Pratt, Nancy. (2009). Digital Storytelling: My Top 10 Lessons Learned. Retrieved July 3, 2009, from http://www.isteconnects.org/2009/06/07/digital-storytelling-my-top-10-lessons-learned/
This article is a blog post from an experienced technology specialist and digital storytelling enthusiast. She was moved deeply by the process of making her first digital story and wants to share the gift with everyone. She says student engagement is high and that they interact with their material with depth.
Briefly, her advice is (in reverse order):
1. Do another project soon after the first, to solidify the skills. The learning curve is high, so don’t lose momentum.
2. Collaborate with other teachers. It speeds up the process and enhances learning.
3. Use parent volunteers and pre-train them.
4. Keep a schedule chart to help students keep on track.
5. Discuss each story through the lens of the 7 elements of storytelling. (http://www.storycenter.org/memvoice/pages/tutorial_1.html) This is a fabulous link.
6. Get the writing in good shape before stating the media.
7. The voice over is difficult and can be time-consuming. Get it right, it’s important.
8. Make the soundtrack last. It’s so much fun, kids can get carried away.
9. Show samples.
10. The prompt is the most important. Rather than “Tell your immigration story…” ask, “How does your immigration story impact you today?”
1. What makes for a good writing prompt?
A good writing prompt introduces a topic, but also asks a question so the student can respond with a point of view and establish a personal context for the story’s action. Ideally, the prompt should address more than one curriculum standard and encourage higher level thinking. It’s best if the prompt contains clear directions.
2. Why stories and what makes them good?
We store memories in the form of stories. Hearing stories, we float through our own memories and derive further meaning for ourselves and our relationships. Good stories are transformational.
Friday, July 3, 2009
Journal 7
Warren, S.J., Dondlinger, M.J. & Barab, S.A. (2008). A MUVE Towards PBL Writing: Effects of a Digital Learning Environment Designed To Improve Elementary Student Writing, Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 41(1), 113-150. Retrieved from http://www.iste.org
This article described a study which tested a video game for improving student writing. Besides improving standardized achievement scores on writing tasks for fourth graders, teacher time spent answering procedural questions was reduced and students motivation to write voluntarily increased. Video games had already shown improved learning for mathematics, science, and battle applications, but the use of the game technology for writing curriculum hadn’t been studied extensively. The game or MUVE (Multi User Virtual Environment) had an over arching narrative context of cub reporters in Anytown. The students investigated a series of mysterious events and completed six writing tasks. The classroom teacher functioned as the editor of the newspaper and provided positive and negative feedback. The scenario also offered 22 possible non-required, free choice writing tasks: Reflection, Mystery, and Creative Writing Quests. Chat, e-mail, and telegram functions within the game afforded interaction amongst the students who shared solutions and tested their problem solving logic.
The researchers warned that the “cool” factor of using the video game might fade and that the beneficial results might not generalize over a larger population. Warren had previously documented how teachers could spend more time focusing on coaching writing when procedural questions are kept to a minimum.
The author’s called for further research to explore the role of peer teaching and support and the role game incentives contribute to student success. The carry over of skills learned from the games to real world tasks also needs to be further explored. Another topic is how the principles of game design can be leveraged to improve non-digital, face-to-face instruction.
1. What is it about the gaming environment that makes it easier for kids to “catch on to the rules”?
Sitting alone at a computer, I think the students feel comfortable guessing and testing assumptions without interrupting the teacher and other students. Besides exploring on their own, chat and e-mail functions allow kids to ask each other questions. I didn’t see the game in this instance, but I assume that there is some written instruction on the computer. Lastly, most kids are already experienced game players and have some confidence and feel free to “play and explore”.
2. What is the nature of the motivating power of games?
Some researches feel the narrative context is motivational. Others think that motivation is linked to goals and rewards within the game itself. Warren, et al., feel motivation is an interplay between desire and pleasure. How can we measure “cool”?
This article described a study which tested a video game for improving student writing. Besides improving standardized achievement scores on writing tasks for fourth graders, teacher time spent answering procedural questions was reduced and students motivation to write voluntarily increased. Video games had already shown improved learning for mathematics, science, and battle applications, but the use of the game technology for writing curriculum hadn’t been studied extensively. The game or MUVE (Multi User Virtual Environment) had an over arching narrative context of cub reporters in Anytown. The students investigated a series of mysterious events and completed six writing tasks. The classroom teacher functioned as the editor of the newspaper and provided positive and negative feedback. The scenario also offered 22 possible non-required, free choice writing tasks: Reflection, Mystery, and Creative Writing Quests. Chat, e-mail, and telegram functions within the game afforded interaction amongst the students who shared solutions and tested their problem solving logic.
The researchers warned that the “cool” factor of using the video game might fade and that the beneficial results might not generalize over a larger population. Warren had previously documented how teachers could spend more time focusing on coaching writing when procedural questions are kept to a minimum.
The author’s called for further research to explore the role of peer teaching and support and the role game incentives contribute to student success. The carry over of skills learned from the games to real world tasks also needs to be further explored. Another topic is how the principles of game design can be leveraged to improve non-digital, face-to-face instruction.
1. What is it about the gaming environment that makes it easier for kids to “catch on to the rules”?
Sitting alone at a computer, I think the students feel comfortable guessing and testing assumptions without interrupting the teacher and other students. Besides exploring on their own, chat and e-mail functions allow kids to ask each other questions. I didn’t see the game in this instance, but I assume that there is some written instruction on the computer. Lastly, most kids are already experienced game players and have some confidence and feel free to “play and explore”.
2. What is the nature of the motivating power of games?
Some researches feel the narrative context is motivational. Others think that motivation is linked to goals and rewards within the game itself. Warren, et al., feel motivation is an interplay between desire and pleasure. How can we measure “cool”?
Monday, June 29, 2009
Journal 6
Anderson-Inman, L., & Ditson, L. (1999). Computer-based concept mapping: A tool for negotiating meaning. Learning & Leading with Technology, 26(8), 6-13.
This article discusses the use of causal mapping software in a middle school science unit on water quality and creek health. The students collected data and made observations on site. Their challenge was to connect the information to cause and effect paradigms. Their measurements were supplemented by others collected by collected by a science club and an existing database. This way the students were able to see the creek as a dynamic process responding to a number of variables: weather, seasons, pollution, and nearby agricultural practices (golf course turf management and animal grazing).
With the mapping tool, the students represented the variables as labeled boxes and postulated the relationships with arrows, either blue (direct) or red (inverse). The thickness of the arrows indicates the strength of the relationships without putting any quantitative formulas into the map.
The mapping exercise is an iterative process as students improved their models by doing adjunct research on the web and negotiating their maps with other students, their teacher and the class. The authors said their teaching was improved, because they were less inclined to direct students to a “right” answer and were more inclined to ask probing questions that got students to think.
They reported that students had trouble letting go of useless information. Therefore, the instructors would challenge their students to simplify their maps—giving a “10 seconds to read rule”.
1. What subjects would this tool be most useful for?
A good test would be, “Is Cause and Effect is an important question?” for this area of inquiry. I think any science topic, including social sciences. In literature, the model could be used to look at a story line or to analyze an author’s style and the context and influences of his work.
2. What is the similarity of Causal mapping to Piaget’s Schema? Take in new data, either assimilate to a current hypothesis or change (accommodate) the map.
This article discusses the use of causal mapping software in a middle school science unit on water quality and creek health. The students collected data and made observations on site. Their challenge was to connect the information to cause and effect paradigms. Their measurements were supplemented by others collected by collected by a science club and an existing database. This way the students were able to see the creek as a dynamic process responding to a number of variables: weather, seasons, pollution, and nearby agricultural practices (golf course turf management and animal grazing).
With the mapping tool, the students represented the variables as labeled boxes and postulated the relationships with arrows, either blue (direct) or red (inverse). The thickness of the arrows indicates the strength of the relationships without putting any quantitative formulas into the map.
The mapping exercise is an iterative process as students improved their models by doing adjunct research on the web and negotiating their maps with other students, their teacher and the class. The authors said their teaching was improved, because they were less inclined to direct students to a “right” answer and were more inclined to ask probing questions that got students to think.
They reported that students had trouble letting go of useless information. Therefore, the instructors would challenge their students to simplify their maps—giving a “10 seconds to read rule”.
1. What subjects would this tool be most useful for?
A good test would be, “Is Cause and Effect is an important question?” for this area of inquiry. I think any science topic, including social sciences. In literature, the model could be used to look at a story line or to analyze an author’s style and the context and influences of his work.
2. What is the similarity of Causal mapping to Piaget’s Schema? Take in new data, either assimilate to a current hypothesis or change (accommodate) the map.
Journal 5
Turkle, S. (2007). Can you hear me now? Retrieved June 5, 2009, from http://www.mit.edu/~sturkle/pdfsforstwebpage/ST_Can%20you%20hear%20me%20now.pdf
Ms. Turkle’s article basically laments negative impact of technology on human interaction and personal relationships. She fears our identities are fantasies and that we aren’t spending our time on things that really matter. We don’t spend time alone under a tree reading poetry and thinking deep thoughts. There is particular concern for adolescents whose emotional development is short circuited. Although there is one type of validation in public exposure on the virtual life sites such as Facebook or MySpace, a regard for appropriate boundaries is inherently lacking. When people are in the presence of others, technology takes precedence. We are put on pause while someone chooses to answer a cell phone.
It’s a knotty question. “What are the purposes of living things?” Robots take care of the elderly and animated animals stand in at zoos. These machines may still concern most of us, but we have become numb to accepting food from a vending machine, sustenance divorced from love and hospitality.
1. How deeply have negative impacts of technology penetrated poorer school districts?
Since over half of the children in the Escondido School District are classified English language learners, I wonder whether our concern for the negative impact of technology is as relevant. As symbols of having arrived in the land of plenty, gadgets are certainly tempting visible displays of status. Might there be more TV, cell phones, and computers in a Spanish speaking home? And then, are they used educationally. Do they develop language facility? Do they prepare children for gainful employment in an increasingly technological environment?
2. What technology etiquette should we be promoting and how should we teach it?
A friend said the rule in her house is, “People over technology.” This is simple. When with people, “Pay attention to them and interact with them. Keep your hands off the computer, don’t answer your telephone, cell or otherwise.”
I researched this question on ISTE and they have a $24 book, DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP IN SCHOOLS, which includes lesson plans for teaching and exploring the topic. I think that etiquette isn’t always obvious when new gadgets enter our sphere. We can explore the issues with children and perhaps some principles will filter back to the parents for discussion.
Ms. Turkle’s article basically laments negative impact of technology on human interaction and personal relationships. She fears our identities are fantasies and that we aren’t spending our time on things that really matter. We don’t spend time alone under a tree reading poetry and thinking deep thoughts. There is particular concern for adolescents whose emotional development is short circuited. Although there is one type of validation in public exposure on the virtual life sites such as Facebook or MySpace, a regard for appropriate boundaries is inherently lacking. When people are in the presence of others, technology takes precedence. We are put on pause while someone chooses to answer a cell phone.
It’s a knotty question. “What are the purposes of living things?” Robots take care of the elderly and animated animals stand in at zoos. These machines may still concern most of us, but we have become numb to accepting food from a vending machine, sustenance divorced from love and hospitality.
1. How deeply have negative impacts of technology penetrated poorer school districts?
Since over half of the children in the Escondido School District are classified English language learners, I wonder whether our concern for the negative impact of technology is as relevant. As symbols of having arrived in the land of plenty, gadgets are certainly tempting visible displays of status. Might there be more TV, cell phones, and computers in a Spanish speaking home? And then, are they used educationally. Do they develop language facility? Do they prepare children for gainful employment in an increasingly technological environment?
2. What technology etiquette should we be promoting and how should we teach it?
A friend said the rule in her house is, “People over technology.” This is simple. When with people, “Pay attention to them and interact with them. Keep your hands off the computer, don’t answer your telephone, cell or otherwise.”
I researched this question on ISTE and they have a $24 book, DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP IN SCHOOLS, which includes lesson plans for teaching and exploring the topic. I think that etiquette isn’t always obvious when new gadgets enter our sphere. We can explore the issues with children and perhaps some principles will filter back to the parents for discussion.
Friday, June 19, 2009
Journal 4
Moderating and Ethics for the Classroom Instructional Blog, by Patricia Deubel, PhD
Deubel’s article reads like a recipe for blogging. She recommends how to serve the “dish” and gives detailed instructions on how to “make it”. She makes a strong point concerning the value of having a good blog and warns of how exhausting the process might be for a teacher if she doesn’t set limits and enlist the help of students.
Her strongest reasoning for blogging is that it supports the collaborative element in peer-to-peer learning. He blog would have a clear instructional purpose and she would structure it tightly. It would seem that Mr. Chen has followed her advice in establishing rules for our class blog entries. She sets up discussion of one or two questions per week. She identifies frequency and due dates of posts and responses.
She would weave in and out of the discussions and encourage students to initiate questions on course-related topics. By making participation a requirement, disengaged students will step up to the plate and those who are normally too shy are given an audience.
She is adamant about giving examples of quality posts. She suggests references to assigned reading, mention of other resources students have found, and reflections on practical applications of principles learned. She even advocates practicing scholarly style citations in appropriate format to the discipline.
She warns that the blog is not the place to lecture. A teacher’s presence can squelch dialog by seemingly providing summation and closure. When it is time for this closure, she recommends quoting students posts.
Students will benefit from summarizing and moderating discussions. This can be done in teams. The teacher will find her time can be better spent elsewhere. Synthesizing multiple responses and weaving prior week’s discussions into the current fabric of knowledge benefits students’ ability to think critically and to think about thinking (metacognition).
She encourages truth, accuracy, and accountability, as well as respect for others in the blogosphere.
1. How would you disagree with someone respectfully?
I would suggest to students to acknowledge first, what they liked about someone’s post and then articulate under what circumstances they would draw a different conclusion.
2. Besides student blogging journals, how else might we use the technology of blogging?
Student reports and stories can be posted to the blog. Newsletters to parents and the community can be shared over this medium. If the school system allows it, dialog can reflex. Teachers can “peer coach” each other. Lastly, assignments can be posted so parents and students alike can be clear on instructions.
Deubel’s article reads like a recipe for blogging. She recommends how to serve the “dish” and gives detailed instructions on how to “make it”. She makes a strong point concerning the value of having a good blog and warns of how exhausting the process might be for a teacher if she doesn’t set limits and enlist the help of students.
Her strongest reasoning for blogging is that it supports the collaborative element in peer-to-peer learning. He blog would have a clear instructional purpose and she would structure it tightly. It would seem that Mr. Chen has followed her advice in establishing rules for our class blog entries. She sets up discussion of one or two questions per week. She identifies frequency and due dates of posts and responses.
She would weave in and out of the discussions and encourage students to initiate questions on course-related topics. By making participation a requirement, disengaged students will step up to the plate and those who are normally too shy are given an audience.
She is adamant about giving examples of quality posts. She suggests references to assigned reading, mention of other resources students have found, and reflections on practical applications of principles learned. She even advocates practicing scholarly style citations in appropriate format to the discipline.
She warns that the blog is not the place to lecture. A teacher’s presence can squelch dialog by seemingly providing summation and closure. When it is time for this closure, she recommends quoting students posts.
Students will benefit from summarizing and moderating discussions. This can be done in teams. The teacher will find her time can be better spent elsewhere. Synthesizing multiple responses and weaving prior week’s discussions into the current fabric of knowledge benefits students’ ability to think critically and to think about thinking (metacognition).
She encourages truth, accuracy, and accountability, as well as respect for others in the blogosphere.
1. How would you disagree with someone respectfully?
I would suggest to students to acknowledge first, what they liked about someone’s post and then articulate under what circumstances they would draw a different conclusion.
2. Besides student blogging journals, how else might we use the technology of blogging?
Student reports and stories can be posted to the blog. Newsletters to parents and the community can be shared over this medium. If the school system allows it, dialog can reflex. Teachers can “peer coach” each other. Lastly, assignments can be posted so parents and students alike can be clear on instructions.
Journal 3
“Too Cool for School? No Way!” By Punya Mishra and Matthew Koehler
What are the affordances of cool new technology tools? One affordance is clearly the generation of a lot of jargon repurposing quality teaching into the transformation of content so it is intellectually accessible. The teacher must TPACK her lunch in order to do so. Indeed!
The two gentlemen who wrote the article say the technologies have the potential to change the way we think, but the good teacher doesn’t get carried away—she maintains a handle on Pedagogy and Content. The article explores three examples of technology that they feel can profitably be transformed for educational promise—microblogging, visual search engines, and music DJ software.
Microblogging complements face to face discussions in a classroom, but shouldn’t be isolated from actual classroom routines. I guess there should be a “discuss twittering corner in the classroom”. Is this a place or a time? The article wasn’t clear.
They tell us visual search engines allow students to formulate hypotheses about influence, transformation, and popularity. I tried some of the engines out, and the concept of formulating ones own search engine is intriguing, but I’ll probably stick to google.
Finally, the DJ software has to be inviting. When kids are creative, higher level thinking blossoms. I feel one of the biggest challenges in life is to take what one has learned and use the skills or confidence in another area of endeavor.
This is exactly what teachers need to do today, using old bodies and minds to wrap around new technologies and envision those affordances. Mishra and Koehler call for a willingness to play and advocate acquiring a fluid knowledge of technology instead of training on a fixed target. When teachers build new experiences for students, the new tools can’t help but be educational.
1. What are affordances?
The term is used for human machine interaction and in industrial design and refers to potential uses. It means more than just benefits, because not all benefits may be perceived. It’s a very useful concept, although I was distracted by it in the article until I looked it up on Wikipedia.
2. How does this quote pertain to this article? “She played the right notes, but failed to play the music.”
The TPACK framework is the hypothesis that educators need a particular schema of knowledge. That is a confluence of Technological, Pedagogical, and Content Knowledge. Mishra and Matthew draw Venn diagrams to represent the overlapping of these areas of knowledge. The pictorial representation is obvious, but doesn’t say a whole lot. “The notes are there, but I don’t see how this will make a better teacher.” The better teacher is the “music”. A good teacher is someone who turns students on. Period. Technology may be one means of turning on kids, but it’s not the only one.
What are the affordances of cool new technology tools? One affordance is clearly the generation of a lot of jargon repurposing quality teaching into the transformation of content so it is intellectually accessible. The teacher must TPACK her lunch in order to do so. Indeed!
The two gentlemen who wrote the article say the technologies have the potential to change the way we think, but the good teacher doesn’t get carried away—she maintains a handle on Pedagogy and Content. The article explores three examples of technology that they feel can profitably be transformed for educational promise—microblogging, visual search engines, and music DJ software.
Microblogging complements face to face discussions in a classroom, but shouldn’t be isolated from actual classroom routines. I guess there should be a “discuss twittering corner in the classroom”. Is this a place or a time? The article wasn’t clear.
They tell us visual search engines allow students to formulate hypotheses about influence, transformation, and popularity. I tried some of the engines out, and the concept of formulating ones own search engine is intriguing, but I’ll probably stick to google.
Finally, the DJ software has to be inviting. When kids are creative, higher level thinking blossoms. I feel one of the biggest challenges in life is to take what one has learned and use the skills or confidence in another area of endeavor.
This is exactly what teachers need to do today, using old bodies and minds to wrap around new technologies and envision those affordances. Mishra and Koehler call for a willingness to play and advocate acquiring a fluid knowledge of technology instead of training on a fixed target. When teachers build new experiences for students, the new tools can’t help but be educational.
1. What are affordances?
The term is used for human machine interaction and in industrial design and refers to potential uses. It means more than just benefits, because not all benefits may be perceived. It’s a very useful concept, although I was distracted by it in the article until I looked it up on Wikipedia.
2. How does this quote pertain to this article? “She played the right notes, but failed to play the music.”
The TPACK framework is the hypothesis that educators need a particular schema of knowledge. That is a confluence of Technological, Pedagogical, and Content Knowledge. Mishra and Matthew draw Venn diagrams to represent the overlapping of these areas of knowledge. The pictorial representation is obvious, but doesn’t say a whole lot. “The notes are there, but I don’t see how this will make a better teacher.” The better teacher is the “music”. A good teacher is someone who turns students on. Period. Technology may be one means of turning on kids, but it’s not the only one.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Journal 2
Klein, J. (2008). Social networking for the K-12 set. Learning & Leading with Technology, 35(5), 12-16.
This article began by lamenting boundaries that hinder communication and collaboration. Of course, Web 2.0 hints at the possibility of a free flow of ideas, but the implementation of a standardized system is a challenge. The author’s school district was able to build an integrated array of tools using open source software and make them available to teachers and students. One of the benefits of free software is that it comes with code so that the district can fine tune the products to meet their needs. Specifically, an educational setting requires access controls and accountability. In their final product, only employees and students of the district had the ability to create content on the site and then teachers had control over what was posted by students.
Klein’s team coined the term “learning landscapes” for the teacher and student community sites. This metaphor is perfect. The project provided ground for people and relationships to grow. Indeed, the sites are being used in ways the designers never imagined when embarking on the task. Dissemination barriers are gone--newsletters, announcements, student Internet lessons, lesson plans, and presentations in various media are shared readily. In addition, special interest groups are forming.
In the student community, youngsters in the second grade are posting podcasts and creative writing projects. Older students work together in groups on more sophisticated contributions. The audience for student work has expanded to children from other districts.
The team is documenting gains academically, particularly in science, but also in language and writing fluency. They advise other districts: “Fear not Social Networking, nor Web 2.0, nor Open Source.” Their description of the open-source web applications stack they worked with went over my head, but I’ll consider it a seed scattered on my learning landscape, to perhaps sprout at a later date.
1 .How would you go about evaluating the new “learning landscapes”?
First off, a survey is always appealing. For teachers, they could ask are you aware of the various tools in our package, do you know how to use them, and do you use them. Then if they do use them, ask them to describe benefits for themselves and their students. As a feedback loop, ask for any suggestions or report any snags. Secondly, student test scores can be evaluated before and after implementation of the technology. Scores can be compared classroom against classroom, those using the landscapes and those not.
2. How would you get people to use the new tools?
Make using the tools as easy as possible. Create tutorials on the computer. Hold workshops. Administration should start using the technology, publish newsletters, and create a reason to log in to computers every day. Make it fun; keep all equipment in working order. Reward creative uses. Invite parents to participate.
This article began by lamenting boundaries that hinder communication and collaboration. Of course, Web 2.0 hints at the possibility of a free flow of ideas, but the implementation of a standardized system is a challenge. The author’s school district was able to build an integrated array of tools using open source software and make them available to teachers and students. One of the benefits of free software is that it comes with code so that the district can fine tune the products to meet their needs. Specifically, an educational setting requires access controls and accountability. In their final product, only employees and students of the district had the ability to create content on the site and then teachers had control over what was posted by students.
Klein’s team coined the term “learning landscapes” for the teacher and student community sites. This metaphor is perfect. The project provided ground for people and relationships to grow. Indeed, the sites are being used in ways the designers never imagined when embarking on the task. Dissemination barriers are gone--newsletters, announcements, student Internet lessons, lesson plans, and presentations in various media are shared readily. In addition, special interest groups are forming.
In the student community, youngsters in the second grade are posting podcasts and creative writing projects. Older students work together in groups on more sophisticated contributions. The audience for student work has expanded to children from other districts.
The team is documenting gains academically, particularly in science, but also in language and writing fluency. They advise other districts: “Fear not Social Networking, nor Web 2.0, nor Open Source.” Their description of the open-source web applications stack they worked with went over my head, but I’ll consider it a seed scattered on my learning landscape, to perhaps sprout at a later date.
1 .How would you go about evaluating the new “learning landscapes”?
First off, a survey is always appealing. For teachers, they could ask are you aware of the various tools in our package, do you know how to use them, and do you use them. Then if they do use them, ask them to describe benefits for themselves and their students. As a feedback loop, ask for any suggestions or report any snags. Secondly, student test scores can be evaluated before and after implementation of the technology. Scores can be compared classroom against classroom, those using the landscapes and those not.
2. How would you get people to use the new tools?
Make using the tools as easy as possible. Create tutorials on the computer. Hold workshops. Administration should start using the technology, publish newsletters, and create a reason to log in to computers every day. Make it fun; keep all equipment in working order. Reward creative uses. Invite parents to participate.
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