Alexandra Matthews' 12 April 2008 blog entry, "doof.com - integrating gaming with social networks", provides an overview of this particular social gaming site. Social gaming juxtaposes online gaming with social networking sites providing a more interactive form of gaming.
A recent Pew Internet research study shows that almost all teens (97%) play some sort of game. Only a 24% play games completely in isolation demonstrating the need for education to tie into social gaming.
So how do we tie into social gaming to benefit learners; to provide a more pervasive access to education? I think this is an area that educators everywhere need to tap into.
Yes, most of the games are ever consuming voids inhaling moments of free time, but isn't that want we all want, even in the most minuscule way: a moment away from reality and all of the aspects of life we cannot control; a moment to breath.
16 November 2008
Handheld Wireless Data Devices
Here's a 10 minute presentation I created on hand held wireless data devices in the K-12 classroom. Being that this is a vast area with much room for exploration, this video, in order to maintain a reasonable length, introduces these devices, touches on the reasons why educators should be interested in this emerging technology, and provides some information on how they can be used in education.
09 November 2008
Entry 10 - Learning Objects
Like the term "object" from the concept of "object oriented programming", learning objects are "digital entity intended to further the achievement of a specific learning objective" (Harvey 2005). This means any multimedia item, such as a diagram, video, sound clip, animation, or block of text, could be considered a learning object.
Imagine the impact on education if educators had global access to repositories of "learning objects"; hundreds of thousands of small pieces of information which could be strung together to meet the needs of an individual student at the time of need. Suppose you are studying Binomial Theorem in your foundational algebra class. You could type in the topic and related objects would appear allowing you, as the teacher, to quickly construct multimedia lessons. Objects may include:
Now imagine all of these objects available to anyone, world-wide, at any time, at no cost, and that contributions to expand and improve the available body of knowledge could be made globally. Yes, the gain is pervasive beyond the world of education but the benefit to our students may be. Not only would it increase efficiency in teaching but the information contained has the potential be the one piece which sparks interest in a student to become a life long learner. We as educators are no longer islands contained within the bounds of our classroom walls; we must not only reach out to our students but reach out to each other to support learning at a global level.
Brian Harvey's full article on learning objects can be found at http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/227/310
Imagine the impact on education if educators had global access to repositories of "learning objects"; hundreds of thousands of small pieces of information which could be strung together to meet the needs of an individual student at the time of need. Suppose you are studying Binomial Theorem in your foundational algebra class. You could type in the topic and related objects would appear allowing you, as the teacher, to quickly construct multimedia lessons. Objects may include:
- Pictures of Pascal's Triangle from several of it's cultural iterations
- Historical notes
- Presentation slides demonstrating the process of using Pascal's Triangle in order to perform binomial expansion
- Sample problems including solutions
- Pre-made hand outs for student notes
- Animations showing the construction of Pascal's Triangle
- Worksheets for skill practice
- Audio files reviewing the process of creating Pascal's Triangle or the process of binomial expansion
Now imagine all of these objects available to anyone, world-wide, at any time, at no cost, and that contributions to expand and improve the available body of knowledge could be made globally. Yes, the gain is pervasive beyond the world of education but the benefit to our students may be. Not only would it increase efficiency in teaching but the information contained has the potential be the one piece which sparks interest in a student to become a life long learner. We as educators are no longer islands contained within the bounds of our classroom walls; we must not only reach out to our students but reach out to each other to support learning at a global level.
Brian Harvey's full article on learning objects can be found at http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/227/310
02 November 2008
Day 3 - Assessment Summit - ATL
Day three of The Solution Tree's Assessment Summit in Atlanta provided even more compelling evidence and generally applicable methods of reforming assessment to become methods of instruction and learning for both teachers and learners.
Anne Davies provided methods to make students involved in the assessment process including student driven and developed assessments. Once students understand the assessment process and are able to provide positive feedback to others, they develop a deeper understanding of their own metacognition. Honestly I could have listened to her for 8 hours as she was so informative and practical.
Though Dylan Wiliam reinforced what many other presenters provided, he gave a sound discussion on why investing in teacher professional development is critical to the improvement of education. This was a discussion that every superintendent, board member, and principal needed to hear. Again, like Davies, his presentation needed to be longer but done through a workshop fashion instead of a lecture. He presented much information on standards and assessments but I feel we would have benefited more if given the opportunity to participate and experience the processes described.
I was disappointed in one presenter, whom I will not name, as he spoke against several other presenters' works. Not only did he provide no documentation or data to back up his claims but he tastelessly projected their work in his presentation with a giant X over it! This turned me off to the rest of his presentation. If you are going to state that something needs to be changed, present evidence to support your claim. If you are going to state that someone is wrong, defend your position with data - OTHER PEOPLE'S DATA, don't just reference your own writings. In fact, I would say limit references to your own work; it's tacky and gives the perception that you are just there to sell your own books.
Over all The Solution Tree's Assessment Summit in Atlanta, Georgia was excellent. I walked away with volumes of useful information that is not only directly applicable to me as a secondary classroom teacher, but also is information I can put into place immediately. I wish every classroom teacher could attend something of this nature as it reinforces much of what we do and yet demonstrates the paramount nature of change. Much of the information presented can be found in the book Ahead of the curve: The power of assessment to transform teaching and learning by Ainsworth, L., Almeida, L., Davies, A., DuFour, R., Gregg, L., Guskey, T., et al.
Anne Davies provided methods to make students involved in the assessment process including student driven and developed assessments. Once students understand the assessment process and are able to provide positive feedback to others, they develop a deeper understanding of their own metacognition. Honestly I could have listened to her for 8 hours as she was so informative and practical.
Though Dylan Wiliam reinforced what many other presenters provided, he gave a sound discussion on why investing in teacher professional development is critical to the improvement of education. This was a discussion that every superintendent, board member, and principal needed to hear. Again, like Davies, his presentation needed to be longer but done through a workshop fashion instead of a lecture. He presented much information on standards and assessments but I feel we would have benefited more if given the opportunity to participate and experience the processes described.
I was disappointed in one presenter, whom I will not name, as he spoke against several other presenters' works. Not only did he provide no documentation or data to back up his claims but he tastelessly projected their work in his presentation with a giant X over it! This turned me off to the rest of his presentation. If you are going to state that something needs to be changed, present evidence to support your claim. If you are going to state that someone is wrong, defend your position with data - OTHER PEOPLE'S DATA, don't just reference your own writings. In fact, I would say limit references to your own work; it's tacky and gives the perception that you are just there to sell your own books.
Over all The Solution Tree's Assessment Summit in Atlanta, Georgia was excellent. I walked away with volumes of useful information that is not only directly applicable to me as a secondary classroom teacher, but also is information I can put into place immediately. I wish every classroom teacher could attend something of this nature as it reinforces much of what we do and yet demonstrates the paramount nature of change. Much of the information presented can be found in the book Ahead of the curve: The power of assessment to transform teaching and learning by Ainsworth, L., Almeida, L., Davies, A., DuFour, R., Gregg, L., Guskey, T., et al.
Entry 9 - Learning Management Systems
On of the most useful discussions I've found on Learning Management Systems (LMS) is written by Tony Karrer (link). His participation in eLearningGuild's Learning Management System research report provides a good overview of the reaction to products in use at various levels of industry including the educational sector. Being able to graphically see the satisfaction levels of users for various LMS packages gives a good understanding of which products to lean towards when beginning an investigation into these tools. He also provides some background information as to why some of the perceptions may be inflated, such as Moodle being open source, thus cost not being a factor. He also presents information on certain products which provide limited usage, thus being good starter programs but not being final destinations. Thank you to all of those out there that provide well linked and cross linked blogs which provide not only solid information but also provide easy access to more information on topics of interest.
30 October 2008
Day 2 - Assessment Summit - ATL
Today I saw both Doug Reeves and Thomas Guskey speak regarding assessment, both of whom are phenomenal presenters. I'm ready to make changes in the way to give and use assessment in my classroom tomorrow!
Doug Reeves presented some powerful data about the cost effects of keeping the status quo. It costs tax payers $15.4 billion annually from high school dropouts alone. This comes from social programs, health care, and safety concerns. In the state of Georgia alone, 1 year of high school dropouts cost the state $746 million. By lowering the drop out rate in Georgia by 5% the state would realize a savings of $276 million per year (original reference pending).
He noted that change needs to occur at a systemic level immediately - not within a 5 year time span because our students don't have 5 years. He also impressed upon us that we don't need proof of the effectiveness of change, we only need proof that what we are doing is not working. The entire premise of change needs to rest on one factor: student achievement. If we are not doing something that directly effects student achievement, then it should not be done. Of course, he also noted that we may not realize that something is effective right away - some of the gains take time to actualize. This is the whole notion of making a change and actually giving it fair chance to demonstrate it's benefit.
With all of that said, his focus is on the feedback presented from assessment. Feedback needs to be accurate, timely, and effective. Students need correct information quickly to make changes to their behaviors and learning and they need to be able to see results. He presented a great change tracking tool to allow students to see their own gain over time.
Of course, many of his ideas throw out the whole currently accepted notion of grading on a 100 point scale. He piggy backed off of Marzano's presentation using a 0-4 scale with 3 being the benchmark that we expect all students to achieve.
Guskey also presented information on change over time in the methods and use of assessment. He urged everyone to consider granting additional opportunities for demonstrating mastery by using an analogy: getting a drivers license. If you do not successfully pass the test, you are told exactly what you need to work on and are allowed to re-test until you are successful, with no regard to the number of times it took to be successful, only the notion of success. This presents a culture of success and it's importance, as opposed to mastery being contained in a discrete time frame fabricated at the whim of the instructor.
As simple as this notion is, it throws everything out the window from "the way it was done". This means that EVERY student can be an "A" student when they demonstrate "A" mastery/performance. It does not, however, mean that students must master the content by the date of the end of the unit. What a powerful motivator to students who traditionally struggle. This gives students an opportunity to fail, remediate, and demonstrate mastery, earning the same marks as anyone else who masters. This could be the life changing experiences as students would know that they had the opportunity to be an "A" student, as the arbitrary letter only represents mastery of the content not all of the other factors which do not encompass mastery, such as time frame, participation, interaction, etc.\
More information regarding Doug Reeves and his research can be located at www.leadandlearn.com.
Doug Reeves presented some powerful data about the cost effects of keeping the status quo. It costs tax payers $15.4 billion annually from high school dropouts alone. This comes from social programs, health care, and safety concerns. In the state of Georgia alone, 1 year of high school dropouts cost the state $746 million. By lowering the drop out rate in Georgia by 5% the state would realize a savings of $276 million per year (original reference pending).
He noted that change needs to occur at a systemic level immediately - not within a 5 year time span because our students don't have 5 years. He also impressed upon us that we don't need proof of the effectiveness of change, we only need proof that what we are doing is not working. The entire premise of change needs to rest on one factor: student achievement. If we are not doing something that directly effects student achievement, then it should not be done. Of course, he also noted that we may not realize that something is effective right away - some of the gains take time to actualize. This is the whole notion of making a change and actually giving it fair chance to demonstrate it's benefit.
With all of that said, his focus is on the feedback presented from assessment. Feedback needs to be accurate, timely, and effective. Students need correct information quickly to make changes to their behaviors and learning and they need to be able to see results. He presented a great change tracking tool to allow students to see their own gain over time.
Of course, many of his ideas throw out the whole currently accepted notion of grading on a 100 point scale. He piggy backed off of Marzano's presentation using a 0-4 scale with 3 being the benchmark that we expect all students to achieve.
Guskey also presented information on change over time in the methods and use of assessment. He urged everyone to consider granting additional opportunities for demonstrating mastery by using an analogy: getting a drivers license. If you do not successfully pass the test, you are told exactly what you need to work on and are allowed to re-test until you are successful, with no regard to the number of times it took to be successful, only the notion of success. This presents a culture of success and it's importance, as opposed to mastery being contained in a discrete time frame fabricated at the whim of the instructor.
As simple as this notion is, it throws everything out the window from "the way it was done". This means that EVERY student can be an "A" student when they demonstrate "A" mastery/performance. It does not, however, mean that students must master the content by the date of the end of the unit. What a powerful motivator to students who traditionally struggle. This gives students an opportunity to fail, remediate, and demonstrate mastery, earning the same marks as anyone else who masters. This could be the life changing experiences as students would know that they had the opportunity to be an "A" student, as the arbitrary letter only represents mastery of the content not all of the other factors which do not encompass mastery, such as time frame, participation, interaction, etc.\
More information regarding Doug Reeves and his research can be located at www.leadandlearn.com.
Ahead of the Curve Summit - Atlanta
Although it has nothing to do with technology in education, I saw Robert Marzano speak last night at the 2008 Solution Tree Summit - Ahead of the Curve. He presented a solid rationale for moving away from the traditional 100 point scale and provided solid methods to move towards a true rubric scale along with conversions to both letter and percent grades. Several educators expressed how difficult it would be to convert to this new method of grading though with the information Marzano presented, I feel it's a feasible and viable alternative. Marzano presented a simple and easy to apply to a variety of topics rubric and demonstrated how mastery could be tracked in 3 different ways: single assessment, trend over time, and final evaluation.
Today Doug Reeves, Thomas Guskey, and Stephen White are presenting regarding grading, assessments, and the use of data.
Today Doug Reeves, Thomas Guskey, and Stephen White are presenting regarding grading, assessments, and the use of data.
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