Educational technology that is designed “with the brain in mind” can be a catalyst in facilitating learning.

On today’s episode, Dr. Michelle Miller draws from her research in neuroscience and cognitive psychology and shows us how to facilitate learning for minds online.
Podcast notes
Guest: Dr. Michelle Miller
Minds Online: Teaching Effectively with Technology
How do we use our memory resources to process information
Study of human cognition and thought processes

What College Teachers Should Know About Memory: A Perspective from Cognitive Psychology (June, 2011)
Journal of College Teaching

For the Internet generation, educational technology designed with the brain in mind offers a natural pathway to the pleasures and rewards of deep learning. Drawing on neuroscience and cognitive psychology, Michelle Miller shows how attention, memory, critical thinking, and analytical reasoning can be enhanced through technology-aided approaches. (Book description)
Effective teaching
Becoming an expert in a discipline, that journey from novice to expert... (Dr. Miller)

Not just facts; rich, interconnected network of knowledge
Skill acquisition
Motivation: Can't separate motivation, emotion, and cognition

Technology in education

Avoid the gadget-based approach
Interleaved learning: Mix-up the topics you're assessing...

Applied memory findings

The testing effect
The interleaving effect
The spacing effect

Minds Online
We made the internet to satisfy our needs and desires...
The myth of the tech savvy student

Students differentiate technology use
Skills and abilities from one domain don't always transfer over to another domain very well
Emphasizing why we are using a particular technology tool

Memory in the Internet age
Expertise and knowledge cannot be fully separated

Needed for problem solving
Speed necessity
Ability to perceive the connections

Motivating online students

Face-to-face context builds our skills and approaches to heighten motivation
These techniques are missing in the online environment
Procrastination is an even bigger factor
Distractions abound

 [Motivation] is not all about the points [in the online environment]. (Dr. Miller)
Recommendations
Bonni recommended Dr. Miller's book (Minds Online) and ClassTools.net’s Fakebook tool to create a fake Facebook page