What is mind mapping? How can it be an effective tool for making connections between concepts? How can it help us process knowledge more effectively? Join Rob and Jared as they discuss how mind mapping can help students and teachers work through ideas.

Please take this opportunity to fill out our end-of-the-year survey. This survey should take 5-10 minutes, and your responses are anonymous. If you would like to be entered for the Uncommon Sense Teaching drawing, you can share your name and email address at the end of the survey. Even if you enter the drawing, your survey response will still remain anonymous. 

View a transcript of this week's episode.

Resources

• The Ultimate Book of Mind Maps - Tony Buzan
• Learning with concept and knowledge maps: A meta-analysis - Nesbit, J. C., & Adesope, O. O.
• FOCUS Blog - Cedarville University CTL

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What impact can familiar and unfamiliar music have on students in teaching? Do beats per minute correlate to cognition? Join Rob and Jared as they reflect on their interview with Dr. Deforia Lane and discuss the usage of music in education.

Please take this opportunity to fill out our end-of-the-year survey. This survey should take 5-10 minutes, and your responses are anonymous. If you would like to be entered for the Uncommon Sense Teaching drawing, you can share your name and email address at the end of the survey. Even if you enter the drawing, your survey response will still remain anonymous. 

View a transcript of this week's episode.

Resources

• FOCUS Blog - Cedarville University CTL

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What happens in the brain when music is played? How can music be used for teaching and learning? Join Rob and Jared as they chat with Dr. Deforia Lane (PhD in Music Education & Music Therapy from Case Western Reserve University) about how educators can use music to influence their students’ success.

Please take this opportunity to fill out our end-of-the-year survey. This survey should take 5-10 minutes, and your responses are anonymous. If you would like to be entered for the Uncommon Sense Teaching drawing, you can share your name and email address at the end of the survey. Even if you enter the drawing, your survey response will still remain anonymous. 

View a transcript of this week's episode.

Resources

• FOCUS Blog - Cedarville University CTL

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What are the benefits of personal storytelling in the classroom? How can an anecdote enhance or support direct instruction? Join Rob and Jared as they discuss their own views on storytelling and reflect on their conversation with Dr. Q.

Please take this opportunity to fill out our end-of-the-year survey. This survey should take 5-10 minutes, and your responses are anonymous. If you would like to be entered for the Uncommon Sense Teaching drawing, you can share your name and email address at the end of the survey. Even if you enter the drawing, your survey response will still remain anonymous.

View a transcript of this week's episode.

Resources

• FOCUS Blog - Cedarville University CTL

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What are Dr. Q’s essentials for good storytelling? How can storytelling be used as an effective tool for teaching and learning? Join Rob and Jared as they chat with Dr. Quentin Schultze (PhD in Communication from the University of Illinois - Urbana) about how he uses storytelling to connect with his students and make content more memorable.
 
Please take this opportunity to fill out our end-of-the-year survey. This survey should take 5-10 minutes, and your responses are anonymous. If you would like to be entered for the Uncommon Sense Teaching drawing, you can share your name and email address at the end of the survey. Even if you enter the drawing, your survey response will still remain anonymous. 

View a transcript of this week's episode. 

Resources 

• You'll Shoot Your Eye Out!: Life Lessons from the Movie A Christmas Story – Quentin Schultze 
• FOCUS Blog - Cedarville University CTL 

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What are some studies that have demonstrated the effectiveness of gamification? How can the work that others have done to gamify their classes help you? Join Rob and Jared as they discuss examples from five different gamification studies.

Please take this opportunity to fill out our end-of-the-year survey. This survey should take 5-10 minutes, and your responses are anonymous. If you would like to be entered for the Uncommon Sense Teaching drawing, you can share your name and email address at the end of the survey. Even if you enter the drawing, your survey response will still remain anonymous. 

View a transcript of this week's episode.

Resources

• Impact of Gamification on Students’ Learning Outcomes and Academic Performance: A Longitudinal Study Comparing Online, Traditional, and Gamified Learning - Lampropoulos & Sidiropoulos
• How Gamification Boosts Learning in STEM Higher Education: A Mixed Methods Study - Ortiz‑Rojas; Chiluiza; Valcke & Bolanos‑Mendoza
• Gamification during Covid-19: Promoting active learning and motivation in higher education - Rincon-Flores & Santos-Guevera
• Higher Education Students’ Assessments towards Gamification and Sustainability: A Case Study - Santos-Villalba; Olivencia; Navas-Parejo & Benitez-Marquez
• Stats Kwon Do: a Case Study in Instructional Design, Multimedia and Gamification of Instruction - Coffland & Huff
• Mayer’s 12 Principles of Multimedia Learning

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If you gamify your class, how do you ensure that students remember content, not just the game that they played? What would it look like if you wanted to integrate learning into a game? Join Rob and Jared as they chat with Dr. Daniel Singletary (EdD in Educational Technology, Boise State University) about how gamification can be used to motivate students.

Please take this opportunity to fill out our end-of-the-year survey. This survey should take 5-10 minutes, and your responses are anonymous. If you would like to be entered for the Uncommon Sense Teaching drawing, you can share your name and email address at the end of the survey. Even if you enter the drawing, your survey response will still remain anonymous. 

View a transcript of this week's episode.

Resources

• FOCUS Blog - Cedarville University CTL

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• Connect with us via LinkedIn
• Contact us at [email protected] with any questions

What are the differences between gamification and game-based learning? How can one small “gamifying” step increase student engagement and make content stick? Join Rob and Jared as they define gamification, consider the underlying frameworks associated with gamification, and share some easy applications.

Please take this opportunity to fill out our end-of-the-year survey. This survey should take 5-10 minutes, and your responses are anonymous. If you would like to be entered for the Uncommon Sense Teaching drawing, you can share your name and email address at the end of the survey. Even if you enter the drawing, your survey response will still remain anonymous. 

View a transcript of this week's episode.

Resources

• Self-Determination Theory - Deci & Ryan
• Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience - Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
• The Octalysis Framework for Gamification & Behavioral Design - Yu-kai Chou
• FOCUS Blog - Cedarville University CTL

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What do gaming, storytelling, and music have in common? Can they be used in innovative ways in our teaching practices? Join Rob and Jared as they begin a new series where they will explore how these seemingly uncommon applications in education could be used in innovative/common ways.

Please take this opportunity to fill out our end-of-the-year survey. This survey should take 5-10 minutes, and your responses are anonymous. If you would like to be entered for the Uncommon Sense Teaching drawing, you can share your name and email address at the end of the survey. Even if you enter the drawing, your survey response will still remain anonymous. 

View a transcript of this week's episode.

Resources

• FOCUS Blog - Cedarville University CTL

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• Connect with us via LinkedIn
• Contact us at [email protected] with any questions

How can teachers use brain science to design more effective lessons? What do metaphors, working memory, and even a “quadrapus brain” have to do with student learning? In this extended episode, Rob and Jared chat with Dr. Barbara Oakley, author of Uncommon Sense Teaching, about how metaphor and clear direct instruction help both “race cars” and “hikers” learn more deeply.

Please take this opportunity to fill out our end-of-the-year survey. This survey should take 5-10 minutes, and your responses are anonymous. If you would like to be entered for the Uncommon Sense Teaching drawing, you can share your name and email address at the end of the survey. Even if you enter the drawing, your survey response will still remain anonymous.

View a transcript of this week's episode.

Resources

• Uncommon Sense Teaching: Practical Insights in Brain Science to Help Students Learn – Oakley, Rogowsky & Sejnowski (Amazon)
• Learning How to Learn – Dr. Barbara Oakley (Coursera)
• FOCUS Blog - Cedarville University CTL

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• Contact us at [email protected] with any questions