Week 5: Wrapping Up

This course has given me the much needed chance to revisit ideas that I have been learning and mulling over for some time.

One of the most important understandings I've developed is the fact that simply knowing that technologies quickly become obsolete is not enough. Although it's true, and important to understand, it is not the key knowledge. It's not just a question of shifting perspectives so that we teach skills that will remain relevant. Rather, it is embracing the fact that new technologies are providing new possibilities. Things can be done now that were impractical or impossible before - but new possibilities are continually emerging. A field study that was once limited to laboriously collected data points, can later be managed through a regional database, and now is updated in real-time by field researchers... who knows what will be next? The data students have at their disposal for analysis changes the kinds of questions they can ask. Thus, we as educators must commit to staying active in the field of educational technology, engaging with and thinking about new options, and giving class time to experiment and develop valuable experiences for our students.

Again, it is key to keep kids active and focused. One without the other will be of only limited benefit. A dutifully focused child may earn good grades, but the leaps of application, the passionate learning, the true goals of education are not likely to be met. Similarly, a child bouncing from experience to experience without the grounding of a focused and directed curriculum is equally likely to miss connections and applications. Our professional duty is to balance these two, and -beyond balance-to pair them such that each enhances the other.

Finally, on a more prosiac note, it becomes increasingly important for administrators to allow time for relevant professional development and lesson planning. In the past a tried-and-true lesson could be repeated year after year, and the succession of students would still be getting the maximum benefit from the technologies available. Now, the limiting factor in providing the best instruction that circumstances will allow is often time: time for educators to reflect, to experiment, to redesign, and rethink. And the committment can't just be made once, to "catch up" with Web 2.o. It must be a perrenial practice.

Week 4: Letting Go

As an educator responsible for helping IB students master a very large quantity of complex material, I find myself having difficulty letting go of control in the classroom. There are some valid reasons for this:

1) I will not teach them a misconception. When I let them take over, they sometimes think they understand and end up reinforcing the misconceptions they came in with.

2) It's fast. Not a great argument when I know they won't retain the information as well over the two years before they take the IB exam, but I have a responsibility to see that they're exposed to all the material.

3) I know a few tricks. Well, I certainly hope that my degrees and years of experience help me consider some ways of presenting, some examples to pull out, some attention grabbing demos, etc. that will help my students succeed.

But I have to be honest: I hold onto the reins too tightly and I know it. (This is much more the case for me in IB as opposed to a course without a high stakes exam.) I know that my IB students are not getting enough joy of exploration, fascinating tangents, or student-driven work. For every lesson I create two complementary parts. One is the powerpoint with all the information and visuals that explains as clearly as possible the syllabus material - these contain reflection questions every few minutes and practice problems, etc but are substantially direct teacher instruction. The other is a varied collection of open-ended lab demos, current research and headlines, neat but tangential topics, ethical questions, and jumping-off points for further learning.

In IB, the ppts always get first priority. The rest is squeezed in where possible and as often as not, completely dropped. In Bio 10, my lessons move more slowly and there is lots of variety in activities. In Bio 10, I actively experiment with new technologies and new directions for old material. Interestingly, I surveyed my students in both courses, and found that a solid majority of IB students (about 80%) want to spend the same amount of time or more on ppt lessons, but a smaller percent agree that the learning is consistently engaging. In Bio 10, the students find the class more engaging.

I recently allowed a biochemistry discussion in Bio 10 to take it's own course - the students looked up the chemical composition of foods of interest. That led into health, food labeling, marketing and advertising, diet programs, artificial sweeteners, and more. I led the students with ideas to explore based on their own findings and interests. It was a rich experience with many connections being made across disciplines and to their daily experience. They now know a good deal about organic macromolecules and their roles in diet and I believe they'll retain it quite well.

I would love for the IB students to have the same kinds of experiences but the only way I can see to do it is to cut ppts or increase the pace of the course. My responsibility to prepare them for the exam conflicts with my responsibility to help them learn biology! Still, I am trying little activities here and there - testing them out in Bio 10 - and hopefully, with time, the IB Bio students will get a balanced experience that prepares them for the exam and gives them opportunities to explore.

Week 3: Project Sketch

I have been working on the twin aspects of genetics teaching: one, it has some highly technical, theoretical aspects, but it also has a very human side as we see the challenges that some people are born with and how they can be faced and managed.

My project will address both of these aspects of genetics teaching and will incorporate a wide range of technologies.

Teaching genetics vocabulary:

Enhanced by interactive PPT with understanding checks embedded every few terms so that students can apply the terms and get immediate feedback

Karyotyping and common genetic disorders:

Students will benefit from selected visuals shared on the smartboard that are associated with chromosomal appearance and arrangement (drag-and-drop being especially relevant), Punnett grid set-up, and also with visuals and videos that make the symptoms and appearance of different mammalian and human genetic disorders more relatable.

Humanization of rare genetic disorders (the heart of the project):

By accessing support groups for rare genetic conditions students will be able to read first-hand accounts of what it is like for parents, families, and those diagnosed with different genetic conditions. They may encounter anguish, humor, anger, kindness and more as they read these stories. Hopefully it will build their empathy and help them see both the fundamental human commonalities as well as the unique challenges faced by families coping with Tay-Sachs, Huntington's, sickle-cell anemia, or any of the hundreds of other conditions they may explore.

It is even possible, though it will not be required, that they may contact one of these support groups if it seems appropriate and not intrusive.

Presentations:

Students will have free choice of format when making their presentation about the genetic disorder they've explored. This will allow them to show their creativity and use a type of organization and presentation method that is helpful to them.

Peer support:

Students will be using forums on panthernet to ask questions, respond to others' work, and help each other with the varied aspects the genetics unit.

By using these technologies in a variety of ways, I hope that the genetics unit will hold the attention of the students by showing them amazing facets of humanity, engaging them in active learning, empowering them as explorers, and drawing out their sense of empathy in a way that will make them more caring and sensitive global citizens. This may be too lofty a goal, but it is one worth striving for.

Week 2: The Dangers of Public Commiseration

When reading many of the articles that were shared with this course, I was also struck by and deeply interested in the comments sections. The effect of new technologies on community and empathy has been on my mind much of the time during the CoETaIL courses.

In the past I've focused on malicious and cruel comments in the general online community.

Now I've noticed something more subtle but potentially problematic in some posts and the comments sections of blogs about technology in education. (I'm sure the problem is everywhere, but those are the blogs that I've been reading.) The problem is taking the human need to "vent" and doing it in a public forum, especially one that is likely to be visited by the people you're venting about.

Venting may even be too strong a word; commiserate might be better. It is natural that experts in, for example, educational technology will sometimes be frustrated that not all teachers share their passion for the topic, or agree on its importance, or their competence in working with hardware / software. In the same way, teachers can be frustrated when their students don't admit to forgetting to do an assignment, or make learning a lower priority than the teachers would like, etc.

Still, whatever the challenges of getting some teachers to embrace technology, and whatever backwards examples of its application have been observed, it is counterproductive to post about it in public. Some of the comments speak negatively of teachers in a particular district or school, others lambast "teachers" in general for a variety of failings.

Many of us say things less diplomatically than we normally would when we know (or think) our audience agrees with us. However, when we skip qualifiers like "in my experience" or "some teachers" reinforces the tendency to be dismissive of the group as a whole, to pre-judge individuals we are interacting with for the first time, and to allow similar

Educators have a complex relationship as it is with those that would give them advice. I'm playing on stereotypes here, but we can be a notoriously difficult crowd when taking the student's role.

Yet teachers would be the first to say that learning is a lifelong process. We are passionate about learning, for our students and ourselves. Every teacher knows that she has lessons that could use improvement. We all have things to learn and most of us love learning. So why are we sometime such difficult students.

One reason is the importance of teams.

trust - advice

credentials / experts

shared vocabulary

common goals

tone of comments

generalizations

practicalities of classroom

presumption of good intent

Week 1: What I hope to get from this course

Having completed three of the CoETaIL courses with the first cohort, I've really had to think about what I hope to get from this first course.

Primarily, as with all the my professional courses, I hope to improve my teaching. More specifically, though, I hope to really reflect on how to make the best use of new resources. CoETaIL courses provide exposure to many interesting applications, ways of using resources that I haven't tried before, and much more. As much as I've learned in the courses I've taken so far, my way of thinking about each new idea has been limited, leading to similarly limited uses in the classroom. I'm hoping that since I will be more familiar with the software and technology on offer after the previous three courses, I will have the time to reflect more deeply on their potential roles in my courses.

Time to reflect is sometimes sacrificed when one is introduced to a world of new information - especially when other responsibilities remain undiminished. The end result may be proficiency but is unlikely to lead to innovation. With my personal and professional responsibilities already filling my days (filling them well and wonderfully, but still - filling them), I can't add much "work" time without unacceptable costs to my family. I hope to explore changes that will yield a rich reward for the time I invest - working smarter rather than harder, as they say.

My goal then, for this course, is to set aside the time to truly rethink some "standard operating procedures" in my classroom in order to develop a more integrated role for technology in instruction and learning. The resulting changes may not be flashy but if all goes well, they will be meaningful and will benefit my students.

Final Project Reflection and Kim's Keynote Address

In class, we had the great joy of listening to Kim Cofino's keynote address for K12 Online Conference, Going Global: Culture Shock, Convergence, and the Future of Education.

It was an extremely interesting and well-presented address. It described very well the experience of culture shock and the open-minded, independent nature of many Third Culture Kids (TCKs). Finally, it suggested that the life-changing experiences of TCKs could now be available from anywhere through the collaborative potential of the internet.

I completely agree with Kim's description and assessment of the experience of coming to live in a new culture. Like Kim, I have lived in two cultures other than my own, and my impression of all three has been influenced by the sum of my experiences. But Kim's presentation also made me wonder what exactly would have to be done to make a "virtual" culture shock (one that would draw discomfort into tolerance and appreciation to paraphrase (poorly) the speech) effective.

Part of the magic of moving to a new culture is the immersion and the inability to fully escape from the new way of doing things. In the Dominican Republic, showing up 3 hours late is on time - we remember the story of one woman who arrived to a party at the time printed on the invitation only to find her hostess in the shower! When you do something that you've always assumed is "the way it's done", something you've never questioned, and it goes wildly different than expected, the temptation is to look at those around you for confirmation - "That's crazy, right?" But in your host culture, you find everyone is looking at you and thinking (or saying), "That crazy gringa / farang!"

Is this really doable in an online setting? We can be exposed to many other cultures, we can encounter differences. But what humbles us, and changes us, and hopefully, happily makes us more thoughtful, open people, is the sudden sense of being on the outside, the one who's got it wrong, who's not acting 'normal', who's struggling to communicate in broken and accented phrases. My fear is that in a school setting it will be difficult to emulate a "culture shock" experience given that in that key moment, when a student looks around for reactions, he or she will be surrounded still by his or her own culture and the disconnect will be too easily dismissed. Added to that, the sense immersion, of fully living and being in a new culture and place, would be difficult to recreate during "school hours" or even outside of them.

This is not to say that I think it can't be done! On the contrary, I think the possibilities are many, and the goal incredibly important and worthwhile. It is instead that I want to be fully aware of the challenges and aware of the depth of planning and purpose that must be achieved if the experience is to be a success.

Therefore, in my final project, I tried to think of a unit that would take my students (mostly quite comfortable navigating different cultures) beyond their normal experiences and challenge them in a way that might bring about the deep reflection and thought that increases compassion and empathy. I chose the unit on genetics. My hope is that by exploring a specific genetic difference or disease, becoming familiar with the details and complexities of its causes and consequences, and finally collaborating with people for whom it is a daily reality, the students will see themselves and others in a new way. Perhaps, for some, that new perspective will be meaningful and memorable in a way that will take them further toward the goal of being caring global citizens.

Laptops in the classroom

This week's prompt is, "What are ways you manage the use of laptops in your classroom and what additional best practice ways might you add?"

Laptop (and sometimes desktop) management has been a tricky issue for me, and I know that at times my students have gotten away with all manner of distraction when they were purportedly working for class.

I use laptops for various purposes in biology class. They are used for collecting and analyzing data using data-logging tools and probes. Students rarely get off task during a lab situation. Their time is simply too limited and they won't have access to the data-logging equipment outside of school, so they have a high motivation to finish within the allotted time. Many students are also naturally engaged by the hands-on aspect of experimentation. Of course, I walk through the room to check on student progress, but although they may need assistance they will not be distracted by facebook and so on during a lab.

When the students are working on tutorials or simulations, the temptation to browse other sites is greater. First of all, on numerous occasions the simultaneous loading by 20 students of the same interactive activity has caused slowness either from the school's connection or the server for the site hosting the activity. In either case, the hourglass or spinning wheel will quickly bring many students to open another site. Further, there is less intensity associated with tutorials and simulations - they will almost always be available to the student outside of class (the exception being those that require a log-in and password / paid subscription). In this case, I find that an important management tool is the physical arrangement of the computers. I try to circulate frequently to check on their work and look for extra tabs or minimized screens. I also try to have the students seated in a way that allows me to see most or all screens at a glance.

A third situation that involves laptop use is when a student brings a personal laptop to class for the purposed of note-taking and following along with presentations. At this point, the student must bear much of the burden for appropriate use. Aside from interrupting the class by asking the student to "freeze" or put their "hands up" (as sometimes suggested), it is difficult for me to know what their screen looks like. So far the problem has been small enough that this is almost never necessary. While students may be distracted, they are also able to use the computers in very useful ways. Some annotate powerpoints as we go through them, creating a rich and useful document. Recently we were discussing the benefits and drawbacks of immunizations and one student remembered hearing "something about a cheerleader." Within moments, another student (with a laptop) had accessed the story and was able to provide an excellent example that enlivened and enriched class discussion. (Parenthetically, this story is highly complex and intriguing as is the response to it. Many blogs erroneously state that she had taken the H1N1 shot, when in fact it was for the seasonal flu.) This type of unobtrusive and directed laptop use in the goal, but often I have found it necessary to ask students to keep their screens down (or part way down0 during discussion. It's a hard enough skill to really listen to what someone else is saying without the added distraction of the internet!

One best practice I would like to add is the use of software that monitors active windows for where the student has been throughout class. If this was checked even sometimes, it would be enough for students to change how they consider their screens - from private to public.

Overall, laptops are a tool that should be used when appropriate and put away when not needed.