EDIM508 Content Creation

Instead of having a single discussion with one or two students, I created a discussion board on our courseware server.  The students were provided with this prompt:

What is creativity? What is the role of creativity in the classroom? What do you value about your learning environment? What would you change (or like to see changed) to support creativity, digital media and technology?

This prompt was inserted into the student courseware without any advance notice or preparation, and access to the discussion was granted for two days (21 Nov - 22 Nov).  This activity was the first time student collaboration and discussion has been encouraged within the alternative education program.  We received two basic responses:
1 - Students who refused to participate unless it was directly tied to a grade
2 - Students who enjoyed the experience and the interaction with each other

The second category far outnumbered the first.  I was encouraged by the response.  Similar to topics in our current course EDIM508 discussions, students responded well to the social environment.  Some of the comments included comparisons to facebook.  Based on the response, I now have a new challenge: come up with more prompts to create a regular opportunity for such student dialog.  At this point, I am considering once a week and I have also offered students to make topic/prompt suggestions for future use.

As for creativity responses, many of the students lacked any expansion on the technology theme.  I added a second prompt to the discussion:  Many of you are writing that you would like to see more creativity in the classroom, especially with concern to the offline activities.  Do you have suggestions for this?  Are there tools you have used that you think can better use your creativity to show that you know the material in the class?  Have you used prezi, voicethread, glogster, wiki, xtranormal, or any other online tools?  Do you prefer research projects, simulations, presentations, or reports in place of offline activities?  But this prompt was added later in the day and due to the structure of our system received little attention from the students.

Many of the students discussed creativity in generic terms, focusing on imagination and creation.  A few highlighted the use of creativity in the classroom.  Many emphasized the lack of creative opportunities in the current program offerings (students complete nearly all of their work through online courseware tutorials and tests).  Few of the responses indicated creativity in assessments and course assignments.  Most of the course related creativity responses were in the forms of instructional delivery.  General environmental considerations were also raised for creative influence.

I was disappointed by the lack of technology in student discussions.  I received several responses indicating a desire for more animation and video in the online courseware, as well as one response suggesting that any assessment projects would be an improvement over the courseware provided multiple choice assessments.

Full results (with some off topic discussions edited out) of the student responses are available at
https://docs.google.com/document/d/19RnjfpG1XiooM6JGXt9WeRt2IgOSrSPXaI7oS0uK9dk/edit

EDIM508 Glog

Having completed the Prezi assignment before Glogster, I was disappointed with the limitations in editing interface and content of Glogster.  I missed the ability to zoom in and out, and stretch/scale objects and boxes within the content.  Frequently returning to the scrollbars instead of being able to drag navigate the editor made for a cumbersome experience. 

Glogster seems far more restrictive than Prezi, so I don't think it will get as much use in my classroom.  What I might use it for is a quick/simple layout project.  Because Glogster is so limited, it will offer less distraction in style and effect for the students than other media projects.  When the material to be covered is specific and limited, Glogster may serve as an option for students.  However, I would not be likely to introduce Glogster to the students after I had already completed Prezi assignments with them.

More specific to this assignment, I chose to create the glogster around a topic on Thunderstorms.  I appreciate the opportunity to maintain a single contact point for the students (as in Prezi).  The images, links, and text information located on a single interface allow me to highlight the ideas I want students to focus on.  This will be especially useful in the Alternative and Cyber environments I work in, in which students work more independently than traditional classrooms.  The Glogster interface will allow students to access the resources with little difficulty or need for additional instruction.

This assignment was also my first experience using the Quiz Builder at Discovery Education.  I already have many "assignments' at Discovery Education, but the bulk of them have been created as an easy way to direct students from online courseware to the specific streaming video resources selected to supplement each topic.  The Quiz Builder allowed me to provide additional instruction and assessment opportunities.  In practice, I will likely start with quiz builder assignments to verify that students have viewed the extra resources provided (the current courseware allows them to check off even if they do not access the link).  To maintain the consistency within the courses, I will likely keep writing assignments and video responses in an additional file which students will submit to digital dropboxes within the courseware.  Integrating the Discovery Education assessment results into the courseware is possible, but must be done manually and in a cumbersome manner.

To date, I have offered one Glog assignment.  Early this year, I offered a student the chance to explore it and prepare a course project as a glog in a pilot fashion.  Initially, she found it difficult to navigate and edit her Glog, but was soon on her way to developing a project on public health.  This experience was before Prezi, so now I am uncertain about the likelihood of returning to Glogster.

Link to Glog: http://menakerj.edu.glogster.com/tstorm/

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EDIM508 Creativity

Schools are destroying creativity.  This assault is being done both explicitly and implicitly.  When schools fail to acknowledge and recognize creative efforts among students, they are passively diminishing creativity.  When schools actively accost students for providing the "wrong" answer, they trounce on creative attempts.  There is a strong emphasis on academic standards, learning targets, and standardized testing.  With this push to become uniform, there is little room for students to perform individually and develop their own original ideas.

Sir Ken Robinson focused his talk on being right or wrong.  Robinson's talk covers the idea that students are now afraid of being wrong, that being wrong has become the worst thing a student could do in school.  Our worksheets, tests, and projects have developed a climate of factual expectancy.  When students are concerned about THE right answer, they stop concerning themselves with the learning to get that answer.

Robinson's talk provides cultural significance and history to this observation.  If schools have evolved as a support structure to industrialization, then they have met the goal of creating industrialized workers.  But we have progressed far from an early industrial civilization.   It is time for classroom instruction to catch up and surpass.

In Science, I want students to make mistakes.  I want students to become engaged in the material and develop their own learning experiences and understandings.  I want students to learn through play instead of protocol and procedure.  The idea of investigating and receiving wrong answers creates opportunity for feedback and development, refinement and enhancement.  Wrong answers are a part of science.

Technology can help with that.  There are many tools available for students to explore.  Many PhET simulations can be used as scripted learning, followed by freeform exploration.  As assessment products, tools such as xtranormal.com, glogster, prezi, voicethread, and more offer great opportunities.  These tools simplify the technical requirements for creativity into little more than the creative process.  xtranormal allows students to create animated videos without knowing how to draw or edit.  Instead, the students create dialog and use the web tools to attach the dialog to animated characters.  A project I could envision with this tool would be planetary studies in Earth and Space Science.  The students could find creative ways to inform the viewers about planets, such as travel agents, news reporters, visitors from other worlds, etc.  With artistic license, the students share key ideas about the planets.

Creativity is important.  Students who can develop original ideas, analyze and develop abstract relationships are in a position to command the postindustrial world.  As the technology progresses, the ability to create and share becomes more available and the demand for automatons reduces.

Robinson, K.(n.d.). Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity | Video on TED.com. TED:Ideas worth spreading. Retrieved November 17, 2011, fromhttp://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html

EDIM508 Media Infused Project

Prezi is a tool that has been touted in several othercourses.  Yet, this is the first time Ihave availed myself of its resources.  Ichose to create my Prezi on the Universe as a self-guided reinforcement activity.  The inclusion of video and imagery shouldprovide for better understanding and engagement in these topics than readingabout it in a book.  I was both excitedand disappointed by this project.  I wasexcited for the opportunities to integrate the resources fromDiscoveryEducation, NASA, and Youtube into a single place for students toaccess and view.  But, it was alsofrustrating and disappointing working with the limitations of theapplication.  With the intention of aself-guided activity, I would have liked the opportunity to create flowingblocks of text or narration, as well as choices in pathways and navigation.

As for supporting disciplined and synthesizing minds, thePrezi project can be viewed from two perspectives.  From the viewer perspective, the Prezi allowsa viewer to readily draw upon the provided resources to create a synthesizedview of the discipline.  For example,viewers to this Prezi can view historical information about our understandingof the universe as well as the key concepts that define our presentuniverse.  A key goal in creating thisPrezi was to emphasize ongoing learning, evolution of knowledge, and thecurrently unknown.

From the other perspective, that of the creator, a mediainfused project fully supports discipline and synthesis as well.  When assigned as a student project, thestudent must be able to locate and evaluate content information.  The students will need to judge theeffectiveness, appropriateness, and accessibility of their resources.  The students will be choosing mediaenhancements that best fit the goals of their presentations.  In creating the media infused presentation,the students will draw upon the works of many resources.  They may find items that build upon eachother, offer competing views of the same topic, or  illustrate many examples of their topic.

Howard Gardner states four steps in fostering discipline:

1.      Identify important topics or concepts

a.      The students must do this in the project.  Goals and objectives will guide the studentsas they select the materials for their projects

2.      Spend time on the project

a.      The media infused project is not a simpletask.  It requires active engagement bythe students

3.      Use multiple approaches

a.      As was required in our assignment, specificmedia specifications will encourage students to examine the project throughdifferent media and learning modalities.

4.      Give opportunities to perform

a.      The students have a performance assessment.  The prezi is the product, potentially alongwith a student presentation.

For synethsizing, such a media infused project aligns wellwith Gardner’s components  forsynthesis:  Goals, Starting Points,Selection, and production/feedback.

The Prezi offers the ease of integrating the disciplinedresources and media objects into a single presentation.  The media project allows students to collectand present their content and understandings in an easy to build, easy to view,cohesive manner.

Gardner, H. (2007). Five minds for the future. Boston, Mass.: Harvard Business School Press.

EDIM508 synthesizing

Howard Gardner writes of the battle between synthesis and comparisons.  These same concepts are often at play in the classroom.  Students want to know the big picture, they "why" and "when will I ever use this", but they are quick to differentiate classrooms by content area.  Integrating math into a Science classroom may lead to light confrontation, but adding history or grammer leads to student angst. 

Much of Gardner's chapter on synthesis was about multidisciplinary approaches to learning.  In the elementary and middle grades, this may be more easily accomplished.  But by reaching high school, students are often assigned specific classes and unique schedules.  Creating a thematic approach or team teaching across disciplines is often complicated when student groups aren't consistent.

But I approach this challenge similarly to I do my Earth Science instruction.  In Earth Science, I want students to understand the complete Earth System.  Although we may take portions of it and examine in detailed isolation, the entire interdependency is emphasized.  In Science, the process of science may be more important than the knowledge.  Thus, a historical and inquirical approach is implemented.  Science without communication is lost on the investigator, so students must demonstrate ability to communicate their learning through lab reports, summaries, essays, or presentations.  Although I am not an expert in composition and grammar, I do emphasize basic expectations and include mechanics in the assessments.

In Earth Science, I see two syntheses that I would like to focus on through technology, individual and aggregate.  Individually, I would like students to be able to draw upon their observations and reach a conclusion.  This motivation would be similar to Gardner's first consideration for synthesis, developing a concept to test or review.  Using technology, students can run simulations, data analysis, and presentations.

But as an aggregate, there is also the opportunity for greater synthesis.  Collaborate suites such as Google Docs, Wikispaces, and Googlesites allow for the aggregation and shared editing of content.  Students can synthesize individually, and then contribute to the class collective through wikis and docs.

In my more recent position at Alternative Education, I see room for more integration among the disciplines and the concepts.  For example, my computer apps course can be tied in with the History teacher's classes to allow students to demonstrate word processing, outlining, or presenting skills when exploring concepts in history.  Computer apps projects can often be used for the dual purpose of guidance counseling, career exploration, and graduation projects.  I will look for more ways to integrate the assignments with other teachers so that students can demonstrate competency without redundancy or purpose.

Gardner, H. (2007). Five minds for the future. Boston, Mass.: Harvard Business School Press.

EDIM508 Prezi

EDIM 508 Prezi




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edim508 Discovery Education

discoveryeducation.com offers vast resources to support content.  Although I have been using the service since it was unitedstreaming, I have found new opportunities and resources to support learning at the Alternative Education Program.  At Alternative Education, nearly all of the coursework is completed in an independent manner, facilitated by online courseware.  Because students are not generally available for group or whole class instruction, the ability to access and complete courseware and supplements with minimal difficulty, ambiguity or frustration is a key factor in resource selection.  DE's assignment builder tools offers students direct links to specific instructions and resources.  Embedding the link into the courseware will allow a student to access it on his or her independent pacing and schedule.

In many cases, the DE resources are provided as supplements to the subscribed courseware.  I have found that the varied approach to course content offered by the combination of DE and courseware benefits students.  The courseware is often provided in a verbal/linguistic manner.  The DE videos provide animation, simulation, and visual imagery that is difficult to achieve in the courseware.  This option offers reinforcement which can benefit varied learning styles.

For independent reinforcement, and review I have chosen the Standard Deviants series.  The Standard Deviants offer a fast paced overview of key topics within units.  Often these are done with animation or comic relief.  Each segment offers verbal cues and on screen text of the essential concepts.  The mix of verbal and visual support the students.  The chunking and energy of the series aid in content retention.

Example,  Standard Deviants School Geology: The Basics 

http://assignments.discoveryeducation.com/?cdPasscode=T0637-4D97

This video covers the key concepts of Geologic Time Scale and interpreting the rock record.  The video can be used as initial instruction, supplemental instruction, or review (although it lacks some detail to be highly effective in isolation).  The video is broken into segments for each topic.  A student could access each segment directly to reinforce specific content, or review the entire video