tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7964529331105265062024-03-05T11:30:05.464-05:00Teaching and Learning in Virtual WordsJane Wildehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17962056535636175639noreply@blogger.comBlogger59125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-796452933110526506.post-35663074471836610662014-07-04T22:01:00.003-04:002014-07-06T12:00:06.190-04:00Playing Student Esme Builds a Sand "Castle" in MinecraftDuring this module of my Games and Simulations class (sometimes called Teaching and Learning in Virtual Worlds), my students entered the Marlboro MinecraftEdu Server for the first time. We met synchronously on the college server to explore the training world that TeacherGaming offers. After the class ended I moved the Spawn block to The Neighborhood and created an assignment that students receive on logging into the server.<br />
<br />
The assignment.
Respawn in The Neighborhood. Visit Esme's home and pick up supplies. Explore the area and build a structure to serve as home.<br />
<br />
Today I logged in as a student and completed the assignment. I went to Esme's (my) home and picked up only tools. I admit that I took advantage of my prior knowledge and chose two each of Iron tools (eschewing the wooden and stone tools). My home is positioned at the corner of three biomes.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDvJRXoaf7jNuqDsB_Q-yjsYRa_l2Pc7ZIA1C_MfgdV5irDp0cU-glYRNZXooO5Rv1nIDtg5lepYa5EmUwjW03Si9KUNMTUEW37LTnJ4TUQsxb3J2oRXe-XA25UPKRjRZExUb0gj4JPIQy/s1600/first+wall+of+SC.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDvJRXoaf7jNuqDsB_Q-yjsYRa_l2Pc7ZIA1C_MfgdV5irDp0cU-glYRNZXooO5Rv1nIDtg5lepYa5EmUwjW03Si9KUNMTUEW37LTnJ4TUQsxb3J2oRXe-XA25UPKRjRZExUb0gj4JPIQy/s320/first+wall+of+SC.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The sand dune will serve as the back wall of my "castle."</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Since my goals was to build something new for me I headed to the desert to build a sand castle.
With my shovel I dug and leveled a sandy area. I began to build my castle with one wall being the dug out side of a sand dune.<br />
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A good sand castle has windows. I have plenty of sand to make glass, but I need wood for a crafting table, rock for a furnace and coal to cook the sand. In a nearby biome I found trees. Using my Axe I chopped some wood, made wood panels, then built a crafting table. Pick axe in hand I located some rock with which to make a furnace.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJZWgt9NZeY6GjzM07iWPn8NTp_v5dzr5jXmGtO6AyAiRPbukZ7fOmxUSyQ6rTOnRzXqDoS4RwIkhGXGNOTGe4VXXXffz67-yJf-Pa_Pd8YR6f3S5KQwkRC20_rdHXTl8JgtH3O0pg3Q64/s1600/coal+for+glass.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJZWgt9NZeY6GjzM07iWPn8NTp_v5dzr5jXmGtO6AyAiRPbukZ7fOmxUSyQ6rTOnRzXqDoS4RwIkhGXGNOTGe4VXXXffz67-yJf-Pa_Pd8YR6f3S5KQwkRC20_rdHXTl8JgtH3O0pg3Q64/s1600/coal+for+glass.png" height="179" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Once I mine this coal I will be able to make Glass blocks <br />
for windows</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I located some exposed coal near my sand castle. Sand plus Coal in a furnace makes Glass blocks. Because sand falls, I could not leave open windows.<br />
<br />
Who's there? Pansy has arrived to work on her beautiful home. It's always a good time to take a break and get inspiration from another builder.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTZxm5km7qCHZ1oX1O0rWRhkGCOv7gxcUWNg4rpKeoyL_XsfZlRfxbF8dFHRAkGvYkl2mCjwmVpearjRlXLB5ibbtISKSkbbK2Gvecv5A_JvWLAkEdgKb0QH5WwwCwaP24LTwXDuquQY1A/s1600/Pansy%2527s+place.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTZxm5km7qCHZ1oX1O0rWRhkGCOv7gxcUWNg4rpKeoyL_XsfZlRfxbF8dFHRAkGvYkl2mCjwmVpearjRlXLB5ibbtISKSkbbK2Gvecv5A_JvWLAkEdgKb0QH5WwwCwaP24LTwXDuquQY1A/s1600/Pansy%2527s+place.png" height="179" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pansy's home is built of cobble stone and wood. I love her<br />
inlaid wood panel flooring.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
After a nice visit, I return to my labors and complete my castle. A little more mining was necessary. It is not possible to make a sand roof - again because sand falls. Under packed sand a careful miner can dislodge compressed sandstone - an excellent building material. I actually found some under the floor of my castle. After filling in my floor with pure sand I positioned the sandstone roofing.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJRGHaG-KjPAB1vj0CGqId8PNAqiTN4X04GrqjUIXINQF-5wsOxsHi6ZmIPqrtuqighowiqGD7zqY2U9mTBEZBLHWooOZIz2Vw11y15Iz4a1kW0eQDRHAiPpS7hemqfThqIZXUqGmjHswb/s1600/Finished+face.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJRGHaG-KjPAB1vj0CGqId8PNAqiTN4X04GrqjUIXINQF-5wsOxsHi6ZmIPqrtuqighowiqGD7zqY2U9mTBEZBLHWooOZIz2Vw11y15Iz4a1kW0eQDRHAiPpS7hemqfThqIZXUqGmjHswb/s1600/Finished+face.png" height="179" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small; text-align: start;">Here you can see my sand, sandstone and glass structure.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvXtT1uFT41rEavYacvunZJSQayeM35qkVLhbYN4jP0hA9KP7yNGzFVx_AqRPMZ0XT-46jZnpEZskdmK9BDYr0xEu2TgtY5QIwuOeaW01Bsva_-sy6XeyYiLTnromoEZt74JaVRlEdPkAX/s1600/finished+SC.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvXtT1uFT41rEavYacvunZJSQayeM35qkVLhbYN4jP0hA9KP7yNGzFVx_AqRPMZ0XT-46jZnpEZskdmK9BDYr0xEu2TgtY5QIwuOeaW01Bsva_-sy6XeyYiLTnromoEZt74JaVRlEdPkAX/s1600/finished+SC.png" height="179" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A welcome sign finishes the job.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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The students in this class are charting the movement of generations. You can participate. Use the form below the map to pin where your family members were born. You can choose to enter details or just city state and country.
<br />
<iframe width="100%" height="500" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" allowtransparency="true" src="http://mapalist.com/Public/pm.aspx?mapid=455247" ></iframe>
<br />
<br />
<iframe src="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/17HMJqrCIH87jW7Ys53jgPGfTG1UL49K-J-SzfCh-RB4/viewform?embedded=true" width="100%" height="600" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0">Loading...</iframe><br />
<br />
<iframe src="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1MLWYH5uhTc3Lciew6VJC9GoG_XKu3LJyL5rgeX-3kJU/pubhtml?widget=true&headers=false" width="100%" height="300"></iframe>Jane Wildehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17962056535636175639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-796452933110526506.post-16925564091174576912014-02-18T20:06:00.003-05:002014-02-18T20:06:54.275-05:00XP and MEXP, or experience points, are touted as one of the innovations possible when gamifying instruction. It isn't a new concept. Systems of reward are a hallmark of shaping learned behavior in the behaviorist approach to teaching and training. Many of us raise our eyebrows at the notion of handing out M&Ms every time a learner takes a tiny step toward our learning goals. And from the learner's point of view what good is an XP? It isn't even made of chocolate.<br />
<br />
But there is something to this XP thing that I want to explore.<br />
<br />
For many of us seeing our XP stack up and our rank change is compelling for no apparent reason. Especially when the accumulation of XP can lead to better virtual (non-existent) equipment, access to virtual (non-existent) places to perform virtually harder (non-existent) missions. I quip but when we are in a game or a virtual world the virtual (non-existent) becomes very important and real.<br />
<br />
Aside from our pleasure at receiving virtual tokens for our successes, there are more pedagogically significant reasons for employing XP meaningfully. Sure, engagement is important, but XP can also causes us to think radically about assessment and risk taking. XP turns our usual approach to both Assessment and Risk taking upside down.<br />
<br />
<b>Assessment and motivation.</b><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLSNuX_VYB15jzFiwrc5Ml5xG7Fsg8Spk50ojZvzs4GkaXsD3QGx7D3qku83g_gEJOW-YgycQB2U2hJ5OQskOhkIpXOBX87lPd8ynqvl1tvnTzpcHx42Zl-mn90zK-AnbbTmXMPp4uWgih/s1600/nowheretogoXP.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLSNuX_VYB15jzFiwrc5Ml5xG7Fsg8Spk50ojZvzs4GkaXsD3QGx7D3qku83g_gEJOW-YgycQB2U2hJ5OQskOhkIpXOBX87lPd8ynqvl1tvnTzpcHx42Zl-mn90zK-AnbbTmXMPp4uWgih/s1600/nowheretogoXP.jpg" height="320" width="283" /></a>Ordinarily a learner begins class with an A, 100. Everything she does from that first day on has the chance of maintaining her A or reducing this starting grade to 99, then 98, then 97. Alternatively, a learner who receives XP for her work, starts with 0 xp. Everything she does from that first day on has the chance of either maintaining her 0 or increasing her XP to 1, then 2, then 3. In other words in the traditional model there is no where to go but down. Who came up with that?<br />
<br />
<b>Assessment and risk taking.</b><br />
When everything you do has the chance of reducing your 100, the safest course of action is to, err, play it safe. This assessment approach encourages learners to figure out what won't cause them to lose. Thinking creatively is risky. On the other hand when XP are at stake, trying <b>anything</b> is better than doing nothing. Failure doesn't take away points. So risk taking is valued in an XP system.<br />
<br />
<b>What's in a name?</b><br />
It is not important that this upside down approach occur within the context of "gamification" strategies or even that one uses the words experience points or XP. The value of XP as it is used in games is that it reminds us that assessment doesn't have to take the traditional form. The significant change occurs when we base our assessments on learners successes rather than on their failures. And this isn't a new idea either. Just as rewards in learning have their earliest appearance in BF Skinners work, the idea of assessing success is a hallmark of <b><i>mastery learning</i></b> introduced to us by Benjamin Bloom in 1971.<br />
<br />
_<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">Bloom, B. S. (1971). Mastery learning. In J. H. Block (Ed.), </span><i style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">Mastery learning: Theory and practice</i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">(pp. 47–63). New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">_</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">Skinner, B.F. (1953). </span><i style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">Science and Human Behavior. </i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">New York: Macmillan</span>Jane Wildehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17962056535636175639noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-796452933110526506.post-73715925363776357302014-01-31T14:59:00.003-05:002014-01-31T14:59:41.439-05:00Teaching and Learning in Immersive Environments RedeuxThe Spring semester has begun and I have a new group of virtual travel companions. 15 Graduate students from UAlbany have blasted off into the Metaverse with me as their guide. Last night ten of us got together in Jokaydia for a fireside chat and a visit to North Country Island.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi39stqqr7_zsV5tutAaJLFU6fFMDkIXRKQ7yBhW6wV9zkKJvl91CEDLXA_6_uD92tU7jb1QHnGpPuUd5FMzsarLHU4PQTUjitvMANwMxMB76bsY0Yf2iqbG_C7sxXxm5APpEbfvJy6mGWk/s1600/Visiting+Tims.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi39stqqr7_zsV5tutAaJLFU6fFMDkIXRKQ7yBhW6wV9zkKJvl91CEDLXA_6_uD92tU7jb1QHnGpPuUd5FMzsarLHU4PQTUjitvMANwMxMB76bsY0Yf2iqbG_C7sxXxm5APpEbfvJy6mGWk/s1600/Visiting+Tims.jpg" height="222" width="320" /></a><br />
These intrepid adventurers have been on board for little over a week. Yet the conversation has already included embodied "feelings" (like modesty, clumsiness, disappointment); norms of behavior; and educational affordances. And of course we have already experienced the challenges of technology when it doesn't work - see the embodied cloud in the image.<br />
<br />
In our exploration of the educational application of games, gaming theory, and constructive virtual worlds, I like to wrap our work in gamification features. A narrative storyline, discreet tasks that are rife with failure and success, collaborative missions and of course leveling. Management of all of this is always the challenge to me the game master/instructor. Upfront planning saves a lot on day to day upkeep to be sure. And though I intended to build the course in 3-D Gamelab, I just have not wrapped my mind around how to do it. So I stayed in [Argghhh] Blackboard with lots of pieces in Google docs. I am very pleased with my massively formulated Google spreadsheet documentation strategy. XP and levels are calculated immediately when travelers check off missions they've done. And of course their artifacts are dropped in their inworld portfolio for me to see. But "it ain't pretty." Every year I tweak and expand and learn. Mostly I learn. Let's see what I learn most this time around.Jane Wildehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17962056535636175639noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-796452933110526506.post-65338733831178640472014-01-31T14:32:00.000-05:002014-01-31T14:32:06.128-05:00Take Aways from Vermont Fest 2013Vermont Fest is the annual fall Educational Technology workshop sponsored by <a href="http://www.vita-learn.org/" target="_blank">VITA-Learn</a>, Vermont's <a href="http://www.blogger.com/"><span id="goog_294996671"></span>ISTE<span id="goog_294996672"></span></a> affiliate.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf94psMKVwduifm9M3Wc5dNHNBNbPvHSn0lliyV2j3mwEOpgC8jKJWYvtY42eY0OHgWv7RomZugvPM9S4Y6iEr97vb9B08RPHVOaNPUFLKBg0uSfoEsFF4xaclFz_kfvfjoFPgj0XLQPal/s1600/Jane+and+William+presentingsm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf94psMKVwduifm9M3Wc5dNHNBNbPvHSn0lliyV2j3mwEOpgC8jKJWYvtY42eY0OHgWv7RomZugvPM9S4Y6iEr97vb9B08RPHVOaNPUFLKBg0uSfoEsFF4xaclFz_kfvfjoFPgj0XLQPal/s1600/Jane+and+William+presentingsm.jpg" height="237" width="320" /></a><br />
Thursday was Minecraft day for me. Sally Bisaccio, Mike Beardsley, William and I gave a collaborative presentation to a standing room only, spilling into the hall, crowd. Called "Minecraft: This will Blow Your Mind," our talk was very well received and led to the making of many connections with fellow educators and fellow gamers. The big take away for me is that "kid" perspective is powerful.<br />
<br />
Thanks to our <i>older kid,</i> Mike, for our theme and for the video of him blowing stuff up in Minecraft. Thanks to our <i>chronological</i> kid, William, for being charming, enthusiastic, and easy with answers and demonstrations! [The crowd had a great experience because of you.] Links to our presentation material is <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/11XQKyAiTWOGWTOkoO89vPw5lR7Gjd13nIDVVrBzTxnU/edit" target="_blank">here</a>.Jane Wildehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17962056535636175639noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-796452933110526506.post-70739607619592714992013-10-31T22:13:00.001-04:002013-10-31T22:13:32.975-04:00Rich On-line Discussion<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj-C7vYHFkOdpBOob2IyHoqadmFLXJ_WW5yFRxeQMSJWndH3xj6TUVYeCy6z8vJ81ctiIvuHgv97orEbrTmXwlD6JlQRHWvEN0xV_t8hcf-7DeA8jL4FLDc45iSQak9VRSDCl759C3mXWo/s1600/ID-10039707.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj-C7vYHFkOdpBOob2IyHoqadmFLXJ_WW5yFRxeQMSJWndH3xj6TUVYeCy6z8vJ81ctiIvuHgv97orEbrTmXwlD6JlQRHWvEN0xV_t8hcf-7DeA8jL4FLDc45iSQak9VRSDCl759C3mXWo/s320/ID-10039707.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption">Image courtesy of jscreationzs / FreeDigitalPhotos.net</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
This week I led a workshop at <a href="https://gradschool.marlboro.edu/" target="_blank">Marlboro College Graduate School</a> titled "<a href="http://gradschool.marlboro.edu/news/events/#news-930" target="_blank">Online Training Tools and Learning Management</a>." During the session there was some discussion about the challenges of promoting meaningful interactions in on-line forums. This is a favorite topic of mine and I look forward to getting feedback and ideas from anyone who might read this. Here are some of my strategies.<div>
<ul>
<li><b>Be explicit about what meaningful interaction </b>looks like to you. I find that students who have never been in an online course have no idea what their job is in an asynchronous discussion forum. Students who have navigated the expectations of another online instructor may also not know what you want.</li>
<li><b>Avoid reading summaries</b>. I ask the participants to NOT summarize any assigned materials. Students who are used to submitting reflections on paper tend to start their posts by summarizing. While summaries offer the instructor an easy check that students did the reading, they are death to discourse. No one wants to read ten or twenty summaries of what they themselves have just read. I do ask them to reference what they read and explain just enough so that we understand their position.</li>
<li><b>Provide a compelling discussion prompt</b>. Sometimes I spend an hour thinking of a pithy open ended question and sometimes I just ask students to explain why something from the assigned material resonated/disturbed/confused/provoked them. I avoid questions that have an answer.</li>
<li><b>Reply to multiple posts</b>. When I engage in the conversation I don't want to interfere. I tend to summarize a group of posts, highlighting points of agreement, disagreement and possible directions for further discussion.</li>
<li><b>Email individuals</b>. I do not give feedback within the forums. I don't say good point or I think you missed the point. I don't want students to shape their interactions to get my approval or avoid my public punishment. I do try to send every student a short email early in the course acknowledging something clever or helpful that they contributed to the discussion. And I will email a student asking them to do more of this and less of that.</li>
<li><b>Shape group behavior</b>. I will make comments that shape the direction that the group is going. I will redirect a side conversation. I will encourage the class to disagree. I will ask the class to consider a new or related question.</li>
<li><b>Continue a discussion</b>. Sometimes the last couple of posts of the week or module are meaty, but unlikely to be read. I will occasionally move a promising forum to the next module and ask students to continue the discussion, maybe linking a new topic to the conversation in progress.</li>
<li><b>Writing scaffolds</b>. I have found that asking students to use these paragraph/idea starters helps them to contribute meaningfully. [An important idea I've learned] [This idea makes me think] [Carrying this idea forward] [If so, then what] [My question] [My theory] [My experience] [To improve my practice] [Putting our knowledge together] [Something I disagree with] [I'm confused by]**</li>
<li><b>Metacognition</b>. One way I have found to get students to consider what makes for a meaningful post is to ask each to pick one post that they contributed and one post that a fellow student contributed that adds value to group learning and explain why. This is a useful mid term self-evaluation exercise, and can lead to me clarifying my expectations when necessary.</li>
</ul>
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</div>
<div>
** Thanks to the <a href="http://www.ikit.org/kb.html" target="_blank">Knowledge Building</a> community and specifically <a href="http://www.albany.edu/etap/Jianwei_Zhang.php" target="_blank">Dr. Jianwei Zhang</a> for the writing scaffolds technique.</div>
Jane Wildehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17962056535636175639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-796452933110526506.post-3665817401968987282013-10-27T16:54:00.000-04:002013-10-27T16:54:15.931-04:00c- and x- MOOCs?<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;">The term "massively open online course" was coined by a canadian educator </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eW3gMGqcZQc#" style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: arial; font-size: small;">Dave Cormier</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;">, who had the idea that he could provide an enriching experience for his 25 graduate students if he opened his course to anyone interested. His students would receive his attention and get grades. The others would benefit from the materials and help his students gain a wider perspective on the topics discussed online. To his surprise several hundred people, from all over the world, signed up. His excitement and - as it turned out - success at providing a great experience for his students led his colleagues to develop the model with a "<a href="http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm" target="_blank">connectivist</a>" pedagogical orientation. They promoted two connectivist approaches, 1) learning as a conversation with multiple content experts, rather than the instructors being the teachers and 2) the building of small discourse communities within the larger group. This became known as a c-MOOC.</span><br />
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US instructors and beancounters missed the connectivist aspect and saw the opportunity to fill their auditoriums with hundreds or thousands of virtual students. Starting with a Stanford experiment that got a lot of press, another form of MOOC was developed that is primarily top down, lecture based. These have come to be known as x-MOOCs after Harvard's edX. Stanford, MIT, Harvard, <a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/daphne_koller_what_we_re_learning_from_online_education.html" target="_blank">Coursera</a> offer xMOOCs.</div>
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Most people don't know anything about c-MOOCs, because the hype of US MOOCs has obscured the original idea. And both types are still very much experimental. Both have poor completion results for the majority of people who sign up. And each offers possibilities for some learners. Perhaps most important both are having the positive effect of causing a stir in academia. How can educational institutions scale to meet the needs of more and different learners? How do we take advantage of digital technology, opens resources, global knowledge networks, and a changing view on knowledge authority? How do we promote learner engagement in online learning environments? To what extent, and how, do we create a sense of learning community?</div>
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MOOCs are also having an influence on the concept of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_data" target="_blank">Big Data</a>. These courses are constructed in a way that the instructors get a lot of data about what enrollees are doing in their courses. Though the findings are not always encouraging, the data will give educational researchers lots of material to work with to explore key questions about learning.</div>
Jane Wildehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17962056535636175639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-796452933110526506.post-26574786123127009472013-10-14T17:24:00.001-04:002013-10-14T17:32:33.710-04:00Warning textbook danger ahead<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
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Image courtesy of imagerymajestic <span style="color: #333233;">/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net</span></div>
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This past week my students have been reading and discussing the impact of digital technology on the way we know and learn. After reading Wendy Drexler's article called the Networked Student, text books as an authoritative source were compared with the variable quality of resources found on the internet.<br />
<br />
In my opinion text books are a major threat to learning in the digital age.<br />
<br />
Let me compare text books with another danger, wholeheartedly embraced in education: internet filtering.<br />
<br />
<b>Assumptions</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
Textbooks are reliable sources of information.<br />
Filters prevent age inappropriate content from being seen by minors.<br />
<br />
<b>False sense of confidence</b><br />
Textbooks and internet filtering give teachers (and students) a false sense of confidence that what will reach the student is of good quality and safe. There is little evidence to suggest that this is true. Though your school library may be very current, and your text books selected by even-handed people who share your values, this is not the case nationally. And how do we explain the "authority" of book publishers to our students so that we are saying more than "trust me." We need to teach learners to use AND evaluate all sources of information. We need to give them tools to identify currency, shared agreement, bias, blatant inaccuracy...<br />
<br />
<b>Contain or teach</b><br />
We live in a new era in which many feel that digital information is overwhelming us. Is this a minor blip on our timeline? Is this tide of content showing signs of ebbing? No, this is the new reality. We all need to be filters of internet content. As educators we need to give learners the tools to make conscious decisions about how they use their time on the internet, which sources will help them and what to do when they land somewhere they don't want to be.<br />
<br />
I am not saying that school purchased reference books should not be used. I am not saying that students should spend school time looking at sexual content. I am saying that students need the personal skills and confidence in school and out to evaluate and filter the content they use, regardless of its source.Jane Wildehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17962056535636175639noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-796452933110526506.post-23197211865804211292013-09-13T13:06:00.000-04:002013-09-13T13:06:08.855-04:00Learning, Knowing and the Myth of Transmission<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Playing Telephone</span></div>
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Image courtesy of <a href="http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/view_photog.php?photogid=1499">Ambro</a>, 2012 / FreeDigitalPhotos.net</div>
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As the fall term kicks off, both of my classes are considering what it means to learn, to know and to teach. At Marlboro each student wrote briefly about learning and knowledge and we shared our ideas. <br /><br />In exploring these issues, one of my favorite topics to consider is the widely held <b style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #741b47;">myth that teaching is the transmission of information. </span></b><div>
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In my experience, direct transmission is impossible. What is received is NEVER what is sent. I continue to be fascinated by how far off the reception is from what we think we are communicating. The affect of the following on the learner cannot be overstated.</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>past knowledge and experience</li>
<li>the mood and distractions affecting her at the time of reception</li>
<li>her interests and fears</li>
<li>her capacity to foreground the information that we are highlighting - instead of some minute static we didn't intend to deliver</li>
</ul>
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<div>
Sometimes I am amazed that we are able to communicate at all, let alone teach and learn. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
I think teaching and learning is not about transmission and reception of knowledge (as so many local politician's would have us believe).</div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
Teaching and learning is the thoughtful and active process of negotiating the meaning of the transmission in spite of all of the barriers to reception. We use a variety of strategies to support meaning making including lecture, reading, repetition, discussion, reflection, use of multiple modalities, mixed media, hands-on experiences, authentic contexts . . .</div>
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Jane Wildehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17962056535636175639noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-796452933110526506.post-53614155483157280402013-08-30T13:25:00.001-04:002013-08-30T13:26:13.795-04:00AUPs Why not CurriculumAcceptable Use Policies (AUPs) are the topic of school technology meetings, staff meetings and school board meetings everywhere in the US. Everyone is trying to make the best list of dos and don'ts for the use of technology in schools. These rules are ostensibly going to keep our computers in running order, our children safe, and our school boards free from law suits. I have attended many of these meetings and read the yearly cycle of discussion posts about building a better AUP.<br />
<br />
What is missing from the educational discussions is <b><i>teaching </i></b>and <b><i>learning</i></b>. These rules can only make sense in the context of digital citizenship, a component of our curriculum that rarely receives the attention that our AUPs do.<br />
<br />
How many of our students, parents or even teachers<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>understand and have experienced the benefits and disadvantages of communicating with people from around the world through the internet - if you haven't enjoyed its benefits and suffered its pitfalls the rules about online privacy and bullying are disconnected from reality.</li>
<li>understand the benefits and disadvantages of sharing our work on the internet - if you haven't thought deeply about that the rule to not "stealing" digital objects has little meaning.</li>
<li>have experienced writing or creating (a website, song or movie) collaboratively - will not understand the harm done when changing, damaging or insulting others' work.</li>
</ul>
<div>
It is time to embrace - not just digital devices - the digital experience in education. Instead of focusing on controlling digital behavior, we need to become digital citizens, with the knowledge and experience to help our students navigate the complexity of citizenship.</div>
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______________________________<br />
<br />
Below are the <b><i>user responsibilities</i></b> and <b><i>administrative measures</i></b> from a typical AUP (quoted from <a href="http://www.vtvsba.org/policy/g11.pdf" target="_blank">Vermont School Board Association</a>)<br />
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<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">All users of District electronic resources are expected to act in a responsible, ethical and legal </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">manner. Specifically, the following uses are prohibited:</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">1. Commercial or for-profit uses. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">2. Product advertisement or political lobbying. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">3. Bullying or harassment</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">4. Offensive or inflammatory communication, including hate mail, discriminatory remarks </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">or “sexting.”. Unauthorized or illegal installation, distribution, reproduction or use of copyrighted </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">materials. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">6. Accessing sending, receiving, transferring, viewing sharing or downloading obscene, </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">pornographic, lewd or otherwise illegal materials, images or photographs. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">7. Inappropriate language or profanity.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">8. Impersonation of another user. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">9. Loading or using unauthorized games, programs, files or other electronic media. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">10. Disabling or bypassing the Internet blocking/filtering software without authorization. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">11. Accessing, sending, receiving, transferring, viewing, sharing or downloading confidential </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">information without authorization.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">... The administrative procedures developed under this policy shall include Internet </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">safety measures that provide for the monitoring of online activities by minors and address the </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">following: </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">1. Control of access by minors to inappropriate matter on the Internet and World Wide </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Web. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">2. Safety and security of minors when using electronic mail, chat rooms, and other forms of </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">direct electronic communications. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">3. Prevention of unauthorized online access by minors, including “hacking” and other </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">unlawful activities. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">4. Unauthorized disclosure, use, dissemination of personal information regarding minors. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">5. Restriction of minors’ access to materials harmful to them.</span><br />
<br />Jane Wildehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17962056535636175639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-796452933110526506.post-87844492004777157672013-05-27T20:27:00.001-04:002013-05-28T11:51:15.112-04:00Jokay, Techo Tim and a Trade Fair<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwDsf9dLjOqcu35Qqr0uSvxuEGI5z9w6hntvl7aQi4Ge3adlJrj1hsAwsLNReGldOWx9PUsiwbEOAGZ4qJugFQZRDYryL7eg2f2WmL1F6xy3YOyd6IvdMcKKkmLqys-yl7WXFqkkshu3f_/s1600/first+meeting+jokay.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><img border="0" height="244" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwDsf9dLjOqcu35Qqr0uSvxuEGI5z9w6hntvl7aQi4Ge3adlJrj1hsAwsLNReGldOWx9PUsiwbEOAGZ4qJugFQZRDYryL7eg2f2WmL1F6xy3YOyd6IvdMcKKkmLqys-yl7WXFqkkshu3f_/s320/first+meeting+jokay.png" width="320" /></a><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: black;">During our first in-world class, we interviewed Jo Kay (Jokay Woolongoong) about Jokaydia, how she came to start it and the types of projects that are happening on the grid. She explains many of the affordances of virtual worlds. Our recorded meeting can be seen <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgYzW-urSTI" target="_blank">here</a>.</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqU46s0FTD-wOxP-cMy2M4MHBXmnO0wJ4AB5rz8hi2vbhfDUH82hn89Zh2gJnCks4YPblgv-7YnUE62dtVPxFuv3ALQ9S5kB5BdzDMmC_J8urpA4jPuhM-pefwShi6bcJuPgrKCLhRerhz/s1600/Tim.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqU46s0FTD-wOxP-cMy2M4MHBXmnO0wJ4AB5rz8hi2vbhfDUH82hn89Zh2gJnCks4YPblgv-7YnUE62dtVPxFuv3ALQ9S5kB5BdzDMmC_J8urpA4jPuhM-pefwShi6bcJuPgrKCLhRerhz/s320/Tim.png" width="284" /></a>The we received a tour by Technotool Tim of North Country School District. In his region he provides landscape design students the chance to try out their design in 3D. Our recorded meeting with Tim can be seen <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIbzgGN2f3M" target="_blank">here</a>.</div>
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Sunday a group of us attended the North Coast TAFE virtual trade fair. A group of marketing/business students put on the fair to practice developing and presenting marketing services to a virtual client. As is often the case in virtual worlds - after the serious work we had a little fun in the Mystery Box.</div>
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<span id="goog_1970285914"></span><span id="goog_1970285915"></span>Jane Wildehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17962056535636175639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-796452933110526506.post-92159256321290893592013-05-27T19:52:00.000-04:002013-05-27T19:52:06.875-04:00Reflecting on the move to JokaydiagridThis is now the 6th year in which I have taught the course Teaching and Learning in Virtual Worlds. Though the name is being changed to Games and Simulations, and the course has gone through a redesign each term, it still has the same goal. To explore the potential of 3D virtual spaces for learning.<br />
<br />
Home base is now Jokaydiagrid. I am unexpectedly pleased with the transition away from Second Life. Jokaydia lacks the critical mass that offered so much on Second Life, always people to find (40,000 at any given time in SL, often only 1 in JG), always educational, art and music events to attend, talented designers creating beautiful, fanciful, terrifying vistas, and accessible experts from every field willing to meet with curious learners. But the very thing that makes SL a resource to experienced users makes it formidable, inaccessible and scary. In the limited time a one credit course affords, there wasn't enough time to fully take advantage of SL.<br />
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Jokaydia is welcoming. Easy (relatively - for those who have been climbing the steep learning curve). And in the first two weeks that my students spent getting acclimated to the new environment they were not accosted by anyone but me. The 17 men and women who are students and the 4 returnees who are helpers have adjusted well. All have created an avatar and learned the basics. Some have already had opportunities to meet together in world, meet other educators and participate in an event. Not bad for week 3 in a place that often seems empty.<br />
<br />
My "classroom" is as it was in SL non traditional and evolving. Some would say messy. But that is what makes it interesting for me.<br />
<br />Jane Wildehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17962056535636175639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-796452933110526506.post-77940889770427637682013-03-25T17:00:00.000-04:002013-03-25T17:00:10.388-04:00Project IGNITE VTToday I participated on panel of educational innovators for the <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/connectedvoicesprojectvt/project-ignite" target="_blank">Project IGNITE</a> (Identify, Gather, & Nurture Innovative Transformative Educators) workshop. Four panelists: Lucy Gray, Anthony DiLaura, Kyle Brumbaugh and I attended the workshop via Google Hangouts. My topic: Gaming in Education.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="true" frameborder="0" height="389" mozallowfullscreen="true" src="https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1-f1hJsWsKC782n9jHbZQ3YIFuCQXr0pflY3KHPK0Wi0/embed?start=false&loop=false&delayms=3000" webkitallowfullscreen="true" width="480"></iframe>Jane Wildehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17962056535636175639noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-796452933110526506.post-79207042938550536272013-03-01T16:41:00.000-05:002013-03-25T16:42:03.508-04:00But what about the violence?Today I was asked about the problem of violence with regard to gaming in school. I seem to field this question a lot and have a lot of different responses. I will use this post to collect my ideas and invite your comments to help me make my position clearer. The role of violence in games is complex and the role of violence in games in schools is equally complex.<br />
<br />
<b>Team or individual victory</b><br />
Most games, whether on video screen or off have victory as the ultimate goal. Basketball, hopscotch, speed skating, spelling bees, chess and checkers, Age of Empires (computer), Chaos and Order (mobile internet) all have this in common. The object is to prove you are (your team is) better, smarter, faster, stronger. Consider the language of victory. We "crush" our opponents, we "blast" past them, we "destroy" their pieces. Is this "violence" or the domination of pieces on the game board.<br />
<br />
<b>Real, almost real, virtually real, fantasy, abstraction.</b><br />
I don't know if the distinction ultimately matters but it seems worth raising the point. In sports controlled aggression is real and physical, one player blocks, tackles, picks and rolls, body checks another.<br />
In checkers, we "capture" the opponents pieces and they are removed from the board.<br />
In role playing games like WoW and OaC fantastic wars between creatures are fought, those killed are sent to the cemetary (removed from the board or returned home) from where they can start again. While in first person shooters, virtual militaries fight each other. On the screen no one really gets hurt.<br />
<br />
<b>Does virtual violence lead to violence in daily life?</b><br />
There is research to support both sides of the argument, but all of it lacks a thorough examination of the concept of violence. There is no research that compares the effect of violent behavior on the football field with violent behavior on the computer screen. Or the study of civil war weaponry in school with violence on the playground.<br />
<br />
<b>Do kids know the difference between video games and real life?</b><br />
There is evidence to suggests that very young children (pre-schoolers) can not discern the difference between events that happen on the screen and those that happen in real life. (Segovia and Bailenson, 2009). But ask any third grader the difference between what happens in a game and in real life, and they will tell you. "It's only a game."<br />
<br />
<b>Is there violence in School?</b><br />
No, and yes. One of our imperatives is to keep children safe. Yet, because there is violence in the real world we study violence in school. We try to understand history through wars. The civil war is a favorite topic among teachers and students because it can be made so real. We watch reenactments, visit battlefields, study armor and weapons. Many boys (and I dare say history teachers) imagine themselves victors on the battlefield. In elementary school we introduce the terrible brutality of Naziism through the eyes of young children who suffered. We study scary stuff in which children have been not only heros but victims. And there is no getting around that all children experience some form of victimization by bigger, stronger, smarter, children.<br />
<br />
<b>What do games do?</b><br />
Those who embrace gaming as a source of good learning and even good social action argue that games give us a break from the challenges of daily life. Games give us a sense of accomplishment that we associate with fun. Getting better at games leads to self confidence. Games teach us to collaborate with teammates who share a common goal and complementary skills. Games help us feel optimistic and competent. (McGonigal, 2010, JP Gee, 2012)<br />
<br />
For myself the violence in games is background noise. When I play, my goal isn't to kill, it is to save myself, save my team, save the world. But that is one perspective. I guess the only way to really answer the question, "But what about the violence?" is to talk about the issues and encourage the questioner to decide. What are your thoughts?<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
------------<br />
<b>References</b><br />
Gee, J.P. (2012). Learning with video games, Edutopia via Youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnEN2Sm4IIQ<br />
McGonigal, J. (2010). Gaming can make a better world. TED http://www.ted.com/talks/jane_mcgonigal_gaming_can_make_a_better_world.html<br />
Segovia, K. and Bailenson, J. (2009). Virtually true: Children’s acquisition of false memories in virtual reality. Media Psychology (12) 371–393Jane Wildehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17962056535636175639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-796452933110526506.post-23713739917569700452012-09-19T11:37:00.001-04:002012-09-19T11:45:42.762-04:00Learning and Knowledge<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.briarpress.org/?q=system/files/images/bulfinch6.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://www.briarpress.org/?q=system/files/images/bulfinch6.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">image licensed under creative commons by<br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; text-align: left;">Briar Press, at </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><a href="http://briarpress.org/">briarpress.org</a></em></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In my two classes this past week, we've been discussing Bruner's (1996) notion of Folk Pedagogy - the set of beliefs a person holds about knowledge, learning
and how one learns. (Folk Pedagogy is a laywoman's "epistemology.")<br />
<br />
Some of the key distinctions among these beliefs include the nature of knowledge: what it is, where does it sit, who possesses it, is it an objective entity, does knowledge get transferred from one entity/person to another, can one transfer one's knowledge to another, how does one acquire knowledge, what is the outcome of teaching, what is the antecedent of learning, how does learning occur, what model best explains the brain, knowledge and learning.<br />
<br />
<br />
I recently asked my students to blog about these to questions. Below I consider my own answers.<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>What is learning?</li>
<li>What is knowledge?</li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />
<b>Knowledge</b><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
There is
knowledge that the individual holds, that a group holds, that is stored in
books, databases, devices, and knowledge that we aspire to gain. I believe that the word knowledge refers to
skill, ability and our explanations of our environment and the problems we
face. As we interact with the world our knowledge develops. I don't think there
is much "objective knowledge;" <b><i>there are currently accepted "facts."</i></b>
But knowledge evolves and changes. One who seeks knowledge is more concerned with the testing, interpretation and advancement of currently accepted information, than with the acquisition of facts. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><i>Personal
knowledge is highly idiosyncratic</i></b>. What we know is based on the unique
combination and order of experiences we have had and the degree of interest
with which we engaged with those experiences. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Learning</b> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Learning is a process of
examining our existing knowledge in the face of new information. It is not the direct transfer
of knowledge from one person to another. A teacher does not transfer a
packet of knowledge from her knowledge store to that of the learner. A teacher conveys a verbal (or other) representation
of her knowledge. A learner will interpret this representation through the dual
lenses of her past knowledge and her interest. Is this information worth
looking at closely? Does it make sense in the context of prior knowledge? Does
it ring true based on past experience?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><i>Our definitions of knowledge and learning are changing</i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
In a world in which information is abundant and
accessible, and in which our lives are filled with complex problems, people no
longer rely - for their day to day living - on the knowledge which they alone
hold. We have the capacity to work with knowledge that is outside of ourselves
(we operate the controls of a machine and make woven fabric without having a
knowledge of weaving, we cook food that we do not know how to raise or gather,
we compute large amounts of data and draw conclusions that we could not draw
based on our own knowledge alone, experts in biology, economy, and health
interact with the knowledge that exists in their "fields" and among
multiple fields).<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><i>My own notions of knowledge and learning are evolving. </i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Through my own study of knowledge and learning and and reflection on my own practice as a learner and teacher I become aware of my beliefs. My "knowledge about knowledge" is challenged by the ideas of my colleagues and by my own observation. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
I hope that my students will teach their students to reflect about learning and knowing and encourage them to expand their ideas.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Reference:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span id="yui_3_5_1_1_1348068920499_977" style="font-size: x-small;">Bruner, J. (1996). Folk pedagogy, in <em>The Culture Of Education.</em> Cambridge MA, Harvard University Press. Ch2 (44-65)</span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Jane Wildehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17962056535636175639noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-796452933110526506.post-85551966815532200902012-07-16T13:48:00.001-04:002012-07-16T13:48:25.616-04:00Learning with and from childrenToday I had an amazing experience of teaching and learning in a virtual world. The world is MineCraft. I am the learner. The teacher: the 10 year old son of one of my students (a teacher). <br />
<br />
Preamble...<br />
My teacher, we'll call him Bear has been present on and off throughout my graduate course for teachers. He helped his mother make the transition from Second Life to World of Warcraft. And though he hadn't experienced WoW before, he knew enough about virtual worlds and gaming to offer suggestions for how to locate and activate inventory, navigate a map, and overcome the short term effects of game-death. He served as an expert discussant during a class meeting about gaming and schools. And while precocious and articulate he is very much a bubbling active curious kid.<br />
<br />
My classroom<br />
Bear sits at the laptop on his kitchen table while his Mom looks on. I sit in my office 100 miles away. For this first session we each have a single player version of the game open, and Bear shares his screen through Skype. I occasionally ask Bear to slow down, but his instructions are impeccable. His explanations are thorough. He has decided, correctly, that I need to know some things to get started and that other things can wait until I have more experience. (How does he know that? Does he intuit it? Has he taught this course before? Or has he modeled his teaching after some similar experience he's had as a learner?). I follow along setting up my new world as he creates his.<br />
<br />
My first impression is about the representational nature of the game. Every object is a variation of a block. Like legos there are cut-away pieces to make trees and plants. And like legos most things are made of cubes. If it is a white cube it is snow, a light blue cube is ice, a dark blue cube is water. Minerals are more interesting but look nothing like the rock, coal, precious metal or stone that it represents. This is a game that demands you to see with your imagination, to identify small color changes in a pixilated pattern to distinguish gold from coal.<br />
<br />
Next I notice that the game is layered with complexity. It is apparent that to learn to play you need intellectual resources. Bear reports that mostly he uses trial and error to figure stuff out and is usually right, but he does turn to websites and online friends to help. There is a set of knowledge that must become automatic in order to move on to higher levels of crafting and battling, click combinations, early tool recipes, effective use of the world resources.<br />
<br />
The boy comes out.<br />
Bear is patient. He slows down, repeats himself and answers my questions without apparent annoyance. And from time to time his excitement overwhelms him and the boy-teacher becomes a boy. He zips around the screen slashing, building, digging and cooing "Isn't this so cool." I hold back my questions to allow the wave of enthusiasm to take me up. This teacher is passionate and he is able to share that with me - his student. Even if, at those moments, I cannot learn to do what he is doing, I can learn to want to do what he is doing.<br />
<br />
As teachers, parents, researchers we can speculate about what young people are doing in these new digital spaces. We can try them out (we must try them out) and uncover what we might do in the spaces. But we also must talk to, play with, learn from kids. They are now operating in a collaborative world where they are often learner and teacher. They are developing new ways to learn and we can learn from them how to teach.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-796452933110526506.post-74341937284268696072012-06-13T16:37:00.001-04:002012-06-13T16:37:08.196-04:00Transnational relationsOlive and I spent a couple of hours together today.<br />
<br />
Two women facing a challenge, with no clear cut solution, working together to save a virtual land. Marlboro Island in Second Life, where my TLVW class meets and works, suffered its first grief attack in years. A visitor set off the nuisance tetris script, which generates physical boxes, ad infinitum. Boxes that fill the island in three dimensions, boxes that push avatars off platforms, boxes that crash sims. Together Olive and I worked to report and ban the offending avatar, delete his objects (repeatedly), stop all scripts (unsuccessfully), stop this script. There was urgency. Keep the sim from crashing. Solve the problem before other students arrive. It took real time, real thinking, real effort, real collaboration. Finally Olive found the source and deleted it.<br />
<br />
Two women talking. About our experiences, about our class, about what we've read and thought about. Two women who know very little about each other's "real lives," brought together in virtual space. We have common experiences, like two people who have spent a lot of time together. One tells a story and it resonates for the other. One points out something funny and the other finds humor there too. We share emotions and insights. We are two women, one american, one egyptian who would not know each other if not for a virtual connection.<br />
<br />
<br />Jane Wildehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17962056535636175639noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-796452933110526506.post-50583727132391457492012-06-01T00:28:00.000-04:002012-06-01T00:28:07.356-04:00One month reflection on TLVW2012<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VZZiJb8Ggqw/T8hCT05hv0I/AAAAAAAAAVw/xYyW1Dqy3oU/s1600/Esme+at+check+in+point_002.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="348" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VZZiJb8Ggqw/T8hCT05hv0I/AAAAAAAAAVw/xYyW1Dqy3oU/s640/Esme+at+check+in+point_002.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
One of the curiosities for me about my current Teaching and Learning in Virtual Worlds class is the question: What makes it easy for some students to work in Second Life and difficult for others?<br /><br />This term 14 of 20 my active students have no previous experience in Second Life. Of them only one identifies himself as a gamer who has played an MMORPG (in this case WoW). This is the extent of my objective knowledge of the group. What follows is anecdotal and wildly speculative. My speculations will I hope lead to questions and hypotheses that could be studied systematically.<br /><br />Since this is the 5th group of students that I have had in this course, I have noticed some things about my students, the platform and my teaching that may be patterns.<br /><br /><b>Teachers as learners</b><br /><br />
In my 12 years of teaching teachers I have drawn the following (speculative) conclusions:<br />
<ol>
<li>We tend to be people who have excelled in a traditional educational environment.</li>
<li>Those who have excelled in a traditional educational environment are used to getting A’s, expect to succeed, and have limited experience with failure and ambiguity.</li>
<li>Unlike gamers that are used to failing in order to succeed, we do not easily persevere in the face of failure. Frustration comes easily, especially when a computer is involved.</li>
</ol>
<br /><b>My learners</b><br />
<ol>
<li>Teachers in a technology program are as a group somewhat braver, more innovative and non traditional than the average teacher.</li>
<li>While I get the exceptions, most of my students have excelled in a traditional educational environment.</li>
<li>My students approach SL with a range of curiosity and terror; and more often than not a combination of curiosity and terror.</li>
<li>Successful students get hooked on some aspect of the virtual world environment: the playfulness, the building, the self expression, the global community… They don’t necessarily become ongoing members of the VW community, but they are able to apply experiences they’ve had to their own teaching and learning and they seem better able to relate to their students about online lives.</li>
<li>I identify unsuccessful students as those who complete the course but never fully understand why it is necessary for educators to know about this medium. They go through the motions and are able to move, dress and teleport with their avatar, but they don’t feel any connection to their virtual representative. (4 people out of 46 student or 8.5% from the last four classes: 2 out of 16, 2 out of 14, 0 out of 12, 0 out of 4)</li>
<li>At the start, my successful students are as a group no less terrified or needy than my unsuccessful students. I do think there are differences but I don’t as yet know what they are.</li>
</ol>
<br /><b>The VW platform</b><br />
<ol>
<li>There is way too much going on - on the screen in any virtual world but especially SL. Too many buttons, too many menus, too many popup windows - it is more complex than photoshop! On the other hand the basic interface in V2 was too basic. People who are used to exploring new pieces of software have a much easier time getting started.</li>
<li>The SL experience challenges people in a number of ways that differ from person to person.<br /><u>Avatar movement and view controls</u> are the first and hardest to master. Once a user can maneuver their avatar and their perspective they have a much more comfortable experience. But they do not realize that this is the most important thing to practice in the beginning as it provides no immediate gratification. (Dressing one’s avatar is much more gratifying and ultimately less useful.)<br /><u>Multiple communication channels</u> offer one of the most powerful aspects of VWs, but are way over stimulating in the beginning. The open chat window helps you look back at missed discussion, but it takes up a lot of room on the screen. Starting an Instant Message takes several steps (people -> my friends -> double click) that are cumbersome and forgettable at first. Received IMs are easily missed until the learner is able to notice all of the varied buttons, windows and alerts on her screen. Voice seems to work right away for some people and for others it doesn’t come until they are SL experts in every other way.<br /><u>Getting back home</u> is difficult and scary for new users. A learner can’t set the classroom as home until she has joined the university group. 4 Weeks in and I haven’t gotten all students to notice my (repeated) group invitations. So though they all now have a landmark to our classroom they have not all got it as there home landing point.</li>
<li>I am using three distinct platforms that add to the overall cognitive load: SL, Moodle and Email. Because Email is ubiguitous, it may seem strange to mention it as a separate platform. I like to use email for things that are time sensitive - but find it doesn’t work. I find that learners do not “get” as much from email as I expect. It is too much to manage that third source of information. </li>
</ol>
<br /><b>About me and my part</b><br />
<br />
I am becoming aware of some of my own qualities that aid in and detract from a smooth transition to the virtual.<br /><br />
<ol>
<li>I believe in the power of kindness and relationship in the art of teaching. I think this works for everyone.</li>
<li>I am in-world early and often to help and scaffold (invite phone calls and 1 on 1 appointments in SL). If I can get each learner to spend 5 hours in SL during the first two weeks I believe I can make it a successful experience. People who don’t spend that much time or who don’t ask for help after the first two weeks sometimes slip through the cracks. It takes me a full month to know every one of my online students.</li>
<li>I am flexible as to what I expect from learners with different needs. While this is helpful for many, my flexibility is a double edged sword. Often the people who find SL disturbing also find my flexibility disturbing. They want to be told exactly what to do and what is expected without wiggle room.</li>
<li>I am unable to design a course before I know the participants. (This could be a much deeper psychological problem than I am willing to admit :) I am always redesigning. This is extremely disturbing to the same people who find my flexibility and SL’s other worldliness disconcerting. I cannot over emphasize this because it is a limitation of any study that might be done about my students in SL. This will be a confounding variable that must be teased from the factors related to the platform and learners.</li>
</ol>
<br />As I writing this I see some things that could be highlighted at the beginning of my next course. Avatar control, communication and getting home obviously need more explicit attention. And controlling my impulse to redesign may be worth the price of a couple of counseling sessions ;-)<br />A more gentle introduction to failure as a learning practice may be helpful too. And while I believe that as teachers we can reach everyone. It helps to know the different needs of learners. I am still no clearer about the learner characteristics that may support more or less success.<br /><br />Dear reader, as always I would love your comments, own reflections, and challenges to my speculations.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-796452933110526506.post-79106321718929247702012-05-16T17:26:00.000-04:002012-05-16T17:26:16.610-04:00Modified Quest-Based Learning<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PmrW_5x5BKo/T7QbHGv0sqI/AAAAAAAAAVg/S9rJmbiPyl4/s1600/TLVW2012.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PmrW_5x5BKo/T7QbHGv0sqI/AAAAAAAAAVg/S9rJmbiPyl4/s400/TLVW2012.png" width="366" /></a></div>
Last month I participated in the three week Teacher Camp: <a href="http://3dgamelab.org.shivtr.com/">3DGamelab</a>, run by Lisa Dawley and Chris Haskill. Quest-based pedagogy was the theme. Quest-based learning was the process. We went on quests, we used the 3DGamelab tools - a learning management system and guild site that facilitated good gaming practices in teaching and learning.<br />
<br />
With my new term of Teaching and Learning in Virtual Worlds beginning soon, my mind exploded with the possibilities. I started to move my quests from Second Life to 3DGamelab. Then reality hit. Quest development is a craft that takes practice. And May 8th was on the next page of my virtual calendar.<br />
<br />
So Teaching and Learning in Virtual Worlds 2012 has begun. I have made significant but manageable (haha) changes to the design. We have not moved to 3DGameLab but we are questing.<br />
<ul>
<li>First I have invited non-matriculated students to join from around the world (a mini <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massive_open_online_course" target="_blank">MOOC</a> of sorts with representation from seven countries)</li>
<li>A thin but mostly relevant narrative ties the themes of the course and my quests together. Jane and Esme are leaders of a study abroad program, the participants are studying the cultural and pedagogical practices of the metaverse.</li>
<li>Except for the first two weeks, the modules/quest-chains are independent. As long as a learner completes low level quests before higher level quests they can pick quests from different chains at different times.</li>
<li>Not all quests need to be completed. Choice is built into each quest chain.</li>
<li>Reward systems are clunky and manual (meaning that they aren't immediate) but learners level up based on experience points: roadie -> tourist -> traveler -> adventurer....</li>
<li>Experience points are the number of points assigned in the Moodle grader. Who knew that you could use the grader to tally vs average and that there is no apparent cap on how many points you can assign. I give full credit (xp) or ask for the quest to be resubmitted with guidance.</li>
<li>Some assignments pay Linden$ (and later copper in WoW) and various virtual goods that can be traded in the DUTY-Free Shopping Exchange (moodle forum).</li>
<li>It's rough around the edges because I am developing as I go. But I always seem to be redesigning along the way so this is just me doing what I do - making learning and teaching messy.</li>
</ul>
<br />
If you would like to learn more about what we are doing please reply.<br />
Esme and JaneAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-796452933110526506.post-62457054211864640742012-01-12T17:10:00.000-05:002012-01-12T17:10:42.884-05:00Dispositions and Virtual Collaboration<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3eo2l0rPykw/Tw9Z6-KBN0I/AAAAAAAAATs/U_gw2PW5zF0/s1600/distant+collaboration.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3eo2l0rPykw/Tw9Z6-KBN0I/AAAAAAAAATs/U_gw2PW5zF0/s320/distant+collaboration.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/view_photog.php?photogid=2848" target="_blank">Image: cooldesign / FreeDigitalPhotos.net</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
As I prepare to meet a new group of students in two online classes I reflect on what will help them get started. I recently reread some of the thinking about habits of mind (see article by <a href="http://www.habitsofmind.org/sites/default/files/16HOM2.pdf">Describing 16 Habits of Mind</a>). Costa and Kallick propose that there are discrete habits or disposition that, in concert, support thinking and problem solving.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<ol>
<li>Persisting</li>
<li>Communicating with clarity and precision</li>
<li>Managing impulsivity</li>
<li>Gathering data through all senses</li>
<li>Listening with understanding and empathy</li>
<li>Creating, imagining, innovating</li>
<li>Thinking flexibly</li>
<li>Responding with wonderment and awe</li>
<li>Metacognition</li>
<li>Taking responsible risks</li>
<li>Striving for accuracy and precision</li>
<li>Finding humor</li>
<li>Questioning and problem posing</li>
<li>Thinking interdependently</li>
<li>Applying past knowledge to new situations</li>
<li>Remaining open to continuous learning</li>
</ol>
</blockquote>
With a bit of training, learners can develop these habits to improve their performance on learning tasks.<br />
<br />
These habits of mind transfer to learning in online environments, and provide a basis for thinking about the unique challenges of learning and collaborating online. Because of the unique affordances of virtual learning spaces, it might be necessary to expand the definition of or add to the dispositions on this list.<br />
<br />
In a recent <a href="https://sas.elluminate.com/site/external/jwsdetect/playback.jnlp?psid=2012-01-03.0949.M.3A0EAE843895F0175E240FB3B50AA6.vcr&sid=2008104" target="_blank">presentation</a> to the <a href="http://change.mooc.ca/index.html" target="_blank">#Change11</a> course, <a href="http://www.rheingold.com/howard/" target="_blank">Howard Rheingold</a> talked about Attention as a digital literacy (see also this <a href="http://www.educause.edu/EDUCAUSE+Review/EDUCAUSEReviewMagazineVolume45/AttentionandOther21stCenturySo/213922" target="_blank">article in the Educause Review</a>). With the abundance of information and opportunities to connect on the internet, our attention is constantly being redirected. It was refreshing to hear him address attention not as a behavior that is either present or absent, good or bad. Like Costa and Kallick, Rheingold sees Attention as a set of skills and attitudes that can taught and developed. He advocates the development of mindfullness regarding where a learner is directing her attention, and strategies for making what he calls "micro decisions" when ones attention is interrupted.<br />
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Together habits of mind and Rheingold's literacies will offer my incoming students a good start to online learning. Yet there are other dispositions that I believe are critical to success in virtual learning environments. <br />
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As I write three come to mind:<br />
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<u>Norming</u>. Making explicit what the norms will be for communication, behavior, timeliness, appearance. If it is a synchronous meeting, are multiple threads managable by the participants. Do I type while another is "talking" or wait and allow pauses between each contribution. Under what conditions do I use the mic or type my contribution. How to we notice when some people are not getting "airtime". Because we CAN work from home in our pajamas, does that mean we agree that during a Skype conference, it is ok to be dressed informally. If we represent ourselves with avatars, are there expectations about what those avatars will and will not look like.<br />
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<u>Preparing</u>. Some people and some environments demand a period of time to switch realities from the physical to the virtual. For instance the transition from sitting in my solitary office to being in a group of people in a Collaborate (formerly Elluminate) session or a virtual meeting in Second Life is instant. Without the time to drive to a physical meeting, adjust my clothing when I get out of my car and walk to the meeting room, I may find myself disoriented and unprepared to get right to work.<br />
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<u>Sharing</u>. Online learning environments are often collaborative spaces where learners may be called upon to participate in ways they are not used to. When I attend a physical conference session, I may be invited to ask questions at the end. When I attend a virtual conference, I often participate in "back chat" through the text channel while the presenter is speaking. As a presenter and learner the ability to engage in back channel discussions involves a willingness to share and a set of skills for handling multiple forms of communication.<br />
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These may be a start. Help me tease out the habits/disposition of online learning and collaboration. Comment below either to elaborate on these three or to expand my list.<br />
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<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-796452933110526506.post-47849961684877099662011-11-29T17:14:00.001-05:002012-01-12T21:42:37.033-05:00Anchors for GlossaryTeaching always makes me to learn. Usually it happens in discussion when learners share their thoughts - and they are different from mine. Sometime the difference is small but causes me to reconsider. Sometime the difference is huge and I get to struggle with my own perspective, incorporate this new way of seeing and figure out what I now know.<br />
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At other times, a student asks a question, that seems straightforward to them, but I don't know the answer (not even a lame answer). I could go into a long post about how I came to be ok about not knowing answers. But this post is actually about providing the answer (maybe a lame one) to a specific how-to while blogging question. Joan this is for you. Readers, if you know less lame answers please comment.<br />
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Joan has created a blogger.com blog for and with young children. She wants to be able to link key words to definitions but is not keen on what happens when she links to dictionary.com (it is busy and the reader ends up leaving the blog). I link from my blog often but have never been been trying to do a similar task. It would be awesome if the text definition popped up like they do on the NYT page, leaving the readers in the same spot. But that is probably way to fancy.<br />
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I searched the blogger.com gadgets to see if there is a gadget in which Joan could build a glossary. I looked for askaword-like gadgets that lead to a preexisting dictionary. I looked for online collaborative glossary tools. No luck. But here's my current answer.<br />
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1. Create a new page on the blog called glossary. (Yeah the tab will show but that isn't so bad if it is one page and not a page for every word.)<br />
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2. On that page build your glossary like <a href="http://esmequnhua.blogspot.com/p/glossary.html">this</a> (of course this is my sample glossary - see the tab at the top of this blog). I have three terms in my glossary: Virtual Worlds, Pedagogy and Online Learning. Virtual Worlds has not been bold-ed yet. Pedagogy has been bold-ed but is not ready to link to. Online learning is both bold-ed and ready to link to.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-A7tI7yWD8FE/Tw-SrhXR4kI/AAAAAAAAAUc/v-qsNAfjCXs/s1600/anchor_code_in_blogger3.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-A7tI7yWD8FE/Tw-SrhXR4kI/AAAAAAAAAUc/v-qsNAfjCXs/s640/anchor_code_in_blogger3.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">HTML code for setting anchors on a glossary page (code for bold and new line <br />
are also visible)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<br />
3. While in edit on your glossary page, choose HTML next to the COMPOSE button. This takes you behind the scenes into the HTML code of the page. Mostly it just looks like text but you will see some non-text stuff. In the above example look at the code in my glossary (which contains only 3 words and a lot of space for this example).<br />
<ul>
<li>Look at "Virtual Words" in the above code. It is just text. </li>
<li>Look at "Online Learning." It has the code <span style="background-color: #cccccc;"> b </span> and <span style="background-color: #cccccc;">/b</span> on either side in brackets. This is the code for <b>bold</b> that was applied to the HTML when I pressed the <b>B</b> bold button on the tool bar in COMPOSE</li>
<li>Look at Pedagogy. It has this code <span style="background-color: #cccccc;">a name= "pedagogy"</span> and <span style="background-color: #cccccc;"> /a </span> before and it in brackets. This code is called an anchor and makes it possible to link to this specific place on the glossary page. As in the previous example <span style="background-color: #cccccc;"> b </span> and <span style="background-color: #cccccc;">/b</span> will make the word <b>Pedagogy</b> appear bold.</li>
</ul>
4. While in Edit mode on your glossary page, AND in HTML (not COMPOSE), copy the code as above. Add <span style="background-color: #cccccc;">a name= "youranchorword" </span>in front of each of your glossary terms and <span style="background-color: #cccccc;"> /a <span style="background-color: white;"> after</span></span>. Use the < > symbols as brackets. Replace <span style="background-color: #cccccc;">"youranchorword"</span> each time with a word that you will remember to refer to this term. In my example glossary I will use "pedagogy" for Pedagogy, "online" for Online Learning and "virtual" for Virtual World. Publish your glossary page to save it. You can edit it at any time.<br />
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5. Go to a post in your blog that contains words that you want to link to your glossary. In edit mode AND in COMPOSE (not HTML), highlight the word and choose the link button in the tool bar. (We can do this in HTML but it means more code!) Paste the url to your glossary page. You may need to open it in another tab in order to get the address. Follow the address with <span style="background-color: #cccccc;">#youranchorword</span>, where pedagogy is the anchor word you used for that item in your glossary. Click ok in the link editor and publish your blog post. The link will turn blue. When you click it, you will open your glossary with the anchored word in the top most position of the page.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YVXXBRBxST4/Tw-Z6gwbtiI/AAAAAAAAAUo/QtV8Ksgzj4U/s1600/link+editor.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="248" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YVXXBRBxST4/Tw-Z6gwbtiI/AAAAAAAAAUo/QtV8Ksgzj4U/s400/link+editor.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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6. Test our my glossary words now that I have anchored each of them: <a href="http://esmequnhua.blogspot.com/p/glossary.html#virtual" target="_blank">Virtual Worlds</a>, <a href="http://esmequnhua.blogspot.com/p/glossary.html#online" target="_blank">Online Learning</a>, <a href="http://esmequnhua.blogspot.com/p/glossary.html#pedagogy" target="_blank">Pedagogy</a>Jane Wildehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17962056535636175639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-796452933110526506.post-27753260701401993542011-10-25T17:38:00.001-04:002011-10-25T17:38:53.245-04:00Self AssessmentToday I read Jeffrey Keefer's post "<a href="http://silenceandvoice.com/2011/10/24/check-in-on-change11-goals-and-expectations/">Check in on Change11 goals and expectations</a>" in which he reviews the 3 goals he set at the start of the Change11 MOOC and asks himself how he is doing. I am challenged to do the same. Thanks Jeffrey.<br /><br />On September 30 I wrote:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Today I've decided that I will spend less time on instructor generated material and more on participant generated. I want to understand the connections [learners make], follow some ideas, see how others embrace/struggle with/modify/define the process. "</blockquote>
This is no behaviorally written object but it was a good starting point for an emerging set of questions and learning goals.<br /><br />1. I will spend less time on instructor generated material and more on participant generated.<br /><br />My participation has been sporadic<br /><ul>
<li>I read the Monday daily all the way through as it gives me a sense of the talk in the blogs.</li>
<li>I have dipped into some of the other dailys.</li>
<li>I have attempted to attend synchronous sessions</li>
<li>Besides the daily and the synchronous sessions I have successfully avoided reading/watching an facilitator content. I have decided that I don't want to see the content through the facilitators eyes I want to see how others make meaning of it (or how I make meaning of what they say about their meaning making :).</li>
<li>When I read learner posts I dig deeply, read the posts and any comments, reflect in my journal, often comment and follow links to the author's other posts or links to referenced writers (unless they are facilitators).</li>
</ul>
2. I want to understand the connections [learners make], follow some ideas, see how others embrace/struggle with/modify/define the process.<br /><br />This is harder to answer in one sitting. Some initial thoughts and the next questions I want to explore. <br /><ul>
<li>There really is a diversity of opinion here. I cannot say we are are a fully heterogeneous group. There is a high degree of education and computer facility. But I expected more agreement, more indoctrination perhaps. I am finding debate refreshing. What are the ways that we as a group diverge? How do facilitators handle difference. (I saw one very welcoming response to disagreement from George.)</li>
<li>Some people are grappling with the challenge of so much content and so little direction. This too is refreshing. I wonder if practice is all that is needed to take control of learning. Or does it take specific regulatory skills, or a certain temperament? What happens to people between their first and second MOOC? Or is three the charm? What makes a learner go on to their second MOOC, if the first was frustrating.</li>
<li>Some are openly reveling in the smorgasbord of knowledge. How do they stay engaged and resist the traditional expectations to do it all?</li>
<li>MOOC researchers and MOOC learners have overlapping but different needs (researchers are also learners but learners are not necessarily researchers).</li>
</ul>
More reflection to come. Would love to hear from anyone who has written or seen a post that would lead me toward answers or more questions.<br />#change11<br />Jane Wildehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17962056535636175639noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-796452933110526506.post-27639635630856997452011-10-03T13:18:00.003-04:002011-10-03T13:20:33.247-04:00Complexity, Cognitive Load and MOOCsI've just read two posts by Michael Gallagher <a href="http://michaelgallagher.posterous.com/complexity-self-organization-and-change11-rea">Complexity, self-organization, and #Change11: reactions to Siemen's presentation</a>(1) and <a href="http://michaelgallagher.posterous.com/multiple-interfaces-cognitive-load-and-the-ec">Multiple interfaces, cognitive load and learning design: My appartment in Seoul (2)</a>. In the former Gallagher discusses the pattern making process we use to make sense from the chaotic stuff of life (and learning in a MOOC). In the latter he takes us on a fanciful tour of his high tech Korean apartment, a device to explore interface design and cognitive load.<br />
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Complexity and cognitive load - two of my favorite topics.<br />
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<u><b>Complexity</b></u><br />
I love complexity. I love to slosh about in it. But it isn't easy. My training compels me to approach problems with a linear logic. I learned to create a lovely 3x3x3 outline (three points on each of
three levels I, 1, a. b. c. ) in 6th grade. I loved the rules of
grammar. How shocked I was to learn that poetry was not always composed
in iambic pentameter. I learned well.<br />
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When I fight the compulsion I am thrilled by the meandering journey from hyperlink to hyperlink, the "collision of actors, agents, feedback, waste, noise, and then, ideally, pattern, understanding." (Gallagher, 1) <br />
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I cannot even set goals until I muck about in the complexity of a topic. I absorb a shallow Gestalt of a problem. I see the problem through lenses I didn't know existed. My interests are assaulted and piqued. Then I am able to dig deeply into an aspect of the problem, to which I think I have a chance of contributing.<br />
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When I am able the resist the temptation to take a prescribed set of steps toward a goal, I remember that I don't fully understand the learning, sense making process. One does not get <i>there</i> from <i>here</i> simply by following these steps. The collision of ideas and patterns is currently unpredictable. <br />
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<u><b>Cognitive load.</b></u><br />
Cognitive load: This term, coined by John Sweller, explains the ability or inability of a novice to process information - based on the mental demands required by germane, intrinsic and extraneous load. It attempts to reduce complexity so that learners do not apply all their cognitive resources to achieving a goal or making a "means-end analysis."<br />
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I have long balked at the idea of cognitive load. Even though I recognize it all around me and employ techniques both for coping with it and designing instruction to control for it.<br />
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Cognitive load theory is like iambic pentameter (well maybe not, but let's see how far I can go with the analogy). It is a perfectly reasonable approach to instructional design. (Ok, so far. Iambic pentameter is a reasonable approach to poetry.) Cognitive load theory works. You want someone to be able to tell you the process involved in solving a three step math problem with a known solution. Providing a worked example reduces the load involved in solving the problem and enables the learner to see and repeat the solution. (If you want to produce a catchy verse that can be quickly learned and repeated to spread a bawdy joke or the news of the kings heroism in battle, or to get a rapping gig, iambic pentameter is for you.) But it isn't the only approach teaching or learning (or poetry).<br />
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I'm not sure about this yet but I think the strategies that Sweller offers have led instructional designers and educational policy makers to focus on a means-end analysis of the "problem" of education. Means-end analyses are not bad analyses for experts, but for novices (if I understand Sweller) they lead to a narrow expedient approach to achieving a goal that misses the important aspects of learning. Cognitive load reduction leads to complexity reduction which leads to the ability to move quickly from one topic to the next, which leads to efficient memorization of factual information, with leads to high achievement on standardized test. It does not lead to deep understanding or the ability to handle complexity in life.<br />
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Novices can develop without narrowly defining their responsibilities, without controlling for "extraneous" cognitive load (that's where the sparks of clashing ideas happen). Watch any pre-schooler (and I mean <b>any</b> person who has not been to school). It is messy. It is hard to assess, because the assessor's goals and accomplishments the learner makes are often not aligned. Deep understanding and understanding within complexity takes time, it requires the opportunity to observe, to see the decisions and outcomes of experts and developing novices. It requires the opportunity to act and fail.<br />
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<u><b>MOOCing</b></u><br />
My experience being a novice in the complex learning environment of a MOOC has been messy. In my first MOOC, PLENK2010, I often felt lost. If only <i><b>they</b></i> would tell me what to do (whine, whine, whine). <i><b>They </b></i>were not providing me the scaffolding I needed. (Sorry George and Stephen, they is you.) I loved it. I learned a lot. But I wasn't sure what I was learning because the goal was not clear, and that was unnerving. This time around, in my second MOOC, #Change11, I feel like my limitations have fallen away. I don't feel compelled to <i>do it all</i>. As I've said elsewhere, I don't feel compelled to do instructor promoted reading. I'm still a novice MOOCer, but a developing one. Complexity, collisions among actors, agents, feedback, waste, noise. Bring it on. My 3D pattern-finding glasses are on.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-796452933110526506.post-37103963142961764172011-09-30T00:15:00.000-04:002011-10-05T00:40:02.435-04:00Making Change11 My OwnDave, George and Stephen have emphasized that one of the defining characteristics of a MOOC is the source of the goals. While the instructors/facilitators have a plan, (and personal goals) they do not determine the learning goals for the course. Each participant set her own goals. I think this is <b>not just</b> rhetoric. Not a variation on the "learner centered" model. MOOC and open learning in general has the potential to redefine what we mean by learning.
I imagine that for some the goals may be clear cut from the start. For others they will emerge and morph.
Like others, I am juggling many goals and all the possible content. Today I've decided that I will spend less time on instructor generated material and more on participant generated. I want to understand the connections, follow some ideas, see how others embrace/struggle with/modify/define the process. #change11Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-796452933110526506.post-23816580594228437512011-09-04T16:08:00.000-04:002011-10-02T20:36:28.921-04:00Determinism - non-Determinism Spectrum in LearningToday my colleague Rick Oller posed a dichotomy (perhaps a spectrum) with draconian on one side and organic on the other. We were discussing the application of theory to instructional design. He likes to talk about determinism and its opposite so I took that to be the meaning of his use of draconian (deterministic) and organic (non deterministic).
As I grapple with understanding and teaching about learning theory I look for ways to tease out the distinctions and similarities of our big notions about learning. I decided to apply this spectrum as a lens to consider four big educational theories.
I think the line between organic and draconian already exists within the theories with behaviorism and cognitivism on one side (draconian), constructivism and connectivism on the organic side. I won't draw the line in black, and as a techno virtualist my line runs the full gradient of gray.
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<blockquote>
<b>Cognitivism</b> is hyper draconian: instructor or content centered, rule oriented. At its basic level instructional design depends on cognitivism because the rules or design principles make the user experience pleasing and effective.</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<b>Behaviorism</b> can be either very rigid or very organic. Strict behaviorism is content centered and very structured like a recipe. On the other extreme, all interaction is a complex dynamic system of stimulus response. Negotiation, pursuasion, manipulation and love are all the outcomes of organic behaviorism.</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<b>Constructivism</b> sits in its own gray space between cognitivism and connectivism. It can be more or less instructor-, content- of learner- driven. It is always learner-driven by virtue of the underlying belief in subjective individually constructed reality.</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<b>Connectivism</b> plays well with all the other theories-practices but is decidedly learner-driven. However in connectivism, I would argue that the "learner" may be a human, a group, a system or a machine. Connectivism is not rule oriented in a hierarchical sense, but "rules" or logics (not unlike and maybe including the laws of physics) apply in the dynamic and seemingly unpredictable direction learning and connecting takes.</blockquote>
I tell my students, and anyone who will listen, that the four theories are not mutually exclusive. They are all useful. They all explain some aspects of learning. And since there are different types of learning one theory or an other is more useful depending on content and goals. Skillful teachers incorporate strategies that are based on more than one of these theories. And each of us leans toward one or another of the theories because of our understanding of reality. If your world view includes objective reality I suspect you will favor practices based on cognitivism and classical behaviorism. If you believe that reality is a construction of each individual you are likely to favor constructivism or connectivism.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0