One of the most critical benefits of integrating instructional technology is that students who use it as a learning tool can - and will - navigate their own engaged learning. This process implies that teachers who incorporate instructional technology as a learning tool are willing to give up control in the classroom, as students learn to find material from which they construct meaning using Web 2.0 tools, as well as others.
As a technology leader (at the classroom/building/district level now), how do you facilitate a learning culture where students can investigate authentic problems?
In the class I currently teach, Paxton Patterson Growing Up Ready, within the program there are limits on technology accessibility provided to the students. However, many of my students appear to not have the vocabulary foundation needed to navigate through the modules without assistance. As an example, in one lab, Science in the Kitchen, pasteurization is discussed but not explained in detail. I could easily just explain to the student what pasteurization is however, I encourage them to navigate the internet and find out. In doing this, I encourage them to read two sources.
ReplyDeleteAs I get further into the second year of teaching this class, I along with other Paxton GUR teachers in the district have begun to create lessons outside of the GUR program where students are given challenges to overcome via finding solutions using the internet.
I taught in central Illinois grade school classrooms for a long time. At my last school, a big bell was attached about a foot above my classroom door so that every 45 minutes a haranguing, clanging ringer chased children from one room to the next whether they were ready to go or not. It didn’t matter if the students wanted to stay and work on a project or if the teacher wanted to provide some new insights to a current lesson. It just meant that tradition and school policy pushed these young minds into following grownup rules in a child’s learning arena.
ReplyDeleteIf you are a parent, you know from watching your own children that they would rather be doing that sitting and listening. Web 2.0 tools have provided ways for students to not only produce new and creative classroom activities but to feel ownership in non-threatening new-age ways. The use of searching the internet will change the way students communicate. Using safe journey technologies such as creating a YouTube video on volcanoes in Hawaii or having a conversation with a scientist at MIT on nuclear fission can motivate students by providing alternate learning experiences. Using social media such as Facebook and Twitter can put a student right alongside a seasoned Civil War researcher or plant collector doing research along the Amazon on climactic change. Some experts have challenged the social values of texting or leaving messages on a social networking site. But this is what our students do every day. It would make sense to use familiar tools to improve self-learning capabilities, make decisions based on current events, and provide responses that could lead to deeper understanding of a subject than writing a one page response on ‘what I did on summer vacation’.
Depending on the age of your students, online learning about global warming or tree devastation in South America improves investigation skills and can lead to student reflections that are real and meaningful, not just an assignment that the students think the teacher would want to read. Creating blogs and wikis are what I have learned to call Mashups. Somebody with programming skills has taken the time to make online activities that can be developed by students and adults who are not chained down to html and programming problems. It is more of a fill-in-the blank way to start sharing and discovering answers to problems. These activities could be sustained for a semester, year, or beyond so that students could feel a part of a situation that might not be solved in the half hour television shows they watch, but long term. Adults often say students don’t have the patience to stay with a sustained assignment. They would if the work was authentic and meaningful and could be accessed in a technologically interesting way.
Our students all ready use widgets, avatars, tagging pictures, picture and video sharing on Smartphones and computers outside of the classroom. Often teachers fear cheerleading students to think past old fashioned boundaries, sometimes with good reason. However, if teachers learned to learn with the students, and teach with the students, not at them, the negatives of online browsing, searching, and information retrieval could lead to intellectual perspectives beyond the grade level delineation that each student carries. It is the teacher’s responsibility to help students judge what is true and what is trash in their research activities. The teacher’s job is to cultivate skills in finding duplicate answers online that reinforce the results that the students are looking for. Most importantly, teachers need to become experts at creating questions that are open-ended and may have more than one right answer, which is just the opposite of the goals of standardized assessments. And yes, I agree that assessments have to be a part of the use of Web 2.0 tools. But the assessments could be agreed upon by students and teachers and be authentic.
Jane Harper-reneau
In today’s era of differentiated instruction it is critical for all educators to facilitate a learning culture which meets the individual needs of every student. For teachers this can seem like a daunting task; however, with the technological advances currently available educators have access to more resources than ever before. Yet, giving up control and facilitating a learning culture where students can independently investigate authentic learning problems requires all educators to be proficient in the types of instructional technology which is available. Upon reading Chapter 7, which discussed inquiry learning using different types of software/technology, I began to reflect upon the different types of technology which I regularly used in the classroom and which is currently being used in the district.
ReplyDeleteAs I was reading I reflected upon the powerful role which technology can have in the classroom to help differentiate instruction in authentic ways for learners at all levels. Such technology such as Odysseyware, Reading Plus, Animoto, and Career Cruising allow students to interact in inquiry learning to solve problems which they will experience in the real world. Through such software students experience different types of literacy, such as visual and digital, which helps them become more proficient learners. Additionally, such programs allow stunts to evaluate different mediums and methods which they can utilize outside of the classroom. In my own classroom I utilize visual thinking and concept mapping software to help students construct meaning by visually representing their ideas in order to put them into coherent order. Draftbuilder is a program which is utilized in my classroom to help students produce their written compositions. They can create an outline for essays in various ways and then export their outline to Microsoft Word. Animotos are used in my co-taught classroom to help students produce multimodal presentations to convey their thoughts on different themes found in the text Sold by Patricia McCormick. Additionally, we utilize Reading Plus, CoWriter, and Career Cruiser throughout the Special Education department to help students make progress toward academic goals, explore post-secondary skills, and independently complete tasks.
The idea which I thought was most pertinent to being a technological leader at any level is the idea that instructional technology should be used to provide an active and challenging curriculum which is personalized for each student. Additionally, it should help students become independent thinkers who utilize higher order thinking skills to solve real world problems. As a leader it is up to administrator to promote use of instructional technology in their vision, purpose, allocation of funds, school improvement initiatives, and professional development. Failure to promote instructional technology at any of these levels will inhibit the use of instructional technology to help students engage in authentic learning.
Based on my past experiences and personal focus in education, I am typically motivated by looking for ways to integrate technology for kids with special needs or those having IEPs. Although I do recognize technology as an essential component in education for all students, my experiences allow more familiarity in using technology to “level the playing field” and allowing kids equal access to general education settings and curriculum. In addition to several other instructional advantages, technology (computers, software, IPad applications, word processing) provides students with special needs the support they need to write, read, spell, visualize, create, produce, verbalize, conceptualize, and modify assignments.
ReplyDeleteBy providing students with special needs this equal access, they are better equipped to “investigate authentic problems” similar to that of general education peers. Education and learning take on a whole new approach and purpose. Student accomplishments are not limited by deficit areas or academic weaknesses (such as low reading skills or poor writing skills). Higher level thinking and learning activities can occur while minimizing the impact of the student’s disability.
Currently, I am working with the Technology Director in our district to train teachers on how to more effectively incorporate technology into their classrooms. Each classroom is equipped with an interactive whiteboard, but in most classrooms, this tool is actually just taking the place of the traditional chalkboard, with minimal “technology” being put into effect. Teachers also have access to IPads, but most are using them only as a “reinforcement” or “incentive” for positive behaviors. The technological advantages these tools can offer are not being implemented regularly or to the fullest capabilities. To better illustrate this point, this topic was one of the issues discussed in a meeting last week with building principals. My mention of blogging, using technology as a method of informal assessments, and creating wikis was not well received. Principals were uninterested and felt teachers “had too much on their plates right now” to introduce more expectations. Clearly, more work needs to be done to integrate technology and provide the much needed training, support, and direction to students and teachers. Recognizing, my position requires multiple responsibilities, I personally plan to continue working with the Technology Director and being to introduce some of these tools through modeling.
Teachers can allow students to choose an assignment from an existing list of topics that meet the educational learning standards. For example, last month our Bio II students completed a genetic disorder WebQuest project. Students were allowed to choose a genetic disorder that they wanted to research. They had to research their topic to find the following information: type of genetic mutation, affected gene, affected chromosome, symptoms / treatment of the genetic disorder, and how this genetic disorder impacts society. Students were required to create a visual aid (Poster, PowerPoint, etc.) to present this information to the class.
ReplyDeleteOne of the ways I have integrated technology, along with "give up control" in the classroom to a degree, is through the student-exploration of projects and subsequent student-creation of rubrics and proficiency scales.
ReplyDeleteFor example, I shared out a Google Doc with my 6th grade Visual Art students. On it, was a table with rows representing each table (students sit six students/table). Each table had past student ceramic work at it, along with one laptop. The students had 2-3 minutes to look at the ceramic work, and when time was up, they rotated the work between the tables. During this time, they were to note on the Google Doc (in their row) the common "basic" physical characteristics of the projects. I had the Google Doc displayed on the SMART board so everyone could watch the observations being typed into the document. At the end, I created an extra row in the table, and the class and I look for commonalities from all of their writing, and synthesized the requirements for their ceramic project.
The next day, the students reopened the Google Doc, found a new table that had their group's row, but now had it divided into three columns, an "Exceptional," "Proficient," and "Beginner" column. The students, using the actual student-produced ceramic examples found at the tables, examined them again, but this time they created criteria for what physical elements divided work between "Exceptional," "Proficient," and "Beginner." At the end, the class compared and contrasted their observations between the tables, and synthesized the grading criteria for the soon-to-be-created work.
I share this example because it is not dependent on technology. It only worked because of my willingness to try a new professional practice. The technology just allowed me to present the work in a different way. I believe technology integration is only true when it is seamless, fluid, and (sometimes) impromptu. Technology (in my opinion) should be the light shining on the stage, not the actors.
I am looking at this question from a different perspective and that is from the school leadership angle. I am reflecting on and sharing what I believe school leaders must do. In order to facilitate a learning culture for students to investigate authentic problems, a technology leader must understand the importance of supporting the teachers. I believe to create this type of culture; it must start with the leader. A technology leader must understand the process and challenges for teachers to move away from being the sole instructor. Teachers will not be able to shift or transform their teaching style or methods overnight. It will take a great amount of time and support. Additionally, I think it is crucial for the technology leader to model for teachers a learning culture that will produce results. This includes experiences that model how to put students first. By putting the students at the forefront of the instruction, I believe strongly that creating these authentic learning experiences becomes easier.
ReplyDeleteAs I ponder what my response could be related to this blog I realize that I need to begin thinking differently about how I am supporting instructional technology implementation within our special education department. I feel that we are strong in supporting students with disabilities with assistive technology. If a student needs a device to support his/her writing deficit we are all over it, but really supporting a learning culture where students are using technology to enhance authentic problem solving continues to seem elusive.
ReplyDeleteI experienced this first hand just the other day when a special education teacher asked if she could turn in her 3 assigned iPads to the teacher who will be taking over her classroom next year (she is becoming a resource teacher rather than a self-contained teacher/by choice). I told her that she could continue to use them until the end of the year to which she responded that she had never really used them at all and that they just have been sitting on her shelf since October. My first thought was that I wanted to shake her (which I didn't) and my second was how very, very sad for the students in her program! I found this to be so frustrating, however it was a wake up call to me that we need to continue to look for ways to provide teachers with the HOW to utilize the technology we place into their hands rather than focus on the device itself (how to set up a google account, turn it on, create folders, etc).
I think in a perfect world where I was currently providing PD to our staff on the above stated need, I would see students developing products ON the technology provided to them, rather than WITH the technology. Rather than using the laptop to type a paper or develop a powerpoint presentation, students would be creating movie trailers via movie maker on the iPad to demonstrate what they have learned via researching tarantulas. A huge spider crawling across the SmartBoard is much more "memorable" than by simply providing the class with an oral description what they had learned. I honestly believe that technology is the route to allowing students to provide their own differentiated learning environment, but to do so we MUST provide them with the skills to be an informed consumer which will allow the to produce products that will enhance their overall learning.
I love when class and my career intersect perfectly like they do in this question. I am currently reading a book on "flipping" my classroom and using the "flipped mastery model." This model would make my class asynchronous, moving classroom direct instruction out of class, and allowing me to be a facilitator of learning. This idea places the responsibility of learning in the students' hands, and allows them to take charge of their own learning. As my book mentions, classrooms disappear and "learning spaces" emerge. Students are presented with mastery objectives that they must demonstrate and meet before a final assessment is given. Students work at their pace and can be enriched or re-mediated based on their progress. This would allow for myself to meet with students who need me the most, and allow other students who excel to work quicker. These students could then tackle additional projects (of their choosing) based on research questions that they generate themselves that are connected to what we are studying in class. Obviously at that point instructional technology would have so many different purposes. Additionally, this flipped model is going to be merged with Edmodo to create an collaborative and interactive workspace that is never-ending. It is my true goal to become connected to my students 24-7 through the use of social media like Edmodo. It has an app on both Droid and Apple, allowing kids to have a direct link to me at almost all times. The flipped model would allow for videos to replace direct instruction, and could be viewed outside of class. One of the things that enriched or accelerated students would eventually do is help me create these videos or perhaps even create these videos on their own. All of this work would make differentiation natural and necessary as opposed to over thought and artificial to class. My room next year will hopefully resemble more of an elementary room with "centers" for students to watch the videos, meet with me, work on projects, or work on other assessments alone or in groups. The possibilities for these ideas are endless, and I hope to continue to use educational technology to make it possible. If I get the time and resources I am hoping for, I plan to make my classroom completely accessible at all times, and even more shockingly... completely paperless.
ReplyDeleteDue to limitations of Characters I am posting my response in two parts. Further there is another response in Google Drive that is different from this one.
ReplyDeletePart 1
Web 2.0 tools consist of amazing computer applications that a teacher can use to create a culture where students can investigate authentic problems. Technology can increase the pace of learning only when it is utilized in a way that we can get maximum benefit from the technological tools. Internet plays a key role in this inquiry based learning.
What is authentic problem solving or inquiry learning? It is not a new thing. Jean Piaget said it in a way that individuals construct new knowledge through assimilation, accommodation and equilibrium from their own experience. John Dewey said it in a way that students thrive and learn when they experience and interact with the curriculum.
There could be many ways a teacher can use to promote inquiry learning and problem solving. The important thing is that it all starts with a precise, well defined and re-searchable question. Teachers must put a question in a way that can challenge students' previous assumptions or knowledge and make them to think about it, to dig about it, to analyze it and come with results. Internet is full of information and students can be easily overwhelmed with this amount of information. The purpose of problem solving is that students may not only know the amount of information but they also know the meaning of information. What are different relationships among different chunks of information?
Teachers must design the learning in a way that can force students to think, collaborate, engage, find and solve, make conclusions, and critique. Question of interest is how teachers will do this?
Part 2
ReplyDeleteDifferent type of Web 2.0 tools supports different type of learning. For example there are tools that support learning of critical skills, problem solving skills, analysis skills, memorization skills, speaking skills, communication skills, and creativity etc. Teachers can use the following steps to promote an inquiry based learning:
1. Select a good problem or question and make a lesson plan for it.
2. Locate information or select proper application from Web 2.0 tools.
3. Divide the problem in activities and tasks.
4. Assign task to students with clear expectations and if necessary provide resources and tools to find information and solve problems like Web 2.0 tools, websites, videos, images, magazines, newspapers etc.
5. If necessary divide the students into groups and either assign them roles in the group or let them choose their own roles.
6. Guide and facilitate the student centered learning.
7. Provide feedback and help when needed or asked by students. Explain, correct or make clarifications.
8. Appreciate their efforts by sharing it with other classes, parents, or on school's web site.
Changes can be made in the above steps and it depends upon the subject, classroom size, time and availability of resources. For example it is not always necessary that students must work in groups. They can do it on a computer screen individually. For example students in mathematics class can work on a problem collectively in groups or each single student can work on a computer screen by using intelligent tutoring systems. Intelligent tutoring systems (ITS) are powerful computer programs that promote inquiry learning by students through computer applications for example simulations, games, tutorials etc. ITS are intelligent software that can keep the track of learning and it can predict what students know and what they don't know by recording their correct number of responses. Based on these predictions the program adjust its difficulty level for each student and can automatically select difficult or easy problems based on their correct or wrong answers or what student need to learn. ITS can meet the needs of each individual learner.
There is large number of Web 2.0 tools available on the internet but not all can be used in classroom. The important thing is that teachers must know which program, application or method to select that can promote inquiry learning culture in classrooms and among students. They must be willing to change the practices from teacher centered to learner centered. They must be ready to give control of learning to the learners so that learners can own their learning and become a learner that can survive in this century. They must give students a chance to experience the learning and curriculum by doing it themselves and looking at a problem with different perspectives.
When first looking at tools that I could use I began by seeing what I needed for my classroom. The largest issue that most teachers within the building have is the "loss" of assignments from students. I created a forms document that students could try to use google documents to turn in assignments with no excuses. This was successful for three students who each had access. The other 12 students however all needed to hand in paper handwritten work. When asked why, those students each have been shuffled through various homes and living situations where nothing is stable. This is an unfortunate reality of some schools in low income communities.
ReplyDeleteOn the teacher side of the equation I recently had the opportunity to give a brief overview of google docs to various aged teachers within the school. The older teachers were interested but were not as technologically sound. The younger teachers were interested but were afraid of streamlining some of the work they do. When I asked why they responded with fear of creating an environment where tehy would make themselves obsolete. They were fearful that if they had this in place that students would not have to be in class all the time to still be able to do the work that is assigned. While I can see this fear, I also disagree that we could create the educational environment that students need without the student teacher interaction and teaching.
I often times find that currently I am excited about educational advances with technology. The problem is the selling point of the technology and the motivational interest we hope that the educators should have but usually do not or are afraid to be outside the culture of the school as per their interest and their motivational aspects towards innovations.