Group items tagged

In today's Seattle Times, A3 section - interesting article which followed over 2,000 US students from 2005 to 2009. 45% made no significant improvements in their critical thinking, reasoning or writing skills during first 2 years of study. After completing 4 years, 36 % showed no significant gains in "higher order" thinking skills. Article also states some contributing factors, many students work part-time, however, most students only spent 1/5 time on their studies and 51% on socializing & extra-curricular. I have a strong hunch the internet is a big contributor to the socializing factor. When I read such statistics, it makes me ponder if on-line learning can truly change this social/educational trend. I am enjoying many readings on the diigo, both from Jennifer and others, however, I'm not sure I would design an on-line class which designated a considerable amt. of time to short readings and discussions. Your thoughts on this?

I too found the article interesting - thanks! I do wonder about the types of classes students completed especially in their first two years. The might be a marked difference in skills acquisition if students were completing many required large class survey classes to meet initial requirements vs. small, more focused classes in their areas of interest.

I am still trying to get the picture of "slogging" through studies! Is that what I am doing when reading all this material in Diigo? I don't think so.

This is my portfolio post for week 5

http://www.mercurynews.com/opinion/ci_17396167?nclick_check=1 - This is an OpEd piece by David Brooks of the New York Times, which came out this week. "It could be that the nature of technlogical changes is (causing) a shift in values". This is not an opinion about education, but goes to the point about preparing students for the future/present even that assumes technology. Maybe our values are and how we assess things has to evolve, as well.

I truly thought that blog was thought provoking! I absolutely agree about changing values. But, I think that change must come from this generation and what they want for themselves, for their community and for their country. Hopefully they can think that broadly about themselves and the world. I believe they can and do!

"Professor Daniel Willingham describes research showing that learning styles are a myth." Interested in your thoughts on this...

I agree that you don't have to adjust your learning style for each student; because if I just speak for myself, I learn from all three. I read, listen and set out to do a task. If I have a question I go to the source or instructor for clarification. If that is not available, I look for other sources of information that might help.

I've seen this video before -- this summer when we were discussing learning theories. What makes it more interesting this go round is what I read in the Wiggins textbook about understanding...can they apply what they understand. Willingham clearly states we need to foucs on meaning rather than the audio/viisual learning style. Also, he makes the point about the use of a good analogy to help the student 'understand'...ties in with the metaphor activity.

"When students understand, they become able to apply the concepts learned beyond the original context of the classroom. The student's capability and capacity to see underlying patterns is enabled, which allows the student to recognize the same patterns in other arenas."

Got it and probably had it all along.

In fact, this is exactly the type of learning the doctoral program was guiding me toward as a professor. However, it was not brought out this way and was grasped subconsciously. I could not participate in Teaching Assistantships during those years.

This is the Module #4 post with overarching understandings.

I took a look at it and it seems maybe your post was cut off? I like the understanding I see there. I also like that you mentioned the just-in-time issue. I've found many times I've planned workshops only to discover the learners really needed something different, and I've had to switch gears.

This is my post for the assignment to map learning objectives to specific "evidence of understanding"

This is a nice collection of papers debunking the myth of the Digital Native. My personal belief is that this myth has been extremely harmful. If you have a chance to read Selwyn's article, I highly recommend it.

Hmmm...after reading that Wiki explanation, I feel a bit of frustration and anger. White middle class youth are probably digital natives if one wants to put a label on it. But, after reading articles on the subject, many lower income families with high school and college age students do not have the funds for technological devices & services: computers; IPADs; laptops; Kindles and the list goes on. I am even more certain youth in other countries do not have access nor would they have high speed internet access on as broad a scale as we have in the US. I suspect they could not afford it either. So this label probably only applies to a small percentage of millennials or digital learners.

Or I should have stated, for those labelled as digital learners...they are only a small percentage of the worlds's millennials and even GenX. Ithink sociological studies would support this conclusion. I prefer using statistics to test hypothesis. Then one can thread these into a theory and test it statistically.

"The authors' goal in this paper is to initiate a dialogue among educators who continue to make assertions about the usefulness of identifying students' learning styles with little or no research support. They discuss the status of learning style instruction and the unsubstantiated claims made by authors of learning style instruments and by instructors. They explore a number of key questions: (1) Are learning style instruments valid and reliable?; (2) Do students benefit when the type of instruction matches their preferred learning style?; and (3) More specifically, is there evidence that understanding one's learning style improves concentration, memory, self-confidence, and reduces anxiety, and leads to better grades? They conclude that learning style instruments have not been shown to be valid and reliable, there is no benefit to matching instruction to preferred learning style, and there is no evidence that understanding one's learning style improves learning and its related outcomes. They urge instructors to reconsider their instructional practices, especially the advice they give students about learning styles, and base their practices on sound research."

This was a well written article with a definite point--the answering of the authors' questions about the efficacy of using learning styles as an indicator of increased learning and performance. I agree with their assertion that research does not support continued concentration on LS as teachers design their instructional tasks. What I do know from my own experience, though, is that the teacher needs to invest a major portion of his/her time in learning how their particular students learn best, employing strategies that get at the meat of the subject for each student. I have a very simplistic motto that I use in my life and in my work: "It works best when it works". On the surface, these words mean absolutely nothing, but with a deeper probe, they are pretty profound. A highly capable high school student and graduate of Cal Tech that I worked with many years ago, coined this phrase. It was perfect then and still applies today.

"The current and future health of America's 21st Century Economy depends directly on how broadly and deeply Americans reach a new level of literacy--'21st Century Literacy'--that includes strong academic skills, thinking, reasoning, teamwork skills, and proficiency in using technology.", says the 21st Century Workforce Commission National Alliance of Business

Another great read and thanks, Ann. Something this article doesn't address is the growing concern about the "digital divide." Not all segments of our society has equal access to the internet. I recently heard a lecture at NSCC addressing this problem. Many outlining districts in urban areas(and rural areas) do not have the infrastructure to receive Wi-Fi. Students is poor neighborhoods (many who don't have computers at home) must go to their local public library to get internet access. Yes, our public school system needs to incorporate more technology "know-how" into their curriculum and instruction, but equally as important, our society needs to take a closer look at what segments of society are presently at a big disadvantage in terms of equal access to technology, both in and out of school. As technology redefines what it means to be "literate," then we also must address equity and accessibility to resources.

Helen, I like your astute comments and observations. The poor in this country may have access to computers in the library and at school, but many of them are homeless and living in cars. Anywhere from 2000-5000 people are homeless in King County and 80% of these people are women with children and suffering from DV incidents. If we go further, I have a friend working in Chimbote, Peru. Most of the people living in the barrios do not even have running water, much less the ability to buy or use computers. I suspect worldwide, you would see extremely large percentages of children without food much less computer access or skills.

This is an overview of a guideline for how learning occurs and how as teachers we can focus our lessons to this guideline. It is relevant in on-line education, as the on-line environment allows us to have different modes to provide information to our students. We can utilize everything from video to chat rooms.

Ann, do you have any tools or taxonomies that have helped you develop those questioning skills? And have you got any experience using the SOLO taxonomy?

I have not had experience with SOLO - Structure of Observed Learning Outcomes - but from the bit of investigation I have done, it is similiar to Bloom's in that it is based upon the notion that a studen'ts ability to grasp more abstract concepts, is based on more fundamental understandings and that you need to make sure you are not too advanced for where the student is. It reminds me of Piaget's concept that you can only learn something that is slightly more advanced than where you are (my paraphrase). As for my experience with help in developing questioning skills, which I feel is an excellent example of elearning, is that my company had us first take an interactive tutorial on Bloom's taxonomy. The "final" was taking a math problem and providing questions for each level of the taxonomy. We posted this on a dedicated discussion, with the teacher providing her response for everyone to see and learn from. We have since started another topic where teacher can post specific questions they are using and have tried and this will eventually be collected into a reference document. For example, one idea that was shared was that you after you have tested your student on a fundamental, you can ask them to give you a problem. My experience is that I often get back something I didn't expect. Like if adding decimels, they will return with a problem that might be in the millionths rather than the tenths. What I found most useful was not these specifics or having a question for each level, as much as the consciousness raising it did for me to think more creatively in helping the students. I have found that an elearning platform is very helpful in this regard. For example, they might take a lesson on adding or subtracting fractions and another on adding or subtracting decimels. I will then give them a problem in adding both - example - 1/2 + .25 = . By having an interactive whiteboard I can see how they convert the fraction to a decimal to add them and offer guidan

Thanks again for the comments, Jen and Mary Ann. Never satisfied with my mistakes, I keep going back and trying to clear them up.

"The 21st century is a world in constant change. In A New Culture of Learning, Douglas Thomas and John Seely Brown pursue an understanding of how the forces of change, and emerging waves of interest associated with these forces, inspire and invite us to imagine a future of learning that is as powerful as it is optimistic."

Mary Ann - do try to view the video interviews of Seely Brown & Thomas- very eloquent and thought provoking! The underlying message of this book has truly captured my imagination. Thank you, Jennifer, for sharing this. Some of my biases and hesitations about educators "competing" w/internet, social media learning are being challenged (I love this!) I'm beginning to understand the potential if you view knowledge the way JS Brown does - "information in flux." For educators, its about recognizing our change in role, how we frame or present information, and most important, how we allow our students to "play" with new information and the dispositions for learning we foster. Brown states, " . . . the role of educators needs to shift away from being expert in a particular area of knowledge, to becoming expert in the ability to create and shape new learning environments." For those of us who work with educators in K-12, this will be harder to articulate and sell, but I am excited by the thought. I totally agree with JS Brown, this is a major issue and calling for public ed. especially in the 21st Century. Jennifer, what is the best way for us to purchase this publication? On-line? Amazon? and do we get a student discount?

Helen, I hadn't thought that far ahead! I'll see if the bookstore can order things at a discount. I usually put things on reserve at my local library. If they don't have them, there's a form to order them. When I buy books, I always end up giving them away.

I started this over the summer while taking the first course for this certificate. Please feel free to follow my postings on blogger as we continue in this course.

My end of class reflection is located on my blog.

Thought I had posted this...to keep my blog in order, I post dated this to 2/28/11.

I can't recall if I shared this before, but it's appropriate for this week, especially for anyone doing blended learning. Tony is an instructor I used to work with at BTC. He's using laptops for small group work, where they work together on projects and he visits the groups one at a time to check for understanding. It's a good example of continuous assessment in a classroom setting. How could this type of model be translated to a fully online course?

Six Facets of Understanding -stage 1 : Identify desired results

I think this is true for many endeavors in life - having goals and knowing what you want to achieve.

I agree with this. We were told to write our immediate goals and long term goals, when I was in the University. I still do this...hoping I have five years or more in front of me. I have too much to do not to.

A blog summarizing updates to my course framework on how the course would be assessed.

This link is to my development of a learning activity that maps to a course learning objective for Module 7. The activity I've chosen to work on for this project is in response to one of the learning objectives for a class called Visual Storytelling (CMST 115) that I'm teaching for Bellevue College. The learning objective (or understanding) I'm addressing is a final project that has students demonstrate their ability to put into practice a selection of visual storytelling skills that were taught during the quarter. This activity was designed to make use of authentic learning principles, derived from the ideas of Marilyn Lombardi - which are available in complete form in her article, Authentic Learning for the 21st Century: an Overview.

Very impressive, Bruce! This assessment piece is definitely in line with Lombardi's ideas AND is a perfect showcase for student understanding of the objective you set forth. I imagine your students jumped at the challenge you presented them, producing outstanding work! You continue to inspire me with your thinking and creativity!

Thanks for your comments, Mary Ann. One of the big take aways I've gotten from our EDUC 251 class so far, is the idea of relinquishing progressive amounts of control throughout the quarter - so that students at the end are teaching part of the class and demonstrating their acquired skills in some kind of collaborative, hands-on project. I've been exploring this idea over the past few years as I've become more comfortable with my teaching - and both the Boettcher reading and Jennifer's course structure validate this approach. One of the more interesting recommendations for "authentic learning" is having ill-defined goals - meaning that students have to fill in gaps with their own solutions - derived from general or even vague instructions. This enhances creativity, innovative pathways, and problem solving. Cool idea!