Author: gnowosad

Catholic Senior k-12 Education Administrator
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Categories
Disruptive Innovation

Google, Gaming, and Going Mobile: Today’s 5 Tech Trends

Many technology trends are entering classrooms. Currently, some are widely adopted, while others are slowly creeping into instructional or institutional practices. eSchool New’s blogger Stephen Noonoo explores five such trends.

posted by: Ryan Schaaf

Original Source

Trends point to a handful of major ed-tech focus areas that grab educators’ attention

A few years ago the education world found itself entranced by the iPad, a powerful tablet that promised to revolutionize one-to-one programs and revitalize teacher engagement with technology in the wake of sweeping mobile device adoptions. For years, the iPad seemed to dominate educators’ discussions. Now, that storm seems to have passed, as educators and ed-tech enthusiasts are broadening their horizons and looking to the future.

Last week, a group of educators from California and across the U.S. converged on a Napa Valley high school for the Fall CUE 2014 Conference, centered around a theme of next-generation learning.

Here are 5 takeaways from the sessions, tweets, and conversations that came up time and again during the conference, and which offer a revealing glimpse into the types of technology and interventions educators are turning to now.

1. Google is everywhere. Glancing at the conference schedule, observers might be forgiven for wondering whether Google is now the new Apple. Although that claim may be tenuous at best, given that Google, in one way or another, has always been a classroom mainstay, there were an uncanny number of sessions devoted to Chromebooks, Google Classroom, Apps for Education, and deep dives into niche tools (think Google Drawing or the social studies godsend, Google Tours). More than a few hours were devoted to picking apart every facet of Google Apps for every conceivable classroom environment. Simply put, a solid integration framework across a range of platforms seems to be pushing Google into more classrooms and onto more educators’ lips than ever before.

2. But the iPad isn’t going anywhere. Given that, at last count, schools have invested more than $400 million getting iPads into student hands, it would be rash to expect them to drop of the radar so precipitously. Now that the initial gold rush has died down, educators are looking at more intentional uses. Some speakers hailed from districts with renowned iPad success stories and were eager to share their stories; others promoted sessions that went “beyond giving you a shopping list” for apps. These days, educators appear likely to embrace the iPad’s strengths, accept its weaknesses, and engage in thoughtful discussions on finances and the merits of sharing devices.

3. Games have arrived—-in a big way. Gaming and gamification have bubbled just under the ed-tech surface for years, even cropping up on the New Media Consortium’s trendsetting Horizon Report from time to time. The snowball growth of Minecraft in the classroom, however, may finally be helping to tip the scales. While Minecraft was on many educators’ minds at the conference, attendees also listened raptly to a teacher speaking in a large auditorium who described infusing her middle-school classroom with “XP” and level-ups—-terms closely associated with role playing games. Indeed, GameDesk’s Lucien Vattel, a conference keynote speaker, built his talk around the benefits of experiential learning, the brain science behind fun and lasting memories, and gaming’s facility for teaching difficult concepts to students while removing what he called the “fear of failure.”

4. Reaching students outside class. Curricular shifts—-such as the Common Core and a greater emphasis on STEM skills—-have made learn-by-doing technology a relatively easy sell for educators, and much was made of novel ways to reach students through after-school clubs and passion projects. Trendy tech and buzzworthy terms-—think maker spaces and 3D printing—-certainly commanded their share of airtime, but educators also discussed coding clubs, robotics competitions, and ways to engage girls in STEM subjects. Adapting famous concepts from tech behemoths was also a hit, and educators learned how to apply Google’s 20 percent time idea in the classroom, and training students to staff school Genius Bars, as a way to teach students valuable skills and relieve beleaguered IT departments.

5. The focus is still on students. At a time when so much technology and potential for learning is at students’ fingertips, speakers and attendees kept consistently focused on how technology can best benefit students. Keynoter and educator Diana Laufenberg pushed her audience to think creatively and critically about their strengths as educators and how they can use those strengths to best reach students through inquiry-driven, project-based classrooms. Elsewhere, educators discussed how best to engage students in learning in ways that were both authentic and relevant to students, and which taught them how to apply the skills they were learning to real-world situations. That last point was an idea later echoed by Laufenberg in her closing keynote. “It’s not what you know,” she told attendees, “but what you can do with what you know.”

Categories
Gaming

7 TED Talks about Gaming’s Potential

TED Talks are an incredible resource for the classroom. Some talks are great for professional development for teachers, some are great for student resources, and many still are great  for demonstrating presentation/speaking skills to students. Laura Devaney at eSchool News shares seven TED Talks that explore the potential benefit of gaming and learning.

Minecraft Screenshot
Minecraft Screenshot

posted by: Ryan Schaaf

Original Source

These TED Talks highlight promising and inspiring concepts, including gaming in education

Every educator needs some inspiration now and then, and these days, such inspiration can be found online in just a few seconds.

The internet brings inspiring and motivational speakers and experts to anyone with a connection and an internet-ready device.

TED Talks are some of today’s most popular examples of the internet’s power to expand learning opportunities to all.

Each month, we’ll bring you a handful of inspiring TED Talks. Some will focus specifically on education; others will highlight innovative practices that have long-lasting impact. But all will inspire and motivate educators and students alike.

1. Gaming can make a better world
Games like World of Warcraft give players the means to save worlds, and incentive to learn the habits of heroes. What if we could harness this gamer power to solve real-world problems? Jane McGonigal says we can, and explains how.

2. Gaming to re-engage boys in learning
In her talk, Ali Carr-Chellman pinpoints three reasons boys are tuning out of school in droves, and lays out her bold plan to re-engage them: bringing their culture into the classroom, with new rules that let boys be boys, and video games that teach as well as entertain.

3. Your brain on video games
How do fast-paced video games affect the brain? Step into the lab with cognitive researcher Daphne Bavelier to hear surprising news about how video games, even action-packed shooter games, can help us learn, focus and, fascinatingly, multitask. (Filmed at TEDxCHUV.)

4. Massively multi-player…thumb wrestling?
What happens when you get an entire audience to stand up and connect with one another? Chaos, that’s what. At least, that’s what happened when Jane McGonigal tried to teach TED to play her favorite game. Then again, when the game is “massively multiplayer thumb-wrestling,” what else would you expect?

5. How games make kids smarter
Can playing video games make you more productive? Gabe Zichermann shows how games are making kids better problem-solvers, and will make us better at everything from driving to multi-tasking. (Filmed at TEDxKids@Brussels.)

6. 7 ways games reward the brain
We’re bringing gameplay into more aspects of our lives, spending countless hours — and real money — exploring virtual worlds for imaginary treasures. Why? As Tom Chatfield shows, games are perfectly tuned to dole out rewards that engage the brain and keep us questing for more.

7. The game layer on top of the world
By now, we’re used to letting Facebook and Twitter capture our social lives on the web — building a “social layer” on top of the real world. In his talk, Seth Priebatsch looks at the next layer in progress: the “game layer,” a pervasive net of behavior-steering game dynamics that will reshape education and commerce. (Filmed at TEDxBoston.)

Categories
Uncategorized

9 Tips For Smarter Teaching With YouTube

One of the latest developments in the education world is the growing use of YouTube, the popular video sharing Web site where any user can upload and share videos of every possible kind.vThe first thing that many people associate with YouTube is that it is an easy, convenient way to view music videos, television or movie clips. Meanwhile, it is also becoming clear that YouTube has much more potential than that. Many incredibly talented people have been discovered through YouTube, but more significantly, it is now beginning to make a name for itself as a hugely convenient and versatile tool for many teachers to use in the classroom. This November 13, 2014 TeachThought article and accompanying infographic by Marlon Gallano demonstrates just how powerful a learning tool YouTube can be.

Posted By Ian Jukes

Original Source 

Let’s face it, times have changed.

The way we learned in school by sitting at a desk with a book, notebook and pencil are no longer the norm. Textbooks and notebooks are being replaced with tablets. The pencil is being replaced by the stylus. Touchscreen technology and cloud computing are revolutionizing how, where, and even when students learn and share information.

Although this sounds like doom and gloom, it’s actually a very good thing. Virtual lessons, tests, worksheets and textbooks are much easier and far less expensive to update or replace online. And the implications are grandiose. This type of technology has the potential to bring people closer by providing a clearer understanding of our cultures, history, current affairs and much more.

Enter YouTube. From fixing a flat to creating a gourmet dinner, people have turned to YouTube to solve their everyday problems. But if you look a bit closer, you’ll find that teaching with YouTube offers a variety of learning channels that students can relate to and engage in, making learning interesting and exciting for them. (See also, How To YouTube Your Classroom for context.)

If learning, rather than teaching, is the goal, you’ll need to have the attention of the students–and few things commands their attention better than a compelling video. YouTube enables educators to share their educational lessons from classroom to classroom ­without walls. Videos can be a helpful addition to books, by helping those who need a bit more help to grasp a complex concept. This frees up teachers to focus on the individual student, and take more time to create more interesting, innovative class lessons.

Students are changing, and education must keep up with those changes. Today’s modern educators need to reach out to students by using the same devices and techniques they’re using. Teachers have a world of information at their fingertips, as long as they have the technology to harvest it first.

Teaching With Video: 9 Tips For Teaching With YouTube

Ed note: Most of these appear in the graphic below, but we’ve revised and exchanged a few in hopes of having the best list possible.

1. Look for shorter videos

2. Check out the YouTube Education Channel

3. Watch the whole video before showing in class

4. Search channels rather than the entire site

5. Find videos to complement lessons, not the other way around

6. Have a way for students to “engage” the content on paper while watching

7. Assess #6

8. Consider a breadth of video content–music, video game trailers and gameplay, mini-documentaries, even seemingly whimsical content

9. Download the videos if the site is blocked in your district

Categories
Digital Learning

8 Ways Technology is Improving Education

From increasing student engagement to improving assessment efficiency, the implementation of technology in the classroom has observable benefits for teachers and students alike. Sarah Kessler from Mashable describes eight ways technology is improving classrooms.

posted by: Devin de Lange

Original Post

Don Knezek, the CEO of the International Society for Technology in Education, compares education without technology to the medical profession without technology.

“If in 1970 you had knee surgery, you got a huge scar,” he says. “Now, if you have knee surgery you have two little dots.”

Technology is helping teachers to expand beyond linear, text-based learning and to engage students who learn best in other ways. Its role in schools has evolved from a contained “computer class” into a versatile learning tool that could change how we demonstrate concepts, assign projects and assess progress.

Despite these opportunities, adoption of technology by schools is still anything but ubiquitous. Knezek says that U.S. schools are still asking if they should incorporate more technology, while other countries are asking how. But in the following eight areas, technology has shown its potential for improving education.

1. Better Simulations and Models

While a tuning fork is a perfectly acceptable way to demonstrate how vibrations make sound, it’s harder to show students what evolution is, how molecules behave in different situations, or exactly why mixing two particular chemicals is dangerous.

Digital simulations and models can help teachers explain concepts that are too big or too small, or processes that happen too quickly or too slowly to demonstrate in a physical classroom.

The Concord Consortium, a non-profit organization that develops technologies for math, science and engineering education, has been a leader in developing free, open source software that teachers can use to model concepts. One of their most extensive projects is the Molecular Workbench, which provides science teachers with simulations on topics like gas laws, fluid mechanics and chemical bonding. Teachers who are trained in the system can create activities with text, models and interactive controls. One participant referred to the project as “[Microsoft] Word for molecules.”

Other simulations the organization is developing include a software that allows students to experiment with virtual greenhouses in order to understand evolution, a software that helps students understand the physics of energy efficiency by designing a model house, and simulations of how electrons interact with matter.

2. Global Learning

At sites like Glovico.org, students can set up language lessons with a native speaker who lives in another country and attend the lessons via videoconferencing. Learning from a native speaker, learning through social interaction, and being exposed to another culture’s perspective are all incredible educational advantages that were once only available to those who could foot a travel bill. Now, setting up a language exchange is as easy as making a videoconferencing call.

3. Virtual Manipulatives

Let’s say you’re learning about the relationship between fractions, percents and decimals. Your teacher could have you draw graphs or do a series of problems that changes just one variable in the same equation. Or he could give you a “virtual manipulative” like the one above and let you experiment with equations to reach an understanding of the relationship. The National Library of Virtual Manipulatives, run by a team at Utah State University, has been building its database of these tools since 1999.

“You used to count blocks or beads,” says Lynne Schrum, who has written three books on the topic of schools and technology. “Manipulating those are a little bit more difficult. Now there are virtual manipulative sites where students can play with the idea of numbers and what numbers mean, and if I change values and I move things around, what happens.”

4. Probes and Sensors

About 15 years ago, the founders of the Concord Consortium took the auto focus sensor from a Polaroid camera and hooked it up to a computer graph program, thereby creating the ability to graph motion in real time. Today there are classrooms all over the world that use ultrasonic motion detectors to demonstrate concepts.

“I’ve taught physics before, and you spend a lot of time getting these ideas of position, and what is velocity, and what does motion really mean and how do you define it,” says Chad Dorsey, the president and CEO of the Concord Consortium. “And you end up spending a lot of time doing these things and trying to translate them into graphs. You could spend a whole period creating a graph for an experiment that you did, and it loses a lot of meaning in that process. By hooking up this ultrasonic motion detector to a graph right away…it gives you a specific real-time feel for what it means to move at faster rates or slower rates or increasing in speed or decreasing in speed and a much more foundational understanding of the topic than you could ever get by just drawing the graph by hand.”

Collecting real-time data through probes and sensors has a wide range of educational applications. Students can compute dew point with a temperature sensor, test pH with a pH probe, observe the effect of pH on an MnO3 reduction with a light probe, or note the chemical changes in photosynthesis using pH and nitrate sensors.

5. More Efficient Assessment

Models and simulations, beyond being a powerful tool for teaching concepts, can also give teachers a much richer picture of how students understand them.

“You can ask students questions, and multiple choice questions do a good job of assessing how well students have picked up vocabulary,” Dorsey explains. “But the fact that you can describe the definition [of] a chromosome … doesn’t mean that you understand genetics any better … it might mean that you know how to learn a definition. But how do we understand how well you know a concept?”

In Geniverse, a program the Concord Consortium developed to help students understand genetics by “breeding” dragons, teachers can give students a problem that is much more like a performance assessment. The students are asked to create a specific dragon. Teachers can see what each student did to reach his or her end result and thereby understand whether trial-and-error or actual knowledge of genetics leads to a correct answer.

The organization is also developing a program that will help teachers collect real-time assessment data from their students. When the teacher gives out an assignment, she can watch how far along students are, how much time each a spends on each question, and whether their answers are correct. With this information, she can decide what concepts students are struggling with and can pull up examples of students’ work on a projector for discussion.

“What they would have done in the past is students would make a lab report, they’d turn it in, the teacher would take a couple of days to grade it, they’d get it back a couple of days later, and two to three days later they’d talk about it,” Dorsey says. “But they’ve probably done a couple of lessons in between then, [and] they haven’t had time to guide the students immediately as they learned it.”

6. Storytelling and Multimedia

Knezek recently saw a video that was produced by a group of elementary students aboutBernoulli’s Principle. In the video, the students demonstrated the principle that makes flight possible by taking two candles and putting them close together, showing that blowing between them brings the flames closer together. For another example, they hung ping pong balls from the ceiling and they pulled together.

“With a simple assignment and access to technology, researching and also producing a product that would communicate, they were able to do deep learning on a concept that wasn’t even addressed in their textbook, and allow other people to view it and learn from it,” Knezek says.

Asking children to learn through multimedia projects is not only an excellent form of project-based learning that teaches teamwork, but it’s also a good way to motivate students who are excited to create something that their peers will see. In addition, it makes sense to incorporate a component of technology that has become so integral to the world outside of the classroom.

“It’s no longer the verbal logic or the spoken or written word that causes people to make decisions,” Knezek says. “Where you go on vacations, who you vote for, what kind of car you buy, all of those things are done now with multimedia that engage all of the senses and cause responses.”

7. E-books

Despite students’ apparent preference for paper textbooks, proponents like Daytona Collegeand California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger are ready to switch to digital. And electronic textbook vendors like CourseSmart are launching to help them.

E-books hold an unimaginable potential for innovating education, though as some schools have already discovered, not all of that potential has been realized yet.

“A digital textbook that is merely a PDF on a tablet that students can carry around might be missing out on huge possibilities like models and simulations or visualizations,” Dorsey says. “It takes time and it really takes some real thought to develop those things, and so it would be easy for us as a society to miss out on those kinds of opportunities by saying, ‘Hey look, we’re not carrying around five textbooks anymore. It’s all on your iPad, isn’t that great?’”

8. Epistemic Games

Epistemic games put students in roles like city planner, journalist, or engineer and ask them to solve real-world problems. The Epistemic Games Group has provided several examples of how immersing students in the adult world through commercial game-like simulations can help students learn important concepts.

In one game, students are cast as high-powered negotiators who need to decide the fate of a real medical controversy. In another, they must become graphical artists in order to create an exhibit of mathematical art in the style of M.C. Escher. Urban Science, the game featured in the above video, assigns students the task of redesigning Madison, Wisconsin.

“Creative professionals learn innovative thinking through training that is very different from traditional academic classrooms because innovative thinking means more than just knowing the right answers on a test,” explains The Epistemic Games Group’s website. “It also means having real-world skills, high standards and professional values, and a particular way of thinking about problems and justifying solutions. Epistemic games are about learning these fundamental ways of thinking for the digital age.”

These eight technologies are redefining education. Which technologies would you add to the list? Let us know in the comments below.

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Uncategorized

What Worries Me About This Tech Obsessed Generation: Is Our Gain Also Our Loss

Posted by Ian Jukes

Original Source

“When I was your age, I had to wait for the hourly report on TV in order to get the information that you have right at your fingertips. That’s the problem with the world today.”

It was the summer of 2012, and I was standing in the kitchen with my dad and sister — holding my iPhone — a towel and bathing suit thrown over my shoulder. I had just finished reading aloud the full-day weather report, and, until my dad spoke, had nothing on my mind but the gleaming pool water that seemed to be calling my name. I waited a moment for his comment to process, then looked down at my phone, analyzing it in a way that I had never before: feeling the cold, hard, metal in my palm, and the smooth, sleek screen underneath my thumb.

I asked Dad to elaborate on his comment.

When I was a young boy, we had a pool in our backyard. My brothers and I weren’t allowed to go swimming until the temperature reached 75 degrees — not one degree less. And so us boys spent our summer mornings waiting by the TV for the hourly report that read the temperature, praying that it would say the number we wanted it to so that we could dive in. I have vivid memories of those mornings.

Suddenly, life in the 1970s seemed distant, and people detached. It occurred to me that my dad has experienced life like I will never know it, and that I have experienced life like my children will never know. I even started to think about how things have changed in the years that I’ve been alive. It’s not just technology that’s changing, either: it’s our way of living. I’ve seen it with my own eyes, and it’s only becoming clearer as the years go by.

Gradually, evenings spent doing homework at lamp-lit desks covered in pencils, paper and textbooks are turning into late nights under bedsheets and blankets, a Google Docs page pulled up, fingers typing aggressively on a keyboard that can barely be seen in the dark. It seems as though I am part of the last generation that will know the satisfied feeling of stapling together a completed research paper, pages still warm from the printer. People of the next generation will never go on a family trip to the local Blockbuster in search of candy and a comedy for movie night. They might miss out on handwritten letters from their grandparents, available to read and re-read for years. Do we even realize what we’re all leaving behind?

This morning, I was sitting at the breakfast table eating cereal when my dad came in to say goodbye before he left for work. When he saw that I was eating Life cereal, a huge smile immediately crept across his face, and he started excitedly reciting a commercial that he remembered from his childhood. He called me into his office, where he threw himself down in front of his desktop computer to search for the ad on YouTube, eager to take me back in time with him.

Watching the commercial, my modernly-adjusted ears picked up on a faint hum in the background of the actor’s voices. There were no snappy graphics or fast-paced cuts. In fact, the colors were a bit faded and the actor’s faces were only highlighted in dim lighting. Then I turned to my dad, who was still beaming, as if all the happy memories from his childhood were flashing before his eyes. Judging by his enthusiastic clapping at the end, he sure didn’t seem to miss modern technology during those 30 seconds.

In a world of iPhones and missions to Mars, is it even possible that my childhood will ever be looked at in the way that I look at my dad’s? By then, will our TV shows be even crisper? Will it be unimaginable that we needed long, easily-tangled wires in our ears in order to listen to music? Will my kids marvel at the idea of us old-fashioned teenagers having to wait by wall outlets for our phones to get out of the dreaded red battery zone before heading out for the night? Will they laugh at us for using pieces of green paper to buy things?

The thing that has really stayed with me, though, is my dad’s comment about how all these new technologies are a “problem.” One day, will us late-millennials feel nostalgic as we look back on our simpler days, where we sometimes got a 10-minute homework break when our laptops lost battery, giving us an excuse to sit in peace in front of a warm fire while we waited for them to charge? Will a lack of instant-charging mechanisms become the new lack of a weather.com app? Will we pull out our old Nintendo 3DS XLs to smile at what was once the hottest new piece of technology, recalling memories of online play with friends, in the same way that my dad smiled at an old commercial? Will we wish that things had never changed? They say that you should never try to fix what’s not broken: does the charm of the way things are now trump the need for things that are fresher, newer and more advanced? Will we ever reach a point where there is no possible way to make any more “improvements?” And does this possibly-inevitable peak signal impending doom or the continuation of tradition?

In my last-period sociology class the other day, the teacher ended off a class discussion on changing technology’s impact on society with a statement that summarized my thoughts on the matter and left me with something to think about:

“I don’t know how new technology will affect future generations, and I don’t know if it will do more good or bad.”

I couldn’t have said it better myself.

Follow Cailin Loesch on Twitter: www.twitter.com/twinswholaugh

Categories
Digital Learning Gaming

A Third Grader’s Plea for More Game-Based Learning

 

Listen to young Cordell Steiner makes a sincere argument for using video games in the classroom in this TEDx talk. His talk introduces two positive aspects of digital game-based learning teachers can take advantage of for deep and powerful learning. Thanks to the folks at MindShift for sharing this treasure.

 

posted by: Ryan Schaaf

Original Source

Third grader Cordell Steiner makes a pretty convincing argument for using video games in the classroom in this TEDx talk. He describes feeling more motivated to learn and master new skills because of his eagerness to beat his own high score or finish before the clock runs out. He says he used to be bored in class when his teachers had to slow down to explain concepts, but now each student plays games intended to help him or her with specific skills they’re trying to master. He even gives examples!

Check out his call to teachers, administrators, parents and students to think differently about education.

Categories
Uncategorized

10 Ways To Fake A 21st Century Classroom

Well more than a decade into the 21st Century there’s still loud debate about just what “21st Century skills” are. There are many who equate technology with 21st Century learning. As we have come to expect, in this February, 2013 Teachthought article, the incredible Terry Heick once again nails it.

Posted By Sherwen Mohan 

Original Source 

21st century learning isn’t a trend as much as a reality.

It’s 2013, so whatever you’re doing in your classroom right now is technically 21st century learning. Semantics aside, we all can improve, and many of us are being held accountable for improvement by administrators, blogs, and the local PLC to “bring the next generation into the 21st century.”

With that kind of pressure—and constant district walk-throughs—it may be necessary for you to fake a 21st century thinking and learning environment to make the right kind of impression with the right people, and give the appearance of forward-thinking.

10 Ways To Fake A 21st Century Classroom

1. “Do Projects”

Projects are what students do in the 21st century. (This is distinctly different than project-based learning, mind you.)

One of the most powerful ways to employ a 21st century learning tone and process is to start big–with broad, sweeping projects that change the world, and give students constant opportunity to revise thinking, innovate, design, publish, and curate.

2. Create a class twitter account

Then use it to announce trivial things like due dates of 20th century work. (No one will notice—you’re on twitter, and that’s all that matters.) And when you bring up a new idea in a data team meeting, tell them you heard it on twitter. #streetcred

3. Force collaboration

And when students have trouble collaborating, tell them collaboration is a 21st century skill, throw a calendar at them (or maybe just toss it on their desks casually) and tell them to get with the program.

If that doesn’t work, find the closest map and pound your index finger on China and tell them everything’s about to get real in the next fifty years if they don’t wake up.

4. Video conference with strangers!

Video conferencing with classrooms in India—or even in surrounding counties—is a sure-fire example of a 21st century classroom if there has even been one. Fire up the ol’ Mac, exchange awkward questions, smile a lot, and it’ll be over before you know it. No in-depth planning or technology integration necessary! Just conference!

Bring on George Jetson!

5. Be dramatic

Play Ken Robinson and Shift Happens videos every 6-8 weeks to keep students on their toes and increase the sense of urgency in your classroom. When parents ask what students learned at school, they’ll definitely remember the video, play it on their iPhone, and create an instant certainty in the mind of the parents that good stuff is happening in your classroom.

6. Buy iPads

iPads support mobile learning, allow access to hundreds of incredible apps, and make children grin. If it’s a 21st century learning environment you’re looking for, a classroom full of students pinching and zooming on little glass rectangles will give it to you in spades.

7. Make students blog

The blog is the new novel. (I read that on a blog.) It gives students an instant audience with millions of potential readers, allows for constantly fluid text to be revisited and revised, and can be even be seen from outer space.

Do it yesterday.

8. Apps on apps on apps

And lots of them. Download more than you use, to the point that your iPad can’t even update the ones you actually use because there’s no room left. Try for at least a 10:1 ratio here of download-to-use rate.

9. Blend, blend, blend!

Go all Kitchen Aid on your curriculum and blend it until it’s unrecognizable from what you taught 3 years ago.

Create short YouTube videos, prime students with questions, and watch them all show up to class chomping at the bit to make magic happen. Ignore that many of the students who need the “flip” lack either the access or the thinking habits to make use of it all.

Like a great margarita, if you blend good things happen.

10. Add a column for “Creativity” on every rubric

Creativity is a 21st century currency, and the best way to make sure it happens is to give points for it. They’ll get with the program stat.

Conclusion

So there you have it–10 ways to fake a 21st century classroom. 

Categories
Uncategorized

Scientists Develop A Brain Decoder To Hear Your Inner Thoughts

Imagine a teacher in a classroom full of student thoughts. Or being able to hear the thoughts of family members at an otherwise quiet family dinner. Are we sure we want this technology? Only if we also create a thought blocker helmet too

Posted By Jason Ohler 

Original Source 

Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley have invented a brain decoder device that’s able to work out what you’re thinking based on neuron activity inside the brain — essentially, the experimental system means your private inner thoughts are no longer so private. Researchers invited test subjects to read a passage of text out loud and then again in their mind, monitoring brain activity each time to look for linked patterns.

This is about more than spying on your secret thoughts, though — it could be an invaluable method of communication for people who have lost the ability to speak, for whatever reason. Further down the line we could find ourselves controlling smartphones, computers and other devices using nothing but the power of our minds.

Related: Brains are being hacked to fight mental illness, mine marketing-friendly data

“If you’re reading text in a newspaper or a book, you hear a voice in your own head,” the University’s Brian Pasley told New Scientist. “We’re trying to decode the brain activity related to that voice to create a medical prosthesis that can allow someone who is paralysed or locked in to speak.” Pasley and his team based their work around the hypothesis that hearing words in our head causes the same kind of brain activity as hearing them spoken.

The hardware required for this sophisticated decoding is still at the developmental stage and isn’t accurate enough to be used outside of the lab yet, but the signs are promising. “It’s preliminary data, and we’re still working on making it better,” says Pasley. The researchers are also looking into the effects that hearing music has on the brain.

At the moment, the technology only works if the subject has been carefully monitored for some time, and the algorithms underpinning the system can vary from person to person. Still, when an all-encompassing instant mind reading device does appear, remember that you heard it here first.

 

Categories
Gaming

All Fun & Games? Understanding Learner Outcomes Through Educational Games

Teachers rely on the use of informal and formal assessment data to drive classroom instruction. However, traditional assessments can interrupt pacing and do not measure all of students’ abilities, such as their ability to collaborate with others, use of communication skills, the process of problem solving, or creativity. Kristen DiCerbo at Edutopia promotes an innovative assessment tool–educational games! The proper use of educational games can engage students in the curriculum, and yield useful data on students’ knowledge and skill abilities helping to drive teacher instruction.

posted by: Devin de Lange

Original Source

Over the past several years, there has been tremendous interest among educators in the use of digital games as serious learning. Advocates of game-based learning for K-12 students cite the value of digital games to teach and reinforce skills that prepare students for college and career, such as collaboration, problem solving, creativity, and communication.

Not as often discussed is our ability to use students’ in-game actions as evidence for the assessment of skills and knowledge, including those not easily measured by traditional multiple-choice tests.

The Potential of Games as Invisible Assessments

Traditional assessment methods often require teachers to interrupt classroom learning and administer tests. In contrast, invisible assessments make use of technology to record information about the ways students interact with learning material in a seamless manner, without interruption. Hence the term, “invisible.”

Invisible assessments such as games provide teachers, students, and parents with immediate feedback about progress, enabling them to make timely adjustments to teaching and learning approaches. They also enable educators to build models of student learning and proficiency by capturing many observations of a student over time, without the pressure of performance on a single test.

In games, educators can observe a student’s sequence of actions, time spent on tasks, multiple attempts at activities, requests for help, communication process, and so on. In other words, games allow us to examine a student’s process of problem solving, not just the final product at the end. These observations can help educators make valuable inferences regarding students’ mastery over skills, while offering new ways to assess factors not easily measured on multiple-choice tests, such as problem solving, critical thinking, collaboration, persistence, and creativity.

It is important to note that the term “invisible” does not imply that learners or teachers do not know that assessment is happening. Rather, it implies that the actual activity of assessment is not visible, or interrupting the classroom. Just as when playing a game, players get feedback and scores as a regular, expected part of play, so with all digital learning activity, we can be providing information about proficiency and suggestions for other activity.

Game or Gamification?

Educators must be careful, however, not to confuse educational games with the “gamification” of education. Gamification is generally defined as the use of game design elements in non-game contexts. A game, on the other hand, is a system where changing one element results in (often unforeseen) changes to many other parts of the system. There is little to no evidence that applying only selected game elements outside of a game will yield positive learning outcomes.

Quality educational games must balance engagement, assessment, and learning as three equally important components. Engagement relates to a game’s “fun factor.” Assessment is the ability for educators to gain key insights from a game regarding student abilities, and learning is the level to which a game effectively teaches skills and information. The key is to balance these factors so that games are both fun and educational, while providing the information educators need to assess and improve student outcomes.

A Look Toward the Future

A number of quality games exist today that successfully balance these factors and have tremendous potential as tools for both learning and assessment. However, much work is still needed to maximize their value, particularly in the area of integration. As of today, games and game data often exist in a silo. By making them a seamless part of curricula, there will be less of a burden on each individual teacher to determine when and how to integrate games into the classroom. By integrating the data with other gradebook-type information, teachers, parents, and students will get a richer picture of student knowledge, skills, and attributes.

While games do not fit into the current model of assessment for accountability, they do offer the opportunity to engage and attract learners while providing information useful for making immediate on-the-ground adjustments to teaching and learning plans. The potential of educational games will continue to grow as computers become increasingly ubiquitous in schools, and as game developers work ever more closely with education experts. If schools and teachers can collect and accumulate meaningful evidence from students’ everyday interactions with games and other digital tools, we have the potential to create new models of students’ knowledge and skills that expand our ability to both understand and influence student learning.

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Gaming

How Digital Games Help Teachers Make Connections to Lessons and Students

Katrina Schwartz at MindShift provides readers with several examples of how teachers are integrating digital games or gamifying learning experiences in classrooms. Math, History, Science, Social Studies – games have the potential to produce powerful learning experiences for students.

Minecraft Screenshot
Minecraft Screenshot

posted by: Ryan Schaaf

Original Source

It’s not unusual for educators to use analog games in the classroom, but as more classrooms gain access to technology, digital games are also making a strong showing. A recent Joan Ganz Cooney Center survey of 694 K-8 teachers found that 74 percent of those surveyed use digital games in the classroom, up from 50 percent two years ago. Many of the teachers finding the most success are good at creatively connecting the game back to the curriculum, while allowing it to maintain the qualities of a good game. These teachers are often more comfortable with games themselves, playing for fun in their spare time, and are thus more likely to see valuable classroom connections. It’s one thing to have empirical evidence that digital games are growing in popularity and another to get an in-depth look at how and why teachers see them as a valuable use of precious class time.

Introducing Global History

Zack Gilbert teaches a course called “Ancient Civilizations” at a middle school in Normal, Illinois. He’s been using game simulations in his classroom since 1995, but when he started playing the commercial game “Civilization IV” for fun he immediately recognized its potential to get sixth-graders hooked on history.

“When they’re building their first city, they have to look at the terrain around them. They have to look at the resources to see if this is a good place to build,” Gilbert said. Students often make mistakes in the game, and Gilbert has to restrain himself from trying to correct them immediately, instead letting them figure out where they went wrong. Students often build their cities on flood plains and watch as their citizens get sick and die. That experience prompts them to try a different approach next time. They now understand viscerally the devastation that choice would have brought to ancient civilizations.

“It all starts connecting,” Gilbert said. “When you get into the game it all connects to the state standards.” For example, if students build monuments in the game, they’re using math skills but also thinking about the artistic relevance of such a symbol. “You as the teacher need to know what your goal is for them, and then set them up so they can succeed,” Gilbert said. “If you have a good enough game, they’re going to gain more knowledge than you expect.”

Sandbox games are Gilbert’s favorites — there are lots of ways to win or lose, and students get to show off their creativity and critical thinking. He also thinks commercial games are some of the best tools because of their rich graphics and strong game mechanics. “Civilization IV” is sometimes criticized for not being historically accurate, but Gilbert sees that flaw as a teachable moment. “You can turn the things that might not be necessarily correct into learning experiences,” he said.

Gilbert points out that the hardest part of any teacher’s job is reaching a variety of learners, all at different stages of development and academic skill. He’s noticed that while not all his students love playing video games for class, struggling learners often come out of their shells and prove they can deliver some of the most innovative solutions. Succeeding in one area of class helps them gain confidence for other tasks, like writing and group projects.

This anecdotal observation bears out in the Cooney Center research, which found that 55 percent of teachers who use digital games report they are a good tool for motivating low-performing students. Teachers see that motivation translating into academic performance. too: 78 percent of teachers using digital games saw improved performance on curricular subjects due to gameplay, and 71 percent saw improvement in extracurricular subjects.

Like many other teachers, Gilbert says it can be hard to integrate games into the curriculum when the focus is overwhelmingly on standards and state tests. “Things are becoming more regimented in the classroom,” he said. He understands that many teachers don’t have time to rework their whole curriculum to include games, especially if they themselves aren’t comfortable with digital gameplay.

“Especially for ancient civilizations, you want to make it as exciting as you can,” Gilbert said. “This is their first real taste of history for the world; most kids have no concept of what the history is in other countries.” When playing the game, students build up their own civilizations in different time periods, making choices in five categories: government, legal, labor, economy and religion.

“It gives the kids a visual,” Gilbert said. “They’re actually acting out and making decisions on things that people who lived thousands of years ago would have had to make.” He acknowledges that games like “Civilization IV” aren’t appropriate for class use all the time and he doesn’t use them exhaustively. However, getting kids excited about the high stakes that historical figures faced is a great jumping-off point for writing assignments, discussions and interactive learning.

Gamifying Class

Students in Caryn Swark’s Grade 6 class (she teaches in Alberta, Canada) come to school and immediately find themselves immersed in a fictional world where the king has been kidnapped and they must rescue him. Students have avatars and “level up” throughout the year as they master different skills. This gamified environment is part of the class DNA, so it’s no surprise that Swark is also using digital games to help students engage and connect with the material she’s teaching.

“There’s a lot of games that are basically worksheets in disguise,” Swark said. “I try to avoid those games as much as possible. They’re not really games and kids aren’t stupid.” Like Gilbert, Swark believes there are lots of educational merits to some commercial games, especially if teachers think expansively about how to build on game narratives and skills.

Swark uses Nintendo DS games like “Professor Layton and the Curious Village,” a game that is basically like reading a novel embedded with math problems and puzzles. The first time she played it, Swark was struck by how similar some of the puzzles were to things she had asked students on worksheets. When kids play the game, they are doing lots of reading and math, but they like it.

Similarly, “Prodigy,” a commercial math computer game, is built around a wizarding world where students do battle by solving math problems. Swark wishes the math were a little more integrated, but students still find the game fun and engaging.

“Instead of thinking about a checklist of curricular needs that I have to meet, I think about how this fits into what I need,” Swark said. She has found that not only are kids more interested in what they’re learning through gameplay, but they stick with tricky problems longer, work together better and are more open to trying over and over again. The stakes are lower when a student fails within the game, and she doesn’t see any of the test anxiety that has begun to plague her students.

“Framing things in terms of gameplay helps get through blocks for kids who get to Grade 6 and are already convinced that they can’t learn,” Swark said. She’s seen her weaker students gravitate toward gameplay and make significant gains. Games are one part of her yearlong goals to break students of the notion that they will fail even when they try.

As a female teacher and a “gamer,” Swark has often found bringing games into the classroom helps her connect more to her male students. And students who are alienated socially have become popular because of their abilities to help others in games like “Minecraft.”

Swark got inspired to try games in her classroom after reading Lee Sheldon’s book, The Multiplayer Classroom: Designing Coursework as a Game, and jumped in feet first. She’s built on her success and retooled her failures, just as she’s asking her students to do with their schoolwork. Parents and administrators have been more supportive than she expected — she’s even suggested parents expose their struggling readers to fan fiction to get them reading.

But not all teachers work in such supportive environments. In those cases, or when an educator is more hesitant, Swark recommends teachers check out game-rating sites like “Graphite,” run by the nonprofit Common Sense Media, to choose games that clearly align with the grade and standards they teach. She also says it’s easier to start with overtly educational games and work up to the more open-ended games. Lastly, she says there’s a lot to learn from other educators.

“There’s a lot of people online who are doing this stuff,” Swark said. “They’re making lesson plans involving games, and you can find those. And then you don’t have to spend the time playing a video game for hours.”