Week 9 - Reflections on Digital Story Telling

This week we were introduced to several variations of digital storytelling. The links to explanations by Dr. Helen Barret were my favorite. The Educause Learning Initiative sites filled in my sense of the role digital stories can play in education, and the 7 elements of good storytelling listed at www.storycenter.org filled in my sense of the literary and compositional elements that make for good storytelling.
As highlighted in the EducauseConnect article, I like that digital storytelling facilitates different learning styles connected to student interests and technology. Moreover I like that it helps students develop their abilities to "evaluate and use online content and electronic tools as a means of personal expression." For the first time I can recall, this week's lesson also included examples. I love examples, as they help me form a much better idea of the expected assignment.
I decided to involve my family in creating a digital story of my own. We chose to create a story around a day trip to a Sheep and Wool festival. After taking some photos, video clips, and a collecting a few other photos, I set out to build the story. I used iMovie for the first time, in order to assemble all the components. To learn the software, and then assemble the story took several hours, but is likely to go faster next time. When my family saw the finished product, they were all very excited. Here's a link if you are interested: My Wooly Digital Movie. By far the member of the family most excited by the technology was my 6th grade daughter. Now she wants to use digital storytelling for a report on the history of Halloween. Of course that means having to first really learn the content. Isn't that just the way it should be? Very powerful. Imagine how this technique could add to the learning experience of field trips. Imagine the insight teachers could get from seeing the field trip from the perspective of their student this way.
A second experience was with Voicethread. In the context of an on-line class session, the instructor directed us to respond to 7 questions. The time was limited. The instructor did not properly connect members of the group to each other electronically, and presented what I felt were confusing directions. The following day I found that the instructor had posted that class session on various public websites. I promised myself, that if I ever were to take it upon myself to publicize the work of my students, together with their names, I would notify them and ask their permission first. Many of us have seen the results of high-school students who use clandestine means to record their instructors and the post the recordings on the web. Public school teachers may have to expect that this might occur, as they are public servants expected to act professionally at all times. That students should need to be concerned that their professors will record their responses during a class, then post them on the web without consent, seems uncalled for.
Rather than posting a captured class session on the web, or assigning us to tell a digital story with strong emotional content from our point of view, and post it on the web, I believe a more appropriate way to teach this subject would be to assign students to create the digital story and submit it electronically without also requiring it to be posted publicly. Similarly, the Voicethread exercise might have been a more positive experience had they been confined to the Moodle system designed for online class sessions.

Week 8 Reflections - Online Tools

Our focus this week was on online tools to integrate into curricula. The readings offered a host of online tools and data sets for our consideration that teachers can use in their classrooms. We also experimented with a novel offline application of Microsoft Excel, using it to build a crossword puzzle. This approach offered a learning opportunity both in the use of Excel, and in content specific vocabulary. Already familiar with Excel, I used the assignment to give my 6th grade daughter a chance to have some fun while strengthening her understanding of terminology associated with cellular organelles. With just a bit of guidance from me, she built the crossword puzzle shown. (The answer key is at the bottom of the page.) I also used the online tool, Edhelper.com, to build another crossword puzzle, this time on the terminology associated with the study of waves. Reflections on the two assignments are included near the end of this blog.
Next, we were asked to search and identify an unlisted online tool set that we might recommend to others. I've often admired the approach taken by Ron Eglash in the Culturally Situated Design Tools he created for learning math through various subcultures. A teacher using these tools may need to drop some cultural bias to apply these tools which connect math to elements of African, African American, Latino, Native American, and Youth subcultures. These tools not only blend the learning of math, and software, but also cultural background and insight that students (and teachers) might not otherwise appreciate. The suite of Java enabled online tools use examples such as Alaskan basket weaving to learn the Cartesian coordinate system, Latino rhythms to learn least common multiples, African American cornrow hair braids to learn transformational geometry, and breakdancing to learn about rotation and sine functions. In addition to the cultural component the tools tap into different learning styles students may have. How great to learn about least common multiples through creating syncopated musical rhythms!
I want to comment on the WiZiQ collaboration tool we've been using in our group meeting. This continues to be a frustrating and poorly functioning tool for us. It claims to offer the advantages of a collaborative whiteboard and online meeting features, without installing special software, and is free to use. After our group of 4 graduate students have spent over 10 hours using this tool, it continues to be a poor performer. Poor audio quality, difficult connectivity, intermittent compatibility issues with standard browsers, awkward editing, and more. Our team has decided to pursue a better collaborative meeting tool. We'll keep you posted.

Now for the assignment reflections:

Reflection on Assignment A4
Excel Crossword Puzzle: Cellular Organelles

In assignment A4 we were asked to create a crossword puzzle using Microsoft Excel as an exercise teach both content related vocabulary words, and familiarity with the Excel software. I do believe in teaching software in the context which it will be used, rather than as an isolated topic. In this respect I applauded this approach. I am familiar with Excel, but in this particular case, I don’t believe creating the crossword puzzle did much to teach Excel. Spreadsheet software is a powerful tool for data organization and manipulation. This exercise trivialized Excel as a mater of formatting cell shapes, outlines and fonts. I have used Excel with my daughter in 3rd grade to create a multiplication table, to create a chores check-off list, and to teach input-output functions. I believe using and teaching Excel in the context of those applications reached more meaningful capabilities of the software.
That said, this week I asked my daughter who is now in 6th grade to make the Excel crossword puzzle using terms she has been learning in her science class. With a little guidance she created the puzzle, first on graph paper, then on Excel. She seemed to enjoy the project including formatting the cells, and I believe the project helped her learn the vocabulary better. The posted Excel Crossword Puzzle “Cellular Organelles” and the associated answer key were created by her, with my guidance. She enjoyed the learning experience, and hence learned the vocabulary better as well. While this was a fun project for her, if I really wanted to teach her some of the Excel capabilities, I would choose examples closer to those mentioned in the first paragraph.

Reflection on Assignment HA4
EdHelper.com Crossword Puzzle: Wave Terms

For the extension assignment, HA4, I built a crossword puzzle using the web-based puzzle making software, EdHelper.com available on the Puzzle-maker website. The crossword puzzle focused on terminology associated with the study of waves. There were both advantages and disadvantages compared to creating a crossword puzzle using Microsoft Excel.
The advantages with EdHelper.com included the ease and speed with which I created the puzzle. It was also possible to keep the cell numbers in the answer key, quickly create multiple puzzles from the same list of terms, have access to the puzzle and key from any computer with internet access, spell check, and use a built-in definition checking tool.
The disadvantages included a poorer quality of puzzle. That is, there were many connected boxes that did not form words. I also had to over-ride system generated definitions where I wanted to use my own clues. Moreover, EdHelper.com required a $20 annual subscription fee. (Fortunately a classmate allowed me to use her account for this assignment.) While much faster, the EdHelper.com program did not offer the creativity that the Excel method did in crafting the puzzle.
As a teacher creating a quick crossword puzzle for students, I would likely use the EdHelper.com puzzle maker. On the other hand, if I were facilitating a project for students to create their own crossword puzzles, I believe the Excel method would lead to a deeper learning exercise for students, and a puzzle that would be more fun for students to give to each other.

And finally... those crossword puzzle solutions!

Week 7 Reflections on Learning, Teaching and Technology

After submitting a heart-felt mid semester feedback assignment, this week continued with an online whole-class meeting, a torrent of articles on various learning theories, teaching theories, and instructional design. The emphasis drew heavily on constructivist theory and inquiry teaching strategies. This was amplified by a group WebQuest project on the constructivist 5E model of lesson planning, and added collaborative team meetings both in person and by telephone. Somehow this is was all designed to help us learn to use technology to support teaching. To say the least, it was intense.

Through the feedback assignment, readings, and whole-class meeting this week, I began to feel a genuine shift in my paradigm of the roles of instructor and students. It became clear to me that an instructor has their own struggles and responsibilities, and that building knowledge in this course will be my responsibility, as it ought to be, and perhaps with support and collaboration from classmates. If there is guidance from the instructor, that is a bonus. In a way, I've found this shift in perspective more humanizing both in my view of myself, and in my view of the instructor, and an instructor's role. With that humanization, has come a bit greater sense of empowerment, along with deep appreciation to my group partners for our ability to work and learn together.

Another recognition has been of the so-called "aircraft carrier syndrome", wherein new technologies often reduce productivity before enhancing them. I am becoming strongly convinced of the inefficiency of using the Web 2.0 tools we've been exposed to for live communication tools. They are classified as "beta" for a reason, and seem to be useful as experimental tools only, or when alternative forms of communication are not available. We saw a slideboom presentation stop functioning midway, presenters who could not connect during a whole-class presentation, a sliderocket presentation sharing tool that only works on a non-college computers, and then painfully slow, audio failures, and more. They all function so poorly, that I cannot imagine a serious classroom or business using these tools for anything other than novelties. This week out team agreed to meet in person for 75 minutes, and we were able to communicate much faster, and far more accurately than any Web 2.0 method we've come across so far. Our instructor explained that the new technologies teach us patience, and this proved true. I can not imagine what it would be like to have a room full of children or adolescents under the circumstances experienced this week, or that classroom management demand wouldn't become an even greater priority than patience. Web 2.o tools do not seem ready for those who want to do things quickly, thoroughly, or effectively.

Alas, the purpose of this blog is not to complain, but to be professional. The realizations listed above, including both human and technological fallibility are simply part of the learning experience I am reflecting on and expect to take with me from this course.

Following are several additional reflections we've been assigned to consider alongside the others on this week's events:


I learned that Instructional System Design Models aid instructors by helping give structure to planning and teaching. They help the teacher identify not only the content they will teach, but also the teaching and learning strategies they plan to employ, resources to use, and how to implement their teaching. I particularly like the D-P-A (Design-Plan-Act) system along with the 6-step DID for designing instruction beginning with knowing the learner, setting objectives, identifying teaching strategies and technologies, and evaluation all in an iterative design and revision process.

Four models of instruction that we considered were Behavioral (BM), Information Processing (IPM), Social Interactive (SIM), and Personal (PM). For each of these models, certain technologies align best based on the theory of learning the model emphasizes.

• For the Behavior Model, direct instruction tools that take a learner from knowledge acquisition to fluency and maintenance make the most sense. Example might be the use of flash cards, or electronic versions of these come to mind, as well as the direct instruction associated with computer aided instruction.
• For the Information Processing Model, tools that help with the clear visualization of concepts and experience of the learning content are likely align well. As such videos, simulations, and demonstrations are likely to work well. Following these with discussion involving the learner is likely to have added benefit.
• When teaching with the Social Interactive Model in mind, the instructor is likely to choose activities that emphasize the social and collaborative nature of learning. As such the instructor may choose group projects, such as WebQuests, discussion forums, or cooperative inquiry projects that lead to reciprocal teaching.
• The Personal Model emphasizes development of the individual learner's self concept. As such, technologies that focus more on the student's open inquiry pursuits are likely to match well, as are those where the learner can see themselves advancing. These may be WIPs, individual research, or even interacting with a computer simulation models or games to study the behavior of a system that interests the learner. Today, there are excellent simulation tools available ranging from "entertainment" software like SimEarth (R), to a wide range of other simulation models designed specifically for education.

Today, the Behavior Model is widely used for several reasons. First, because it is based on measurable, observable behaviors, it is the easiest to observe, verify, and reproduce. It is also the method that many teachers were educated with themselves. People tend to teach the way they were taught. The BM also situates the teacher in the lofty role as "the controller of learning". Many standardized tests may also reinforce this method of teaching, where the student (and teacher) are evaluated on the basis of giving "the correct answer". Web 1.0 technologies align well with this model. In this view, the web contains information, and it is the students role to receive it. A high level of multiuser collaboration is not necessary. At most, the computer can be used to verify (through a quiz or e-mail to the teacher) whether the desired behavior (answer questions correctly) was achieved.
I would says the IPM demands a bit more from the Web, perhaps including videos and audio, to increase the level of interaction. However the model is still based on the learner receiving knowledge, and Web 1.0 technologies largely satisfy this demand. The SIM model demands socialization by its very nature. This is clearly where the read/write multidimensional and social nature of Web 2.0 technologies align best. The PM requires activities like research, and probably, to an extent, the ability to publish in order help to develop self concept. Moreover the PM model might make use of tools such as RSS feeds for specific content delivery. Unless, internet gaming in considered, though, the PM may not require the high degree of socialization the SIM calls for, and therefore Web 1.0+ might be satisfactory.

In addition to WebQuests, this week we were also introduced to WIPs and Web Bits. These are all web based inquirylearning tools. WebQuests are typically used as a structured inquiry, collaborative, project based learning tools. WIPs have some similarities, but lend themselves more toward open inquiry instead of structured. The role of the WIP or instructor is simply to help the student formulate their own questions and plan of investigation. Web Bits are also open inquiry based tools, however they are generally shorter and more individualized than WIPs. As such they may be more pertinent when focusing on an IPM or PM based instruction.

In our WebQuest we explored constructivism deeper, and used the 5E instructional model in a lesson plan. The approach our group decided to follow was to take an existing structured inquiry lesson plan prepared for a concurrent course, and re-examine it in the context of the 5E instructional model. A discussion of our findings is included in our WebQuest results. We found that the 5E model aligned well with the MSMC lesson plan guidelines for a structured inquiry lesson plan corresponding to the sections of Introduction, Development, Guided Practice, Independent Practice, and Evaluation. However, application of the 5E model prompted us to enrich the lesson plan by using constructivist principles to focus deeper on the learners prior experiences, and to focus the discussion associated with the learner exploration more toward small group socialization than exchanges with the teacher.

If I were a principal of a school I would encourage inquiry and problem solving approaches to learning, as outlined with the 5E model. Students need to learn to answer their own questions - how to learn continually - more than they need to simply acquire a finite amount of knowledge. That said, the knowledge is not to be understated, as history is prone to repeat itself. But, students with inquiring minds can grow up to not only be more effective life-long learners, but importantly, to actively engage in the incredible world we are now living in, thriving and partaking in the exhilaration of learning all along the way.

Week 6 Instructional Reflections

This week's theme had to do with Instructional Design (ISD). A slew of instructional theories, models, strategies, and skills were touched on. We also gave feedback on the TWT course we are taking. I submitted a list of recommendations, mostly related to the organization of this course.

In addition to reflecting on the instruction of this course, I took particular notice of the use (or lack thereof) of technology instruction in the high school where I am observing classes. In one class, an AP-Physics course, the instructor introduced students to laptop computers they will be using for some labs. He readily acknowledged to the students that they are more likely to be familiar with the capabilities and problem solving on the laptops than he is. Oddly the classroom of these high achieving students does not so much as have an LCD projector in the room. Non-lab teaching is still all done with overhead transparencies, and a dry erase board. A world of simulations, animations, videos, and collaborative tools are not easily available for instruction.

In a class of non-regents general ed students, I noticed a far greater need for the audio visual, and interactive engagement that computer technology could be satisfying. These students need more than lecture and overhead transparencies to engage them. In an effort to lend a hand, I tried accessing physics simulations on the computer the teacher uses for computing grades. It turns out that I needed to put in a request for the building technical administrator to enable Java to run on the computer. I also learned that blogs and Wiki's are similarly off-limits on school computers. Apparently these restrictions are in place for security reasons.

I pressed on. I spoke to the department chairperson about putting in the request to enable Java. I also learned that for a "lesson using computers" teachers can make special arrangements to go to the "computer lab". Clearly, the school is not set up for pervasive use of technology in the classroom that is associated with higher LOTI levels. I'll hang in there a bit longer. I think that if we can get some simulations and videos in the non-regents classroom, the technology could take the students to a much higher level of engagement, interest, and understanding. It wouldn't be surprizing to see classroom management improve also, and along with it, the teacher's sense of satisfaction. Not even to mention assessments.

I also stumbled upon the district's 116 page Technology Implementation Plan. It was interesting to see that such a detailed 3 year plan is in place. It will be more interesting to see the extent to which it is executed.