This week, we in the ITDML cohort are looking at our learning hubs and either tweaking them or completing an overhaul of epic proportions for our final course project. I've decided that even though I LOVE Weebly and am so happy with how easy it's been to use up until this point, I'm going to give Wix a shot. There are more template options, more embed-able tools, and mobile version editing. Initially, my site map for my new website looked like this: I began working in Wix and found that the navigation was relatively intuitive. I also spoke with my personal consultant (my husband), who runs the website for People's United Bank, and got some input. Based on his suggestions about navigation, clarity of content, etc, my homepage currently looks like this: It looks pretty professional...but after some feedback from my peers, I realize that there is nothing in there that is 'me.' This could be anyone's design. While I don't think I will start from scratch, I will move forward looking at ways I can get more of 'me' to shine through.
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My philosophy of education finds its basis in the belief that every child is unique, and that each child brings with him or her a unique set of experiences that influence all aspects of learning. When we, as educators, draw upon our students' individual and collective experiences, students become more active learners, capable of finding success in all traditional subject matters. John Dewey guides us with the idea that we must, "abandon the notion of subject-matter as something fixed and ready-made in itself, outside the child's experience... It is continuous reconstruction, moving from the child's present experience out into that represented by the organized bodies of truth that we call studies," (The Child and the Curriculum, 1902).
This belief, put into practice, creates some tension in the modern day traditional public education system. With more and more testing, more and more demands placed upon teachers to adhere to measurable, quantifiable units and lessons that produce data for analysis and reports, we must be mindful of Dewey's words. We are challenged to fulfill our responsibilities as public school employees while at the same time fulfilling our duties to our students to help them become successful, lifelong learners who can develop passions and delve into their interests. Collaborative learning, content creation, using students' experiences to build on learning and integration of 21st century skills will lead to increased student engagement and deeper learning, thus bridging the ideas Dewey presented with modern educational systems. Adaptability and agility in students' (and teachers') approaches to learning should be a top priority. We know that specific tools and trendy devices come into and fall out of fashion, yet it is how we apply and adapt the skills we have acquired to be able to use them that make us successful. We must foster the same adaptability and agility in our students, and provide more authentic opportunities for this as time moves forward. ![]() Gary Marx identifies twenty one trends that have real implications for our modern-day society. The most significant is arguably the trend toward International and Global shifts, where "international learning, including relationships, cultural understanding, languages, and diplomatic skills, will become basic. (Sub-trend: To earn respect in an interdependent world, nations will be expected to demonstrate their reliability and tolerance.)" (Marx, 2014). Some may say that this trend is not changing teaching and learning quickly enough; others would point to Classroom Skyping with schools/authors/athletes around the world, Tweeting authors with questions, and streaming TED Talks, as evidence that the way we teach and learn alongside our students is certainly changed. The Partnership for 21st Century Learning writes that "Complicated, multi-dimensional, real-world solutions rarely require mastery of a single, isolated skill or understanding of a single subject matter. Thus, a 21st century assessment must be able to measure or observe a student’s mastery along several different axes." (route21.p21.org) Tony Wagner, in his TedTalk, gives names to the axes that he identifies as necessary in order to keep up with the pace of change in our "global knowledge economy." He cites seven major skills our students must obtain:
As these skills are not necessarily those we teach via our Common Core Aligned textbooks, they are also not necessarily assessed in the same standardized ways. SBAC cannot assess curiosity and imagination, nor can it assess collaboration across networks, and so on. As we, the educators, begin to understand the need to integrate these 21st century skills in our teaching and in our students' and our own learning, we must also make the connections to assessment; these "global knowledge economy skills" need to be assessed in line with our 21st century mindsets and values. Adaptability and agility in students' (and teachers') approaches to learning should be a top priority. We educators have seen our fair share of various grading/attendance/parent communication/email programs come and go over the years; we know that specific tools and trendy devices come into and fall out of fashion, yet it is how we apply and adapt the skills we have acquired to be able to use them that make us successful when our districts switch over to a new, more cost-effective (insert item) platform. We must foster the same adaptability and agility in our students, and are providing more opportunities for this as time moves forward. My computer lab consists of 25 iMac desktop computers; teachers have access to ChromeBook carts for their classrooms. Our students have become more adaptable over the last 2 years with going back and forth between the two. The ChromeBooks have apps and buttons, whereas the iMacs have Applications Folders and URLs. PowerPoint is no longer heralded as the "be all" presentation tool - there are myriad apps and software available - so students need to be able to apply their knowledge of good presentations, attention to audience, commitment to content, in mind regardless of the tool they choose to utilize. The articles listed below provide excellent examples of technologies that are available to support the assessment of 21st century skills. My favorite example of this is Blogging by using tools such as Blogger or WordPress. By keeping a blog, regardless of the host or platform, students are able to process and analyze their own works and creativity. Teachers can use this type of assessment formatively or summatively. The 21st Century Skills Assessment video highlights the use of electronic portfolios as an assessment tool, with the emphasis placed on the portfolio, and not on the electronic output method. Functioning as a repository for projects, blogs, information, and highlighted works, electronic portfolios showcase students' longitudinal work, provide evidence of growth and metacognition, and demonstrate proficiency in the global 21st century skills mentioned above. Khan Academy is another excellent example of a technology available to assess 21st century skills. Sal Khan created this incredible instructional model based on videos, interactive lessons, badges, points and skill tracking for students, complete with a coach dashboard that provides a summary of class performance as a whole as well as detailed student profiles. Many teachers in my building use this for math practice; I use it to teach my students coding, specifically Java Script. One of my Grade 6 sections just completed an activity we called the 'Lego Challenge', where the students were given a Lego kit with a few extra props and were challenged to create a car that would travel 15 feet in the shortest amount of time. This activity showed how students can be engaged in an authentic activity where the assessments extend beyond the CCSS and into the 21st century. Students had to collaborate, problem solve, utilize their different strengths, navigate their individual challenges/weaknesses, and be creative. One of the district's technology integration specialists is putting together a blog to document the students' experiences. You can find it by clicking here. It is critical for today's educators to be aware of the seismic shift that we are experiencing with regard to 21st Century skills, teaching, learning, and assessment. Our priorities must shift away from the basic information students must know from wrote and redirect our efforts to making sure they can do something with this information. Skill building in order to prepare our students for the jobs that do not exist yet will be critical, and teachers as well as administrators will need to step up to facilitate and keep up with the pace of all of these changes. There are countless articles, blogs, and free online courses to assist educators in taking on the challenge. Resources:
Marx, G. (2014). Sneak Peek: Twenty-One Trends for the 21st Century - Education Week. Retrieved from http://www.edweek.org/ew/marketplace/books/sneak-peek-21-trends-for-the-21st-century-gary-marx.html 21st Century Skills Assessment. (2009, June 29). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2WKCBxeoxU Tony Wagner Ted Talk - 4 Min. Video. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7eFyNvA1uU P21: Partnership for 21st Century Learning. (2015). Retrieved from http://www.p21.org/index.php ![]() Beard, Carpenter, & Johnson state in Chapter 2 of Assistive Technology: Access for all students, that the concept of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) can be included in the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in order to effectively target all learners, as well as those who must utilize Assistive Technologies. The concept of UDL allows educators to respond to individual differences, by providing "a map for creating flexible goals, strategies, resources, and assessments that accommodate the needs of a diverse group of learners. By identifying and removing barriers from pedagogy and resources, thus employing a philosophy of flexibility, teachers can ensure their students are successful learners" (Beard, p. 27). This winter, I taught a unit on the Iditarod Sled Dog race and included it on this website (Click here for Unit Plan, standard alignment, objectives and assessments). In this unit, students are asked to research a particular topic of interest to them, modeled after an Inquiry Based Model of teaching and learning. A LiveBinders site provides previously vetted resources for students to use during their research and inquiry. During a typical semester, anywhere between 15% and 25% of my students will be on the caseload of a counselor, resource room teacher, remedial program, or other Special Education support group. In order to account for Universal Design for Learning, as well as identify Adaptive Technologies that could be included to help all students experience success, some modifications to the unit plan should be made. I should consider a variety of materials, alternatives, and other Adaptive Technologies and devices that might mitigate the barriers presented by these materials in order to improve the learning experience for all students. Among them are:
Resource:
Beard, L. A., Carpenter, L. B., & Johnston, L. B. (2011). Assistive technology: Access for all students (2nd/3rd ed.). Toronto: Pearson Education. In his TED Talk, Tony Wagner discusses the seven skills that are critical for students to leave high school with, that will not only help them in college and career, but also help them keep up with the pace of change in our global knowledge economy. ![]() Usually, I do a relatively decent basic job of using formative assessments with my students. I typically give some sort of pre-assessment, use rubrics to scaffold project work, and write a lot of suggestions on the final rubric after the assignment is completed and handed in; students never receive a rubric back with just a letter or number grade on it. That said, where I feel that I could definitely improve is the area of assessing during instruction. I teach technology class to fifth and sixth graders, so typically my class involves a lot of independent project work. While students are working, I walk around the room, redirecting, asking clarifying questions, and troubleshooting issues that may arise. It is clear that when learning is assessed during instruction, opportunities arise for clarification of information, for connections to be made, for instruction to be differentiated/tiered/scaffolded, and for re-teaching and mini-lessons to help further understanding. The Ohio Resource Center offers a sample of how one teacher integrated formative assessments in a Grade 6 English Language Arts classroom. This particular teacher gave a mid-project formative assessment to monitor progress and bring to light which students or groups needed further assistance. She speaks highly of the value of this type of assessment, and the article elaborates: "The teacher felt that these students would have slipped by and never would have fully understood their part of speech, had it not been for this assessment" (ORC, 2015). Technology can be used to support the types of formative assessments that take place during instruction. Nicol & Macfarlane-Dick tout the necessity for formative assessments to encourage students' metacognition and their own reflections on their learning progress and the "judging of progression to goals." Judith Dodge emphasizes the need for the teachers' ability to reflect, as well, by asking the questions, "Who needs my attention now? Which students need a different approach? Which students are not learning anything new, because I haven’t challenged them?” Some of the tools that I would like to try to incorporate more frequently and as soon as possible are:
The following video was created using Keynote and QuickTime Player, and explains why formative assessment during instruction is so important, as well as gives visual examples of the three tools described above: Resources:
Alfonzo, P. (2014, May 20). Frictionless Formative Assessment with Social Media. Retrieved May 28, 2015. Dodge, J. (2009). 25 Quick Formative Assessments for a Differentiated Classroom. Dyer, K. (2013, July 22). Digital Technology Tools for Implementing Formative Assessment - Post Two. Nicol, D., & Macfarlane‐Dick, D. (2007, January 24). Formative assessment and self‐regulated learning: A model and seven principles of good feedback practice. Clear Targets and Expectations Provide a Direct Path to Learning. (2015). Retrieved May 28, 2015. ![]() The assessment of digital literacy, on the surface, seems like a great candidate for standardized testing. Educators at all levels want to - and need to - know what their students can do before they arrive in the classroom and after content has been taught and practiced. Can a student create a presentation? Can he or she upload and download content? Can he or she navigate the internet while staying safe and without revealing too much personal information? Those seem to be pretty black-and-white skills, right? Maybe. The mantra in favor of standardized assessments goes along the lines of Learning.com’s statement that their assessment “provides educators with solutions to integrate 21st century skills into core instruction.” There are many assessments that measure digital literacy skills and guess what? Lots of them also happen to align with Common Core State Standards. Some examples of and links to these ready-made digital literacy/technology assessments for students are:
As if on cue, Learning.com has released an entire two-semester program called Project NextTech for high school students, which is designed to help, “high school students develop the technology proficiency, information literacy, and media literacy skills they need for success in our increasingly digital world.” It sounds all too familiar, doesn’t it? Pearson, Common Core, SBAC, Go Math! You name the product, there’s a marketing team somewhere working overtime. I shouldn’t be so flippant - but I strongly believe that our kids are over-tested, over-scored, and over-measured. Do I believe that we need to know what skills our students are coming to us with? Yes. Do I believe that I should be able to show progress and growth throughout the course of the year? Absolutely. Do I believe that after thirteen years of public education, our students should have some evidence that they are proficient contributors and creators of content, able to collaborate and problem solve, and have significant knowledge of digital literacy? Without hesitation, yes. The TRAILS-9 website says, ““We cannot say that the numeric score is a definitive measure of a student’s information literacy knowledge.” I agree that there are alternatives to prepackaged, commercial, standardized assessments that can be more effective and informative. Some very positive, student-centered, learner-driven methods to assess students’ digital literacy skills are:
All students learn differently, and as we have seen with standardized testing of academic content areas such as reading and math, the one-size-fits-all approach does not work for every student. The same should hold true for assessing students’ skills in the evolving arena of digital literacy and technology skills. Our students are not test scores, and their competencies and literacies in the field of technology should not be quantified in that way. ![]() The vast majority of students (80%) who receive special education services are in the mild range of disability. Beard refers to students with these types of disabilities as higher-incidence disabilities (Beard, p. 80). These students receive most, if not all, of their instruction in the general education or 'mainstreamed' classroom. Their disabilities are not severe enough to qualify for separate classes or other removal. Assistive Technologies are a component of the approach to working with and teaching students with higher-incidence disabilities that enable students to be successful learners and to be educated with their peers. Three areas in which students must perform in order to be successful learners are gaining, expressing, and organizing information (Beard, p, 81). Gaining information can include reading (receptive language), which impacts a wide range of student functions. Math, science, and social studies are all content areas that rely on reading in order to acquire knowledge and new information. Without the ability to read at grade level, or the level of textbooks and testing materials, the content becomes difficult to access. Expressing information involves the writing process, including spelling. Organizing information, and deficits therein, impact students' ability to complete homework, plan long-term projects, and be independent workers. Assistive Technology offers many supports to students with higher-incidence disabilities who work hard to be successful. Voice recognition software, speech-to-text applications, graphic organizers and electronic file systems are all devices that students can use to assist them. I have found during my tenure as an educator that these tools are only as good as the training that goes into using them. As Beard says about the student in the Assistive Technology Snapshot, "It cannot be assumed that Mike will learn just because he is given a computer tablet" (Beard, p. 82). The IEP team must identify goals and objectives for the students and investigate the appropriate supports to meet those needs. Developmentally appropriate practices must be taken into consideration when implementing new devices and services. Training for teachers and support staff is critical. Does the teacher know how to use the technology so that the student is successfully integrated within the classroom? Can the educator convert print materials to digital format? Does the teacher follow the best practices of Universal Learning Design in the setup of his or her classroom environment, from layout to emotional vibe. Organization, specifically, is an area that the teachers at my school work very hard on with students who have higher-incidence disabilities. All of the sixth graders who receive special education services attend 'Organized Homeroom' at the end of the day, every day. During this time, students review their planners with their caseworkers and have them signed off on before going home. Preteaching is a critical component to student success, and general education teachers have standing weekly meetings to review upcoming material, vocabulary, assignments, and rubrics with the special education teachers. Collaboration and consultation between the student's content area teachers and the special education teachers are helpful, as well, in making a plan for support as well as identifying the appropriate Assistive Technology for their students. Beard's Chapter 5 spotlights many Assistive Technologies that could be used to support students with higher-incidence disabilities. Worth repeating in this medium are the Assistive Technology Inclusion Tips that Beard enumerates on page 90: "Assistive Technology Inclusion Tips"
It is important to remember that even though the term 'mild' is used to describe the learning disabilities, behavioral issues, and intellectual disabilities of students with higher-incidence disabilities, these students can still often experience difficulties being successfully independent in the school environment. Accommodations can be made and Assistive Technologies can be implemented with the students IEP team, who are his or her greatest academic advocates. Resources:
Alper, S., & Raharinirini, S. (2006). Assistive Technology for Individuals with Disabilities: A Review and Synthesis of the Literature. Journal of Special Education Technology, 21(2), 47-64. Beard, Lawrence A.; Johnston, Linda B.; Bowden Carpenter, Laura A. (2011-01-07). Assistive Technology: Access for All Students (2nd Edition). Pearson HE, Inc.. Kindle Edition. ![]() Best Practice in Assessment: Section 3 Technical Quality: Valid, reliable, fair, and comprehensive F. Serves multiple purposes: informative, diagnostic, summative Student Learning Targets: Students Will:
Connected Standards: CCSS:ELA-Writing:W.6.4: Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to the task, purpose, and audience. CCSS:ELA-Writing:W.6.6: Use technology, including the internet, to produce and publish writing as well as to interact and collaborate with others. ISTE:1: Creativity & Innovation: Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge and develop innovative products and processes using technology. ISTE:2: Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making: Students use critical thinking skills to plan and conduct research, manage projects, solve problems and make informed decisions using appropriate digital tools and resources. CT Computer Technology Competency Standards for Students:3: Technology Productivity Tools CT Computer Technology Competency Standards for Students:4: Technology Communications Tools Mozilla Web Literacy Standards: Building: Composing for the Web: Creating and curating content for the web Technology Use to Assess Learning Outcomes Context: The following activities will take place over several weeks as students work to research and create. Independently, students will first visit some predetermined websites about Environmental Awareness and issues. They will then create a Google Doc, brainstorm a list of what they believe the most pressing Environmental issues are of 2015, and share this with their teacher. Students will meet in small groups and discuss the issues they brainstormed. After some additional website exploration, each student will choose the topic that he/she feels is the most important environmental issue of 2015; it will need to be something that he/she is either interested in, passionate about or would like to learn more about. Students will generate a list of questions they have about their topic, and will type these up using Coggle, a diagramming/webbing/graphic organizer that is an open source, online tool. Mini-lessons on finding information online and sifting through a large number of search returns will take place as whole-group instruction. Once research is completed, students will be allowed to choose and use a presentation tool that they have not used before. A complete list of options can be found here; among choices are Powtoon, Prezi, iMovie, Google Maps, Pixton, and more. Presentations will be self-assessed and teacher-graded using a rubric. While the rubric for the presentation is part of the assessment for this large unit project, students will use a free online site like Blogger or Google Sites to maintain an eportfolio of their work, documenting their progress and writing reflections. The portfolio will include artifacts that students gather along the way, such as their brainstorming lists, graphic organizers, and published presentations. Synthesizing their thought process during these tasks will be written reflections that will be guided by teacher-posed questions. Technology Aligns with Best Practice: ePortfolios serve multiple purposes as assessment tools - informative, diagnostic, summative The use of ePortfolios/written reflections as authentic assessment is backed by solid research and evidence of validity and value. They also serve multiple purposes with regard to assessment. ePortfolios allow students to reflect on their own personalized learning at their own pace, as well as to share content online and receive feedback from a wide range of peers. This feedback can be informative and effective for learning, both for the teacher as well as the student. Successes as well as gaps become evident; in exploring these gaps, teachers can improve their practice in order to reach each student. Diagnostic assessments are used to identify the current knowledge and skill level of students so that learning activities can be designed to match student requirements. place. They “are particularly well suited to online formats, as the validity and reliability of the assessment responses are related to their ability to lead to improvements in learning, rather than determining grades and progression parameters,” (Crisp, 2009). Written reflections in ePortfolios align with this component of the Best Practice. ePortfolios and reflective learning support deeper student engagement and self-awareness; this provides teacher and student with a better picture of what students know and are able to do, as well as provide information for ongoing student development. Summative assessment responses are designed to grade and judge a student’s level of understanding and skill development. The work is commented on, measured, and evaluated. In the case of the written reflection in the ePortfolio, a rubric can be used to do all of this. This ePortfolio rubric was designed to inform the process for the student as well as to assess the student’s understanding and skill post-activity. Resources: Chen, H., Ittelson, J., & Penny Light, T. (2014). Documenting and Assessing Learning with ePortfolios. Wiley Learning Institute. Crisp, G. (2009). Interactive e-Assessment: moving beyond multiple-choice questions. Centre for Learning and Professional Development. Adelaide: University of Adelaide, 3, 12-31. Lorenzo, G., & Ittelson, J. (2005). An overview of e-portfolios. Educause learning initiative, 1, 1-27. The whole process of designing an Infographic from start to finish of choosing a topic, researching, collecting data, planning, designing and revising an infographic on learning in the digital age was challenging and more intense than I originally thought it might be. I assumed that because I am a visual learner, I would automatically know how to construct a visual guide with information. That is not the case! I spent a lot of time just browsing through Infographic templates on a number of websites to see how creators took data and research and put it into a visually appealing, informative display.
My topic and finding information on it was pretty straightforward. "How do we help students navigate the overwhelming amount of information that is online while they are conducting research projects?" Because the nature of reading and researching is changing, there were many current articles and studies and surveys that addressed students from the elementary level through the university level. So I had plenty of information, statistics, and resources to continue. Plugging in all of the information required making a paper draft of what I wanted to include before I could get online. I tried using Infogram but found that there were not many template options, and users cannot change text or font without upgrading. Next I attempted Easelly - it had better template options and text layouts, but I had trouble with the site lagging and that pesky spinning rainbow of doom. It's possible that Chrome was not a compatible browser, or it could be 'user error.' Finally I tried Piktochart after seeing some drafts posted by my peers, and that seemed to work the best for me. While the process was challenging and I had my work cut out for me as far as design, I kept running through various ways educators could implement infographics in the classroom. I'm a big proponent of 'alternate presentation tools' with my students - they come to me in grade 5 and most of them have done at least two or three slideshow presentations during their public school tenure. Infographics offer a different take on the research and could really draw in those students who are design-savvy or who want to 'write less.' Anytime students are required to present information about a topic, place, time, theme, person, current event, science lab, etc., infographics could be a viable alternative to the standard assignment. The possibilities are endless, and Kathy Schrock puts together a pretty nifty page on infographics as a creative assessment. I'd recommend that before a teacher dives in and really tackles using infographics with students to take a look at the purpose of the infographic and what the goals are for putting one together. I found that planning is critical to the success of the final product, so educators should really put in the time to choose a clear topic, get pertinent information, draft, sketch, and experiment. The results will be rewarding for both the teacher and the students. |
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