Math « explore. create. share.

27Dec

Investigating new technologies

Abstract: In small groups, students develop a report on one of several Web 2.0 applications, their uses, and their potential for education. As individuals, they reflect and report on the application’s potential use they perceive personally for their teaching/work/professional website.

Description: This activity is designed to be done in two parts over a two-week period: the first with a small group during the first week, and the second part working individually during the second week. As will become clear, you could begin thinking of the individual part as you are involved in the group work.

In a different activity (“subverting presentation tools”), we explored how a pretty common software program (PowerPoint) could be used creatively. With this assignment we shall try to look at some emerging technologies. Each group will be assigned a particular technology (see below). Each of these technologies is part of the Web 2.0 phenomenon. Web 2.0 technologies refer to “a supposed second-generation of Internet-based services — such as social networking sites, wikis, communication tools, and folksonomies — that let people collaborate and share information online in previously unavailable ways” (source: Web 2.0 article on Wikipedia). Here’s a presentation specifically aimed at Web2.0 for Education.

Research and report on the technology we assign to your group by due date (…)
-Cloud Computing (Writeboard, Google Apps, Zoho etc.): Group 1
-Social Bookmarking (such as del.icio.us, Furl, or StumbleUpon): Group 2
-Social Software (such as FaceBook & MySpace) : Group 3
-Social Libraries (such as LibraryThing & citeyoulike.org): Group 4
-Social media (such as the photo annotation tools on Flickr, Video annotation on Voice Thread etc.): Group 5

-other technologies (___________________): Group 6
First: Introduction to a specific Web 2.0 technology.
Your group should do some research to find out about the assigned Web 2.0 technology. Share and discuss as much useful and reliable info as you can, and then, as a group, develop a written report about it. This report should focus on the following:

1. What is the technology? i.e. what is it about? what does it do?

2. What is it being used for? i.e. what are the most common uses? what are some of the more creative and interesting uses? what are people saying about it?

3. Provide some concrete examples of this technology in use (links to sites, examples etc.), particularly in the area of education

Remember this is the web, so don’t feel like you have to create everything from scratch. Feel free to use quotes (with appropriate citations, of course), and links in an intelligent manner.

After you’ve put together this report, post a copy of it on your website. As you are doing only one report as a group, this can be posted on any or all of your group member’s web spaces, as you choose. A draft of this should be completed by the following due date (…).
Second (if applicable): How would you use this technology in your final project (here, the big Kahuna)?

The next step in this assignment is to consider the Web2.0 technology assigned to your group and think about how you could use it in your own teaching/work/website. How would you do it? Would it even work? Then write up your plan, format it as a webpage and post it to your work-space.

Note: Just in case the technology assigned to your group does not make any sense from the point of view of your topic please feel free to choose any one from the other groups. [You do have to stick to one of those we have listed.] Of course, you can get a quick refresher course in the other technologies by visiting the websites and draft reports created by the other groups.

Final versions of the group report and the individual reports should be posted to your websites by (…).

Examples of student work:

History of the assignment:

Suggestions for grading etc.:

27Dec

Key topics Wiki

Abstract: Students work in groups on an informative multi-tiered WIKI on a provided topic, working either in class or as a distributed work team.

Description: Students are assigned or chose groups of 3-4. Each of the groups will be assigned a topic (see sample topics for the courses CEP 800, 815, and 822 below). The task as a group is to develop a WIKI on this given topic. Students should think of themselves as being “experts” on this given topic who are introducing this topic to the other groups in the class via this WIKI. These topics provided will be relevant for the overall assignment (in the case of the original courses, CEP 800, 815, and 822 the development of a lesson plan) as well. The WIKI should consist of a series of pages, broadly described below:

A summary page on the front end of the WIKI that offers an introduction to the topic at hand. This page should address general issues of definition, categorization, broad themes etc.
This broad description should link to a set of sub-pages that offer an annotated list of key online resources about that topic. The goal is to not link willy-nilly to any resource out there but rather quality resources that could be useful to someone seeking to learn more about the topic (or sub-topics) brought up in the first page.

The topics (from CEP 800, 815, and 822) are:

Developing information literacy, technology skills (in students)
Meeting the diverse needs of your students, assistive technologies, particularly through the idea of Universal Designs for Learning (UDL)
Social and ethical uses of technology (particularly digital equity, intellectual property, and copyright) and healthy practices in the use of educational technology
Using Technology to Facilitate/Develop Creativity and Critical Thinking Skills in Students
Using Technology to Engage in Professional Development & Leadership

Examples of student work:

Assignment History:

22Dec

Making teaching suspenseful and post-dictable – A reflection task

Abstract: Guided by exemplifying video clips, students are invited to reflect on their own teaching in terms of the degree to which it builds anticipation and “comes together” in a meaningful big picture at the end of a lesson or course.

Description:

Good teaching is (among a long list of other good things) postdictable, i.e. something that is “surprising initially, but then understandable with a bit of thought.” it walks the line between predictability and chaos, and most importantly makes sense post hoc. See these posts here and here on the idea of postdiction.

Step 1:

Consider the characteristics of “postdictable teaching”:

Postdictable teaching keeps us engaged, keeps us waiting for more, the payoff as it were. And best of all, once all the pieces are in, we can’t wait to go back and review everything again, to see just how beautifully the whole thing holds together. There is a strong aesthetic component to this – a sense of wholeness, closure, elegance, and inevitability. Good poems have this quality, as do mathematical theorems. A well crafted lecture or a lesson plan has this quality as well. In my mind these ideas are closely tied to the Dewey’s idea of experience and to the idea of design. Closely connected to the idea of postdictable is the idea of creating anticipation and suspense.

However making suspense work is difficult. Navigating this line between predictability and tension over the unknown is a fine art. Check out the two videos below, which highlight just how fine the line is between succeeding at creating suspense and anticipation and failing to do so. Both of these videos are interesting and well made – both have pace and rhythm but one of them builds anticipation while the other just happens. One tells a story, the other doesn’t.

Step 2:

View sample videos and reflect on teaching:

Watch both videos and ask yourself which one “works” in this sense and which one doesn’t.

Here’s one…
Blue Thousand and One from Blue Man Group HD on Vimeo.

… and here’s another:

Music Painting by JUL & MAT from JUL & MAT on Vimeo.

So what do you think? Both these videos were cool to watch – but don’t you think the one from the Blue Man Group a tad more interesting, both in its buildup and its dénouement? Even within its short time frame, the video sets up a narrative arc and creates, something akin to a classical dramatic structure. In contrast the second video, though visually interesting through out, loses steam somewhere half-way through. The action begins to seem repetitive and the movie lacks a narrative thrust. It lacks drama.

So what does this mean for teaching?

First, everything we do as educators needs a larger goal (the big picture as it were). Too often we get lost in the minutia of of the project and forget the broader, overarching frame. The structure of our lessons, our semester, our mini-activities needs to have a larger narrative thrust, a dramatic flow. A beginning, a middle and an end. A good science activity can have them all. So can a well designed social studies activity.

Second, every thing we do as educators needs to be subservient to meeting that larger goal. The Blue Man group movie works because each frame (and musical note) is part of a larger story being played out in front of us. Not a frame is wasted. In contrast, you could take away a chunk of the second and I doubt anybody would even notice. The first is design for anticipation, for postdiction. As educators this means that we can’t give our students stupid-work (like most seat work at school) but rather every assignment needs to inform the larger picture and in turn be informed by it.

Step 3:

Written/video/audio Reflection on moving your own teaching toward postdictability:

Take something you teach (whole course, specific module/lesson) and view it under the lens of suspense and postdiction. To what extent do individual activities and content come together to a larger, meaningful whole in the end, as opposed to simply checking off covered units? If your teaching resembles the ‘music painting’ more than the ‘blue man’ video, what are concrete ways in which you may be able to move it from the former more toward the latter? Share your 3 -5 best ideas via a medium of your choice.

Examples of Student Work:

History of the Assignment:

22Dec

Socially Sourced Feedback: The Experiment

Abstract: In this exercise, students are connected to experts in their field for feedback coming from another “expert” beyond the instructor. Using a combination of Jing + Screecast applications, the external reviewers comment on students’ online products (in the original case, modules for an online class).

Description: Ongoing thoughtful instructor feedback without question plays a large role in student learning. However, students tend to appreciate getting feedback from additional people in the field. If available, instructors can tap into their diverse Personal Learning Network (PLN) to match up students with a broader set of reviewers of their work. For example, in teaching “CEP 820: Teaching K12 Students Online” with the culminating project of creating a complete online course module, instructor Leigh Wolf was “lucky to have a large and diverse Personal Learning Network” consisting of “professors, MAET alumni, PhD students, practicing teachers, online learning experts,” and so on. By asking friends and colleagues to access a student course and use Jing + Screencast.com (both free tools) to record their reactions, feedback and suggestions for improvement, an instructor can provide students with an “extra set of eyes” on their work that might be somewhat different from his or her views and preferences. Ideally, one would specifically target people in one’s PLN who would match well with the students’ background or project at hand.

In the case of the student-created online-course modules of CEP 820,online modules were sent to reviewers who’s professional experience and interest matched the content at hand (see examples of such matches below).

Challenges regarding this exercise:

There is a risk in relying too heavily on one’s PLN to provide students with reviewers. At the end of the semester, something like this is the icing on the stress cake. It helps to time the submission of the final project 4 weeks before the official end of the semester to try and alleviate some of this stress.
The process is tedious to manage. Until someone develops a way of making the revier/reviewee process a little more automatic, it has to be done manually. This requires minute attention to detail, making sure the right hyperlinks were going to the right people and making sure no one fell through the cracks. With everyone using different course management systems, keeping track of all the access points can be a bit of a challenge.
Not everyone may turn their assignment in on time. Even understanding instructors who realize that things happen, especially with courses such as CEP 820 where students are working adults, many carrying 2 or more courses plus a full time job will realize that it is not fair to the external reviewers to send them late reviews (as they too have full plates.) In those cases, teaching assistants or gracious volunteers and the instructor may have to fill in for the late submission reviews.
It is unlikely to be able to match everyone up with the “perfect” person — in all likelihood one will have to stretch things a bit when it comes to content experts. This is fine as long as some other relevant expertise can be provided, as in CEP 820 where all reviewers were experts in online/hybrid course creation and pedagogy.

The upsides regarding this exercise:

Students may potentially get connected to AMAZING people they would not otherwise “meet.”
The PLN reviewers are able to experience an alternative form of assessment (using Jing & Screencasts) in a “low-risk” setting, i.e., with students in a course such as CEP 820. In the past, external reviewers expressed appreciation in learning how to use screencasting as a form of assessment/evaluation.

Additional considerations/lessons learned:

It may pay off to be relatively explicit with reviewers regarding the technical side of the reviewing task and to give them some tips on microphone and recording techniques.
Only ask external reviewers to perform one review
Adjust the final project due date even earlier – 5 weeks before the end of the semester? - to avoid the end of semester crunch.

Examples of student work:

Troy’s review of Erin’s “6 Traits of Writing” on Weebly Unit
Jessica’s review of Emily’s “American History” Moodle Unit
Sean’s review of Marc’s “Jared Diamond unit for World History” in Blackboard

History of the assignment: 16 brave souls were willing to participate in the experiment of socially sourcing feedback for students in CEP 820 and graciously offered their precious time to assist in this experiment:

21Dec

Video Voicemails

Abstract: By producing and publishing short video clips on the class website, teachers can create a sense of presence and highlight important class concepts and activities from a distance.

Description: Video voicemails are a great, quick way to stay in touch with students in online or hybrid courses, or when traveling in face-to-face courses, ensuring that students know the instructor is still present in the course. Such brief (roughly 2 minute long) clips are easily created using a FlipCam or the PhotoBooth on Mac to record the video, but any digital camera with video capture will work. The video voicemails help create the connection between student and instructor and are also a nice outlet to reinforce important concepts/theories, address confusion, and create a class culture.

Just remember, keep them short! Anything beyond the 2 minute mark will move it beyond “voicemail” and turn it into a “regular” lecture.

As an assignment, students can be asked to create a fun-and-informative sample video voicemail for a class of their choosing, taking into account the background of their class, the time frame in which it would be sent to students, the topic of the course at the time, and making good choices about what to include and what to highlight given the tight timeframe.

Examples of Student Work: [INSERT THE TWO LEIGH VIDEOS]

Assignment History:

Grading Suggestions:

06Nov

The TPACK Project

Abstract:In this capstone project, students apply the TPACK framework to an actual problem they have encountered in their practice and create a website that explains the TPACK-based solution to the problem they have chosen to pursue to fellow teachers.

Description: The assignment was established to have you identify a problem of practice, use the TPACK framework to address the problem, and create a web-based experience that presents the problem and solution to your peers as well as explain the thinking process that led you to this particular solution as opposed to others. Hence, there are two goals of the project: (a) have students tackle a specific, authentic problem and practice and consider a plan for a solution, and (b) share their problem, plan, and the thinking that went it to with a larger audience (i.e., represent it on the Web).

Within the Web-based experience, you will need to address the content (i.e., what do you want students to learn and be able to do? What are the problems different students might have learning this content?), the context (i.e., what is the specific context? What are the affordances and constraints of this context?), the technology (i.e., what technology seems best suited for the problem? What this is the best as opposed to other options?), the pedagogy (i.e., what pedagogies will work best given the choice of content and technologies? Why this choice over others?), and interrelatedness (i.e., how are the areas – technology, pedagogy – affected by changes in one another?).

Examples of Student Work: Past students have come up with very divergent authentic problems of practice and very creative projects both in terms of applying the TPACK model to their problem of practice and their Web-based ways of representing their problems and “solutions”. For example, John* sought to address how he could help students engage in higher order thinking in an English class when students’ educational conditioning focused on memorization and the idea that an answer is either right or wrong. In applying the TPACK model, John initially began with searching for how technology could be a solution to this problem. However, John realized that because of this exposure to a Year 1 of a Masters of Educational Technology he already integrated a great deal of technology into his teaching. Hence, he concluded he needed to change his pedagogy to work within his context, with this curriculum, and with the technology he was already implementing (see screen shots below).

Another student – Dave* – faced a problem of practice of teaching photographic techniques but without the availability of a dark room. Hence, considering the context, curriculum, pedagogy, Dave concluded appropriate technology would address the challenges, such as utilizing Adobe Photoshop and digital photo printers (see screen shots below).

In the final student example, Liz* also arrived at technology as a solution to her problem of practice – teaching social studies in a why that makes it come alive and challenges just what is written in textbooks. Specifically, she chose to focus on Christopher Columbus for her TPACK project. Using an inquiry-based approach, Liz felt her technology options were limited, but eventually found an appropriate WebQuest which aligned with her pedagogy and curriculum (see screen shots below).

29Oct

Sparks of Genius – Multi-Media Edition

Abstract: Over the course of the semester, groups of 3-4 students are assigned two or three chapters from the book Sparks of Genius for which they construct their own “essential multi-media companion book” by interlinking their work with other groups’ coverage of different chapters.

Description: While the Root-Bernstein book is excellent, the limitations of its print medium are obvious. Examples are restricted mostly to text (with only a few gray images). The medium of print denies us the full use of the possibilities of the new media ecology we live in (a world of images, video, simulations, games, activities, resources all freely available online). Our task in this course will be to address these limitations.

This is a group project. Each group (each with 3 – 4 people) will be assigned one of the modules, and will be responsible for the two or three chapters that we review in that module. We will provide a basic skeleton for each of the chapters and your task will be to select more passages from the book, annotate them with online resources provided by your classmates. The may be examples, images, activities, movies, and any other media. For instance, when you read the book the authors may mention a particular work by Picasso. Your companion book could link directly to an image, an expert discussion, an interview with the artist and so on, in short, anything that can elucidate that item. Enrich the examples in the book but do not stop there. Find others. The authors give a list of additional resources that can be explored, but the limitless resources available on the Internet can be tapped for this assignment, or you can create your own and share them with the class.

Of particular emphasis in this assignment will be the interconnections among all of the class groups. The nature of this book is such that these interconnections can be made explicit (through hyper-links), and you will be asked to do so.

The multi-media multi-perspective examples that are provided make these ideas come to life in unique ways for both the class that provides them and for classes yet to come – see “Examples of Student Work” section.

The multi-media companion has two goals. First, it helps the students themselves understand the key features (key to them) from the course text. It is important to note that we asked students to post three resources. Often, students posted more than three resources in multiple blog postings. This exercise engaged the students with often highly abstract ideas. At the same time, it provides us with a database of candidate resources to eventually provide the best of the best examples to make these ideas more accessible to a wider audience or just more manageable for future student in the same course.

Examples of Student Work: When discussing dimensional thinking and modeling, students provided over 30 blog entries with multiple suggestions each for resources that explicate the concepts. These include links to doll companies (related to the text’s discussion of modeling the human form), research on a computer program that transforms 2D images to 3D, and a how to for building a scale model of the universe. Video of students modeling math equations with manipulative, games to practice dimensional thinking, and a comedic look at misconceptions about scaling, mapping, and perspective (key ideas in the text), were provided. Other examples provided were “a virtual ride through the work of Escher” and an article entitle “Chess, What is it good for,” among many more[H1] .

[H1]Leigh offered a gallery of screenshots to be inserted here

29Oct

Dream IT Grant Proposal

Abstract: Crafting an actual grant proposal for a particular technology in the classroom, students combine technological vision with extant theory on teaching and learning to make transformative learning in a particular area a reality.

Description: Originally conceptualized as the final project for the MSU MAET summer sequence of courses, this project asks in-service teachers to write a technology based grant proposal that is intended to facilitate transformative learning. They are asked to write synthesis of the ideas from the summer session to present how they would intelligently integrate new technologies to help develop students’ understanding in their subject area. In the proposal, students are required to outline the transformation they would like to see in their teaching and their students’ learning; indicate the role technology is to play in this process; and, describe how to measure the impact of this transformative technology integration on student learning.

The project serves two purposes. First, it requires students to consider the range of learning theories and technological affordances that can serve as the foundation of t grant proposal and present them in a unified argument for transformation teaching. Specifically, the notion of transformation scaffolds the necessary consideration of teaching theory, technology, and content. That is, students have to specifically address how the affordances of their desired technology would deepen student understanding (or address misconceptions) for a specific topic in ways that traditional teaching environment do not allow. Second, the situated nature of the project is intended to provide in-service teachers with text that can be used in a variety of actual technology grant applications. In many cases, ideas that resonated well with past MSU MAET students could not be applied in practice without the particular technology right in their classrooms. With very little modification, these final papers can be used for local, regional, and national grant to get that technology. And they have been used successfully: To date, five different grants have been provided to our students based on this project, ranging from several hundred to several thousand dollars.

The emphases of our proposal paper have much to do with this success. First, by having the students present sound theoretical arguments for their technology requests, these proposals address the common shortcoming of technology grant proposals, which are largely atheoretical and merely speculate as to the impact the technology will have on teaching and learning. Second, our emphasis on using the concepts of creative teaching and transformation as core features of the paper make them appealing to grant making bodies as well. Just as the number one ISTE standard for students is to “demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and processes using technology,” this project asks in-service teachers to do the same such that their practices will model and facilitate the same in their students.

Examples of Student Work: One student, who teaches K-4 emotional impaired students, sought to transform her classroom in the following ways:

The transformation I want to see in my teaching is moving more towards project/inquiry-based learning. This means I am giving less direct instruction and that students have more control over the direction the learning goes in. I will need to be more flexible in my leading of the learning focus and timelines needed to complete the project. I have not taught these concepts before or used LEGOs in my instruction. I will be learning right along with my students. The transformation I would like to see in my students will encompass academic and behavior growth. The skills and understandings I want my students to have as a result of integrating technology in my classroom are as follows:

I want my students to have a basic understanding of what a robot is and the capabilities of a robot.
I want them to gain confidence in themselves as problem solvers and learners.
I want them to learn the give and take, trial and error experiences that come with solving problems and working with others.
I want them to increase their knowledge of gears, motors, and programming.

Based on her proposal, she was award a set of Robotics Project Activity Sets to do just that.

29Oct

Understanding Understanding Video

Abstract: In this multi-level project, students devise a small-scale qualitative research project on their own students’ preexisting knowledge structures and conceptions that need to be taken into account when teaching and present key findings via a video and a website.

Description: In this project, we focus on how students come to classes with a large number of entrenched, well-developed naïve conceptions and knowledge structures. These structures often interfere with what they are taught in school. We ask in-service teacher groups to select a certain topic and document student understandings and misunderstandings of the topic through interviews. Each group is given tasks that together make up the assignment:

(1) examine prior research of the common conceptions or alternate conceptions of their topic;

(2) develop research questions and an interview protocol;

(3) select and interview a variety of students to demonstrate understanding and misunderstanding from different ages and perspectives;

(4) edit the videos and creatively incorporate them into one group video that will show a variety of people’s understanding of your topic; and

(5) create a web page for this research project that includes the relevant research examined, a statement of the group’s research questions, the video, and a summary of what the group learned about the others’ conception and misconceptions of the topic.

The project follows a very specific design process in its unfolding, in order to encourage the in-service teachers to do the same with their own teaching. At the same time, we emphasize creative construction of a Web-based summary of the project as well as creative editing of the video clips. The project highlights various affordances of digital video that make the final presentations more easily understood and compelling to its viewers[H2] .

Examples of Student Work: During past projects, groups have interviewed subjects in age from 3 to 17 on a range of topics, where shadows come from, thunder, the color of blood, and how people view money. Based on these interviews, a creative video is constructed to demonstrate the concepts of misconception and contradiction[H3] That is, it was clear that students between the ages of 2 and 7 were able to contradict themselves regularly in their explanations, a development the group determined to be an invaluable lesson for teaching this age group.

For instance, in the project about shadows, research into common misconceptions lead to the following strategies:

To determine various individuals’ understanding of shadows, we interviewed 8 people, ranging in age from 2 to 29 years. We not only interviewed by asking questions but we also had them draw a picture of their own understanding of the concept of shadows.

The questions we asked were:

Where do shadows come from?

Do objects/things have shadows all the time?

Do you have a shadow at night? How about in a dark room?

Can you touch or step on your shadow?

*Often additional questions were prompted based on the responses of the interviewees.

We then asked them to draw a picture showing how a shadow works. We gave them markers/colored pencils and a piece of white computer paper and had them explain what they are drawing[H4] .

[H2]Is additional information on how to achieve these effect available? (for people who are doing this outside of the current class’ context)

[H3] Insert screen shots here

[H4]Insert graphic sample materials here

Links to Student Work:

Sparks of Genius – Multi-Media Edition

LESSON ARCHIVE

DESCRIPTIONS

LOGIN