Author: grabe

Cindy’s Tech Test Kitchen

Cindy and I have a professional relationship that allows us to develop K-12 classroom ideas for technology integration. We approach our goals through a collaboration that allows each of us to take different approaches. This works well as long as the approaches are complimentary. Back in the day when “cooperative learning” was an “in thing”, this was called a jigsaw model. I have provided a link in case this trend had its day before your time. Cindy learns by doing and I learn by thinking (sometimes out loud). This means I do most of the writing.

Here is a recent exploration into the potential of “mini programmable robots”. We picked up an Ozobot at a recent conference and have spent just enough time with it since to understand some of the basics. An Ozobot is small – about the size of golf ball. It can be programmed in several different ways. One approach feeds instructions to the mobile bot through color codes imposed on the line that it is following. Different color patches on the line tell it to speed up, slow down, etc. Now the demos for this are suited to the size of the Ozobot – i.e., small. It might be asked to follow a pattern on the surface of an iPad.

What if instead of duplicating the typical small scale projects the company offers as examples you decide to apply a few basic principles to a project of your own design. What if instead of the surface of an iPad or a sheet of paper, you decide to build a lego city in your basement and allow the Ozobot to explore the city.

Cindy had a collaborator in this project. Some of our grandchildren were visiting and Preston likes “science” and legos. It turns out the kids think on a different scale than rational adults. None of this start small and then build up kind of thing.

ozostructures

I must say I would have started with the robot and figured it out first, but Preston wanted to build the city first.

ozoplan

There was a plan (if you can read it). The plan specifies the structures to be included in the lego city.

ozotrack

Now, it was time to construct the road (track). The idea was to cut sheets of paper in half and then tape them together.

ozotest

Here is the closest thing to a test of concept. You can see the sheet to the left that explains the different color codes. We did learn that the width of the line is important. If the line is too narrow, the bot just stops.

ozoonroad

Here you see the robot on part of the road. One unanticipated problem concerned the method for joining the paper strips. When taping the pieces together, one sheet must overlap the other. It turns out it takes very little to stop the small robot. If it runs into the end of the next strip it stalls. This is not an issue as long as the direction of travel moves from the overlapping piece of track to the underlapping (is this a word) piece of track. Now if the track moves in a circle you soon figure this out and all would be well. However, if you decide to have the robot come to a turn in the road (and take the path less traveled) the problem of having all of the road moving in a predictable direction became an issue. The finished product contained several “bugs”, but like some software I have used it worked most of the time.

ozolast

My mom had this expression she applied to me when I was allowed to dish up my own food when kids were allowed to make such decisions at a pot luck or some other event. She would say – “see, your eyes are bigger than your stomach”. I wish this was still the case. Anyway, this project was far larger than it should have been for a learner of Preston’s age. We spent hours and hours over two days taping slips of paper together and then retaping sections when we understood that adjoining pieces of paper had to be connected in a certain way or when little sister walked through the lego village dragging her feet and messing up the road. Once constructed, there was probably far less interest in exploring and debugging than probably would have been the case should the adults involved have excercised more control over the scope of the project.

One of the issues I think is important when it comes to project based learning is the efficiency of the project. When should an educator “scaffold” a project to increase efficiency? How much independence should learners be given and what are the benefits and costs of frustration and failure? These seem to be current educational issues and I could see these issues play out as I spent several hours cutting 3 inch sections of tape for the workers to use in the construction process.

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Book themes

Lately, this blog has been less active than usual. I don’t want folks to give up on my posts because of this inactivity so I thought I would explain myself. I am writing as much or maybe even more than usual, but I am spending most of this time updating our Kindle textbook. Academics typically make their selections for the new academic year (Fall, 2016) late in the Spring. This means if you want your most current work to be considered, the new content must be available by then. Doing the background work and then the writing to meet this deadline has kept my pretty busy. I can wait until the summer to make adjustments to our book related online content.

Doing the background work and then the writing to meet this deadline has kept my pretty busy. I can wait until the summer to make adjustments to the online content that extends our book in keeping with the goal of using the online resources to provide the most current content possible. For example, the new ISTE standards for students should be finalized about the time of the ISTE conference and these standards should receive considerable attention in an edtech text.

One of my goals in writing a textbook is to try to bring attention to themes we see in the field. The organization of a textbook around major themes is a benefit we believe is missing in unrelated resources that can be used to organize ideas for readers. A topic that has existed in our previous work, but has not been emphasized might be described as the opportunities in using technology to individualize student learning experiences. While we prefer the term “individualize”, others might use “personalize” or perhaps some similar term. I like individualize because I can define what this means to me (no matter how others use it).

Our content is based on a cognitive perspective. Individualization is inherent in cognitive models of learning. No matter what the experiences external to each learner, common experiences or not, the external experiences are processed uniquely by each learning as a function of existing knowledge and experiences and differences in aptitude and motivation. The work of learning cannot by done by anyone else.

Our work already has a heavy focus in problem-solving and problem-based activities. Multiple problems can be offered to learners (individualization) or students can be allowed to take on problems of their own choosing (individualized or 20% time projects). Technology offers so many ways to identify, research, and propose solutions to such problems.

The newest area in which we feel technology has offered significant opportunities for individualization is computer-based instruction. Some might argue we are recognizing a use of technology that has been around even before the age of the personal computer (e.g., Plato). Of course, but the key to our claim is the phrase “significant opportunities”. CAI/CBI was never available to many learners and existed in only a rudimentary form for those who did have access. This has changed with online curriculum (e.g., Kahn Academy).Access to online curriculum seems to generate a strange reaction in so many educators. There seems to be a negative gut reaction that is difficult to understand. Mention of computer and instruction within the same phrase might encourage concerns that technology is replacing teachers or have some vague connection with political-based education issues. It all seems to depend on how you see the possibilities. Teacher as facilitator is consistent with online curricula and so is individual models of student progress.

Access to online curriculum seems to generate a strange reaction in so many educators. There seems to be a negative gut reaction that is difficult to understand. Mention of computer and instruction within the same phrase might encourage concerns that technology is replacing teachers or generate some vague connection with political-based education issues. It all seems to depend on how you see the possibilities. Teacher as facilitator is consistent with online curricula and so are individual models of student progress.

We approach individualizing instruction from a mastery perspective. The Kahn Academy, for example, offers a way to engage students in a mastery approach to learning. My interest in mastery learning as a way to meet individual needs has been a fascination throughout my career. One of my first publications back in the late 1970s and my last publication in 2014 both concerned a mastery approach to individualizing learning. The first, of course, did not involve personal computers.

I guess it is time to get back to work. Blog posts will be generated when possible and I will make an occasional effort to upgrade anyone interested on our progress in finishing our next edition.

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Google Outline Tool

Google has added another capability to the popular Google docs word processing tool. Google Outline automatically creates an outline from an existing document.

You can turn this capability on under the tools header.

googoutline2

The outliner was already turned on in my account and I was surprised to see an outline appear when I began working on the revision of our textbook.

googoutline1

At present the outliner is mostly a navigation aid for long documents (the document I was working on is 90,000 words in length). So, it is not a tool for sketching out a plan and then working out the details. Instead, it allows you a way to find that segment in chapter 5 you were working on last night. There is certainly some value in this convenience.

I do have to admit the algorithm Google has developed for identifying the structure of a large document is rather clever.

 

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Sugar Time

Today we made the trip to the Univ. of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum for the orchid show and then decided to take a walk around the grounds. The loop is 3 miles so the step count will be good today.

It is approaching Maple Syrup time at the Arboretum and the trees have already been tapped. We first worked in New York state and sugar time was the cause for a festival or two. I remember the system working a little different at that time and place. Trees were tapped with individual buckets for the sap. The Arboretum uses a system in which plastic tubes wind their way from the top of the hill to the bottom. Smaller tubes feed into these main tubes and the sap is collected in a central location at the bottom of the hill. I read it takes 43 gallons of sap to make a gallon of syrup.

msugar1

msugar2Early March is not the season for flowers in Minnesota, but we did see some peeking through the snow and dead leaves.

msugar3

 – – – – –

The following week we spend some time at the Wood Lake Nature Center which happens to be located near our home. The maple sap was running at the nature center as well, but the approach to harvest is more old school (the method we experienced last week is more for commercial operations).

wlakemaple

wlakemaple2 wlakemaple3 wlakemaple4

I learned a couple of new things this week.

  1. It is the movement of temps above and below 32 degrees that is key to the flow of sap.
  2. Once the buds “pop” the season is over.
  3. When the sap flows, it comes faster than I expected (see final picture).

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A wider net?

Why is it social media seems to surface some ideas more effectively than others? Put another way, can it be assumed that good sources will be discovered? I began thinking about these questions in the aftermath of a recent grad class. A group project required students to compare and contrast an online curriculum site with the Kahn Academy. I did not expect that I would be familiar with all of the sources students identified, but I would think I would be aware of similar services of comparable quality. I have been at this for many years and still spend considerable time reading a wide variety of content from many sources.

One group of students focused their analysis on CK-12. It was this example that got me thinking about this issue. CK-12 was unfamiliar to me and yet is of high quality and in many ways similar to the Kahn Academy. Without in any way disparaging the work of Salman Kahn, it was my lack of awareness of CK-12 that challenged my confidence in my own knowledge. With all of the reading I do and all of “influencers” I follow, how had I missed this resource? In fairness, I did spend some time searching the resources provided by some in what others would refer to as my PLN and I must acknowledge that Richard Byrne has posted about CK-12 several times.

I certainly acknowledge some personal responsibility for my own knowledge, but I still stand behind the position that sources of equal quality somehow are not equally visible. Individuals associated with resources may simply be better promoters. Kahn has an interesting book, has been a featured TED presenter, and has attracted prominent backers (e.g., Bill Gates). I have thoroughly reviewed these opportunities to learn about Kahn’s work and have shared these same sources as a way of informing others.

I think the issue I raise cannot be explained so simply. It seems possible that most social media inputs may recirculate the same content and few contributions are actually original. There is an “illusion of knowing” generated by this repetition.

Anyway – I will offer some original comments on CK-12 when I have had the time to do a more thorough exploration.

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Personalized mentoring

My experience with technology in K12 going way back is based on a model in which individual schools or at least associations of schools provide mentoring, coaching or some form of assistance to educators attempting to engage their students with technology. My model for how this assistance is provided was pretty much informed by the long career my wife had as a technology facilitator. She started in this type of role many years ago so I must admit I am surprised when this type of assistance is lacking. I recognize the importance of having access to someone with considerable skill with multiple technology tools and instructional strategies. The questions I am raising concern whether what I have described is atypical and whether there is a need for an additional level of mentoring/support.

BetterLesson Personalized PD believes the answers to my questions would be “yes”.

I may have already clouded the issue by failing to differentiate the various forms professional development might take. As a college professor, my courses should be considered a form of professional development. However, the issues I present and discuss and the level on which these issues are applied for individual learners in a class is very different from the type of interaction my wife provided. I am likely to offer what the research suggests about a particular practice and discuss both the pros and cons of engaging students with a type of activity. I am indifferent to a learner’s commitment to using a specific strategy and feel they should understand that some with good intentions question that strategy. I pick examples from categories of technology tools and may not pick the specific tool from a category you have available in your classroom.

My wife would have been more responsive to individual teachers in her work. I would also describe what she did as starting from what the teacher wanted to do. It would follow that she would not feel a background of strengths and weaknesses of a given strategy was necessary and that suggestions would focus on the tool the teacher wanted or had to use.

Is there another level? Sure. My wife would have had varying degrees of familiarity with the content area the teacher wanted to implement. She had greater experience with elementary and middle school learners, but worked across grade levels. Because her role was full time she was also more of an observer of teacher practice rather than working from personal experience with the application of a specific strategy within a specific grade and content level. As I understand the proposal explained in the link provided above, some feel there is a need for this greater depth. I can see the argument, I just wonder about the feasibility of the business model.

Strategies for involving teachers in lesson analysis have always made sense to me. Some would likely make more meaningful contributions to such activities than others, but the question is whether compensation should be required or can be provided. One thing about new ventures based on a new model is that someone is willing to take the risk to see how it goes.

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Adding some depth

Here is my proposal that educators diversify their reading lists. There is an expression “Think global, act local” that pretty much summarizes the concern encouraging my suggestion. Every educator faces certain day to day issues and it makes sense that they seek ideas relevant to these daily challenges. So, whether you want to speak like a pirate, hack, code or develop mindsets, there is a book and possibly an app for that. Without meaning to imply a lack of value, these are “flavor of the month” proposals that encourage a different way of thinking about daily practice that may or may not be rehashes of previous ideas. Any trend that encourages reflection is likely a good thing and some variation in classroom activity refreshes the daily experience.

Core problems facing educators are deeper and more systemic.

I am more concerned that public education is being expected to take on problems that originate elsewhere (not a new thing) such as poverty, inequity, and national economic prosperity, blamed for being slow or ineffective in addressing such expectations, and then targeted by politicians and business opportunists with schemes that degrade the great majority of professional educators and divert funds. This sequence creates a downward spiral that feeds on itself and offers justification to those critics unwilling to follow the path of cause and effect.

Here are a couple of recommendations I would encourage for book study and social media comment:

Russakoff, The prize: Who’s in charge of American schools (you will recognize familiar settings and people – Chris Christie, Cory Booker, Mark Zuckerberg – the problem with New Jersey schools and the political solution)

Goldstein, The teacher wars: A history of America’s most embattled profession.

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