Author Archives: coleeducationaldesigns

A classmate of mine, Mark Friesen, has been hosting a discussion forum entitled The “Enigma” of Feedback. He has been referencing research by John Hattie (2012) and quote that have resonated with me are that “while feedback is among the most powerful moderators of learning, its effects are among the most variable” (129), and that “[f]eedbackContinue reading “The Enigma of Feedback”

In Visible Learning, John Hattie (2009) lays out the methodology and findings of his meta-analysis of more than 800 research studies on the effects of a wide range of learning interventions, with the aim of differentiating between those with a negative or low level of influence from those that significantly enhance student learning.  Since nearly ALLContinue reading “Influences on Student Learning”

Hi everyone, Learning to do a whole bunch of new things lately like: create a blog create online survery and link it to this blog create an infographic learn how to embed it in my blog These skills are changing my opinion about…well, myself. I never thought I could do any of these things. ThisContinue reading “A Better Version”

Thinking about thinking lately has led me to wonder how students learn best. Below is a chart I recreated from a book I am reading now by Elizabeth Berkley (2010) called Student Engagement Techniques: A Handbook for College Faculty. The data shows that teaching others how to do something and practicing by doing make forContinue reading “Retention Rates from Different Instructional Strategies”

Teaching English for specific purposes like tests uses different teaching strategies and approaches than a typical language class. Students are under quite a bit of pressure and are motivated by results. If teachers spend time getting students to think about their performance, I will call this metacognitive awareness, students will notice their own improvement ratherContinue reading “Metacognition: Top 3’s for Test-Prep Classes”

Creativity and Creative Thinking – same but different. I believe that even if people do not think they are creative, they can use creative thinking strategies. Here is an infographic, pardon my first try, showing how teachers can take their students on a creative thinking road trip. Destination…. using creative thinking in everything we do.Continue reading “Same but Different”

Have you been asking yourself how to integrate activities into a lecture-based course to encourage the students to engage with the subject material, to facilitate interaction, or to change things up a bit? Integrating more critical and creative thinking is one approach to take, and another is to focus more on the application of knowledge.Continue reading “Nine Alternatives to Lecturing”

What are The Four Strands? The skills (reading, listening, speaking and writing) are categorized into 4 areas: meaning-focused input (I) meaning-focused output (O) language-focused learning (L) fluency development (F) To summarize the link above, here a list created by Paul Nation as a reference for teachers with classroom examples. Can you identify which ones are I,Continue reading “The Four Strands”

I think we can agree that a whole lot more than money and technological devices to strong education. In the field of ESL the use of technology both in and outside of the classroom varies widely. Some schools have smartboards, projectors and computer labs, others not even a chalkboard. The relationship between teacher beliefs andContinue reading “Digital Classrooms vs. Blended Learning vs. Flipped Classrooms”

What motivates me to keep going is the possibility that I might be able to inspire someone else the same way I was inspired. Here are some clips from the five-minute film festival put together by Edutopia to make you feel like the super hero you are. Teacher Appreciation – a reminder of why we doContinue reading “What Motivates Me?”