Digital Learning Blog

Bridging and edX

By Gregor Kiczales posted on September 14, 2014

The UBC Flexible Learning Strategy lists bridging as one of three key opportunities “enabled by technology and changing societal expectations”.

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Office hours are more fun

By Gregor Kiczales posted on June 12, 2014

A lot of the talk about active learning focuses on improved learning outcomes.

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Bates and Grimson video and slides

By Gregor Kiczales posted on May 1, 2014

A few weeks ago we hosted Tony Bates and Eric Grimson together and spent a rewarding day talking about a range of topics related to digital learning.

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Online to improve on-campus

By Gregor Kiczales posted on April 14, 2014

Last week at UBC we hosted two visitors for a day-long consultation on our Flexible Learning work.

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Re: The last artisans

By Gregor Kiczales posted on March 28, 2014

Underlying much of the discussion about digital learning is a sub-current of tension about the changing role of faculty in undergraduate education.

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It’s what you can do that matters

By Gregor Kiczales posted on March 21, 2014

My Facebook news feed today points to an article in HBR Magazine about hiring practices at Automattic. The key point is that they use “tryouts, in which final candidates are paid to spend several weeks working on a project."

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Scanning exams

By Gregor Kiczales posted on February 20, 2014

Most of my posts have been about MOOCs and other “fancy” ways to use online technology in higher education. But there are lots of other ways online tools can be used to improve the student experience.

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It ain’t the MOOCs, it’s the channel

By Gregor Kiczales posted on January 20, 2014

Much of the recent discussion about learning innovation in higher education is focused on MOOCs. But there’s a more fundamental force at play, which is the emergence of the internet as a new channel between learners and educators.

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What on-campus students may be able to learn from MOOC students

By Gregor Kiczales posted on December 28, 2013

The fall term of UBC Computer Science 110 is now completely wrapped up. My Introduction to Systematic Program Design MOOC is based on this UBC course, which is itself based on the Program By Design curriculum.

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Are MOOCs the new textbooks?

By Gregor Kiczales posted on December 4, 2013

One way to think about the role that MOOCs may play in undergraduate education is to call them the new textbooks.

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