Final Reflection on Educational Technology

Final Reflection on Educational Technology

This course has been a grand tour of the ideas informing the use of technology in education.  I have encountered a multi-dimensional landscape of philosophies, practices and modes of evaluation that defy simple explanation. The entry-level notion of Chromebooks, web pages and Power Point presentations as the central necessities of improving education is as simplistic as saying that World Population can be solved by contraception or that our nations problems can be solved by gutting one small segment of discretionary spending.  There are too many nuances to talk about all of them, but I will try to give a tour of the ideas that I found most fundamental to the knowledge that I have gained from this course.  

I appreciated Bruner's Folk Pedagogy idea as a starting point.  It is important in any endeavor to examine one's beliefs on a topic, especially those that may be hidden from our conscious consideration.   Our preconceived notions of "what children's minds are like and how to help them learn," is built in to each of our interactions with children and young people.  The closer we plumb these for meaning, the more we can learn about what is actually going on in their learning process.  We must examine not only what we think about their process and abilities, but what they think about their abilities before we decide how to approach their education.  I feel that this was a theme that we hit over and over again in this course, whether directly or implicitly.  

Another important foundation of this course can be summed up by the work of Cope and Kalantzis as far as the nature of what they call the "New Media."  Their work gets at the important changes in media technology, as well as the landscape within which it is used.  The situation that exists today is not that of the top-down didactic lecture approach of the last century, where different modes of education--written, seen, heard--have been cobbled together awkwardly and presented as the "thing to be learned" by more-or-less passive students.  Instead, we see what the authors refer to as Agency (on the part of students), Divergence (from imposed norms), Multimodality (seamless multiplicity of modes of expression) and Conceptualization (the ability to learn a new level of knowledge representation according to this scheme).  As a result, students become Designers in charge of their own path on some level, including the task of fitting and pacing learning to their own learner needs, as well as mastering the many modes of expression that are in use today.  Finally, the authors note the necessary change in our own pedagogical style necessitated by these new paradigms. We cannot lecture to the new paradigm because they are not built for that anymore.

Finally, I think the Wendy Drexler material captures something about how this course all fits together. In the case of the application of technology, SAMR and other philosophies of the application of technology, technology must be transformative, not just a newer way to do drill-and-kill.    Her student's video of her Personalized Learning Environment was an inspiration to me as a science teacher.  I look forward to being able to have all of my students that involved in their education, reveling in the freedom that technology provides for multi-directionality, self-monitoring and finding ways to accomplish their educational goals.  

I will say, though, that her actual article makes a point of caution that has occurred to me both in my studies for this course and in my own implementation of technology and new educational paradigms.  She points out both the awesome power of her "Networked Student" model, and the drawbacks that may be experienced by some users.  In her words: 

 No longer is there a smooth, charted path that defines what must be done to get an “A”. Traditional, lecture-based classrooms are designed as passive learning environments in which the teacher conveys knowledge and the student responds (Chen, 2009). Imagine the potential frustration that self-regulated learning holds for students who are quite comfortably accustomed to specific teacher directions with finite expectations.

We may have a big new world for them to discover, but many of our students are still waiting for "Reading Rainbow" to come on and paint the picture in front of them instead of learning to paint their own with the new tools that they have been given.  

Honestly, there is so much more that has affected me--the study of Connectivism was brand new for me, the trip through instructional design and the implementation and evaluation of its success, Robert's interesting presentation on his flavor of the Agile Process, as well as the many, many wonderful ideas from my peers that I saw last Saturday.  What fun!

At any rate, I must say that I have enjoyed what I learned in this course.Our residencies were pleasant and fulfilling ways to engage with the ideas, and I feel like we had a remarkable class dynamic.  I feel ready for, and am excited about, the next steps in my coursework--Instructional Design and perhaps  Advanced Topics in this area (What's the Meta-for?).  Very enjoyable.  Thank you.

Ed Tech Pesonal Timeline

My first memory of using technology to do any sort of math was Apple II's "Lemonade Stand"

Of course, this was a fun game when you only had 48K of memory to burn, and it certainly taught the value of careful planning, but it wasn't really educational (maybe it was too fun to let us use in class in the early 80's).

My real first introduction to ed tech in school was to drill and kill math problems.  My teacher would call me in for "extra help" and sit me in front of an Apple II+ (64K--moving up!!!).  I remember pushing through a bunch of math problems and whenever I was stuck, the computer would tell me to "keep trying!" and other (not very) helpful prompts.

For the 1980's, that was about it.  I took a computer science course in high school that met once or twice per week, where they would teach us BASIC programming.  The highlights of our work for me were to get the screen to produce the verse lyric to "Time of the Season" by the Zombies (What's your name....who's your Daddy," etc with perfect timing--not as easy as you might think--and to reproduce the first screen from Donkey Kong  in line-for-line detail.

Now, this was useful and fun in that it taught me about computational thinking, which I wish I had been given more teaching about, as it really is a valuable skill that I cannot believe is not written into our State Standards.  Maybe in the next ten years we will begin teaching this most important skill of the last thirty years in our classrooms.  That thirty-year delay seems about right (irony noted?).

Second stage, in my work as a teacher, I have frequently used technology to enhance the learning of my students.  I have always been about them using technology to do things that they haven't been able to do before.  I was never that interested in Power Points instead of Poster Projects.  I have been more about using probeware in my classrooms to collect data, and excel to visualize it.  These are powerful, 21st-century applications that I had used in my own experiences in a real genetics laboratory.  

Also, I have been drawn to video.  Teaching kids to speak visually is an incredibly important skill, and the potential for new types of projects and expression is enormous.  I have always thought that the process of planning a truly original media project is very challenging for students, and I have been shocked to find out how few of them are able to either make animations like in Scratch programming, or to produce and edit original video content.  

My culminating project for my Environmental Science course is a video project called Project Atlantic, in which students are required to research an energy topic, interview community members and produce a film with music, proper transitions, etc, and present it to the public.  They have to collect data, come up with a storyboard and decide how to make it all come to life.  Here is a sample:

Project Atlantic Introduction Clip

I am convinced that this is what people are talking about when they use the "R" in SAMR.  This was not possible before this technology was available--Chromebooks, Flip Cameras, WeVideo, etc.

As for the future, I see so many possibilities.  The emergence of virtual worlds will allow students to me immersed in moments of history, to participate in distant gatherings and discussions as avatars, and to rapidly assimilate new information as changes take place.  

Another, simpler but also desirable outcome is that I picture a world where schools can actually become self-paced learning centers rather than top-down lecture halls.  Students are pre-assessed and then placed into modular systems that effectively teach and test skills.  This frees teachers to help with what students do not understand, rather than having to "stand and deliver" to disinterested crowds who are taking in ten to twenty percent of what they are exposed to.  In this way, students can learn at a pace that suits them, and pursue 'meatspace' experiences that enhance and expand on their learning.  Ultimately, this is the only way that our current proficiency-based learning requirements can be met.

Here's hoping!

Constructivism, Agile Style.

I was recently given a presentation by a fellow student in my Educational Technology course and I learned so much from it that I am going to implement the reported practice in my classroom.

The presentation was on the Agile model for project development.  This model is extensively deployed in the tech world, but as we saw from Robert Crowley's presentation, this process can be optimized for other applications, including education.  In short, I have focused on several components of Robert's take on Agile that I will use to inform my Energy and Environment Youth Media Project--Analysis, Design and Iteration.

Background:

The Energy and Environment Youth Media Project is in its fourth iteration in my dual credit Environmental Science and Policy course, taught at BUHS for four Marlboro College transfer credits. The Media Project is the summative project for the course.  Its original goal was to have students make visual media for the townspeople of Brattleboro to show them some of their possible energy futures.  I have expended the project to allow students to explore other environmental issues such as habitat destruction and injury to human health and ecosystems by environmental toxins.  In all of these, we focus on the ability to discern accurate, trustworthy information in these areas.

The approach that we use is very student-centered, but requires a significant amount of guidance and troubleshooting from me as well. They have to define their goals, do research, create a storyboard, arrange interviews with experts, film, narrate and edit This creates an ideal situation for Robert's hybrid Agile approach. I must insert the caveat that I am working from my memory and impressions as well as the slides from the presentation.  I may be misstating several things and for that I apologize.

Here are some of the outstanding components and processes that I will use.

Analysis:

The necessity for deep consideration of the outcomes desired by the team is often skipped over as a given, searching for the very underpinnings of those goals helps place everybody's effort and attention on track from the start.  Defining the problem makes sure the solution actually addresses it.

Design (and Sprint):

Break the task down into manageable, accountable "sprints," lasting a defined period of time that have a product due at the end.  In these sprint periods, teams work largely independently, but with larger short meetings to discuss progress and troubleshoot.  At the end of each sprint, there is a chance to address significant problems, rather than at the end of the whole project, when there is little recourse for serious problems.  This will be a great way to make sure that people have directed action and a benchmark product to be responsible for.  Otherwise, they become overwhelmed by the task and just "research" online and fritter time away.

Iteration:

Going back over and giving feedback at all times can inform all aspects of the process.  If things need to be re-addressed, then this process allows a less painful way to use feedback to make big, necessary changes. This will help us address shortcomings as they arise, and to constantly gather feedback from all aspects of the process on the progress towards the goals.

Constructivism

This unit has been dedicated to Constructivist thinking in educational philosophy and cognition. Constructivism is a broad movement encompassing many factions but the main thread is that students learn innately, by doing and creating connections for themselves.  Starting with Jean Piaget, or some might say with John Dewey, the constructivists saw learning as an activity that is built into brain development, not the other way around, with progressive exposure to facts and rules leading to understanding and mastery.

Like the Behaviorists, they see the "traditional" method of teaching as ineffective.  Lecturing, passive experience and the use of authority and "grading" as the heart of experience treat the student as a receptacle to be filled with knowledge.   Their prescription is not more tightly controlled input, with the student considered tabula rasa, but instead an open, project-based environment where the student learns by doing, and proceeds from the big picture onward.

This model has caused me to reflect a great deal on my own practice, as my career.  I am no Behaviorist, much the opposite, but I learned in the "Old School" and my career has been a constant struggle to adjust to the 'new' constructivist approach.  I am comfortable and actually quite entertaining in front of a class, which has added to my resistance to new paradigms.  However, over the years, I have noticed that my methods, while very effective with a certain type of student, do not work at all with many of my lowest-functioning students.  This would be anybody from the lower C area on down.  If they cannot attend to what I am saying, they will not learn.  If my words are too difficult for them, the book will be more of the same.

I have taken coursework on applying the Next Generation Science Standards, and they suggest a very constructivist approach.  The teacher's rols is not to lecture, but to lead students through discussions of evidence, and to help them come up with explanations for phenomena.  I am not to jump to reward the kid with the "right" answer so that the discussion stays to my script.  Instead, I am to  encourage everybody to verbalize or otherwise represent their understanding.

This is not the story of my dramatic turnaround.  I am still struggling.  Students may be able to construct their own learning, but many will not do that actively for themselves.  The resistance to making mental effort is strong in many students, and they will spend tremendous energy on avoiding the expenditure of energy.  Constructivism is difficult in an environment where students are not able to be present in their own lives for whatever reason.  In those cases, with precious little time to spend with them individually, I find myself at a loss.  Hopefully, the transition will happen soon, because right now, I feel like a man without a paradigm.

Drawing a Square and Hexagon in LOGO

Here is a link to my video of my programmed drawing of a square and hexagon. 

https://youtu.be/_42gAZpIeBM

I enjoyed using LOGO after reading about it in research that I have done on Papert's Constructionism. It was like meeting an old Aunt that I have heard a great deal about.  True to that analogy, I found it to be charming, but a little bit limiting. At the same time it was challenging because it is a new environment.

This is not my first experience learning to code onscreen objects in an educational setting.  I have worked extensively with Scratch animation for my Create with Code course (were you in that with me, William?).  What I like the most about programming is that it is in your hands, and it is only limited by the tools that you have at that time.  You can think of workarounds for almost anything if you use your imagination.

It is amazing how many mental shortcuts are laid bare when you try them in a programming environment.  Your thought process gets a real editing when you have to be systematic about every step.  The compiler will not fill in the blanks of your thought process for you!

Week 3 Reflections--Behaviorism

OK, I am supposed to write about Behaviorism as it relates to education.  I have had my fill of behaviorism which is the same way that I felt going into it.  I don't like it as a pursuit relative to other fields in psychology, and to predict and control are not the goal I would ask from studying the human condition.  There are so many things that people can learn through experiences and conversations and relationships that cannot be taught by incrementally-reinforced tidbits.  I like Behaviorism even less in respect to all of the things that it is good at--predicting and shaping behavior, and doing so seamlessly so that it is almost a passive process.

This article describes a young delinquent's experience as of being trapped in a Skinnerian Education facility called Learning House at Stanford University in the 1970's (The Minotaur of the Behaviorist Maze: Surviving Stanford’s Learning House in the 1970’s).  This child's experience, months of life lived in the most bizarrely inhuman (though not abusive in any way) environment I have heard about.  Young graduate students, without child-rearing experience of their own, were raising these children according purely according to theory, doling out heavily systematized reinforcements and punishments according to an almost completely incomprehensible checklist of social interactions.  The result was that the child learned to show no distinguishing outward characteristics or volition.  Fewer loose ends for the behaviorist "monks" to grab hold of.  She became completely distanced from her emotional core as a defense mechanism.

This is the kind of thing you get when you start with the assumption that you can control all aspects of a person's psyche and the world's psychological operations just by parsing the question incrementally, and by knowing what kind of stimulus makes the pigeon twirl to the left.

I am a Constructivist all the way, though I do not deny Behaviorism its place.

Week 2 Reflections

I have chosen to use a Blogger page to serve as my journal for this course.  I like the interface and have always found it useful for academic work.  I was inspired to sign up for an Evernote account, though I need to figure out several things about it before I use it publicly.

This week has been full of interesting ideas. I have enjoyed reading Bruner and the article that Kathy Thielan linked to about how our assumptions shape the execution and expectations that we have of our students.  Most important in this work, I think, is the need to examine and challenge one's own assumptions for the "folk pedagogy" that may be impacting our teaching.  Secondly, we must challenge the assumptions that our children make about their own learning, because as some of my classmates have observed, their own hidden assumptions can do more damage or help their education than a dozen teachers.

I have found that most people favor a student-centered approach, though their are a lot of defenders of the didactic school in its place, as there is no way for some things to just jump fully-formed into students' minds.