Group items tagged

We have 1-on-1 technology in our district, which is ideal for PLEs.  However, when the student forgets the laptop or has no power left in the battery, the smartphone comes in handy.  It is tougher to monitor the smartphone.

Autonomy is a great concern for me.  With collaboration being stressed in CCS, will students be able to conquer this skill without the use of technology?  At some point, some issues have to be discussed face-to-face, and there is a separate skill set for that environment.

I like the idea of Symballoo--kind of like a favorites list and bookmarks in my Google account.  What will take time for me is learning all the lingo attached to Symballoo!

What is aggregator?

I have always been a support of helpful tech resources that students are interested in, which is why I am always trying to learn more about different Apps and tools and explore them myself. Once I play around a bit, I usually introduce it to my students. Sometimes the resources are new, sometimes not, but there are so many wonderful tools out there. I visit Richard Byrne's site once a day! Currently, our language arts department has Chromebook carts for each classroom and the district is allocating more and more to different departments. They are wonderful to have, but students will get bored very quickly if they are only being used for tech sake. I LOVE the idea of having students create a Symbaloo. In fact, my plan is to have them begin one at the start of the school year and then they can add to it as we move through different units. This would have been particularly helpful during our research unit.  I also like the idea of "empower"ing students to use their phones and other mobile devices, but we do have a pretty strict policy on phone usage at our school. Sometimes students' phones work much more efficiently than the Chromebooks. (Alissa Hansen)

I think my students would love deciding which medium to use. I also have a lot of artistic students who would chose to create a paper/pencil project similar in format to a prezi presentation or blog with pictures.

Choice can be such a motivator for students, we all have our strengths and weaknesses! 

This is something I also worry about with the students I teach. While I appreciate their willingness to use technology and the creativity it lends itself to, I worry about their ability to solve problems and communicate effectively face to face. How do you ensure they are learning these essential skills as well when things are so individualized? 

This made me think about how difficult it is to have a PLE in a traditional classroom setting. We have 1:1 technology in our district, but students are extremely limited in what websites and programs they can use (You Tube, all social media, etc is blocked for students.) We also do not allow students to use tablets or smartphones in the classroom, with some teachers wanting to enact a school wide ban on smart phones and tablets so that they are not allowed in school at all. I am so excited to be learning about all of the opportunities PLEs offer students, but I also think there are many changes that will have to be made before we can start moving in this direction.

I also worry about autonomy, as I teach freshmen English and 14 and 15 year olds do not have a "high level of self-management and awareness," at least not many. Like any classroom, however, guidelines need to be firmly in place and I think autonomy would need to be frontloaded before jumping into a PLE. I do think students would do very well in this type of environment. In fact, I often have students telling me about different resources they go to on a daily basis...whether it's to get advice, read a review, write a review, or even write a short story! The possibilities are endless, but I do think structure needs to be in place. At least to begin with. I start the year with my freshmen discussing and reading/watching material regarding civility, we made a code of civility in each class, and then we blog about our practicing of it throughout the year. I would like to implement a PLE in much the same manner. (Alissa Hansen)

I do think that using a Symbaloo is a great idea to manage resources, and it looks like something my students would enjoy working with. However, my school has really moved towards using Google Classroom and teachers having Google sites, which I spend a lot of time and energy on with both. I think too many tech items can be a cognitive overload for students and teachers alike. I think if I am to use something like Symbaloo, I would need to eliminate at least Classroom or Sites and maybe even some of the other many sites that I have students use (Newsela, NoRedInk, Kahoot, etc.). It's just hard for me, especially with the site that I have created because I have spent so much time on it over the past three years. I just don't think students would benefit from having to click around to a lot of different resources, especially if they are teacher-created. (Alissa Hansen)

I like the idea of a daily log in for updates.  I think this would work in the Green Belt classroom for relaying information as students don't attend the same schedule each day.

Great quote on the benefits of PLE, but getting students who are not "ready" or mature enough to handle this type of self-direction will struggle. A challenge for teachers indeed! I think the classroom (physical environment) setup is the first thing that needs to be changed in order to prepare students for this type of autonomy. What do the rest of you think? (Alissa Hansen)

I guess I should also state that I do not think students are getting enough opportunities to be autonomous, which is why they struggle and fear it when they are given the opportunity. (Alissa Hansen)

I am really looking forward to starting this with students. It's like a one-stop shop for their individual needs. One of the biggest setbacks I have faced in recent years was trying out a multitude of tech resources and although some were helpful, clicking around all over the place was overwhelming! (Alissa Hansen)

I was devistated when google removed igoogle, and I think this could definitely take its place. I agree that students will appreciate the convenience of this site.

Alissa, I get overwhelmed with the amount of resources and tools available. I often don't know where to start, so I opt not to. Thankfully, I'm taking this class and I have the opportunity to investigate and use some PLE tools like Diigo and Symbaloo, things I've never heard of until now!

I think this would be very powerful and I would love to create something like this, personally. I think my accellerated students would thrive, but worry that my lower level students would struggle due to a lack of confidence in themselves and lack of self-awareness. I wonder if there are certain organizational PLE templates that would work better for certain learning styles? Or perhaps a template would defeat the pourpose.....

I love the idea of supporting students individually, I just struggle to envision being able to support all my students adequately within my classroom. I feel like it would be easy to digress with a student over their PLE, but feel it could be difficult to find the time.

I sooo agree!!!! I would love to watch how an expert teacher teaches in a PLE classroom! I love the concept and the idea I am just struggling to make it work in the classroom.

I like this concept, I think it is easier to do in a classroom that is content specific.  I can see where it would be more difficult if a teacher was responsible for teaching multiple content areas.  At the same time, that teacher doesn't have to be the the information source for all the students, time is just the factor.  

That's interesting.  I think PLEs would be easier to manage in multiple content areas because they would have to be working on their own thing.  The environment is really suited for it.

Subscribing to news feeds and blogs would be a great technique to compare and contrast views related to the students' topics of interest. This could be difficult for the teacher to monitor, digo might be a great way to track this!

This is what I am trying to develop in my preschool class room where the students are in charge of their own learning, and I am more of a resource. What I struggle with is classroom management, I feel like all of the students are demanding my attention and I can't help everyone. 

Sometimes it is hard to fathom the classroom management of a PLE of 12-22 students, which is what I currently have, let alone 30+ like many districts have.  

Having your students be more independent is wonderful.  This past year I did less large group instruction and more small groups.  I taught my kindergarten students "Ask 3 before me".  They had to ask 3 people for help or what we were doing before coming to me.  When they came to me, especially when i was working with my small group, I asked them "did you ask 3 before me?".  If they didn't, they would just turn around and go find something.  This is a start for having your students become more independent.  BY creating a PLE for young students, they feel more in control of their learning too.  If you, the teacher, set it up and give them access to a variety of things to do, they will enjoy what they are doing and feel they are making "their own choices".  

I don't want to sound negative in my post here because I really am all for personalized learning. I wonder how we can get administration on board with us. I struggle with old school administration who tell me as a teacher that I can not use my phone during the day, that I can not use facebook, and about passed out when they realized that parents text me, questions and changes in their child's schedule. I did have a secret facebook page and it was wonderful I would use it to include parents with our studies. 

Good point. I agree with your post. It is hard to get some administrators going along with this new idea of personalized learning. Even at my other school I taught at Facebook and some other social networking sites were blocked. I like the idea of having a Facebook page with parents and students to keep parents informed with stuff going on at school, and also a way for students to post and communicate with parents and classmates. I think these social websites are necessary in schools, but the big question is how do we get teachers and administration to go for it? 

Our District has blocked a lot of the social sites as well, it comes from the upper levels of administration and not our building admin.  I think they tend to be out of touch with the possibilities and fear the unknown.   It would be great to use Facebook for connecting with parents and students.  The alternative given to us is Canvas in which parents have access to teachers.  But it isn't as easy or convenient as Facebook.  That is certainly one site I wish we could use at work.   I do like the idea of personalized learning environments, especially the concept of students seeking knowledge that is useful for them!  This appears to be the best way to create life-long learners!

Facebook is blocked at my school as well, which is a shame since it'd be a way to create an immersion like setting in my Spanish classroom.  If I see something cool on the site that related to class, such as photos from a friend's time in Panama with the Peace Corps, I turn the wifi off on my phone so that Facebook will work, and just walk around the class showing kids, which is risky, I know.  I'm sure there is a cord that I could connect from my phone to SmartBoard to make this more feasible.  I should probably get a separate teacher facebook page for things like this.  Some of the articles that pop up in my feed from magazines like Women's Health are not school appropriate!  

by teaching students how to be self learners and how to be active in the learning process I think that as kids and adults these students will want to be life long learners and not someone who only does it because they have to. Or worse yet lets everyone else do it for them. I love the independence PLE classrooms create

I see so many students who do not understand how to play an active role in their learning because they have been conditioned to rely on the teacher. Many students get very anxious and really don't know what to do when they are asked to complete self-directed activities. I think PLE will provide students with the opportunity to take responsibility for their own learning, which will help them throughout their lives.

This is very important! I see the (LMS) approach in our school and in many other schools. I feel like it wouldn't be hard to confuse (LMS and PLE) these different approaches, because they seem so different. The chart gave a good outline of how different they are compared to each other. 

The chart is helpful in understanding the differences.  The LMS could also be a tool in a student's PLE.  

Agreed, charts and lists make learning so much easier than paragraphs, at least for me. 

I like the idea of getting student feedback on technology and the use of different resources. You can really learn student interest and their honest opinions through surveys or different forms of feedback. 

These look like awesome reasons why Symbaloo is a great learning tool for students. I can definitely see this resource being used in grades k-12. Although, for example, I teach 1st grade and I can see my students loving this, but they will need lots of guidance and modeling of how to set it up and use it to help them become independent with it. I can see once it's set up it would be awesome for students to have all of their favorite resources and sites all in one place! 

I like the idea of having research available at one spot.  So many times when I ask a student where he/she found the information, it cannot be located.  I want to see projects with more detail.  

I have a concern about distractions.  Students tend to use their phones and computers more for entertainment and chatting with friends over research and presentation.  

Agreed, a high school I taught at did not have locks on lockers, meaning kids brought their phones to class so that they wouldn't be stolen. Preventing snapchatting was difficult for me!  

I have experienced the same issues with my high schools students.  I may take a different approach based on one of the side articles that stated, "students are still learning while they are wasting time because they will see consequences are for late work."

I would like to have some strategies to help students having an understanding of the shift in learning for them to become more involved in their learning.  How do I motivate them to go beyond bookwork to exploring topics?

When you find the answer, please fill me in too!

I feel this is a big struggle right now in our district.  Teachers are wanting their students to dig deep into a topic or their work.  Students are given choices but still only surface the top of the water, doing the bare minimum, when we want them to dive in and go to the bottom.  In my classroom, my students have a writing journal.  We write in this "special" journal once a week.  At the beginning of the year, I give them ideas to write about.  Some write while others will simply draw a picture because they don't know how to write.  By the middle of the year, every is writing something, whether it is a complete sentences or a few words.  I will give them a few choices to choose from or they can write about something they want to.  BY the end of the year, they know to take out their journals and write about anything they want.  I want my students to take control of their own learning and reflect back on their work over the year so by having this year long journal, they can see their progression and how they took control over their writing.  

With my limited experience with Symbaloo, I agree with the fact that it does seem easy add and customize content.  I think my students would find this to be a helpful tool.  I also like the idea of encouraging students to use it for tracking both personal and school related information.  

This is a good reminder.  Students need to take on a more active role, but there is always a good balance.  It probably shouldn't be all one way or all another way.  

How true!  It will be difficult for some students to lead their own learning.  They have been passive for so long it will be a shock to their systems.

So like the apps that come with an iphone. 

Just set up my account and can't wait to see what else I can add.  This is a great time saver.

I really like the idea of showing students how to use this technology and their learning for both "professional and personal use." I think when you tell students that it is "ok" for them to use technology this way, they learn more because they aren't compartmentalizing their usage of this technology as only for school, which means that they are more likely to use the program and play around with it, which will increase their learning opportunities.

I think it is a great idea to have a place for students to "store" the information they need to research and interact with their content. My students have used symbaloo in computer class and it has taken away a lot of the management concerns. Students know where to go to find the tools they need to keep progressing with their learning!

What a great idea!  When that notebook with all the notes is missing, it could be stored and used during class instead of searching or pretending to search.  Maybe we could teach them responsibility again!

This is exactly what we want - students to have a high degree of control over their work! By allowing them to customize the learning experience and connect with others, including experts, students are getting real-life experience that will help them solve the problems they face in their everyday lives. A PLE can help students organize this self-directed learning. Students will likely know what they want to learn but organizing that learning is often what students need support in. PLEs are helpful in providing students with tools they need to gather information, conduct research, and present their findings!

In my opinion, this is exactly what we want students to be able to do! By supporting students in their academic endeavors, students learn to view teachers as guides or facilitators rather than "the one who knows all." In thinking about what we want students to be able to do when they leave school, we want students to be able to do seek out their own research, contacts, and resources to solve everyday problems. If students are never presented with opportunities to direct and manage their own learning, they will not be as successful!

You are right!  If students do not get to practice this skills by doing then they will struggle when they enter the workforce. 

This sounds absolutely ideal. The challenge we as educators face with students using their own technology during instruction and competing for their attention has steadily increased over recent years. How cool would it be if it were used to enhance their learning rather than get in the way of it!

I do have some concerns that a lot of the PLE is based on on-line learning. Students use technology constantly, but I have also seen them get frustrated with technology and on-line learning when it seems hard to navigate or they are not receiving adequate feedback.

As someone completely new to this type of program, I really like the looks of it.  It appears friendly and seems to lend itself to some really great things.

This is really handy for parents as well.  I send them the link and they can access my web mix at home.  When I make an update, I alert parents via my shutterfly site.  Parents can go to my web mix and have their child show them games we are playing that reinforces our learning goals.  It is also nice because parents don't have to download anything or search for hours on something educational for their child to do because it is already done for them.

This is so great because I can share this with parents and their child can access my game page at home.  If parents allow screen time at home, I feel that by providing this web mix to them to access will only benefit their child and help them learn and reinforce our learning in the classroom.  

This is the comment many teachers were hoping to read.  I understand the hesitation to give students control of the learning environment, but is it working by controlling them?

PLE research shows there are less behavior issues because kids get to learn based on their interests promoting intrinsic motivation to learn.  I think it would be great to teach in a PLE.  

The cheaper it is more schools will be able to use this system.

As a higher level Spanish teacher, every year I am trying to incorporate a system or resources that can allow students to go to a deeper and higher level of their language learning. Some students want to go on to minor and become more fluent, while others just want the credit. I'm hoping that a PLE can reach those students to dig deeper to become more fluent and culturally aware!

I have created quite a few symbaloos and knew it was a cool tool but never knew how to incorporate those into my classes for students to use - I'm super excited to know how to set this up so that they can access my webpage see what they need to do on a daily/weekly basis and then have resources right there to help them do what they need to do. Can't wait to try for fall:)! 

Love the idea of creating a path for students... could there be a digital checklist also? Teacher could guide students for all class Kahoot game or other challenges. Students can also add a presentation/doc tile to prove their learning - love that, also. Great for project based, research and problem solving activities.  

I like the idea of the students having the resources to take responsibility of the learning, and they can review and learn at their own pace. It is like a one stop shop.

I am very unfamiliar with how to use news feeds and blogs with students - this would be something I would need an inservice for and how it can be put into a language classroom...

Me too! I would need training on how to implement in the classroom.

I can see my students setting up their own symbaloo (I can have them add my webmix to their account!) based on their skills needed to practice or go beyond for Spanish (vocabulary, grammar, culture, then speaking, writing, listening acts, readings)

in some cases will students become more proficient than their instructors, especially in the case of technology?

I am inspired by PLEs and what's happening with them in education. I worry about schools who are not 1:1 with technology and/or students who don't have personal devices of their own.

Teacher's are not experts in all areas. In PLEs they serve as facilitators. I love my ah-ha moments when I learn something new from a student.

The teacher's role in student learning looks very different in a PLE, which might be hard for teachers to adjust to.

Or if students do not have the skills to manage their PLEs.

I imagine there would need to be some prior (and ongoing) instruction for students in regards to internet safety and online ethics. My 3rd graders, who are probably much less connected with social media sites than older students, have had issues keeping their focus on the task at hand. Having access to online tools is great, but it can also be very distracting for my students. It is just too tempting for them to visit YouTube or another "fun" website rather than focusing on the task at hand. This is definitely a management issue that I have faced in the past couple of years.

Works great with elementary students. I have seen them in action creating webmixes.

I like this concept of PLE because it allows students to take ownership of their learning. It allows them to go as in depth as they want, and students are able to collaborate on their learning. I see this type of environment being very successful in an upper elementary to high school level classrooms. I worry, however, about lower elementary. I feel as educators we should take those early years to teach the skills needed to prepare students for this type of learning environment. Also to make it clear that learning can happen without technology. Technology is great tool for students to use and a great motivator, but I worry about the hands on experience and building of knowledge through the outside world. 

Could this open the window of opportunity for students to work with other students in another district on the same concept? Another district in their state, another state, or even country? 

I love this concept because it allows the teachers to give the students a starting point, but plenty of opportunity to organize it and add to it. Students could use this for projects to organize their findings. They wouldn't have to sit there and search through their history. I like the fact that students can access it from any computer. 

I could definitely see students using this as a way to visually organize their sources them find on a project. 

Symbaloo would be great for students. But how about teachers??? Couldn't we all use this to organize all those sites, blogs, etc. we use on a daily basis? Also couldn't we use this to connect to other teachers who are also trying to adapt their classrooms to this new way of learning? 

It is important to remember that, while many schools are working in a 1:1 environment, there are still many other schools that have limited access to technology. I would imagine that personalized learning would be much less challenging when there is ample access to technology, as well as professional development for teachers.

I wonder how you handle classes with a large range of student responsibility and awareness in regards of use of PLEs. I would think it would take a large amount of student training. 

Weird thought: I've turned my thinking on this to include slides of how I would make up slide for the rules.

I think the real problem is that there are too many words on most power points and this is why we tend to read them to students.

I'm imagining going to a conference and seeing the same type of Powerpoint over and over again! I don't think I would want to continue going to presentations because the boring factor would be too much for me.

I have been witness to something close to this. I was in Las Vegas for a week long PLC Conference and almost every presenter had the same format, slides, clipart. As the week went on I found myself concentrating on the speaker and less on the slides. I fell the message was lost in many presentations.

I too have been to a seminar like this. We checked out early before the snores started.

Many people like to come to presentations with a printed out PP, they take notes on them....then recycle them later.  It is a very boring style to have to sit through and I find myself zoning out.

This happened way too often in my college days! Everything looked just the same!

This is a scary thought. You really don't have much time to catch your audience's attention. I would assume, in students this could be even faster!

I think this line is the most important one in the entire article. We really need to do something different and attention grabbing right away, or we've lost them by slide 2.

Seems like going back to the basics. This is what we used to do before powerpoint.

This is something I am going to do.  I was wondering what the audience would think, but it will help to keep me organized.  In the end, I may not need them much.

I don't use cue cards, but I do use the "notes" component of google slides. It helps me review my talking points before I present, but keeps me from reading from cue cards.

I had always thought this was a good idea. I remember times that I wanted print-outs of a presentation so that I could make notes on them. But, that must be because there are too many words on the slides!

I agree, I always tried to get a copy of the presentation. Taking notes on each slide helped me remember the most important ideas. If I try and take notes with the slide it makes no sense to me later. I am not sure how I would do without the handout.

This seems to be the problem, presenters who just read what is on the screen. I had a teacher who, before Powerpoint existed, would have his entire lesson written on overheads and would stand and read them. So very boring!

Wow... that's even worse that ppt reading. I thought overheads were expressed domain of "filling out the worksheet as a class"

I guess that is what we are trying to focus on - using the presentation as a tool for the audience rather than as a crutch for the presenter.

I had not thought about this, but I do find that if I am reading the powerpoint, I am missing what the presenter is saying. At our last meeting I asked one of our teachers if he could repeat his question because I was reading something and had heard the answers but completely missed what the question was

I have problems with this as well. Whenever there is a lot of text on the screen and I'm in the audience, I invariably find myself just finishing the passage as the person is moving to the next slide, and I've missed everything that they said.

This is enlightening! I thought for sure I was ADD! I am constantly missing the verbal information is I concentrate on the text of the slide. It can become an exhausting task during a lengthy presentation.

Ditto, I thought that I was reaching all types of learners, but I might have been reaching none. WOW

I think this would be a great way to plan out a presentation. Sometimes you just need to start with good old paper and pencil.

Yes, I think this would keep the technology "in check."  The technology is then just a tool to aid what I am trying to present rather than the technology controlling how I do my presentation.

It occurred to me that the act of using pen and paper in an analog way, makes the activity more active and therefore more exciting for the brain.

This speaks to me! I think some presenters try to make their presentations unique which translates into complicated, wordy, unfocused. And yes I amone of them! This makes me think of the old saying "Keep It Simple Stupid!"

I guess I knew this, but hadn't really thought about it.  Many times in the past when presenting with PowerPoint I have just stopped mid-talk and allowed my students to copy what was on the screen before I continued speaking.

Great point here for educators.  Great idea to think of the presentation in terms of the students' brains.  In the past for me the focus of the presentation has been purely on the content.

I have experienced this first hand. I will work at taking this advice and I know I should have better results than in the past.

This will really help students figure out what is most important in their learning. By keeping things simple, it also helps the teacher prioritize what is most important to focus on.

This is a great way to connect with young elementary students, especially non-readers or low level readers. 

The redundancy effect is something I hadn't ever thought of but it makes sense.  When something can be read off the screen, our brains kind of turn off the listening part...unless it's novel.

The word "power" in power point is misleading. There really is no power in it unless you provide it through an active, engaging presentation.

Trying to surprise or illustrate the holes people have in their knowledge is something that I would like to try. This tactic is something that will keep my staff engaged and motivated.

I see so many experts and successful public people experience so much success with this tactic of Unexpectedness.  It's truly where one can shine by accessing his/her creativity, intuition, and risk-taking courage.  I'm a big, big fan of this one.  

Storytelling is a very powerful way to get a message across. One thing I struggle with is finding stories that illustrate the points I am trying to make. I hope that this is something that we will continue to learn more about.

Exactly!  My favorite part about listening to speakers is when they communicate personal stories to illustrate a point they're making.  "You get to their heart first and then you get to their minds."  - Dr. Raymond E. Morley

I had never thought about the two sides of the brain and how they both need to be activated in order for participants to retain their focus.

When I give presentations I lead the group first in a somatic exercise - alternate nostril breathing.  Not kidding!  I share how it helps marry both hemispheres and activates their motor skills, attention, and sense of calm.  It primes them for learning, and, is an odd but goofy fun way to sort of 'break the ice' at the very beginning of a presentation. 

Creating emotional slides that demonstrate the content not just highlighting key words is something I would really like to focus on. When there is emotion, there is action!

Big take-away here is Seth's use of the word 'proof'.  What a great way to frame my thinking around this.  Also, the word 'reinforce' as opposed to repeating.  Really helpful.  

Reinforce, NOT repeat is a great take away. Emotional connects will make things last in the memory bank when they are long past and another image that is seen evokes that same feeling. 

Reinforce, NOT repeat is a great take away. Emotional connects will make things last in the memory bank when they are long past and another image that is seen evokes that same feeling. 

Leaving the information that I typically would have put in the PowerPoint in "leave behind" handout is a great idea. This way people leave with a document that they can reference when they go back and try things in their classroom.

Great idea (although more work!) This answers my question from the "Time to Ditch PowerPoint?" article.

Back to basics for me with this.  Memory doesn't always work like it used to and this is a quick and simple fix.