Powerful Antidote for Students

I was fortunate to teach in a 1:1 laptop classroom for seven years. In my classes, students took daily notes on computers, did research, wrote essays, created various multimedia publications, and worked on collaborative projects.

Yet I knew that if I wasn’t watching their screens, my students would at some point be doing something they were not supposed to be doing. So, while I was thrilled with the tremendous educational content available to my students, I was concerned with the less-than-desirable elements pervasive on the Internet. Today, I stroll through many schools that are using technology extensively, and invariably I see students using computers for Facebook, IM, playing games, checking sports scores, and all manner of other “evil” things. (BTW, this is as true in middle school classrooms as it is in graduate schools.)

Many teachers I encounter have decided that they need to crack down on — if not entirely eradicate — screen distractions in their classrooms. (A minority of teachers accept it as a form of 21st century doodling.) So, I regularly get questions from teachers asking if they can lock students into apps (yes, that’s possible) or watch student laptop screens remotely (yes, that’s possible, too).

Yet, I rarely indulge in discussions of “Big Brother” tools and strategies. Instead, I ask teachers to consider the most important truism regarding screen distractions:

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Learning and Literacy by Games

James Paul Gee is one of the renowned scholars and authors in the field of New Literacies Studies. Most of Gee’s work over the last few years focused on the study and analysis of digital and video games. His book ” What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy” is a culmination of his work in this field.

In this book, Gee analyses some popular games such as first-person shooter games, fantasy role-playing games, real-time strategy games, and simulation games and draws out a set of learning principles that are embedded within these games and which make them  more engaging, challenging, and ultimately fun to play. Comparing the kind of learning that takes place in these gaming affinity spaces to the one that take place in school environments, Gee found out that the “levels of textual and cognitive interaction in traditional schooling are decidedly wanting” (Kalantzis & Cope,  “Literacies” ).

Gee contends that gaming affinity spaces where gamers get to virtually meet and discuss the content of their games, help each other solve game-related problems, these spaces are multimodal sites of literacy in which students navigate narratives as powerful as any in the literary canon.” They do this as character, as players, as actors in the narrative. They negotiate text and image.”

Upon the analysis of several video games , Gee sketched out some of the main benefits these games have for learning and literacy. The table below taken from Literacies(a book I am reading this week) features some of them.

Post Source : http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2014/05/the-benefits-of-games-on-learning-and.html

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Free Moocs

The summer vacation is around the corner and while it is a great time for us to have a break from the classroom routine, it is also the convenient time for us to do things we always wanted to do but we were not able to because of lack of time and busy time schedules.You might have plans for some freelance reading, learning a new digital literacy, writing a short story…you name it, but whatever your plans are you should always keep in mind that as teachers we are constantly looking for new opportunities to expand our knowledge and grow professionally. Your plans should always operate within this framework.

Image source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/gforsythe/

Yes summer vacation is a golden opportunity for you to learn new things and MOOCs ( Massive Open Online Courses) are among the top choices I would recommend. If you haven’t tried a MOOC before then grab one this summer and explore the learning experience it provides. It is definitely worth trying. Open Culture features a list of more than 800 MOOCs from top universities from all around the world. The majority of these MOOCs offer ” certificates” or ” statements of completion” (not a university credit). You can sift through this list and pick out the ones that interest you. Courses in these MOOCs are organized by start date and some of these courses (called evergreen) are not time bound and you can start them anytime you want. Evergreen courses are featured in the bottom of the list.

Related: MOOCs Explained for Teachers

If you find the number of the MOOCs featured in Open Culture too overwhelming then consider this curated list I made specifically for teachers and educators. These are some great MOOC courses that  will start next June.

1. Technology in A Foreign Language Class (NI) – Canvas Network – June 3 (5 weeks)
2. Tangible Things: Discovering History Through Artworks, Artifacts, Scientific Specimens, etc. (CC) – Harvard on edX – June 2 (5 weeks)
3. 5 Habits of Highly Creative Teachers (NI) – Northwest Colorado BOCES on Canvas – June 2 (5 weeks)
4. Understanding Research Methods (SA) – University of London on Coursera – June 2 (6 weeks)
5. Programming for everybody
6. Model Thinking (CC) – University of Michigan on Coursera – June 2 (10 weeks)
7. Evolution: A Course for Educators (NI) – American Museum of Natural History – June 2 (4 weeks)
8. Education in a Changing World (SA) – Open2study – June 2 (4 weeks)
9. Teaching Adult Learners (SA) – Central Institute of Technology on Open2study – June 2 (4 weeks)
10. Decision Skills: Power Tools to Build Your Life (NI) – Decision Education Foundation on NovoEd – June 16 (6 weeks)
11. Crafting an Effective Writer: Tools of the Trade (SA) – Mt. San Jacinto College on Coursera – June 20 (5 weeks)
12. The Addicted Brain – Emory on Coursera (NI) – June 23 (8 weeks)
13. Teaching Goes Massive: New Skills Required (NC) – University of Zurich on Coursera – June 23 (3 weeks)
14. Assessment and Teaching of 21st-Century Skills (SA) – University of Melbourne on Coursera – June 30 (5 weeks)

Post Source : http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2014/05/over-800-free-moocs-to-help-you-grow.html

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Top Education Systems In The World

Pearson recently released their global report on education (which we also looked at last year). This report takes a look at major factors in education, such as expenditure per student, GDP, graduation rates, etc. South Korea topped the rankings again this year, but Finland – well known for its excellence in education – fell to 5th place.

Take a gander at the graphic below (from the report summary) to see where each country falls in the rankings. If you want to toy around with the statistics and see what factors are influencing each country in each area, you can take a few minutes to play around with the interactive graphic of cognitive skills and educational attainment.

Some of the key findings of the report are as follows:

• East Asian nations continue to outperform others. South Korea tops the rankings, followed by Japan (2nd), Singapore (3rd) and Hong Kong (4th). All these countries’ education systems prize effort above inherited ‘smartness’, have clear learning outcomes and goalposts, and have a strong culture of accountability and engagement among a broad community of stakeholders.
• Scandinavian countries, traditionally strong performers, are showing signs of losing their edge. Finland, the 2012 Index leader, has fallen to 5th place; and Sweden is down from 21st to 24th.
• Notable improvements include Israel (up 12 places to 17th), Russia (up 7 places to 13th) and Poland (up four places to 10th).
• Developing countries populate the lower half of the Index, with Indonesia again ranking last of the 40 nations covered, preceded by Mexico (39th) and Brazil (38th).

Ranking the World’s Educational Systems

We’ve just listed the first 10 below – scroll through the whole graphic to see all of the countries examined in the report.

1. South Korea
2. Japan
3. Singapore
4. Hong Kong
5. Finland
6. UK
7. Canada
8. Netherlands
9. Ireland
10. Poland

Post Source : http://www.edudemic.com/learning-curve-report-education/

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Flipped Learning

 Just come across this wonderful visual entitled “Growth in Flipped Learning” and want to share it with you as well. The visual is created by Sophia and Flipped Learning Network and features some interesting stats about the actual use of flipped learning methodology.

 

According to the Flipped Learning Network,  Flipped learning is  “a pedagogical approach in which direct instruction moves from the group learning space to the individual learning space, and the resulting group space is transformed into a dynamic, interactive learning environment where the educator guides students as they apply concepts and engage creatively in the subject matter. “

Snapshot taken from Sophia’s graphic

 Here are some of the highlights from this graphic :

• 78% of teachers have flipped a lesson in 2014
• 96% of teachers who have flipped a lesson or unit would recommend that method to other teachers.
• the majority of flipped teaching still occurs in high school
• 9 out of 10 teachers noticed a positive change in student engagement since flipping their class.
• 71% of teachers stated improved grades since using flipped classroom
• Close to half of teachers flip their class 1 or 2 times a week showing it doesn’t need to be on everyday activity
• 93% of teachers who are flipping their classroom started as their own initiative.
• 74% of teachers said that their flipped learning efforts are supported by their school administration

Post Source : http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2014/05/awesome-new-flipped-learning-graphic.html

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Integration of Games in Teaching

Games are ubiquitous digital activities that students , regardless of their grade level, engage in online. They play them on their computers, smart phones, with each other and with others they have never met. Several scientific studies published in this regard speak for the advocacy of game integration in education (see the list of resources at the end of this post). I have spent sometime reading some of these studies and came up with the list below featuring the main reasons why you need to consider using games in your teaching.

 

 

 

1-   Games  combine  activities that require movement, listening, speaking, reading, and writing. As such games activate both the right and left sides of the brain. According to Judy Dodge (author of 25 Quick Formative Assessments for a Differentiated Classroom, 2009), “If you’re only listening, you’re only activating one part of the brain, but if you’re drawing and explaining to a peer, then you’re making connections in the brain.”

 

2- Gaming activities stimulates kids brain., and as Ben Mardell, PhD( researcher with Project Zero at Harvard University) argues : kids learn through all their senses and they like to touch and manipulate things”.

 

3-  Students have different learning styles and games can cater to all these styles: auditory, kinaesthetic, tactile, and visual learners.

 

5- Games enhance students motor skills coordination, an essential element for carrying on functional activities throughout their entire lives.

 

6- Situated learning (local learning or inside learning) is greatly enhanced through game play.

 

7- Virtual game environments provide learners with an immersive experience that encompasses frequent opportunities for reflection and collaborative meaning construction.

 

8- According to Richard Van Eck, Games and play can be effective learning environments not because they are fun but because they are : immersive, require the player to make frequent important decisions; have clear goals, adapt to each player individually; and involve a social network.

 

9- Their social and experiential natures make out of games ideal activities for developing memory, understanding, and problem solving.

 

10- Most of popular games develop communities around them. These communities are what James Paul Gee called “affinity space”. In these gaming affinity spaces, gamers get to share ideas, use group problem-definition and problem solving, socialize and develop social skills .

 

11- According to SRI Study released a year ago, games particularly digital games can improve students achievements in areas of Math, Science, engineering, and technology.

 

I also invite you to check the infographic below to learn more about how games help students learn.

 

 

Post Source : http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2014/05/11-reasosn-why-you-should-integrate.html 

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Learning Trends

Blended learning can tick a lot of boxes for a lot of different teachers who teach in potentially quite different scenarios. From 1:1 classrooms and schools with plenty of iPads to BYOD classes filled with different types (and amounts) of technology, blended learning can help nearly every teacher make learning more personalized and more interesting for their students.  Implementing a blended learning program in your classroom can be a great way to put the technology tools you have – whatever they may be – to use. The handy infographic below takes a look at 10 blended learning trends that are showing up in today’s classrooms. Keep reading to learn more!

10 Blended Learning Trends

1. The student-centered learning experience – focus on the students rather than on the teacher offers a more inquiry driven and experiential learning experience
2. Soaring numbers of digital learners – the number of students participating in classroom-only education is shrinking (albeit slowly) while the number of students participating in some type of online learning is steadily growing (despite making up a much smaller percentage of students)
3. Building higher order thinking skills – students are required to look at information more critically rather than just trying to memorize what is presented to them in class
4. Realizing benefits for both teachers and students – this approach benefits not only the students, but teachers too!
5. A framework for data-driven decision making in education – a blended approach offers more data and information for teachers, administrators, and parents to make more informed decisions
6. A personalized learning approach – by a lean, blended and interactive approach
7. Productive gamification – bringing students to deeper learning
8. The mobile world is where learners live now – more so for personal than school use
9. Students have personal access to mobile devices – smartphones, tablets, laptops and digital reading devices trump desktops
10. The need for more broadband – 72% of schools in the US lack the broadband access they need to support digital learning

Post Source : http://www.edudemic.com/blended_learning_trends/

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New Learners vs New Teachers

 I am actually reading a book by Kalantzis Mary and Bill Cope entitled “Literacies“. In this wonderful work, the authors take you into an eventful journey back into the history of literacy and guide you through the major changes that marked the use of literacy in each era and how teaching pedagogy has been shaped by the meaning that literacy takes in each of these eras. The book also outlines four major approaches to literacy : Didactic literacy , authentic literacy, functional literacy, and critical literacy. Each of these approaches has its own ramifications in education and pedagogy. I will write more in details about these four types of approaches in an article to be published in the few coming weeks.

 

As I was reading “Literacies” I came across this wonderful chart that captures the essence of the thinking and values that lie behind the new assigned roles of teachers and student. These roles are informed by the new conceptions of literacies which regard learning and teaching as a collaborative process of meaning making.

Table taken from ” Literacies“

Post Source : http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2014/05/a-handy-chart-featuring-new-learners-vs.html

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Stages of Learning

The idea that different students may learn differently (otherwise known as ‘learning styles) is a pretty hot-button issue. In fact, I don’t think any other topic has garnered us such a large amount of hate-mail, even though we’ve tried to approach the topic from both sides of the argument.

That said, regardless of how you feel about whether different learning styles exist or not, there are many things that teachers have tried out over the years to see what works best for them and for their students.

Call it trial and error, or experiential research, perhaps. The handy infographic below talks about the stages of learning, and how to approach teaching in a way to best help students learn. Specifically geared towards reading assignments, the ideas in the graphic can be extrapolated and used for almost any subject or type of project/learning material! Keep reading to learn more!

Teach Towards Learning

Getting students in the best frame of mind to learn efficiently can be achieved with a few strategic steps. For a reading assigment:

Before Reading: 

1. Offer a preview
2. Let them ask questions/ask them questions
3. Have them make predictions

During Reading:

1. Clarify for them as necessary
2. Let them ask questions/ask them questions
3. Work on vocabulary

After Reading:

1. Encourage (require!) reflection
2. Let them ask questions/ask them questions
3. Have them summarize

Stages of Learning

1. Declarative
2. Procedural
3. Conditional
4. Metacognitive

Students Will Be Able To:

1. Name learning strategies
2. Know how to use learning strategies
3. Know when to use learning strategies
4. Know why they are using learning strategies

Post Source : http://www.edudemic.com/stages-of-learning/

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Benefits of Learning a New Language

Learning a new language is scientifically proved to have positive impact on the way your brain grows and on the cognitive skills associated with processing information. For instance, bilinguals have denser gray matter in their language centers than monolinguals. Bilinguals can more easily focus on two tasks at once. They think more analytically. Parts of their brain devoted to memory, reasoning, and planning are larger than those of monolinguals (source:  How Bilingualism Boost Your Brain).

Besides these cognitive skills , learning a new language does also have some social gains such as getting to communicate with people from other countries, learning about different cultures, and even helping you understand your own native language. This social aspect of learning a new language is essential for raising bilingual or multilingual kids that tolerate and respect cultural and ethnic differences and value and look at linguistic diversity as an asset and not a difference.

This handy graphic outlines another 5 benefits of being a multilingual (and  bilingual ). Have a look and share with you students.

Here is a brief overview of these 5 benefits:

 1-More job opportunities:

The ability to communicate with people in more than one language could just help you acquire gainful employment.

2- Improved Intellect

Exposing yourself to foreign language can change the way you look at the world and create comprehensive avenues that would otherwise be unavailable.

3- Increased understanding of language

Learning another language can help you to gain a better understanding of your native tongue. It can also make it easier to learn other languages that are in the same vein.

4- Globalization

The interconnectedness of world cultures has brought people closer together. Learning other languages can help you to close the gap even further and take advantage of this globalization.

5- International travel benefits

Learning multiple languages can male all aspects of travel easier, from getting through customs to finding your way around foreign locales to haggling with local merchants

Post Source : http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2014/05/the-5-benefits-of-learning-new-language.html

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