Tag Archives: critical thinking

Getting Back Up on the Horse

Posted on January 30, 2013 | 1 Comment

I have not blogged since I’ll Have Another won the Kentucky Derby. Since then, much has transpired, and without going into details, I have neglected the duty to share my thoughts and ideas on learning (or actually the trends that will shape learning in the not-to-distant future).  As to not overdue it, this one will be quick and painless.

I finally finished Clayton Christensen’s book Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Education Will Change the Way the World Learns.  I am about fours years late but at least I have arrived. The most impactive take away from the book is the great concept of “hiring a job” or what has been coined as the “Milkshake Theory of Disruptive Innovation.” The video below does a really nice job identifying what “hiring a job” means and then explains what this means for human interaction.

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When we are attempting to predict human behavior, let alone disruptive trends & systemic change due to innovation, we must be critical, reasonable, and as unbiased as possible. We end up being far more prepared for the unexpected, and this, to me, is the most important, far more flexible and adaptive.  We may not know what schools will look like in 2025, but I can guarantee that by 2025 we will be wondering what schools will look like in 2050. It is our nature and it is driven by our sense of time, purpose, and curiosity. 

 

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What the World Should Know About________? Project

Posted on March 7, 2012 | Leave a comment

I teach a high school Social Studies class that emphasizes in developing English language development. We have started this project on creating info graphics that inform. Below is the nature of the unit and the general outline of the assignment.

 

The Technocratic Revolution: Science/Technology/Communications.

With the exception of communications-often coupled with transportation-this category of issues receives little attention in the earlier sources examined.  However, virtually all historical sources emphasize the role that science, technology, and communications have played in the lives of all humans.  The study of science and technology provides an ideal vehicle for social studies, as well as math and science learning.  Students will discuss both the pluses and minuses of the impact of science and technology on peoples’ lives (now and in the past) worldwide.

The communication cluster includes innovations, networking, freedom of use, the information revolution (access to, balanced flow, and censorship) and increasing speed coupled with decreasing costs.

While this unit is specifically directed at how science and technology are shaping the world, the significant study of past historical ideas and innovations can show us how change occurs in the past.


Background:

The history of human development is closely tied to ideas, technology, and the search for truth. This unit is an depth focus on the nature of those ideas and innovations that have contributed to transforming the global landscape as well as redefining human relationships. With technology and science as major agents of change, students will be asked to reflect on specific periods of scientific development in order to establish a broad perspective across regions and time.

Objectives

· Students will identify key contributions to scientific thought

· Students will explain human achievements to science & technology.

· Students will differentiate between what is positive and/or negative about science & technology

· Students will analyze a period of scientific growth in depth by forming an essential question and building a document based product that supports the question.

 Task 2:  Infographic on Innovation - 

  • Choose one of the following:  glass, textiles, paper/money, energy, communication and construct an infographic with a target audience that is global. The title of the infographic is “What the world should know about___________________” (or a better title if your the creative type).
  • Read Five Things To Know About Technology and consider how changes and developments over time have been agents of change. (energy for example, with steam powering the Industrial Revolution, demographics changes accelerated.)
  • Consider how visuals may be integrated to form new ideas.
  • Use the Coffee infographic as an exemplar.
  • Weave history, statistics, and anecdotal research into the infographic; pique interest of the audience
  • Consider the power of continuity and color contrast/combinations when designing the infographic.

See examples of infographics; Tools for making infographics; Consider organization (timeline, subject, theme)

Rubric

Copyright © 2012 Matthew Inman. Please don't steal.

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T.I. is all about the process

Posted on March 4, 2012 | Leave a comment

I think I blogged about this during the first course because at the time it was the relevant question on my mind as I began the course. I actually created a workshop called Mashing the Past that emphasized ways to integrate technology into a curriculum.  Teachers should have a sound fluency of the curriculum’s they are teaching in order to identify when technology can upgrade units. I think Heidi Hayes Jacobs, a leader of Curriculum 21, makes an excellent point that assessment is a logical place to start with upgrading units.

I have also found it useful to produce unit plans in google docs that incorporate specific tasks with web based resources. The tasks all utilize written reflection, exploration, construction, and collaboration. The technology is appropriate and students are encouraged to pursue their own interest in connection to the essential question of the unit. Below is an example of a unit plan from my General Psychology class.

 

I tend to bank on creativity, backwards design, and a large treasure chest of tools to shape my lessons. The technology more or less enhances traditional assignments, yet can seriously transform learning when the process is heavy in meta-cognition. As you can see from the unit plan above, the process takes a significant amount of energy and focus.

 

 

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Technology is not Additive; it’s Ecological

Posted on March 1, 2012 | 3 Comments

I have recently been hired as the K-12 Technology Coordinator at Ruamrudee International School in Thailand. I prepared a vision for technology in education that has seen it’s fair share of revisions and reflections. I share it now, for the first time. I use technology because history has showed me that the brightest minds in the world have embraced technology for it’s practical application. I’m sure the late Neil Postman would agree that people should know a few things about technology.

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Education in the 21st century

Education in the 21st century is transforming at an unprecedented rate of change because the needs of learners have shifted toward skills that embody innovation and human experience. I see technology as a historical common phenomena that has peripherally (and continually) shaped the way people view themselves and the world around them. Science, travel, and commerce have evolved (while pushing boundaries) due to the simple implementation of a better, more sophisticated tool which has in turn accommodated progress and collective understanding. We are in a unique time in education and 2012 will most likely be a tipping year as tighter budgets and greater accountability force teachers into adopting new and better tools of instruction.

There is no escaping from ourselves. The human dilemma is as it has always been, and it is a delusion to believe that the technological changes of our era have rendered irrelevant the wisdom of the ages and the sages.

As a student of history, I have always shaped my understanding of human experience around three essential relationships: people’s relationship to their environment, to other humans, and to powerful ideas that have resonance and meaning. Human experience underlies all that we do as educators in preparing students for active participation in a global society. My vision for technology stems from my thinking about what I do as an educator in meeting the needs of my students. But I am not really supporting any real change if I am attempting to change the broken system called formal learning.

I believe:

1. The most up to date information is only accessible in real time. People are at a disadvantage when their information in outdated. This disadvantage can have a range of repercussions; more importantly, the formal learner must be equipped with the understanding of how to navigate the information available, appropriately use the information, and share their use with others.

2. The role of the teacher has shifted  to that of the learner, facilitator, and approximately nineteen other roles. Embracing the 21 roles of the teacher is an initial step toward identifying the value of new tools and ways of thinking in traditional classrooms.

3. Changing roles means changing personal/group habits, temporal/spatial structures, and (wait for it…..) philosophies.  If a teacher has not changed/modified their own philosophy, then everything else would be meaning less and lack motivation. Decision making demands input from all stakeholders regarding schedules, space, collaborative planning time, and data-driven instruction.

4. Former CEO of General Electric Jack Welch wrote, “If the rate of change outside an institution is faster than inside an institution, that institution is in peril.”  Here is the call for adoption of more progressive blueprints of instruction. Curricula are the most important factor in the success of learner. Good curricula makes a bad teacher effective, bad curriculum makes a good teacher ineffective. The call is for internal and external collaboration to streamline, implement, and celebrate mastery learning which is supported by innovative vehicles of social media and rapid communication

5. The commitment must be made institutionally and then recruit personnel that share the same values and vision. School leaders need to ask the right questions of their prospective hires and support a program of mutual sharing, collegiality, and celebration. I believe that traditional mindsets and external pressures weaken commitment to meeting students needs of the 21st century. I asked a Superintendent of a top school in NY if there were plans in his school to initiate a laptop/1:1 program and he cringed communicating the a general fear that students would misuse the computers. I believe that on many occasions we are only limited by our own thinking in what can be accomplished. It is criminal to pass this mindset onto the next generation.

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Technology in Education

Technology in Education should be explored and implemented to its innovative ends! Implementation of a one to one program requires appropriately support for effective use of the tool. While technology opens so many opportunities, I also believe that it is too often viewed as an end in itself rather than a means to an end—or both! Should technology simply replace all aspects of education for the sake of innovation? Who could propose such a preposterous measure? While teaching requires current instruments and connectivity to students, not all current instruments and student connectivity is enhanced by technology.  Like all good things in life, technology is yet another element to examine with an eye for balance. There is great educational and developmental value in students flexing such a critical eye on technology resources, determining effective and ineffective uses of technology in education and in life. There are a number of ethical issues just surfacing regarding technological innovations—issues of ethics that are far less supported by decades of moral and human values. These issues offer an opportunity for students to truly construct parameters for real-life ethical issues regarding how people use technology in the world, ultimately enhancing social awareness through the critical eyes of multiple students. My vision is that technology supports all three aspects of the human experience believing that teachers must evaluate the quality of their instruction through reflection and augmentation of the following:

  • Environment
  • Human interaction
  • Ideas

1. The focus is not technology integration, but transformation of the system based upon  connectivity, collaboration, communication, collegiality, community, and celebration. All words that start with the letter “C.”  The thinking that I support is one of personalized learning that  enables each student to take a customized path toward meeting high level standards. Flexible uses of time and space allow differentiated approaches to content, assessment, pacing, and learning style. This level of personalization, when combined with world-class standards, performance-based assessment, anytime/anywhere learning, deep student engagement and agency, and a comprehensive system of supports, is referred to as next generation learning (NGL); I whole-heartedly endorse choice in learning. This is how people refine their ability to dialogue, crowd source authentic problems, and innovate.

2. My vision supports an increasing emphasis upon practical and philosophical use of social media through pedagogy and project-based tasks that support a wide-range of 21st century literacies.  Everyone blogs in school and the blogs become a digital portfolio that allow for practicing of curation, construction, and written reflection. All important literacies can be supported and student writing will flourish through appropriate feedback. Institutionally, we shall support the Creative Commons mentality of sharing with proper attribution, while simultaneously contributing to specific learning communities. All teachers will develop a personal learning network for on-going professional development that continuously shares new resources and approaches while challenging existing thinking.

3. An emphasis on fast connectivity along with digital and technical support that minimizes breakdowns in classroom instruction and communication. Let’s double the bandwidth every year! Lets have a tech team within sections that have members representing each department. Super fast connectivity is vital for the uploading of media and information. I would like to see a schools become think tanks and centers of inquiry, where the intellectual challenges are practical and put the learner inside the dilemmas. New types of courses will emerge that will not only pique interest, but will require guest speakers, large amounts of data collection and storage, and creativity. Mental associations are the stuff of creativity and people must be given opportunities to be cognitively challenged.

4. Broadcasting & Vertical Initiatives will be much more pervasive in the future. Skill sets will become much more specialized and so a tiered system of service will most likely emerge. The best skill sets will earn premium wages for services. However, the services will stille be in great demand with the opportunities left available for those below the most sought after quite substantial. In addition, broadcasting will be far more reaching with specialization in a diverse and varied number of subjects. People will come to accept information from specific broadcast sources (youtube channels come to mind here), while the natural synthesis of ideas, interests, and subjects will create enormous opportunities for new areas of thought, exploration, and design. School wide programming where a common theme is shared and used to drive creative productivity and collaboration can happen with much more frequency in a connected learning environment where the school values are emphasized, supported, and aligned.

5. Ambitious Exploration and Experimentation should be encouraged and supported when ever possible. Teachers should feel free to try new methods and approaches to instruction if the methods emphasize challenging but engaging tasks. There are those that feel that some cultures do not embrace risk-taking, however that is a very subjective term. Anything novel requires some risk, other wise it would not be a challenge. There is a implied responsibility to address the needs of the whole student and experimentation and exploration are specific habits of mind that are generally valued by groups. I have blogged on this idea before but I am entirely certain that there must be opportunities throughout formal education for students to not only choose what they want to learn, but also plan how they will learn it. That is a pretty ambitious experiment for any teacher. The next generation of teacher should be able to integrate content, pedagogy, and technology CREATIVELY.

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It doesn’t matter if it is five, ten, or one hundred years, the developing mind will require a structure of learning that has leverage, is relevant, and is enduring. I will wager 50 bajillion Schrute Bucks that will include technology because technology has leverage, is always relevant, and seems to always pop up in the historical record as a major agent of change. Technology is not additive-it is ecological.

In short, we must prepare learners to critically embrace their futures, not our pasts!

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The Psychology Behind Reverse Instruction

Posted on February 28, 2012 | 3 Comments

You have no idea

It is not a secret that reverse instruction alters the traditional landscape of education. I mean, what kind of teacher just assumes that a video or screen cast can effectively deliver instruction the way a trained professional can? What happened to the human element in education? Are teachers an endangered species as a result of reverse instruction?  Will Khan Academy threaten my future?

Please! Where do these irrational questions come from? Are teachers predisposed to the role of devil’s advocate? The first understanding of this approach in education is that it is not very innovative or revolutionary. I teach high school aged students and my colleagues would agree that at some point these learners must begin developing habits that allow them to be responsible for their own learning. Actually, in the 21st century, it is earlier than high school. Try Kindergarten.  What I find most practical is that reverse instruction acknowledges the transformation of what we used to value in education (knowledge) to what the world values (information).  Technology may have enhanced and facilitated the forms and resources for learning, but the Socratic method is quite alive in the flipped classroom. The best part of the flip, hands down, is that the students can finally drive the class.

 

The Flipped Classroom Model Full Approach

 

I teach IB Psychology and some of the concepts and theories students must master in the course are quite sophisticated. Schema Theory particularly can blow your mind. The cognition necessary to build conceptual understanding cannot be derived from someone else’s mind. The brain doesn’t work that way. It is impossible to share a mental framework with another student and thus “plant” information in their minds (I also don’t believe narratives do this, but they are entertaining). Reverse instruction of sophisticated material requires student engagement and inquiry. The in-class agenda becomes predominantly deep discussion with Q & A time allowed.  In-class activities can engage students in research, organization, and further extensions of the learning with emphasis on the specific meaning connected to the information. This is the flipped classroom: jumping “head first” into a new and interesting concept, while the teacher “life guard” throws the life line when necessary. I cannot lecture on notes, I cannot present lectures embedded into power points. That is a waste of time and the learning moment is seriously marginalized.  Interestingly, I suppose it doesn’t matter if the students utilize videos, notes, articles, textbook; what matters is how those students are expected to relate to the information. What they need is an essential question to guide their understanding outside of class so that they do not lose focus. Once in class, their responses can be challenged or shared. Ultimately, the classroom experience should allow for thinking time, peer reflection/discussion time, creative activities, and student feedback. It would be difficult to schedule these important experiences in a forty minute lecture.

If you have an hour of time, it may be worth it to listen to Eric Mazur discuss how moving away from lecture has transformed his teaching.
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 Psychology & Reverse Instruction

I feel there is some sound psychology at play in reverse instruction.  Cognitive and behavioral sciences have elicited a number of interesting ideas about learning, decision making, and motivation:

  • I think the motivation factor is one easily addressed in reverse instruction, particularly if there is variety in the forms of resources and reasonable time expectations. I also believe that if students actually feel more confident about their cognition, then they will try more difficult tasks and become better at self-regulation, abilities inherent in not just academic success, but future success.
  • Moving from conventional to conceptual understanding does not happen in lecture. It comes from time and attention, deep processing, and articulation.  Importantly, when students do well with conceptual problems, they do well with conventional problems. This cognitive effort works the slow thinking system that is less intuitive and demands more information and time.
  • A major part of the flipped classroom should engage students in abstract and integrative thought processes. Mental models of information and associative memory are extremely vital to success. In fact, creativity has once been described as “associative memory – that works extremely well.” Creativity and systematic understanding can be fostered through inquiry and constructive (or connective) activities. Teachers can facilitate a classroom that move away from favoring cognitive ease by giving less of the information and providing more of the challenge.
  • Teachers should train students to self-prime for their individual self study. Priming techniques are powerful, yet can be extremely subtle. Experiments have shown that simple visuals or words can prepare the mind to learn or behave in particular way. Using priming in reverse instruction significantly enhances the students engagement outside of the classroom.

Reverse instruction also conditions learners to build organizational skills, seek help and assistance, and construct their own personal learning environment. Technology has greatly facilitated learners by allowing them to crowd source information (like using wiki’s or sites), apply and construct visuals that enhance understanding, and share those materials with others. I feel that if teachers communicate the value of using information over  the acquisition of knowledge, then learners will seriously reexamine their roles and responsibilities.  With reverse instruction, what we really expect are students that perform at a high level, not regress to the mean, as so often happens when certain units favor their abilities or piques their interests.

In the end this is about good pedagogy. When the brain learns something new the first time, there is a lot of work involved in regard to neural activity. Anyone who learns something new (a procedure, information, language) must devote an appropriate amount of time and attention to that new learning.  That makes the learning part of education quite difficult. In the words of High school chemistry teacher Ramsey Musallam ,

 “Good teaching, regardless of discipline and age, should always limit passive transfer of knowledge in class, and promote learning environments built on the tenants of inquiry, collaboration and critical thinking.”

This doesn’t sound like reverse instruction, but forward instruction. As for the questions at the beginning of the post,  isn’t exaggeration a truly wonderful literary device.

 

For more on the flipped classroom check out the following resources and articles:

Should you Flip your Classroom?

Flipped Classroom Livebinder

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If today was 1989

Posted on November 25, 2011 | 1 Comment

http://badyearbookphotos.com/

I have to think that, for some very unconscionable reason, that a motive to be a high school teacher is that I really enjoyed my time in high school. I enjoyed the sports teams I played on, I loved my friends that I shared time with, and I can honestly say that the classes I took were fun (not all the time). I was blessed to grow up in the time and space of upstate NY where I was able to experience pretty much everything that I could have imagined.

Sitting around and playing with all the creative tools that make visual literacy happen in the world, I began to wonder what I could have done with such innovations such as the ipod, the smartphone, the laptop computer and it dawned on me that kids today aren’t really tapping the true potential of existing technologies for both academic and personal use. I am going back to 1989 and I’m going to show how these technologies could have significantly enhanced my teen years.

Here are some ways that the 1989 me would have utilized the 21st century tools:

1. love letters

I am assuming that email has replaced the love letter but that lacks creativity and imagination. I am wondering what teen boy with a crush on a girl has created the romantic powerpoint or prezi that shows they really want a date.

2. parent communication

I really want to go to that Bon Jovi concert or need $20 bucks to go see Pretty Woman with that girl I sent the awesome “love powerpoint” to. Prezi may work here to convince parents of the difficulties of adolescence.

Copy of American Teenagers: The Unknown Frontier on Prezi

 3. my friends

Facebook right. No, wrong. Friends require more effort. They require information and a personal touch that appreciates the time they covered for me when all the gin in Dad’s cabinet went missing or they are in a jam with the school bully.


That’s kind of lame I guess. Here are some other augmentations I would have made in 1989:

  • Instead of mixtape……play list to here my Vanilla Ice, Arrested Development, and Madonna, and Skid Row.
  • Evernote to run the 8,000 Sunday Errands my mother had me do like clockwork.
  • Slingbox to watch football while at my cousins horse shows and WKRP in Cincinatti
  • Flip video to refine my hitting in baseball
  • Twitter to really understand the events around the collapse of European Communism and Operation Desert Storm
  • Voicethread to ask girls out
  • Livebinders instead of Trapper Keepers
  • Youtube to get a laugh when ever a teen crisis kicked in.
  • Ebay to sell stuff if i needed some quick cash to shop at Chess King.
  • Google maps to find carnivals in the region to hone my skills at winning stuffed animals.
  • How Stuff works to get better at playing pool in my friends house or to distill my own spirits.
  • Shaving, typing, and spanish speaking tutorials
  • Self defense training
  • Visual and data collection for use in competitive swimming and Bell Biv Devoe analysis
I’m sure there are more but I have to get back to my wife and kids in 2011.

 

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Tutorials to the Rescue

Posted on November 24, 2011 | Leave a comment

Due to Thailand’s flooding situation, we lost an extensive amount of face to face time with students. The situation called for the implementation of e-learning in the virtual environment through various containers and communication devices. The results were at most mixed but it became clear that many students were uprooted or disconnected leaving them with little or no prospect for learning.

A still image from Tagwatchai Saengthamchai's "Blue Whales" cartoon.

Upon returning it became abundantly clear that this situation necessitated some thoughtful reflection and I was happy to see that I wasn’t alone in in my assessment of the effectiveness of e-learning. By and large the positives are far reaching in showing the critical nature of self-directed learning. As a school, too much emphasis is placed on the face to face time as being teacher driven. I would assume that the students who benefited most from e-learning were those who have already adopted and been exposed to 21st century learning. If anything this experience should support that 21st century learning principles are essential to any program committed to developing a generation able to navigate resources, achieve independently, and seek advocacy. The negatives are that not all teachers/parents believe in these principles, ignore the realities of modern education’s role in developing learners, and avoid the responsibility altogether.

As the HOD, I emphasized to the social studies dept. the need to transform assignments into more meaningful tasks that can be extended and modified to fit individual situations. Readings and content may be easily digested but the gradeable activities should have a more metacognitive focus. I myself used blog entries as the medium for turning in tasks. Our reliance on video and external web resources should facilitate narrowing the gap between those engaged over the hiatus and those disengaged. There are a number of realities to consider here as some parents will use this experience to make excuses for student achievement (or lack of) and more likely or not students will do the same. I am inclined to believe that many teachers will turn around in the next 8 weeks and do nothing but lecture in order to “catch up.” This would be the exact opposite of what we should be doing in the classroom. The face to face time is now more crucial than ever and now students can effectively peer review, dialogue on the learning process, and problem solve. There is an opportunity here that must be acknowledged. Instead of a catch up mind-set, embrace a management concept that meets the requirements of the curriculum and the needs of the individual student.

I see this is an opportunity for us as school to decide what is the single most important thing we do as a institution of learning and focus on that singularity. My specific thoughts are that the quantity should not be the question addressed but the quality of the time we have face to face. I would be most critical of two important indicators: teacher communication with students throughout the ordeal and what methods teachers utilize to bring them back into the fold.

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We are addressing the situation in the IB Psychology Course by constructing tutorials using screencasts. All students have been assigned a specific outcome from the syllabus and have been asked to design, execute, and share a 8-10 minute screencast on their specific outcome. The steps I’ve outlined are as followed:

Step 1. Research
Step 2. Organize & Curate their data
Step 3. Sketch an approach/storyboard
Step 4. Filter enhancements
Step 5. Do a one minute practice screen cast on a subject in psychology of their choice.
Step 6. Share their one minute screen cast with 1-2 others for feedback. Share their ideas as well
Step 7. Produce the screencast
Step 8. Share

These finer points were found at The School Library Journal:

Fast Tips

  1. Keep it short & concise.
  2. Credit licensed media as you go.
  3. Choose a generic file format. (Not all hosts accept Flash)
  4. Offer iPod versions.
  5. Consider using captioning to offer subtitles or translations.
  6. Add your brand/logo to title slides.
  7. Remember the 100 MB limit of most hosts.
  8. Reduce file size by only recording an area of your desktop.
  9. Post your screencasts on Facebook & other social sites.
  10. Have fun!

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From Complexity to Clarity, It’s a Visual World After All

Posted on November 21, 2011 | Leave a comment

“Visual literacy is the ability to interpret, use, appreciate, and create images and video using both conventional and 21st century media in ways that advance thinking,decision making, communication, and learning.” – Engauge Report on 21st Century skills

In 1826, Joseph Nicéphore Niépce, a curious sort interested in the emerging field of lithography, utilized a pewter plate, a few chemicals, and eight hours of daylight to bring the world the first photograph (or heliograph as it was called) dooming the then emerging artistic movement known as Realism. Within a few short decades, capturing life’s moments and likenesses became common place, infiltrating the lives of people everywhere by bringing news, enhancing prose, providing proof, and most importantly, affecting beliefs. We know now that the photograph is just an extension of what people have been drawn to eternally: the power of the visual.

 

I sincerely doubt there is anything artificial much more complex than cyberspace…

via

As a history and psychology teacher, I am inclined to provide significant opportunities for students hone their visual literacy skills. Here are a few ways  visual literacy may be embedded into lessons:

  • Using a practice known as SOAPSTone, students apply a number of specific critical thinking questions to charts, graphs, photos, and political cartoons (collectively known as infographics).
  • Photo essays with Voicethread, Weebly, and Clevr
  • What’s happening and why? – provide a photo or series of photos centering on an historical event and have students identify the event and how the picture is connected to the events significance.
  • How Many Really?
  • Create infographics like this one created by a student last year:

 

created by Adisa Narula, Ruamrudee International School


But it wasn’t until I stumbled onto this resource that I could see the proper way to approach functionality of the visual in the proper context. You see visuals often play a very specific role in the external environment.  I am inclined to see how visuals can take complex issues or situations and bring much needed clarity to the viewer. I can also see the opposite effect of the visual when considering the aesthetic value of art or the  powerful purpose of a symbol. Through history, symbols have provided meaning and ambiguity. Man’s earliest attempt to provide help and also conceal secrets have come through visuals (Dan Brown has made millions of dollars off of this concept). One of the earliest, and still one of my favorite, websites is an outstanding educational tool called the Encyclopedia of Symbols which allows users to identify symbols through their unique  visual characteristics (axis; hard/soft lines etc.) and also find symbols that have a special meaning to the individual. I highly recommend adapting this resource into a lesson for it’s appeal and visual literacy components.

So what makes humans so attune to visuals? Short answer: It’s the brain.

Cognition requires energy and focus. The brain looks for significant meaning by anchoring itself to cues. The trick is the nature of the cue and the proper level of association to the cue (that conceptually is the fundamental purpose of forging connections). Text, for example, is a symbol system and must be decoded to have meaning. That is, the brain first must compare letters and word-forms with shapes stored in memory. Then it gauges how the words fit together in the context of sentences, and so forth. All considered, reading is a lot of mental work. Granted, such effort may be perfectly justifiable while reading a novel and sipping iced tea in the back yard, but it’s not effective when listening for long periods of time. More importantly, written languages are accompanied by particular nuances that slows down processing.

Alternatively, images require relatively little processing because they fit with the message. Audiences routinely and efficiently observe visuals, analyze their meanings, and give attention to the speaker’s words, without a problem. That’s why watching television or movies is effortless. Showing people meaningful, content-based visuals, as opposed to text, lessens their cognitive exertion and improves overall experience. Most importantly, clarity is brought to complex concepts by allowing for entire pieces of a concept to be identified at the same time. The synchronic feature of images is often underscored….unless you are looking at a subway map or a complex photo.

Teachers should consider anchoring their lessons in visuals as either tools or as assessment products. According to the Engauge Report, students who are visually literate:

* Have working knowledge of visuals produced or displayed through electronic media

* Understand basic elements of visual design, technique, and media.

* Are aware of emotional, psychological, physiological, and cognitive influences in perceptions of visuals.

* Comprehend representational, explanatory, abstract, and symbolic images.

* Apply knowledge of visuals in electronic media

* Are informed viewers, critics, and consumers of visual information.

* Are knowledgeable designers, composers, and producers of visual information.

* Are effective visual communicators.

* Are expressive, innovative visual thinkers and successful problem solvers.”

It is reasonable to embed one or more of these outcomes into any unit plan and to help with that adaption, I have placed a very cool and helpful tool below called the The Periodic Table of Visualization Methods . Use this tool to complement the lessons you plan or for students to use when creating visuals (which is one of the emerging 21st century skill sets in commercial and non-commercial sectors of society).

Amazing way to think about visualizations.

I was very excited to find the video below to support the utility of visuals. Academy Award winning director Martin Scorese is a huge proponent of visual literacy initiatives and articulates what he believes to be the key power of visuals in reaching creating meaning and connecting to a wider audience.

A Conversation with Martin Scorsese: The Importance of Visual Literacy

 

 

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Four Quotes to Consider from TechEx 2011

Posted on November 4, 2011 | Leave a comment

I had a wonderful opportunity to present at this year’s TechEx conference at Bangkok Patana School in Thailand on the topic of developing Social Studies units that address 21st century fluencies. Additionally, the real reason for attending the conference was to attend the workshops headed by Ian Jukes, a Canadian educator and trailblazer in the commitment to transform schools to meet the needs of a new generation of learners. I was able to attend 3 of the 4 workshops where I was able to come away with some outstanding ideas of how to approach 21st century learning by considering the shift from developing ‘knowledgeable’ students to ‘fluent’ learners. In the sessions I was able to live blog on Twitter while taking notes…..all from my phone. Below are some of the more important understandings fostered by the conference. As Ian made clear,  it is professionally unethical not to share new understandings with colleagues and with the PLN.

we are living in an age of disruption….

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Disruption is coming whether we are ready or not. I have always believed that creative destruction is an inevitable by-product of progress. Jukes pointed out six very compelling forces that will disrupt current human systems: Moore’s Law, photonics, the internet, bio-technology, nanotechnology, and infowhelm. that these forces are exponential significantly increases the likelihood that life as we know it is transforming in ways unimaginable not 50 years ago, but 10 years ago. Teachers that ignore the transforming landscape are unwittingly setting themselves up for replacement.

Teachers that can be replaced by computers SHOULD be replaced

The scariest dimension of this claim is that it is already happening. The rise of the creative class and the decline of the ‘low skill to no skill’ jobs has happened in my lifetime. There exist video lectures and podcasts that deliver information with enriching visuals and enlightened wisdom. Very soon the brightest minds and storytellers will be available for 99 cents on iTunes and the pod schools will emerge that bring like-minded learners into a shared space to collaborate and create based on interest, autonomy, and the drive for mastery. I think back to the movie Accepted where students wrote on a huge wall what they wanted to learn and then set about making it happen. They were in charge of their learning. I do not feel good teachers can or will be replaced. I can’t say the same for ineffective lecturers, non-creative lesson builders, or one-size fits all curriculum. Phasing out dead weight is all but assured once more innovative models emerge. A more promising approach is to allow students opportunities to plan their learning. The need a member of the creative class to facilitate this.

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If the rate of change outside an institution is greater than on the inside, then the future of that institution is in peril.

What I feel is the most enduring message of the presentation. This is actually attributed to former CEO of General Electric Jack Welch.  A succinct and broad idea, the evidence of this axiom is all around us and serve as warnings to the necessity to evolve individually and as members of in-groups. The one area that education should focus upon is right brain work, particularly since left brain work has been replaced or outsourced. This is a untapped reality for teachers stressing cognition in their classrooms. A teacher can build the ultimate puzzle that requires navigation of resources and knowledge, collaboration of multiple talents and skill sets, and culminates in creative/practical construction. Holding all this together is curiosity and that begins with questions….effective opportunities for inquiry that require divergent thinking solutions that incorporate right brain thinking opportunities. This is the change occurring outside of schools and makes 5 year old curriculum maps seriously out of date.

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To think schools are immune to disruptive change is naive.

History has shown over and over again that the one constant has been progress (for the lack of a better term). Whatever the argument, schools can not consistently meet the needs of entire societies without first considering what skills are necessary for the jobs that will exist in the future. It is possible to consider what types of skills will be emphasized in the future. The most obvious are in areas where skill sets are synthesized. Psychology, web analytics, social media, and logistics will all evolve into more specialized fields requiring creative thinking and design skills. Curiosity will push the boundaries of industry and societies will especially benefit from a creative class that will visualize and explain the emerging landscape of the world.

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I believe it’s time to consider the current job description of an educator with wider eyes and with more of our right-brain.

 

 

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Learning Dilemmas of the 21st century (it’s not all bad)

Posted on September 29, 2011 | Leave a comment

Teaching internationally has excellent benefits and, at times, heart-wrenching costs. There is a high degree of stress that comes with the wide-range of responsibilities shared by faculty and staff that make weekends feel short and workdays stretch. Educational historians may look back at the initial decade of the 21st century as the “dark times” prior to an even larger paradigm shift in formal secondary education. A time when collegiality was replaced with cynicism; a time when break room conversations turned vitriolic regarding the changes that all could see coming. There are those that distrust emerging tools and 21st century approaches to education, and others ready to ‘storm the barricades’ in it defense. In the international community, where reputation and professional growth are the driving factors behind successful postings, teachers have rare opportunities to be mavens in education by escaping the standardized testing climate of home. International teachers are not interested in things like tenure because they are impractical; we are interested in “what’s new?” or “what’s coming?” and how can this help me both professionally and personally.

The topics covered in Coetail #2 have really provided context in understanding the values that will likely drive formal education in the future: the importance of sharing and having empathy. With proper use of intellectual material and protocols to use materials, content will continue to proliferate and the opportunities to create shall be a visible force for change. Blogging about cyber-bullying, in the shadow of the death of young boy who took his own life as a result of bullying, hit me very hard as a teacher and father. Standardized tests didn’t help that young man and I’m sure that is what all of his teachers focused their attention upon. The situation is as much sad as it is criminal.

The Coetail 2 project our group developed is a very elaborate and engaging lesson plan for teaching proper use of intellectual property and the thinking that drives Creative Commons. Our group from Ruamrudee International School collaborated and commented one another’s contributions and tailored the lesson toward students with options for informing parents. Students will take a short assessment that will email them the results. The lesson will be useful to any program teaching digital citizenship or relying heavily on visual media.

I would like to say that the face to face time in the cohort has gone way beyond any classroom experience I’ve ever encountered as a student. The case studies and engaging opportunities are great, but the large group discussion with so many fine teachers and fine people have been excellent. We do have a great cohort with great ideas (as the blogs indicate), articulation, and visible passion for teaching.

To finally arrive at the point of the title of this entry, I do see the problems in education as something that can be fixed (in order to make room for new problems). We have awfully intelligent students who are on the average smarter now than any generation before them. They are doing things much earlier and with higher expectations of results. So what is the PROBLEM? Maybe it’s us as teachers always trying to solve something or sensationalizing the issues because at least then we have something to make a crusade about. I guess there is always something to complain about. Even in a world that’s pretty damn awesome.

My concern: my pre-school aged daughter will be a member of the Class of 2026. I am inclined to ask her teachers (many are younger than I am) what they believe the world will be like in 2026 and are they really preparing my child for that kind of environment. That should be a driving question for all educators.

 

 

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Posted in COETAIL 2 - 21st Century Issues and Ideas

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