User Generated Education

SAMR as a Framework for Moving Towards Education 3.0

Evolution, in its broadest sense, serves as a force to help humans move towards a better way of living given the current times or Zeitgeist. It follows, then, that the education field should evolve as new opportunities and forces emerge and present themselves. But in general, this is not the case. From the Time Magazine article, How to Bring Our Schools Out of the 20th Century

There’s a dark little joke exchanged by educators with a dissident streak: Rip Van Winkle awakens in the 21st century after a hundred-year snooze and is, of course, utterly bewildered by what he sees. Men and women dash about, talking to small metal devices pinned to their ears. Young people sit at home on sofas, moving miniature athletes around on electronic screens. Older folk defy death and disability with metronomes in their chests and with hips made of metal and plastic. Airports, hospitals, shopping malls–every place Rip goes just baffles him. But when he finally walks into a schoolroom, the old man knows exactly where he is. “This is a school,” he declares. “We used to have these back in 1906. Only now the blackboards are white.”

The evolution of education can be explained from moving from Education 1.0 to Education 3.0. I have discussed Education 3.0 in several blog posts:

Briefly, Education 1.0, 2.0. and 3.0 is explained as:

Education 1.0 can be likened to Web 1.0 where there is a one-way dissemination of knowledge from teacher to student. It is a type of essentialist, behaviorist education based on the three Rs – receiving by listening to the teacher; responding by taking notes, studying text, and doing worksheets; and regurgitating by taking standardized tests which in reality is all students taking the same test. Learners are seen as receptacles of that knowledge and as receptacles, they have no unique characteristics. All are viewed as the same. It is a standardized/one-size-fits-all education.

Similar to Web 2.0, Education 2.0 includes more interaction between the teacher and student; student to student; and student to content/expert. Education 2.0, like Web 2.0, permits interactivity between the content and users, and between users themselves. Education 2.0 has progressive roots where the human element is important to learning. The teacher-to-student and student-to-student relationships are considered as part of the learning process. It focuses on the three Cs – communicating, contributing, and collaborating.

Education 3.0 is based on the belief that content is freely and readily available as is characteristic of Web 3.0. It is self-directed, interest-based learning where problem-solving, innovation and creativity drive education. Education 3.0 is also about the three Cs but a different set – connectors, creators, constructivists. These are qualitatively different than the three Cs of Education 2.0. Now they are nouns which translates into the art of being a self-directed learner rather than doing learning as facilitated by the educator. Education 3.0: Altering Round Peg in Round Hole Education

Emerging technologies is, can be, should be a driving force of this evolution towards Education 3.0. Information access, communication methods, the ability for creative express is qualitatively different than any other time in history due to technological advances.

The SAMR model was developed by as a framework to integrate technology into the curriculum. I believe it can also serve as a model to establish and assess if and how technology is being used to reinforce an old, often archaic Education 1.0 or being used to promote and facilitate what many are calling 21st century skills, i.e., creativity, innovation, problem-solving, critical thinking; those skills characteristic of Education 3.0. Many look at SAMR as the stages of technology integration. I propose that it should be a model for educators to focus on Modification and Redefinition areas of technology integration. Why should educators spend their time recreating Education 1.0 using technology at the substitution and augmentation levels when there are tools, techniques, and opportunities to modify and redefine technology integration for a richer, more engaging Education 2.0 or 3.0?

The following chart provides an overview of the ideas discussed in this post.

Written by Jackie Gerstein, Ed.D.

February 23, 2014 at 2:37 am

Posted in Education

Tagged with disrupting education, Education 3.0, educational reform, emerging technologies, samr, technology integration

The Other 21st Century Skills: Why Teach Them

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Many have attempted to identify the skills important for a learner today in this era of the 21st century (I know it is an overused phrase). I have an affinity towards the skills identified by Tony Wagner:

Critical thinking and problem-solving
Collaboration across networks and leading by influence
Agility and adaptability
Initiative and entrepreneurship
Effective oral and written communication
Accessing and analyzing information
Curiosity and imagination http://www.tonywagner.com/7-survival-skills

This presentation sparked my thinking about what other skills and attributes would serve the learners (of all ages) in this era of learning. Some other ones that I believe important based on what I hear at conferences, read via blogs and other social networks include:

Grit
Resilience
Hope and Optimism
Vision
Self-Regulation
Empathy and Global Stewardship

Why Teach 21st Century Skills

According to a recent (2013) Gallup Poll, Americans Say U.S. Schools Should Teach “Soft” Skills

Americans’ views on what schools should be teaching parallel the opinions of employers, educators, and young people themselves, who are calling for students to be better equipped to analyze information, communicate effectively, and to collaborate with diverse people in a global work environment to solve complex problems.

While student success may depend on mastery of content in core subject areas such as math and reading, it also depends on more than knowledge of core content. Critical thinking, creativity, communication, and other soft skills, as well as student physical and social wellbeing, are also necessary for future success in higher education and in the workplace. Americans Say U.S. Schools Should Teach “Soft” Skills

Most of The Other 21st Century Skills could be classified as social-emotional skills (SEL) and research shows that SEL can have a positive impact on school climate and promote a host of academic, social, and emotional benefits for students. Durlak, Weissberg et al.’s recent meta-analysis of 213 rigorous studies of SEL in schools indicates that students receiving quality SEL instruction demonstrated:

better academic performance: achievement scores an average of 11 percentile points higher than students who did not receive SEL instruction;
improved attitudes and behaviors: greater motivation to learn, deeper commitment to school, increased time devoted to schoolwork, and better classroom behavior;
fewer negative behaviors: decreased disruptive class behavior, noncompliance, aggression, delinquent acts, and disciplinary referrals; and
reduced emotional distress: fewer reports of student depression, anxiety, stress, and social withdrawal. (http://www.casel.org/social-and-emotional-learning/outcomes)

What Is Typically Taught

There has been, at times, push back for “teaching” what many classify as soft skills (e.g., communication, creativity, social skills). Two points can be made regarding this perspective:

Curriculum designers, administrators, and educators have determined, subjectively, through directives like No Child Left Behind and Common Core State Standards what students should know.
Educators do teach these soft skills but often in covert ways.

Curriculum designers, administrators, and educators have determined, subjectively through directives like No Child Left Behind and Common Core State Standards what students should know.

Curriculum developers, administrators, and educators have stated that they do not want to make judgements about what is important to teach in terms of the soft skills, that because they are soft skills, contain too much ambiguity, and as such are subjective. They believe that deciding what to teach in terms of more hard disciplines such as language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies are more objective. The truth, though, is that developing, deciding upon, and choosing standards, curriculum, instructional methods, and assessments is a subjective process. A more dramatic example of this is Texas science deciding to focus on creationism over evolution.

Everything taught at schools is subjective. It becomes deciding what knowledge and skills will best serve students in their out-of-school lives now and in the future.

Educators do teach these soft skills most often in covert ways.

There is push back for teaching soft skills and character education in schools because they are seen as extras, time away from teaching the important “stuff”, too vague, and too personal, culturally based to be taught. But, and this is huge but, soft skills are being taught in schools in covert ways. Raise your hand to talk, walk in line, don’t push, say please and thank you are skills that are often being covertly taught as “good” social-emotional skills. Students are often rewarded for “appropriate” behaviors and punished for “inappropriate” behaviors. Through adding the skills such as those presented in the 21st Century Skills, the teaching of more behavioral, attitudinal, and social skills becomes overt and intentional.

Some Characteristics of The Other 21st Century Skills

The Other 21st Century Skills are an aggregate of skills. As such . . .
- They are presented in a reductionist manner, as separate skills, to increase understanding of them as constructs. In real life, they are interconnected with a synergistic results – the sum being stronger than the whole. For example, curiosity and imagination increases one’s effectiveness in problem-solving and critical thinking. Grit is increased when one becomes more resilient.
- Thus the focusing on a single one such as grit, resilience, or creativity will not insure any change or growth of the learner. It is a combination of a number of the skills that will increase an individual’s success in life; in success in his or her chosen interest-driven pursuits and workforce focus.
The Other 21st Century Skills have benefits for all learners, all ages, all socioeconomic levels and ethnic groups:
- The underlying premise is that these skills can assist everyone in increasing the quality of their lives.
- Everyone and anyone can develop and learn these skills.
- As they are viewed as skills, everyone and anyone can increase his or her proficiency.
The Other 21st Century Skills can be taught, developed, encouraged, and enhanced through:
- Direct Instruction – helping learners develop a cognitive knowledge base and meaning of the skills
- Simulations and Role Modeling – Showing and demonstrating what these skills looks like in actual situations
- Storytelling Through Biographies, News – using both fiction and non-fiction stories that illustrate these different skills.
- Real Life Experiences – asking students to provide evidence of using these skills in their everyday lives.

We are living in probably the most complex and chaotic era of human existence. As such, schools could better serve their students by helping them become creative, innovative, resilient, empathetic human beings as opposed to ones who can ramble out a memorized rote list of states with their capitals or the names of the elements of the periodic chart.

Written by Jackie Gerstein, Ed.D.

February 9, 2014 at 10:42 pm

Posted in Education

Tagged with 21st century skills, disrupting education, Education, learning, social-emotional learning

An Educator Responsibility: Setting Up Conditions for Learners to Have Glorious, Aha Moments

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Since I have very strong convictions about what constitutes a “good” education, I am often asked how I got to this place of thinking. I begin my story by relating to my summer camp experiences as powerful learning and my school ones as being a big, long blur. The power of hands-on, experiential, and authentic learning was reinforced during my senior year of my undergraduate studies. I took an outdoor education course. As a requirement for the course, we were asked to be counselors at an outdoor education center, where students from local public schools spend five days at the residential center. My co-counselor, Eric, and I were given a 6th grade group.

It was an amazing, life changing experience for me; and hopefully for the kids in our group. All of the learning activities we did had experiential components. We learned biology by walking through a stream and collecting water samples to view under a microscope.

We learned history by visiting an old, local cemetery to study the family lineage and by making our own butter and ice cream like the pioneers did. I keep thinking how engaging and exciting these learning activities were and continual wondered why public school couldn’t be like this. These were all glorious, aha moments, but the biggest glorious, aha moment occurred for me when we spent an afternoon doing the team building course. The group worked well together as is evident in this photo:

One of the last activities was the porthole. The Porthole is constructed by suspending a tire between poles or trees. The objective is to cross from one side of the porthole to the other. The group must create a plan that takes participant physical ability and size to lift, pass, and spot participants in order to get them through. See http://www.ultimatecampresource.com/site/camp-activity/porthole-low-ropes-course.html for more information.

The biggest challenge of The Porthole is getting the last person through as there is no one to boost that person up to get through The Porthole. Darla was a member of the group. She had some developmental disabilities and was larger, older than the rest of the group. The members of the group didn’t make fun of her, but she was a bit invisible to them. Flash back to The Porthole. Not unexpectedly, the group got every through The Porthole leaving Darla on the original side by herself. One of the smallest kids in the group, Henry, quickly noticed and said, “I can help you, Darla.” He asked the group to pass him back through The Porthole to help her. He then got on his hands and knees and instructed Darla to stand on his back so she could reach The Porthole for the others to grab her from the other side. Henry was half of Darla’s size. I could see the pain on his face as she stood on his back, but he cheered her on as she did so, “You can do it, Darla. Go for it, Darla.” This act of generoisty from Henry was so touching that after the kids finished, I asked to take a moment and went off into the woods to cry.

The epilogue of this experience came in the form of a letter from Darla (with corrected spelling):

Dear Jackie:

Thank you for a great week at Stone Valley. At first I was nervous and scared but I could tell you knew that I was. You and Eric taught me lots of things I didn’t know. You taught use how to play games and find nature right under own feet. You have taught use so much neat things that I can go on writing forever. But the best thing I like about your and Eric is that you are both wonderful counselors and no one can take your place in our family group.

I hate it when we had to leave. I wish our family group can stay there forever, but all have to go sometime.

I didn’t do much over the weekend. The only thing I was doing was thinking about what we did at Stone Valley.

Lots of Love,

Darla

. . . concrete evidence of glorious, aha moments experienced by Darla.

The core of my educational philosophy and pedagogical creed is that all educators should attempt to develop the conditions for glorious, aha moments for their learners every time they meet with them. So a simple, powerful question all educators can ask to determine his or her effectiveness in teaching a lesson is, “Did my learners experience aha, glorious moments during the instructional activities?”

Written by Jackie Gerstein, Ed.D.

January 21, 2014 at 6:25 pm

Posted in Education

Tagged with aha moments, disrupting education, educational reform, experiential learning, school reform

Vision for the Future: The Other 21st Century Skills

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Due to the interest of my post The Other 21st Skills, I decided to individually discuss each of the skills or dispositions I proposed that are in addition to the seven survival skills as identified by Tony Wagner. This post focuses on vision for the future.

Having a vision for the future is an natural extension of Hope and Optimism, another 21st century skill I proposed. A vision for the future enhances hope and optimism. To clarify, having a vision for the future is identifying and taking steps toward fulfilling one’s dream. It goes beyond and is qualitatively different than identifying what one wants to be when one grows up or thinking about college. It is about dreams.

The following excerpt was from my post, Dream-Driven Education. . . Seth Godin in Stop Stealing Dreams states:

Have we created a trillion-dollar, multimillion-student, sixteen-year schooling cycle to take our best and our brightest and snuff out their dreams—sometimes when they’re so nascent that they haven’t even been articulated? Is the product of our massive schooling industry an endless legion of assistants? The century of dream-snuffing has to end. The real shortage we face is dreams, and the wherewithal and the will to make them come true. We’re facing a significant emergency, one that’s not just economic but cultural as well. The time to act is right now, and the person to do it is you.

We can teach them not to care; that’s pretty easy. But given the massive technological and economic changes we’re living through, do we have the opportunity to teach productive and effective caring? Can we teach kids to care enough about their dreams that they’ll care enough to develop the judgment, skill, and attitude to make them come true? (http://www.squidoo.com/stop-stealing-dreams)

I propose that educators take a proactive stance to move from a system that may steal kids’ dreams to one that promotes the actualization of learner dreams. I have a dream today and everyday that education can become a conduit through which learners are provided with the time, knowledge, strategies, and tools to make their own dreams come true. We are living in an era that education can be passion-based and dream-driven. In this context, the role of the educator becomes that of dream-facilitator.

The dreams we need are self-reliant dreams. We need dreams based not on what is but on what might be. We need students who can learn how to learn, who can discover how to push themselves and are generous enough and honest enough to engage with the outside world to make those dreams happen. (http://www.squidoo.com/stop-stealing-dreams)

Some of the characteristics of a vision for the future include:

Vision for one’s own dream.
Identifying and taking steps to achieve one’s dream.
Finding and connecting with a like minded community.
Reflecting on progress towards achieving one’s dream.

Identifying Visions

One of the first tasks of the educator as a dream-facilitator is to discover and help his/her learners discover their dreams, passions, and interests. The message given to the learners can be something in line with the following:

Visions must be about your deepest dreams of what you want when you listen to you heart. You can’t dream about toys or things we buy that only make you happy for a few minutes. You must use your heart to imagine yourself creating a happy life – what you want to do, who you want to be, and how you can help others. (adapted from http://glad.is/article/create-a-vision-board/)

Some guiding questions to help learners identify and articulate their dreams include:

Given no restrictions, what would you like to do in your spare time?
If you could wave a magic wand and be or do anything you want, what would it be?
In one year from now, 10 years from now, what would you like to be doing that would make you happy?
What would your life be like if it were perfect?

Learners can be provided with a choice with how they answer theses questions: verbal or written responses, video or audio recording, or a drawing. Erin Little, a 5th-6th grade teacher, had here students blog about these questions. Here are some example blogs:

An extension of this activity might be asking learners to create a vision board (see Vision Boards for Kids and Visions & Values for Kids). Technology could be used for this process by giving students the opportunity to create a Glog or an Animoto of images that symbolizes their dreams.

20% Time or Genius Hour

Classroom time can be set aside for students to spend time with and work towards their dreams and visions. Genius hour and/or 20% time is being implemented in many classrooms for this purposte:

For more information about Genius Hour and 20% time, see:

Student-Driven Personal Learning Networks

Support systems or personal learning networks could then be established based on grouping learners with similar dreams. The group would act as cheerleaders, support-providers, progress-checkers, and resource providers for one another. One of the group’s learning activities could focus on expanding their personal learning networks to include folks with similar dreams who they locate via social networks like Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, and other social networks.

Reflection

Dreams will only come try if actions are taken to achieve them. As such, the educator should facilitate a method for learners to reflect on progress towards their dreams.

What did you do today, this week to achieve your dreams?
What obstacles are you having or foresee having in progress towards your dream? How can you overcome your obstacles?
What resources did you locate that can help you fulfill your dreams?

Blogging or micro-blogging (e.g. Twitter) could be used for this reflective process.

As a parting shot about young people and their dreams, here is a short film by high school student, Sam Fathallah. The asked his classmates to write their dreams out on a transparent whiteboard.

. . . and for those who just want some additional inspiration, Randy Pausch Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams . . .

Written by Jackie Gerstein, Ed.D.

January 19, 2014 at 10:43 pm

Posted in Education

Tagged with 21st century skills, disrupting education, dream-driven education, educational reform, passion-based learning, student voice

User Generated Education

SAMR as a Framework for Moving Towards Education 3.0

An Educator Responsibility: Setting Up Conditions for Learners to Have Glorious, Aha Moments

Vision for the Future: The Other 21st Century Skills

The Other 21st Century Skills: Books for Kids

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