Month: January 2015

Categories
Digital Learning

Meet Pecha Kucha, the Japanese presentations changing everything about PowerPoint

PowerPoint has become such a go-to program for educators to present information with. Unfortunately, it can also be overused – spawning the phrase, “death by PowerPoint”. Ivy Nelson at eSchool News introduces users to Pecha Kucha; a presentation style that displays 20 images displayed for 20 seconds each. Ivy expressed utter joy at the improvement in her students’ presentations. 

Posted by: Ryan Schaaf

Original Source

As I prepare for my presentation this week at the Florida Educational Technology Conference (FETC) on “Presenting with Pecha Kucha,” my colleagues have repeatedly asked me, “What is Pecha Kucha?” The short answer is it’s a great presentation style that gets students thinking and learning, not reading slides. A longer one might be to explain that the term comes from the Japanese words for “chit chat,” so as you might guess this unique presentational style embraces a more conversational tone. But more importantly, it is transforming presentations as we know them.

My performance arts background as an actress, director, and theatre teacher gives me a great understanding of what it takes to be a dynamic performer, and an even greater appreciation of a great performance. Knowing this, it comes as no surprise that after several years of teaching high school theatre and English, I became utterly dejected by the quality of presentations my students gave.

It wasn’t their fault; my students simply had never been taught how to present information in a way that was engaging and interesting. In fact, many adults struggle with this same task. We have all seen so many bad presentations in our lives, we have come to think that’s what presentations are supposed to be like. My students honestly thought the act of giving a presentation meant looking something up on Google, copy/pasting some information into PowerPoint slides, and then getting in front of the class and timidly reading those slides verbatim to a disinterested and disengaged audience (myself included).

I had to stop the madness!

Around this same time, a teacher colleague of mine introduced me to Pecha Kucha. I was very intrigued by this presentation style, as it relies on visual images instead of slides crammed with a thousand bullet points and so much information it will only fit on the screen in 6-point font. I also liked the fact thatPecha Kucha forces the presenter to actually know what they are talking about and puts a conversational (“chit-chat-y” if you will) tone in their presentation (you can watch sample presentations online).

I had to try it immediately with my sophomores. They of course hated me for this. “We can’t read from the slides?!” they exclaimed. I apologized for trying to ruin their lives and being the worst teacher ever.

This did, however, make me reconsider my initial plan. A presentation in the true style of Pecha Kucha is 20×20: 20 images displayed for 20 seconds each. The presentation is timed so that it advances on its own, and the speaker talks along with it, making the presentation six minutes and 40 seconds exactly. My students’ protests helped me realize that I needed to ease them into this, and help them break the bad presentation habits that they had developed over time gradually, instead of cold turkey.

I decided that for their first Pecha Kucha presentation, they would be allowed to have no more than three pieces of information on each slide, but they had to include a picture that encapsulated the gist of that slide’s information. I decided to keep the 20×20 format for a 6:40 presentation, but allowed my students to work with a partner this first time to share the responsibility of presenting.

I was pleasantly surprised at how well my students did with this first go-round of Pecha Kucha, and they were too! For the next presentation I assigned students, they were required to have only images on their slides, but they could use speaking notes during the presentation. Eventually, all of my students were presenting in true Pecha Kucha style. Some ran with it and excelled, others plugged along, and some begrudgingly suffered through it. In time, though, their presentations improved, and their learning also increased. I didn’t see anymore slides with information copied directly from a website; my students were finally researching their topic, synthesizing the information, and presenting it in a way that showed me they actually understood the subject matter.

Here are four tips to other educators wanting to try Pecha Kucha in their classrooms:

1. Model the style for students and get their feedback. It will be easier for them to buy-in to this big change if they have a good example set before them and if they have discussed what makes a good presentation “good” (engaging, interesting, not monotone, not word for word from slides, etc.).

2. Don’t be too rigid at first. Explain what Pecha Kucha is to students, but feel free to alter the style for beginners. For example, you might want to allow minimal words on slides with images at first like I did, or you might consider allowing students to use notes. You could even tweak the format of 20×20 by beginning with 10 slides at 20 seconds each. Eventually, challenge students to use the true Pecha Kucha style. My experience has taught me that students will work to reach whatever expectations you have set, so don’t keep the bar low if you want them to achieve at a higher level.

3. Bad habits are hard to break. Students will need lots of opportunity to practice this skill in order to perfect it. With time, this will become the status quo in your classroom, and may even spill over into other teachers’ classes as well.

4. Don’t be discouraged. I joked earlier about being the “worst teacher ever” because I wanted to challenge my students to improve, and you probably will have students that will give you a hard time for pushing them. Stick with it.Celebrate the small successes you see and trust that, with time and practice, your students will only get better.

It wasn’t always easy when I was first implementing this into my classes; however, I am very happy that I did. When you first try Pecha Kucha with your students, you’ll get complaints, you’ll hear whining, and you may be tempted to take the easy way out because you are tired of being chastised for setting high expectations; however, that’s just a sign that you’re #winning at this whole teaching thing.

Ivy Nelson is the Technology Integration Specialist for the Harrisonville R-9 School District in Harrisonville, MO. She previously taught at Monett High School in Monett, MO.

Categories
Gaming

4 Best Practices in Implementing Game-Based Learning

Using gameful design for teaching, learning and assessment is such an enticing learning approach. Student motivation and engagement are such powerful ingredients to deep learning. Yet there are also important factors educators must consider before implementing gaming mechanics in the classroom. Sam Patterson at Edutopia shares four such considerations for gameful design.

Posted by: Ryan Schaaf

Original Source

Are you seeking a high-engagement makeover for some content you’re required to teach? Do you need an organizational structure for individually-paced hybrid learning? Gamification might be just what you are looking for.

Here are some truths about gamification and some tips for success.

1. The game needs to play well with students and their parents.

Your gamified lesson needs buy-in across the board. When you introduce gamified instruction, make it an event. Write a blog post, send newsletters, run an ad campaign on the whiteboard — but most of all, send clear communication home about the learning goals for the lesson and how you will be helping all students to meet those goals. Be prepared for frustration from parents and students, especially those students who are good at traditional school. This won’t always be the case, but don’t let it surprise you. School is already a game, and now you’re changing the rules. If the gamification is effective, these students can learn more, but it also might be more work for them. By communicating early and often with parents and your administration team, you can help everyone understand how this instructional modality is helping all of your students.

While I’m doing a project like this, I drop into my principal’s office and give her informal briefings. I’m excited about the work happening in my classroom, and I want her to hear about it from me. These briefings also prepare her for conversations that she might have with parents or other teachers.

2. With great data comes great responsibility.

Some of the best uses of gamified instruction involve helping students navigate a large amount of content in a self-paced, hybrid-learning environment. Once we move the teacher out of the traditional “sage on the stage” role, we have to really pay attention to assessment. When I’m running a class, I’m constantly assessing how well my students understand the lesson. I ask them questions, peek over their shoulders while they work, and sometimes I even give quizzes. Most of this assessment is formative and informal, and I adjust the class based on the results.

Thinking about the gamified classroom, I want to know where this formative assessment happens. How will I design the game experience to assess how the students are doing? The opportunity in this challenge is that I can invite my students into the assessment process. Whenever possible, I ask them to self-report their progress and understanding, which brings them into an assessment dialogue. This is real empowerment. I’m thoughtful about the types of learning I ask students to self-report on, and the process requires auditing. In the best case, while they’re engaged in playing the game, I’m looking at spreadsheets connected to the Google Forms I designed to help the students self-report. The bottom line is that you shouldn’t waste the data opportunity in the game — have a plan for how the data you collect will shape instruction.

3. A leaderboard is no fun for struggling students.

When we think about gamification, what immediately springs to mind are levels, badges, and leaderboards — the visible trappings of the game. While I can imagine an amazing leaderboard at the front of the room proudly displaying the top students in the quest to understand Romeo and Juliet, I have to pause and consider the other end of this list. I see some clear connections to behavior charts, and I am reminded of Pernille Ripp’s blog post on charts and shaming, forcing me to ask, “If I am hoping to engage my most challenged students in a gamified instructional model, would they feel supported by a leaderboard?”

Clearly-defined levels of achievement are one of the most useful aspects of gamified instruction. In fact, that is what makes it such a great way to support individually-paced hybrid instruction. The kids know which level they’re on, and they’ll talk to each other and find out where their peers are. I don’t need to make a leaderboard available to the whole class. It would send the message that I highly valued those students in the lead positions. The challenge is finding ways to celebrate all learners in your classroom, and in this case you’ll have to work against the natural mechanics of most games. We need each student to be able to win his or her own quest.

4. Play is a powerful teacher.

When we have fun in a safe social setting, our brains are ready to learn and we are fully present in that learning moment. When you approach gamified instruction, discover how you can use game mechanics and choice to have fun together. Don’t just wrap some worksheets up in the trappings of play. Get the content off the page and into a more playful space. Don’t forget the fun. Friendly opt-in contests can give kids the option to compete directly with each other. If you design levels with flexible requirements, students can develop really fun ways of working together to show their understanding. For example:

  • Write a song about factoring.
  • Create a stop-motion movie that models water’s change in state from a gas to a liquid.
  • Design a Google lit-trip detailing some part of the Underground Railroad.

In these cases, the fun comes in the form of choice and creative empowerment.

Have you gamified a lesson or unit? What best practices can you add to this list?

Categories
Uncategorized

The Characteristics of a Highly Effective Learning Environment

Terry Heick, the driving force behind TeachThought, examines ten crucial characteristics of a highly effective learning environment in which students learn deeply. 

Posted by: Ryan Schaaf

Original Source

Written by: Terry Heick

Wherever we are, we’d all like to think our classrooms are “intellectually active” places. Progressive learning (like our 21st Century Model, for example) environments. Highly effective and conducive to student-centered learning. But what does that mean?

The reality is, there is no single answer because teaching and learning are awkward to consider as single events or individual “things.” This is all a bunch of rhetoric until we put on our white coats and study it under a microscope, at which point abstractions like curiosity, authenticity, self-knowledge, and affection will be hard to pin down.

So we put together one take on the characteristics of a highly effective classroom. They can act as a kind of criteria to measure your own against–see if you notice a pattern.

10 Characteristics Of A Highly Effective Learning Environment

1. The students ask the questions—good questions

This is not a feel-good implication, but really crucial for the whole learning process to work.

The role of curiosity has been studied (and perhaps under-studied and under-appreciated), but suffice to say that if a learner enters any learning activity with little to no natural curiosity, prospects for meaningful interaction with texts, media, and specific tasks are bleak. (Interested in how to kill learner curiosity in 12 easy steps?)

Many teachers force students (proverbial gun to head) to ask question at the outset of units or lessons, often to no avail. Cliché questions that reflect little understanding of the content can discourage teachers from “allowing” them. But the fact remains—if students can’t ask great questions—even as young as elementary school—something, somewhere is unplugged.

2. Questions are valued over answers

Questions are more important than answers. So it makes sense that if good questions should lead the learning, there would be value placed on these questions. And that means adding currency whenever possible—grades (questions as assessment!), credit (give them points—they love points), creative curation (writing as a kind of graffiti on large post-it pages on the classroom walls), or simply praise and honest respect. See if you don’t notice a change.

3. Ideas come from a divergent sources

Ideas for lessons, reading, tests, and projects—the fiber of formal learning—should come from a variety of sources. If they all come from narrow slivers of resources, you’re at risk of being pulled way off in one direction (that may or may not be good). An alternative? Consider sources like professional and cultural mentors, the community, content experts outside of education, and even the students themselves. Huge shift in credibility.

And when these sources disagree with one another, use that as an endlessly “teachable moment,” because that’s what the real world is like.

4. A variety of learning models are used

Inquiry-based learning, project-based learning, direct instruction, peer-to-peer learning, school-to-school, eLearning, Mobile learning, the flipped classroom, and on and on—the possibilities are endless. Chances are, none are incredible enough to suit every bit of content, curriculum, and learner diversity in your classroom. A characteristic of a highly-effective classroom, then, is diversity here, which also has the side-effect of improving your long-term capacity as an educator.

5. Classroom learning “empties” into a connected community

In a highly-effective learning environment, learning doesn’t need to be radically repackaged to make sense in the “real world,” but starts and ends there.

As great as it sounds for learners to reflect on Shakespeare to better understand their Uncle Eddie—and they might—depending on that kind of radical transfer to happen entirely in the minds of the learners by design may not be the best idea. Plan on this kind of transfer from the beginning.

It has to leave the classroom because they do.

6. Learning is personalized by a variety of criteria

Personalized learning is likely the future, but for now the onus for routing students is almost entirely on the shoulders of the classroom teacher. This makes personalization—and even consistent differentiation—a challenge. One response is to personalize learning—to whatever extent you plan for—by a variety of criteria—not just assessment results or reading level, but interest, readiness-for-content, and others as well.

Then, as you adjust pace, entry points, and rigor accordingly, you’ll have a better chance of having uncovered what the learners truly “need”.

7. Assessment is persistent, authentic, transparent, and never punitive

Assessment is just an (often ham-fisted) attempt to get at what a learner understands. The more infrequent, clinical, murky, or threatening it is, the more you’re going to separate the “good students” from the “good thinkers.” And the “clinical” idea has less to do with the format of the test, and more to do with the tone and emotion of the classroom in general. Why are students being tested? What’s in it for them, and their future opportunities to improve?

And feedback is quick even when the “grading” may not be.

8. Criteria for success is balanced and transparent.

Students should not have to guess what “success” in a highly-effective classroom looks like. It should also not be entirely weighted on “participation,” assessment results, attitude, or other individual factors, but rather meaningfully melted into a cohesive framework that makes sense—not to you, your colleagues, or the expert book on your shelf, but the students themselves.

9. Learning habits are constantly modeled

Cognitive, meta-cognitive, and behavioral “good stuff” is constantly modeled. Curiosity, persistence, flexibility, priority, creativity, collaboration, revision, and even the classic Habits of Mind are all great places to start. So often what students learn from those around them is less directly didactic, and more indirect and observational.

Monkey see, monkey do.

10. There are constant opportunities for practice

Old thinking is revisited. Old errors are reflected on. Complex ideas are re-approached from new angles. Divergent concepts are contrasted. Bloom’s taxonomy is constantly traveled up and down, from the simple to the complex in an effort to maximize a student’s opportunities to learn—and demonstrate understanding—of content.