Face-to-Face Teaching and the Need for Innovative Technology

I just read an article exploring whether active learning can co-exist with physically distanced classrooms (Lederman, 2020, May 25). I have been thinking about best tools to facilitate active learning online and face-to-face with restrictions as well. I was encouraged that more university instructors are forgoing lecturing to engage students in active learning. Some instructors use the Flipped Classroom approach to meet the goal of engaging all students in a meaningful learning process during class time. After viewing or reading the content before coming to class, during class they engage in partner or small group work to apply, analyze, and synthesize the material. If students are socially distanced six feet apart it may be difficult to talk to each other and create the physical projects they usually do when they come to the face-to-face class.

Linda C. Hodges notes in the article, "I'm not sure that being in the same physical space during social distancing and being masked provides any affordances over doing active learning in the virtual environment. It seems to me that students can engage in breakout rooms, etc., online more effectively than in the bizarre pandemic physical world. Of course, they could be in the room on their computers doing virtual collaborative learning, but that seems to add risk with little benefit." Hodges poses an important topic for all teachers to consider, what learning activities can be accomplished best online and which are more effective face-to-face? While this article focused on active learning in higher education, I think the same question can be asked in K-12 as we imagine and enact the best learning available within the set parameters required during this pandemic: How can active learning co-exist with physically distanced classrooms?

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Because seats will need to be at least six feet away from each other, and students won't be allowed to touch the same writing tools or whiteboards, many of the tools I shared in my last blog for online teaching will work well for distanced face-to-face teaching as well. The goal is to provide opportunities for students to be active in their learning. We can have students respond to reading by writing thoughts on a Padlet as we read in small groups and share. All collaborative Google Suite tools work well in face-to-face mode as well as students work with partners or groups to plan (Mindmeister add-on), share ideas (Google Docs), and create presentations (Google Slides) even while social distancing. Then they can share links to their projects in a shared Google Doc and Google Classroom for others to follow as they present. Also using Pear Deck add-on to add interactive slides in a Google Slides presentation allows teachers to invite student active involvement during direct instruction. There are options for Text, Number Response, Multiple Choice, and Web Slide questions to engage students in formative assessments throughout the lesson. The teacher dashboard instantly shows each student's response and collects all responses to share in a spreadsheet at the end of the activity. Pear Deck also allows you to add an opening interactive slide to find out how students are doing on that day as they deal with new regulations and possible fear of the pandemic and see each response immediately. This online data can inform your face-to-face teaching in real time.

Hands on activities can be created in the face-to-face classroom even via social distancing. A small group experiment, for example, can be organized by one student, researched by another, conducted by another, and recorded using images and video accompanied by student explanations using audio options by a fourth student to create a report of procedures and findings. A tool such as Google Slides lets them all work together on one project and include their name on each slide they create for more accurate individual feedback in group projects. Then in the next activity students can each play a different role in their group so they actively participate in each part of the learning process. While these methods may seem challenging to organize at first, with practice students will learn about the different roles necessary to complete a procedure and see how technology integrates with face-to-face learning to take them to even greater learning.

How can active learning co-exist within your physically distanced classroom? I look forward to hearing about your ideas! All the best as you innovate your teaching to provide active learning opportunities for your students.

Remote Teaching and the Need for Innovative Use of Technology

If there has ever been a question of whether or not technology was transforming schools, businesses, and society the answer is now clear. The emergence of COVID-19 on the world has required people to shelter at home, keep safe social distancing, learn remotely, and work from home whenever possible. Technology tools make it possible for us to stay connected with family and friends, shop and pay bills, go to school and work, all from home. Today I am taking time to think of the innovations that have come about during this time of remote learning. I hope you will take some time to consider these ideas and add your own. This pandemic is presenting opportunities in education to reconsider how we teach and we don't want to go back to traditional face-to-face instruction without considering what worked well and what was more challenging in the online format. In this day of rapidly evolving technologies, everyone knows something and no one knows everything (Leu, 2002, p. 328), so by collaborating we can come up with the best suggestions for teaching this fall and beyond.


Marketoonist, Tom Fishburne Credit

Connecting with family remotely. While we can't visit our parents, children, or grandchildren face to face, we can keep connected with FaceTime, Zoom, phone calls, letters, and other social media. Some people have grandchildren they have not yet gotten to hold in person, but they have watched them sleep, coo, and snuggle online.

Connecting with students and families remotely. Remote learning is happening daily. Many schools have Learning Management Systems (LMS) already in place including Google Classroom, Schoology, Blackboard, Canvas, and others. While teachers were using these LMSs to some extent before the pandemic, they had to quickly begin using them on a daily basis to post assignments, collect assignments and provide feedback, and connect with students. Combined with a video conference platform such as Zoom, teachers could hold virtual class lessons, class meetings, and office hours. Many teachers found connecting with students individually to be helpful to first see how they are doing, then discuss learning. We learned that social emotional needs increased for many students and families during this time, so validating the child's feelings, saying their names, and supporting parents in their new role as "teacher" became very important. Posting screencasts of lessons was a good way to support parents and students in learning.

Collaboration tools. Many technology tools that teachers used in the face-to-face classroom became important tools in the online environment as well. Students could set up a Google Folder to store their work and share it with the teacher so each document within the folder didn't need to be shared. Discussion boards such as Padlet allowed students to share ideas about readings so they could gain insights from each other. Making Google Slides presentations interactive using Pear Deck add-on helped students to follow along and provide input throughout so teachers could tell if they needed to clarify ideas. Because their responses are recorded, these activities could be completed as a whole class in real time, or individually as an assignment. The teacher could know either way that the student viewed the presentation and responded. The same options are available for every student response systems such as Kahoot to engage students in real time competition or allow them to answer the questions independently using this gaming format. Flipgrid provides a way for students to respond using video during asynchronous discussions, increasing personal contact between students and assuring that every voice is heard. Students created collaborative projects using Google Slides and Book Creator to tell digital stories about science, history, and literature. Screencast-O-Matic and other screencasting tools worked well for students to give presentations and make their thinking visible.

What worked well online?
1. Many teachers noted that one-on-one meetings were very valuable using Zoom. Talking individually or with small groups provided opportunities for students and teacher to see each other's nonverbals during communication as well as hear their joys and concerns.
2. Others found that more students responded during discussions when they could post their response online because everyone could post in the time that one person could respond orally in class.
3. Students grew in confidence and competence using technology to communicate remotely, skills they will need to be college and career ready.

4. Students responded to learning by creating multimedia projects that demonstrated learning. In this atmosphere of less grading, students were able to try new ways to show their understanding in ways that went beyond worksheets, quizzes, and tests.
5. What worked well for you?

What was challenging online? 
1. Most teachers missed greeting their students in person.
2. Using new technology tools, or using them in new ways, caused stress for some teachers.
3. Trying to take care of our own children while teaching from home caused anxiety for some teachers, and parents.
4. Not everyone has access to high speed internet that is always efficient. But libraries leave their wifi on even when they are not open so working from library parking lots was an option.
5. What was most difficult for you when teaching remotely?

Where do we go from here? We now have half a semester of teaching remotely under our belts. We have used new technology tools. We experimented with synchronous and asynchronous instruction. We tried new ways to connect with students, and parents. We allowed some student choice in how to respond to learning. We used a variety of ways to give feedback. We found that quiet students who would never raise their hands in the physical classroom have important ideas to share online. It's time to empower students even further to be self-regulated learners doing physical projects and sharing them virtually through pictures, video, and multimedia. We must prepare to teach our classes with both face-to-face components and online components so we can respond quickly as needs arise. Teach students the tools they will need to learn online, then begin using them face-to-face so they are ready if the pandemic returns.

This is an exciting time for growth as teachers and learners! Get some relaxation this summer, and evaluate how things went spring semester. Then plan a dynamic fall learning experience for your students! All the best!

TechEDGE Un-Conference, October 19, 2019

We want to invite you to the Innovative Educator Un-Conference the morning of Saturday, October 19 at the UNL Hub in Henzlik Hall from 8:30 AM until noon. Come ready to participate in a technology playground project as you consider how such experiences could be integrated into your curriculum. Meet educators who are implementing innovative practices in their own schools and learn how they did it. And have conversations around topics you would like to consider in your own school. Learn more about UNL’s Innovative Educator Workshops you may want to join next summer. The Un-Conference is free, but you do need to register by October 1 to allow us to plan. We hope to see you there!  Register Here

For more than two years we have been collaborating with a Think Tank of innovators to meet the needs of innovative schools. We focused on preparing educators to be effective and confident in facilitating learning in innovative settings. School leaders have indicated a challenge in finding and retaining effective educators in innovative settings, whether project-based learning, virtual, hybrid, outdoor, or international. We created an Innovative Educator curriculum to supplement traditional teacher education. These courses support innovative schools by developing educators who can facilitate learning in a variety of settings using inquiry, creativity, critical thinking, and collaboration.

We offered these courses for the first time this past summer.

At the Un-Conference you will be able to meet some of the educators who participated in this program. Hear about the innovative practices they are implementing in their schools, and most importantly the processes they are using to make it happen. If you are thinking about updating your curriculum to be more student-centered while implementing technology to empower your students to demonstrate learning, consider attending this event. There will also be time to discuss and share ideas with other innovative educators in attendance. To quote Don Leu of the University of Connecticut, because of the incredibly rapid advancements in technology and learning, "no one person can be expected to know everything there is about the technologies of literacy; these technologies will simply change too quickly and be too extensive to permit any single person to be literate in them all. Each of us, however, will know something useful to others. (Leu, 2002, p. 328)

Photo by John Schnobrich on Unsplash

Schedule 

8:30 Registration and Refreshments

8:45-9:30 micro:bits project-based learning

9:30-10:15 Panel of Innovative Educators sharing what they are doing and how they got there

10:15-10:30 Break

10:30-11:10 Mini Un Conference Round 1  

11:10-11:45 Mini Un Conference Round 2

11:45-12:00 Closing Thoughts and Door Prizes!

The conference is free so please consider coming to share what you know that will be useful to others. We hope to see you at the Un-Conference on October 19 at Henzlik Hall! We can't wait to hear how you are considering or already innovating at your school!

Artificial Intelligence in Higher Education

Unsplash.com photo credit

Universities today need to make learning accessible for all types of learners. Technology tools can help personalize information by allowing students to access course content in a manner that meets their needs. For students with disabilities, technology can support reading and writing using print and digital materials. In Google Docs, Voice Typing allows students to verbally state their ideas while the tool types it out. For a struggling writer this method helps get their good ideas on paper without struggling with the actual keyboarding or handwriting. It also fills the daunting empty page as one begins an assignment.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Rehabilitation Act require public colleges that receive federal funds to transcribe materials for students who need this assistance. Today YouTube provides transcription on many videos that instructors may use for Open Educational Resources. This service saves many working hours to manually transcribe materials. Voice to text tools also write transcriptions as a person reads the materials. The result is more students who succeed in college and graduate ready to assume positions in society.

University students frequently work to help pay for college so time is a premium, so listening to readings while commuting is more efficient. Also some come to college as slow or struggling readers so having text read to them can make the difference between understanding and not reading the assigned text. While there are many free text to speech tools for educators, one tool that I like to include in my syllabus for students is the website Natural Readers. This tool allows the student to cut and paste text, or simply open documents including PDFs, docs, epubs, PPTs, and jpegs and have them read orally. It can even transpose the text into Dyslexic Font to assist dyslexic students. As with all digital text, you can also adjust the size of font by zooming in or out on your screen to assist those with vision challenges, adjust loudness for hearing challenges, and adjust speed to increase comprehension.

Photo by Patricia Prudente on Unsplash

At a time when recruiting and retaining students can be a challenge for universities and completing college work is for students, technology is providing personalized learning tools to make all students successful at learning. If you have other tools that you use with your students, please share them.
All the best as you plan your courses to meet individual needs in the most effective manner possible.

Student Projects that are Impacting Our World

Project-based learning motivates students to define problems in the world and find solutions when they see purpose and relevance to their work. Students will work for weeks at a time to find a solution to a problem to which they are committed. Here are three student projects arising out of class time dedicated to empowering students to make a difference in the world.

Students Make a Prosthetic Leg for a Duck, Showing the Value of Purpose in Learning

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A woman found a duck that had it's leg chewed off by a turtle. She searched the Internet looking for a prosthetic leg for a duck. A group of middle school students in this small Arkansas town in Arkansas worked all semester to create a prosthesis for the duck using a 3D printer. They researched the Indian Runner Duck to find out how it bent it's leg to walk. After creating and revising 36 prototypes these three students attached the prosthetic leg to Peg the duck and watched him walk and even run! They documented their process using pictures and video.
http://www.kait8.com/clip/14024822/duck-gets-prosthetic-leg

                                                                                                                         

Sleeping Bag that Turns into Tent Could Help Homeless People this Winter
Groups of students at Carnegie Mellon's Integrated Innovation Institute participated in an "Impact-A-Thon" to create innovative and affordable solutions to help homeless people survive in cold weather. One team created an insulated sleeping bag that expands into a tent. They determined that it needed to be portable and durable so they fitted it with both wheels for pulling and straps for carrying.

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How Students' Project Honors Suburban Heroes at Pearl Harbor and Beyond
During a discussion about the Vietnam War, students at Rotolo Middle School became interested in the people from their county who died serving our country in wars. These 8th graders decided to research the stories of "the soldier behind the name."  They went beyond the Vietnam war to include the Spanish American War, World Wars I and II, Cold War, Vietnam, Korea, and Persian Gulf. They visited cemeteries, read newspaper articles and yearbooks, consulted maps, drew sketches, coded to create the website, took pictures and videos to create a virtual memorial.  Do take a few minutes to visit their virtual memorial and celebrate the war heroes of Kane County. The project continues as more than 200 students have added information to keep it current. Their teacher notes that it is truly the students' project, she just asked "What if..." 

How can you spur your students to make a difference in our world today? "What if....." Let us know what your students decide to do!

Genius Hour: Consider Dedicating 20% of Class Time for Student-Choice Exploration

It's a new year! Classes are soon beginning in 2018. What will you do to empower your students to learn and make a difference in the world this year? I recently came across an inspirational video where students shared the projects they developed in Genius Hour. Not only did their projects motivate these students to research and share their learning, they made a difference in people's lives as they informed others about topics they felt strongly about. Take a look and see what you think!

                                           YouTube Credit #20Time projects in 4 minutes 

So how did these students accomplish so much using one hour of class time per week? It all began in the 1950's when 3M started a 15% Project. You may have heard the story of how Post-Its and masking tape evolved from this project. What initially looked like a failed experiment to create a very strong adhesive for the aerospace industry in 1968 turned out to be a very weak pressure-sensitive adhesive. It took multiple people experimenting with the adhesive over a period of nearly 10 years before 3M came up with the decision to market and sell the product in 1977.

To encourage and inspire innovation, Google asked employees to spend 20% of their time at work on a project of interest to them. Some of the products that have arisen from this effort include Gmail, AdSense, Google News, and Google Teacher Academy. "Using 20 Time in the workplace allows innovative ideas and projects to flourish and/or fail without the bureaucracy of committees and budgets." 20-Time in Education Inspire. Create. Innovate.

These business initiatives have now been applied to education to to a empower students to inspire, create, and innovate. MindShift offers some great suggestions to get you started with Genius Hour in your classroom this year. Sean Crevier has seen his students experience great success. He suggests breaking the project into three parts: the problem, the solution, and the product. Each student defines the problem he/she wants to investigate that can be completed within the allotted time frame (he uses 10 weeks). He meets with students individually and has them complete a diagram beginning with the due date and planning backwards to create their own timeline for the project. Students are responsible for keeping themselves on track using a Google Spreadsheet and reflecting after each period. He realizes that "it's all about the journey" and the problem-solving students do in the process. The product may not turn out as students initially thought (like the Post-Its) but it may be even more useful.

I encourage you to give this process a try! Genius Hour works in elementary schools too. Edutopia suggests setting it up providing Time, Reflection, Collaboration, and Sharing opportunities for students to work on topics important to their community. A great example of Genius Hour in action in middle schools can be found in Jen Schneider's work "How to Build Community Leaders of Today - and Tomorrow - Through Student Genius Hours." Challenge your students to innovate to better our world this year!

Start the School Year by Experiencing the Solar Eclipse

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Our school year begins on August 21, the same day as the long-awaited solar eclipse. And the total solar eclipse will be visible above our location as Nebraska is a prime destination for viewing the eclipse.  Check out this interactive map of the world to tell exactly when the partial and maximum solar eclipse will be in your area. What a perfect way to emphasize the STEM areas to begin a school year by encouraging students to question, research, and experience a natural phenomenon.

The Internet is full of resources for teaching the solar eclipse. There are books and articles you may want to check out to bring into your classroom for students to read. The official NASA Eclipse Website traces the path of the solar eclipse and provides video to observe the eclipse live as it occurs. In addition NASA shares information about eclipses past and future. Your students will enjoy the countdown until the eclipse and perhaps you can find an event in your area at this site. They even have directions to make your own 3D Printed Pinhole Projector in the shape of the United States or your state! And check out NASA's Math Challenges for all grades to perform basic math related to the August 21 solar eclipse. NASA Next Generation Science Standards approach to classroom instruction on the solar eclipse gets students to observe an anchoring phenomenon, ask driving questions, and set up investigations.  A great example of how to make students leaders in their active learning.

One of my favorite online news sources is Smithsonian TeenTribune. I appreciate the way they level current news stories so students from Kindergarten through Grade 12 can read the same story at their own level in English or Spanish. When it comes to news events there are no alternate stories for students who are reading below grade level, they need to know the same relevant information about events in the news, so this source is a great addition to the classroom. The current edition of TeenTribune explains the viewing tools you can safely use to view the solar eclipse.

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln will also stream live video remotely from the UNL Student Observatory and the UNL Minnich Solar Telescope. So if you want to watch the solar eclipse from your classroom with your students in real time go to the UNL website. Concordia University, Nebraska will host over 2,000 K-12 students from across the state, as well as the public, to view the total eclipse with university students in the stadium. Beginning at 11:00am the Science department will provide updates and commentary audibly to viewers with visual information showing on the stadium screen.

Some possible student projects to extend student learning include: (1) mapping the path of the solar eclipse,  (2) locating pictures of the phases of the eclipse and creating a multimedia presentation explaining each, (3) writing a blog or digital story about the experience including preparation, observing, and reflecting on the solar eclipse, and (4) creating a one-minute movie demonstrating the positions of the earth, moon, and sun during a solar eclipse. Possible technology tools to use include Google Maps, Google Images, NASA Image Gallery, Adobe Spark Page or Video, Blogger, and Swivl. Then be sure to have students share their projects and learning at your class/school website.

Enjoy the Solar Eclipse and all the best in the new school year!