Threshold Concepts Symposium

The second international symposium on TCs concluded yesterday in Kingston, Ontario. The link from the heading is to some of my initial musings on my other blog. The paper to which you contributed in one way or another was in the very first slot of the conference, so I hope it contributed to setting the tone; the written version will be made available via this site in a week or two.

Are we talking threshold concepts?

OK, this is a little esoteric, perhaps. But you don't have to be familiar with the detail to engage with the principle. Are these sentences critical (if they so be) to the works of literature because they are threshold concepts or for other reasons?

Briefing for Study Day 10 May

The briefing paper for 10 May is now available to download as an Acrobat file; click on the heading to this post to open or download it.

Study Day 10 May

The second Study Day for first-year students will take place on the Polhill Campus on Saturday 10 May: the briefing paper will be available via this site, via BREO and your Centre in the course of the coming week.

This is to remind you to be ready to report on how you have used Threshold Concepts in your teaching since the first Study Day, and to check out on BREO how things have progressed within your Interest Group.

And---having established that Interest Group---we are inviting your suggestions as to how you might best use the Study Day opportunities next year. At your next meeting we shall be inviting you to make suggestions and to plan together for the next two meetings. Give it some thought and share your ideas on BREO so that you are prepared when you meet!

Fancy a smartboard for $50?

Interactive whiteboards ("Smartboard" is a trade name) are popular, but also pricey. Watch this to find out how to make one for $50—notionally £25, but I'm sure more than that in practice. 80% of the functionality for around 1% of the price, the inventor claims. (Laptop and projector not included.)

And go to the link in the header of this post for more of Johnny Lee's inventions, including a steadycam mount for $14 (£7)

Education is often hijacked by suppliers who foist "must-have" electronic gizmos on us (like interactive whiteboard) soaking up resources which could be spent better on much less glamorous items, like books (heard of them?) It's a delight to find the spirit of improvisation is not dead, and that even an under-funded community project can have the latest stuff.

A couple of links for Basic Skills teachers

A correspondent who teaches ESOL in Minnesota strongly recommends this linked paper (you can download it, but it is big).

And as testimony to the site's usefulness, the "related links" feature takes you to The Impact of "Skills for Life" on Adult Basic Skills in England: How Should We Interpret Trends in Participation and Achievement? You can't get that directly from the site, but even the abstract is interesting.

ERIC is back!

I may be late getting this news, but ERIC is back.

Who he? Educational Resources Information Center is the largest largely open-access database of educational research in the world, courtesy of the US Department of Education. A few years ago they pulled the plug on the funding. A couple of sites struggled on, providing access to the database but not adding anything to it, but now it appears to be back in rude health, with over 3200 new resources added in the past month, and new search facilities.

Note that it can't always provide the full-text resources for free, but sometimes it can, and the ERIC "digests" provide superb overviews of selected topics. Bookmark it!