WEBQUEST DESIGN

NET SMART: THE APP GENERATION

According to Howard Rheingold in his book, Net Smart: How to Thrive Online, “learning to live mindfully in cyber culture is as important to us as a civilization as it is vital to you and me as individuals.”  But this mindful use of digital media does not happen automatically, so Rheingold takes an in-depth look at five literacies that need to be considered for being Net Smart.  He uses this term literacy as a skill, and with digital literacy, it means skill plus social competency in using the skill collaboratively.  These five literacies- attention, crap detection, collaboration, participation, and network smarts- are connected to and in many ways support each other. The book is meant to be read by persons of all ages, across all intelligences, and with a wide understanding and use of digital media.

Chapter one describing digital mindfulness had many parallels to the book previously read, The Information Diet, as one considers his or her own communication practices such as recognizing which media and mediated social activities one tends to avoid, which ones attract or distract oneself, and which can lead and mislead you, and reflecting on why one reacts in these ways.  Thinking about attention for myself as an educator and then teaching attention to students because I’m an educator can be a daunting task.  In a library with much going on within the large setting and different groups of people there is a recipe for multitasking and can afford distraction.  It can become overwhelming to meet everyone’s needs… Just BREATHE.   Thinking of myself as a student, attention does take much intention, breathing, attending to my focus, breathing some more, and repeating this often.  Suffering from an anxiety disorder, when anxiety is high, like now, attending, concentrating, and completing tasks takes extra intention to attention in order to complete a task.  The last few weeks have been quite challenging, and I have to admit that I have considered dropping out of the program on more than one occasion. I just keep reminding myself to take deep, calming breaths. 

Teaching students how to use “crap detection” when searching for information online is an essential 21^st century skill that was previously explored in the Halo Effect and practiced in our sessions dedicated to sorting and judging, and searching.  This is an area that I will continue to design lessons and help teachers design lessons to do with their students.

Chapter four explores collaboration, how do we work with others and share ideas, resources, and goals online. Jenn and I did our Glogster on collaboration. “Cooperation involves coordination, but it also includes sharing resources and acting in concert towards shared interests.”  Some of our key points included: Contribute and learn from others publicly; Be generour,, flexible, and forgiving when working with others; and When issues arise, participate in finding common interests to negotiate a shared decision.  As we have discovered in examining the design principles, designing lessons using ABCS & ACTeS, and SSCCS with information using, collaboration is essential in preparing our students for the 21^st century and to lead net smart lives.  The skill of collaboration is not inherent in our students and needs to be specifically modeled and taught.  Students need practice to work with others like we have and out of class- to work with others that they would not normally choose to work with in a group.  Skills to foster include, how to make a plan and execute it together, how to handle disagreements and opinions that are different from oneself, how to divide up a workload, give and receive feedback are just a few.   

In conclusion, the more I read for this program and reflect upon it and the implications for my practice, the more overwhelmed I am feeling.  There is just so much to cover, with both faculty and students alike, and I am putting so much pressure on myself that I do not feel like I am doing anything whatsoever well right now.  It is like a never-ending to do list and I just can’t seem to get even the smallest task checked off of my list.  I keep playing Dory’s mantra, “Just keep swimming,” in my head, but have changed it to B-R-E-A-T-H-E Kim, just keep breathing.

COPYRIGHT CLARITY

Educators are challenged to provide students with learning activities that allow them to build creativity, critical thinking and problem solving skills in the context of civic literacy and global awareness.  Students of this information age must learn to use multimedia texts, tools and technologies effectively.  They are encouraged to develop new ideas through creative play and self-expression.  We need to provide them with opportunities to apply critical thinking in responding to information and ideas while making responsible ethical judgements.  They must also be allowed to participate in working collaboratively with others to get projects done.  21^st-century learners are now encouraged to share their work with a larger, audience, so understanding copyright and fair use has become crucial to educators and students alike.  However, there is widespread misunderstanding of the so called “educational use guidelines” and much confusion surrounding copyright which has a price.  To begin, most teachers do not teach about it because they themselves do not understand it. They often depend on technology resource teachers or librarians to cover it with their students. It also limits the distribution of curriculum materials and resources, thus affecting students’ overall media literacy learning.  As a result, students do not learn that copyright is designed to protect both the rights of the owners and users in order to promote creativity and innovation.

Copyright Clarity: How Fair Use Supports Digital Learning by Renee Hobbs is a wonderful resource for every educational organization to own. It really clarifies the purpose of copyright and encourages educators to use the legal rights granted them, as well as students, under the doctrine of fair use. The U.S. Constitution says, “The purpose of copyright is to promote the spread of knowledge and innovation.” Copyright law promotes this goal through the doctrine of fair use. “At the heart of copyright law, the doctrine of fair use states that people have a right to use copyrighted materials freely without payment or permission, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research” - Section 107: The Fair Use Doctrine of the Copyright Law of 1776. There are no concrete rules or guidelines, rather, it is an evaluative thinking process that requires one to use reasoning and judgement on a case by case analysis of the context and situation of the unlicensed use of copyrighted material.  There are four factors to consider: 1) the purpose and character of the use; 2) the nature of the copyrighted work; 3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and 4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.  Transformativeness is also a component we must use in ethical decision making, and ask ourselves, “Has the user added value or re-purposed the work? Is the copyrighted work used in a different way and geared toward a different audience than the original audience?”  Additionally, fair use allows teachers and students to use images outside of Creative Commons or “copyright free” images, and use what is necessary to accomplish our goals. We can further ask, “How will my use of the materials affect the copyright owner’s ability to profit from their work? Will my use of this work cause excessive economic harm to the copyright owner?”

Learning about copyright and fair use is an important part of digital citizenship. As a librarian, it is my responsibility to facilitate this learning for both teachers and students, but it is NOT my responsibility alone, nor is it solely the technology resource teacher’s responsibility.  As the book explains, ALL teachers need to play a part. The Loudoun County Public Schools website states, “To leverage technology for learning, students need to understand how to think critically, behave safely, and participate responsibly online.  As a result of our commitment to student safety and learning, all LCPS schools will implement the nationally-recognized Digital Citizenship curriculum available through Common Sense Media.  Participating BYOT schools will earn Digital Citizenship Certification through implementation of the Common Sense curriculum.”  Now, how each school goes about accomplishing this is different.  Last year, it fell completely on my shoulders, as I know is common in many schools.  I am challenged with working with my administration, TRT, and technology committee to develop a shared responsibility of this curriculum among the staff and outline for accomplishing this goal.

 

THE INFORMATION DIET

When reading Clay A. Johnson’s book, The Information Diet, I found myself taking inventory of my information consumption habits. I would consider my diet to be average. There were areas where I felt no attention was needed (using reliable sources) and other areas where I could certainly be more mindful of balancing (like surfing on Facebook for the latest LuLaRoe designs).  I believe navigating this digital world, with an abundance of information, is a challenge for us all.  Who knew of such things as churnalism, content farming, and media mining?  I do mostly only watch local news, preferably channel 4, NBC news and only watch CNN when something major happens in the U.S.  I had noticed that all of the different local news broadcasts, NBC, FOX5, CBS, etc. did tend to all report the same things, but I’d always assumed that this was because it was what happened, and everyone was on the scene. Now I know it is a result of content farming and not actual journalism.  I don’t even like listening to the news or seeing posts on Facebook, all of the rhetoric and bias out there surrounding this election and the Black Lives Matter movement. I choose to stay in my ignorance bubble.  I do not engage in any of it.  Just look at one person’s posts and links shared and you see information validation at its finest!  I was already aware of the vast social media mining that takes place and that it wasn’t just a coincidence that advertisements and such links showed up tailored just for us.  I just didn’t know the name and how large of a place it had in the industry. Who thought that being a human data analyst or creator of automated software programs to sift through our media usage, online behaviors, sharing of content, (even looking at our connections with friends), and online buying would be such a needed profession?

As I continue to reflect and be mindful of my own practice, I will hopefully more skillfully design learning experiences for both students and the staff with which I work daily.  It is so crucial that we are responsive in our teaching to such things as cyberbullying, having strong passwords, keeping private information safe and what the difference is between personal and private information, and how everything you do on the Internet leaves a digital footprint.  I am continually shocked to learn of nine year olds having Facebook pages, the potential danger of gaming sites and such.  We must not be illiterate citizens when it comes to information literacy and using.

Teaching information using and 21^st century literacy skills to students is a HUGE part of my job. I do lessons on all of these things -research skills, showing students the county’s online resources, web searching, evaluating sources, citing sources, and web safety.  Just last week, I was asked by the third grade team to do some lessons with students on researching and evaluating websites, along with other skills.  My response was that I’d be more than happy to help them plan a lesson or two to coincide with their curriculum, so that they would also be informed about information using and its importance.  Information literacy and digital citizenship is not something that is just taught and acquired in a few isolated lessons, rather it should be ongoing, woven into all subject areas, projects, and interdisciplinary in nature.  Not to mention, these activities should engage students in real, authentic problems so they can make the connection and see the application to their life.  With the adoption of the One to the World initiative two years ago, all librarians and technology resource teachers were required to become Common Sense Media® (CSM) Digital Certified Educators.  We are additionally charged to facilitate the CSM Digital Certification for our school.  This is to be done annually.  The TRT and I are collaborating on ways to help the staff become knowledgeable of what it means to be a good digital citizen, how to recognize reliable sources of information, and how to use information responsibly. Additionally, now I need to figure out how do I get teachers to see these skills as useful outside of a research context and to see how they apply to everyday content consumption?  I can start by sharing some of my own recent learning and tools with them monthly through a library newsletter.  Now I just need to do an affordance analysis to see what technology to use to best meet my goal.  Will it be with Prezi, ThingLink, word publication, an infographic, etc.? 

DESIGN PRINCIPLE 6: STUDENTS AS DESIGNERS

Students as Designers Principle states, “Good learning designs engage students in using content to construct meaningful outcomes by comprehensively scaffolding students’ ability to design.”  This can be accomplished by promoting the Creative Spirit of Design including design processes to allow designers/our students to exemplify these three characteristics: imagination, being creation-oriented, and interdisciplinary action. 

Last week in class we experienced this process of students as designers as we worked in groups to create a promotional video.  We were given clear guidelines/outcome, had solid background knowledge of the design principles and how to make an “in camera editing” video and Priscilla provided us ample opportunities for feedback.  We were allowed to have choice in what type of video it would be.  We also had voice in how we would demonstrate our knowledge of the six design principles covered throughout the course.  This creative spirit of design lead us to be active participants or motivated, engaged students.  We became designers.  Prior to class we had to first write a comprehensive treatment plan to include the purpose, audience, length and style, as well as, brainstorm ideas to get us into focus.  We chose to do a video chat which allowed us to practice the inter-disciplinary action, or collaboration, as we each have different specialties and perspectives to share.  We typed it up and turned it in for feedback before beginning the next step.  Then, in class, we continued to work as a group to map out the storyboard of our two and a half minute video to include the style of the shot, any technique to be used and dialogue between two teachers.  This demonstrated the use of our imagination.  Students should be given opportunities to plan the process around solving authentic problems so they can experience having choice in the best way to go about reaching the learning goal. 

With clear guidelines and expectations for the outcome, opportunity for collaborating with others, and providing students with ample opportunities for feedback, students can be designers too.  Having more ownership of their learning will hopefully lead to more engaged and motivated students who enjoy these experiences to show us their knowledge that is more meaningful to them.  I love the conclusion in the article that stated, “By becoming great designers, as encouraged by the creative spirit of design, all instructional designers are in a better position to develop educational environments that are effective, valuable, inspiring, and powerful.  They are in a better position to develop instruction of the highest quality that they can imagine” (p. 57).

DESIGN PRINCIPLE 5- THE MEANS PRINCIPLE

It was very helpful, once again, to do the hands-on activity of looking at two technologies, the Ozobot and Osmos, and completing an affordance analysis.  An Affordance Analysis is a systematic way of choosing a technology in relation to learning goals. The task paired with the technology allows students to gain certain skills or "affordances."  I learned that the affordance is the convergence of the attributes of technology and the activities of the learning goals.  I further learned that it’s all about the utility, NOT the usability.  It is not enough to use technology just because of how easy it is to use or how well it does something.  The first priority should be to ask yourself, “How can I use this technology? What are the possibilities of using it? What are the constraints against using it?”  Usability can often be answered for you based on what technology is available to you in your school.

Through discussing the homework assignment in class, I learned that sometimes one begins with the technology (tool) and moves towards identifying the educational goal.  I was not alone in having picked a technology tool to use and then working backwards to create a lesson around it. This often occurs with teachers.  They see or hear about this cool new app, gadget, website, etc. and want to use it.  Other times you begin with your educational goal and do your affordance analysis of the task and technology to choose the best tech tool to use.  After doing the partner activity of “Matching Learning Goals and Tool- Considering Affordance,” I now see how it makes more sense to first think, “What do I need to accomplish?” This means having the learning goal clarified. Then, considering, “What tool can help me accomplish these goals?”  This was my biggest take-away from last week. It all goes back to good lesson design- going through the SPDs, ABCS, and AeCTS to identify an authentic problem, activities, then figuring out what technology is best suited for the purpose of the task at hand. 

This leads us to the fifth design principle- The Means Principle which states, “Good learning design reflect technologies chosen after mindful consideration of the cognitive and societal consequences as well as a clear and appropriate connection with content and learning activities.”  This is one more layer to put into practice with lesson design. Being one of the media leaders in the building, I look forward to sharing this with the administration and staff as we work to continue to integrate new technologies into our teaching.  This principle is especially important when it comes to the purchase of new tools.  I feel a little sickened by the fact that I can think of at least five grade 3-5 teachers who are currently goo-goo, gaa-gaa about Ozobots.

THE VICTORIAN INTERNET

Wired city in 1890- New York Utility Lines

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Victorian_Internet

  

NOTE: My metacognition, or thinking, is denoted in italicized text.

What I took away most from the book, The Victorian Internet, by Tom Standage was two-fold. First, I truly grasped how significant the invention and use of the telegraph really was in terms of its impact on society in the late 1800’s/early 1900s.  It created an interconnectedness in terms of knowledge, interpersonal, and globalization that had never been experienced before. It had a huge commercial impact, strong military use, and even social use.  The book also explained the diffusion or process of use and then how new technology goes through stages.  In addition to this, the book illuminated the consequences that the use of technology has in our physical, social, political, economic and our intellectual or cognitive world.  Secondly, the book discusses features common to the development and uses of the electric telegraph networks during the second half of the 19th century with the Internet of the late 20th century: : hype, skepticism, hackers, on-line romances and weddings, chat-rooms, flame wars, information overload, predictions of imminent world peace, to name a few.

So how did it all begin and what was the diffusion of the telegraph?  For centuries people communicated across distances only as quickly as the fastest ship or horse could travel. Generations of innovators tried and failed to develop speedier messaging devices. Initially, the success of optical designs was invented, but use was limited because they were so expensive to run, so only the government could afford to run them and their information-carrying capacity meant they were just used for official business.  Also, optical telegraphs did not work in the dark (constraints) so careful selection of location was needed that was not near any water because of fog and mist. (An example of careful design.) In addition to this, batteries and electricity were not available in the early nineteenth century so buy-in for the electric telegraph was slow to grow.  After electricity was invented, and in the mid-1800s, a few extraordinary pioneers at last succeeded. Their invention--the electric telegraph--shrank the world more quickly than ever before.  France was behind in use as the French were reluctant to abandon old technology, the optical telegraph, in favor for the new.  Telegrams were expensive to send so only the rich could afford to send trivial messages so this represents the small group of elites using it.  (Could this be an example of digital divide in history?)  Most people used the telegraph to strictly covey urgent news.  There was also a source of confusion to those unfamiliar with its use and confusion of the electric jargon kept the use to those most curious.  (Lack of understanding often leads to misconception and/or skepticism.)  Once enthusiasm replaced skepticism, the growth of the telegraphic network was explosive. Telegraph lines radiated out from central telegraph offices in major towns – Each telegraph office could only communicate with offices on the same spoke of the network and the central office at the end of the line – Messages from one office to another on the same spoke could be transmitted directly, but all other messages had to be telegraphed to the central office and were then re-transmitted down another spoke of the network toward their final destination- finally needing messengers to take written transcribed messages to the recipient. (There seem to always be constraints with technology.)  Once the Atlantic cable was installed, the volume of traffic increased- the rapid delivery of messages caused information overload, and the telegraph was in danger of becoming victim to its own success. As stated in the book on page 92, “Once you’ve gotten used to being able to send messages very quickly, it’s difficult to put up with delays.”  The telegraph gave rise to creative business practices and new forms of crime as it “provided unscrupulous individuals with novel opportunities for fraud, theft, and deception,” page 105. Romances blossomed over the wires. Secret codes were devised by some users, and cracked by others. This cryptography by hackers created a need for more security systems and security measures. (Attempts are always being made to regulate new technologies and provide security to its users.) The benefits of the network were relentlessly hyped by its advocates and dismissed by its skeptics. And attitudes toward everything from news gathering to war had to be completely rethought. 

Many generalities can be drawn that relate to today’s use of the modern Internet in society and its impact on our educational practice.  Tom Standage states on his website, “The telegraph unleashed the greatest revolution in communications since the development of the printing press. Modern Internet users are in many ways the heirs of the telegraphic tradition, which means that today we are in a unique position to understand the telegraph — and the telegraph, in turn, can give us a fascinating perspective on the challenges, opportunities and pitfalls of the Internet.”

The first generality that has an impact on our practice is that human nature often leads to unethical use and use of technology for life-enhancement.  Choices about use will reflect human nature- good, bad, indifferent.  Tom Standage, himself, stated, “The rise and fall of the telegraph is a parable about how we react to new technologies: for some people, they tap a deep vein of optimism, while others find in them new ways to commit crime, initiate romance or make a fast buck — age-old human tendencies that are all too often blamed on the technologies themselves.”

What this means for us as educators is that our practice has to include empathy, ethical decision-making, and values discussions including personal and interpersonal relations. My building works hard to build leaders by focusing on the 7 Habits for Happy Kids adapted from Steven Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Successful People.  I also work in collaboration with grade level teachers to embed digital citizenship activities into their lesson design.  One such activity deals with teaching staff and students to evaluate the reliability of information and sources found on the Internet which goes along with the generalization that technology speeds up the spread of information and misinformation. A third generalization stems from the understanding that to move technology into lives takes social, cultural, economic, and collaborative understanding and initiative.  This points to the importance of human skills as being part of our educational practice.  This leads into a fourth generalization that technology use changes the structure of authority. Teachers have to have a lot of basic knowledge and know how to use conceptual tools. Lastly, technology costs money – It is often available to the haves and not necessarily to the have nots.  We have to be conscious of digital divide both in terms of access, possession, and all the conventions that go with it.

https://tomstandage.wordpress.com/books/the-victorian-internet/

DESIGN PRINCIPLE 4: THE LEARNING PRINCIPLE

In reflecting after last week’s class activities, I feel compelled to say more on the articles as I now have an even deeper understanding of how they support the design process to foster student learning.  It all begins by using Knowledge of Structure, Process, and Discourse with Content as a Vehicle, SPD.   I grasp and wholeheartedly agree that we need to ignite a sense of urgency in educators to design learning opportunities by teaching the structures and processes related to disciplinary knowledge so students will be able to use their understandings to make meaning of them and apply them to their lives and the world in which they live.  As we worked in pairs to examine the fifth grade weather standards and design a lesson, I saw firsthand how “content can serve as the vehicle by which students learn about structure and process”.  First we identified the structures and processes needed by students within the weather standards as we browsed the different websites and online resources (both examples of software skills from AeCTS).  This was fairly straightforward, but the exercise of actually doing it reinforced the importance of having our students do it.  Emphasizing the role of structure over content in teaching disciplinary knowledge does make it more understandable. As I skimmed over the articles and my notes once again, I was reminded by two other claims that can be made for doing it this way: “If content knowledge is related in some way to the structural elements of a discipline, it will be more effectively remembered,” and “knowledge organized around the structure of a discipline facilitates transfer of learning.”  [NOTE to self: I need to share these articles with my administrators, teachers, and our building’s instructional coach.]  Then it was time to examine the discourse- a little harder for my partner and I. Thinking of weather experts in the real world, what are some of the jobs that they have and what do they need to be able to do?  Sharing amongst the groups really helped facilitate my meaningful understanding of this!  When we worked on brainstorming authentic activities- asking ourselves, “What are the things that meteorologists or weather forecasters who use the tools do?”-  It clicked for me.  We are teaching students modes of thought like deductive reasoning, analytical thinking, (the ability to identify relevant information), cause and effect reasoning, and sequential reasoning- discourse.  And it comes full circle- We must design opportunities for students to engage in the kinds of activities that support and shape their ability to think and problem solve.   According to “The ABCs of Activity” article, “these activities should help students become competent with at least four categories of cognition: memory, information extending processes, information rearranging processes, and cognition.”  As my partner and I created the list of authentic activities, the overlap with discourse was evident.  We continued to brainstorm ideas of background building activities and constructing activities.  Doing this led us to the possibilities of the clear outcome/product that would be part of the actual designing of our lesson and the thinking skills/processes that the students would need to utilize as part of AeCTS.  We asked ourselves, “What are we going to have the students produce to demonstrate their knowledge.”  Once we had figured out a clear outcome for the students to produce, we could begin analyzing what thinking skills/processes the students would need by asking, “What do they have to be able to do in order to do this?” We also thought about software skills.  Questions to ponder are, “What tools do we need to scaffold?  What mechanical skills are needed to use a tool?”  The most challenging part was getting the wording of the authentic problem down as we had phrased it as a question.  Asking an “essential question” as part of every lesson plan has been branded into my brain the past two years since becoming a librarian and teaching again.  Once we had the wording of our authentic problem polished, we devised an exit strategy (experience). Regarding implications for my practice, this is a lengthy design process that I am  embracing. I look forward to providing my students with more relevant and meaningful  learning experiences- Ones that truly foster 21st century skills/processes and will better  prepare them for the world.  (More details to come…)  Perhaps it’s time to have grade  levels “unpack the SOLs” again to truly understand the underlying structures and  processes related to the content in each one, not just the essential knowledge  necessary for mastery. Now on to Vygotsky.  I thought the reading might not be as difficult as it actually was,  because I had prior knowledge of his findings and the zone of proximal development  from my undergraduate studies in psychology and early childhood education. I was truly amazed at how succinctly Pricilla summarized the entire book, and I only needed to  write a page and a half of notes!!! Especially knowing that I had taken about 14 pages of  nonsense notes, before giving up after realizing that my notes really did not clarify what  I had just read.  So I just concentrated on reading more closely, rereading often, highlighting important parts of the text, and stopping ever so often to reflect, summarize,  and jot down key vocabulary.  Symbols are the tools that engage us in activities, not just children.  Adult learners, alike, go through this process when encountering something  new to them.  A symbol, or tool, initially narrows your attention.  Then it starts shaping one’s perception. When tools begin coming into use, one starts remembering or building  memory. Put to use, it becomes abstract thought.  When one begins to use all of those  tools and shape one’s understanding, one internalizes them.  The more one internalizes tools, the less they become noticeable.  When we have collected a set of tools and have  internalized them, we have begun higher psychological function.  How is this done?  The mechanism through which all of this happens is PLAY.  Play is learning versus  work, which is the application of what has been learned.  Play is purposeful and important.  Students need to engage in meaningful, play to allow them to interact with the concepts being taught.  As teachers design lessons, one should keep the zone of  proximal development, ZPD, in mind.  What this means is knowing what a child can do with help until he can do it on his own, and this completely depends on social  interaction.  ZPD is similar to the concept of a cognitive apprentice that was mentioned  in the Situated Cognition article.  It is here, in the zone of proximal development, that  teachers must take on the role of modeling, coaching, and fading progression.  Through socialization, a student uses the symbolic tools in this guided practice with the teacher  being the “guide on the side.”  Here, he/she begins to internalize the tools, and then can  start to use and understand the tools independently.  When using an acquired set of tools, the student has reached higher psychological processes. To put all of this together, we first read the book as a background building activity.   Doing the “Poetry as Discourse” activity in class was an example of a constructing  activity.  Here, the expository discourse activity stretched our analytical reasoning to  perceive how concepts are broken into parts.  Then we created the “Vygotsky Mind  Map” to comprehend the manner in which the parts are organized to explain the whole. Thank goodness for Priscilla’s careful course design, so I have success with constructing meaning and with my higher psychological processes.  Next up, to begin brainstorming the future use of all of this knowledge into my own lesson design. Design Principle 4 states, “Good learning designs engage students in “playful” activities at the edge of their knowledge and understanding using symbolic tools to develop and internalize meaningful thought.”

DESIGN PRINCIPLE 3: KNOWLEDGE

“Good learning designs recognize concepts as tools, situate those concepts in the context of their use reflecting authentic activity, conceptual tool, and culture, and analyze content for generalizable knowledge?”  What does that all mean for us as teachers?

In the article “Situated Cognition and the Culture of Learning” by Brown, Collins and Duguid (1989) suggests that by “ignoring the situated nature of cognition, education defeats its own goal of providing useable, robust knowledge.”  This basically means that much of the learning and work done at schools in inauthentic and thus not fully productive of useful learning.  As teachers, we need to strive to provide authentic- or coherent, meaningful, and purposeful activities to our students.  So, how do we do this?  We need to situate kids in the context of the tools, activities and culture.  This is known as enculturation.  Students need to see that tools, both conceptual and physical, can be used differently by different groups.  We need to bring kids into the culture to show them how to use a tool and provide them multiple opportunities to use the tool within the context of the activity.  Tool- Activity- Culture… This is The Golden Triangle and students learn best when we combine these.  In the library, if I want the students, especially my 4^th and 5^th graders, to understand the importance of keeping the shelves neat and using shelf markers to assist them in keeping the books in order, are they going to learn it by hearing about it in a book or watching a cute video demonstration? Probably not! It’s more likely that they will gain the knowledge if I immerse them in the authentic activity of giving them books to shelve.  That way they see and will hopefully understand all that goes into it.  They need to understand the concepts, or structures, of call numbers, the different sections of the library, the Dewey decimal system and different types of books.  They also need an understanding of the processes of alphabetizing fiction books by the first 3 letters of the author’s last name, whereas the books in the biography section are alphabetized by the famous person’s last name.  Although the culture is within the school, this understanding can be applied to any type of library and is purposeful and meaningful to any student who wishes to be a library patron.  I also learned two very important questions to ask when designing these authentic learning activities: Why do they need to use it?  Who uses it?  Another important insight that I gained is the role of the teacher referred to as a cognitive apprenticeship.  Teachers need to model their thinking, metacognition, with students.  This was always a principle that I lived by during writer’s workshop when I taught in the regular classroom (kindergarten, first and second grade).  During my mini lessons, I always connected what we were learning to the previous concepts taught, modeled my thinking as I specifically shared  what I was doing while writing and explained why.  Then I gave students time to try it out right there with me.  I linked it to how they could do this as writers, today and every day when writing, and sent them off to have more time to try it out on their own while I conferenced with students, coaching alongside them.  As students grasped the conventions of writing, and honed their author’s craft, my support faded.  I also used many books as mentor texts where we analyzed what the authors did.  When doing read alouds with the students, I always shared the bios about the authors with the class, and we often visited their websites so the children could better understand that authors/writers are real people like them who have stories to tell with many of their stories coming from their life. 

In reading the other articles, I learned even more and saw many overlaps of knowledge design principles.  They spoke to the importance of engaging students in authentic activities or authentic context.  Both the SPD and AeCTS articles spoke of having a clear outcome/product. We must ask ourselves, “What do I really want students to know?” All three articles, including ABCs, spoke of process and providing the students with constructing activities to allow them opportunities to test their knowledge with teacher guidance so students can construct their own meaning and understanding.  Lastly, we must consider the patterns of communication that they use and provide them with sharing activities so students can receive feedback and compare the meanings they have constructed about knowledge with their peers.

I see the importance of all of these aspects in creating carefully designed learning opportunities. But I am struggling to think of ways to create culturally relevant, as well as,  purposeful and meaningful activities regarding information using outcomes such as web searching, citing sources, and evaluating sources to name a few.  Suggestions are welcome.

Kahoot Quiz: Situated Cognition

DESIGN PRINCIPLE 2: THE ENDS PRINCIPLE & THE SABER-TOOTH CURRICULUM

While reading the satire called "The Saber-Tooth Curriculum", published in 1939 I was struck how this curriculum debate still exists in education today.  The book is about a former student seeing his highly admired professor, Dr. Peddiwell, years later in a bar in Tijuana and the five-day seminar in the history of paleolithic education ensues.  The student remembers that Peddiwell "liked critical ability in his students" (p. 12.) If teaching today, (I think that Dr. Peddiwell would support the design notion of including critical thinking and problem solving). Peddiwell shares his studies of stone-age curriculum and the first great educational theorist and practitioner, New-Fist.  He refers to New-Fist as an educated man- both a doer and a thinker. "He knew how to do things his community needed to have done, and he had the energy and will to go ahead and do them. Then, as now, there were few lengths to which men would not go to avoid the labor and pain of thought."  (p. 25) New Fist pushed himself beyond those lengths, became strongly dissatisfied with the accustomed ways of his tribe. Upon observing ways in which life might be made better for himself, his family, and his group the concept of a conscious systematic education was born.  First he set up an educational goal, then proceeded to construct a curriculum for reaching that goal.  The curriculum consisted of "Fish Grabbing with the Bare Hands" and "saber-tooth Tiger Chasing with Fire." The practical value of the courses was obvious, until the Ice Age where the climate changed- the lakes dried up and Saber-tooth tigers migrated to warmer places.  Still there were traditionalists, the Elders, who argued that the great ideas embedded in these courses should be preserved for all generations because they were necessary for building the mind.  The book goes on to show the failure of educational systems and the lack of responsiveness and resistance to change, even when needed.  There were two main learnings from the book. The first was to define the purpose of education- to educate students to better one’s life, his community, and the lives of others.  The second point was the importance of educational systems to be able to change and adapt to changes in conditions of our world.

The book referred to New Fist as an educated man.  Being "educated" is a tern that is all relative to the time period in which you live, where you are, and the community that you are a part of.  When curriculum is designed and revised, it should be done with the recognition that being "educated" involves much more than knowing skills, but understanding the process and figuring out how to apply it to life. Lessons need to be authentic. The purpose of education is to prepare students to become successful, contributing, civic members of society in which they live. Learning should include active engagement of students in purposeful, authentic practices.  The activities should allow and encourage students to develop critical thinking, an ability to question… Basically teach one HOW to think, not WHAT to think. The mirrors articulated this very well in the book on p. 48 stating, “They do not teach us to learn what we live and live what we learn.” This is the second design principle- The Ends Principle.  "Good learning designs prepare learners to meet community needs by linking living and learning to the PICKLE (problem-solving, information using, community participation, knowledge, literacy, and ethical decision making).

The elementary school where I work strives to support “Community Participation” and “Ethical Decision Making” as we live the “7 Habits for Happy Kids” from The Leader in Me by Sean Covey.  We live and model the habits everyday as educators and educate the students to Be Proactive; Begin with the End in Mind; Put First Things First; Think Win-Win; Seek First to Understand, Then Be Understood; Synergize; and Sharpen the Saw. We provide students opportunities to develop their full potential while teaching them 21^st Century leadership and life skills such as responsibility, accountability, problem solving, communication, collaboration, initiative and self-direction, creativity, cross-cultural skills, and teamwork. The Leader in Me is also aligned to many national and state academic standards, but the process teaches students the skills needed for academic success in any setting.  These skills include critical thinking, goal setting, listening and speaking, self-directed learning, presentation-making and the ability to work in groups.  As a librarian/media specialist, my curriculum covers “Information Using” and Literacy.  I am the lead facilitator for obtaining our school’s Digital Citizenship certification through Common Sense Media®.  I am responsible for educating both staff and students with Information literacy, Web searching, Citing sources, Evaluating sources, and Web safety.  I have also stepped up as a technology resource leader in my building to help facilitate the integration of technology as a tool in learning.

Such conflict over the purposes of education and curriculum outcomes will probably always continue, and this conflict gives rise to healthy discussion and progress.

DESIGN PRINCIPLE 1: TEACHERS ARE DESIGNERS

What does it mean and how does it affect my practice?

Teaching is designing and there is both a science and an art to the profession.  To begin, a teacher needs to have three kinds of knowledge: content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, and technological knowledge and these are thought processes used “in reflection to action”.  Then there is classroom practice which entails planning, delivering instruction and assessment, evaluation and perhaps, re-teaching.  These practices are what we do “in action”.  Lastly, there is design knowledge or “design practice” which is what teachers do “before action”.  This instructional design practice is what bridges the previously mentioned teacher knowledge and classroom practice. Educators need to know the following to be designers: “Teachers need to learn to identify the ‘real’ design problems. Teachers need to learn to consider and invent possibilities as well as recognize and embrace constraints. Teachers need to understand and integrate the four design P’s- principles, processes, patterns, and paraphernalia.”

To me, design is an informed, strategic approach to instruction often called the backwards design model.  It can be large in scope and challenges teachers to begin with the end in mind.  This means that teachers first identify desired results- learning goals or standards.  A teacher comes up with an authentic problem to solve- essential questions to answer.  Additionally, an acceptable evidence of learning is determined- the finished product with a rubric or other instrument to measure student success.  After this, the teacher or team of teachers design learning experiences and instruction using best practices.  When it comes to best practices, I remember these three questions that I learned in a college course in the 90’s, and still find them so important to use as a guide in my practice when designing instruction: Is it knowable to the learner?, Is it meaningful to the learner? Is it purposeful to the learner?  Best practices also encompass the practice of actively engaging students, developing critical thinking in students, giving them ample time to practice while the teacher guides them, fostering the ability to question and nurturing the desire to wonder, allowing time for reflection on learning, and providing opportunity for students to give and receive feedback,  just to name a few.

As a librarian, this impacts my practice of being a resource to the staff at all grade levels that I work with in my building.  As the county continues to implement its One to the World initiative and expect teachers to embrace project-based learning and B-Y-O-T, Bring Your Own Technology, my role is morphing into a media specialist/technology resource teacher.  It is becoming more collaborative in nature and the county is moving in the direction of utilizing a flexible schedule in the library at the elementary level where grade level 3-5 teachers would bring their class to the library with a set purpose/need that is planned collaboratively. Time to collaborate is a constant obstacle as my schedule is fixed and set up/viewed by administration and teachers alike as a special where teachers drop their kids off so they may have daily planning time and meet in PLT’s once a week during the school day. This creates dis-connect between what I want to do with teachers collaboratively, design instruction, and what I am able to actually do.  To compound this challenge is the fact that the schedule only allows me to work with grades 2-5 classes every other week which is not conducive to project-based learning.  I strive to keep informed of grade level projects, attend planning meetings as frequently as I can to allow for more collaboration, and design my lessons to support the context of their project, learning outcomes, standards, and skills needed by the students.  I also assist teachers with their use of design paraphernalia, technology, as I am facilitating the digital citizenship curriculum through Common Sense Media to support B-Y-O-T.  One area that I am successful is in creating lessons to support students with sustained inquiry- with their process of asking questions, finding resources, and applying information.  In addition to this, I will be facilitating “Tech Tuesdays” this year as a way to support the teachers with their integration of technology into their classroom practice.  One of the One to the World key elements is “Connected with The World” and when appropriate, students use technology to make these connections with the world.  Another key element is “Public Product for the World” where students make their work public by displaying and/or presenting it to people beyond the classroom. Technology and social media are valuable platforms to support this requirement.