Teaching and Learning in the Digital Age A

Teaching and Learning in the Digital Age A Professional Development Presentation by Leslie Witten

The Issue

The 21 st Century: A Digital Age n n Digital technologies have become part of the everyday lives of people in industrial and post-industrial societies. Technology tools are used to express knowledge creatively. The Internet is a powerful tool allowing people of all ages in all parts of the world to access information, communicate, and work together. Increasingly globalized economy.

Teaching and Learning in The Digital Age As these factors collide and grow exponentially…. . . Shift Happens A presentation by Karl Fisch, Modified by Howie Di. Blasi, 20071 n n n What are your initial reactions? What do we think it means to prepare students for the 21 st century? What implications does this have for our way of doing things?

Teaching and Learning in The Digital Age “The sheer magnitude of human knowledge, world globalization, and the accelerating rate of change due to technology necessitates a shift in our children’s education – from plateaus of learning to continuous cycles of learning. ” - The 21 st Century Literacy Summit, 20052 Technology + Globalization = New Literacies + New Skills

New Culture, New Practices, New Literacies en. Gauge ® 21 st Century Literacy Skills, 20033 Traditional CORE Literacy PLUS…

Growing Up in the Digital Age

Digital Natives: Do They Really Think Differently? Various kinds of stimulation change brain structures, which affects the way people think. 4 Digital natives process information as though their cognitive structures were parallel, not sequential and leap around in hypertext-like thought. 5 Learning for the digital native is a totally different cognitive process for previous learners. than

The Digital Age Student Distinct Learning Preferences and Needs 6 n n n Favor working with technology. Prefer multimedia learning environments vs. textbased ones. Learning is supported by social interaction in learning communities. n Highly individualized approach to learning. n Strong achievement orientation. n n Short attentions spans except when actively engaged in learning 4 Weak reflection skills.

ACTIVITY n n Have you observed any of these cognitive development effects and learning needs in your classroom? Discuss with one other person what you have noticed.

Implications on Education Traditional Methods Teacher-Centered n Direct Instruction n Textbook-Based n Linear Design Passive student learning n n 21 st Century Methods n n n In-Effective for Digital Learners Student-Centered Active, Authentic Experiences Multiple Sources of Information Collaboration Technology-Infused Effective for Digital Learners 5

Constructivism for 21 st Century Classrooms n n n Based on the Constructivist Learning Theory 7 Dewey, Piaget, Vygotsky, Bruner, Feuerstein, Papert, Gardner Emphasis on how to think, how to learn…foundation of lifelong learning.

Constructivist Principles n n n Knowledge must be actively constructed by testing new information against prior knowledge. Knowledge is constructed distinctively in multiple ways through a variety of contexts, resources, and tools. Learning will be demonstrated uniquely by the individual learner. Reflection plays a central role; facilitates cognitive and metacognitive processes.

Constructivist Principles n n n Learning is social; collaboration deepens understanding. Learning communities support student learning. Meaningful projects sharpen scientific thinking and higher-ordered cognition.

From Theory to Practice: Constructivist Methods 7, 8, 9, 10 Active Learning Authentic Learning Multiple Perspectives Communities of Learners

Constructivist Methods: Active Learning n n Hands-on learning revolves around inquiry; challenges the learner’s preconceptions. Student-centered; teacher facilitates learning. Learning is hands-on; experience, interpret, organize, reflect, and share knowledge. Technology utilized as a tool throughout the learning process.

Constructivist Methods: Authentic Learning n n Real-world experiences. Use of ordinary practices and tools that the professionals in the field of study use. Situated learning; learning is directly linked to the appropriate context. Technology used to simulate authenticity and/or allow for collaboration in real-world contexts.

Constructivist Methods: Multiple Perspectives n Each learner is unique; learning process and products will vary. n Present information from multiple and alternative views. n Thematic units of study, incorporate multiple disciplines; promotes cognitive flexibility. n Tasks are multidisciplinary to affirm that learning is about useful, personal knowledge, not abstract general truths.

Constructivist Methods: Communities of Learners n n n Collaborative learning: students develop, compare, and understand multiple perspectives on an issue. A rigorous process of interpretation, articulation, and consensus building; the goal is to create learners who can articulate, evaluate, and argue their perspective. Student learning is supported with access to: n n n domain experts who operate in an apprenticeship relationship with the students, teachers who facilitate and scaffold thinking and problem solving, and cooperative relationships with other students.

Constructivist Methods: Assessment n n n Uses multiple measures of assessment; evaluate growth over time. Built-in and ongoing assessment throughout the learning experience. Authentic evaluation (task performance) examines the learner’s thinking process and emerges naturally from completing an authentic task; aims to measure the process of learning more so than the product. n Incorporates self- and peer- evaluations. n Includes rubrics and portfolios.

Constructivist Methods: A Framework 1) Begin with a problem to solve or decision to make that is relevant and meaningful to students. 2) Provide opportunities for interdisciplinary exploration using content standards as curricular priorities; 3) Develop tasks that require higher order thinking such as prediction, interpretation, analysis, and creation that use raw data and real-world data from primary sources. 4) Create a community of learning: students use technology, teachers, experts, and peers to facilitate learning; students share ideas with each other. 5) Assess both the process and products of learning with multiple measures like rubrics, portfolios, and constructed-response/essay writing, peer evaluation and self evaluation.

ACTIVITY n n Mark your handout or jot down notes to identify which constructivist—based teaching strategies you currently employ in your classroom. By self-assessing your use of constructivist strategies, you will be able to more explicitly understand how to further shift your instructional practices towards teaching and learning in the digital age.

Technology Tools to Support Constructivism n Technology tools for learning: n n n Provide for exploration Allow for highly creative and individualized expression invigorate learning and foster student motivation Technology + Constructivism = Creative, Autonomous, Collaborative, and Reflective Learning 11

Technology Tools to Support Constructivism n n n Learning Objects Web 2. 0 Tools Cross-Cultural Exchanges Productivity Tools Creativity Tools

Learning Objects n n 12 Internet-based instructional materials that support understanding a concept or process. Examples: A single picture, short video clip, statistical data, primary sources, virtual field trips, tutorials, comparison charts, simulations, Web. Quests. n Used in a variety of contexts for various learning outcomes. n Can be accessed repeatedly by many people from many locations. n Can be used to enhance traditional lecture methods but real power comes when students access the materials to support their own learning.

Learning Objects: Web. Quests 13 n n Inquiry-based activities using Web resources to solve a problem collaboratively. Learners explore issues from multiple perspectives, determine a course of action, interpret knowledge, discuss it with their peers, transform it into personal knowledge, and share the new knowledge with the public. n Create your own using Filamentality or Teacher. Web. n Internet search, ex: “Web. Quest and dinosaurs”.

Learning Objects: Simulations n n Software or Web-based tool. A model of real or imagined events with which the user interacts. Effective cognitive tool: learners negotiate and solve authentic problems, manipulate and experiment with variables in the scenario, and receive immediate responses to those changes and decisions. Examples: Sim. Town, Interactive Frog Dissection, The Stock Market Game. 14

Learning Objects: Where to Find Them n n n n n Google Search, e. g. “learning objects fractions middle school” Gateway to Educational Materials Apple’s Learning Interchange Thinkport Wisconsin Online Resource Center Multimedia Educational Resources for Learning and Teaching Online (MERLOT) The Library of Congress Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection California Learning Resource Network Internet 4 Classrooms n n n Teachers. First Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection California Learning Resource Network NASA Virtual Field Trips (Google) Illuminations Shodor Web Cam (Google) Blue Web’n PBS Teacher Source Thinkfinity (formerly Marcopolo)

Web 2. 0 (a. k. a. the Read/Write Web) n n A new generation of Web use in which participants connect, collaborate and create on the Internet Communities of learning where knowledge is created, shared, discussed, recreated, and shared again amongst community members.

Web 2. 0 (a. k. a. the Read/Write Web) n n n Wikis are collaborative Web sites in which participants create works of knowledge together; use as meeting places to collaborate on school work together in a hypermedia context. n Online Photo and Video and n Social Bookmarking: to store n Presentation Tools: Podcasts are used to create and listen to Internet broadcasts of information. Weblogs (blogs), are online discussion forums where learners post responses to issues and other peoples’ previous postings. Management (Flickr or Ourmedia) your bookmarks online; can share with other using tags that identify content subjects. (del. icio. us or Fleck) n n Bubbleshare - create story albums with your pictures and record your voice telling your story Slideshare - Share your presentations online Explore more at: www. webtopointo. wikispaces. com or ww. internet 4 classrooms. com/web 2. htm

Cross-Cultural Exchanges n n Transformative opportunities in which learners can connect and interact with people and organizations all over the world. 11 Using Web sites, email, blogs, video-conferencing tools such as webcams and free software such as Skype, students participate in inter-regional exchanges to enhance global awareness and cross-cultural understandings. Internet sites in existence which provide lesson plans, resources for teachers, and connections to real places and people all over the world. All disciplines can employ them effectively.

Cross-Cultural Exchanges A few places to start 15… n e. PALS Classroom Exchange n Ask. Asia Lesson Plans n UNICEF Voices of Youth n Global Teachnet Friendship through Education (Peace Corps and Coverdell World Wise School) n International Education and Resource Network (i. EARN) n n n Global Café Broadcast Live—Radio and Television from Around the World My Wonderful World The American Forum for Global Education n Choices Education Program n United Nations Cyberschoolbus

Creativity Tools Allow for learners to participate in authentic, active, and expressive domains of learning; incorporates multiple perspectives and representations of knowledge construction. n n Concept mapping: a graphic tool to construct and demonstrate understanding; allows for multiple representations of information. (Kid. Pix and Inspiration) Student-made movies, photos, and music: help students to construct knowledge in abstract and creative modes. (i. Life from Mac)

Creativity Tools n Presentation software (Power. Point, Keynote, or Hyper. Studio) uses: n Teachers: n n n Multimedia “lectures”. Digital “lectures” can be posted on the teacher’s web site. Students: n n n Create own presentation to use for an oral report. Storyboard a book. Hypermedia note cards during the research process.

Productivity Tools n n n Free up cognitive resources for deeper thinking by offloading tasks. 16 National Educational Technology Standards states that students should use technology not only to “process data and report results” but also to “select and use applications effectively and productively”. 17 Applications such as word processing, spreadsheets and databases, email, and interactive whiteboards can be used for cognition when implemented into constructivist-based instruction.

Productivity Tools n n Word processing: critical skill; allows for knowledge to be created, shared, discussed, and collaborated upon. 18 Data organization and manipulation: skill for global economy; use spreadsheets and databases to manipulate data, create graphic representations of knowledge and share quantitative knowledge with others. n n Email: connect students to other members of their learning community. The interactive whiteboard: teachers use to assist with instruction, post their interactive whiteboard lectures to a web site; cooperative student groups may self-elect to use and manipulate it for purposes such as information review or knowledge presentation. 19

ACTIVITY n Identify which technology tools are employed in your classroom. n Mark your handouts: n n n With “S” for tools that students use regularly. With “I” for tools that you regularly use. Place a star next to the tools that you are interested in knowing more about and integrating into your curriculum.

Technology Tools: What’s Really Important? n Know of the tools; no need to master them all. 20 n Knowing about the tools: n n n Talk about the different tools as options in learning; Use the language of your digital natives. No need to become proficient in all the tools: n n n Pick one or more to master Cover the range collectively with other teachers…everyone use different tools. Let students teach you what you don’t know.

Technology Tools: What’s Really Important? n Be proficient in what the students don’t know: n n What technology adds value to learning and where it is most effective. Important issues about technology: n n Plagiarism n n Online safety Information evaluation/source credibility How to evaluate student uses of technology

Technology Tools: What’s Really Important? n Technology as an add-on to instruction is not effective. 21 n Integration into instruction using constructivist strategies IS effective: n n n n design a product, analyze the world, access information, infer and synthesize personal knowledge, create unique representations of what they know, participate in authentic learning experiences, and collaborate and share with a learning community. 16 Technology + Constructivism = 21 st Century Learning

Phases of Computer-Based Technology Integration Phase I: Print Automation Computers replace what could be accomplished on paper or by hand. Papers are typed on the computer but not necessarily composed there Students practice skills (e. g. math facts) by playing a drill-andpractice game as opposed to completing a worksheet, and Computer skills are taught as a pullout activity rather than an everyday tool. Classrooms operating at this level could use learning objects, but they would be seen more as an add-on to the curriculum. Instruction is teacher-led; focusing on traditional, core curriculum only. Phase II: Expansion of Learning Opportunities Students and teachers use technology to: • Collect information, • Carry on dialogues with people from around the world, and • Present findings to their class. Phase III: Data-Driven Virtual Learning objects are a natural fit in this phase, as the power of the Internet is used for learning and research purposes. The type of curriculum that allows development and demonstration of twenty-first-century skills: • Real-world problems, • Critical thinking, • Data-driven decision making, • Communication with others outside of school, • Presentation of solutions to audiences outside of school. Instruction focuses on some twenty-first century skills, but: • Problems may not be fully realworld focused • Solutions are not presented to audiences outside the classroom. Learning objects richly support learning: • Teachers and students can locate and use appropriate resources on the Internet • Provide the information or background knowledge, skill, or process needed by the students to solve a problem. Instruction is provided by the teacher as a facilitator: • Student-centered, • Scaffolds to mediate learning, • Individualized: “Just enough, just in time, just for you” Cramer, S. R. (2007) Update your classroom with learning objects and twenty-first century skills. Clearning House 80 (3). Retrieved July 17, 2007, from Academic Research Premier database.

Models of Constructivist Learning in the 21 st Century n n The Big 6 TM Information Literacy Model Project-Based Learning

The Big 6 TM Information Literacy Model n n Equips learners with the ability to access, use, and evaluate information reliably. 22 Formulated on a set of skills that scaffold the cognitive processes involved in solving a problem or making an informed decision. n Process is flexible, non-linear, recursive. n Emphasizes reflection throughout the process. n 23 Can be taught alone but is most effective when integrated with curriculum, technology, and constructivist practices. 24

The Big 6 TM Information Literacy Model 25 n Task Definition n Information Seeking Strategies n Location and Access n Use of Information n Synthesis n Evaluation

The Big 6 TM Information Literacy Model 26 Computer Capabilities and the Big 6™ Technology Big 6™ Skill Word processing, graphics, desktop publishing Synthesis (writing) Use of Information (note-taking) Spelling and grammar checking Evaluation Information Retrieval and Search Systems Internet Capabilities and the Big 6™ Technology Big 6™ Skill E-mail, listservs, chat, video conferencing, instant messaging Task Definition Information Seeking Strategies Location & Access Use of Information Synthesis Evaluation Network navigation (WWW Netscape, Internet Explorer, Portals) Information Seeking Strategies Location & Access FTP, download/upload Use of Information Yahoo, Google, Yahooligans, Lycos, Alta. Vista, portals Location & Access Web authoring Synthesis Web sites Use of Information Seeking Strategies Location & Access Spreadsheets, Database management systems Synthesis Hypermedia Use of Information Synthesis Electronic resources (on CDROM, servers, WWW) Information Seeking Strategies Location & Access Technology as a tool: Applications in a Big 6™ context. (2006). Retrieved July 18, 2007, from http: //www. big 6. com/showarticle. php? id=144

The Big 6 TM Information Literacy Model n n n Used in thousands of K-12 schools and higher institutions, as well as in corporate and adult training programs. 26 An estimated 84, 000 teachers have been trained in The Big 6 TM program. The Big 6 TM model creates lifelong learners and well-prepared twenty-first century students.

Project-Based Learning (PBL) Adapted from The George Lucas Educational Foundation Web site www. edutopia. org 27

What is Project-Based Learning? n n PBL is curriculum fueled and standards based. PBL asks a question or poses a problem that ALL students can answer. Concrete, hands-on experiences come together during project-based learning. PBL allows students to investigate issues and topics in real-world problems. PBL fosters abstract, intellectual tasks to explore complex issues.

How Does Project-Based Learning Work? n Question n Plan n Schedule n Monitor n Assess n Evaluate

PBL - Question n Start with the Essential question. Take a real-world topic and begin an in-depth investigation. Make sure it is relevant for your students.

PBL - Plan n Plan which content standards will be addressed while answering the question. Involve students in the questioning, planning, and project-building process. Teacher and students brainstorm activities that support the inquiry.

PBL - Schedule n Teacher and students design a timeline for project components. n Set benchmarks. n Keep it simple and age-appropriate.

PBL - Monitor n Facilitate the process. n Mentor the process. n Utilize rubrics.

PBL - Assess n n n Make the assessment authentic. Know authentic assessment will require more time and effort from the teacher. Vary the type of assessment used.

PBL - Evaluate n Take time to reflect, individually and as a group. n Share feelings and experiences. n Discuss what worked well. n Discuss what needs change. n Share ideas that will lead to new inquiries, thus new projects.

Teaching and Learning in the Digital Age n Recognizes: n n n That a new set of skills and literacies are necessary to be successful in the 21 st century. Understands how constructivist teaching strategies support the digital learner by providing: n n n How the digital revolution has impacted students culturally and cognitively. Active and authentic learning experiences. Communities of learners who rely upon multiple perspectives of knowledge. Provides a technology-rich learning environment in which technology tools are integrated throughout the entire learning process.

Obstacles “The biggest obstacle to school change is our memories. ” -- Dr. Allen Glenn

Change “We must be the change we want to see in the world. ” -- Mahatma Gandhi

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