1-minute iGoogle video
Images used by permission, Jupiter Images, Inc.
Music used by permission, Apple Corporation
Sunday, November 15, 2009
bp16_2009113_Blog_Web2.0Tools_Google_Tools
It may be generational, it may be a personality thing (With a high “J” at the end of my Myers-Briggs type indicator, it’s clear I like order), or it may be that my work has wired me this way. Whatever the reason, I’m compelled to try to find a Web 2.0 tool to help corporate learners to organize all the wonderful Web 2.0 tools that are available to them.
Over the last three weeks I’ve been exposed to a head-pounding assortment of widgets, tools, resources, sites, and electronic instructions. I’m excited about the possibilities of putting many of them to use, at the right time and in the right way, but I see forward a dizzying experience for learners without a consistent method of getting to relevant learning resources when they need them. Corporate employees, at least where I work, don’t generally have continuous learning on their minds, and formal learning experiences are much fewer and farther between than perhaps they should be. When employees do engage in formal learning, time is usually short. For these reasons, I strongly believe that a consistent learning platform is needed for learners to manage all of their learning.
I have heard about Personal Learning Plans, and thanks to my professor, Rena Hanaway, I now have created one of my own, using the iGoogle tool. What I’ve created is fully my own, but I want more; so I went back to Google for help. Google University ate their own dog food and used Google tools to create a Learning Platform and experience that is incredible! Julie Clow presented at the Learning 2009 Conference, Learning in the “Cloud”: Foundations of Leadership & Teamwork.
Only two tools in Google’s Leadership program are purchased outside of the free Google accessible tools: One to help manage automatic deployments of emails to learners, and one to enable Web Conferencing. Some of the Google tools used to enable the learning platform include these:
- Wikis
- Profiles
- Moderator
- Knol
- Forms
- Spreadsheet
- YouTube Video
The Google University method of delivering web-based learning is loaded with the benefits my corporate organization needs to make learning 2.0 work:
- Easy, open, web-based access to content
- Learner driven content
- Inexpensive to create and deliver
- Easily updateable
- Effective, according to the results in the report.
The main hurdle to overcome with my corporate clients will be to break out of the paradigm of secured content. There’s nothing proprietary in learning opportunities we find out in cyberspace; so the minor risk of placing our method of organizing out on Google’s servers, while it may be a shock to the system (which is Sharepoint based), does not jeopardize any company secrets.
It’s time to harness the Information Age! I intend to recommend using Google Sites and tools to launch an employee cultural development program within my organization. Wish me well.
Reference
Clow, J. and Onstable, J. 2009. Learning in the "Cloud": Foundations of Leadership & Teamwork. Learning 2009 Conference.
Over the last three weeks I’ve been exposed to a head-pounding assortment of widgets, tools, resources, sites, and electronic instructions. I’m excited about the possibilities of putting many of them to use, at the right time and in the right way, but I see forward a dizzying experience for learners without a consistent method of getting to relevant learning resources when they need them. Corporate employees, at least where I work, don’t generally have continuous learning on their minds, and formal learning experiences are much fewer and farther between than perhaps they should be. When employees do engage in formal learning, time is usually short. For these reasons, I strongly believe that a consistent learning platform is needed for learners to manage all of their learning.
I have heard about Personal Learning Plans, and thanks to my professor, Rena Hanaway, I now have created one of my own, using the iGoogle tool. What I’ve created is fully my own, but I want more; so I went back to Google for help. Google University ate their own dog food and used Google tools to create a Learning Platform and experience that is incredible! Julie Clow presented at the Learning 2009 Conference, Learning in the “Cloud”: Foundations of Leadership & Teamwork.
Only two tools in Google’s Leadership program are purchased outside of the free Google accessible tools: One to help manage automatic deployments of emails to learners, and one to enable Web Conferencing. Some of the Google tools used to enable the learning platform include these:
- Wikis
- Profiles
- Moderator
- Knol
- Forms
- Spreadsheet
- YouTube Video
The Google University method of delivering web-based learning is loaded with the benefits my corporate organization needs to make learning 2.0 work:
- Easy, open, web-based access to content
- Learner driven content
- Inexpensive to create and deliver
- Easily updateable
- Effective, according to the results in the report.
The main hurdle to overcome with my corporate clients will be to break out of the paradigm of secured content. There’s nothing proprietary in learning opportunities we find out in cyberspace; so the minor risk of placing our method of organizing out on Google’s servers, while it may be a shock to the system (which is Sharepoint based), does not jeopardize any company secrets.
It’s time to harness the Information Age! I intend to recommend using Google Sites and tools to launch an employee cultural development program within my organization. Wish me well.
Reference
Clow, J. and Onstable, J. 2009. Learning in the "Cloud": Foundations of Leadership & Teamwork. Learning 2009 Conference.
bp14_2009113_BlogResponse_Peer_Review_of_Tara's_Post
T.Roe's video blog post about a tool, On the Road, sounds great. I'm convinced that it could be a very helpful tool to for those Disney employees who, her, travel a great deal for work. Furthermore, I think that the opportunity to share these stories within groups of employees who travel to the same regions could help improve overall effectiveness of cross-cultural work.
Thanks so much for sharing! I Googled "On the Road," but I didn't find it. I'd like to find the URL so I can share this new tool at work tomorrow.
Reference
Roe, T. November 2, 2009. Web 2.0 Tools. Retrieved on November 6, 2009 from http://blogsintheclassrom.blogspot.com/2009/11/bp720091102reflective-media-asset.html?showComment=1258319722636#c1589875417376179268
Images used by permission, Jupiter Images, Inc.
bp15_2009113_BlogResponse_Peer_Review_of_Kaye's_Post
Another Nice Set of Web 2.0 Tools for Education -- From Kaye
Kaye shared a great new tool, ClassTools.net She suggested that it may be her new favorite, and I can see why. Classtools.net is full of great learning activities! I personally got all engaged in the Venn Diagram activity. With sites like this one, there's really no excuse at all for incorporating technology into the classroom.
One of the really nice things about the way this site's tools work is the easy-access style, whereby teachers nor students have to log in or sign up to engage with it. That was really nice. I was able to embed my Venn Diagram onto my Personal Learning Plan mock up in just a few short minutes! Furthermore, as a parent, it wouldn't be difficult at all to click on that Class Tools logo and find other activities for further study.
The only challenge I had with Class Tools was in finding just the right activities, but I'm sure even that would come with a little more effort.
Thanks for the great gift, Kaye!
Kaye shared a great new tool, ClassTools.net She suggested that it may be her new favorite, and I can see why. Classtools.net is full of great learning activities! I personally got all engaged in the Venn Diagram activity. With sites like this one, there's really no excuse at all for incorporating technology into the classroom.
One of the really nice things about the way this site's tools work is the easy-access style, whereby teachers nor students have to log in or sign up to engage with it. That was really nice. I was able to embed my Venn Diagram onto my Personal Learning Plan mock up in just a few short minutes! Furthermore, as a parent, it wouldn't be difficult at all to click on that Class Tools logo and find other activities for further study.
The only challenge I had with Class Tools was in finding just the right activities, but I'm sure even that would come with a little more effort.
Thanks for the great gift, Kaye!
bp13_2009113_BlogResponse_Peer_Review_of_Cristina's_Post
Cristina wrote about Web 2.0 tools and blogging.
Blogging has become very big in education because removes the technical barriers to writing and publishing online and the journal format encourages students to keep a record of their thinking over time. Blogs also facilitate critical feedback, by letting readers add comments that could be from teachers, and / or peers.
I’ve been using blogs for quite a while now and I use them to present my lessons to my students and they do their writing right on the blog. I have wikis which I find them very useful. I have a delicious account which I think is the best bookmarking site there is. While exploring the Web 2.0 applications I found quite a few applications that can be use with my classes. I like Kideos, which has lost of videos for kids.
Thanks for this solid advice. You're quite a few steps ahead of me in this technology for learning exploration; so I truly appreciate your perspectives.
In particular, I'm glad to hear that you're actually using the blogs to provide assignments to your students. I'm curious about how you're allowing them to post their writings to your blog. Can students see each other's work? If so, have you seen any changes in the quality or content of work as a result of this dynamic?
At Full Sail, for me, having other students see my work has been very stressful, but I'm coming to grips with it. Ultimately, I think it's a very good thing, it's just a major learning culture shift for me. I'm just not naturally that transparent. I wonder if your students might have expressed a similar impact/discomfort with this practice and how you advise working through that.
Reference
Navarrete, C. November 2, 2009. Web 2.0 Tools. Retrieved on November 14, 2009 from http://tech-tools-cn.blogspot.com/2009/11/bp420091102web20tools.html?showComment=1258315533931#c8409340007440707865
Thursday, November 12, 2009
bp8_2009112_ResearchingandBloggingWeb2Tools-BuddySchool
Buddy School Tries to Address Tutors' Basic Needs
I'm still looking for that ideal platform for online learning, and I thought that perhaps an e-tutoring platform might do the trick. It seems that with all the great, free Learning 2.0 tools gaining popularity, there would be a leading platform for managing all this learning. Even though the black and white clip art Buddy School logo made me think the resource could be a bit old-fashioned, because the site was promoted as a learner management system (which is exactly what we need), I checked it out to see what it could do.
BuddySchool.com offers web based tools for effective tutoring. It provides a vehicle for educators to advertise their services and to manage all of their students and schedules. These are a significant benefits for tutors looking for connections, and students could also find the tool useful for shopping for the best tutor for them because the rating system makes it relatively easy to compare tutors. With well-categorized lessons, profiles and ratings for educators clearly visible, and even the ability to time lessons, I imagine that the site could make the tutoring much easier.
Buddy School leans heavily on other Web products like Skype and Google chat. Unfortunately, when it comes to the actual learning itself, this tool offered little help during my trial. While the site tutorials touted a new feature, Lesson Plans, which supposedly provide the new ability to share text, video, and other media during classes, I could not get this feature to work, over multiple attempts/hours. It wouldn't allow me to access tools to upload multimedia inside the platform; so for me, that was a bit off-putting. The platform has to be reliable, at a minimum.
My experience with this site inspired me to think again about a number of things: how important it is for sites like this one to be well integrated with existing online tools, how many learning resources are available online for modern students (which raises the stakes significantly for what happens in the real classroom), and how interesting it could be to hang out a shingle and try to make a living as a professional tutor. Buddy School isn't for me right now, but I sure learned a thing or two from testing out the site.
Image used by permission, Jupiter Images, Inc.
BuddySchool.com offers web based tools for effective tutoring. It provides a vehicle for educators to advertise their services and to manage all of their students and schedules. These are a significant benefits for tutors looking for connections, and students could also find the tool useful for shopping for the best tutor for them because the rating system makes it relatively easy to compare tutors. With well-categorized lessons, profiles and ratings for educators clearly visible, and even the ability to time lessons, I imagine that the site could make the tutoring much easier.
Buddy School leans heavily on other Web products like Skype and Google chat. Unfortunately, when it comes to the actual learning itself, this tool offered little help during my trial. While the site tutorials touted a new feature, Lesson Plans, which supposedly provide the new ability to share text, video, and other media during classes, I could not get this feature to work, over multiple attempts/hours. It wouldn't allow me to access tools to upload multimedia inside the platform; so for me, that was a bit off-putting. The platform has to be reliable, at a minimum.
My experience with this site inspired me to think again about a number of things: how important it is for sites like this one to be well integrated with existing online tools, how many learning resources are available online for modern students (which raises the stakes significantly for what happens in the real classroom), and how interesting it could be to hang out a shingle and try to make a living as a professional tutor. Buddy School isn't for me right now, but I sure learned a thing or two from testing out the site.
Image used by permission, Jupiter Images, Inc.
bp7_2009112_ResearchingandBloggingWeb2Tools-Edmodo
Edmodo Might Harness the Power of Web 2.0 For Education
Edmodo is billed as a platform for education. It's a tool conceived to allow educators to bring together all the great Learning 2.0 tools, in one place, for their students. I want to be so enabled, but I haven't yet
found the full solve promised by this tool.
Edmodo leverages popular online tools and functionality to enable teachers to both share their unique content online and to connect their students to the world of knowledge available on the Internet. Teachers can create their own student groups, assignment posts and polls. They can upload files and leverage Web 2.0 tools like RSS feeds, alerts, links (including embed code), and polls.
One teacher's Edmodo experience with a student makes it clear that there can be positive outcomes from Edmodo use. The key is that teachers and students get in the habit of using the Internet together, to enhance learning.
Indeed, the Web 2.0 functionality that I've come to expect from a site is available here. Edmodo leverages popular online tools and functionality to enable teachers to both share their unique content online and to connect their students to the world of knowledge available on the Internet. Teachers can create their own student groups, assignment posts and polls. They can upload files and leverage Web 2.0 tools like RSS feeds, alerts, links (including embed codes), and polls.
The only challenge with Edmodo was the clunky, difficult interface. While I was able to publish an assignment with embed code relatively quickly. It wasn’t easy for me to find the link to share with students, nor to organize the assignments. Online tutorials are few, so this tool doesn’t appear to be made for the novice. While there are lots of features, the interface is difficult to master quickly. This is a big challenge, because of the way educators can confuse students and parents by misusing homework/assignment tools like this one.
Educators who have a good base of understanding about Internet platforms designed to manage the classroom or who are determined to make it work could have an easier time getting up to speed and doing wonders with Edmodo, but new users like me will need to commit a good deal of time getting acquainted with this interface to make using it worth their while. Edmodo does have some promise.
Image used by permission, Jupiter Images, Inc.
found the full solve promised by this tool.
Edmodo leverages popular online tools and functionality to enable teachers to both share their unique content online and to connect their students to the world of knowledge available on the Internet. Teachers can create their own student groups, assignment posts and polls. They can upload files and leverage Web 2.0 tools like RSS feeds, alerts, links (including embed code), and polls.
One teacher's Edmodo experience with a student makes it clear that there can be positive outcomes from Edmodo use. The key is that teachers and students get in the habit of using the Internet together, to enhance learning.
Indeed, the Web 2.0 functionality that I've come to expect from a site is available here. Edmodo leverages popular online tools and functionality to enable teachers to both share their unique content online and to connect their students to the world of knowledge available on the Internet. Teachers can create their own student groups, assignment posts and polls. They can upload files and leverage Web 2.0 tools like RSS feeds, alerts, links (including embed codes), and polls.
The only challenge with Edmodo was the clunky, difficult interface. While I was able to publish an assignment with embed code relatively quickly. It wasn’t easy for me to find the link to share with students, nor to organize the assignments. Online tutorials are few, so this tool doesn’t appear to be made for the novice. While there are lots of features, the interface is difficult to master quickly. This is a big challenge, because of the way educators can confuse students and parents by misusing homework/assignment tools like this one.
Educators who have a good base of understanding about Internet platforms designed to manage the classroom or who are determined to make it work could have an easier time getting up to speed and doing wonders with Edmodo, but new users like me will need to commit a good deal of time getting acquainted with this interface to make using it worth their while. Edmodo does have some promise.
Image used by permission, Jupiter Images, Inc.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
bp12_2009112_Flickr
Flickr Fun Storytelling.
.jpg)
In Kid's Church, I often taken my students outside to observe God's creation. They use their eyes to observe unique things about His creation, point those things out, and then come back to the classroom for further discussion about the significance of those things through God's word. I think it would be incredibly powerful, and much more fun for my young learners to capture the beauty that they're seeing with a digital camera and come back to the computers in our classroom to upload and share their digital pictures.
Instead of having the students go home with color sheets, it would be great to have all the students work together to create one magnificent digital storybook! Then, we could work with the church to perhaps embed a link on our church web site for the students to really show off their work.
I've found a resource for learning how to create a digital storybook from flickr images, which we could use to make this happen. Click here or on this link to view tutorials.
They say a picture speaks a thousand words. I believe that encouraging students to capture, organize, and share pictures that they've taken is a great way to engage, and solidify learning. The same way students have for decades processed stories by drawing or coloring images on a page, flickr picture books can become a great, modern way for students to create their own picture books reflections, and share their perspectives with the world!
As an extension to this, I want to note that in Kim Heumann's post about new Web 2.0 technology she discusses ebooks, which is yet another great way to incorporate pictures into the classroom:
Image used by permission, Jupiter Images, Inc.
.jpg)
In Kid's Church, I often taken my students outside to observe God's creation. They use their eyes to observe unique things about His creation, point those things out, and then come back to the classroom for further discussion about the significance of those things through God's word. I think it would be incredibly powerful, and much more fun for my young learners to capture the beauty that they're seeing with a digital camera and come back to the computers in our classroom to upload and share their digital pictures.
Instead of having the students go home with color sheets, it would be great to have all the students work together to create one magnificent digital storybook! Then, we could work with the church to perhaps embed a link on our church web site for the students to really show off their work.
I've found a resource for learning how to create a digital storybook from flickr images, which we could use to make this happen. Click here or on this link to view tutorials.
They say a picture speaks a thousand words. I believe that encouraging students to capture, organize, and share pictures that they've taken is a great way to engage, and solidify learning. The same way students have for decades processed stories by drawing or coloring images on a page, flickr picture books can become a great, modern way for students to create their own picture books reflections, and share their perspectives with the world!
As an extension to this, I want to note that in Kim Heumann's post about new Web 2.0 technology she discusses ebooks, which is yet another great way to incorporate pictures into the classroom:
The pictures are a great starting place for a brainstorming session to create a short story to match the illustrations. During our reading lessons we always take a picture walk of the books we read together, but also as part of something else we do instead of centers, I teach my students to read the pictures of a book. For the students who can’t read yet, reading the pictures really empowers them. This would be something that every student would be able to contribute to.
Image used by permission, Jupiter Images, Inc.
bp10_2009112_Respondtoapost
When I read Toni McBride's post on Flickr, I was encouraged in two ways. First, I was encourage to really start to use the tool, which appears to be much more than I had thought. Second, I was encouraged by Toni's ability to transition the lesson into such a meaningful topic for her students. She wrote:
Tools and techniques will come and go, but the love of learning has to be inspired by inspired educators, like Toni. I'll try Flickr now, not just because it seems to be a great tool, but moreover because it really does matter.
Thanks Toni!
I would take the components of this lesson and change its focus to the JIm Crow era and segregation. The instructions are divided into three sections. Section one is for the students to do a review. I would assign students to review de facto and de jour segregation during the Jim Crow south. Also the students will be instructed to compare different stories about a historical figure (ex: Billie Holiday) or an event.Wow! Now, that's a powerful way to make students understand how different tools and learnings can really be leveraged to make a difference in the world! I have a feeling none of Toni's students will need to ask why they need to be learning what she's teaching, and that's really to point, isn't it?
Part two would instruct the students to identify examples of either forms of segregation within the student's community (ex. de facto segregation in the cafeteria or local neighborhoods). Then, the students will use technology to record examples of either segregation within the student's community.
Step three would be for students to describe segregation activities across the country....
Tools and techniques will come and go, but the love of learning has to be inspired by inspired educators, like Toni. I'll try Flickr now, not just because it seems to be a great tool, but moreover because it really does matter.
Thanks Toni!
bp9_2009112_SocialBookmarkinginEducation
The Importance of Social Bookmarking in Education
Social bookmarking is to the internet what libraries were to local communities fifty years ago or more. According to Grosseck (2008), they are essentially sources for accessing and contributing to a collective intelligence. What started in 1994 as the vision of few teachers at American University, to have a way to organize the information available on the Internet, is now a reality in the form of Social Bookmarking. (Grosseck, 2008)
Social bookmarking services like Del.icio.us, which is currently the most popular social bookmarking tool (Grosseck, 2008), provide a way to manage and locate information within the vast information repository, the Internet. Through a series of tags and collections, users can identify and find information based on their needs. There are two educational opportunities that this presents. First, it is an educational process to think through the categories and tags that are appropriate for any piece of content on the web. Appropriate use of social bookmarking requires this thinking process.
Yet another educational opportunity, comes with the ability of bookmarks to be shared between users, “So, you could have students sign up for accounts, save and tag Web sites on certain topics, and then share them among themselves.” (Jackson, 2009). This sharing of knowledge opens up collaboration and information sharing that can encourage ongoing study. Furthermore, social bookmarking, and the sharing of information that users deem important also can create and expresse a type of culture, or language among learners. This sharing is the beginnings of a learning community, which can help to build educational resilience among certain challenged learners (Burley, 2009).
Indeed, I believe social bookmarking can play an important role in modern education.
References:
Burley, H., Barnard-Brak, L., Marbley, A., Deason, C. (2009). Gifted African American Millenials: A Profile of Promise.
Grosseck, G. 2008. The Role of Del.icio.us in Education: Creating Significant Learning Experiences. University of the West Timisoara. Retrieved November 8, 2009 from http://www.scribd.com/doc/2413801/The-Role-of-Delicious-in-Education.
Jackson, L. June 5, 2009. Sites to See: Social Bookmarking. Education World. Retrieved November 8, 2009 from http://www.education-world.com/a_tech/sites/sites080.shtml
Image used by permission, Jupiter Images, Inc.
Image used by permission, Jupiter Images, Inc.
bp6_2009112_ResearchingandBloggingWeb2Tools-WePapers
WePapers Makes Online Learning Fast and Easy
I recently took a look at WePapers online. I was intrigued by the site's tagline, "Creating the World's Biggest Study Group" because two of the biggest needs of students today revolve around the need to feel they can master a topic (or they will not engage with it), and the need for community (to overcome challenges).
The site is wonderfully fast and easy. It can take less than a minute to get involved with specific content.
- Categorical index is placed right on the home page
- Search is fast, and it returns relevant results
- Like YouTube, additional content is displayed to learners adjacent to the media being viewed
The tradeoff for the quick and easy platform, comes in the kind of low-end delivery of content, but it's enough! There doesn't seem to be a lot of script rolling on these pages, which is good. Not only is the site easy to understand and navigate, but the pages load quickly. However, the actual e-learning, as you can see above, isn't quite as robust as some more high-end online learning interfaces. For me, that's perfectly fine. Its a fair trade, in my opinion.
The only major downfall, currently is the amount of content. WePapers depends upon users for the actual learning content. It's a wonderfully-designed platform, but the content is exclusively user-generated. So the actual learning is only as good as the This site is still in its beta phase, which means it doesn't have many users. Subsequently, the depth and breath of content just isn't there...yet.
An ideal use for this site will be for educators, to source content and display it within their learning environments for their students. This way, the content can be validated, and educators can know that all their students are getting the same base of information. Ambitious students will have the ability to continue their learning by doing their own search within this tool. These students, along with educators could also contribute to this site by uploading their own content, further building the community.
Don't take my word for it, take a look at the site, and share your thoughts. Below is a view of one of the lessons, on the Geometry of Circles. Enjoy!
documentinfo.aspx?id=78887
Image used by permission, Jupiter Images, Inc.
I recently took a look at WePapers online. I was intrigued by the site's tagline, "Creating the World's Biggest Study Group" because two of the biggest needs of students today revolve around the need to feel they can master a topic (or they will not engage with it), and the need for community (to overcome challenges).
The site is wonderfully fast and easy. It can take less than a minute to get involved with specific content.
- Categorical index is placed right on the home page
- Search is fast, and it returns relevant results
- Like YouTube, additional content is displayed to learners adjacent to the media being viewed
The tradeoff for the quick and easy platform, comes in the kind of low-end delivery of content, but it's enough! There doesn't seem to be a lot of script rolling on these pages, which is good. Not only is the site easy to understand and navigate, but the pages load quickly. However, the actual e-learning, as you can see above, isn't quite as robust as some more high-end online learning interfaces. For me, that's perfectly fine. Its a fair trade, in my opinion.
The only major downfall, currently is the amount of content. WePapers depends upon users for the actual learning content. It's a wonderfully-designed platform, but the content is exclusively user-generated. So the actual learning is only as good as the This site is still in its beta phase, which means it doesn't have many users. Subsequently, the depth and breath of content just isn't there...yet.
An ideal use for this site will be for educators, to source content and display it within their learning environments for their students. This way, the content can be validated, and educators can know that all their students are getting the same base of information. Ambitious students will have the ability to continue their learning by doing their own search within this tool. These students, along with educators could also contribute to this site by uploading their own content, further building the community.
Don't take my word for it, take a look at the site, and share your thoughts. Below is a view of one of the lessons, on the Geometry of Circles. Enjoy!
documentinfo.aspx?id=78887
Image used by permission, Jupiter Images, Inc.
Monday, November 2, 2009
bp5_2009112_researchblogweb2.0tools
Using Kevutu to Motivate
And Engage Young Learners
Nope. It's not magic. Nor is it some secret rite. Kevutu.com is a web site designed to help users share and organize their wants. When I signed up, I was hopeful that this seemingly novel online tool would be useful in getting students to think forward, for themselves.
My Action Research Project is coming together around the notion that young people need guidance and support to design their future. Desire is key to motivation. Students must know what they want, to be motivated to learn. Only then can learner engagement occur.
The Problem
Far too often when I ask young people (particularly teens) what they want to do when they get out of school, they simply don't have a ready answer. Too often they don't have any idea about what they want to accomplish in the future. I could go on and on about the problems that this creates, but suffice it to say that this student apathy is an issue that needs to be addressed!
The Learning Objectives
The Assignment
Week 1:
Week 2:
Additional Lessons
Image used by permission Jupiterimages Unlimited
And Engage Young Learners
Nope. It's not magic. Nor is it some secret rite. Kevutu.com is a web site designed to help users share and organize their wants. When I signed up, I was hopeful that this seemingly novel online tool would be useful in getting students to think forward, for themselves.
My Action Research Project is coming together around the notion that young people need guidance and support to design their future. Desire is key to motivation. Students must know what they want, to be motivated to learn. Only then can learner engagement occur.
The Problem
Far too often when I ask young people (particularly teens) what they want to do when they get out of school, they simply don't have a ready answer. Too often they don't have any idea about what they want to accomplish in the future. I could go on and on about the problems that this creates, but suffice it to say that this student apathy is an issue that needs to be addressed!
The Learning Objectives
- Learners should use literacy skills to write at least ten of their wants
- Learners should be able to synthesize a wide variety of thoughts, ideas, and opinions.
- Learners should engage in creative, future-oriented thinking skills as demonstrated through a completed project detailing how their own list of wants could be fulfilled.
The Assignment
Week 1:
- Create an account on kevutu.com
- Log your top ten ?wants? on the site.
- For each want, assign the appropriate kevutu category. For example, is your want most closely related to events, home, health, electronics, cars, etc.
- For each want, assign the appropriate kevutu priority to it.
- For each want, answer the secondary question fully, ?Why do you want this??
- Write an email invitation to review your wants. Share your wants with at least five classmates, family members, teachers, or mentors, asking them to share feedback or post comments about your wants.
- Reflect on what you chose and the feedback you receive over the week.
Week 2:
- Analyze yourself. Review all of the information you have posted and collected in kevutu.
- Put your mathematical skills to work and make at least one graph to represent the information related to your wants in kevutu.
- Finally, imagine that all ten of your wants were realized. You got all that you wanted. How did that happen? Write a story to share or construct an art piece to celebrate your achievement to share with the class.
Additional Lessons
- Have students build a web site to share student stories and art, solicit feedback/support from community professionals
- Construct a wall-size map of class wants, connecting similar wants together.
- Have the class breakout into small, homogeneous groups to action plan for the real-life achievement of top wants.
- Create a community of support. Have the entire class commit to support at least one other classmate's wants through a variety of different means (for example, Research, accountability, advice, connections/networking). Celebrate each success as a class.
Image used by permission Jupiterimages Unlimited
Sunday, November 1, 2009
bp3_2009111_RSSforeducationalpurposes
RSS For Educational Purposes: Sites In My Reader
Here are a few sites I chose to include in my new Google Reader:
Techlearning.com - So much GREAT information. It was like mind candy for me when I stumbled upon this site. It seems there are many educators contributing to this site. Very eye-opening blogs and other content here!
edutopia.com - This is a perfect example of a site I just go back to again and again. So, the reader will help me see at a glance what's happening. They also provide good content on getting up to speed with RSS here: http://www.edutopia.org/tech-teacher-RSS
Wall Street Journal's feed on Personal Technology - I am so behind on this Web 2.0 journey, that perhaps a constant stream of information about it will pull me along (at least I'm hopeful).
Wall Street Journal's feed on Careers - Since my Action Research project centers around helping young people connect to their futures, I'd love to find some good content to share with them here.
Natasha's Blog - Finally, I decided to subscribe to my own blogs so I can know when people (like my professors or critical friends) post comments. Trying to do this alerted me to modify the name of my blog on my me account to be more specific than "Welcome."
Why do I feel like I'm moving so slowly?
Image used by permission, Jupiter Images 2009
Here are a few sites I chose to include in my new Google Reader:
Techlearning.com - So much GREAT information. It was like mind candy for me when I stumbled upon this site. It seems there are many educators contributing to this site. Very eye-opening blogs and other content here!
edutopia.com - This is a perfect example of a site I just go back to again and again. So, the reader will help me see at a glance what's happening. They also provide good content on getting up to speed with RSS here: http://www.edutopia.org/tech-teacher-RSS
Wall Street Journal's feed on Personal Technology - I am so behind on this Web 2.0 journey, that perhaps a constant stream of information about it will pull me along (at least I'm hopeful).
Wall Street Journal's feed on Careers - Since my Action Research project centers around helping young people connect to their futures, I'd love to find some good content to share with them here.
Natasha's Blog - Finally, I decided to subscribe to my own blogs so I can know when people (like my professors or critical friends) post comments. Trying to do this alerted me to modify the name of my blog on my me account to be more specific than "Welcome."
Why do I feel like I'm moving so slowly?
Image used by permission, Jupiter Images 2009
BP1_2009111_AntiTeaching
Sit Down, Be Quiet, and Let Your Teacher Teach You?
It's ironic we need to post about the topic of anti-teaching this week. I am having such trouble with the school that my daughters attend, and I think I'm turning into the anti-teaching parent. Simply because traditional teaching methods seem to be so geared to demotivating students' natural desire to learn.
Educators must become more aware of how their students learn and not be resistant to teaching in new and different ways. For students in too many schools they must live two separate lives -- one ritualistic one in the traditional school environment designed as much to help the teacher manage behavior and teachers' needs as to manage learning. The other life, at home, can be filled with exploration and creativity, if there's time after all the homework!
Personal learning environments can now be enabled by technology, and they should be! Graham Attwell's video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWjA-rT3jfk did a great job of making the case of personal learning environments. I often tease about home schooling my daughters. Maybe it's not such a joke anymore.
I don't believe most teachers--at least not the ones I know--have anything but the best intentions toward the students they teach. Unfortunately, educators simply aren't equipped with the time, training, nor resources they need to be successful with the new age of digital learners. Wendy Drexler's You Tube video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwM4ieFOotA -
truly inspired me to see what exactly teachers can do set their sights to do for students: Be the education architect. Teach students how to connect to right fit, powerful learning opportunities.
Image used by permission, Jupiter Images, Inc.
It's ironic we need to post about the topic of anti-teaching this week. I am having such trouble with the school that my daughters attend, and I think I'm turning into the anti-teaching parent. Simply because traditional teaching methods seem to be so geared to demotivating students' natural desire to learn.
Educators must become more aware of how their students learn and not be resistant to teaching in new and different ways. For students in too many schools they must live two separate lives -- one ritualistic one in the traditional school environment designed as much to help the teacher manage behavior and teachers' needs as to manage learning. The other life, at home, can be filled with exploration and creativity, if there's time after all the homework!
Personal learning environments can now be enabled by technology, and they should be! Graham Attwell's video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWjA-rT3jfk did a great job of making the case of personal learning environments. I often tease about home schooling my daughters. Maybe it's not such a joke anymore.
I don't believe most teachers--at least not the ones I know--have anything but the best intentions toward the students they teach. Unfortunately, educators simply aren't equipped with the time, training, nor resources they need to be successful with the new age of digital learners. Wendy Drexler's You Tube video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwM4ieFOotA -
truly inspired me to see what exactly teachers can do set their sights to do for students: Be the education architect. Teach students how to connect to right fit, powerful learning opportunities.
Image used by permission, Jupiter Images, Inc.
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