In the first area of focus, getting students to work together collaboratively and creatively, I feel i have made some progress in the last couple of weeks. For example, we have a school-wide spelling bee every year,of which the first two rounds are completed on Scantrons, as I read sentences containing the spelling words. To practice, I set up teams of students who used word parts and other strategies to make meaning of the spelling words, and they competed in a kind of collaborative bee, in teams. Since I have some students who have difficulty with understanding print, and some with very limited vocabulary who do not understand how to arrive at correct pronunciation of difficult words, I set them up with print-to-text programs on the computer so they could become pronunciation experts and teach the others how to properly say some of the difficult words. In addition, students in my class are now teaching each other how to use develop research questions, how to use search engines to conduct research, and how to use Bib.me.org both to gather notes and create their bibliographies. In another class they are learning about the persuasive language of advertising, and are creating their own commercials in video form using advertising techniques and claims; at the same time they are developing an awareness of audience by using images to target a specific audience (usually kids their age). I still need to get us to collaborate with other classes outside our own walls, but I still have faith that that will happen late this year. Some ideas I have is to use virtual field trips and to use Skype as a communication tool, possibly with a parent in their workplace since one of my main goals is to explore careers.
In terms of the second area of focus, engaging in professional growth and leadership, I have been con a campaign to introduce teachers in my school to tools like Delicious, online document storage and sharing, and basic blogsites they can use with their students. I have spent a few hours in the last week doing just that. I also posted soem of the text-to-speech mp3s of spelling words made by my students on the Language Arts communication board, and shared what I had done with my colleagues at out learning community. One major stumbling block I have run into and which so far remains unresolved is that I noticed some time ago that at work we are using an outdated version of Firefox, but every time I tried to download a new version I would receive an error message saying that I did not have enough privileges. I spoke with the technology expert at our school, and he told me to call the district help desk. I made the call, and was on the phone for almost an hour, while the tech on the other end used remote access and all kinds of Uber-passwords, to try the download, to no avail. Finally I received an email saying that the situation was server-related and actually depended on the tech expert at our school. I forwarded the email to him, but have received no reply.Check but not mate -I'm going to keep pressing on to find a solution. I also discussed with a science teacher how we could find grants to replace the dying laptops in our carts, which is another issue. There is no money apparently to replace kaput batteries.
All in all, though, I am optimistic that things will change. Our principal is rather technology-oriented, although she has relegated all grant-writing to teachers, who typically have the least time for it. At least she allowed me to have a laptop cart in my room, and I am very grateful for that.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Resources and Information for My Game Plan
In order to assist students in working together collaboratively I would like to build a wiki where they can post research projects, blog, communicate with students in other classrooms. The first and primary obstacle that I and other teachers in my school are facing is the dwindling availability of technology resources. We have a number of laptop carts but the batteries are one by one dying, and there are no funds to replace them; so a priority is to research grants and apply for funding for technology, together with my peers and colleagues. Also the answer may not lie with more laptops, as there may be a less expensive solution. This is one real-world issue that students may be interested in collaborating as problem-solvers.
I need to tap into the wealth of experience among parents and the possibilities of engaging their help as expert speakers, as well as other professionals in the community who may be knowledgeable about topics that students are interested in; through the use of Skype virtual interviews are possible when face-to-face encounters are not. I need to develop genuine collaborations with teachers in other classrooms, even on other continents, that are tailored to the actual needs of our students and not "pre-fabricated" to suit the needs of someone else. I also need to prepare my students for encounters with cultures that are different from their own by using some of the lessons in the Building Bridges curriculum from the Peace Corps as discussed in Chapter 7 of our course text, found online at http://www.peacecorps.gov/wws/publications/bridges/. Videos are also informative and assist both visual and auditory learners.
Collaboration among middle school students is never easy, yet it is a crucial time for them to learn the value of positive social interaction. By beginning with small assignments, using tools such as rubrics, reflective assignments, and graphic organizers that assist them with developing collaborative skills, I can gradually increment the amount of time they can work together
In terms of keeping up with the latest innovations in educational technology, I subscribe to some RSS feeds that I read on an ongoing basis, but I need to develop a formal means of assessing what I read about and try out, such as a reflective journal of technology integration. This will also be beneficial to my goal of sharing my knowledge with my colleagues at school.
In terms of evaluation, the tools at my disposal currently are the remote response system that is part of the Promethean technology in my classroom, and the classroom blog; I can canvass students to get valuable feedback as well as brainstorm ideas, and the results from the response system can be immediately stored in an Excel file on my laptop. The blog is useful also for student reflections on the steps they are taking in projects and for commenting and providing advice for editing or additional information among students, and between students and me.
Cennamo, K., Ross, J. & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology Integration for Meaningful Classroom Use: A Standards-Based Approach. (Laureate Education, Inc., Custom ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning
I need to tap into the wealth of experience among parents and the possibilities of engaging their help as expert speakers, as well as other professionals in the community who may be knowledgeable about topics that students are interested in; through the use of Skype virtual interviews are possible when face-to-face encounters are not. I need to develop genuine collaborations with teachers in other classrooms, even on other continents, that are tailored to the actual needs of our students and not "pre-fabricated" to suit the needs of someone else. I also need to prepare my students for encounters with cultures that are different from their own by using some of the lessons in the Building Bridges curriculum from the Peace Corps as discussed in Chapter 7 of our course text, found online at http://www.peacecorps.gov/wws/publications/bridges/. Videos are also informative and assist both visual and auditory learners.
Collaboration among middle school students is never easy, yet it is a crucial time for them to learn the value of positive social interaction. By beginning with small assignments, using tools such as rubrics, reflective assignments, and graphic organizers that assist them with developing collaborative skills, I can gradually increment the amount of time they can work together
In terms of keeping up with the latest innovations in educational technology, I subscribe to some RSS feeds that I read on an ongoing basis, but I need to develop a formal means of assessing what I read about and try out, such as a reflective journal of technology integration. This will also be beneficial to my goal of sharing my knowledge with my colleagues at school.
In terms of evaluation, the tools at my disposal currently are the remote response system that is part of the Promethean technology in my classroom, and the classroom blog; I can canvass students to get valuable feedback as well as brainstorm ideas, and the results from the response system can be immediately stored in an Excel file on my laptop. The blog is useful also for student reflections on the steps they are taking in projects and for commenting and providing advice for editing or additional information among students, and between students and me.
Cennamo, K., Ross, J. & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology Integration for Meaningful Classroom Use: A Standards-Based Approach. (Laureate Education, Inc., Custom ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning
Thursday, January 13, 2011
My Game Plan
After reviewing the NETS_T standards on the International Society for Technology in Education website, I feel that two areas in which I have made considerable progress over the past few years have been are Model Digital Age Work and Learning, and Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility. With my peers, with parents, and with teachers I communicate frequently via email; with my students I communicate both via email when not in the classroom and through classroom blogs.For me, teaching digital responsibility and safety is crucial, so it is the first item on the agenda when I have embarked with students on inquiry and problem-solving projects; I have also attempted collaborations with teachers and students in other classrooms, although I would still like to achieve more in terms of true global collaboration.
Two areas in which I know I need further development and a higher sense of self-confidence are 1) Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity and 2)Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership.
In terms of goal setting for the first area,g, my goals are to enable students to work together collaboratively to work on solutions to real-world problems, to consistently engage students in reflective assessments of their own work, and to provide opportunities for students and me to collaborate with colleagues, professionals, and other members of the community both in virtual and face-to-face situations, in order to explore possible, innovative solutions to these problems.
To achieve these goals, the actions I will take are to develop effective strategies for collaborative learning among groups of students, so that communication among them will be authentic and safe, and students will become self-directed learners, with the sound understanding of my role as facilitator and guide.Students need to know that their attempts at creativity will not be thwarted, and at the same time they need to be guided so that eventually their creative efforts will be productive. I also need to expand my circle of online collaborators, and develop more relationships with parents and others who can be invited to speak with my students as the need and opportunities arise.
Formative assessments are an essential part of the monitoring process, as are continuous adjustments to my instructional strategies and continuous adjustments on the part of students to the way they learn and process information. Observing students' response to learning situations I will assess whether my strategies have been effective, or whether i need to re-teach, making the necessary adjustments so that students will learn the targeted content.
Evaluation of my instructional strategies and style is an important part of my professional growth. By assessing whether students have met the learning goals set for them, I can determine what new path to pursue if there are gaps in student achievement. By gaining informal feedback from students and through reflective observation, I can also determine if the assessment or the goals need to be modified.
The second area in which I want to become more confident and proficient is that of engagement in professional growth and leadership. My goals in this respect are to convince my department and others in my school that technology integration is not only important and more engaging for the students, it is also necessary, and to promote the use of electronic whiteboards not only as an extension of the traditional role of disseminating information, but also as interactive tools that assist the growth of students as self-directed learners.
Actions I will take are to continue and accelerate my recently started initiative of posting technology tips and tools on the language arts shared email board, and to share and demonstrate gains made through technology in my classroom, such as the use of blogs,and multimedia and collaborative projects.I also will keep abreast of the latest ideas, software and online tools by participating in blogs and forums with other professionals in education.I would like to see tools like Voice Thread become available in my district, where they are currently blocked.this means deliberate advocacy on my part, and participation in negotiations with district technology experts.
I will monitor my progress in this area by asking my peers for feedback to presentations and shared projects. I will also incorporate new learning into my lesson plans and curriculum, and evaluate whether new tools and initiatives are working in my classroom. Students are an excellent barometer for whether new ideas are successful or not; there are also different ways of implementing the same digital tools that work for different groups of students. In this pioneering age, much of this can be learned through experimentation prior to presenting them in the classroom, and through trial and error with the students.
References:
Cennamo, K., Ross, J. & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology Integration for Meaningful Classroom Use: A Standards-Based Approach. (Laureate Education, Inc., Custom ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
[R01] Three basic principles. (n.d.). HKU Philosophy. Retrieved January 13, 2011, from http://philosophy.hku.hk/think/creative/creative.php
Two areas in which I know I need further development and a higher sense of self-confidence are 1) Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity and 2)Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership.
In terms of goal setting for the first area,g, my goals are to enable students to work together collaboratively to work on solutions to real-world problems, to consistently engage students in reflective assessments of their own work, and to provide opportunities for students and me to collaborate with colleagues, professionals, and other members of the community both in virtual and face-to-face situations, in order to explore possible, innovative solutions to these problems.
To achieve these goals, the actions I will take are to develop effective strategies for collaborative learning among groups of students, so that communication among them will be authentic and safe, and students will become self-directed learners, with the sound understanding of my role as facilitator and guide.Students need to know that their attempts at creativity will not be thwarted, and at the same time they need to be guided so that eventually their creative efforts will be productive. I also need to expand my circle of online collaborators, and develop more relationships with parents and others who can be invited to speak with my students as the need and opportunities arise.
Formative assessments are an essential part of the monitoring process, as are continuous adjustments to my instructional strategies and continuous adjustments on the part of students to the way they learn and process information. Observing students' response to learning situations I will assess whether my strategies have been effective, or whether i need to re-teach, making the necessary adjustments so that students will learn the targeted content.
Evaluation of my instructional strategies and style is an important part of my professional growth. By assessing whether students have met the learning goals set for them, I can determine what new path to pursue if there are gaps in student achievement. By gaining informal feedback from students and through reflective observation, I can also determine if the assessment or the goals need to be modified.
The second area in which I want to become more confident and proficient is that of engagement in professional growth and leadership. My goals in this respect are to convince my department and others in my school that technology integration is not only important and more engaging for the students, it is also necessary, and to promote the use of electronic whiteboards not only as an extension of the traditional role of disseminating information, but also as interactive tools that assist the growth of students as self-directed learners.
Actions I will take are to continue and accelerate my recently started initiative of posting technology tips and tools on the language arts shared email board, and to share and demonstrate gains made through technology in my classroom, such as the use of blogs,and multimedia and collaborative projects.I also will keep abreast of the latest ideas, software and online tools by participating in blogs and forums with other professionals in education.I would like to see tools like Voice Thread become available in my district, where they are currently blocked.this means deliberate advocacy on my part, and participation in negotiations with district technology experts.
I will monitor my progress in this area by asking my peers for feedback to presentations and shared projects. I will also incorporate new learning into my lesson plans and curriculum, and evaluate whether new tools and initiatives are working in my classroom. Students are an excellent barometer for whether new ideas are successful or not; there are also different ways of implementing the same digital tools that work for different groups of students. In this pioneering age, much of this can be learned through experimentation prior to presenting them in the classroom, and through trial and error with the students.
References:
Cennamo, K., Ross, J. & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology Integration for Meaningful Classroom Use: A Standards-Based Approach. (Laureate Education, Inc., Custom ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
[R01] Three basic principles. (n.d.). HKU Philosophy. Retrieved January 13, 2011, from http://philosophy.hku.hk/think/creative/creative.php
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Course Reflection on Integrating Learning and Technology in Classroom Instruction
Although on the whole I still agree with my philosophy of teaching as expressed in the first week of this course, I have learned some very interesting ideas that have been essential to its modification. During the past few weeks, I have gained insight into some concepts that I previously instinctively agreed with and had some theoretical basis for supporting. Now, however, I have more solid grounds than ever to back up some of the things that I have learned, through my teaching practice, are effective.
For example, Paivio's theory of dual coding helps to explain why the addition of visual images is such a powerful tool for learning (Laureate, 2009). Although I felt that virtual field trips are fun and visually exciting, experiential learning theory has made very clear for me just how new learning is incorporated into prior knowledge through active student participation (Orey, 2001). After reading articles on mind-mapping, I can appreciate its value as a cognitive tool; even though my methods of planning are far more random and chaotic, I know that many of my students require a much higher degree of structured organization as well as clearly-delineated presentation, in terms of creating visual and aural connections (Hartley, cited in Smith, 1999).
In addition, I have found myself opening up to social networking as an everyday tool, since I have found the Delicious site to be indispensable in the past two months. Although I have experimented with using blogging as a learning tool in the past year, I feel that there are ways I can make improvements that will encourage further and more in-depth participation on the part of students. (Pitler, 2007).
For example, up until now I have been the primary question generator on blogs that respond to literature. Although my questions seem perfectly clear and reasonable to me, my students in their particular stage of development may draw a blank. I noticed that when I asked students to generate their own questions, there was more dialogue and reciprocal discussion, rather than students attempting to answer a question and worrying about whether they had the “right” answer. When the discussion is student initiated, they feel more empowered to correct each other's perspective if anyone is completely lost. This year I am also planning on creating a wiki, and students need to feel as though they will have some control over content; there are also some students who need to feel confident enough to take part, and having the responsibility of creating a discussion topic during a given week may be a confidence booster.
Just this week I attended a summer seminar on Promethean boards. My colleagues from school who also attended had the same reaction as I did: we have barely scratched the surface in using or equipment. Since this system is available to me already in my classroom, and with my new knowledge on dal coding, I am going to spend a good part of the summer developing lessons that will be truly interactive and engaging to students. I plan to make far more use of the interactive remote “voting” devices that are part of the equipment(ActivExpression): for formative assessment, for surveys, and for eliciting student response in an anonymous form so that even students who never speak or raise their hands in class will be actively engaged. With Promethean, responses can be converted into Excel files, so that later I can review individual student responses, for evaluation and for planning differentiated instruction. I occasionally did that this past year, but I was still using a software version that was sometimes difficult in that students all had to answer in the same time frame, whereas with the new software, responses can be self-paced. I also want to train students to use the board in various ways so that they can create their own reviews and assessments.
One major long-term goal I have is to develop continuous distance relationships with classrooms in other parts of the country and the world. My students too often know little to nothing about their own state, let alone the rest of the world. In order to prepare them for contact with students in another country, I would introduce different cultural perspectives through literature, conduct surveys using ActivExpression about their knowledge of their own culture, and they would design surveys to give to their families. The results of these surveys would be compared and contrasted through discussion and the use of spreadsheets, so they could get a good view of a cultural cross-section of the school. The school family counselor has mentioned that she would like to collaborate by helping students with interviewing techniques. I have asked the principal, who enjoys making discoveries about technology, to review the Voice Thread website; with her support I would like to lobby to have it removed from the district restrictions list, since this site would be wonderful for students to learn about each other and their cultures. Since our laptop computers are nearing the end of their battery lives, I am actively involved in writing technology grants, so sooner or later I will hopefully “strike gold.”
Once the getting-to-know-you phase has been established among my students and between them and their distance correspondents, I would like to develop projects that deal with how to greatly reduce negative social interactions (bullying, negative peer pressure, fighting) among middle school students. This is still an issue of paramount concern in our school, as I imagine it is in many other places; I feel that by collaborating with many other students, mine would learn not only how to interact in the most positive ways, they would also be in a position to supply advice and information to others. By sharing their views and findings, they will create their own knowledge base (Rogoff, cited in Kim, 2001). My feeling is that students can be a great support to administrators who struggle to deal with these same problems, and eventually can be part of the problem-solving team, becoming key players in the school-wide improvement plan. By creating a wiki in which parents can also take part, and reaching out to parents whose first language is not English by publishing articles in Spanish and Haitian-Creole on the wiki, there is a greater possibility of one hundred percent student and community buy-in.
As can be seen, my goals for integrating technology into my classroom practice hinge upon creating lessons and opportunities that will engage students in experiential as well as reflective learning; they also involve expanding the classroom walls to develop wider partnerships with classrooms and organizations outside the school. By accomplishing these goals, I will be preparing students for work in a world that is increasingly based on social interconnectivity through technology and collective problem-solving.
References:
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2008). Cognitive learning theories. Bridging Learning Theory, Instruction, and Technology Baltimore: Pearson
Orey, M.(Ed.). (2001). Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/
Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
Smith, M. K. (1999) 'The cognitive orientation to learning', the encyclopedia of informal education, www.infed.org/biblio/learning-cognitive, Last update: September 03, 2009.
For example, Paivio's theory of dual coding helps to explain why the addition of visual images is such a powerful tool for learning (Laureate, 2009). Although I felt that virtual field trips are fun and visually exciting, experiential learning theory has made very clear for me just how new learning is incorporated into prior knowledge through active student participation (Orey, 2001). After reading articles on mind-mapping, I can appreciate its value as a cognitive tool; even though my methods of planning are far more random and chaotic, I know that many of my students require a much higher degree of structured organization as well as clearly-delineated presentation, in terms of creating visual and aural connections (Hartley, cited in Smith, 1999).
In addition, I have found myself opening up to social networking as an everyday tool, since I have found the Delicious site to be indispensable in the past two months. Although I have experimented with using blogging as a learning tool in the past year, I feel that there are ways I can make improvements that will encourage further and more in-depth participation on the part of students. (Pitler, 2007).
For example, up until now I have been the primary question generator on blogs that respond to literature. Although my questions seem perfectly clear and reasonable to me, my students in their particular stage of development may draw a blank. I noticed that when I asked students to generate their own questions, there was more dialogue and reciprocal discussion, rather than students attempting to answer a question and worrying about whether they had the “right” answer. When the discussion is student initiated, they feel more empowered to correct each other's perspective if anyone is completely lost. This year I am also planning on creating a wiki, and students need to feel as though they will have some control over content; there are also some students who need to feel confident enough to take part, and having the responsibility of creating a discussion topic during a given week may be a confidence booster.
Just this week I attended a summer seminar on Promethean boards. My colleagues from school who also attended had the same reaction as I did: we have barely scratched the surface in using or equipment. Since this system is available to me already in my classroom, and with my new knowledge on dal coding, I am going to spend a good part of the summer developing lessons that will be truly interactive and engaging to students. I plan to make far more use of the interactive remote “voting” devices that are part of the equipment(ActivExpression): for formative assessment, for surveys, and for eliciting student response in an anonymous form so that even students who never speak or raise their hands in class will be actively engaged. With Promethean, responses can be converted into Excel files, so that later I can review individual student responses, for evaluation and for planning differentiated instruction. I occasionally did that this past year, but I was still using a software version that was sometimes difficult in that students all had to answer in the same time frame, whereas with the new software, responses can be self-paced. I also want to train students to use the board in various ways so that they can create their own reviews and assessments.
One major long-term goal I have is to develop continuous distance relationships with classrooms in other parts of the country and the world. My students too often know little to nothing about their own state, let alone the rest of the world. In order to prepare them for contact with students in another country, I would introduce different cultural perspectives through literature, conduct surveys using ActivExpression about their knowledge of their own culture, and they would design surveys to give to their families. The results of these surveys would be compared and contrasted through discussion and the use of spreadsheets, so they could get a good view of a cultural cross-section of the school. The school family counselor has mentioned that she would like to collaborate by helping students with interviewing techniques. I have asked the principal, who enjoys making discoveries about technology, to review the Voice Thread website; with her support I would like to lobby to have it removed from the district restrictions list, since this site would be wonderful for students to learn about each other and their cultures. Since our laptop computers are nearing the end of their battery lives, I am actively involved in writing technology grants, so sooner or later I will hopefully “strike gold.”
Once the getting-to-know-you phase has been established among my students and between them and their distance correspondents, I would like to develop projects that deal with how to greatly reduce negative social interactions (bullying, negative peer pressure, fighting) among middle school students. This is still an issue of paramount concern in our school, as I imagine it is in many other places; I feel that by collaborating with many other students, mine would learn not only how to interact in the most positive ways, they would also be in a position to supply advice and information to others. By sharing their views and findings, they will create their own knowledge base (Rogoff, cited in Kim, 2001). My feeling is that students can be a great support to administrators who struggle to deal with these same problems, and eventually can be part of the problem-solving team, becoming key players in the school-wide improvement plan. By creating a wiki in which parents can also take part, and reaching out to parents whose first language is not English by publishing articles in Spanish and Haitian-Creole on the wiki, there is a greater possibility of one hundred percent student and community buy-in.
As can be seen, my goals for integrating technology into my classroom practice hinge upon creating lessons and opportunities that will engage students in experiential as well as reflective learning; they also involve expanding the classroom walls to develop wider partnerships with classrooms and organizations outside the school. By accomplishing these goals, I will be preparing students for work in a world that is increasingly based on social interconnectivity through technology and collective problem-solving.
References:
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2008). Cognitive learning theories. Bridging Learning Theory, Instruction, and Technology Baltimore: Pearson
Orey, M.(Ed.). (2001). Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/
Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
Smith, M. K. (1999) 'The cognitive orientation to learning', the encyclopedia of informal education, www.infed.org/biblio/learning-cognitive, Last update: September 03, 2009.
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Social Learning
One of the most interesting concepts I read about this week in terms of social constructivism is intersubjectivity. "Intersubjectivity is a shared understanding among individuals whose interaction is based on common interests and assumptions that form the ground for their communication" (Rogoff, cited in Kim, 2001). Shared knowledge evolves through articulated thought processes in dialogue. Recently when my students were reading a novel, I had them blog about it together online, and I enjoyed reading their comments as they reasoned their way through some of the more complex questions that I posted for them to answer. I find that I usually have to make adjustments to my own perspective after reading or listening to student ideas, as they adjust theirs.
Recently they finished cooperative podcast projects, based on research. My students are on many different levels, intellectually and socially, but as we were watching the results of their efforts, I was impressed by the amount of information they had been able to assemble and synthesize in a relatively short period of time. For most students, this was their first podcast, so they also had to learn how to write a script from their research, assemble the audio and the pictures, and add a bibliography. Students who were able to build on each other's ideas and to integrate their tasks, assisting each other where necessary, were more successful than students who saw their individual tasks as being a separate part of the project, rather than a piece of the "flow".
Pitler mentions online calendars and next time I assign a project, I want to try one of those, since students can sometimes find time management very challenging.
De.icio.us is a wonderful site, and I have found it indispensable for sharing information and bookmarks. It is very flexible, in that I can keep whatever bookmarks I want private while sharing others. I have recently found out that I can circumvent the Youtube block my district has set up by sharing videos on a blog that I keep just for that purpose. I realize that not everything on YouTube is worthwhile, but there is a lot of valuable content as well.
Kim, B. (2001). Social Constructivism.. In M. Orey (Ed.), Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/
Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
Recently they finished cooperative podcast projects, based on research. My students are on many different levels, intellectually and socially, but as we were watching the results of their efforts, I was impressed by the amount of information they had been able to assemble and synthesize in a relatively short period of time. For most students, this was their first podcast, so they also had to learn how to write a script from their research, assemble the audio and the pictures, and add a bibliography. Students who were able to build on each other's ideas and to integrate their tasks, assisting each other where necessary, were more successful than students who saw their individual tasks as being a separate part of the project, rather than a piece of the "flow".
Pitler mentions online calendars and next time I assign a project, I want to try one of those, since students can sometimes find time management very challenging.
De.icio.us is a wonderful site, and I have found it indispensable for sharing information and bookmarks. It is very flexible, in that I can keep whatever bookmarks I want private while sharing others. I have recently found out that I can circumvent the Youtube block my district has set up by sharing videos on a blog that I keep just for that purpose. I realize that not everything on YouTube is worthwhile, but there is a lot of valuable content as well.
Kim, B. (2001). Social Constructivism.. In M. Orey (Ed.), Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/
Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Constructivism in Practice
This week I learned about Learning By Design and Project-Based Learning. These correlate to the principles of constructivist/constructionist learning theories because they require the creation of a learner-centered, inquiry-based environment in which the instructor becomes a facilitator rather than the figure who imparts knowledge. In both cases, tasks are authentic: they stem from real interests on the part of the learner and are designed to be presented to a real world audience of peers or otherwise, not just the teacher/facilitator. Whereas Learning By Design can be a short-term project, Project-Based learning more often is extended over a period of weeks, so there is more emphasis for the learner on time management. In the end, I really did not see a great difference between the two; perhaps since I am more familiar with the term and practice of project-based learning, Learning By Design seems very similar. Both are built on a certain amount of prior knowledge, which needs to be activated through open-ended questioning, and on collaboration among learners and with the facilitator; both these aspects correlate to constructivist/constructionist theory. According to Orey, project-based learning does not necessarily involve the building of an artifact as does learning By Design, where the learner designs an artifact to present to a specific audience, but should be integrated with the curriculum and "be based on standards, to have clearly articulated goals, and to support and demonstrate content learning both in process and product" (Orey, 2001). Also in Learning By Design, the rich and varied feedback, as well as the reflection that is a part of the strategy allows learners to revise their own thinking and learning, which is an essential part of the process, and one of the principles of constructionist theory.
The videos I saw on the PBL website also involved careful planning on the part of the instructors, which is a major part of the teacher's role in constructionist theory. They were also based on authentic instruction, as they built on the interests and the prior knowledge of the students. In an area such as Language Arts, where much of the assessment is subjective, especially if it is literature based, rubrics which clearly define the expectations and the goals of the project are an essential part of the piece.
Constructionist learning can result in students being "inspired to pursue a career or engage in activism that relates to the project they developed" because students are motivated by their own interests to engage in inquiry and exploration in the first place, rather than being simply confined to narrow subject matter in the text or according to the interests of the teacher (George Lucas Educational Foundation, 2008). Thus the real-world application can continue long after students have left the classroom and moved on to adulthood. This thought is reiterated in one of the PBL videos, in which a teacher reflected on the long-range effects of a project that explored gender roles in a middle school.
George Lucas Educational Foundation. (2008) Why teach with project learning?: Providing students with a well-rounded classroom. Edutopia: What Works in Education. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/project-learning-introduction
Orey, M.(Ed.). (2001). Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/
PBL Online Video Library. retrieved from http://pbl-online.org/video/video.htm
The videos I saw on the PBL website also involved careful planning on the part of the instructors, which is a major part of the teacher's role in constructionist theory. They were also based on authentic instruction, as they built on the interests and the prior knowledge of the students. In an area such as Language Arts, where much of the assessment is subjective, especially if it is literature based, rubrics which clearly define the expectations and the goals of the project are an essential part of the piece.
Constructionist learning can result in students being "inspired to pursue a career or engage in activism that relates to the project they developed" because students are motivated by their own interests to engage in inquiry and exploration in the first place, rather than being simply confined to narrow subject matter in the text or according to the interests of the teacher (George Lucas Educational Foundation, 2008). Thus the real-world application can continue long after students have left the classroom and moved on to adulthood. This thought is reiterated in one of the PBL videos, in which a teacher reflected on the long-range effects of a project that explored gender roles in a middle school.
George Lucas Educational Foundation. (2008) Why teach with project learning?: Providing students with a well-rounded classroom. Edutopia: What Works in Education. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/project-learning-introduction
Orey, M.(Ed.). (2001). Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/
PBL Online Video Library. retrieved from http://pbl-online.org/video/video.htm
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