Create Dropdown Menu to Blogger

Learning how to customize a blog is fun and challenging. Today I added Resources Tab on the page, replaced the unadjustable Page gadget with HTML/Java.

For my own future reference, here is how to add/modify the drop-down menu: 

Using Airplay and Camera for Demonstration

Using iPad in classroom perhaps isn't fascinating news anymore but it is what I just started doing this semester. I think the no.1 tip I want to share is using airplay and camera for demonstration. When you have large groups of students, but have to demonstrate some skills that are neat in a small space (for my case, using micro-pipette)。 It will be difficult for students to observe and it takes forever for students to line up, and take a look one by one. Here is where an ipad or iphone camera can work just perfectly.
- Step 1: Project your PC or iMac screen to the overhead projector
- Step 2: Install Airplay on PC or iMac
- Step 3: Connect the iPhone/iPad with the airserver, mirror on the PC or iMac that's connected to the projector overhead
- Step 4: Your iPad screen should be right on the projector - then use the camera to zoom in, so students can see what you demonstrate from the big projector :)

Attribution Theory

Objective

            In attribution theory, “students attribute success or failure to a variety of factors such as ability, effort, luck fatigue, ease or difficulty of the exam and so forth, and their belief is shaped by their perceptions of why they have succeeded or failed in the past.” (Barkley, 2009)

Reflective

Motivation is an internal drive that directs behavior towards some end ( (Barkley, 2009). Motivation enhances learning by directing behaviors towards particular goals, increasing effort, energies, increasing the initiation of and persistence in activities. In cognitive process, motivated learners are more actively relating the knowledge and skill to real-life application of what they learn. (Eccles & Wigfield, 1985) Why do some learners get motivated by challenges while some lose their confidence? What is the psychological hidden psychological process that convince the students that they are competent and will succeed given making more efforts? Attribution theory shines some lights on these questions.

When the students experience desirable outcomes, attributions help them understand what caused these events so they can achieve the outcomes again. When they experience unpleasant outcomes, attributions help them identify and avoid the behaviors.

Are adults naturally self-directed learner?

This is the discussion topic that I initiated for my PIDP3250 (Instructional Strategies) study, and this has been a question that I've been thinking for a while. I decided to share my posts here as well.

Self-directed learning is "a process in which individuals take the initiative with or without the help of others, in diagnosing their learning needs, formulating goals, identifying human and material resources for learning, choosing and implementing appropriate learning strategies, and evaluating learning outcomes" (Knowles, 1975). In Staged Self-Directed Learning Model (SSDL) (Grow, 1991) model, it is proposed that learners advance through stages of increasing self-direction and teachers can help or hinder that development. Grow also pointed out that, the teacher’s purpose is to match the learner’s stage of self-direction and prepare the learner to advance to higher stages.

The stories begin here...

Welcome!

Thank you for visiting my blog! This blog is newly built for PIDP3250 Instructional Technologies. However I would like to keep it an ongoing logbook of my reflections, practices and exploration in teaching and learning. I will also move some of the posts from my previous blogs to here. :)

Cheers,

Tanya Tan