GETTING STARTED
Week 0:
Before the first week of the edX course even started, I received by email a friendly request to log into my account and introduce myself to the other online class participants. I was quickly impressed and amazed by the amount of people that had enrolled in the course and their diverse cultural and professional background. I thought to myself this is what collaborative learning is all about, learning from others all over the world. The conurse forums is where I navigated to next to find out more about my classmates and to see what topics of discussions were posted. A topic posted "what is your vision for the future of education" really caught my attention. After reading various responses to this post, I remembered a video I saw on the future of learning, called School in the cloud. Could this be the future of education? Where it is mainstream for teachers and students to connect with other peers around the world to share their knowledge and learn from each other? I hope so.
Okay, so after testing the waters to this e-learning experience, I dived head in by starting Week 1.
WEEK 1: EVERYTHING OLD IS NEW AGAIN: TECHNOLOGIES CHANGE THE WAY WE LEARN
This week's topic was about learning a bit about the history of educational technology and the impact of these technologies on the way we learn. Interestingly the professor at MIT, Dr. Eric Klopfer, who is leading this online course, uses blended learning to teach the various concepts. In that the course materials are learning videos with corresponding text, so that you can either read or listen to the material and go at your own pace. Also, it is a combination of online reading materials with activity breaks to try to implement in practice the learning concepts. I really like this method of teaching and learning, because it provides a variety of ways in which the student can understand various concepts. Some students may prefer or find it easier to watch a video instead of reading about the content, whereas some other students might like reading the video text instead. I prefer the latter, since I found that I read faster then listening to the video.
In the video review of the history of educational technology it is interesting that when looking back at "old" technologies, paper, overhead projectors, chalkboards are mentioned. When I think about technology, I automatically think about "new" technology or more advanced ones, like the internet, smartphone applications, but PAPER, hmmm that did not come to mind. It is true that paper could be seen as one of the first technologies that changed learning styles, in that (as mentioned in the course) students could now read their own books,as opposed to being read to by the teacher. Students could now learn at their own pace and take charge of their learning, wow how amazing that a simple thing like paper could revolutionize how we teach and learn.
Next the concept, Constructionism is reviewed by looking at the work's of the famous pioneer of this educational theory Seymour Paper who developed these ideas based on the theory of knowledege known as Constructivism by Jean Piage. A specific form of constructivism that is mentioned is social constructivism by Lev Vygotsky. Not being an education student, these famous theorist's and their respective theories were new to me. In my mind constructionism is similar to the idea of experential learning where students learn through experience (be it lab work, group work, community work, etc..) and constructivism is how students can build mental concepts or objects based on what they previously know and continue the learning process. A hands on example that is given with respect to constructionism is the programming language, Logo. The idea is to use a robot, Turtle, to understand and teach mathematical and computer programming concepts. As someone, who withdrew from a university computer programming class after two days into the course, I feel a bit hesitant to trying the hands on activity, turtle time. Well, here it goes
I first go to the step-by-step tutorial, and I succeed in drawing an inverted L by typing the following:
Hi Welcome to the Turtle world> > forward 50 > right 90 > forward 50 > and this gives me the inverted L. Wow! is programming that easy, if I had only been exposed to Logo when I was a child perhaps programming would not be so Scary for me today. Now I try to draw a tree, this is too cool! Another programming language I am introduced to that is more 21st century orientated is Scratch. It is truly amazing the learning tools that are now available to children, I believe these tools will help engage kids in learning and hopefully create that thirst for knowledge.
Last step in this first week is an assignment on comparing an old technology with a new technology and submit to it to my peers in my class and have them evaluate my work. I decided to use Nearpod as my educational tool for this first assignment and in order to see my presentation please email me and I can then send it to you. All in all my elearning journey has not frazzled me too much, it has actually been fun and quite addictive. In the sense that I cannot wait to open up the edX page to see what I will learn next. Well, here it goes week 2 is up next...
WEEK 2: TEACHING FOR UNDERSTANDING
For this week's topic Professor Klopfer introduces the concepts of deep learning, how to take a student from a novice status to an expert one (i.e. from basic understanding to a level of mastery in a [articular concept). In order to "learn" how to do this from an educator's point of view, the class first reviews how we develop a deep understanding of a topic and in essence how we learn. The first video, mentions that at MIT they ask student's at the beginning of the year to draw their view of what learning look's like.
A typical view vs A forward thinking view
So how does one teach someone how to go from typical teaching or understanding concepts by memorizing facts, absorbing information the teacher provides to learning how to learn from their peers and other tools in order to become expert learners. The first step is to try an exercise in learning and I do this by "trying to juggle". First we try it based on our previous experiences of seeing someone juggle or what we might think juggling looks like.
See videos below on the before and after of me juggling. As you can see with a little bit of guidance I did become "a bit better", but far from becoming an expert juggler. So how does a teacher create this type of deep learning environment for their students that can take successfully take them from novice to expert? This is explored in this session by looking at "teaching for understanding".
A video interview of David Perkins from Harvard Graduate School of Education helps me learn more about teacher for understanding. First off, we cannot discount to that the fundamentals of gaining the basic knowledge of a topic is essential, like it is explained in the video. To apply Newton's laws you need to know what is the law, how and when it is used, etc..,but once the students know the basics now we have to go beyond this. We need to educate students so they can use what they learn in the real world, i.e. apply it outside the classroom and that is where teaching for understanding comes in. The education system needs to be build into the curriculum framework opportunities for students to use their knowledge in real life examples, i.e. to go out there and see how Newton's law works. This brings up the concept of active learning where the student is actively involved in their learning pathway. Dr.Perkins goes on to describe the understanding goals that need to be asked by the educator when building a lesson plan that involves teaching for understanding and this must be SHARED with the students or they will not know what their objectives are for the class. Another important concept in this method of teaching is to continuously assess the students throughout their learning process, instead of focusing on the final evaluation. I really agree that students need to know throughout a course, learning topic etc.. how they are progressing in terms of meeting their objectives. We don't want a student to finish a topic and fail the exam, because along the way the teacher did not take the time to see what was not clear for certain students and what objectives needed more practice. Teachers also need to think "out of the box" to develop non-traditional assessment techniques. For example, peer to peer quizzes or group discussions to see if everyone understood the topic and then the students themselves help each other to better understand.
Again in this session we the learners get to actively use a tool that exemplifies teaching for understanding, the tool is SimCal software. This tool uses the learning theory of multiple representations, where motion and graphs are used to understand mathematical concepts. I quickly download the software and since I was never math whiz, I am a bit skeptical that I will enjoy this engaging math tool. For a quick preview I first try the Demo and use my basic understanding of equations related to graph functions y=mx+z to figure out which car will win. Then I go onto changing the data table and see in turn how the graph changes in relation to the equation. If I had only learned math using this tool, maybe I would not have dreaded math class so much!
The last topic this week that we online learners explore is Cognitive tutors, at first I am a bit confused about this whole idea of intelligent tutoring systems that constantly provide student feedback on how they are performing and guide them in their learning. Then, I sit back and say, I have used these types of systems! When I was thinking of completing the GMAT exam I took a tutorial to see what the GMAT test would be like by downloading a GMAT software and starting to answer typical GMAT questions and the I obtained feedback on my performance. For me this is very different from the tutoring system I was exposed to in school, which looked like this..
Before the first week of the edX course even started, I received by email a friendly request to log into my account and introduce myself to the other online class participants. I was quickly impressed and amazed by the amount of people that had enrolled in the course and their diverse cultural and professional background. I thought to myself this is what collaborative learning is all about, learning from others all over the world. The conurse forums is where I navigated to next to find out more about my classmates and to see what topics of discussions were posted. A topic posted "what is your vision for the future of education" really caught my attention. After reading various responses to this post, I remembered a video I saw on the future of learning, called School in the cloud. Could this be the future of education? Where it is mainstream for teachers and students to connect with other peers around the world to share their knowledge and learn from each other? I hope so.
Okay, so after testing the waters to this e-learning experience, I dived head in by starting Week 1.
WEEK 1: EVERYTHING OLD IS NEW AGAIN: TECHNOLOGIES CHANGE THE WAY WE LEARN
This week's topic was about learning a bit about the history of educational technology and the impact of these technologies on the way we learn. Interestingly the professor at MIT, Dr. Eric Klopfer, who is leading this online course, uses blended learning to teach the various concepts. In that the course materials are learning videos with corresponding text, so that you can either read or listen to the material and go at your own pace. Also, it is a combination of online reading materials with activity breaks to try to implement in practice the learning concepts. I really like this method of teaching and learning, because it provides a variety of ways in which the student can understand various concepts. Some students may prefer or find it easier to watch a video instead of reading about the content, whereas some other students might like reading the video text instead. I prefer the latter, since I found that I read faster then listening to the video.
In the video review of the history of educational technology it is interesting that when looking back at "old" technologies, paper, overhead projectors, chalkboards are mentioned. When I think about technology, I automatically think about "new" technology or more advanced ones, like the internet, smartphone applications, but PAPER, hmmm that did not come to mind. It is true that paper could be seen as one of the first technologies that changed learning styles, in that (as mentioned in the course) students could now read their own books,as opposed to being read to by the teacher. Students could now learn at their own pace and take charge of their learning, wow how amazing that a simple thing like paper could revolutionize how we teach and learn.
Next the concept, Constructionism is reviewed by looking at the work's of the famous pioneer of this educational theory Seymour Paper who developed these ideas based on the theory of knowledege known as Constructivism by Jean Piage. A specific form of constructivism that is mentioned is social constructivism by Lev Vygotsky. Not being an education student, these famous theorist's and their respective theories were new to me. In my mind constructionism is similar to the idea of experential learning where students learn through experience (be it lab work, group work, community work, etc..) and constructivism is how students can build mental concepts or objects based on what they previously know and continue the learning process. A hands on example that is given with respect to constructionism is the programming language, Logo. The idea is to use a robot, Turtle, to understand and teach mathematical and computer programming concepts. As someone, who withdrew from a university computer programming class after two days into the course, I feel a bit hesitant to trying the hands on activity, turtle time. Well, here it goes
I first go to the step-by-step tutorial, and I succeed in drawing an inverted L by typing the following:
Hi Welcome to the Turtle world> > forward 50 > right 90 > forward 50 > and this gives me the inverted L. Wow! is programming that easy, if I had only been exposed to Logo when I was a child perhaps programming would not be so Scary for me today. Now I try to draw a tree, this is too cool! Another programming language I am introduced to that is more 21st century orientated is Scratch. It is truly amazing the learning tools that are now available to children, I believe these tools will help engage kids in learning and hopefully create that thirst for knowledge.
Last step in this first week is an assignment on comparing an old technology with a new technology and submit to it to my peers in my class and have them evaluate my work. I decided to use Nearpod as my educational tool for this first assignment and in order to see my presentation please email me and I can then send it to you. All in all my elearning journey has not frazzled me too much, it has actually been fun and quite addictive. In the sense that I cannot wait to open up the edX page to see what I will learn next. Well, here it goes week 2 is up next...
WEEK 2: TEACHING FOR UNDERSTANDING
For this week's topic Professor Klopfer introduces the concepts of deep learning, how to take a student from a novice status to an expert one (i.e. from basic understanding to a level of mastery in a [articular concept). In order to "learn" how to do this from an educator's point of view, the class first reviews how we develop a deep understanding of a topic and in essence how we learn. The first video, mentions that at MIT they ask student's at the beginning of the year to draw their view of what learning look's like.
A typical view vs A forward thinking view
So how does one teach someone how to go from typical teaching or understanding concepts by memorizing facts, absorbing information the teacher provides to learning how to learn from their peers and other tools in order to become expert learners. The first step is to try an exercise in learning and I do this by "trying to juggle". First we try it based on our previous experiences of seeing someone juggle or what we might think juggling looks like.
See videos below on the before and after of me juggling. As you can see with a little bit of guidance I did become "a bit better", but far from becoming an expert juggler. So how does a teacher create this type of deep learning environment for their students that can take successfully take them from novice to expert? This is explored in this session by looking at "teaching for understanding".
A video interview of David Perkins from Harvard Graduate School of Education helps me learn more about teacher for understanding. First off, we cannot discount to that the fundamentals of gaining the basic knowledge of a topic is essential, like it is explained in the video. To apply Newton's laws you need to know what is the law, how and when it is used, etc..,but once the students know the basics now we have to go beyond this. We need to educate students so they can use what they learn in the real world, i.e. apply it outside the classroom and that is where teaching for understanding comes in. The education system needs to be build into the curriculum framework opportunities for students to use their knowledge in real life examples, i.e. to go out there and see how Newton's law works. This brings up the concept of active learning where the student is actively involved in their learning pathway. Dr.Perkins goes on to describe the understanding goals that need to be asked by the educator when building a lesson plan that involves teaching for understanding and this must be SHARED with the students or they will not know what their objectives are for the class. Another important concept in this method of teaching is to continuously assess the students throughout their learning process, instead of focusing on the final evaluation. I really agree that students need to know throughout a course, learning topic etc.. how they are progressing in terms of meeting their objectives. We don't want a student to finish a topic and fail the exam, because along the way the teacher did not take the time to see what was not clear for certain students and what objectives needed more practice. Teachers also need to think "out of the box" to develop non-traditional assessment techniques. For example, peer to peer quizzes or group discussions to see if everyone understood the topic and then the students themselves help each other to better understand.
Again in this session we the learners get to actively use a tool that exemplifies teaching for understanding, the tool is SimCal software. This tool uses the learning theory of multiple representations, where motion and graphs are used to understand mathematical concepts. I quickly download the software and since I was never math whiz, I am a bit skeptical that I will enjoy this engaging math tool. For a quick preview I first try the Demo and use my basic understanding of equations related to graph functions y=mx+z to figure out which car will win. Then I go onto changing the data table and see in turn how the graph changes in relation to the equation. If I had only learned math using this tool, maybe I would not have dreaded math class so much!
The last topic this week that we online learners explore is Cognitive tutors, at first I am a bit confused about this whole idea of intelligent tutoring systems that constantly provide student feedback on how they are performing and guide them in their learning. Then, I sit back and say, I have used these types of systems! When I was thinking of completing the GMAT exam I took a tutorial to see what the GMAT test would be like by downloading a GMAT software and starting to answer typical GMAT questions and the I obtained feedback on my performance. For me this is very different from the tutoring system I was exposed to in school, which looked like this..
The tutor, a student in a higher grade or expert in the subject coaches the learner in how to improve his/her understanding of a particular subject. Most of the times the tutor goes over the class material and the assignments given to the student and helps them complete them. With cognitive tutors I see many benefits, such as cost, if the software is free for download then it is available to all learners that want assistance to improve their skills oreep extra practice. Also, availability is another benefit, the software or system is available 24/7, so the student can learn anytime and anywhere, this what technology in learnintg is all about, accessible to all!
As for the assignment this week, it is a problem pitch, the idea is what type of an educational technology can be developed or designed for a challenging learning topic. For my problem pitch CLICK HERE, it is based on the farm to school learning objectives and how technology can be used to disseminate this information to educational leaders. Let`s see how this project transpires over time as I go through this online course. So, tune in to Week 3....
Week 3:Active learning
In the last 2 weeks that I have been following this course, I have gained a tremendous amount in terms of my understanding how we learn, understand and what role technology is playing in education. This has been a great adventure so far and it is now mid way, 3 out of 6 weeks. So, now midway through the course I am learning this week about active learning. From the reading resources in this online course on this topic, I now understand that this type of educational method is one in which the student takes the "active role" and the teacher takes on the role of "coach or assistant", the student becomes the key player in his/her learning pathway. I found an interesting video from McGill's Teaching and Learning Services department on this topic and it highlights the student's and teacher's perspective on active learning.(See below). Two other aspects that stuck with me from the readings was that for some reason I visualized this type of learning as a method used on its own, i.e. not combined with other teaching methods. However, that is not the case, active learning can easily be blended with traditional lecture methods, where the teacher lectures a bit, the students group together to solve problems and come back together as a class to discuss. The other aspect that struck me was the article on "The computer as a tool for learning through reflection", since I did not see the use of a computer in this way and it made me think back to the session in our class in EDPE 640 when we used the Application Explain Everything, which allows the student the record their voice as they read and obtain feedback from their teacher. Here is an example, where the student can playback how they pronounce the words when reading and the educator can help the student improve his/her pronunciation. Showing the computer as a reflective tool!
Also this week we learned about various online simulation software such as Geniverse which allows students studying biology to have a fun and active way of understanding genetics and Starlogo Nova which allows you to search by topic for different simulation tools. I really enjoyed using Geniverse, but did not have much success with Starlogo. Then for the activity this week I tried several other simulations, but because of my science background I tended to use more of the Molecular Workbench. I am constantly amazed by the learning tools that are now available to educators and students and I see how this can revolutionize how we teach a perhaps boring topic to some, such as atom bonding in chemistry.
Another fascinating project that is talked about this week is the Lifelong kindergarden project that seems to emphasize that coding is another form of literacy childrent will be learning from a young age. This reminded me about all that I ha been hearing recently about Google educating young children in programming in order to create creative minds from an early age and also to introduce young girls to the field of IT which is still male dominated. I cannot begin to fathom that programming languages will be perhaps a compulsory course at the highschool level. If this is the case perhaps it should be an elective course or an extra activity, since many children may not find programming an easy concept to understand. However, look how Scratch Jr. is targeted to the kindergarten age and I would have never thought children at that age could understand these concepts..wow!! The subjects and the tools that children are exposed to is ever changing and who knows what young minds can create!
Lastly, as we get a break from simulation and gaming software for active learning, and onto online reading. The final topic in this week's class is non-cognitive skills such as grit(perseverance and passion for long term goals) and hard fun. It appears that you no longer just need talent or expertise in a subject to succeed over the long term but you need grit and also opportunities to learn difficult topics while having fun! I guess those spelling bee competitions are still valid but how can we champion great spellers even better great writers in a more hard fun way? I see the possibilties of online book/essay writing as an interesting wriay to start, where groups get t ogether and one starts an essay, another person continues it and so on until it is finished and the groups compete amongst each other for the best essay! Now isn't that active learning!
As for the assignment this week, it is a problem pitch, the idea is what type of an educational technology can be developed or designed for a challenging learning topic. For my problem pitch CLICK HERE, it is based on the farm to school learning objectives and how technology can be used to disseminate this information to educational leaders. Let`s see how this project transpires over time as I go through this online course. So, tune in to Week 3....
Week 3:Active learning
In the last 2 weeks that I have been following this course, I have gained a tremendous amount in terms of my understanding how we learn, understand and what role technology is playing in education. This has been a great adventure so far and it is now mid way, 3 out of 6 weeks. So, now midway through the course I am learning this week about active learning. From the reading resources in this online course on this topic, I now understand that this type of educational method is one in which the student takes the "active role" and the teacher takes on the role of "coach or assistant", the student becomes the key player in his/her learning pathway. I found an interesting video from McGill's Teaching and Learning Services department on this topic and it highlights the student's and teacher's perspective on active learning.(See below). Two other aspects that stuck with me from the readings was that for some reason I visualized this type of learning as a method used on its own, i.e. not combined with other teaching methods. However, that is not the case, active learning can easily be blended with traditional lecture methods, where the teacher lectures a bit, the students group together to solve problems and come back together as a class to discuss. The other aspect that struck me was the article on "The computer as a tool for learning through reflection", since I did not see the use of a computer in this way and it made me think back to the session in our class in EDPE 640 when we used the Application Explain Everything, which allows the student the record their voice as they read and obtain feedback from their teacher. Here is an example, where the student can playback how they pronounce the words when reading and the educator can help the student improve his/her pronunciation. Showing the computer as a reflective tool!
Also this week we learned about various online simulation software such as Geniverse which allows students studying biology to have a fun and active way of understanding genetics and Starlogo Nova which allows you to search by topic for different simulation tools. I really enjoyed using Geniverse, but did not have much success with Starlogo. Then for the activity this week I tried several other simulations, but because of my science background I tended to use more of the Molecular Workbench. I am constantly amazed by the learning tools that are now available to educators and students and I see how this can revolutionize how we teach a perhaps boring topic to some, such as atom bonding in chemistry.
Another fascinating project that is talked about this week is the Lifelong kindergarden project that seems to emphasize that coding is another form of literacy childrent will be learning from a young age. This reminded me about all that I ha been hearing recently about Google educating young children in programming in order to create creative minds from an early age and also to introduce young girls to the field of IT which is still male dominated. I cannot begin to fathom that programming languages will be perhaps a compulsory course at the highschool level. If this is the case perhaps it should be an elective course or an extra activity, since many children may not find programming an easy concept to understand. However, look how Scratch Jr. is targeted to the kindergarten age and I would have never thought children at that age could understand these concepts..wow!! The subjects and the tools that children are exposed to is ever changing and who knows what young minds can create!
Lastly, as we get a break from simulation and gaming software for active learning, and onto online reading. The final topic in this week's class is non-cognitive skills such as grit(perseverance and passion for long term goals) and hard fun. It appears that you no longer just need talent or expertise in a subject to succeed over the long term but you need grit and also opportunities to learn difficult topics while having fun! I guess those spelling bee competitions are still valid but how can we champion great spellers even better great writers in a more hard fun way? I see the possibilties of online book/essay writing as an interesting wriay to start, where groups get t ogether and one starts an essay, another person continues it and so on until it is finished and the groups compete amongst each other for the best essay! Now isn't that active learning!
Video on active learning at McGill University.
First video is without being provided any instruction and second video is after viewing animation instructions on juggling.