PLN shares and seeks knowledge – I am learning more

Posted on May 7, 2013 by Atul Sharma

 

Some rights reserved by Wasfi Akab

A networked teacher or not???

I am thrilled with the understanding of PLN(Personal Learning Network). In COETAIL course # 1 and # 2, we discussed how a networked teacher naturally will be empowered to teach as per the needs of 21st century student. It’s been a while and since then I have made some progress in creating my own PLN.

The first and foremost is the PE geek. I believe this is the one stop shop for anything I could have asked for. But at the same time, I am a teacher first and a team-member as well. It was equally important for me to not only create a network which will help me get techie (which PE geek does very well), but also wiser in the fields which support me to teach better. For example sports, Fitness and Training, Communication, PE content, International schools functioning etc. I needed to get networked so I could get the latest knowledge and understanding from all these areas and technology could help.

Now I am at a crossover where my first intent is to get knowledgeable  about these subjects. So I am not diving straight to a group and start throwing ideas or giving suggestions without in-depth understanding of it. Good news is that I am preparing myself with enough knowledge that it is worth sharing. So right now ground work is happening…

Without elaborating more, I will like to share with you my top learning sources or PLN prep sources. I am not the one who likes to go to the websites surfing for content, but I am the inbox person. If a mail comes to me I will open the links, click the content understand and implement the learning. So, for long I have subscribed to the following either as an RSS feed app , webinar or as a simple mail.

I have recently joined Google + circle, I am still exploring new ideas. I am liking “view what is hot” button. There is so much more new material to discover. Like the illumni-room   Its amazing. I had a conversation with Liz about how it could be useful in our classes. I also receive postmaster messages from Twitter, from people I follow.

As far as staying in touch with someone and follow someone goes, I am still far from where I might like to be. I started but the biggest problem is that is not my style. I do not like the inconsistency in the inflow of concrete knowledge, and these connections take a lot of time. So to me they are productive but also when time is an issue then they act as counter-productive.

But I am getting there fast, or I should share I am now on “net” for “work” a lot more than earlier. The future  is calling…

Posted in COETAIL REFLECTIONS, Uncategorized | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Tech Integration in ESPE – The digital story in the Making…

Posted on April 18, 2013 by Atul Sharma

Some rights reserved by Movieing Memories

I intend to make a video so that anyone and everyone can follow the steps and reach the redefinition level of technology integration.  I am supposed to be able to make a 10 minute presentation(Digital story) about our Implementation project.

I plan to use our learning from previous COETAIL courses about C.R.A.P.  and PBS-how to make a movie. As I was aware, I will have to make this movie, I have shots mostly from my classroom. Now the challenge for me will be to put them in sequence and order so that C.R.A.P. is in place.  So lets look at the questions I plan to answer:

  1. What were your goals for your lesson/project (Standards)?
  2. What tools did you use? Why did you choose this/these tools for this/these task(s)?
  3. How did you go about introducing your lesson/project?
  4. How did the students react? Include actual samples of student reflection (video, images, etc.)
  5. Outcome? Did you meet your goals?
  6. Evidence of learning? Remember to include student evidence like video, images, reflections.
  7. What would you do differently next time? What did you learn? (Reflection)
  8. How do/did you plan to share this with your colleagues?
  9. What was your greatest learning in this course?

Did this implementation meet the definition of Redefinition?

 

I am getting all sorts of ideas in my head and keeping in mind what questions I need to answer. I want to make a video so it is not a problem to put together different ideas… I am going for story-board writing.

After looking at various ideas this is what I am planning to do. I will write the sequence of scene in the order they will be presented then I will film them, prepare the slides, do the voice over wherever needed and click videos. Will have to find out what I intend to do will be best done in i-movie or Windows movie maker.

Story of the project in a story board way: I believe this is also a reflection on how the project progressed so that if some one read this they will know how I conceived the task of creating movie as well as how the integration actually happened, so here it is…

Music:  I will use one of the theme music.

Opening: Various scenes coming fast including student’s pictures, HR monitors, internet, I-pad and it gives the heading” Technology in ESPE classroom”

1st Slide: “Standards”

2nd Slide: Atul Speaks about standards While UBD’s screen with standards, scrolls up

3rd Slide: “Tools”

4th Slide: A variety of tools like I-pad, Google docs, projector, HR Monitor, rubrics changes on slide and Atul talks about why we used these. “In the ESPE class the motive is to keep students active at least 70% of the time. So our tool selection has to be once which will be effective yet simple enough for students so that they do not end up wasting time sitting and figuring out. Keeping in mind the need and what we wanted to achieve, we chose these tools.”

5th Slide: “Lesson Introduction”

6th Slide: The 5 E Google doc would be scrolled and navigated through, while Atul speaks how kids were given the autonomy and control of what they could do.  They did not have to wait to know what is next, rather they had full access of the-essential questions” their own work-store, I-pads etc. to explore and create.

7th Slide: “Student Reaction”

8th Slide: Photos and samples of student’s reactions will be included. Include students working, students talking etc. HR monitor, I-pad etc.

9th Slide: “Meeting the Goals”

10th Slide: Atul talks in the video. “Definitely”. The goal of the unit was to use technology to enable students to take control of the learning, I hoped that they will be able to see an aspect of fitness and understand it the way they never did before. They were not the consumer but the producer, creator, collaborator, editors, assesses they now understand the difference between Dynamic and Static stretches, their purposes, there forms way well than before and it is visible in the assessments and videos. So yes we did it”

11th Slide: “Evidence of learning”

12th Slide: Students talking about why they gave someone 20 and not 25. Students creating warm-up routines using Dynamic stretches. Students showing HR monitors to see the Heart going up

13th Slide: “What could be done differently?”

14th Slide: Atul speaks in Video” The unit gave me opportunity to reflect on various aspects of using technology in ESPE. Next time there will be couple of changes.

15th Slide: Atul speaks about the following while the following scroll up one at a time:

* This unit will be introduced in the beginning of the year.

* Students will be responsible to video tape the final project and upload.

* I will grade students for successful hosting of the video.

* I will like to share the assessments on their page, so may be clicking pictures of the assessment and uploading them on the Google doc.

* I will like to teach students how to fill in their records in the HR monitor, so they can use it at home, if they have access to one.

* One of the criteria I would like to include in the assessment of the routine would be to include pedometers and the no. of clicks possible.

16th Slide: “How will I share with colleagues?”

17th Slide: Atul is Videotaped saying “I will share the link of this video with my department. Once they have seen it, I will keep this as an agenda item in one of the department meetings and we will host a Q and A sessions. Also the good news is that one of the colleagues was my reflective partners so she was actually part of the process and understands quite a bit.

18th Slide: “Greatest Learning”

19th Slide:  Atul speaks” Be adventures with technology. Do not use it for the sake of using but do not be afraid of using it in areas you have not used before. You might be able to achieve what you did never before.” In this case my students and I could do it.Also if you want to take the integration to “Redefinition” level in SAMR, plan the integration while planning the unit.

Slide # 19:  ”Did this project reach Redefinition level”

Slide # 20: Atul speaks and the slides of the whole project go in the back ground with some music. “I can easily say so at various levels:

* The students were able to access the lessons prior to coming to the class.

* They were able to share their work with anyone at home

* They were able to collaborate online.

* They saved their work for future reference

* Students could Video analyze themselves and others.

* Students could assess themselves and others in a way never did before.

* Students could use an outside source (internet) to gather information for their project.

Now let me go for the job and let us see what I can come up with……

Here it is, hope you like it. Please write any comments or questions which you might feel are left un-answered.

Again my heartiest thanks to the mentors Dana & Gary.  Its to their credit that we now understand the needs of the 21st century learners, whom we empower and needs of the facilitators, that we are…

Posted in COETAIL REFLECTIONS, PE practices | Tagged | Leave a comment

Unit is over- now what is next…And how was it ??

Posted on April 5, 2013 by Atul Sharma

Enlightening and educating experience!!

Now as the unit is over, I got the hands-on experience of the possibilities in ESPE.  I am already thinking ahead. Thanks to COETAIL courses, I understand and now Ibelieve that the best way to make a successful integration possible is to plan the integration in the unit planning. We use Atlas Rubicon and UBD for that here at AES.  Once integration is planned along with the content and pedagogy, we will not have to deal with surprises, lack of resources, crunched timelines and haste of finishing the task. When I say, planning it in UBD I do not mean right before the unit is scheduled to start. I mean in the beginning of the year, or I should say end of the previous year, if possible.

Let me confess, I have experienced many of the above mentioned concerns as I had to look into possibilities right when the unit  was about to start. I was not pro-active to start thinking of this unit in advance, start gathering the resources needed (rubrics, tech-tools, venue feasibility etc.)  so this is how I have fixed it for future.

I have added revisiting the UBD’s using TIM (Technology Integration Matrix) to be an “Action Planning Item” for the next year in ESPE. The timeline is Aug. and Sep. We may have to take some release time to revisit and fortify all the units for the year. If all our units will not be possible, then at least our “common assessment units” are on our target. Good news is that we are up for it. The bargain is a highly valuable.

In terms of executing the same unit again, I will like the following changes.

Firstly, the unit needs to act as the foundation unit, so this should take place in the beginning of the year. Secondly, as my students would already have the foundation of using tech-tools, I will like to use them as peer coaches for the new students for my class next year. This same unit will be most effective if we could use fitness testing as a motivator for the students. Therefore after the students will learn about the fitness concepts, I plan to use fitness-gram in the following unit.  This should help students see the connection and real life application.

Unfortunately with school being close to closing and because of us moving the swimming unit on swimming pool, I believe it is hard for us to keep the understandings and applications alive.  Apart from this there are some technical and progressive changes also which I plan to introduce like now with students getting comfortable logging in and using I-pads, they will be asked to create the final product and host it on their section using no help from an adult.

PEER ASSESSMENT-Paper pencil way or tech way?

Fusion seem to be the call for ES…

I already planned the UBD so I knew the rubric. Now the battle was about either to use a paper pencil and have the students mark on the rubric or turn the rubric to a Google form and have them do it online. Let me share, what all went in making the decision.

No known copyright restrictions [?]

After a very satisfying learning and teaching experience, a question which bothered me for some time was ” what will be the most efficient way of letting the students evaluate their efforts  and reflect on it”?. After setting my priorities, I turned to my reflective partner Mrs. Monika Dewan and shared the successes and failure so far and then started the discussion or I may say the battle between the two ways we are aware of. The tech way or the paper pencil way; This is what revealed:

We brainstormed for what we have and what is that we are trying to achieve. So we realized what we have is the data, data in the form of videos of their final performance, we also have their Hear Rate recorded as a measure of the effort and one of the criteria. Now what we were trying to achieve was that students should be able to analyze the data, make notes of how they did, share how they did with each other, and keep a record for future reference.  In the process we hoped they will get greater understanding of warm-up concepts and implementing it in their active life in or out of the PE class. So now should we use tech ways, Google form, Interview, Socrative clickers Apps, Google doc to share the assessment with them  or should we have them watch the video while they work in a group with a well explained rubric to mark themselves and their peers out of  a score of maximum 100.

What we realized is that I could have used many different ways  like Google Forms, Interviews etc. but with the time we had in our hand and the understanding we have about the  SAMR model of integration, we did not want to just replace the task for the sake of doing it.  We wanted to assess in certain way so that we could use this as assessment for learning warm-up ideas not assessment ideas.

We created a fusion of Tech and Paper. A room with projector was used. Kids were set in there groups with the  rubric for Warm-up routine assessment to read. Once they read the rubric and we made them understand the process. Once they felt comfortable, we played each groups final videos and every one including the group performing, assessed the routine. We took turns playing videos and in total it took 20 min. Excitement was way high and thoughtfulness, analysis and positive criticism was all around. Once everyone was assessed the sheets went to the group and they read the assessment scores and comments from other groups. Understanding was evident…and its showing in every class after that..

 

Posted in COETAIL REFLECTIONS, PE practices | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Redefination of tech integration- In Practice

Posted on March 24, 2013 by Atul Sharma

What did it take to give the experience which students had  never been through before???

REDEFINITION IN PRACTICE…

Some rights reserved by joe bustillos

Now that the tech tools are in place, students are getting the hang of using HR Monitors, the question remains? Is it the redefinition of the technology integration, that kids are using HR monitors instead of checking their pulse manually, they are accessing Google document, and the assignments are shared with them on their personalized document so is it enough.  I understand it is not… So let’s see what I am trying to achieve here… Actually something which would give my students an opportunity to  take charge of their learning, something  which can stay with them forever,  something they have never  done before, something which can help them see the difference between what  and how they are and what they want to become so this is how I planned the transformation…

We are working on building the understanding about the importance of components of fitness, stretches, importance of Dynamic over Static stretches,   I am aiming to give my students the ability to create their own plan to get themselves warm, their HR at the target zone and their muscles and joints working at the maximum range of motion, but what we know about students self-work results from the  past is that at this age it is hard for them to analyze what they are doing is good enough or not.  Here is where I think I can use the technology to help. I plan to integrate technology using my understandings gained in previous courses from TPACK. So a right mix of content, pedagogy and technology is what I am aiming for. And hear is a glimpse of the mix:

The instruction ideas are novel (Google doc. Videos etc) , content is challenging (creating an original creative warm-up routine) and the technology(video analysis, collaboration, internet resource)  is the vehicle to reach the goal. By the end of the unit student will be able to assess their own self, the way they never did before. They will be able to see in HR monitor , how fast or slow are they moving so HR monitor will show them the HR range they are working at. In case they are too slow they can see and in case they are too fast they will be able to slow down. Now that is helpful. But this could still be termed as substitution/augmentation, but this has helped us create this new task which we could have never conceived before.  We have created a Google document for our class, which has our essential questions, some of the videos which we intend students to watch with us in class or if they need to refer to then also at home. Now this will act as their portfolio of work. We know that  21st century classroom has changed and to motivate a student intrinsically teachers need to either plan an activity which has real time application in student’s life or at least  it should be presented to real-time audience in and outside the class. We hope this experience will open up our classroom to the wider audience and will enable students to reach out of the class. We have divided the class in four groups each working together to create a warm-up routine, using the understanding about Dynamic and Static warm-up, target HR and how raising your HR to target zone can help us gain stamina.

They are allowed to use I- pad or internet for reference. They could use the I-pad for recording themselves while they are working on it. The best part I anticipate which never happened before would be when they will get to see themselves and others and assess the routine based on the criteria we derived out of our discussions and understanding on the subject during class times…

Here is my UBD for unit:

Fitness_with_Technology -UBD 

Rubric for Warm-up routine assessment- PDF

Student_participation_and_attitude_assessment_rubrics- PDF

 

Posted in COETAIL REFLECTIONS, PE practices | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Heart-Rate Monitors and more…

Posted on March 11, 2013 by Atul Sharma

HR MONITORS IN ELEMENTARY CLASSROOM

HR monitor photo by Atul Sharma

 

Technology use in the classroom supports its own self, if it could help student understand what they could never before. In my experience of teaching for last ten years, a question which would always bother me was how could students measure their own effort, how can I make them understand, what they are doing is enough or not; so that they are accountable of their own work. I hypothesized that HR monitor is the piece of technology which has the answer to my questions…And guess what? I was right but not completely, I had success and the failure: lesson failure, engagement failure, digital watch failure of sorts…Fortunately the experience and the usage was worth it. So here is the story….

 

As I planned to introduce heart rate( HR), I was thinking that I could use HR as an assessment tool, as a measure of student’s effort Assessment of student’s effort and for student to self-assess their own effort and adjust it accordingly so it is fruitful enough in terms of providing motivation to students.  I figured out that HR monitor is a piece of equipment which helps us do that without taking too much of activity time. And we were aware that school had a set.

When I went to our PE assistant to ask for it, he was excited yet sad that for the first time someone in ES has asked for it. He also mentioned that for long they were not used by anyone in the school, so he was unsure if they will work. So it took him a while to first find the location, then the key of the box they were stored in. As he opened the box, he found none of the digital monitors (watch) working… I was disappointed, but he assured that they will work if we get the battery size which fit in. This started the hunt for battery.  Without wasting time I went to CD and asked them to order the battery. It took them 3 days to procure them for us.  Our PE assistant took one more day to fit all 20 batteries in the watch and guess what? All watches started working.

Now was the real excitement… In order to use the watches so that watch can monitor the right target zone for exercise, we were supposed to enter student’s weight, height, and date of birth. This added a layer of work and opens certain other questions to consider.

  • Only one person can use a certain watch at a time so how do we manage that?
  • How will we find out student’s weight and other stats?
  • Where do we have access to weighing scale, in case we need to record it?
  • Will students be happy giving their stats to us, how can we present it?
  • How much class time it will take?
  • Once it is used and it’s sweaty, what is the plan to clean it and store it back?

 

Fortunately we could manage to answer all these and introduced this wonderful digital tool to our kids. Now when we thought all is sorted out on the day we wanted to start with it we faced sizing problem. Now the belts which come with the monitors were of same size. In order for sensors to work properly and not lose the monitoring it is required to have the sensors touching the skin at all times. For the belts which were loose on kids, the sensors won’t work. So for the first day students that did not have their watches or belts working, gave us their names so that we could fix it for them for next time. We managed to find the solution in the rubber bends or tying a knot in the middle of the belt so that it fits well and from next class on HR monitors were a hit…

Kids want them as they come in, they move and come showing where the HR is, they are talking to each other how the activity they are doing will help or not help the HR to go up.  I must say I am more than satisfied with this tech piece taking the integration to next level in SAMR.  Now that’s the way I like it aha…aha.

 

Posted in COETAIL REFLECTIONS, PE practices | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Unfolding the mysteries of tech… in PE

Posted on February 23, 2013 by Atul Sharma

Some rights reserved by Kalexanderson

So I started with my unit “fitness with tech and Gymnastics” last week. Students are enjoying and I am excited. But what unfolded after one day of using tech or I should say preparing tech to work for me, were a series of surprises! Yes lots of them…

First one was that Auxiliary Gym does not have a projector so obviously, my plan of introducing the unit using big screen was not going to work. So I decided to give an I-pad to a student, so they can watch the videos or presentation on it.

But I-pad to a student means increasing the job manifolds for myself in terms of helping students log-in, collecting the I-pad and then keeping track of the use or misuse and above that we only have 45 min. in hand including the time to teach unit content. I am glad we could counter this problem by assigning an I-pad to group of 4-5 students. This worked smoothly and while sharing they could help each other for any questions they had.

Thankfully I am sharing the gym with Mrs. Monika Dewan and we are discussing the progress, activities planned and engagement of the kids every now and then. First understanding came as a suggestion from her as well as a shock because I did not realize that in the Auxiliary Gym sound echoes so much and the inside is so noisy that when students  will try to use the I-pad to watch any of the videos shown to them it will not even be audible.  So the first change I had to make was when it comes to showing the video I had to plug my I-pad to the big speaker and ask everyone to watch it at the same time. An alternate is a projector set-up but I do not know how practical is it for tech dept. to be able to do that every day. I met with Gary. (ES tech facilitator) and he did say it would be possible, but then Monika believed it would be too distracting for her classes running side by side. So we agreed that if I have to show a video on a projector, I will use one in P7 or in PE office.

Second surprise came when I tried to share the Google document with my classes. The school and the system nowhere had compiled list of e-mail addresses which teachers could use to share the document with students. We use Vera cross, but the e-mail groups at Vera cross only send the mail but could not be uses which a teacher could copy paste to interact and send mail to the group of kids. I had to schedule the appointment with one of the facilitators to fix that or create a list which I could use as it is. We tried and when nothing worked, I had to enter all e-mail addresses individually to share the Google Document with them. When we felt that things are in control there was this another surprise waiting, kids did not know how to log-in, and some of them did not remember their passwords, so what do we do now. Not too hard, we had to keep handy a list of everyone’s e-mails and then for the password help them log-in with universal password or for students who changed their passwords before, we had to give them access to their Google doc logging in with teacher’s passwords.

Finally we are at the sail and we are getting the hang of other logistics. It may seem obvious but there were some other issues which truly were not anticipated and we presumed this using them would be a breeze like HR monitors….coming up next…

 

Posted in COETAIL REFLECTIONS, PE practices | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Transforming Student Learning – Not just the task

Posted on February 9, 2013 by Atul Sharma

Transforming student learning not just the task: I am thinking, thinking a lot…

Some rights reserved by Ken Whytock

 

I am excited to see the change, be the change and initiate the change in the way instruction is given and learning and teaching takes place  in most of the ESPE classes. I have not been able to find any example so far for how an ESPE unit took tech integration to Transformation level. It is common that in a typical ESPE class, Skills are taught, games are played, questions answered, but mostly about the skills and the curricular areas. I am glad that COETAIL has helped me see the possibilities and needs beyond this.

I have already planned the use of YouTube videos, music, digital camera for taking shots while kids are working in class, Google doc. for work sharing. Now I am analyzing, if that is enough for tech integration to be taken to redefinition  stage in SAMR. May be not!  So what experience, knowledge and technology will take my tech integration to transformation level and transform the way student learning happens so far.  Answer to this question  is not easy. May be I should look for the technology,  which my student’s and I need most, right now. Tech-integration that tells less and teaches more; technology which can help my students listen less and help them to understand and do more. I am thinking…

Feb 5th…

I liked the discussion in the COETAIL class today about what takes technology integration to transformation level. I am convinced with the” Transformative use of Technology according to Grappling’s Technology & Learning Spectrum”

I intend to use most of the following lenses suggested in the spectrum as a guide to use technology:

■  Student roles expand to include explorers, producers of knowledge, communicators and self-directed learners
■ Teacher roles expand to include facilitators, designers, learners, and researchers
■ Learning and assessment practices are changed
■ Students initiate technology uses as they create their own learning experiences
■ Research is sustained inquiry for original thinking and conclusions useful to others
■ Teachers view technology as essential for development of higher-order thinking skills (HOTS)

After talking to Ruchira (tech facilitator at AES) and sharing my ideas with her, I am feeling even confident that, I am thinking in the right direction.

Feb 8th…

Change in Thoughts:

My next unit would originally be about learning “Gymnastics” and not,” why Gymnastics”. Fitness and not “why fitness” or how do the kids see fitness. Warm-ups but teacher guided not student centered but fitness centered, where students would be consumers and I would decide curriculum or I would be the one to guide them what they need to consume.

I intend to change all that now with and without the use of tech. I want students to do warm-up because they value it, or understand the need. They should do the warm-up only if they know that why I am asking them to invest their time and effort on that.

How will Tech Help the cause:

One of the primary goals of PE is to enable students with tools so that they can take responsibility of their own fitness. In the past I have had hard time making students understand why proper warm-up is crucial as part of any sport/fitness routine. There was no way I would be able to know and show to them that what they have done is enough, not enough or too much. I think HR monitors; students learning their use and then monitoring the HR periodically can help them understand the effectiveness and the need to do it right.

Transformation Idea:

Using and teaching HR monitor technology, I hope that we will be able to transform the way fitness concepts were taught so far, to the students. It should show considerable change in the understanding, attitude of the students towards warm-up and class activities. Use of I-pads was a concern for me with a logistic stress, that, in 45 min. how I will be able to help students, if I have to troubleshoot on 20 I-pads. Thankfully I just realized that if I use 2 I-pads in a group of 5, it will make logistically using these devices so easy. So, it’s on. Now they will be able to monitor their HR and record and share it online and therefore will be more accountable, which prior to using HR monitors and I-pads was next to impossible?

This unit is about giving students understanding about fitness concepts with core focus on helping them self-evaluate their understanding about warm-up, self-evaluate their participation and their attitude in warm-ups. To start right is a very important part of any fitness regime, sports training or gymnastics routine but students do not understand the need, reasons and ways to prepare their bodies well. They understand HR but do not know how HR could be monitored, and how can they know if they are at the right HR zone during their warm-up, Exercise and cooling down phase.

How will it be Possible?

This unit, I plan to flip the idea of teaching.  I will let students owe responsibility to self-teach and monitor the first part of the class i.e. warm-up. Students will be in-charge; to create a warm-up routine which should be effective, should use Dynamic and Static movement ideas they would learn online or in class. They will lead in small groups every day. One group member will video-tape class involvement. The effectiveness of their routine will be monitored using HR monitors and the predefined assessment rubric An online excel sheet will help students record resting HR, warm-up HR and exercise HR.  All there work will be posted at one place online (either Google doc. Or a shared folder.) for the stakeholders i.e. parents, classmates, class-teachers, future PE teachers, to see, comment, learn about and respond on.  I will try to catch Gary on Monday to discuss with him my intent and let’s see what he suggests further.

I am getting excited! I should get on creating the rubrics, minimum guidelines, creating plan for some learning activities, finalizing the UBD and fine-tune the understanding I intend my students to develop…

I am rolling.

Chao!

 

Posted in COETAIL REFLECTIONS, PE practices | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Gagne’s events of instruction and TPACK meet UBD

Posted on October 1, 2012 by Atul Sharma

TEAMWORK AND PARTICIPATION UBD-THE FINAL PRODUCT OF LEARNING

Some rights reserved by Hossein Ghodsi

I am excited to post my final project for COETAIL course # 4 . It is empowering to be aware of TPACK, TIM’s and SAMR’s  lenses, which helped me evaluate my tech integration efforts from a neutral point of view. I have used a UBD which is for student’s participation and teamwork throughout the year.  I fortified it with tech-integrations highlighted in color red. I used Understanding by Design and theory of Gagne’s Nine events of instruction. I am glad I could use latest tech tools like, I-PAD, its student response application i.e. Socrative. Google Docs also helped me to  take the integration to a  higher level in SAMR. Please scroll to the instruction+ learning experiences section to see how I have tried to bring down the integration to the lessons. I left the old lesson text there, to make the changes visible.  Here it is: Atul’s Cooperation and participation UBD with Gagne’s and TPACK. Here is the assessment rubric Student’s contribution and teamwork assessment rubric, because ” Hyperlink” to the assessments, do not work in PDF format in which,UBD is uploaded. Here is the Performance Task for the Teamwork unit for students. Hope you like the work. 

 

 

Posted in COETAIL REFLECTIONS, PE practices | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Technology-changing education- changing perception and accessibility…

Posted on October 1, 2012 by Atul Sharma

EDUCATION IS A FLUID AND EVER CHANGING PROCESS

Some rights reserved by Reigh LeBlanc

By my understanding, education in any age and form has always taken new shape, based on the changing socioeconomic structure of the world, continent, region, parents and students who are the target audience.

Needs for change, understanding about those needs in education and the resources available are usually responsible for the direction and the nature of change in education.

I believe in today’s world “Technology” is that need and at the same time the “medium” for change. The access to technology, understanding of technology, its use and possible application in education will determine how fast or slow the change will happen.

But for sure it will happen or I should say happening!

I will start with those students for whom education is still a way of fulfilling survival need. In countries and regions, where survival is still a struggle, classroom and school are still a dreamand where education is still happening on rugs, technology can bring great changes, but only if resources will get any better in near future.

I do not see any major difference in the delivery system of education there, in next five years. Any kind of tech resource is still years away from their individual access at home. So change will happen only if socioeconomic condition will improve. Till that happens education will have to follow the same “old-school” ways. Teacher deliver-Students absorb, memorize and then forget and then memorize more, they get certificate, which qualifies them to get jobs.

Once resources (electricity, internet, computers, and qualified teachers) are in place, education in these countries could be changed using new age technology based latest trends, education theories and tools, for e.g. Flipped instruction, You Tube video lessons, MOOC, Skype, to help them see “out of the box”.  If the world wants to use education as a level playing field then, apart from setting up these wonderful education systems, developed world’s efforts should also be towards making these tech based educational solutions accessible to those who need it most. World’s poorest countries.

I say this because for the rest of the world education is not for survival any more, as Dan Pink suggests in his talk “what motivates us”, it is a medium of Autonomy, mastery or serving a purpose which they have.  And for that, technology is one good tool and I am still not convinced if it is the “one stop shop”, which will bring about all changes those are needed to change the way education is structured right now.

Changes in education in the Developed world:

In the developed world where countries, regions and  students don’t just learn for survival but autonomy,  mastery and purpose they have access to the latest technology and gadgets, I see technology can bring and will bring many changes.  I see following changes happening in next five years or so:

Universities and Colleges: I believe higher education is primarily the crux of all the poor teaching and learning practices which are deep rooted in our education system.  If higher education would be easily accessible to students, schooling system could be structured so that students can follow their passions throughout their school days and the rest of the life.  Due to the stringent admission processes and unavailability of  the choice of courses  every kid just want to score high in standardized tests by learning or not learning what is there passion.  Thanks to the internet and the latest tech-tools, more and more universities are moving towards online open free courses like MOOC  and  University of people .  I see a greater impact on the perception of higher education, and accessibility of it. This is what Director of a similar effort Ashoka U have to say :

“What’s next for higher education? We need colleges and universities to produce research that accelerates solving the world’s most difficult problems, and we need graduates equipped, not only to cope with our world’s increasing rate of change, but to drive change through social innovation and entrepreneurship.”

—Marina Kim

Executive Director, Ashoka 

Free accessible higher education is a breakthrough in social innovation. Taking the rational from the Dan pink’s talk ” What motivates us” , I see in near future not every student will go for higher education because of the survival need.  Majority will go for their passions, their interests and their drive to make a change.  If that is true, I see a ripple effect in the mindset of masses, who till now are forced to work hard for tests as they know; for quality higher education, a top grade in school is a must and most of their focus used to be towards getting higher grades, no matter what it takes.  Now with the availability of the open sources this might change. What needs to happen is that the employers and companies should start to recognize these free sources of education offering vast knowledge, through these free universities. Once that happens, the pressure to get top grades in schools and colleges will be over.  People will be able to follow their passion and will be able to use the FedEx time or the 20% time(Dan pinks talk)  well to make huge differences, starting from the school days.

Schooling: Interest based not curriculum based: In today’s world where more and more schools are “college preparatory schools” students’ are forced to be part of an educational institution or schooling system to be termed as “educated”.  The way structure works is that educators decide what should be taught and how it should be taught, students learn it the way schools feel is the best for them to get admissions in colleges.  Even if the schools are not able to meet students learning styles, interests and future aspirations students have to go through the prescribed syllabus. With the use of technology like surface computing, gesture based computing and conferencing, I-pad, Educational gaming etc., I see specialized classes in the form of labs, which will enable students to explore research and educate themselves in specific areas of interest during the school day.

Teaching : Shift from standards to needs: Thanks to the instant availability of information to the students and teachers, after the introduction of I-pad, laptops, and internet in schools teachers are no more expected to be the sage on the stage giving lectures. Teachers are fitting well in the role of facilitator and students are able to access the best of the knowledge and content.  If there will not be a building pressure on the teachers to prepare students for college, but to prepare students to lead a life which they are passionate about then technology integration using the principles of TIM, SAMR and TPACK, will enable teachers to think of planning their lessons based on what are the needs, learning styles, current trends and interest of the students and not just the benchmarks or the curriculum. So far our schooling system asks for attainment of the prescribed content and knowledge by each child in the form of Standards and Benchmarks. Some of which may not be applicable to a child’s interest and future needs.  I see with I-pad, crowd-sourcing and collaborative work teachers will be able to cater the students need based on student’s merit, career plans and passions. “Gamification” of structure of  content or at least the pedagogy will be possible.

My role in five, ten or fifteen years:

I do not see my role changing much in 5, 10 or 15 years. I do not see myself teaching, just online. PE is about physical movement and no matter what; PE will have to be physical. I see myself using technology to take the experience to the highest level of SAMR and TPACK.  Though I will keep trying to stike the balance, as written in my previous blog,  I do not imagine myself posting lectures and videos online kids practicing at home and or playing virtually and submitting assignment. I believe that will not be PE in its true sense. PE gives experiences in real life social settings, teamwork challenges and individual’s physical goal setting.  I see myself creating PE classes rich in tech integration to enhance these experiences, but not substituting them. Salman Khan the founder of Khan Academy also envision and emphasize the importance of teacher over Tech, in his latest blog on Tech. in Teaching. 

This is one area where no matter, how advance technology will get, I am sure human brain and human interactions, physical teaming and other face to face interactions will always have an edge. Or  mmmmmay  be not! Only future will tell.

Tech resources for PE:

http://appsineducation.blogspot.in/p/pdhpe-ipad-apps.html

http://www.earlychildhoodlinks.com/teachers/lessonplansphysicaleducation.htm

http://www.topendsports.com/testing/children.htm

http://www.scribd.com/doc/19576895/Web-20-Tools-for-Teachers

Posted in COETAIL REFLECTIONS, PE practices | Tagged | Leave a comment

How i-Tech ESPE ?

Posted on September 17, 2012 by Atul Sharma

PHYSICAL WAYS OR TECH WAYS- MAY BE BOTH…

Some rights reserved by kjarrett

While reading the horizon report on new and upcoming tech trends in education  I came across an interesting finding about gaming. Picture this:

“In the most recent National Education Technology Plan,
gaming was named as an ideal method of assessing
student knowledge comprehension, citing the ability
of games to provide immediate performance feedback
to the players. Students are engaged because they
are motivated to do better, get to the next level, and
succeed. Proponents also underscore the productive
role of play, which allows for experimentation, the
exploration of identities, and even failure.”
 

If we use the finding about tech games and compare them to the process and outcomes of a PE class and physical games, we will find huge similarities in the effects and benefits of PE classes on the ESPE kids, even in low tech or no- tech environment plus PE class promotes health benefits. Now the question arise what level of technology integration is still needed, for already stimulating, engaging, challenging, progressive, performance task based, problem solving based, grouping and collaboration based, teamwork based, social values and creativity based discipline like PE.

Currently, I am in the transition phase of moving from no-tech to grow-tech and alongside that I am in the process to explore and find answers to the question above. My efforts these days are focused towards understanding the needs, tech-tools, rational, acceptance, logistics, student, parent and our departments preparedness,ES tech preparedness and support towards new tech ways of providing enriching PE experiences.

Before we move towards the complexities of integrating tech in ESPE, I would like to shed some light on the rationale for tech use and integrating tech:

Let’s take the discussion forward with the definition which we synthesized as COETAIL class for “Technology Integration”:

“Technology Integration is the use of technology tools in education in order to promote the ethical application of technology skills while learning subject area standards and benchmarks. In particular, it must support four key components of learning: active engagement, participation in groups, frequent interaction and feedback, and connection to real-world experts. The focus in each lesson or unit is the curriculum outcome, not the technology itself.”

Going by this definition, embracing technology comes to me naturally. My intent as a teacher is to learn and teach latest and most appropriate content and use most appropriate strategies and tools to empower my students with knowledge & understanding of PE specific content and technology and assess their understanding and application of it, in a novel situation. My intent is to produce producers  and not consumers of knowledge. And this is exactly what tech-integration is all about. So I am up for it.

HOW DID I SEE THE NEEDS

So far I used to see tech needs to Integrate technology in three different categories: A) “tech needed to enhance student learning, understanding and application” for students. B) “tech needed to enhance teaching experience” for teachers and C) “tech tools and experiences which should be accessible to both teachers and students, which connect them outside the PE class so that integration could be realistic and fruitful” these tech tools are needed by both learner and teachers for an enriching process and a decent product to demonstrate understanding and application. So, my efforts till now were directed to find tech ways towards these three needs.

TECHNOLOGY INTEGRATION  SO FAR

A)   Enhancing Student’s learning: For last two years I have made consistent effort towards using tech tools to enhance student’s participation and learning. Some consistent integration is happening in the form of pitching the unit with a video instead of talking about it, playing music from I-pod during activities, presenting unit goals using info-graph, sending You Tube video links to the students to refer to, for skill development and then focusing on the problem areas they identified during viewing. I have also in the past used videotaping successfully to address the needs and to enhance the quality of dance/activity performance by students. They are usually tasked to identify the elements of dance in a video they view, and then create their own routine using these elements. Some of these experiences enabled higher order thinking, some did not, depending on the unit I am in, and the time I have to take the unit deeper for the understanding. I have created digital videos using expert interview and visuals to give students understanding essential elements of Choreography and Dance. I have also used HR Monitors for my HS students during coaching seasons. Pedometer is a tool we have used for deeper understanding of the nature of activities and there effect on the body. I have also used essential questions as part of my units to foster discussion about responsible online conducts and behaviors.

B)   Enhancing teaching experience: I have been using projector, Laptops, I-pod and Now I pads for creating experiences for the kids in the form of presentations, feedback forms using Google Docs, rubrics, planning Units on Atlas-rubicon curriculum mapping, embedding Videos in the UBD templates. These experiences were also made easy for me by these tech tools, providing me with a teaching experience which otherwise would have not been possible without tech, and I value that.

C)    Enhancing learning by mating both ends: I have so far been able to create experiences, through which, tech was used during my classes to analyze, evaluate and then create (higher order in Bloom’s Taxonomy ) performances using cognitive domain, but I am not sure how to take this outside my PE classes. I am not sure the tech tools I have access to, do they have the same. Or if giving assignments after school, will only be encouraging the tech- misbehavior as mentioned in the article “23 Things about Classroom Laptops”. I am yet not sure how appropriate and practical an online assignment may be, or a collaborative performance task for PE grades 3-5.  If I ask my kids to go online and write or tick a reflection sheet, search for teamwork skills or a sport skills and then make a class contract collaboratively online: will that be a good Idea for their physical self or a bad idea, as it will force them to be online and inactive even for PE. Do they have access to an internet enabled gadget to themselves? do they have time during school hours or after-school? These are some of my current dilemma about asking students to go ahead and use tech beyond classroom. Unfortunately there have not been many examples of tech integration in ESPE so far which extends outside the PE class or. People find these grades too elementary to start any integration. I personally do not believe that, so my search for the right answer continues.

THINKING BEYOND:

I am of an opinion that tech integration should not be a hindrance to the core-course objectives. Unfortunately there are some complex challenges which an ESPE teacher faces as he/she attempts to integrate technology. One of the major goals for PE is physical activity with focus on aerobic endurance. Students come to PE only 2 times a week for 45 min. Therefore one rule is to be followed: Minimizing inactivity time during the class.  All my efforts in future will have to be such that it does not take away prescribed 80% of physical activity time out of 45 min. Thus so far tech tools like pedometers, HR monitors, presentation videos etc. are used and not the wikis and explain everything or I-movie etc.

Thanks to this course I have better ways in the form of TIM , TPAK and  SAMR MODEL to evaluate my integration efforts. Going over the Reading also has strengthened my belief in these latest tech tools like   like iPad, , iPad apps and gaming.

Keeping in mind the core PE objective “teaching through physical activity” here is what I will focus on:

1.)    Integration using TPACK  and SAMR model: I will try to plan Units and lessons using TPACK and SAMR model of curriculum and lesson analysis. Looking at SAMR, I found most of my tech integration efforts in the range of “substitution”, “Augmentation” and Modification. I will have to find ways to integrate tech experiences along with pedagogy and content during planning stages so I can take my unit further with focus on achieving “redefinition” stage.  I am sure the tools mentioned next will be a good bridge to fill the gap.

2.)    Using iPad and iPad apps: Apart from the usual use of tech, I am learning new trick of this wonderful gadget every day. I have already used one of the app called Badminton coach with my MS kids, which have elaborate videos of stroke demonstration now on their fingertips. This is definitely making it possible for them to take charge of their own learning. .  I have already started to look at available apps for ES kids I plan to learn hoto use apps like screen chomp for kids to do comparative study of there skills.  Numbers have a very good feature of creating forms, which then have easy input options. I plan to use it for formative and summative assessment. I am already using an app called Attendance with my MS Badminton kids. This is not only convenient, but it also helps me to share the reports with them easily. Apple TV’s are installed in most of our indoor Venues now where I plan to substitute and supplement my instructions and verbal communications and use my I-pad to show you-tube videos, my observations, students performances and there efforts using projector.

3.)    Fitness gram: I have long been looking for ways to collect fitness data about the kids and store and share it with the kids in kid’s friendly way to provide intrinsic motivation to them.  Finally our tech head has cleared the way for it. Fitness gram will not only enable me to do so but will also help kids analyze their fitness levels, create a personal improvement plan and then help them reevaluate there success and failure to do so.

4.)  Web-conferences:  A performance task when designed for a live audience has the potential to bring the best out of the kids. I want to venture into creating live audience for my students on the web and via the web.  I plan to collaborate with schools in our sub-continent, like ASD(American School of Dhaka, Bangladesh), ASB(American School of Bombay) who have access to technology and they are ready to share their classes and in return be ready to be audience for some of our classes, using conferencing tech. like SKYPE. In addition to that I hope to be able to rope some of the HS students and ports coaches I know to give a short tutorial while my class is going on. I clearly see it as an effective medium to expose kids to the greater world.

5.)    E-Portfolios: PE portfolios have always been my focus. The only hitch I have is about the time and the support students will need outside the PE class. I still need to work closely alongside our tech integrators to find ways where we can create PE –E portfolios, where student can share their work, collaborate with others, look at our observations, class videos, and their own growth and constantly monitor it.

6.) Motion Gaming :  Here is what horizon report have to say about  gaming :

“In recent years, the Serious Games movement has
focused on uniting significant educational content
with play. The games within this genre layer social
issues or problems with game play, helping players
gain a new perspective through active engagement.
Research shows that players readily connect with
learning material when doing so will help them achieve
personally meaningful goals. Purdue University’s
Serious Games Center is just one of the many programs
dedicated to conducting research and finding new
means of collaboration with Serious Games in virtual
environments”
 

If the education world is accepting the benefits of gaming then PE will have to adapt the latest offerings i.e. motion gaming. Most popular version of motion gaming is Nintendo Wii  In this  motion gaming unit, player have to actually move their limbs to interact with the virtual environment.  When we know that players readily connect with learning material ( in our case may be Tennis) and doing so help them achieve meaningful goal, then I will like to pitch for few units of Wii in a specialized PE pod where kids could once a year go through a unit on virtual yet physical games, which they do not get to experience within the school year .

I believe 21st century calls for an integrated tech experience for the kids during PE. I am positive I will be able to strike that perfect balance in coming years between all three circles of TPACK. And my constant endeavor now on will be to integrate experiences for  “redefining” stage of SAMR model both in planning and execution of my curriculum.

 

Posted in COETAIL REFLECTIONS, PE practices | Tagged , | Leave a comment