Here is a presentation by Steve Wheeler on an overview of the digital age of learning. Keep in mind this is from a 32,000 feet perspective, yet it helps you begin to understand the power and complexity of digital learning.

New Pedagogies For The Digital Age

View more PowerPoint from Steve Wheeler

Instilling Values in Kids

At a recent Jedchat the question was how and where to instill values, ethics and morals in school curriculum. Many good suggestions were offered including 'teachers should simply role model them,' and 'it should be a natural component of school life and doesn't need to be formally taught.'
In today's American society, with a culture that accepts no boundaries as a norm, it's imperative and vital that parents learn how to parent effectively and schools help reinforce what is taught at home. And by the way it is a lot easier to parent than today's parents think. I've had conversations with parent who tell me they just don't know how to connect with their teen and give them plenty of leeway because they know they won't listen to them anyways so they might as well give them flexibility so as not to further turn them off.
I have a friend who I consider a rock star of a human being. We were once discussing proper parenting and this person told me the number one thing is to continually say to your child 'Be good.' And reinforce it. Over and over. Parents- you need to champion the cause of good parenting. Tell your children/teens to 'Be good,' provide clear boundaries and be role models.

Because at the end of the day it is the home that wins out. Period. Schools are not magical fail-safe switches!

Storybird

Bima in school on planet earth on StorybirdStorybird is a free web-publishing tool educators can incorporate into their curriculum for project assessments. Work can be kept private or published to showcase the students hard work and effort. There is even an option to purchase a hard-copy of the students work.

2012 AISF Conference Reflections

Today I presented on the topic of 21st Century Learning as part of the 2012 Association of Independent Schools of Florida (AISF) Conference at the Fort Lauderdale Convention Center. The presentation included 18 different web 2.0 tools for educators to consider incorporating into their classrooms. Some of the presentation slides with the 18 web tools are included on a google presentation link here. There was tremendous enthusiasm and passion from the educators/administrators/principles who attended. I want to briefly reflect on the presentation.

When I was originally planning my presentation a number of thoughts occurred: While some educators may have already been familiar with 21st Century learning and web tools, others participants would be sitting down and learning about 21st century learning concepts for the first time. In addition the participants would range from veteran educators to new educator. How would I engage this group and captivate them the entire time? On the other hand this wasn't merely an academic presentation on the theories of education technology integration with educators debating my every word. The attendees signed up because they wanted to learn.

So I decided to categorize the web tools into 4 different sections; critical thinking, collaboration, communication and creativity. (I simply did not have the time to discuss cross-cultural understanding.) After presenting each category I would ask the educators to break into small groups of 3 and 4 and have a brief conversation on how these tools could be incorporated into their classrooms be it through assessment, activities and etc. I also created a back channel on TodaysMeet for educators to use during the presentation.

So how did everything turn out? For starters I didn't end up using my Todaysmeet back channel because no-one brought a laptop. That was ok though because the group I had was definitely engaged and very much on learning mode. I noticed some web tools presented captivated the crowd and people instantly appreciated them. Amongst the big hits were Edmodo, Voki, Glogster, Prezi and Classdojo. Other tools would need more time for educators to 'marinate on' until they could fully appreciate them and unleash their potential. I also made an 'executive desicion' to have2 break out groups instead of 4 due to time restrictions and to allow the group time to transition to their next presenter. I must note the participants really liked alternating between frontal lecturing and group learning and being actively engaged in their learning. Student-centered learning works for educators too! (Seriously though- how many times have we gone to presentations and been bored to tears from passive learning and non-stop lecturing!)

Overall I received very positive feedback from many of the educators who attended my presentation. A few mentioned they were going to immediately incorporate Voki and Glogster into upcoming units. Their words brought about a digital symphony to my 21st Century ears!

Reflections of a Paperless Digital Class Part 3

With our school year more than halfway finished below is my 3rd reflection since switching to blended digital classes. 

My observations: 

1. Technology holds students to a higher level of accountability, gives them a ‘voice’, propels them to learn deeper, promotes deeper critical thinking and helps wean students from a garbage in- garbage out or rote memorization mentality simply for a grade to acquiring truly authentic learning experiences.
2. Most students enjoy learning from short educational/instructional videos as well as focus better with short mini-lectures of 5 to 7 minutes at a time with group discussions mixed in.
3. At this point students are very comfortable using their digital backpacks including saving and uploading files or links to their digital library. A number of students mentioned they really appreciate the ability to access their files and learning materials through Edmodo wherever they have access to an Internet connection. They also continue to tell me how much it helps them stay organized. 
4. Most students enjoy blogging or being able to comment on their learning to the group, responding to peer comments and suggesting feedback to each other. The asynchronous learning through our group's conversations allows students to read and internalize other students’ thoughts or perspectives and then think through and put in writing their own comments and/or perspectives. Overall it makes for deeper focused conversations. I recently facilitated a 6 class unit in preparation for the school wide ‘bracha bee.’ As part of each assignment students had to post to their peers on an idea, concept or blessing they had never learned previously and comment on another students post. The depth and focused conversations that resulted reflected the deeper learning taking place in the classroom.
5. My class contains learners ‘all over the board.’ Yet virtually all students are engaged in their learning and on task the majority of class. The ability to differentiate instruction through content, process and product has truly been realized and augmented through student centered learning and the proper use of  web 2.0 tools and learning management platforms. 
6. Finding the proper blend of digital work, frontal instruction and group discussions is ongoing. This is partly due as to the nature of Judaic classes including goals aside from course content; Namely for students to have time to bond with their Rabbi-educator role model and be inspired Jewishly through frontal teaching and discussions. I have found that within a 50 minute lesson there are a number of ways to configure your class so the students can learn as well as connect with you. For example you can start out with 3 separate 5 to 7 minute frontally taught lessons with 3 separate 4 minute group discussions laced within your lecture. Then for 10 minutes a student chooses either to work in a group, individually or work in a group you oversee.  Students can then spend 5 to 10 minutes reflecting on their learning, posting and then responding to discussions threads to each other.
7. I remind students daily of the expectation to use technology strictly for learning purposes during class time. This doesn’t necessarily mean students are off-task during class time but at the beginning of a period teachers need to create the digital framework for their students. I often begin class by articulating which specific websites/tools on the computer should be open and to close out all other windows/tools. 
8. I remind students on a daily basis they need to read the instructions carefully and not just give a cursory glance and think they know it! For example my Talmud (Analytical Thinking & Reasoning) class has a number of instructions for each ‘level ‘(read: ‘lesson’ however I use gaming terminology with this class.) The instructions are clearly laid out step by step but students don’t always take the time to focus on the details. They may submit work which does not have all the elements of that day’s assignment.
9. There is very little to no behavioral issues as students are plugged in and engaged in their learning leaving little time for disruptions or boredom. Classdojo is an extremely effective behavioral management told when used correctly. Generally students appreciate the instant praise and feedback, their percentage and their running record for the year.
10. Having loaded Bloom’s Taxonomy and Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences graphs/charts in their digital backpacks I help students actively realize what their learning styles are and the depth of their learning. Sometimes a student tells me he/she has finished his/her assignment and I will either have them continue working on an anchor activity or I will actually pull up a Bloom’s Taxonomy chart and have the student think through which levels he/she accomplished with their learning. If he/she not yet done so I will challenge the student by giving suggestions which will aid them in reaching the top 2 levels (to create and to evaluate) with their learning. I also make students aware of Gardner’s MI verb list so they can be assessed (pre, formative and summative!) on curriculum in ways that align with their interests and talents. 

So what do you think? Have you been integrating technology in your classes? Can you partially or fully relate to and empathize with my observations or do you have vastly different experiences? Can you appreciate how technology can afford students deeper learning experiences? I’m all ears...

Great Trigger Clips

As you know by now I like to intersperse great trigger clips within my blog. I recently explained the mishnaic dictum  (Avot 4:2) of 'mitzvah goreret mitzvah' (one mitzvah fulfilled ushers in the next mitzvah opportunity) to students. How does this video explain this concept?

Learning Never Ends- #Jedchat and Twitter

As my red eye flight crosses the Mason-Dixon line (at least according to Jet Blu’s in flight TV monitor [note: As a first time flyer of Jet Blu I was excited to be able to watch TV on a continental us flight- Until they informed us that there’s a $2 charge for headphones and $5.99 for a movie- Hence my alternative activity which is more cost effective and lets me actually engage my brain!]) I can’t help but think back to last night when the Washington Post featured an article about educators using Twitter- and listed #Jedchat as one of the Twitter education groups! My first reaction was “o.k. it is a pretty big deal that out of the tens of thousands (millions?) of hashtags in the Twitter-verse the Washington Post included #Jedchat in it’s list.

Then I reviewed the article and thought to myself- this is what the influence of social media is all about. This is what #Jedchat is all about. Yet why does #Jedchat work? Why do Jewish educators and education stakeholders feel comfortable participating in #Jedchat? What makes #Jedchat unique? Does it have to do with pluralism or equality or all persuasions of Judaism coming together in harmony for the perfect educational symphony? Not necessarily- Though these are all offshoots and sub-goals of what #Jedchat provides.

When Akevy, Dov and I had our first Google Hangout our vision was very simple: we wanted to create a platform whose driving question (partial-plug for project based learning) for all genuine professional educators was universal; namely-  “How can we provide our students with deep authentic learning experiences.”

That’s ‘all’ it took to launch #Jedchat on Twitter. (And yes Israel- we will eventually have a chat in your time-zone!)

Twitter for edcuators is a unique learning experience. Yes at first it is intimidating because you feel like you are thrown into Midtown-Manhattan where everyone is bumping into you and you don’t know how long to walk, how long to stop, who to ask a question to, who to listen to…(do I sound like I am gearing up for The City!)

Soon you begin to follow a small group of colleagues you recognize and you slowly see the plethora of knowledge flying your way. You click on one the education links and start reading an article on something relevant to what you are doing in your school. You start reading and reflecting other tweets more carefully asking yourself if you agree or disagree or why. You slowly begin honing in and refining your real-time education techniques in ways that you may not have wanted to do before. You are making the learning happen for you without being pushed and it feels good that way. You get into a comfort zone. Then you start tweeting yourself, first by re-tweeting other people’s ideas you like and want to share and finally adding your own original thoughts and links.

Then you want to empower others as you’ve empowered yourself so you start showing your colleagues how Twitter works. At first most of them may not take you seriously. “but isn’t Twitter for celebrities” and all the usual stuff that becomes along with first time Twitter newbies. But be persistent and consistent with them and they will come to thank you the way you have thanked the people who showed you Twitter and #Jedchat. And keep up your great tweeting on #Jedchat!