Teaching teachers new technology.

With the new school year coming up and the grant starting, there will be a lot of teachers going out of their professional comfort zone.  (See Tom Whitby's article on Professional Comfort Zone).  After reading Tom's article and then Andrew Marcinek talking about teaching teachers' at their pace, it got me thinking about what I do.  


Like Marcinek, I'm a technology specialist (we call it computer facilitator in Surrey BC).  It is part of my duties/responsabilities to help the teachers grow in the area of technology and to promote the usage of  technology in classrooms.  If a teacher wants to use the computers with a tool to enhance their learning, if anything goes wrong, they call me.  Usually they know the technology or they've seen it at a professional development or department meeting.  Great that they want to try it.  But I take it a step further.


Marcinek says that "If your colleagues use PowerPoint effectively and the kids are learning from it then let them go. Let them check it off as technology integration!"  I disagree.  Let them use PowerPoint, but at some point show a few of the students in that classroom, or the teacher themself an example of Prezi and what it's capabilities are.  Perhaps the teacher has never heard of Prezi, so give them a choice.  

A good example of this situation is ordering at a restaurant.  You've been at this restaurant before and you know that the last time you ordered something you liked how it tasted.  But if you continue to order the same thing over and over again, does it not get boring?  And what are you missing out?  When others talk about that restaurant you can only contribute the one item that you ate.  So what can you say?  Same principle applies


Instead, you have a choice.  Most people ask the waiter/waitress what do they recommend.  Or they ask others at their table what they've order, or (and this is what I model I follow for my method of training) they look at other tables and see what others are eating, and see what looks good.  They get curious.   That's what I try to do.  I create an example or get an example of a new software or Web 2.0 tool, and I show the teacher.  "Hey look at how cool this is...".  Then I send them a copy, and wait.  Most teachers are inquisitive, and like trying new things, to learn.  Soon, those teachers try it out, or come to me and ask if I can show them how to use the new tool.  It's still at their pace, but with this method the teacher gets to see all the options on the menu before making their choice.

I agree with both authors mentioned above, it's best to master what you're trying to learn before moving onto another tool.  Some tools take a few days to master (my favorite is Wordle - what a great tool for english teachers to show poetry and the importance of word usage - see example below of a Wordle of the Song - the Boys of Fall by Kenny Chesney)

Other tools can be used to a full capacity, and can take quite a long time to use all of its capabilities
See below for an example of Voicethread, a Web 2.0 tool

This year many of our teachers are going on Twitter to help publish their observations, using a wiki or blogger to annotate, upload lesson plans, give exemplars of students' work, to basically share with other colleagues.  Keep an eye here and at the Sullivan Heights Blog to see what we're doing at our school and what teachers are going out of their comfort zone to try new methods of teaching, new technology, and basically help prepare students for the 21st century.  

Wish us luck!

Edistorm

For a pre-assessment and assessment for learning this tool can't be beat!!!!  Edistorm is a brainstorming online tool that uses sticky notes to put up quick ideas when you put your students in groups, but it's so much more then that.  You can have students do work on it independently or in collaboration.  It has suggestions at the bottom (the bots area that has a thesaurus and related words.  You can have it public or private by inviting people.  It updates in real time when working collaboratively, and I the teacher can be invited in so I can see the work being done.

I asked the students to work in groups and to use colors but I was worried about them changing colors of their friends and such.  The first time we did it, we did an entire class storm, and there were students that were putting up garbage, but it was a great intro to what was inductive and critical thinking and what was just repetitive learning. Then we talked about marking for their solo projects.  I asked students to go into groups of no more then 3.  Then I asked them to do private storms and to invite me in.  Once there I could easily flip from one storm to another to see what they were doing.  But once more I was concerned about one student doing more work then the others.  I asked them to brainstorm at least 10 things each (that was 30 in total) of what they knew now about viruses.  I also asked them to use different colors but to change colors of the stickies was a click of the button, and I thought that maybe their friends (the quick ones) would do the work for their friends, so I wouldn't know for sure who did what.  When 30 ideas were on the bulletin board I asked them to vote and then delete all but the top 10 most voted ideas (once more going over what would earn 1 point, what would earn 3 points and what an excellent posting would be - 5 points).  In the end, students had to print out the summary report for me, and that's when I got what I needed, the names of the people who did what ideas, as well as the best voted ideas (I did not include the names here for protection of the students).  The report comes up with all the people in the group, as well as who created what.  After that, it was easy to put a mark (1, 3, or 5) by each comment and then take the time to discuss with the group why they got that mark.

This project was quick and entertaining for the students, completed the purpose of what I wanted - to assess what students were learning and if I had to continue to teach on the topic, and assessment included who needed more help and who could go on.  It also showed me who needed help to take a further leap of learning - to critically think beyond what I taught.

Great tool, I recommend it for a quick assessment of students.  Just remember that it did take me a day to train the students on how to use it (and no, I did not tell them about how it shows me who did what comment - they learned that at the end.).

Take care.

What is "Project Based Learning" and "Challenge Based learning"?

Thanks to @snbeach for sharing an article from Eurogates on Project Based Learning.  The video that was on the web site was excellent and one that I retweeted for my fellow colleagues. I have included the video for reference for my colleagues.  It's from Stenden University.




After viewing this video I found another one that has an easier explanation, and great to share with colleagues as well.

But lets take this one step forward and work towards Challenge Based Learning.  Something that we'll done on one occasion or another and never even realized it.

So here I go, looking at what I've done last year, and where I can change my projects to make them more meaningful.

Last year I asked my students in Information Technology Grade 12 class to pick a local web site that they considered really terrible in web design principles.  I asked them to use Photoshop to redesign it - to redraw the design and be prepared to defend their new design.  Once that was completed, students were to redesign the web site in Adobe InDesign, put it up on the web and contact the company with the web site and try and sell the site to them.  One group got $300 for their efforts.  That was a lesson that really paid off for the kids and the others took more time in considering their projects after that.

This motivational experience showed me that when the project is relevant, with the possibilities and reward outside of the school, the effort improves ten fold.  I am sure I can do this in more projects for next year.  But make them Challenge Based.  That's my goal in Information Technology class.

Summer Vacation Starting and the Learning Continues...

I had taken a week off to go on vacation down to Vegas and while sitting at the pool refreshing myself, I realized that here I was on vacation the first week of my summer holidays as a teacher and what was I doing?  Reading "Learning by Doing" by the DuFours, Eaker, and Many, a handbook for creating Professional Learning Communities.  My husband threatened me, stating if I took my computer, I could go out to dinner with it and not him.  Needless to say, the computer stayed home, but not the learning.  I think most teachers need, like a fix or addiction, to continue to learn, to evolve almost.

A couple of days ago I went for a long hike with a friend, then we sat in a park and had a picnic.  The conversation came around to how much I was enjoying Twitter, how much I was learning from this new network of people who had so much to share .  The information coming through this social media tool is astounding.  The articles sited, the Web 2.0 tools explained, the videos and conferences discussed have and continue to help me grow professionally to no end.  When I suggested to my friend to get on this tool to help stimulate her work in Social Studies (A great site was listed a while before that I was explaining to her), she said no thanks.  She wanted to take a break from work and this summer she wanted to do nothing.  She didn't want to learn.  After I picked up my jaw off the ground, I told her I couldn't believe I heard those words from her mouth.  Learning was not work if you enjoyed what you were doing, and it was fun to discover so much, while making new friends from all over the world.  There was a whole new world out there that others were showing me, and the trip was so exciting and refreshing, it was rejuvenated me, not making me more tired.  

This technology grant that our school has won will be tiring but still, it will be exciting, and rejuvenating as well.  This summer is the prep time to get ready for it and although it is my free time, I am happy to continue learning to improve myself, improve the manner in which I teach, and continue to explore how to help my students learn to the best of their ability.

As for my friend, I'll give her some time to relax, and then I'll start showing her what she can do, what is out there. There are ways to entice others into your PLN  ;)

p.s. - she just called - she's coming over Friday to get set up on Twitter.  Passion wins again!

  

PLN's

Saw the following on Christian Borja's e-Porfolio site and loved it.  I am not only going into e-Porfolios on Facebook but at our school we are working very hard to get our teachers on Twitter to create PLN groups. So far to count both Dewinetz, Neufeld and I  have an approximate total of 18 teachers hooked up, and counting... ;)  So what better way to understand it then this video.



or if you need it better in plain english see below:



Some Social Networks that as a teacher you may know are Facebook, Twitter, or Linkin.  The one that we are trying so hard to get teachers to develop both inside and outside social networks is Twitter.  With Hashtags teachers have the ability to look up other people that are interested in a common theme.  The sharing of material, opinion and research on line is phenomenal.

The video below explains about Twitter Search in Plain English.  Hopefully, this will show the importance of using Twitter in PLNs to my colleagues.

Bloomsapps

Bloomsapps is a web site that lists all the apps for Bloom's taxonomy. Each level is listed in order of Bloom's taxonomy.

It gives you a list of them as well as the price if need be. When you click on the picture (in white) you get a link to the app store and an explanation in more detail of the app. It's really something helpful when we start our IPad section of our learning. We set a budget of what we will spend in apps but I think it will be more then that. Interesting start to this project.

On average, apps can go from free to $2.99. The highest popular app I've seen is $14.99. If you have 20 IPads and get 10 apps for each one, you are looking at $300 a year to build your library of apps. Imagine that??!!!

Video on the different of education - then and now

Although I tweeted this video, I am still amazed that someone else summed up what we at our school are trying to attain.  An accumulation of different formative and summative assessments, using inquiry based learning, project based learning, differentiation, students setting their own goals, and a lot more.  This video motivated me to no end....



And if you want to see change in action see the video below but note it's quite long


this video explains why we need to change.



So why not change?  We need to in order to better prepare our students and even us for the future.
Finally, a way to start off the change with the school, the paradym shift, in a open, positive way, with a nice movie.  See below.

Infographic: How Technology is Facilitating Education | Masters in Education.org

From http://mastersineducation.org/infographic-how-technology-is-facilitating-education/ 

++ Click to Enlarge Image ++

Via:Masters in Education.org

Jogging the Web

Came across a new web tool that really helps me to organize a list of web sites that I want students to look at.  It's called Jogtheweb.  Normally, if I have it at a PowerPoint or I write the URL at the board, there are at least 3 - 5 students that have typed it incorrectly.  But now students go to one address and all the web sites and their URL's are in the order I want them to look at, and easy to find.  I've made a lesson on Validity of Web Sites, listing sites that are all bogus, but the students email me and state if they are real or not.

Thanks to Andrea Tejedor for a great powerpoint on how to use this tool.  

The Revolving Map

Found a great little gadget to add to a web site that is both entertaining, but educational?  Not to sure yet what I could use it for.  Perhaps other people out there could email me with some ideas.  It comes from a little Widget web site.  I thought it could give some pride to a school, to see where they relate to other schools.  See below for the sample and the coding you can get at http://www.revolvermaps.com/?target=setup.  Don't forget to email me any ideas :

Research on Bloom's Taxonomy

Before we start our research project we need to understand Bloom's taxonomy.  And although many teachers know that bloom's taxonomy is on a level of building up from one level to another.

Various researchers have summarized how to use Bloom’s Taxonomy. Following are four interpretations that you can use as guides in helping to write objectives using Bloom’s Taxonomy.

From: http://www.kcmetro.cc.mo.us/longview/ctac/blooms.htm

Bloom’s Taxonomy divides the way people learn into three domains. One of these is the cognitive domain, which emphasizes intellectual outcomes. This domain is further divided into categories or levels. The key words used and the type of questions asked may aid in the establishment and encouragement of critical thinking, especially in the higher levels.

Level	Level Attributes	Keywords	Questions
1: Knowledge	Exhibits previously learned material by recalling facts, terms, basic concepts and answers.	who, what, why, when, omit, where, which, choose, find, how, define, label, show, spell, list, match, name, relate, tell, recall, select	What is ...? How is ...? Where is ...? When did _______ happen? How did ______ happen? How would you explain ...? Why did ...? How would you describe ...? When did ...? Can you recall ...? How would you show ...? Can you select ...? Who were the main ...? Can you list three ...? Which one ...? Who was ...?
2: Comprehension	Demonstrating understanding of facts and ideas by organizing, comparing, translating, interpreting, giving descriptions and stating main ideas.	compare, contrast, demonstrate, interpret, explain, extend, illustrate, infer, outline, relate, rephrase, translate, summarize, show, classify	How would you classify the type of ...? How would you compare ...? contrast ...? Will you state or interpret in your own words ...? How would you rephrase the meaning ...? What facts or ideas show ...? What is the main idea of ...? Which statements support ...? Can you explain what is happening . . . what is meant . . .? What can you say about ...? Which is the best answer ...? How would you summarize ...?
3: Application	Solving problems by applying acquired knowledge, facts, techniques and rules in a different way.	apply, build, choose, construct, develop, interview, make use of, organize, experiment with, plan, select, solve, utilize, model, identify	How would you use ...? What examples can you find to ...? How would you solve _______ using what you have learned ...? How would you organize _______ to show ...? How would you show your understanding of ...? What approach would you use to ...? How would you apply what you learned to develop ...? What other way would you plan to ...? What would result if ...? Can you make use of the facts to ...? What elements would you choose to change ...? What facts would you select to show ...? What questions would you ask in an interview with ...?
4: Analysis	Examining and breaking information into parts by identifying motives or causes; making inferences and finding evidence to support generalizations.	analyze, categorize, classify, compare, contrast, discover, dissect, divide, examine, inspect, simplify, survey, take part in, test for, distinguish, list, distinction, theme, relationships, function, motive, inference, assumption, conclusion	What are the parts or features of ...? How is _______ related to ...? Why do you think ...? What is the theme ...? What motive is there ...? Can you list the parts ...? What inference can you make ...? What conclusions can you draw ...? How would you classify ...? How would you categorize ...? Can you identify the difference parts ...? What evidence can you find ...? What is the relationship between ...? Can you make a distinction between ...? What is the function of ...? What ideas justify ...?
5: Synthesis	Compiling information together in a different way by combining elements in a new pattern or proposing alternative solutions.	build, choose, combine, compile, compose, construct, create, design, develop, estimate, formulate, imagine, invent, make up, originate, plan, predict, propose, solve, solution, suppose, discuss, modify, change, original, improve, adapt, minimize, maximize, delete, theorize, elaborate, test, improve, happen, change	What changes would you make to solve ...? How would you improve ...? What would happen if ...? Can you elaborate on the reason ...? Can you propose an alternative ...? Can you invent ...? How would you adapt ________ to create a different ...? How could you change (modify) the plot (plan) ...? What could be done to minimize (maximize) ...? What way would you design ...? What could be combined to improve (change) ...? Suppose you could _______ what would you do ...? How would you test ...? Can you formulate a theory for ...? Can you predict the outcome if ...? How would you estimate the results for ...? What facts can you compile ...? Can you construct a model that would change ...? Can you think of an original way for the ...?
6: Evaluation	Presenting and defending opinions by making judgments about information, validity of ideas or quality of work based on a set of criteria.	award, choose, conclude, criticize, decide, defend, determine, dispute, evaluate, judge, justify, measure, compare, mark, rate, recommend, rule on, select, agree, interpret, explain, appraise, prioritize, opinion, ,support, importance, criteria, prove, disprove, assess, influence, perceive, value, estimate, influence, deduct	Do you agree with the actions ...? with the outcomes ...? What is your opinion of ...? How would you prove ...? disprove ...? Can you assess the value or importance of ...? Would it be better if ...? Why did they (the character) choose ...? What would you recommend ...? How would you rate the ...? What would you cite to defend the actions ...? How would you evaluate ...? How could you determine ...? What choice would you have made ...? What would you select ...? How would you prioritize ...? What judgment would you make about ...? Based on what you know, how would you explain ...? What information would you use to support the view ...? How would you justify ...? What data was used to make the conclusion ...? Why was it better that ...? How would you prioritize the facts ...? How would you compare the ideas ...? people ...?

From: http://www.umuc.edu/ugp/ewp/bloomtax.html

Bloom’s Ranking of Thinking Skills

Knowledge	Comprehension	Application	Analysis	Synthesis	Evaluation
List, Name, Identify, Show, Define, Recognize, Recall, State, Visualize	Summarize, Explain, Interpret, Describe, Compare, Paraphrase, Differentiate, Demonstrate, Classify	Solve, Illustrate, Calculate, Use, Interpret, Relate, Manipulate, Apply, Modify	Analyze, Organize, Deduce, Contrast, Compare, Distinguish, Discuss, Plan, Devise	Design, Hypothesize, Support, Schematize, Write, Report, Justify	Evaluate, Choose, Estimate, Judge, Defend, Criticize

From: http://www.stedwards.edu/cte/bwheel.htm

Task Oriented Question Construction Wheel Based on Bloom’s Taxonomy

The idea is to use some of these tasks to go from one level to another.  Using this technique will slowly develop the student's level of growth.

By Anthony Helm 
Jul 27, 2009 9:53:22 AM | Education

According to Benjamin Bloom, and his colleagues, there are six levels of cognition:

1.    Knowledge: rote memorization, recognition, or recall of facts

2.    Comprehension: understanding what the facts mean

3.    Application: correct use of the facts, rules, or ideas

4.    Analysis: breaking down information into component parts

5.    Synthesis: combination of facts, ideas, or information to make a new whole

6.    Evaluation: judging or forming an opinion about the information or situation

Ideally, each of these levels should be covered in each course and, thus, at least one objective should be written for each level. Depending on the nature of the course, a few of these levels may need to be given more emphasis than the others.

Below are examples of objectives written for each level of Bloom’s Taxonomy and activities and assessment tools based on those objectives. Common key verbs used in drafting objectives are also listed for each level.

Level	Level Attributes	Keywords	Example Objective	Example Activity	Example Assessment
1: Knowledge	Rote memorization, recognition, or recall of facts.	list, recite, define, name, match, quote, recall, identify, label, recognize	“By the end of this course, the student will be able to recite Newton’s three laws of motion.”	Have students group up and perform simple experiments to the class showing how one of the laws of motion works.	Use the following question on an exam or homework. “Recite Newton’s three laws of motion.”
2: Comprehension	Understanding what the facts mean.	describe, explain, paraphrase, restate, give original examples of, summarize, interpret, discuss	“By the end of this course, the student will be able to explain Newton’s three laws of motion in his/her own words.”	Group students into pairs and have each pair think of words that describe motion. After a few minutes, ask pairs to volunteer some of their descriptions and write these descriptions on the board.	Assign the students to write a simple essay that explains what Newton’s laws of motion mean in his/her own words.
3: Application	Correct use of the facts, rules, or ideas.	calculate, predict, apply, solve, illustrate, use, demonstrate, determine, model	“By the end of this course, the student will be able to calculate the kinetic energy of a projectile.”	After presenting the kinetic energy equation in class, have the students pair off for just a few minutes and practice using it so that they feel comfortable with it before being assessed.	On a test, define a projectile and ask the students to “Calculate the kinetic energy of the projectile.”
4: Analysis	Breaking down information into component parts.	classify, outline, break down, categorize, analyze, diagram, illustrate	“By the end of this course, the student will be able to differentiate between potential and kinetic energy.”	Present the students with different situations involving energy and ask the students to categorize the energy as either kinetic or potential then have them explain in detail why they categorized it the way they did, thus breaking down what exactly makes up kinetic and potential energy.	Give the students an assignment that asks them outline the basic principles of kinetic and potential energy. Ask them to point out the differences between the two as well as how they are related.
5: Synthesis	Combining parts to make a new whole.	design, formulate, build, invent, create, compose, generate, derive, modify, develop	By the end of this section of the course, the student will be able to design an original homework problem dealing with the principle of conservation of energy.”	Tie each lecture or discussion to the previous lectures or discussions before it, thus helping the students assemble all the discreet classroom sessions into a unified topic or theory.	Give the students a project in which they must design an original homework problem dealing with the principle of conservation of energy.
6: Evaluation	Judging the value or worth of information or ideas.	choose, support, relate, determine, defend, judge, grade, compare, contrast, argue, justify, support, convince, select, evaluate	“By the end of the course, the student will be able to determine whether using conservation of energy or conservation of momentum would be more appropriate forsolving a dynamics problem.”	Have different groups of students solve the same problem using different methods, then have each group present the pros and cons of the method they chose.	On a test, describe a dynamic system and ask the students which method they would use to solve the problem and why.

For those of you that are thinking I can't do this in my subject, like Math, here is a blog that begs to differ.  It's called "Long Tails of Interest" and it uses Blooms Taxonomy for math.  An interesting find.

But we digress.  This is the old selection of Bloom's Taxonomy, and although excellent, we need to compare to the new Digital Taxonomy.  See below:

But to see this clearly, with the Web 2.0 tools I am looking at see below.

So many to choose from, so little time.  

Wish me luck.

Trying out Edistorm with my students...

My students and I are trying out Edistorm tomorrow for the first time.  Students have learnt all about viruses and how they affect their computer, what exactly they do and how to combat them.  The idea is to have the students brainstorm as a group, all that they have learned.  This is a project for assessment of their learning, but in a process manner.  Students are to summarize as a group all they have learnt with a visual aide (the noteboard in edistorm), then vote on the best ideas that they have to present.  Each person has 10 votes to do so.  At the end of the voting, they clean up the ones they don't want to be included in their report (delete the onces that did not get many votes) and convert the report to a pdf file and email it to me .  Our first attempt is wide open for students to try in 2 private sessions, with 15 students per group.  The maximum per group is 20.  


Let me explain a bit about Edistorm before I continue on.  To get started using Edistorm log into an account that you will create, and click “create a storm.” Then a new blank canvas will appear. To the left of your canvas you will see sticky notes. Type on the note and press add note when you’re done. Above the sticky notes are the color selections of the notes, if you wish to use this to identify what brainstorming ideas are submitted by which students.  The note will then appear on your canvas where you can drag and drop it into place.  A ‘storm’ is a brainstorming session and we can choose to keep it private (so that only we can view it) or public (so that everybody can view). A third option, private storm, lets us share our storm with up to 20 people whom you specify. The private storm feature is not free.


Stay tune to see how it goes.

Just had to add this from someone else's blog.... Thank you soooo much!!!

From E-Learning Provocateur- 

The A to Z of learning

It all started with a tweet by Anne Bartlett-Bragg (@AnneBB) observing an instance of the term s-learning representing social learning.
Amused by our industry’s obsession with single letter prefixes, I replied facetiously that I preferred the term slearning – simply because it sounds so awful.
Then Anne suggested we play an alphabet learning game, and she proposed the first term: a-learning is awful learning? action learning? adaptive learning?
Well that was a red rag to this nerdy bull, so I replied with b-learning is book learning. In the blink of an eye we had roped in Penny Wheeler (@pennyjw) and Claire Brooks (@clairebrooks) as we embarked on a
26-letter journey of frivolity.

All fun aside though, assigning 26 letters to learning is a lot harder than you might think.
Sure, you can make up anything (eg zebra learning). But if you adhere to the spirit of the game and confine your answers to terms that are pedagogically meaningful, the level of difficulty rises significantly.
More than just a game, I found the exercise prompted me to critically reflect on the broad range of instructional approaches that are adopted in the digital age.

So what did we come up with?
• a-learning is awful learning, action learning, adaptive learning
• b-learning is book learning
• c-learning is Confucian learning
• d-learning is distributed learning
• e-learning is enhanced learning
• f-learning is free learning
• g-learning is great learning, generative learning, granular learning
• h-learning is hidden learning, holistic learning
• i-learning is incidental learning, integrative learning
• j-learning is just-in-time learning
• k-learning is kinaesthetic learning
• l-learning is learning to learn
• m-learning is meta learning
• n-learning is new learning
• o-learning is objective learning, organisational learning
• p-learning is learning from other people
• q-learning is quantum learning, quick learning, quality learning
• r-learning is research oriented learning
• s-learning is social learning, socially networked learning
• t-learning is transformative learning
• u-learning is universal learning
• v-learning is video game learning, voracious learning
• w-learning is we learning
• x-learning is xenogamous learning
• y-learning is Gen Y targeted learning
• z-learning is Zen learning
No doubt you noticed that we tended to avoid the obvious (eg electronic learning, mobile learning).
In fact, I think it’s quite a thought-provoking list.
Wanna play?
Anyone can play the A to Z Learning Game.
Simply follow the #azlearninggame trend on Twitter and chip in the next answer.
Just remember to use the hashtag, and try to pick something unique.
If it’s abstract or obscure, justify it within the 140 character limit.
Go on, have a go. I dare you!

They say teaching goes in cycles, from cooperative learning learning years ago to diversification now, bits of the old, with the new....  This list makes me think of that and the changes that teachers are always going through.  Thank you so much for making me smile on this post.  ;)