THE LEARNING CONTINUES...
week 4: Strength in numbers
week 4: Strength in numbers
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Now as I dig deeper into the topic of collaborative learning in this session and I go through the reading materials I learn a new term "communities of practice". For me this term is like an an assembly of people with a common interest collaborating to learn a particular topic. This brings me to my "problem pitch" which is focused on bringing educators or participants of farm to schools in different parts of the world together to learn how to best implement the goals of this education program.(i.e. international network). Basically, this could involve a concept mentioned in the article by Jean Lave, and Etienne Wenger Communities of Practice.", whereby participants initially have peripheral participation and after becoming experienced through apprenticeships they have to full participation in the community. With respect to my problem pitch, educators from one farm to school or someone interested in starting this type of program, attends another farm to school and eventually after learning enough skills/knowledge is allowed to teach at the school. Another learning/teaching method I am exposed to in this session is "connected learning". I find this Youtube video explains the concept quite well.
Another "out of the box" learning environment that Professor Klopfer describes this week is "Samba Schools" from Brazil. An interesting point mentioned in this online video, is that these schools bring together people from different age groups on a topic "dance" which they are all passionate about. Prof.Klopfer mentions that Seymour Papert was fascinated by this because as opposed to traditional schools that are separated by age group and where students do not collaborate on a passionate topic, the Samba schools do. Could this be done in our traditional pedagogical system, hmm I think not. Alot of things have to be modified at the higher educational level (i.e. government bodies) in order for an initiative like this to take place. Or maybe I am cynical and perhaps a forward thinking school would try this "out of the box" concept?? As this class now digs deeper into collaborative learning a video on various experts on group learning discuss their experiences or points a view. Through these experts explanations of collaborative learning, I begin to see that this type of learning is a combination of individual and group leraning, whereby the individual's of the group contributes to their understanding and knowledge and together they learn from each other. This reminds me of the group discussions in the EDPE 640 class, when we discuss the readings of that week. We all have our individual points of view, but then as we all bring forward our views, we learn from one and other. One of the social learning technologies mentioned this week that captured my attention is the Group Scribbles , how incredible is that to have all class members contributing o the learning process. This is how Group Scribble works:
As educators always trying to get full participation from their students in class activities, I think this is a great way to achieve this and build on the ideas/knowledge that the students contribute. Also, for those shy students that do not like speaking out loud, this allows them to write down their answers and have it posted for the teacher to see. This is a great example of technology that is created to improve the learning process and make it enjoyable at the same time.
Another group learning technology that I learned about this week is the game Vanished that was a Smithsonian-MIT initiative to get students to be more interested in science and provide a learning environment that engaged them is this field. As a scientist myself, I think this is a different approach to having students work together to solve important scientific problems. I can see how an educator in secondary school could use to this to discuss climate change issues and get students actively collecting items for the online game.
The last topic for this week is online learning, so automatically I think to MOOC/online courses, however I first am introduced to Phillipp Schmidt who talks about Peer-to Peer University (P2PU) and how it is trying to create online education in a more collaborative environment. I found that a great deal of the concepts of P2PU is encompassed in this edX course I am taking, in that Phillipp refers to four principles of this university/courses offered such as: Projects, Peers, Passion, Play. So, the (Project) aspect for this course is the final project or throughout the weeks the mini-projects to build our final project, which is a product pitch for a learning technology; the (Peers) are the group forums where we can discuss our weekly topics and share our assignments with our peers, the unhangouts(created by Phillipp Schmidt's group) where we get together with the Professor and our peers and can breakout into group discussions; the (Passion) is where we develop or bring forward our interests for learning, for me this is where I can bring my ideas for my Master's project to light in terms of the possibility of using technology to expand the farmtoschoolmacdonald.com goals; and lastly (Play) to learn in a playful/engaging environment and as for this course for me the playful environment is the group forums and discussion groups where you can share ideas and learn from each other.
Another group learning technology that I learned about this week is the game Vanished that was a Smithsonian-MIT initiative to get students to be more interested in science and provide a learning environment that engaged them is this field. As a scientist myself, I think this is a different approach to having students work together to solve important scientific problems. I can see how an educator in secondary school could use to this to discuss climate change issues and get students actively collecting items for the online game.
The last topic for this week is online learning, so automatically I think to MOOC/online courses, however I first am introduced to Phillipp Schmidt who talks about Peer-to Peer University (P2PU) and how it is trying to create online education in a more collaborative environment. I found that a great deal of the concepts of P2PU is encompassed in this edX course I am taking, in that Phillipp refers to four principles of this university/courses offered such as: Projects, Peers, Passion, Play. So, the (Project) aspect for this course is the final project or throughout the weeks the mini-projects to build our final project, which is a product pitch for a learning technology; the (Peers) are the group forums where we can discuss our weekly topics and share our assignments with our peers, the unhangouts(created by Phillipp Schmidt's group) where we get together with the Professor and our peers and can breakout into group discussions; the (Passion) is where we develop or bring forward our interests for learning, for me this is where I can bring my ideas for my Master's project to light in terms of the possibility of using technology to expand the farmtoschoolmacdonald.com goals; and lastly (Play) to learn in a playful/engaging environment and as for this course for me the playful environment is the group forums and discussion groups where you can share ideas and learn from each other.
As educators always trying to get full participation from their students in class activities, I think this is a great way to achieve this and build on the ideas/knowledge that the students contribute. Also, for those shy students that do not like speaking out loud, this allows them to write down their answers and have it posted for the teacher to see. This is a great example of technology that is created to improve the learning process and make it enjoyable at the same time.
Another group learning technology that I learned about this week is the game Vanished that was a Smithsonian-MIT initiative to get students to be more interested in science and provide a learning environment that engaged them is this field. As a scientist myself, I think this is a different approach to having students work together to solve important scientific problems. I can see how an educator in secondary school could use to this to discuss climate change issues and get students actively collecting items for the online game.
The last topic for this week is online learning, so automatically I think to MOOC/online courses, however I first am introduced to Phillipp Schmidt who talks about Peer-to Peer University (P2PU) and how it is trying to create online education in a more collaborative environment. I found that a great deal of the concepts of P2PU is encompassed in this edX course I am taking, in that Phillipp refers to four principles of this university/courses offered such as: Projects, Peers, Passion, Play. So, the (Project) aspect for this course is the final project or throughout the weeks the mini-projects to build our final project, which is a product pitch for a learning technology; the (Peers) are the group forums where we can discuss our weekly topics and share our assignments with our peers, the unhangouts(created by Phillipp Schmidt's group) where we get together with the Professor and our peers and can breakout into group discussions; the (Passion) is where we develop or bring forward our interests for learning, for me this is where I can bring my ideas for my Matser's project to light in terms of the possibility of using technology to expand the farmtoschoolmacdonald.com goals; and lastly (Play) to learn in a playful/engaging environment and as for this course for me the playful environment is the group forums and discussion groups where you can share ideas and learn from each other.
Another group learning technology that I learned about this week is the game Vanished that was a Smithsonian-MIT initiative to get students to be more interested in science and provide a learning environment that engaged them is this field. As a scientist myself, I think this is a different approach to having students work together to solve important scientific problems. I can see how an educator in secondary school could use to this to discuss climate change issues and get students actively collecting items for the online game.
The last topic for this week is online learning, so automatically I think to MOOC/online courses, however I first am introduced to Phillipp Schmidt who talks about Peer-to Peer University (P2PU) and how it is trying to create online education in a more collaborative environment. I found that a great deal of the concepts of P2PU is encompassed in this edX course I am taking, in that Phillipp refers to four principles of this university/courses offered such as: Projects, Peers, Passion, Play. So, the (Project) aspect for this course is the final project or throughout the weeks the mini-projects to build our final project, which is a product pitch for a learning technology; the (Peers) are the group forums where we can discuss our weekly topics and share our assignments with our peers, the unhangouts(created by Phillipp Schmidt's group) where we get together with the Professor and our peers and can breakout into group discussions; the (Passion) is where we develop or bring forward our interests for learning, for me this is where I can bring my ideas for my Matser's project to light in terms of the possibility of using technology to expand the farmtoschoolmacdonald.com goals; and lastly (Play) to learn in a playful/engaging environment and as for this course for me the playful environment is the group forums and discussion groups where you can share ideas and learn from each other.
Week 5: Put it to the Test/Assessment
This week is about assessment in education and how can we incorporate technology to design assessment in different ways. Interestingly, this week's class starts out with a video of interviews of students of various age groups where they describe their views of assessment and if they think the current way of being assessed can be changed. What particularly strikes me is that one student says that they don't believe the assessment model can be changed, because it is working the way it is, however another student mentions about adding open answered questions to tests, instead of only multiple choice questions. Also, at the end a student says "these tests (standardized tests, SATs, MCATs, etc..) may not be a good way to gauge the knowledge of students who are not good test takers". This makes me think back to how I felt as a student before an exam and before I attempted to try the GMAT exam:
Do we really need to stress students in order to properly assess them? This goes back to the statement, about not all students being good tests takers, so what other methods other than multiple choice tests or standardized final exams can be used to evaluate learning in students? The next video expands on ways technology is being used to change the way we assess. First I learn about three categories of assessment: formative, summative and performance based assessment and another one is mentioned that combines summative and performance based, which is stealth assessment . So as I can see, technology is heading towards this stealth assessment, whereby games are being used in evaluating learners and at the same time providing valuable information to learners on what they need to know to improve their skills and to educators on how they can adapt their curriculum to improve or challenge student's skills/knowledge. I think the image below should be posted on all teacher's lunchroom to stimulate conversation on this topic.
This week is about assessment in education and how can we incorporate technology to design assessment in different ways. Interestingly, this week's class starts out with a video of interviews of students of various age groups where they describe their views of assessment and if they think the current way of being assessed can be changed. What particularly strikes me is that one student says that they don't believe the assessment model can be changed, because it is working the way it is, however another student mentions about adding open answered questions to tests, instead of only multiple choice questions. Also, at the end a student says "these tests (standardized tests, SATs, MCATs, etc..) may not be a good way to gauge the knowledge of students who are not good test takers". This makes me think back to how I felt as a student before an exam and before I attempted to try the GMAT exam:
Do we really need to stress students in order to properly assess them? This goes back to the statement, about not all students being good tests takers, so what other methods other than multiple choice tests or standardized final exams can be used to evaluate learning in students? The next video expands on ways technology is being used to change the way we assess. First I learn about three categories of assessment: formative, summative and performance based assessment and another one is mentioned that combines summative and performance based, which is stealth assessment . So as I can see, technology is heading towards this stealth assessment, whereby games are being used in evaluating learners and at the same time providing valuable information to learners on what they need to know to improve their skills and to educators on how they can adapt their curriculum to improve or challenge student's skills/knowledge. I think the image below should be posted on all teacher's lunchroom to stimulate conversation on this topic.
This week we also hear from experts in the field of assessment and learning and their views of how technology can be incorporated in assessment. A key figure person on this topic that we have all heard about is James Paul Gee and in this week's class his video interview talks about gaming and assessment. It is interesting to think of what type of assessment gaming can provide, Dr. Gee states that video games (such as Rise of Nations) do provide a formative type, in that the learner can see how he is doing and improve on his abilities and the instructor can see this information as well, but he sees the future whereby gaming will assess the learner as they perform collaborative learning with games and also assess the students outside of school activities, i.e. at the library or extra-curricular activities. This would be interesting to collect such data on learners in order to see what type of learning environments and activities work best for each students and make decisions based on those results. Another expert in this field, that we hear from is Malcom Bauer from ETS, Interestingly Mr.Bauer talks alot about observational data in assessment, in that observing someone dancing and scoring them, is also a form of assessment. Importantly, he mentions how the observational data or any data from assessments is then interpreted (or inference as he mentions it) could be done in different ways, it all depends on the objectives instructor. Also, he mentions future or active research in assessment is heading towards learning how students reason, how they perform certain sequences,and the ability of technology to record student's learning (i.e. tablets recording what they are doing) will provide an entirely different set of data and different interpretations of this data. The other experts interviewed on the same topic, are Edys Quellmalz ,Bob Mislevy, and Kristen DiCerbo who provide their views of what assessment is to them and how technology is playing an important role in this field. For example, testing environments have changed due to technology, you can have a group of learners playing a educational game and each one is being assessed by the game, this was not possible before or not as easily available when print form only existed. Another concept I learn is about situational learning and assessment, whereby a student learns a subject by being involved in a situation, be it online or actually perfoming something in class and the educator then is able to see how the student is learning and what is the outcome. For example, if you have a robot building competition, students are in a real worlds situation(technology can be used here too), they have to apply math, physics principles, they can be assessed through out the competition. This makes for a more interactive form of assessment and I believe something that both the learner and evaluator can enjoy more than the traditional approaches. All in all it seems like the experts are saying the same thing, make assessment based on what the learning goals are, make it fun(activity based if possible), and use technology to provide an innovative environment to assess and collect important data to be able to improve learner's performance or meet an evaluation objective.
Another topic explored is by Janice Gobert on science learning by inquiry, she talks about a software developed by herself and her research team called SLINQ! whereby students are learning science in situational environments and at the same time teachers are receiving real time assessment reports. Again this demonstrate how we can move away from the traditional multiple choice formative type assessments, into more creative ones and obtain the necessary information to know what learners are learning and what they need to improve on. An interesting aspect she brings up regarding the difficulty with building assessment frameworks, is cultural fairness. How can we assess a pool of students with the same technological tool in which one cohort comes from an impoverished area where technology is not really available and another cohort that is from a wealthy area with easy access to technology. Is ther an easy solution? Hmm, well I guess different baselines would be needed whereby there is an assumption that learners in different areas have varied level of technology comfort. Not easy to design these assessments, in my opinion! The last type of assessment explored this week is choice-based assessment, whereby Dan Schwartz sees assessment as what choices do the learners take to understand a specific topic and there is not necessarily a right or wrong answer it's the path of critical thinking the student takes to learn the subject that is of interest. Take a look at this program him and his team developed, a much more fun way for children to learn their primary colours and colour mixing!
In terms of the future of assessment, what I found fascinating was the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) I was not aware that you could see important data on assessment from OECD participating countries and compare how countries rank in different areas. There are indefinite possibilities on how this data can be used to help shape the future of learning and what countries need to improve on in their education system. It is AMAZING what amount data is being collected and it is ALL at our fingertips with these summarized reports. Well, then internal education leaders need to use this data to make sure that impoverished areas or areas struggling in certain learning topics are provided the right tools to improve student education standards. WOW! So many possibilities for what assessment my look like in 5, 10, 15, etc..years. Maybe gone are the days of those stressful 9:00am final exams that look like this: SEE BELOW, a McGill final exam.
Another topic explored is by Janice Gobert on science learning by inquiry, she talks about a software developed by herself and her research team called SLINQ! whereby students are learning science in situational environments and at the same time teachers are receiving real time assessment reports. Again this demonstrate how we can move away from the traditional multiple choice formative type assessments, into more creative ones and obtain the necessary information to know what learners are learning and what they need to improve on. An interesting aspect she brings up regarding the difficulty with building assessment frameworks, is cultural fairness. How can we assess a pool of students with the same technological tool in which one cohort comes from an impoverished area where technology is not really available and another cohort that is from a wealthy area with easy access to technology. Is ther an easy solution? Hmm, well I guess different baselines would be needed whereby there is an assumption that learners in different areas have varied level of technology comfort. Not easy to design these assessments, in my opinion! The last type of assessment explored this week is choice-based assessment, whereby Dan Schwartz sees assessment as what choices do the learners take to understand a specific topic and there is not necessarily a right or wrong answer it's the path of critical thinking the student takes to learn the subject that is of interest. Take a look at this program him and his team developed, a much more fun way for children to learn their primary colours and colour mixing!
In terms of the future of assessment, what I found fascinating was the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) I was not aware that you could see important data on assessment from OECD participating countries and compare how countries rank in different areas. There are indefinite possibilities on how this data can be used to help shape the future of learning and what countries need to improve on in their education system. It is AMAZING what amount data is being collected and it is ALL at our fingertips with these summarized reports. Well, then internal education leaders need to use this data to make sure that impoverished areas or areas struggling in certain learning topics are provided the right tools to improve student education standards. WOW! So many possibilities for what assessment my look like in 5, 10, 15, etc..years. Maybe gone are the days of those stressful 9:00am final exams that look like this: SEE BELOW, a McGill final exam.