How have I evolved as an innovative thinker? Honestly I feel leaps and bounds further down my journey to complete transliteracy. I am not sure if it is even fair to compare my former self with where I am today. Bc of this course I have become focused on my audience and I have learned ways to address them and get feedback from them. I guess the biggest thing that I have done bc of this course is I have identified my central questions and narrowed the focus of my capstone down to a point that I am ready to take my ideas and start creating them. I also feel that this course and Brenna has opened my eyes to more fully use my own talents and not hide my potential.
So my thinking has changed from the beginning of the semester. I now have purpose in my thinking. I am excited to start my capstone and I have started convincing others to change and start doing more tech based things. I have looked at buying a white board mat and I still think I am going to use my phone to record my videos. I am also going to download and use whiteboard figures. I could also really use my own drawings and try and make it personal and creative with my own creative side. I have thought changed the way that I teach and grade. The crazy thing is I feel that what we learn here in Touro is ahead of the game for my district. We will talk about something and then my principal will say that we need to start doing this and I am already trying it or have plans to do it. It is interesting to see the teachers that resist the change though. I was silenced in a department meetings when I voiced my opinion about wanting more cloud based books. They kept swearing that it would fail and I tried to ease their fears but they didn't want to hear it. I sadly have found that a lot of teachers resist the change that can ultimately relieve them of their problems. I strive to never be like that. So one of my favorite bands is Hot Water Music. They have a song called Difference Engine. Here is the video (it may not be your cup of tea but I love it, that diving bass line mmmmh good stuff). I hope to be a difference engine.
3 Comments
The Integration of Technology in the classroom
What is technology? Why technology? What does the 21st Century Learner look like? What does the 21st Century Classroom/Teacher look like? What is the SAMR Model? What is TPACK? What is the Flipped Model? A local study using technology and The Flipped Learning Model Can I really use Technology in the Classroom? How to bring my class/teaching into the 21st century. Instructional videos to Help YOU! use technology more in your classroom Request for specific videos Helpful Links Learn more After reviewing the Sensemaking readings I have come realize that my prototype falls right in line with what we have been taught up to this point. We are asked to think about the audience and make it more relevant for them. I feel that asking them straight up what it is they need help with to better integrate technology in their classes is probably the most sensemaking-ish approach one can take. I think that this is designed specifically around my audience. One challenge I may have is helping those teachers that are resistant to changing. I hope that my first pages on the site are helpful to give (no I need a better word) exhort (haha there is a 5$ word) those reluctant teachers to want to change and let me bridge that gap for them to 21st century teaching. So really my 1st prototype was done when I finished my table of contents. I am going to have a web page (uhh site??) that is built from the questions/sections that were in my table of contents. I want to share videos that will help teachers use the technology they have better. So how does TPACK play into all this. So in the video Punya Mishra gave a wonderful intro into TPACK but he glossed over something (he actually said that we did not need to know this at the very beginning of the video). I feel I address this with my site. So what is this thing? In the video he says that technology changes
How we teach (pedagogy) What we teach (content) And the context within which teaching/learning happens So the need to know is What do teachers need to know? I will say that what many teachers need but either don’t know where to look or how to look is the technology that teachers have available but they don’t know how to use. That is exactly what I plan to address with my prototype/capstone. A way for teachers to build up the T in TPACK. In my experience I have found teachers who are good at pedagogy and content but lack the technological aspect of this model. Until now... So, I discovered something that I am going to incorporate into my personal teaching practice as well I will incorporate somehow into my action research. So, I am a real fan of those whiteboard videos and I always wanted to create one. I think it appeals to the artistic side of me. I was happy when I discovered how to make them on sites like Powtoon or Animoto. But, that was not enough. Many, of you probably did not know that in one of my former lives I was actually going to come out of school an artist. I started my college career in art school and somewhere along the way I decided to change into (what I thought at the time was more practical) an English major. So, those drawings are something I know I can do with my creativity. The other day, I was thinking about what platform I have not used to make a project in and I came across a video that was much like the one’s in Powtoon. It had an ad at the end that talked about ordering my own set of cutout’s to make videos like that one. And it hit me this is how I am going to make my videos for my Capstone audience.
I can also use this in my personal teaching in a very wonderful and what I feel cool way. I am the technology liaison at my school. With that comes great responsibility of showing and helping all staff realize that the reason their printer is not working has nothing to do with their computer but more with the fact that it is not plugged in. It is also an opportunity to show staff/parents how to make a document in Google docs (or what have you). But, this gives me the freedom to make cool artistic videos that I can save and it saves me time on the backend by instead of me just showing them I can give them the video. Plus, this will work for my students that don’t get it after the 1,000,000,000,000,000th time I taught them how to make a new folder in their Google Drive. So, yeah I look forward to that. For my capstone I have thought about a couple of things but I don’t know if or how these things will work. I have thought about somehow incorporating a video game into teaching my audience about the benefits of a Flipped classroom. I have been fascinated with these super cheap, super small computers that have kept my attention for now a little over a year. I am talking about the Raspberry Pi. I have thought about somehow incorporating one of those things into my project or something/ somehow. One thing that I think I may struggle with is my explanation of an overall concept of the goal. I am a very in the head type of person and a lot of times the things I think don’t always come out and I don’t always articulate what I am thinking. Hahaha ask my wife how wonderful that is. I feel that I get so hyperfocused on the details that I don’t teach the whole picture. I’m not going to say that I feel like I may not have discovered this until I was reading through Clark’s chapter on concepts. I really liked this chapter and I think the pictures and concepts (haha) really do help. I really need to apply these to my practice. Analogies is a representation that corresponds with a concept in function or form, but which is otherwise dissimilar Definitions and examples Counterexamples instance of a closely related concept that could be confused with the lesson concept. Information Display I find that these things will help improve my craft as an educator.
So here is a quote that I love that I feel explains a lot about the SITE model and all instructional design. It says instructional design is creating "instructional experiences which make the acquisition of knowledge and skill more efficient, effective, and appealing." I feel that the only thing that needs to be added is something about technology. The whole enchilada… I like how the article said that we need to teach the “whole person”. Did you get this article from a Microsoft word instruction manual? I like how it called computers word processors and then it talked of Microsoft Word. This had to have been written when Microsoft was king. I found it interesting it also talked that this corporations have to plan for all different levels comprehension. And then it said that in the “later” models of Microsoft Word they didn’t even put in the large instruction manual. One thing I thought about was by this point most people started getting on the internet and started asking how to do stuff and it became a more word of mouth problem solving solution. I think this melds well all different aspects of the modern learner. I look at it from two sides. The first as the teacher and what I have to do to “motivate’ or keep motivated my students. And then the second is me as a student what keeps me motivated and interested in learning. I really enjoyed the quote under The Technical Subcontext that said the following. “Learner motivation flourishes when learners can see how the ways and means of the technical subcontext will help them to realize their goals or pursue values that are in accord with cultural and social influences.“ I also liked what it talked about the autodidacts. It helped me to think for my own if my students are already autodidacts, or do they need to be taught how to be one. Very interesting thought. I could then also flip it and see if I am an autodidact and in what role does technology play in into learning how to learn. Honestly, I think that I have become more autodidact (is that correct?) by one simple tool….wait for it….Youtube. Think of how many “how to” videos there are. I go to Youtube for anything that I want to know more about. I mean I went to Youtube to learn more about this model. Did you know that there is nothing about the SITE model on Youtube. So, then you have to think of other ways to word it. Haha * Merrill, M. D.; Drake, L.; Lacy, M. J.; Pratt, J. (1996). "Reclaiming instructional design" (PDF). Educational Technology. 36 (5): 5–7. Who is the audience you want to address for the remaining two semesters? Honestly, I want my audience to be a two headed dragon that Willow has to kill. Haha So, where I want to have my audience be my students and apply the various teachings given from the readings of Dervin, Baggio and Clark. I also know that I want to take this to a bigger audience.
I mean who can’t benefit from this beautiful piece of knowledge. “Lessons using this structured approach have four major sections: 1. Introduction 2. Knowledge needed 3. Major task(s) of the lesson 4. Summary Clark shows how to make a successful lesson in such plain and simple terms. So, where my students will benefit from these findings really I go back to the question...Who can’t benefit from knowing more? The 2nd head of the monster will most likely be comprised of some close colleagues of mine who I regularly go to and discuss learning things with. It is a group that we experiment things to see how it would work in our classrooms. So it is a safe place to take my first steps. Then, it will be a more widespread thing and that is where the lessons that come from Dervin, Baggio and Clark will help with spreading the love. So, for now these are my initial ideas slaying the two-headed Willow monster…. Driving question: What is the effect of a flipped learning on student work?
My new “need-to-knows” are: How am I to bridge the gap from my knowledge of the success of flipped learning spread the potential success to others, namely my colleagues? Will using the flipped learning model be successful for others? If there is enough evidence/success to make larger scale changes to school/district practices/policy? Clark notes: So first and foremost this reading was I felt, very salesman”ish”. This did help me with know that I am going to have to sell my idea. Here is the perfect quote to demonstrate this… Hahaha! “If you are a technical expert, you are already a valuable resource for your skills and knowledge. But learn to transmit your expertise to others effectively and efficiently and you quadruple your value. Follow the guidelines in this book and your training will be effective, allowing employees to fully utilize the skills you teach and to feel more confident about their work. Furthermore, if you follow the guidelines for measuring training outcomes, you will know-not just guess at-your training results (9).” “The ISD model consists of the following stages: needs analysis, task analysis, definition of learning objectives, development of assessment, development of learning materials, try-out with revision, and implementation of the final product.” This shows the map needed to for effective teaching. I would venture to say that this is the big picture of what the first chapter about. How does this help me in where to go next? This helps to show me what steps I need to take and how to teach my findings to my colleagues. I need to be able to go through these steps with them to effectively “sell/educate” them regarding the Flipped Learning model. “The instructional media are the delivery devices that "carry" the instructional methods. Research shows one medium to be as effective as any other as long as it can carry the required instructional methods…” I like how Clark treated media even being written in a pre9/11 era where the internet was still being developed into what it is today. He saw the benefits of it. I will use this to help drive my point home that using appropriate instructional media is as important in preparation of the lesson as the content of the lesson. “Effective classroom instruction is the product of development activities that result in sound learning materials and good classroom delivery skills. It is a common but unrealistic expectation that technical experts should develop and deliver effective classroom instruction without time or support.” I feel this is like our staff meetings when you are asked to give a training. Haha so hopefully my time when presenting my findings are not like this. Dervin So really my thoughts are kind of the same for Dervin. I do like one quote that sums up my thoughts about what I need to do with my driving question. Really, it comes from page 66 and it reads: “Sense-making, thus sets forth the gap idea as a theoretical assumption and as a guiding frame for method: methods of framing questions, methods of interviewing, and methods of analysis. It is proposed that focusing on the gap idea moves research toward a new kind of generalizability, at a more abstract, more fundamental, and more powerful level applicable across situations but at the same time more pertinent and more relevant to specific moments in time-space.” In short sensemaking is bridging the gap for the people who need it. At all levels of the analysis process needs sensemaking. It is as Dervin says the frame for the method. This applies to new audience who you will hear about in my other blog post. Baggio Where I really liked certain parts of both the previous authors, I think I liked Dr. Bobbe Baggio’s work (as a whole) the most. To start if off trilogy. This made me instantly think of Star Wars. Yup! Star Wars...then she starts talking about artificial intelligence. Oh yeah, I went there. I really like what she said about the actual process of learning. She also made a distinction between the mind and the brain and how they are separate. I honestly have never heard about conation. Good stuff the trilogy strikes back! Haha Context I want to become a master of using context to teach my students. I like how she also is bold and says that if you are a visual learner you already know you are. Haha I love her confidence. A great man once told me the old adage, "The more I learn, the more I don't really know. " This is how I feel and think about sensemaking. I actually, understood the article. I wrestled with it for a few hours. I read, reread and rereread. I actually liked it, and I like the work that it made me do to get to understand it. It took me back to my time I spent in Brazil. I had about an hour set aside everyday to just read and study. So, I made sense of the article through hard work and taking notes. It made me do what I preach to my students. I actually broke out my old underlining card and I put notes down (I took your advice and printed it out) in the margins and made comments and questioned things. Man! it feels good!
In all reality, she is very explicit with what she is trying to teach. In her introduction she outright tells you what each part is going to be. Now, the words she uses are magnificent and extremely complex, but very concise and direct. Once you get past her "voice" as we call it in English, you can understand her over all meaning. The overarching thought is that (in her own words) in "the argument between qualitative and quantitative approaches to research, sense-making likewise refuses to choose a side. It is explicitly both qualitative and quantitative." In the video with the lego librarian Darvin spoke of going to a computer store with an inquiry about computers. The computer tech explains to you in his own esoteric language the answer to your question. You have no idea what he is talking about. That disconnect happens in research. This article is explaining about that disconnect or as the Darvin calls it the gap. One quote I really connected with from the reading was assume "a human being taking steps through experience: each moment, a new step. The step may be a repetition of past behavior, but it is always theoretically a new step because it occurs at a new moment in time-space." That is deep stuff! I love it though. It makes me think that there is an eternal round. Although, I may do something over and over again it is considered a new step bc it is a new time. So how do I chunk this and explain it to a high schooler? Haha Tell them that this is where your Read with a Pen skills are going to come into play. I think that the video helped to understand. I would start there and then I would show them the different parts of her paper that she explained in her 2nd paragraph. I would definitely have to explain her complex language. I would also, maybe give examples more relatable to them. Like her video said (maybe it was another I watched to understand it better) the concept is easy it is her words that is difficult. I think the best thing is to teach the overall gist first and then pick parts out that support the gist. Which is what the standards say needs to happen anyway. |
Adam Vedomske
father of Danger Archives
April 2017
Categories |