books?
Although the want for e-book services in libraries has grown, and so the number of people with e-readers, some difficulties still keep libraries from being able to provide the popular technology. Just recently have most big publishers agreed to sell e-books to libraries for public use. It has taken many years but publishers of electronic books now realize that libraries providing an e-book to patrons can be a huge opportunity for advertising and usually results in patrons becoming customers.

Monday, January 26, 2015

Course Feeds Connecting Online for Instruction and Learning Conference (CO15)



Online Conference CO15
Connecting Online for Instruction and Learning Conference (CO15)
Connecting Online for Instruction and Learning is a free 3-day Massive Open Online Conference (MOOC) on the first weekend of February. The conference started in 2009 with CO09. CO15 is the 6th annual event and is scheduled for February 6-8, 2015.
WizIq has been sponsoring the event since 2009. Participants will be able to access the webinars using the WizIQ desktop on a Windows Operating System and the WizIQ, Inc apps on their iPads and iPhones. Get the Apps for free.
The theme of the current free conference is connecting online for collaborative work. The topics will include learning, research, instruction, book authoring, and online teaching and learning in the public and the private sector.

Thursday, January 22, 2015

Halina's Conversational English Video



This is my opening class for Halina’s Conversational English Course on WizIQ.
I created this video to make it possible for everyone to get familiar with Virtual Classes and online teaching. You can see how I use the tools available on WizIQ.
I am very sorry about the quality of the recording. It is obvious that I have to improve my technical skills.
I am counting on your empathy and support.
Enjoy…..



Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Science of Learning


 
 
This is an excellent presentation        
 
 
The mission of the newly formed Science of Learning Institute is to understand the most essential part of our human capital: the ability to learn. The Institute supports research and application that seeks to understand learning at all levels of scientific inquiry—including how the brain changes through learning, how development and aging affects our ability to learn, how neurological and psychiatric diseases disrupt or change learning, and why there are such vast individual differences that naturally occur among learners. A central part of the mission is to understand how new technologies such as machine learning and new educational programs can optimize learning—whether it occurs in the informal setting of the playground, the more formal setting of a school, a rehabilitation program, or on-the-job training.