LearningTimes Green Room

Susan and Dan are joined by Paul Stacey of BCCampus who describes Dare2BDigital, an innovative online reality game show showcasing online learning across British Columbia, Canada.

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Show Notes:

Susan and Dan are joined by Paul Stacey, Director of Development for BCcampus, a system wide service agency focused on online teaching and learning for the colleges in his Canadian province.

He shares the latest on a very innovative program called Dare2BDigital, a collaborative project among British Columbia’s public post-secondary institutions.

This is an online showcase offered as a reality game show. Teams of students were presented with a weekly challenge, similar to what they might experience in an exemplary online course. And it is not just the students who get involved; audience members have the opportunity to interact, vote, and have a say in what happens through social networking.

Where did they get students? They advertised in student newspapers and invited teams to apply. They started with 6 teams of 4 students each from 5 different colleges. It was a mixed group in terms of whether they’ve taken online courses.

Surprised and delighted describes the view of how the student teams have responded to the challenges. They have been amazingly professional and creative. Some of the topics showcased: deep space science and astronomy, great unsolved Canadian mysteries, energy and alternative energy, universal design.

Sponsors put up $35-40,000 in prizes for teams and the audience! Sandy Hirtz (also from BCcampus ) did a lot of the networking with sponsors.

The faculty who developed the challenges either have online experience or are migrating online.

The biggest surprise? That they got teams, faculty, sponsors and everyone to come together. Also, the quality of student work and the dedication of judges went way beyond expectations.

Sorry to disappoint listeners, but you’ll have to look at the archives because Dare2BDigital has ended. And Paul is investigating the future! (We are all hopeful there will be a second season.)

Listeners, please go check out the site: http://event.dare2bdigital.ca

You can respond using the “Comments” link below or talk to us in LearningTimes. Or call us at 1-800-609-9006 x8055 (US and Canada) or 678-255-2174 x8055 (outside US and Canada). Join us!

In this episode Susan and Dan tell a story! The story is how to use “story” for instructional purposes.



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Show Notes:

In this episode Susan and Dan tell a story! The story is how to use “story” for instructional purposes.

Long ago information was transmitted through story. The printed word changed much of that. Susan was reminded of the power of story in reading Daniel Pink’s “A Whole New Mind.”

Annette Simmons writes on the value of story in “The Story Factor.” The story is like a mini documentary of what you’ve seen so others can see it too. It is a tool for sharing a point of view.

Story is one way of contextualizing information. Gaming is about putting people into a story. Your ability to step inside a story helps humanize the learning and may help develop a sense of empathy.

Robert Dickman writes that a story is a fact wrapped in an emotion which then can compel us to take action.

Medical education has a long history of involving story in teaching by way of case studies and scenarios. Those same strategies can be used in other disciplines. Getting students engaged in solving a problem, making a recommendation, or breaking up problem down into simpler components are methods of using story.

One of the key components of the story is a problem. Sometimes we get too caught up on focusing on the solution they need to look at the problem.

Susan likes story upfront as an introduction. Dan suggests that different strategies may promote more multimodal learning. Fire, passion, or energy are easily transmitted through story.

Dan and Susan then share their experience with Learning Scenarios Online, a novel way of offering online learning through a Valencia College. These courses are short online professional development opportunities where the learners follow the characters through a plot and modular activities that promote problem-solving and insight.

What makes a good story? Dan says a good story includes a point of view that is different from his own. Susan needs a character she can relate to or needs to know enough about the character. Dan looks for a story to take him to a new place, a different resolution.

Obviously, depending on how you are teaching with story, you might not always want to give the story and ending. Students need to find the ending! Dan reminds us that while there should be multiple paths, these cannot be too obvious or too obscured.

Dan further explains Learning Scenarios Online. We encourage listeners to look into that at http://www.learningscenariosonline.com.

Listeners, let us hear your stories about using story in teaching and learning! Or share resources!

You can respond using the “Comments” link below or talk to us in LearningTimes. Or call us at 1-800-609-9006 x8055 (US and Canada) or 678-255-2174 x8055 (outside US and Canada). Join us!