Archive for March 2012
Important Endings
Tonight was the last night of our student teacher seminar. We met once a week every Tuesday night for the past three months while they were student teaching. The seminars were virtual and synchronous with most students choosing to use webcams. As such, we were able to share laughs and tears . . .
. . . see each others’ homes and children . . .
. . . and even enjoy one student’s new baby boy.
A sense of community was built.
Endings
I have blogged before about the importance of beginnings in Beginning the School Year: It’s About Connections Not Content. I also believe in the importance of endings, that it should be a celebration of community and providing inspiration for the future. As such, the student teachers were asked to bring virtual treats to share during our last seminar. These treats could take the form of an inspirational quote, video, picture, thought or final wishes. What follows are some of the treats shared.
Videos Shared
I started off the seminar by sharing Jeremy K. Macdonald’s Soiree of Slides at the Instructional Technology Strategies Conference . . . a beautiful five minutes. Read more at Becoming an Unteacher: Do the Unexpected
Student watching the video . . .
There is a story many years ago of an elementary teacher. Her name was Mrs. Thompson. And as she stood in front of her 5th grade class on the very first day of school, she told the children a lie. …
Teachers have one of the greatest responsibilities and because of that, one of the greatest gifts.
– Abraham Lincoln
Imagine being born without arms. No arms to wrap around a friend ; no hands to hold the ones you love; no fingers to experience touch ; no way to lift or carry things. How much more difficult would life be if you were living without arms and hands? Or what about legs? Imagine if instead of no arms, you had no legs. No ability to dance, walk, run, or even stand. Now put both of those scenarios together… no arms and no legs. What would you do? How would that affect your everyday life?
The underlying point of this video is behavior and the discouraging factors dealing with our present-day behavioral situation.
A short video based on the Starfish story, with an inspirational message for all teachers to “Never give up”.
Quotes and Passages Shared
I like a teacher who gives you something to take home to think about besides homework. – Lily Tomlin
A master can tell you what he expects of you. A teacher, though, awakens your own expectations. – Patricia Neal
Be an opener of doors for such as come after thee. –Ralph Waldo Emerson
We gain strength, and courage, and confidence by each experience in which we really stop to look fear in the face… we must do that which we think we cannot. – Eleanor Roosevelt
What I hear I forget, what I see I remember, what I do I understand. – Chinese Proverb
You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who’ll decide where to go… – Dr. Seuss, Oh, the Places You’ll Go!
To teach is to touch lives forever. – Anonymous
Arriving at one goal is the starting point to another. – John Dewey
A teacher affects eternity; he or she can never tell where his or her influence stops. – Henry B. Adams
Good teaching is one-fourth preparation and three-fourths theater. – Gail Godwin
The people best qualified to run the world are to busy teaching school.
Nine tenths of education is encouragement. – Anatole Frank
I Am a Teacher – by Phillip Done
I read Charlotte’s Web and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory every year, and every year when Charlie finds the golden ticket and Charlotte dies, I cry.
I take slivers out of fingers and bad sports out of steal the bacon. I know when a child has gum in his mouth even when he is not chewing. I have sung “Happy Birthday” 657 times.
I hand over scissors with the handles up. My copies of The Velveteen Rabbit and Treasure Island are falling apart. I can listen to one child talk about his birthday party and another talk about her sleepover and another talk about getting his stomach pumped last night – all at the same time.
I fix staplers that won’t staple and zippers that won’t zip, and I poke pins in the orange caps of glue bottles that will not pour. I had out papers and pencils and stickers and envelopes for newly pulled teeth. I know the difference between Austria and Australia.
I plan lessons while shaving, showering, driving, eating, and sleeping. I plan lessons five minutes before the bell rings. I know what time it is when the big hand is on the twelve and the little hand is on the nine. I say the r in library. I do not say the w in sword.
I put on Band-Aids and winter coats and school plays. I know they will not understand the difference between your and you’re. I know they will write to when it should be too. I say “Cover your mouth,” after they have coughed on me.
I am a teacher.
(http://www.phillipdone.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3&Itemid=4)
Books Shared
http://www.amazon.com/Dream-Class-Transform-Students-Always/dp/1889236330
Mobile Learning: End of Course Student Survey Part II
This is the second of two posts on student perceptions of mobile learning integration within an undergraduate course on Interpersonal Relations. It combines two semesters’ worth of student surveys.
Preface
As is true for many of us using educational technology in the classroom, we are experimenting with how technology can enhance the learning experiences of our students. Sometimes we have failures, often times we have successes. Yet, in this age of evidenced-based education, educators, administrators, and other decision-makers are depending on and using the data gleamed from large studies often completed by companies with vested interests, e.g. Gates Foundation, book publishers, and testing companies.
Educators can easily conduct action research about the practices they are using in their own classrooms especially given the ease of creating online surveys and data collection methods. Yet, it seems that it is rarely done.
For example, I introduced Quest Atlantis into my gifted classes a few years ago and asked these 3rd through 5th graders to complete a survey to assess its efficacy from the student perspective. The results I received were rich and informative. The kids offered great feedback, ideas, and suggestions. See Beyond the Game: Quest Atlantis as an Online Learning Experience for Gifted Elementary Students.
So if educators want to influence what occurs in not only their own classrooms, but in the classrooms of their co-teachers, then they need to invest the time and energy to demonstrate best practices. In a related blog, I discuss Every Educator Has a Story . . . Just Tell It.
End-of-Course Survey
The two sections of Interpersonal Relations course were offered during Fall, 2011 and early Winter, 2012. There were 20 students in the sections – eight were male, 12 female; 16 of the students were 17 to 20 years old, one was 25 year old male, another a 40 year old female, and two of the students were females in their fifties. All of them had/owned some type of mobile device. No two of the owned devices were of the same make or model.
The first section of the survey listed all of the class activities that used the students’ cell phones. I blogged about the individual activities. The archive of these blog posts can be found at User-Generated Education tagged with mobile learning.
As can be seen by these results, most students rated most of the mobile-driven activities to be of some value in helping them understand the concepts being discussed/covered. Students were them asked to identify their least and most favorite activities. The most favorable activity was Building Communications. The least favorite did not identify any consistent activity. A few mentioned that there were none, “They were all pretty good.”
Do you feel that using students’ mobile phones during class time was a good idea? Why or why not?
- Yes, it was great learning new technology and interacting with each other via phones.
- Yes I do because it brings our generations technology and learning.
- Yes I do feel it is a good idea. I believe technology is growing so much that mobile phones are vital in today’s communication.
- There were some things about people calling with different providers which would be annoying.
- Yes, I liked it because I know how to use it so well.
- I do, but with my phone, it didn’t work well.
- I thought it made the time go by faster because we were learning a different way. But some other students took advantage of this and used it as personal time.
- Yes I do because it gets more involved in our lives.
- Yes, it gave us the ability to open up and be ourselves.
- Yes, I did. We are in a technological age, it is time to accept that.
- Yes, it made things more entertaining.
- Yes and no. we could have done the same on the computer.
- I think it was in the middle because I would get distracted.
- Yes because it helped us use our cell phones for good use in activities.
- Yes. I think it was because you go to learn more things about people
- Yea. Cell phones are a big past of society these days.
As can be seen in these results, there was an overwhelming positive response to mobile device use in the class. A few problems were noted but no students reported a purely negative response to their use. The reasons stated for positive feelings about mobile device use seemed to revolve around three themes:
- Technology is part of today’s world.
- It made the activities more engaging and interesting.
- It provided the means for learning to be more personal.
What was the greatest advantage of using students’ mobile phones to get to know one another and build a sense of community in the class?
- It was nice to use them and not have to hide them and it connected the class because one way or another we all got each others numbers.
- I think people are a lot more open on their phones so I believe it helped us get to know each other more. Also we were able to show pictures of important people in our life so that I feel personalized it.
- The greatest advantage was how we could text and get to know each other.
- Ease of communication.
- You got to know the students better.
- It made us open up to one another because we had to connect at a more social level.
- It was something that we use everyday so it related back to us
- To get a better experience from the class and enjoy coming to class.
- It was something they were familiar with.
- It provided us with a common ground on which to get to know each other.
- We got to talk to each other outside of class, not just when we were in class.
- The students use their phones on a regular basis.
- That we didn’t waste paper.
- Getting the other students numbers and exchanging phone numbers to get to know one another.
- You got to know the people better though them
- We were able to communicate outside of class and create friendships.
The student responses centered around the social nature of mobile devices adding to their feelings getting to know one another. Several students mentioned that it provided them with a forum to open up with other students.
What was the biggest problem in using students’ mobile devices during class time?
- People who did not have unlimited texting, or did not have a phone..
- Sometimes your phone wouldn’t be charged and you wouldn’t be able to participate in the activity.
- I think some of the students were confused on some of the activities.
- It distracted me because I kept texting and not focusing
- Lack of technological compatibility.
- People text other people other than the class mates.
- I didn’t always remember to charge my cellular device so I thought it was going to die.
- People would abuse it and text friends and do other things that the activity wasn’t for.
- Caused outside social distractions
- The students were tempted to use the phones for personal use.
- Not everyone brought their mobile device.
- Students had more of a chance to get distracted.
- Some didn’t work.
- The service was bad because i would send a text and it would show up ten minuets later.
- Some people texted when they should have been participating.
- I didn’t see any problems.
Not surprisingly, the responses centered around two themes: distraction and not having a device/device that worked for the activities.
In addition, students wrote a final course reflection. What follows are some comments regarding their significant overall course learning.
I think I learned more about myself in the building structure unit then I did in the whole quarter. I always thought of myself as having the potential to be a leader but this activity helped me believe it. When I was trying to help the others build this structure without actually being able to help was very difficult, I had to make my teammates feel confident enough to where they could achieve the end project.
The most significant learning would be the, “building the bridge” because that was fun to be able to know who would take charge and everything you said over the phone about what your team was building with the blocks would affect how there bridge would look. I had to be very precise and accurate, nearly perfect in order to get them to build it the same. Something I am going to improve on is the clarity of how I talk.
My favorite activity would have to be going around taking pictures of our emotions with the emoticons. We really got to see everybody’s different personalities and see them open up on a different level.
I learned several ways to communicate effectively with others, especially during our build a bridge activity.
I appreciate that there were so many hands on activities to do and that we got to learn in a different style other than lecture or reading.
I enjoyed them all because I like doing hands on learning and I learn the best that way versus book work and paperwork. Being able to learn about something then put it to use during a couple activities actually helped me a lot to understand everything I was learning.
I personally enjoyed the activities quite a lot. They helped me learn the concepts effectively while also being enjoyable to participate in.
I really liked having the participation on Facebook as part of our assignments. It was nice to have discussions throughout the week with classmates about what we had done in class
Summary
This part is easy. Based on student testimonials both through the survey and their end of course reflection paper, the following two themes emerged:
- Students appreciated the use of mobile devices and believed they helped to increase their engagement.
- Students appreciated and learned best through the use of experiential and hands-on activities.
This is in line with recent research. An EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative report, Authentic Learning for the 21st Century: An Overview, states that “students say they are motivated by solving real-world problems. They often express a preference for doing rather than listening. At the same time, most educators consider learning-by-doing the most effective way to learn.” and that the focus should be “on real-world, complex problems and their solutions, using role-playing exercises, problem-based activities, case studies, and participation in virtual communities of practice” (net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/eli3009.pdf).
Connected Learning: A New Research-Driven Initiative
Connected Learning, a new research-driven initiative, was introduced at the Digital Media and Learning Conference 2012.
We see a growing gap between the learning mediums with which young people engage in-school and out-of-school. New social media enables young people to have greater choice and autonomy in pursuing their interests—whether academic, creative, or social—in domains outside of formal learning institutions. While engagement with culture and knowledge outside the classroom has changed markedly in the past decade, schools have been slower to adapt to digital and networked media. This gap between the more engaging social learning environments young people encounter outside of school, and the top-down and standardized curriculum that they encounter in most classrooms, is the source of a troubling and growing generation gap that is leading to academic disengagement for many young people. Addressing this gap requires a reconsideration of how learning is organized between settings of school, after-school, home and peer culture. When informal and youth-driven interest-driven learning does cross over to other learning contexts, we see the opportunity for what we call “connected learning”—learning in a socially meaningful and knowledge-rich ecology of ongoing participation, self-expression, and recognition (http://dmlcentral.net/projects/3677).
The historical roots for this current research agenda is grounded in two pieces of work:
- Henry Jenkins’ Participatory Culture
- Kids’ Informal Learning with Digital Media: An Ethnographic Investigation of Innovative Knowledge Cultures
Participatory Cultures
Henry Jenkin’s introduced Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century through a white paper in 2006. He speaks more about it in his 2010 TEDxNYED talk.
Kids’ Informal Learning with Digital Media
“Kids’ Informal Learning with Digital Media: An Ethnographic Investigation of Innovative Knowledge Cultures” was a three-year collaborative project funded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Carried out by researchers at the University of Southern California and University of California, Berkeley, the digital youth project explored how kids use digital media in their everyday lives. Mimi Ito discusses it in the following video.
Connected Learning
At the core of connected learning are three values:
- Equity — when educational opportunity is available and accessible to all young people, it elevates the world we all live in.
- Full Participation — learning environments, communities, and civic life thrive when all members actively engage and contribute.
- Social connection — learning is meaningful when it is part of valued social relationships and shared practice, culture, and identity (http://connectedlearning.tv/connected-learning-principles).
This initiative is being driven by the following design principles:
- Shared purpose — Connected learning environments are populated with adults and peers who share interests and are contributing to a common purpose. Today’s social media and web-based communities provide exceptional opportunities for learners, parents, caring adults, teachers, and peers in diverse and specialized areas of interest to engage in shared projects and inquiry. Cross-generational learning and connection thrives when centered on common interests and goals.
- Production-centered — Connected learning environments are designed around production, providing tools and opportunities for learners to produce, circulate, curate, and comment on media. Learning that comes from actively creating, making, producing, experimenting, remixing, decoding, and designing, fosters skills and dispositions for lifelong learning and productive contributions to today’s rapidly changing work and political conditions.
- Openly networked — Connected learning environments are designed around networks that link together institutions and groups across various sectors, including popular culture, educational institutions, home, and interest communities. Learning resources, tools, and materials are abundant, accessible and visible across these settings and available through open, networked platforms and public-interest policies that protect our collective rights to circulate and access knowledge and culture. Learning is most resilient when it is linked and reinforced across settings of home, school, peer culture and community (http://connectedlearning.tv/connected-learning-principles).
Questions I Pose:
- What is the role of connected learning within established school institutions?
- Will teachers and students find “themselves” within the demonstration case studies?
- How will the ideas of K-12 teachers and students drive and provide feedback to this research agenda?
- What proactive steps will be taken to help the public-at-large (kids, parents, students, community members) understand and connect with Connect Learning?
- What are the researchers long term mission and agenda in terms of affecting broad and deep change in the educational policies in the United States?
Conclusion
The importance and significance of connected learning cannot be understated. Young people are engaging in informal learning stating that they often learn more outside of the school environment than inside of it.
The urgent need to reimagine education grows clearer by the day. Research has shown that too many students are disengaged and alienated from school, and see little or no purpose to their education. Business leaders say there is a widening gap between the skills of the workforce and the needs of businesses seeking competitive advantage. Additionally, technology and the networked era threatens to stretch the already-wide equity gap in education unless there is decisive intervention and a strong public agenda (http://connectedlearning.tv/connected-learning-principles).
Jackie Gerstein, Ed.D.
User Generated Education 