Learning with Technology: Trying it out!

The culminating project for Learning with Technology (EDTC 6431) is a highly developed lesson plan designed for second grade readers. Check out the process by which I brainstormed, researched, planned, and revised this experience over the course of the quarter. Many thanks to my classmates and professor, Dr. Wicks, for great suggestions and guidance along the way!

Check out the entire project right here. 

ISTE Standard #4: Developing Critical Thinking and Problem Solving Skills Through Technology

ISTE Standard #4 requires learners to use critical thinking skills to plan and conduct research, manage projects, solve problems, and make informed decisions using appropriate digital tools and resources.

My question: What age-appropriate digital tools might help young learners cultivate critical thinking and problem solving skills in the classroom?

The Global Digital Citizen Foundation is a rich resource I dove into more deeply in my search to answer this week's question, and I found this article by the GDC Team extremely helpful: 

26 Critical Thinking Tools Aligned With Bloom’s Taxonomy (Links to an external site.)

The piece is organized according to which digital critical thinking tools help learners in different areas: remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating. 

My biggest takeaway from this week's research is actually more about my own understanding of what critical thinking is for a digital generation. The Global Digital Citizen Foundation helped me make important parallels between the learning I did as a child and the ways kids in 2016 still develop critical thinking and problem solving skills, but through the lens of a digital native. 

Digital natives, a term I understood and identified with instantly, but had not heard before, are members of the generation having grown up in this incredible technological boom. My family got AOL junk mail beginning in fourth grade, when I first logged onto the Beanie Baby website, clogging our family's phone line for hours as the photos of stuffed elephants loaded onto each page. I'm the same age as Mark Zuckerberg--I remember sitting in my college residence hall and submitting my request (invite only, back then!) to join this new online community for college students only: Facebook. It was a glorified phone book at the time, but the rest is history. My students, however, will never know a time when the phone book actually came to my doorstep, and most will have their own smartphones long before they can drive. They are true digital natives. 

So their learning will look a lot different.

Check out this massive list of digital and online actions that correspond to Bloom's Taxonomy. I had never thought of commenting on a blog post as a form of analyzing (critical thinking), but of course it is! Animating is creating, mind mapping is analyzing, and tweeting is understanding (not a statement I could call gospel truth, but it is possible.)

The truth is, and I'm a little embarrassed to admit it when I know the world wants and need digital education, but I'm starting to see much more value in educational technology now that I'm connecting these dots.

Bates's writing on the difference between technology and media also helped clarify some of these same questions for me. He says, "In judging the value of a technology, we need to look more closely at the ways in which it is being or could be used. In essence this means focusing more on media--which represents the more holistic use of technologies--than on individual tools or technologies themselves, while still recognising that technology is an important component of all media" (Bates, n.d.). Basically, a cool app means nothing on its own. Put it in the context of enriching educational media, and it could be magic.

I still don't believe the youngest students need more than a few minutes of screen time exposure every day--there's just too much literature (Reddy, 2015) warning us of the damage of such high doses--but I can now see all the ways my digital teaching strategies will expand their skills sets. It feels like a real breakthrough for me, and it feels good!

References

Bates, A.W. Understanding technology in education. In Teaching in a digital age (6). Retrieved from: https://opentextbc.ca/teachinginadigitalage/chapter/8-8-understanding-the-foundations-of-educational-media/

Global Digital Citizen Team. (2016, January 11). 26 Critical thinking skills aligned with Bloom's Taxonomy. Retrieved from: https://globaldigitalcitizen.org/fostering-critical-thinking-skills-with-online-tools

Reddy, Sumathi. (2015, October 15). Pediatricians rethink screen time policy for children. Wall Street Journal. Retrieved from: http://www.wsj.com/articles/pediatricians-rethink-screen-time-policy-for-children-1444671636

Little Researchers: Addressing ISTE Standard #3 in a Young Elementary Classroom

ISTE Standard 3 addresses research and information fluency: Students apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use information. 

My question: What tools are available to help young elementary students begin to understand the process of research?

Giving young primary students a foundation for research skills is no small task in the age of Google. Not only is there a wealth of information available, there is a wealth of bad information available, and sometimes it's much easier to find than quality, curated data. Then there are the challenges of keeping children safe online as they research, which is another moving target for parents and educators alike. 

In an article for Illinois State University's Research and eData Journal, Jennifer Sharkey discusses the challenges older students face when they have not been given a strong head start when it comes to research skills: "Student search strategies are key indicators of their information fluency abilities. Perpetual commentary on the tech-savviness of today’s students creates a misperception that they also possess high information fluency competencies to function in today’s information environment. Students’ dominant use of free search engines has led to information-seeking habits comprised of only using natural language search strings, selection of top hits, and lack of intentional critical analysis in the selection process" (Sharkey, 33).

In a word: yikes. Just because someone can successfully call up the latest Beyonce video does not mean he or she is prepared for high level academic research, or even quality information for a fourth grade science project. The task, then, is to teach the basics early. Lucky for new teachers like me, there are several strong resources available to help navigate the maze of online research, making it more and more possible to give them a solid foundation.

SweetSearch aims to do exactly that. Developed by researchers, librarians, and teachers, this student-friendly search engine filters results so only the most credible sources land in the results. 

I tested SweetSearch myself to gather more information about one animal fascinating to the young learners I know: howler monkeys. Below is a screenshot of some fascinating results, which included the National Zoo, National Geographic, Science Magazine, and PBS. By comparison, Google's first result was the national-treasure-not-recommended-for-student-consumption: Wikipedia. The results also included a variety of media that kids would find engaging, from videos to Buzzfeed-style (but academic quality) "fun fact" lists. 

I can picture leading a young primary class through a search like this together using the projector, asking students to lead the way as I helped them interpret just what all the lines of jibberish lead to (links are so very ugly). Knowing we were in the controlled domain of a quality search engine like SweetSearch would make it much safer to let the children lead the exploration, giving them hands on experience that helps them grasp what it means to inquire, discover, sort, evaluate, assess--all the things that mean research!

Next, Mary Beth Hertz's article on Edutopia offers other important strategies for answering the same umbrella question: What is research? Third grade is a perfect time to start exploring because of the strength of their reading skills combined with their natural developmental curiosity. The chart below, adaptable for grades 3-7, shows the process by which students can begin learning what we mean by research. This chart in and of itself seems to be a great visual for students trying to get a grasp on what this research thing is all about! In a classroom younger than third grade, the teacher might preselect three to five sources to help narrow things down a bit first, before asking students to dig through the information and synthesize their findings. (Thanks to fellow MAT candidate Marissa for this suggestion!)

 (Links to an external site.

Although teaching internet research skills may not be as beefy, as substantial, in the early primary years, it is possible to expose kids to resources that will whet their appetite for future learning. Planting seeds and scaffolding their learning will certainly lead to a generation that knows how to think more critically and pause before believing everything they read on the Internet.

References

Hertz, M. (2012). "Doing internet research at the classroom level." Edutopia. Retrieved from: http://www.edutopia.org/blog/elementary-research-mary-beth-hertz

O'Conor, L. & Sharkey, J. (2013). “Establishing twenty-first-century information fluency.” Reference & User Services Quarterly, 53 (1): 33–39.

Communication and Collaboration in the Classroom: Addressing ISTE Standard #2

The Big Question: What tools could help students in an international school setting collaborate and communicate to learn more about one another's home country? There is so much diversity within the community already (typically more than five first languages in a class, sometimes more), so how can we integrate technology to celebrate and learn from each other?

The beauty of an international school setting is that a global community is already sitting in one classroom together. Students from India, Great Britain, Japan, Australia, Venezuela, China, and the United States learn side by side every day. Teaching cultural competency, however, must still be purposeful, as sometimes students trot along in daily life without developing much appreciation for the cultures of their peers. It's almost as if since virtually every child is "from somewhere else," it all blends together, and they can forget to notice all the surrounding uniqueness. They certainly peer into one another's lunch boxes (sushi, papadums, Swedish meatballs--it's all there), but there is more they can learn from each other. 

I appreciated reading the richness of the global student partnerships developed in the study by Ertmer, Newby, and their colleagues, and it affirmed my belief that in my current school setting, the opportunity is there for the taking. The study states: "The success of our future graduates depends on their abilities to be both culturally and technologically competent as they work and interact with diverse, geographically dispersed people, using a variety of technology tools" (Ertmer, et al, 2011).

DuoLingo, the language learning app available for iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad, is a beautifully designed tool teachers can use to such an end. Although I can picture many uses in a classroom, in order to facilitate peer-to-peer learning which satisfies ISTE Standard #2, I would pair upper elementary students together to tackle a new foreign language. Ideally, students could be paired with someone with a different native language, and the goal would be to encourage and help one's partner through the learning process. After a three weeks of daily practice, each team would prepare a short presentation to communicate their experience as a cross-cultural student when taught by a peer! 

The app is easy to use, attractive, and can be monitored by teachers using the DuoLingo platform for schools. The screenshots below give a small taste of the app's aesthetic, as well as its instructional model. Its lessons are quick and range from introductory vocabulary to subjunctive verb conjugation. (Note: DuoLingo does not support Mandarin or Cantonese, but since Mandarin is required by all ages at our school, it seems okay to focus on other languages for this project. Plus, the goal is not fluency, it's exposure to the language and collaboration.)

As you can see, the images are quirky and mod, and using the app feels a lot like playing a game, in my experience. It has the just-can't-stop allure of Candy Crush, but with a much more noble end goal. 

 



In ISTE Standard #2, "students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others." As a classroom resource, DuoLingo could best be used when focusing in on section c of the standard, which aims to "develop cultural understanding and global awareness by engaging with learners of other cultures." 

I look forward to imagining more ways to engage globally-minded learners using technology that promotes collaboration and communication. This is certainly a very fun place to start.

References

Ertmer, P. A., Newby, T. J., Yu, J. H., Liu, W., Tomory, A., Lee, Y. M., et al. (2011). Facilitating students' global perspectives: Collaborating with international partners using Web 2.0 technologies. The Internet and Higher Education, 14(4), 251–261.

Creativity and Innovation in the Classroom: Addressing ISTE Standard #1

The Big Question: How can creative and innovative technology be applied in an early childhood classroom setting, especially for nonreaders?

The sky's the limit, apparently! Upon deeper digging into the world of technology for early education, it appears that there are myriad resources and opportunities for teachers to engage even their youngest students in this type of learning. My research began with a fabulous introduction to robotics with a learning toy called a Bee-Bot, but as I shifted my focus toward digital technology, even more tools surfaced. 

Hello Ruby, a website with impeccable design and a clear angle toward young children, offers some such resources. Although the site ultimately aims to teach kids about coding, it's all packaged in small step doses that are extremely approachable. One lesson plan aims to "lower the barriers for kids to get acquainted with computers" (Liukas, 2015). Pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students may have had some experience on a parent's computer, but in general, they spend much more time on touchscreen devices. Because they can't yet type, and many don't have the fine motor skills to finesse a trackpad, their computer time is still to come. 

I liked this approach as a way to help small children understand what a computer does and how it gets its many jobs done--what's a more complex system than a computer? The hands-on project includes plenty of fine-motor practice time as students cut out the many bits and pieces in their own personal (paper) computer, and of course the addition of markers and crayons to add pizzazz would also be a big hit with little ones. It's a natural fit for ISTE Standard #1, as it builds on existing knowledge to generate fabulous new ideas, can be collaborative, and certainly inspires much creativity. Students are dreaming up their own computer, from the ground up--no reading required.

The site has tons of activities and lesson plans for teachers, as well as materials parents could easily tackle at home. The best part of Hello Ruby, and what seems to stand out from the many other apps and websites, is that most of the content is actually utilized off-screen. There is a celebration and appreciation of computers, but the tools are a change of pace from yet another touchscreen experience. Even more important, however, is the foundation of basic tech skills that's accessible to students in such a fun format. I liken it to the process of getting excited about frogs, learning about frogs from books, watching frogs in their habitat, and developing a passion and fundamental understanding of frogs...before growing a little older and learning how to dissect the frog. 

As we consider Tony Bates's call to develop students with strong digital skills, his imperative to teach students in small steps makes perfect sense for early learners (Bates, n.d.). Hello Ruby, and many more sites I have yet to discover, takes this mandate and provides fresh, engaging content in small bites that will inspire teachers and kids alike. 

A sample of the beautiful design at helloruby.com

References

Bates, A. W. (n.d.). Fundamental change in education. In Teaching in a digital age (1). Retrieved from http://opentextbc.ca/teachinginadigitalage/part/chapter-1-fundamental-change-in-education/

Liukas, L. (2015, October 15). For educators: Lesson Plan for My First Computer exercise. Retrieved from http://blog.helloruby.com/post/131553874873/for-educators-lesson-plan-for-my-first-computer