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Katy Vance

Educational Leadership:Technology-Rich Learning:Our Brains Extended - 0 views

  • When my 2nd grader needs to know the meaning of a word, I tell him to use my iPhone to ask Siri, an artificial intelligence program that's always happy to look it up for him. Siri, in turn, uses the free online program Wolfram Alpha, one of the most powerful data analysis tools in the world. If you enter into the Siri (or Wolfram Alpha) search box, by text or voice, "arable land in world divided by world population," in less than a second the phone or computer will find the relevant data; do the calculations; provide the answer—in square miles, acres, square feet, and hectares per person—and cite you its sources.
  • The only way to do almost all science today is with technology. No human can handle or analyze the volumes of data we now have and need. Ditto for the social sciences. The research study of the past focusing on 10 graduate students has been replaced by sample sizes of millions online around the world. Being perfect at language translation, spelling, and grammar is becoming less important for humans as machines begin to understand context and can access almost every translation ever done. Those who laugh at the mistakes that machines make today will no longer be laughing in a few short years.
  • call the process of envisioning such technically enhanced possibilities imag-u-cation. It's something every teacher and class should spend some time doing.
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  • With YouTube, for example, students can post their ideas to the world and get rapid global feedback. With tools like Twitter and its cousins, they can follow firsthand details of events unfolding anywhere in the world, from revolutions to natural disasters. With mashups and related techniques, they can combine sophisticated data sources in powerful new ways. One school group I know of created a Second Life model of Los Angeles, using the database of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to show each plane flying in its actual spot! With Skype-like tools, students can connect with experts and peers around the world in real time.
  • Effective Thinking, which would include creative and critical thinking as well as portions of math, science, logic, persuasion, and even storytelling; Effective Action, which would include entrepreneurship, goal setting, planning, persistence, project management, and feedback; and Effective Relationships, which would include emotional intelligence, teamwork, ethics, and more.
  • Instead of today's focus on pre-established subject matter, with thinking skills presented randomly, haphazardly, and inconsistently, the student and teacher focus would always be on thinking in its various forms and on being an effective thinker, using examples from math, science, social studies, and language arts.
  • These would range from small projects in earlier years ("I made this app or this website") to larger projects ("I collaborated with a class in another country to publish a bilingual novel"; "I started a successful company") to participation in later years in huge, distributed projects around the world ("Using Galaxy Zoo, I discovered a new, habitable planet").
  • Producing effective letters, reports, and essays was an intellectual need of our past. Working effectively in virtual communities, communicating effectively through video, and controlling complex technologies are what students need to be successful in the future. Thinking, acting, relating, and accomplishing—in the technological and fast-changing context of the future—are where we should focus our students' attention.
  • No longer is the unenhanced brain the wisest thing on the planet. Students who don't have technology's powerful new capabilities at their command at every turn are not better 21st century humans but lesser ones.
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    You think of technology as a tool," one high school student told me. "We think of it as a foundation; it underlies everything we do."
Ivan Beeckmans

Amidst a Mobile Revolution in Schools, Will Old Teaching Tactics Work? | MindShift - 0 views

    • Ivan Beeckmans
       
      Sorry, same article but from the original source.
  • “I’m petrified that we’ll apply new technology to old pedagogy,” Soloway said. “Right now, the iPad craze is using the same content on a different device. Schools must change the pedagogy.”
  • “It’s the classic cycle of old wine in new bottles that tends to happen when people get excited about the technology itself,”
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  • “What I’m hearing from schools more is that they’ve eliminated policies restricting using mobile devices for learning and they’re interested in developing mobile learning programs as fast as possible,” Dede said. “We’re going from districts fearing it and blocking it off to welcoming it and making it a major part of their technology plan. We’ll be surprised if a significant portion of districts aren’t using mobile learning inside and outside of schools soon.”
  • Flash card programs for the iPad are too numerous to count. What a waste!”
  • The opportunity of using mobile devices and all of its utilities allows educators to reconsider: What do we want students to know, and how do we help them? And what additional benefit does using a mobile device bring to the equation? This gets to the heart of the mobile learning issue: beyond fact-finding and game-playing – even if it’s educational — how can mobile devices add relevance and value to how kids learn?
  • one of the most important tenets of a well-rounded education: personalized learning – students owning what they learn.
  • Kids are still learning to type, they’re not as good as multi-processing. It’s all they can do to keep track of one thing that’s going on,”
Chrissy Hellyer

Creating and Maintaining My PLN: A 12 Step Program | COETAILing from Taiwan - 0 views

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    Excellent example of a blog post demonstrating PLN (creation and maintaining) for Course 5! (by Jessica Faivre)
Ivan Beeckmans

C. M. Rubin: The Global Search for Education: What Will Finland Do Next? - 2 views

  • I think that the U.S. school system would benefit from a dual system in high school where young people who are interested in doing or making things with their hands, for instance, could have high quality vocational programs or schools that would equip them with the skills they need to find jobs or employ themselves.
  • First, curriculum in vocational schools was adjusted closer to the standards of academic high school.
  • Second, a significant proportion of vocational studies was shifted to real work places where students are able to learn in practice the knowledge and skills they need in their future jobs.
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  • Third, vocational and academic high schools were required to design and provide instruction that enabled students more flexibility and choice.
  • One scenario is that schools will race after technology and align core instructional operations to rely on digital and other technological solutions.
  • A second scenario views schools merely as places for facilitation of study and checking of achievement.
  • A third scenario would be to elevate schools as places for social learning and developmental skills. Cooperative learning, problem solving and cultivating the habits of mind would be at the heart of school life.
  • First, I am not saying that Finland has the best education system in the world and that others should imitate what we have done.
  • Second, I make it very clear that the Finnish school system cannot be transferred anywhere else in the world.
  • There are some concrete lessons that American educators and policymakers could learn from Finland.
  • First, a universal standard for financing schools, so that resources are channeled to schools according to real needs
  • Second, a universal standard for time allocation in schools, allowing pupils to have a proper recess between classes and a balanced curriculum among academic learning, the arts and physical education.
  • Third, a universal standard for teacher preparation that follows standards in other top professions.
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    Some interesting comments of regarding the future of schools...if that is what we continue to call them.
Ivan Beeckmans

Amidst a Mobile Revolution in Schools, Will Old Teaching Tactics Work?| The Committed S... - 0 views

  • What I’m hearing from schools more is that they’ve eliminated policies restricting using mobile devices for learning and they’re interested in developing mobile learning programs as fast as possible,”
  • “We’re going from districts fearing it and blocking it off to welcoming it and making it a major part of their technology plan. We’ll be surprised if a significant portion of districts aren’t using mobile learning inside and outside of schools soon.”
  • “I’m petrified that we’ll apply new technology to old pedagogy,” Soloway said. “Right now, the iPad craze is using the same content on a different device. Schools must change the pedagogy.”
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  • “It’s the classic cycle of old wine in new bottles that tends to happen when people get excited about the technology itself,”
kels_giroux

What happens with digital rights management in the real world? | Technology | theguardi... - 0 views

  • Ever since Reimerdes, it's been clear that DRM isn't the right to prevent piracy: it's the right to make up your own copyright laws. The right to invent things that people aren't allowed to do – even though the law permits it -- and to embed these prohibitions in code that is illegal to violate.
  • hen your computer is designed to treat you as an untrusted party, you are at serious risk: anyone who can put malicious software on your computer has only to take advantage of your computer's intentional capacity to disguise its operation from you in order to make it much harder for you to know when and how you've been compromised.
  • That means that any system with DRM will on average be more dangerous for its users than one without DRM.
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  • Meanwhile, virus-writers immediately began renaming their programs to begin with $SYS$, because these files would be invisible to virus-checkers if they landed on a computer that had been compromised by Sony.
  • decided that code was expressive speech and that laws prohibiting its publication were unconstitutional.
Tim Pettine

elearnspace. Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age - 16 views

    • Tim Pettine
       
      this is a form of transactive memory...very relevant to Emotional intelligence and collaboration
  • Learning, as a self-organizing process requires that the system (personal or organizational learning systems) “be informationally open, that is, for it to be able to classify its own interaction with an environment, it must be able to change its structure…”
  • Vaill emphasizes that “learning must be a way of being – an ongoing set of attitudes and actions by individuals and groups that they employ to try to keep abreast o the surprising, novel, messy, obtrusive, recurring events…” (1996, p.42).
    • Katy Vance
       
      It's not WHAT we know, it's HOW we know and WHO we know!
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  • Informal learning is a significant aspect of our learning experience. Formal education no longer comprises the majority of our learning. Learning now occurs in a variety of ways – through communities of practice, personal networks, and through completion of work-related tasks.
    • Katy Vance
       
      To be fair, I think informal learning has always been a significant aspect of our learning experience.  It's just that in the "past", it was easier for the "man" to put down informal learning because the infrastructure of business didn't allow you to work outside the box of climbing up the ladder. Now you build your own ladder- damn the "man"!
  • Interpretivism (similar to constructivism) states that reality is internal, and knowledge is constructed.
  • Observable behaviour is more important than understanding internal activities Behaviour should be focused on simple elements: specific stimuli and responses Learning is about behaviour change
    • Katy Vance
       
      Booo! This is only true if Henry Ford is still ruling the world!
  • Constructivism assumes that learners are not empty vessels to be filled with knowledge. Instead, learners are actively attempting to create meaning. Learners often select and pursue their own learning. Constructivist principles acknowledge that real-life learning is messy and complex. Classrooms which emulate the “fuzziness” of this learning will be more effective in preparing learners for life-long learning.
  • In a networked world, the very manner of information that we acquire is worth exploring.
    • Katy Vance
       
      Mr. Seimens, are you a librarian? You have all the symptoms!
  • When knowledge is subject to paucity, the process of assessing worthiness is assumed to be intrinsic to learning. When knowledge is abundant, the rapid evaluation of knowledge is important.
  • The ability to synthesize and recognize connections and patterns is a valuable skill.
    • Katy Vance
       
      Content Curation, evaluation of resources, evaluation of authority are all essential and at the core of Connectivism.
  • “Experience has long been considered the best teacher of knowledge. Since we cannot experience everything, other people’s experiences, and hence other people, become the surrogate for knowledge. ‘I store my knowledge in my friends’ is an axiom for collecting knowledge through collecting people (undated).”
    • Katy Vance
       
      And now we can collect SO MANY FRIENDS! I love the Internet!!!!
  • Meaning-making and forming connections between specialized communities are important activities.
    • Katy Vance
       
      Skype in the Classroom, Scoop.It, Diigo... the list goes on and on. We need to support students in recognizing these communities and forming connections with the people who can help them find their way!
  • Learning and knowledge rests in diversity of opinions.
    • Katy Vance
       
      ...which is why a filter is dumb! Just because you don't like some opinions or think they are "tasteless" doesn't give you the right to restrict them.
  • Nurturing and maintaining connections is needed to facilitate continual learning.
    • Katy Vance
       
      ....which is why COETAIL work so well, forcing me to nurture my connections more deeply than before I participated in this PLN.
  • Ability to see connections between fields, ideas, and concepts is a core skill.
    • Katy Vance
       
      I wish we had more cross-curricular planning at LIS.
  • Currency (accurate, up-to-date knowledge) is the intent of all connectivist learning activities.
    • Katy Vance
       
      A key part of evaluating your resources for C.R.A.A.P.! http://lissecondarylibrary.wordpress.com/2012/11/07/evaluating-resources-for-c-r-a-p/
  • Information flow within an organization is an important element in organizational effectiveness. In a knowledge economy, the flow of information is the equivalent of the oil pipe in an industrial economy. Creating, preserving, and utilizing information flow should be a key organizational activity. Knowledge flow can be likened to a river that meanders through the ecology of an organization. In certain areas, the river pools and in other areas it ebbs. The health of the learning ecology of the organization depends on effective nurturing of information flow.
    • Katy Vance
       
      Great PD oriented question - how are we making sure information flows through our school, and that all teachers are accessing knowledge about teaching and learning?
  • Management and leadership.
  • Media, news, information.
  • Personal knowledge management
  • Design of learning environments
  • Connectivism presents a model of learning that acknowledges the tectonic shifts in society where learning is no longer an internal, individualistic activity. How people work and function is altered when new tools are utilized. The field of education has been slow to recognize both the impact of new learning tools and the environmental changes in what it means to learn. Connectivism provides insight into learning skills and tasks needed for learners to flourish in a digital era.
  • Connectivism is driven by the understanding that decisions are based on rapidly altering foundations. New information is continually being acquired. The ability to draw distinctions between important and unimportant information is vital. The ability to recognize when new information alters the landscape based on decisions made yesterday is also critical.
    • Katy Vance
       
      Importance of pushing students to engage in connection based learning for their EEs and personal projects
  • John Seely Brown presents an interesting notion that the internet leverages the small efforts of many with the large efforts of few. The central premise is that connections created with unusual nodes supports and intensifies existing large effort activities. Brown provides the example of a Maricopa County Community College system project that links senior citizens with elementary school students in a mentor program. The children “listen to these “grandparents” better than they do their own parents, the mentoring really helps the teachers…the small efforts of the many- the seniors – complement the large efforts of the few – the teachers.” (2002).
    • Katy Vance
       
      Connectivism is not just digitally connecting.
    • Katy Vance
       
      Reminds of the image that says that what will matter most in media is whether or not a story gets read by several thousand people within the first few days, not where the story lives.
    • Katy Vance
       
      Knowledge Management - sounds like a librarian!
  • Behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism are the three broad learning theories most often utilized in the creation of instructional environments.
  • Landauer and Dumais (1997) explore the phenomenon that “people have much more knowledge than appears to be present in the information to which they have been exposed”.
    • Tim Pettine
       
      Consider explanations that moved from what I did to what I didn't do. 
    • Jeff Utecht
       
      Why is this important?
  • Valid sources of knowledge - Do we gain knowledge through experiences? Is it innate (present at birth)? Do we acquire it through thinking and reasoning?
  • Behaviorism states that learning is largely unknowable, that is, we can’t possibly understand what goes on inside a person (the “black box theory”). Gredler (2001) expresses behaviorism as being comprised of several theories that make three assumptions about learning:
    • Tim Pettine
       
      This makes me think deeply.
  •  
    Vaill emphasizes that "learning must be a way of being - an ongoing set of attitudes and actions by individuals and groups that they employ to try to keep abreast o the surprising, novel, messy, obtrusive, recurring events…" (1996, p.42).
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