Day Two: Thursday, 22 July 2021

Papers 4:  Active / Engaged Learning In A Virtual Environment:

Ethical Choices—Reliable Sources

Caren Weinberg (Ruppin Academic Enter, Israel)

Evaluating for credible, authoritative, reliable sources. This exercise “tricks” the students into understanding first-hand the importance of checking sources and their personal responsibility in ensuring the reliability of any sources. The exercise has two teams debating the university’s investment strategy for the Coca-Cola Company. The students are given a very long and completely biased background document with no explanation. They have traditionally read the entire document and based their debate prep 100% on the document without questioning it. Only after the debate is there a discussion on the source of the document and their reliance on it.

Health Technology Innovation Generation with Exponential Technologies

Michael Friebe (Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg, Germany)

New 5 ECTS interdisciplinary (students from Engineering, Natural Sciences, Medicine) lecture that provides attendees with much needed 21st-century skills to address future health challenges and innovation needs. The online lecture combines several innovative methodologies, including BIODESIGN and the PURPOSE LAUNCHPAD. Besides some individual assignments and the completion of external online programs (e.g. OpenExO methodology), the students were assigned to mixed teams with a goal of jointly identifying unmet clinical needs, analyzing underlying problems, creating possible solutions, and validating the problem/solution with the stakeholders. All that was done completely virtually this semester with excellent and better than expected results.

Wikipedia Editing as a Tool for Student Engagement

Sigal Tifferet (Ruppin Academic Center, Israel)

Wikipedia is an open digital encyclopedia that serves millions of users worldwide. In the past, its credibility was challenged; today, however, it is considered a credible source for information. Students read Wikipedia entries mainly to understand core concepts in their field of knowledge. In this paper, I will present how editing Wikipedia entries can help advance students’ information literacy. I will present the assignment, the learning process, and the products created by the students. I will also offer some recommendations to teachers wishing to implement this teaching method in their courses.

Closer at a Distance: Learning Design Strategies for Social Presence in Spatial Design Education

Jolanda Morkel & Hermie Delport (STADIO Higher Education, South Africa)

This paper explores learning design strategies for social presence in blended and online learning. The study is located at a large private Higher Education Institution in South Africa, focusing on the new School of Architecture and Spatial Design. Online surveys conducted with a team of curriculum designers and content creators, followed by a focus group interview with the core team, provide the data for this qualitative study. We argue that social presence can be achieved through purposeful learning design. Such a process must include careful consideration of the student persona, co-design strategies, and an iterative and reflective approach.

01:39:42 Nikki Cousins, University of Aberdeen: So interesting and such a good teaching exercise. I am going to try this at some point. I have to pop to the dentist, so apologies, but will be back, thanks for this session Caren!
01:42:08 Avraham Roos: thank you. very interesting
01:42:25 Charlie Rathgeb-Weber: absolutely thrilling!
01:42:44 Alexandra Lehmann: I do s.th. similar, but not as “radical” as Caren. I give students a text which is also biased, but tell the students to read it twice: once as a text written by a scientist, and the second time as a text written as fake news. And then we debate about the differences. – But: Even then, when I ask, no one checks onthe author of the text … They all go like: “Well, you’re the teacher, you know what you’re doing with us…”
01:43:07 Hermie Delport: Thank you, loved the presentation content and your slides!
01:43:14 Diane Scharf: I do something similar with structured team debates. I provide roughly 8 sources that they “could use”. Some of these are more reliable than others, and then we see what they quote in the debate and how critically the teams respond to each other.
01:44:53 Lenka Mbadugha: @ Caren, interesting and very useful
01:48:01 Caren Weinberg: @Diane Scharf – that’s a great idea!
01:49:22 Caren Weinberg: @Alexandra – exactly – they never check! AMAZES me every year!
01:56:24 Anne Tierney: This popped up on Twitter, and is relevant to what Michael is talking about https://twitter.com/elaineagbrown/status/1417844972989128711?s=21
01:59:24 Janina Tosic: Check out Exponential Organizations, it is an Innovation Approach that works with the massive transformative purpose, Michael just talked about. Very powerful methodology that involves These future-oriented aspects: https://openexo.com/#/
02:00:36 Hermie Delport: Thanks, Janina.
02:04:05 Hermie Delport: This is a great evaluation tool, thank you!
02:06:14 Hermie Delport: I think it would be very interesting if you get a discipline that works with design from another perspective, such as architecture, involved.
02:06:54 Leda Panayotopoulou: Very interesting, thank you Michael
02:10:01 Hermie Delport: Congratulations!
02:10:08 Caren Weinberg: Professor Sigal Tifferet is THE BEST!
02:10:10 Lucie Viktorová: Yes, congrats!
02:10:28 Steve Tucker: Huge congratulations Prof Sigal!
02:12:26 Prof. Michael Friebe: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/351109123_FUTURE_of_HEALTH_–_CARTOONBOOK_–_story_results_from_the_global_SciFi_Hive_Event_March_20_2021_–_PREDICT_PREVENT_PERSONALIZE_PARTICIPATE — if anyone is interested in the FUTURE of HEALTh cartoon book
02:12:54 Jolanda Morkel: Thank you, Prof!
02:13:37 Prof. Michael Friebe: And here the link to the PURPOSE LAUNCHPAD Meta-Methodology — https://www.purposelaunchpad.com
02:17:24 Caren Weinberg: https://www.naraview.com/
02:20:25 Jolanda Morkel: It is great to see the student’s process rather than only the final product of their learning.
02:20:30 alex mudd: wow!
02:21:49 alex mudd: thank you really interesting assignment
02:22:08 Jolanda Morkel: Excellent
02:22:41 Michael Habersam: Great: Very good idea to combine altruistic Action and individual Grading
02:24:52 Jolanda Morkel: What does the rubric look like? Is it difficult to assess?
02:25:08 alex mudd: mic problem, how many students were you overseeing?
02:26:25 Jolanda Morkel: Thank you – this is the kind of project where students might also co-create one?
02:26:45 alex mudd: I’m really interested in how I can adapt this to my topics with large cohort -0 thank you
02:26:54 Sigal Tifferet: WIKIPEDIA TALK LINKS
Link to the presentation: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qOzJVbCGOoyZy5COHhJTzvZ9e0ntxChX/view?usp=sharing
The Naraview game for all languages: https://www.naraview.com

For Hebrew speakers. You are welcome to use the following resources:
1. Create a copy of the assignment and modify it to your needs:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wlppWnBQ8-mXeZvw7QbYD29GssNCYpUcnatQm-zDLao/copy
2. Videos on Information literacy: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRC5hoHATlR8qhzI8u-fxg0oFOR6PSblZ
3. A guide to evaluating data on the web: https://www.tifferet.info/post/evaluate
4. A guide to editing Wikipedia: https://www.tifferet.info/post/wikipedia
02:28:37 Janina Tosic: Thank you Sigal for sharing these links! Very helpful
02:30:07 Alexandra Lehmann: Need to leave unfortunately for some time. See you later!
02:34:37 Janina Tosic: So great to see more people use Design Thinking for and in their teaching 🙂
02:41:08 Janina Tosic: Great idea to do an Instagram live stream with lecturers!
02:47:21 Janina Tosic: https://theradicallyinclusivestudio.org/
02:50:03 Jolanda Morkel: Agreed, the structural systems at Universities don’t always support innovative pedagogical intent.
02:51:12 Fadia Nasser-Abu Alhija: I very agree that we should focus on problem solving and soft skills
02:51:31 Jolanda Morkel: Design thinking or systems thinking help to prepare students for the unpredictable world we live in.
02:52:05 Hermie Delport: Agreed with problem-based learning and bringing in entrepreneurship.
02:52:39 alex mudd: not just a german problem
02:53:51 Jolanda Morkel: Students crave for ”realness” and honesty 🙂
02:53:59 alex mudd: exactly!
02:56:19 Janina Tosic: There is a private University that works a bit like what Michael is describing (CODE University in Berlin for Software Engineering, I think). First year is about personal development and focus on the students’ mindsets. Students work interdiscipinarily on projects. No real lectures or other traditional formats. They have to ask the lecturers for the content they need to drive their projects.
02:56:21 Diane Scharf: I have the same experience. Teaching on the Management and Economics programme, my modules are enriched when physicists, biologists, political scientists etc join us.
02:59:14 Hermie Delport: Collaborative learning is very important. In design projects teamwork usually happens only in the beginning of a project, in the research part. The real collaboration comes in solving problems together, as also explained by Prof Michael earlier.
03:00:58 Jolanda Morkel: Allow students to shift from being consumers to creators of learning that mimics the real life.
03:01:00 alex mudd: yes inspire from the beginning
03:01:10 Anne Tierney: PURPOSE is the most important concept. If you can show students the purpose, they can so anything.
03:01:16 Jolanda Morkel: The elephant in the room is grading…
03:01:24 Hermie Delport: Learning must be contextualised, finding the purpose.
03:01:46 Caren Weinberg: My students are GRADED on talking to people in industry!! They are graded on their process and not their product!
03:02:26 Anne Tierney: @Caren I think we should concentrate more on process than content
03:02:28 Jolanda Morkel: Excellent, Caren! Do you also use peer assessment (perhaps I missed it)?
03:02:57 Jolanda Morkel: @Janina, I agree! Yes for project-based learning!
03:03:48 Caren Weinberg: I bring in industry experts (entrepreneurs, investors) to give feedback in the end of each course – and require students to give peer feedback at each stage!
03:04:31 Jolanda Morkel: Can we not move away from numerical grading? Feedback rather than numbers?
03:05:24 Janina Tosic: Would love to ditch grades! Have been looking at ungrading for quite some time now…
03:05:52 Jolanda Morkel: If you grade the end product only, students don’t take risks.
03:06:07 alex mudd: so true
03:06:39 Jolanda Morkel: We used a scheme: outcomes achieved well/ not yet achieved/ just achieved
03:06:52 Jolanda Morkel: But the institution want numbers!
03:07:30 Diane Scharf: Caren: Your course sounds so impressive. I have no doubt all the students will profit from the process you describe.
03:07:39 Elizabeth Black: please go first – mic delay
03:09:44 Jolanda Morkel: And how does this play out in group work, Elizabeth?
03:10:23 Bela Gupta Pearl Academy: Thank You very much for wonderful sessions. See you again.
03:10:38 Anne Tierney: Bye Bela, have a lovely evening
03:11:29 Sigal Tifferet: I think it’s great! Being satisfied with the minimum!
03:11:47 Sigal Tifferet: Study if it’s interesting, nit for the grade
03:11:58 Elizabeth Black: Although – this goes to personal motivation and sense of purpose – exactly Diane!
03:12:35 Jolanda Morkel: What gets measured gets managed…unfortunately.
03:13:03 Elizabeth Black: That’s why we need to measure the right things. Back to assessing proccess rather than product.
03:13:06 Hermie Delport: Caren, that speaks to motivation and working with purpose.
03:13:08 Jolanda Morkel: Caren, does online learning play a role here?
03:13:39 Jolanda Morkel: In other words, are there students who did not do well on a campus, but flourish online?
03:14:22 Sigal Tifferet: @Jolanda, I find that minority groups may feel more comfortable to express themselves online
03:14:43 Elizabeth Black: I see mature students, who struggled in school, who find work-based learning at a later point in life to work much better for them. Online or in a classroom.
03:15:00 Hermie Delport: @Sigal, I agree. Anyone that is a bit shy in real life often can express themselves better/more online.
03:15:06 Jolanda Morkel: There are only good questions!
03:17:55 Jolanda Morkel: That begs the question, Anne: what motivates students to perform?
03:18:37 Jolanda Morkel: Students want to know someone cares. They feel obliged not to let their teacher down.
03:19:01 Elizabeth Black: Absolutely Birgit! And there has been so much self-care focus on this I feel lately as well.
03:19:09 Charlie Rathgeb-Weber: Got the message
03:19:16 Sigal Tifferet: Exactly
03:19:45 Caren Weinberg: different students prefer different learning environments – but we only provide one… and most likely not the best one!
03:19:50 Sigal Tifferet: I often tell them, if you want to do a 60 project, let me know
03:19:57 Jolanda Morkel: Some students perhaps simply need more time to perform
03:20:02 Sigal Tifferet: and I will give you the fitting instructions
03:20:08 Hermie Delport: Thank you, this has been very interesting.
03:20:14 Hermie Delport: It was great being here.
03:20:37 ooi wei: Thanks all!
03:20:37 Caren Weinberg: Great session – thanks Janina and other presenters and for all the questions and comments!
03:20:39 Jolanda Morkel: Thank you for the excellent presentations and discussion!
03:20:41 Elizabeth Black: Thanks everyone!
03:20:49 Anne Tierney: Thanks everyone – great discussion!
03:20:54 Leda Panayotopoulou: Thank you, very insightful presentations
03:20:56 alex mudd: Thanks everyone, really interesting
03:20:56 Charlie Rathgeb-Weber: Massive respect!