21st-century learning vs. 20th-century thinking

The members of this PLN are all students at an online university where we are currently pursuing Master's degrees in Adult Education and Training and, at the moment, taking a class in technology for adult learners (although much of the material we're studying applies to learners of all ages) -- thus, the impetus for starting this blog.

Although I consider myself fairly informed about new technologies (indeed, some of the readings have seemed quaint to me, even though they're only a few years old), I have to say that several of the assignments have opened my eyes to new methods, ideas, theories and yes, technologies, that I had not been aware of until just now. So much of the literature refers to "emergent" technologies, as well as the emergent properties of learning networks, and I feel something emergent in myself regarding my new-found knowledge.

And then, I get hit full in the face with the reality that, well into our second decade of this century, those of us thinking about how learning should and will occur in the 21st-century remain in a slender minority of thinkers.

This occurred to me when I was participating in this week's class discussion, one largely focused on webcast and podcast presentation technologies. A couple of responses from fellow students to the instructor's questions about the potential downside of those technologies had me wondering how prepared we are, as a society, to embrace how technology will not just demand a change in methods but in the theories and practice of pedagogy.

For instance, a student (in all earnestness) responded that a potential problem with webcasting lectures might be a bad feed or poor connection, disenfranchising the student(s) from the content of a lecture due to forces beyond their control; apparently, that student (the one who made the response, not the one experiencing the "bad feed" -- you know the vicissitudes of the Inter-tubes and all that) was not aware that a webcast can be archived and posted such that it can be viewed at any time. In fact, that student's argument (as I read it) was that a webcasted lecture could only be live, a one-time affair, and that students were at the mercy of a schedule, much like my Psychology 101 instructor who threatened with, "Class starts at 9 am and the doors would be locked from the inside at 9:05 am."

I confess that I was a bit dazed by the response, wondering if that student was oblivious to the fact that, with the Internet and the technology of online learning, instructors not only post the webcast so it can be linked at any time but, if they're good at what they do, they augment their presentations with additional elements (such as interactive capabilities where learners can attempt to emulate portions of the material or access supplemental materials that "plug in" with what is being taught, other video or graphic examples to use, etc.). Given the nature of the response, it was apparent that the commenter didn't understand that the direction of 21st-century education is the freedom of students to make decisions about the what, where and when of their learning. A one-time only, live webcast is counterintuitive to that direction and counterproductive to 21st-century educational goals.

That was one example; I won't spend much energy on another student's response of, "Well, the power could go out and then what are you going to do?" There's little reason to speak (aside from what that student said) on the academic laziness and intellectual paucity of that response.

I recognize that I didn't enroll into a particularly rigorous program (no GRE or GMAT was required), a fact that became abundantly clear when a past team member submitted some work that my HS Language Arts teacher wife said would not receive a passing grade in a Freshman (HS) composition class -- that has happened several times in this program, in fact. Early on, it was apparent to me that I was only going to get out of this program what I put into it (and I write that while attempting to place a tremulous hand on my 30-day Articulate free trial).

My point is not the level of intellect that has enrolled in this program (the we in this PLN share) but in asking, how ready are we to embrace the inevitable change that technology will bring to how education is done? Based on my experience and conversations  with other students and other people, most of us are still stuck in a 20th-century paradigm of education (that has a foundation on a 19th-century paradigm, the so-called "factory" method) and are unable to conceive that 21st-century learners will need and demand (based on the technology) a shift in how instruction is delivered.

Please share, educators!

I'm a little frustrated, right now.

My wife forwarded me an announcement for a web presentation through ASTD, titled, "Using gamification and serious games in learning," and I was hoping to watch it. I don't have time to watch it at the moment but I thought that, if I archived it or better yet, embedded the video here, I could watch it at my convenience, when I finally found the time. The added benefit? All of you would get to watch it as well.

Bupkis. No repost on YouTube or anywhere else (if I couldn't embed it, I'd at least link it), no, I have to register at the ASTD site, jump through hoops, agree to allow my spam folder get heavier due to the ASTD "sponsor" getting my email address and then sending me loads of crap, advertisements for doo-dads and programs I have no money for.

Holding information proprietary is decidedly not a 21st-century or Web 2.0 approach (I'm not talking about widget designs, OK?) and the best way to move us forward is to disseminate information in the most efficient, expedient way possible.

Share it!

Banning It Won't Stop It

This week one of our readings is about preparing learners for 21st century skills.  This is a chapter out of a book of compiled writings from various authors. While this entire text discusses secondary education and we are studying adult education, there are still aspects that correlate and give us a better understanding of the use of 21st century skills, including technology, in general.  I thought it was interesting that many schools are still banning various forms of technology in schools despite the increased use of them in learning (Fisher & Frey, 2010).  Instead of embracing what the learners have and know, the learners are being punished for this.  It seems that a large part of this problem is educators look at the individual names of technology (MP3 player) and sites (Twitter) rather than what they do for learning (presenting, collaborating) (Fisher & Frey, 2010).  Educators and institutions need to take a look at their policies regarding technology and revamp these to embrace the utilization in learning while providing learners with ethics and courtesy regarding the use of technology (Fisher & Frey, 2010).  At this point, social media and other forms of virtual collaboration are here to stay and continue to grow.  I wanted to share the following website that illustrates this in real-time, it's just AMAZING how quickly things are growing.

Fisher, D. & Frey, N. (2010). Preparing students for mastery of 21st century skills.  In 21st century skills: Rethinking how students learn. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press.
Click the image to open the interactive version (via PennyStocks.la).

Web 2.0 for this week

My Learning Team (and PLN cohorts) are charged this week with creating a presentation of Web 2.0 technologies for the ostensible purpose of introducing them to adult learners as well as providing a demonstration or even a brief training for those learners on the use of one of the 3-5 online technologies we choose for our project. I've suggested that we take advantage of 30-day free trials for either Articulate or Captivate for this project; the challenge is to learn either in a short amount of time (before next Monday, as usual) but I am bored, bored, bored with PowerPoint.

In the run up to this assignment, we checked out 50 links or so of so-called Web 2.0 technologies (not all the sites were, strictly speaking, Web 2.0 as it's defined) and, although I knew a few of the sites, the exercise of clicking links was enlightening. Really, I was surprised at how much is out there and how many tools there are to move education well outside of 20th-century conventions.

I'm not going to go into any of those sites with this post (so, you're probably wondering, "What's the point of reading this, then?") but it has occurred to me that I would like to use this space to discuss, one or a few at a time, those sites, reviewing them and journaling my own experience using them. I'm inviting my PLN pals to join in the fun -- at a later date, of course.

Until then, we're apparently on the verge of speeding on to Web 3.0, apparently for the sake of making me feel like a dinosaur. For no good reason, then, I feel compelled to share this as an excuse for why I'm asking my Learning Team to take up the gauntlet of using a presentation application other than PowerPoint:



Collaborative learning, critical questioning and decompression

I have finally finished this week's individual assignment (you can view my work here as well as the lesson plan that accompanied it) and am ready to enjoy the rest of the day with some beer, baseball, and barbecue -- so nothing special about the last part, donchaknow?

Before calling it a day (and an end to Week 3), it occurs to me that I worked to include a collaborative learning element into my individual project and, in meta-fashion, asking my students to include a collaborative element into the PBL I designed for them. Additionally, I included two critical questions (one, the aforementioned collaborative element) for them to answer in response to the assignment.

Trying to walk the talk, here, it occurs to me that I need to ask a critical question for myself: Do I embrace opportunities for collaborative learning when they are assigned?

I have to say that I am enjoying this PLN immensely and, it just so happens, the current members are also on my Learning Team for school. I was fortunate that the instructor for this class accommodated us in honoring our requests for team membership. having said that, I have not always had the best experience with learning teams; indeed, I have griped in the past about being forced to work with people who seemed to have no motivation to learn or produce the best product possible but were only participating because they believed they would eventually acquire a credential but were seemingly uninterested in acquiring knowledge or skills.

Many assumptions are made about the benefits of collaborative learning and, I confess that I am largely a fan of the method. However, my critical question for today is: Is collaborative learning only effective when members are equally motivated to learn or is the potential for disparity inherent in the method, where the more motivated members actually become instructors (to a degree) when compensating for less-motivated group members?

OK, enjoy your Memorial Day Holiday and think about your answer when we're back on task. Have a beer and enjoy the barbecue!

Common Core: Keep calm and…you get it.

Common Core: Keep calm and…you get it.

By Mikki Harper

So much misinformation regarding Common Core is swirling around the Internet that I feel compelled to address it with this post.  I will start by stating I support Common Core. Okay, I have probably lost close 40% of my audience at this point!  I would also like to state that I understand the concerns around the ambiguity surrounding Common Core Standards. Okay, there goes another 40% of my audience! Now for the 20% of you still reading this post I will attempt to explain what Common Core is and what it is not. I will also provide links to other posts that support and oppose Common Core State Standards (CCSS) because I believe it is important to understand opposing viewpoints and not dismiss them out of hand. 

CCSS is/does:

1.      a set of standards adopted by individual states designed to improve education at all levels

2.      address U.S. schools’ low performance in math, writing, and reading

3.      embrace performance-based assessment

4.      CCSS is a framework, which helps states build curriculum that builds foundational skills early in students’ academic careers

CCSS is not/does not:

1.      a Federal mandate designed to destroy states’ rights regarding education

2.      Curriculum; local school districts and boards still control this aspect of education

3.      require states to lower their educational standards

4.      No Child Left Behind

I hope these short lists provide some clarity as to what CCSS is and is not. Now, the supporters of CCSS know that it is not perfect and it will take time, patience, and dedication to implement.  It will require teachers changing how they approach teaching and in many cases changing the resources and methods they use to deliver course content.  Why is this bad, wrong, evil (pick your adjective)?  CCSS shifts learning from a pedagogical lecture form of teaching to a collaborative problem based learning system that requires students to think critically instead of memorizing information from the text in order to pass a test.  In short, CCSS supports authentic learning and assessment of students’ true abilities.

Opposition to CCSS

Opponents of CCSS site No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and its disastrous effect on education.  NCLB had the best of intentions but relied heavily on standardized testing to determine students’ success or failure to master concepts.  Yes, many schools simply lowered their standards or fudged test averages by excluding certain students from testing.  In some cases, teachers simply promoted under performing students possibly out of pressure from school administrators.

Another argument against CCSS is that parents will not be able to help their children with schoolwork because they will not understand CCSS.  How many parents actually help their children with homework now?  How long has it been since many parents studied Algebra, Biology, or read War and Peace?  This is a post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy.  CCSS has nothing to do with parents helping their children with schoolwork.  The parents’ lack of education or understanding of subject matter attributes to this problem.

There is always fear and opposition to any new idea but let us not throw the baby out with the bath water.  We know the U.S. education system is broken and needs a massive overhaul, let us actually implement CCSS first, and give it a chance to develop.  Let us also listen to the concerns of those who oppose CCSS and address their concerns as a way to make CCSS less ambiguous.

http://beta.fresnounified.org/dept/sss/ccss/Pages/MythsFacts.aspx#.U4IjGijijKc

http://eagnews.org/thorner-chilling-truth-behind-common-core-state-standard

http://www.jimmcquiggin.com/2014/03/in-response-to-dumbed-down-and-out-of.html

 

http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2014/05/21/common-core-standards-education-column/9298343/

Sunday morning Skype session

It's past noon and our group is Skyping (as I type this), to determine which direction our PLN will take... we're feeling very 21st century! In addition, the group (Karla and Mikki) are watching my screen as I demonstrate some of the functions, gadgets and widgets available in Blogger -- pretty much participating in the activities that define a PLN (Professional Learning Network). At the end of our Skype session (the first sentence of this post was typed while providing an example of how to use Blogger, labels for posts in this case), we agreed that we were grateful to have been given this assignment since this is a tool each of us can use beyond this assignment, this class and even this program (Adult Education and Training), a place where we can share new knowledge, ask questions, share our experience with the technologies we're using, air our frustrations... isn't that what a PLN is about?

Without putting too fine a point on this (and avoiding the temptation to turn this post into a paper on Connectivism or shared VLEs), I just want to say that, with the exception that this blog arose from an assignment to this learning team (the existing PLN on this blog), everything has evolved organically, through mutual agreement, one of the defining characteristics of a PLN.

Having said that, I want to point to a massive resource that will add to my understanding of what a PLN is and can be (mostly because I haven't had the time to really work on my Diigo presence):
PLN blogs on Edutopia.

That should do it, for now. In the meantime, I'm hoping to see this PLN's blogroll grow... and, while that happens, having this place attract the attention of other professionals like us who would like to participate!

Saturday Morning Thought: Everyone knows something already!

It can be easy for those "in charge", whether as an educator or supervisor, to forget that the adults they are leading and developing have....BRAINS!  Unless someone has been living in a cave his or her entire life, there are plenty of skills, knowledge, and experience to tap for sharing and learning.  And really that person who has been living in cave has skills that most people probably don't have that could easily be transferred to other areas of life.  So what made me think of this first thing on Saturday morning?  Well, Facebook of course!  A good friend of mine posted a recent experience from her class and I wanted to share it.  Even though her educator was skeptical (and even laughed at her), I like that he "accepted her challenge" and allowed her to demonstrate how an unrelated skill could transfer into what was being learned.  What personally touches me about this, is the fact my friend is in a male dominated field and of course, the class is the same way.  The skill she brought could be seen as a "female" skill and again, the fact that her instructor allowed her to show this even with some ridicule, speaks volumes for him as an adult educator and my friend as an adult learner.

 

Friday night Happy Hour

... a long tradition with teachers and so, it should be no different here.

I stumbled across this bit of fun a few months back while I was searching videos for PBOs and it came up on the right side of the YouTube page where the "recommends" are located, at the top.

I'm still not sure what it has to do with Bloom's Taxonomy, frankly, but it's a fun way to kill a few minutes on a Friday night (with a cold one in hand, of course).

Cheers!



PLCs' relationship with PBL and Authentic Assessment

We've had a significant amount of discussion on problem-based learning in several classes.  This class also brought professional learning communities and authentic assessment into the mix.  On the surface it can be seen how these three interact but I took a little time to review their definitions and see how they really relate to one another.  This can be seen in my Venn diagram which was a suggested activity for class.

I have found the information about professional learning communities to be intriguing because I feel the training department I used to work with was its own little PLC.  All contact center and claims trainers and QA reported to the same manager and there was lots of collaboration between departments on sharing not only information but also processes that have worked in training classes.  We also had best practices set forth to use in all training classes, like advising of objectives up front and on the back end ~ tell them what you'll teach, teach it to them, tell them what was taught.  While this is supposed to be an adult learning technique it seemed to annoy more learners than not, but that's another topic and post...  The various learning departments within the company - agency, corporate, and customer service operations (the dept referred to above) meet quarterly for a learning forum where collaboration and sharing occurs among areas of the organization.  This sharing of information and knowledge not only helps trainers learn skills and tips from other trainers but also provides more background to support PBL and assessments in training classes.  Working in claims, we can advise how certain things are done in relation to our daily position but understanding the other areas of the company as well, specifically agency and underwriting, can aid in helping to develop new employees develop conclusions for handling claims.

Presenting the unpresented

In my last class (Facilitating Instruction for Diverse Adult Learners), my learning team was charged with creating a training for new hires as well as a diversity presentation for the new hire orientation at an imaginary company ("USA Corporation"). I was project manager for the assignment and, being the Type A personality that I am, took on more than I needed to - mainly, putting a shizz-ton of work into a PowerPoint presentation that didn't need to be done.

My objection with having to do PowerPoint presentations for class is that we never really present them; they just reside in whatever archive the university keeps or, at best, on a portfolio site.

So here it is to present - Ta-Da! - the slickest PowerPoint presentation I've ever made (integrating videos I made using MS Photo Story). If you click the above link, it will download the presentation.

Anyway, if you're not motivated to view the PowerPoint (I can understand that), I'll show off the two Photo Story videos. As I said, they were made for a new hire orientation at an imaginary corporation and for the videos, I invented a history and direction (based on the diversity policy the team developed) for the company. So this first video is about the company's history:



The second is about the company's path forward with its diversity policy:



At last! Presented!

My PBL rant for this week

I'll admit that I was immediately intrigued by the potential for encouraging problem-solving strategies in learners when I approached my first instructional design project, intuitively thinking that the approach led to more depth and breadth in learners. After all, in my own experience with problem solving, learning was deeper when I was required to identify the problem, think of a solution, test my solution (and then make revisions when my idea was less than satisfactory) and then present my results. It just made sense to me that, when challenged with having to look closely at a problem and then creatively and deductively develop a solution.

Indeed, in enumerating the ten key elements of PBL, John Barell provides a succinct rationale for why problem-solving strategies create more depth and breadth in learning objectives. Barell said those elements are real-world problems, choices about content, objectives reflecting the highest of intellectual challenges, experiences in small-group collaborations, feedback (from cohorts and instructors), revisions, modifications and elaboration on findings, engagement in planning, obtaining pre-, formative and summative assessment information, "clear and easy-to-follow curricular structure centered on authentic problems and inquiry," and shared control of decision making as well as instruction and learning. With those elements, it's evident how problem solving goes well beyond a teacher merely lecturing and explaining.

PBL is not without its critics, however, and Colliver (2000), in a review of research conducted between 1992 and 1998 on the effectiveness of PBL on outcomes, concluded that the evidence did not support the idea that PBL methods were more advantageous than traditional teaching methods. However, in a later review of the literature, Hmelo-silver (2004) reached a different conclusion regarding the research but cautioned, "[M]uch of the research has been restricted to higher education, predominantly in medical schools."

Although PBL may be a "flavor of the month" (which is all too common in education), it is apparent to me that it will continue to find support from both educators and students. In fact, the idea of the effectiveness of PBL has been around since at least Dewey who, by his own admission, recognized its effectiveness in the tradition of apprenticeship.

As far as my own prejudice regarding the effectiveness of problem-solving strategies, I believe it not just demands critical thinking skills but is complex (RE Barells elements) in a way that standard, flat pedagogy is not.

Learning from Mistakes is Learning!

Ted Talks is a website that has been frequented by management in my previous position as a trainer to provide us with some learning.  I enjoy exploring the various topics available so I knew I would find something regarding the topics in class.  I searched for project based learning and came across this short (10 minutes) talk.  While the focus is on secondary education, which seems to be the trend when it comes to this topic, I think providing this type of education at that time is important to prepare individuals for learning in adulthood.  Diana provides several great examples of project and problem based learning, though she never uses those terms.  I also like how she discusses learning from mistakes which happens our entire lives in school and career.

Cheap and easy infographic

The assignment this week was to create a graphic organizer or infographic -- I opted for the latter, doing so because I had recently discovered Piktochart and fell in love with what it allowed me to do.

Piktochart is an online program for creating spiffy looking infographics, with a free and paid versions of the application (the free version has a very limited selection of templates and capability). Before addressing the plusses and deltas of the program, I'll share what it allowed me to do for last week's project:

 

 

From this perspective, you see that they slap their logo on to the end of the infographic, as easy fix with any graphics manipulation program (just slice it off). That's not really a delta, just a minor annoyance. Some deltas are that (at least in the free version) the image library is awfully slim, some of the graphic elements are difficult to manipulate (I gave up trying to use the line tool) and there is no "flip" function for graphics or text. The final delta is that the paid version is really pricey for what you get, especially considering that one could achieve the same results with Illustrator or Photoshop.



 

The plusses are that the templates are obviously designed by professional graphics designers and, if you own Illustrator or Photoshop (or subscribe to the equally-as-pricey Adobe Creative Cloud), good luck getting the same results, you're more creative than me. And while I find the paid version a bit overpriced, subscription is monthly so there's no being locked into something that will only be used a few times. Finally, while the workspace could definitely use some tweaking (there are other issues than the ones I mentioned above), it is intuitive, with a relatively flat learning curve.

 

Having said that, it's worth a shot if you're stuck trying to put together a decent graphic organizer.