4. SHOWCASE (facilitated by the Stick Pick app!)

Thursday, April 26, 2012

1. Another piece of the future of education with technology: TED-Ed. We’ll watch a brief overview of this amazing plan they’ve come up with.

2. Course Evaluations

3. Snacks?

5. Class Photo

6. Future Plans?

7. A small surprise …

8. A Final Word …

Next-to-last day of class.  Just a few final reminders:

1. Your Learning Adventure is due on Thursday at the beginning of class. To turn it in, you will need to create a new page on your main website called “Learning Adventure”. Then, write a short description of your Learning Adventure (at least 2 paragraphs ) and link to it.

2. Double-check your learning adventure with the rubric. All group members should do this – make sure everything is covered. (And, yes, the rubric still includes the sections we trimmed, but you know now what to do with these. See the April 17 blog entry. Sorry I didn’t update it for you.)

3. Uploading your video to youtube is the easiest way to embed it onto your adventure’s introduction page.  You can login to youtube with your google account. Once you’ve uploaded your video, copy the url, go to your introduction page, click on “Insert”, then choose Video<Youtube and paste in the url that you copied earlier. You’ll just see a yellow box on your page but once you save the page you should be able to view your video.

5. If your navigation bar on your website is organized alphabetically, instead of the order listed on the rubric, watch a silent movie for instructions on reorganizing your navigation bar.

6. MAKE SURE ALL DOCUMENTS, VIDEOS, ETC. FROM ALL ASSIGNMENTS HAVE BEEN MADE PUBLIC OR SHARED WITH MY GMAIL ADDRESS: eclecticgreg@gmail.com

For Thursday’s Showcase class:

1. Your learning adventure is due at the beginning of class on Thursday. Please note that this is the last day to turn in any other missing assignments. Talk with me today if you have questions about anything other than your learning adventure.

2. Your website/portfolio should be complete. The last thing to do is update your website introduction page.  Re-read what you wrote about what you wanted to learn from the beginning of the semester. Then, write an overview of what you have learned this semester and what you feel you have left to learn. Your final introduction should be at least 2 paragraphs (you don’ t have a final in this class, so it’s the least you can do!)

3. During the last day of class we will:

• Give 5 minute informal overviews of each learning adventure, including each opening video.
• Complete the end-of-course evaluation.
• Talk.
• Take a class picture.

4. Thursday will be much more enjoyable if everyone:

• arrives on time
• brings a small snack to share
• smiles for the class picture

Thursday, April 19, 2012

[Savannah’s award-winning stop-motion video!]

Backwards Design

Sometimes the best way to figure out what you want to teach is to first figure out what you want students to be able to do. When you’re cooking, most of the time you decide what you want to eat BEFORE you get together your ingredients. At least, in the more successful times that you are cooking. So, let’s figure out what kinds of projects your students might complete – then we’ll working on organizing resources to help them create their projects. Just as we choose a recipe by looking at pictures, a lot of kids will choose your adventure based on the project they will complete.

Why does project-based learning even matter? What did you learn from the articles you read/videos you watched before today’s class. How does this apply to your Learning Adventure?

Together, we’ll watch some of the video on Applying Math Skills to a Real-World Problem.  What evidence do you see that this is a good project? What are the characteristics of a good project-based learning activity? Here is a Gwinnett Daily Post article from just the other day about a PBL curriculum being conducted by one of our Learning, Design, and Technology graduate school alums.

With the theme and essential questions you’ve chosen, what kinds of projects might your student do? Will they create a glogster poster to show what they’ve learned? Or will they create a video to talk about recycling? Maybe you’ll ask your student to start a blog, or create an old-fashioned newspaper page, or brochure, etc. Here’s a long list of project ideas. Read about Twenty Ideas for Engaging Projects for more ideas.

Finding Ideas and Resources that Won’t Show Up on the First Couple of Pages of a Google Search

Where can you go to find interactive games and resources to use (especially in the “Explore” section)?  In class today we’ll look a bit at Thinkfinity – which is an appropriate resource regardless of grade or subject area.

 Deciding How to Organize

 When working with your learners you want to make sure you give them specific places to go with specific things to do – an advance organizer will help with this. This is the requirement for the Organize section of your adventure. Students will use the advance organizer while they are going through the Explore section of your adventure.  You can review all of the parts of the adventure here.  And remember, Wonderopolis was a great place to get information and ideas for your adventures, too.

There are many different tools you can use to create advance organizers: Inspiration, Bubbl.us, Gliffy,Word, Google Docs, Google Forms. Here’s a huge list of premade templates. And a larger list. (For this part of your adventure, your advance organizer should be an original – not from a template.) Make sure to include guiding information for students as they work through the explore section.  They won’t start filling it out until they are in “Explore”.

Remember, these are two great examples to use if you need help deciding what to include on each page:

Health Adventure: You Are What You Eat

Adventure in the Wilderness

For Tuesday:

Make as much progress as you can BEFORE Tuesday so that we can dialog about your project in class and help resolve any difficulties. Remember that your project needs to be ready to show on Thursday.

***Make sure to put you and your partner’s name on the main page of your website. Also, include a picture of each of you – especially if you are not showing your faces in the introductory video (for example, if you are narrating in the video and showing other things instead of your smiling face!).***

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

 

PART ONE: Adventure Project Requirements/Partners

Today in class I am distributing a rubric for this project. You can also view it online.  This form will also serve as a guide to how you might pace your work so that it can be completed by the due date: Thursday, April 26 at the beginning of class.

[LATE BREAKING GOOD NEWS: Omit the Parent Letter section! And ... you can also omit the Hook step IF you really have attention-getting stuff in the other opening sections.]

——

***Have you paired up with a partner? Share with the class about this.***

Here’s a brief overview of the topics I’ll be covering during the remainder of our classes:

Thursday, 4/19: Process vs. Product – what should students create? Plus: Finding great web resources

Tuesday, 4/24: Notes and info/work time in class
Thursday, 4/26: Last day of class, Learning Adventure due, end-of-semester showcase

PART TWO: What is an essential question?

You’ll want to get students interested in your topic by starting with an essential question. We’re going to try and write some ourselves today.

1. Read the brief  essential question description by expert Grant Wiggins.
2. Get with your project partner. Keeping the reading in mind, write or type a question related to your topic. You can start simple, for example, “what happened to the dinosaurs?”, “why did the Titanic sink”, etc.  Expand or modify your question, as needed, into what you think will qualify as an essential question. (Review the section “A question is essential when …” in the reading.)
3. Choose a space on one of the whiteboards in our classroom, draw a large, poster-shaped vertical rectangle, and put three things in it to make your “poster” for our mini “poster session”:  a) Your topic b) Your essential question(s), c) How learners learning about this question (or these questions) will make the world a different place 20 years from now.
4. How good is your question? We will offer constructive suggestions to each team’s essential question.

As a class, we’ll try to refine our definition of essential questions and talk about how you can use these in your Learning Adventures.

PART THREE: Getting Started

For the remainder of today’s class, you’ll want to work with your partner to create a new Google site (not a new page in your current site) and do the following:

o   Make sure the title of your site reflects the nature of your adventure.

o   Share permissions within your site with your partner (if you have one). You will want to make sure both of you can make edits. Here’s a video to help you choose the correct settings.

o   Make sure your navigation bar reflects the sections in the rubric distributed in class today.

FOR THURSDAY:

1. Decide on a title for your adventure and write the INQUIRE section of your adventure. Refer to the rubric for specific instructions.

2. Review the “Hook” section of the rubric and consider how you and your partner can accomplish this.

3. Watch this video on project-based learning.

4. Choose AT LEAST ONE of the following articles to read in preparation for Thursday’s class:

• This Scholastic article  is about project-based learning.
• Here’s one about writing effective driving questions.

4. On Thursday we will also watch Savannah’s award-winning stop-motion video! 

———————————–

Announcement from Gretchen Thomas for CMSD majors:

In the fall of 2012 I’m teaching a one-time only section of EDIT 4000 – Technology and Innovation – special section for CMSD majors.  This is a 3.0 credit hour course that will meet on T/Th from 12:30-1:45 in Aderhold (no room assignment yet).  The purpose of the course will be to explore, as a group, how technology can be used to support children who need assistance with speech and language issues. I’m bringing my knowledge of technology and you’re bringing your knowledge of all things CMSD. Email me at gbthomas@uga.edu if you are interested in learning more about the course or enrolling. You will need to be cleared by me to register.

An Example

Thursday, April 12, 2012 [****NOTE we will meet Tuesday, April 17 to make this day up****]

Questions to consider as we get started on this unit:

There are 2 types of problems: open-ended and closed-ended. Can you think of examples of each?

When have you experienced the problem-based learning approach in your classes? (What is problem-based learning?)

How is this connected to critical thinking? For that matter, what IS critical thinking?

Here are the NETS for problem solving (and other related areas):

	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. Students:
	a. identify and define authentic problems and significant questions for investigation. b. plan and manage activities to develop a solution or complete a project. c. collect and analyze data to identify solutions and/or make informed decisions. d. use multiple processes and diverse perspectives to explore alternative solutions.

FINAL PROJECT

Today we are starting a new project, one that will continue until the end of the semester.  You have all created lesson plans, digital stories, a personal website, and more. Now it’s time to integrate all of your skills into one project.

Before we get to all the details, take a look at some examples of Learning Adventures created by former EDIT 2000 students. Ours will be set up a bit differently (and smaller), but the premise is the same. You are basically creating a web site for students, parents, and teachers. The site is meant to guide a student through an adventure of your choosing (of course, it’s nice to offer them choices within your adventure as well).

Health Adventure: You Are What You Eat

Adventure in the Wilderness

Questions/Ideas

After looking at the student examples, think about how each adventure could have been improved. Do you notice any missing elements of the adventure that could have made it better? Maybe as we work through the project, you will want to go about it differently. Just communicate with me to let me know your ideas.

Partners

I would prefer you worked with a partner for this project. (This is the biggest reason why we must meet this Tuesday.)

Here is my plan for this: I expect you to be able to find some good commonality of ideas with one of your teammates from the Stop Motion Video project, since you came together by career focus. Thus I want you to:

1) Think about a possible theme or two that you’d be interested in, and

2) Email one of your teammates with a proposal.

3) BE GRACIOUS about whether or not you get your first choice as a partner. The person you email may already be in communication with someone else from your team.

Be prepared to share your partner decision in class on Tuesday.

FOR TUESDAY:

1.  Read Chapter 6 in your textbook (you should have already  completed Chapter 4). Complete the Chapter 6 reading guide (but skip #5, 9, and 12 for Chapter 6). Remember, all six chapters are required reading, but you must complete the reading guide for only four out of the six.
2. Contact a teammate and confirm a partnership for this project.
3. If you’ve already made major plans for Tuesday, please email me about this.

Tuesday, April 10

CREATIVITY CONTRACT PROJECTS DUE/NO CLASS

Once again, today you should:

1. Finish uploading all your project materials that need to be uploaded – whether to your website or to a blog, etc.

2. Finish linking to any project materials that are not going directly into your website.

Answers to questions that have come in:

The above means that all of your project contents, including documentation, must exist either a) directly in pages, or sections of a page, in your website, OR  b) in blog pages or other content on other sites, for which you’ve provided links in your site.

I would like for each of your projects (whether 10 points or 25 points, etc.) to have it’s own separate documentation. Do not combine all of your project documentation together.

There is no specified length for each set of documentation. I am not looking for length as much as I am looking for your thinking about the tool or topic. If you tried to do this quickly without thinking about it, it will show.

Show some real connection between a project and the sources you cite. The source is used to back up what you have to say. Make sure the source is really saying what you say it is saying.

For apps, “provide a link and review” means write your review of the app and, along with the review, provide a link to the app’s web page (basically all smartphone or tablet apps have a corresponding page on the Web).

I will check these off on Wednesday, so you have until midnight to finish.

 

For Thursday, April 12:

Read Chapter 4 of your text and complete the Reading Guide.

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Today you will come in and spend class time working on your projects. There will be music from yours truly at the beginning of class. After the music, I will rotate around to each of you and compare notes with you about how your project is going.

For Tuesday, April 10:

CREATIVITY CONTRACT PROJECTS DUE/NO CLASS

You need to finish uploading all your project materials and finish linking to any project materials that are not going directly into your website. I will check these off on Wednesday, so you have until midnight Tuesday to finish.

For Thursday, April 12:

Dust off your textbook! Read Chapter 4 of your text and complete the Reading Guide.

Tuesday, April 3 – Independent Work Day

Please continue with your Creativity Contract work. Several of you have emailed me with questions about your projects; this is great, and I hope you’ll continue to do so as needed.

Special Update: We will NOT have class Tuesday, April 10 after all. But I haven’t changed the due date for your current projects.

I’ll see you Thursday, guitar in hand.  :)

Greg

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Random topic for the day – the Great Pacific Garbage Patch

Today we have a few tips for some of the Creativity Contract projects:

Blogging – you’ll need to create a blog, choose an interesting theme, mess around with the layout and widgets, and create 5 chronological entries.  Your blog needs to have one unifying topic – it shouldn’t be 5 random entries. An entry/blog post will likely be around 3-5 paragraphs. Adding pictures and videos to these entries is always appreciated. Linking to related sites is also important. I strongly recommend that you space out the writing of each entry. Don’t sit down and write all 5 in one sitting – it will be miserable to create and even more miserable for me to grade! Try to have at least one day in between each posting.

Digital Storytelling – Once you’ve completed your video, you’ll want to upload it to YouTube and embed it onto a webpage in your portfolio. If you are using a tool that won’t let you upload to YouTube (i.e. VoiceThread and Storybird), let me know and we’ll come up with another option.

Puzzles and Gaming – There are many options for this project. Some people have chosen to locate 5-7 games that require the user to show creativity and they are writing reviews for each game. To turn this in you’d probably want to create a webpage just for this assignment, then insert an image of the game and a short 5-8 sentence review. If you need help with inserting images of the games, let me know. You might be interested in researching the idea of “gamification”  – if so, this would be a great topic to explore for this project.  Talk with me and we can figure out how you might show what you learn about gamification. Some of you might be interested in exploring the games, puzzles, and learning centers that teachers are posting on Pinterest. Talk with me if this is something you’d like to explore.  I think it would be great to adopt a local teacher and create several of these file folder games/ activities for his/her classroom.

No matter which project you’ve chosen, make sure to check its page on the Creativity Contract website to ensure you are meeting all of the requirements.

*****Tuesday, April 3 is an Independent Work Day for your projects – NO CLASS.*****

For Thursday, April 5:

Be careful what you ask for: I think next Thursday is the day I will bring my guitar(s). I will provide some background music for a portion of the class while you work on your projects. Ian, are you still ready to be roadie??

[Here I will add some suggestions about how far along you should be by next Thursday ... remember that the due date for Creativity Contract projects is Tuesday, April 10.]

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Class WILL meet today, but I will be away again. I will see you Thursday. Fortunately for you:

1. You have the fabulous Gretchen Thomas with you to give you a complete rundown of the whys and implications of the Creativity Contract. She has a very compelling perspective to share – listen carefully!
2. You can still email me to propose modifications you’d like to make on any of the project options. You can also discuss your ideas with Gretchen while she is with you. (I thought we would dialog about this in class, but we won’t be able to do this the way I imagined it. But I am open to your ideas – email me!)
3. Gretchen has to leave at 2:30, so your required class today will be a 30-minute class. You are welcome to stay or go after 2:30.

One of the most important parts of your contract is the individual documentation you will create for each project. Please keep in mind that your projects will not be graded without documentation. Here is the description of documentation from the Creativity Contract website:

An important part of a learning contract is the documentation of your work: learnings, frustrations, successes, etc. In order to document your progress, you will need to write about your experience with each project. You can record your documentation in many ways: on a blog (this cannot count for the blogging assignment!), in a Word document attached to your Creativity and Innovation page, as a podcast, in a spiral notebook, or any other way you might choose. You will be expected to “post” at least one documentation entry for each project you select.

You will also be expected to include reference(s) to something you read related to the topic of your project. For example, if your project is on brainstorming – you’ll want to spend some time researching the idea of brainstorming and share what you learned within your documentation. Readings can come from popular media, professional trade journals, peer-reviewed articles, etc. Make sure to have a mix of sources and cite your sources (using APA style – we don’t use MLA in the College of Education).

————————-

So, where do you go to find these readings? All over the place! You can certainly do a Google search on your topic, but there are some targeted searches you can do that will get you better results.

• If you explored blogs in the communication project – you might find something on one of the blogs you followed.
• Edutopia is a wonderful place to read more about K-12 technology-related topics.
• Galileo is a great place to search a useful educational technology journal called “Learning and Leading with Technology”. Follow this link to Galileo (you might need to login if you’re off-campus) and select “Full text available via EBSCO Host Education Research Complete”. When the new window opens, click “New Search” in the top left corner. Type in your search term: creativity, video, games, digital photography, blogging, etc. and in the “Limit your Search” section, type the name of the publication: Learning and Leading with Technology. Try not to choose any articles more than 3 years old.
• Mashable is a great place to look for business-related information, specifically related to social media: blogs, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, etc.
• David Pogue reports on all things technology related in a blog for the New York Times.

You can use the APA Citation Generator to take the mystery out of this particular and detailed formatting standard. Take particular note of the directions the generator gives you in red below some of the text boxes as you enter in information. It will give you hints about punctuation, capitalization, etc.

————————

Here’s the link again to the Creativity Contract website. Here’s the link to a survey in which you will tell me what projects you’ve selected. (Have this completed by Thursday, but email me first if you want to propose a variation on one or more of the projects. Yes, you can customize! – as long as I approve it.)

FOR THURSDAY:

1. Complete the survey.

2. Email me if you have questions about any projects.

3. Be ready to plunge in to your projects during class Thursday!