EDU 653 Read/Write Web PowerPoint Assignment

This is a PowerPoint presentation for 11th grade World History students engaged in learning about our first core unit of study: "Age of Empires".  The sub-topic, "Civilization" is broken-down into very digestable concept for students during the first week or so of school.  Check out the PowerPoint for a simple, sleek introduction to 11th grade World History sub-topic #1 "Civilization".

I tracs from fhcbradanderson

EDU 653 Week #2 Instagram, Vine & Not Teaching

Great Teachers Don't Teach (?)
In Response to Article by Principal Ben Johnson at Edutopia "Great Teachers Don't Teach"

Mr. Johnson's article title is misleading.  He does not mean "teach" in the truest sense of the word, but rather he means the type of teaching commonly referred to as the "stand and deliver approach" or the "sage on the stage."  Mr. Johnson believes that true student learning takes place in an environment where "learning experiences are engineered" and "students are put into the driver's seat".  This is, as Mr. Johnson states, called constructivism, a teaching and learning theory developed by John Dewey whereby the teacher creates an environment where students must learn in order to to "show" what they have learned, otherwise known as project-based learning.

I couldn't agree with Ben Johnson more.  I am entering my ninth year as an educator (8 years as a teacher, 9 years as a coach) and I must profess that project-based learning is tougher and more involved on the front-end for teachers but much more rewarding and meaningful for students (and teachers) on the back end.  What I mean is that, "engineering" an experience (that usually unfolds over many class periods) takes much more creativity, brain-power, organization and elbow grease than does the traditional PowerPoint notes slideshow.  Constructivisn or project-based learning  - or whatever you want to call it - is inspiring.  Students begin to believe that what they are learning is important, that what they are creating is important and that they themselves are steering their own learning.  When someone believes they are in charge, that they are making the decisions about how and why to do something, they tend to buy-in more and invest themselves in the process.

Once I bought into project-based learning I found myself really thrilled for each class period.  I always enjoyed class and delivering a lesson, but now I was delivering a task or a mission and then helping along the way.  I must admit that I have crashed-and-burned on a few projects: The Trial of Marie Antoinette, the Crusades Debate and the week-long game of 'Age of Discovery' Risk will be relinquished to my back-log of failed lessons.  However, I have also crafted lessons (often using technology) that have kids coming in during their lunch periods to talk about the content, skip class to see their fellow students present a project, students visiting my classroom during the passing period to see how other projects in other hours fared and I have had students literally running to class.  When's the last time you heard about a student skipping lunch with his football buddies to talk about the merits of Pax Romana and Caesar Augustus' reign as emperor?  Or, had a students approach you after school because they want to make sure they can dress-up as Genghis Khan the next day?  Or, how about the class clown that tracks you down to have you double-check their upcoming speech to the class about Macedonian Hoplite battle strategy?

I have developed a simple philosophy that I think could also be a metric for Mr. Ben Johnson when talking about a meaningful classroom experience (which is what an aspiring great teacher should do):

I ask my students a simple set of questions after a project based lesson: How many of you talked about this assignment during lunch?  How many of you talked about this assignment in another class?  How many of you talked about this in some form on social media?  How many of you talked about this assignment at the dinner table or with your parents? 

Most often all students raise their hands for every question.  That is where the proverbial "lightbulb goes off" and the students realize they have actually learned something.

So I guess in the end, Mr. Johnson isn't far off the mark.

LINK to Ben Johnson Article

Instagram v. Vine
Response to Article by Adrianna Lee at ReadWrite Web "Instagram May Be Strangling Twitter Now, But This Fight is Far From Over"

I learned about Vine, the Twitter-owned social media video site, about a month before school ended.  One of my students, an athlete, was being "ran through the wringer" for potentially violating the athletic code.  The administrative team had found out about said athletic code violation via a six-second online expose - a Vine video clip.  Interested, I inquired with my students.  It turns out that the video social media site is wildly popular with teens.  They use the medium to post funny moments, statements, pranks, messages, and every day activities.  It is the video version of Twitter, instead of 140 characters you get six seconds of video.

However, as popular as Vine & Twitter are with teenagers, Instagram is even more popular.  According to an article on my Feedly by Adrianna Lee at ReadWrite Web, now that Instagram is offering a similar service, Vine use has plummeted.  The edge that Instagram has over Vine is that Instagram shares both pictures and video.  As of today, according to Lee, there were twice as many Instagram posts yesterday as there were Vine posts.

What is evident to me is the phenomenon-turned-norm which is the fact that people like to and regularly document their own life for all to see.  In an age where people are furious about our government using social media and the like to gather data, those same people are more than willing to post unseemly or incriminating or otherwise goofy videos that may or may not be flattering in the near future.  Whether it be Instagram or Vine, one thing is clear: teens will find the easiest, fastest, and most convenient way to share their own lives with the world at large - until the next big things rolls onto our phones and tablets.

EDU 653 Week #1 Creative Commons & RSS Feed Article

Creative Commons is a valuable tool for the educator interested in using multimedia instructional resources such as digital storytelling, glogsters, prezis, slideshares, and photoshop images.  When using images, movie clips, and text for extraneous resources it is important to keep copyright and fair use in mind.  That is where creative commons can be a useful tool for clarity of fair use.

As stated in the article, "7 Things You Should Know About Creative Commons", copyright is "extremely complex" and covers a range of codes and laws protecting intellectual property.  Text, images, video and art are all stringently protected under the law in regards to use and replication (and rightly so).  What creative commons offers is a "gray area" whereby fair use and varying degrees of licensing are used to allow educators and those desiring to use content for educational purposes the ability to do so.

As is evident for the aformentioned article, creative commons offers openness and differentiation in licensing. As a "digital native" myself, creative commons offers a unique way of accessing and using content to engage my students meaningfully.


One RSS Feed Article on my Feedly account that caught my eye was "Seven Great Works That Inspired Geeks to Change the World" found on the ReadWrite Web by Brian S. Hall.  The article details seven works of literature that mobilized and inspired "geeks" to build, innovate, invent and improvise technology over the  last sixty years or so:

Omni Magazine
Neuromancer by William Gibson
The Shockwave Rider by William Gibson
Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein
The Fountains of Paradise by Arthur C. Clarke
Hyperion by Dan Simmons
I, Robot by Isaac Asimov
Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson

The author posits that "geeks" - future engineers, doctors, scientists, techies - found their inspiration in works that outlined a potential future replete with holograms, one-room computers, the world wide web, and robots.  Each work was integral in inspiring the unlikely future that we live in today.  Most of the works are from the 1950s through the early 1980s and so all of the works are written without knowledge of touch screens, the internet and cloud technology.  Reading the abstracts about each magazine and/or book reminds me that the future we will know in ten years is future that is indeed difficult to imagine today.

Think about it:  In 2003 there was no facebook, YouTube, iPhone, or Twitter - mediums that shape the very world we live in today.  What will tomorrow look like?

EDU 642 Final Exam

EDU 642 Instructional Multimedia Final Exam

Instructional Multimedia Evaluation: Digital Storytelling & Webquests

Bradford D. Anderson

Forest Hills Central High School

Abstract

This paper describes the instructional strategies utilized by the multimedia instructional mediums: digital storytelling and webquests. Each can and do effectively address and implement all of Bloom's Revised Taxonomy levels of lower & higher order thinking. This paper outlines the way that both mediums (digital story telling and webquests) could be used in the classroom and their level of effectiveness.

Instructional Multimedia Evaluation: Digital Storytelling & Webquests

Multimedia instruction in the classroom is not an option any more, it is essential.  If teachers want to create a meaningful and engaging classroom in today’s educational climate, multimedia technology must be researched, cultivated, experimented,delivered and executed.  As is clear in any classroom setting be it urban, rural or suburban, technology is a major part of young people’s lives. When considering Bloom’s digital taxonomy, it is important to remember that multimedia instruction is not the end but rather the mode of instruction.  From phones to digital music to video games to social media and online videos, technology has become an essential component of information delivery and student cognitive development.  Students in the modern classroom are “digital natives” as suggested by Oblinger & Oblinger, whereby said students have had “unprecedented access to technology” that has changed the way students “learn, communicate, interact, and process information (Oblinger & Oblinger, 2005; Prensky, 2001a, 2001b).

Two multimedia instructional elements that can be valuable tools in a classroom, especially in a high school building,are digital storytelling and interactive tutorials otherwise known as instructional web pages or webquests (as they will be referred to for the entirety of this paper).  Both have qualities and benefits that will not only enhance the student experience in the classroom but also increase retention and take students to the different levels of Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy .  

In any classroom, the goal is to have students frequently engaging in “higher order thinking skills” like analyzing, evaluating and creating.  As a high school educator my objective every day includes base “lower order thinking skills” like remembering, understand and applying.  The goal is to use the lower order thinking skills as a foundation for visiting the higher order thinking skills.  And that is when real learning occurs.  Both digital storytelling and interactive tutorials can engage students in using what they remember, understand and apply to begin to analyze, evaluate and create authentic and original projects.  

Digital Storytelling

According to Robin in Theory Into Practice, digital storytelling is defined as the "art of combining narrative with digital media such as images, sound, and video to create a short story" (Robin, 2008). Digital storytelling is an integral part of “building better instruction” as noted by Brabec, Fisher and Pitler who outline nine proven instructional strategies that technology can support (2002).  Of the nine strategies, digital storytelling can best support homework & practice, non-linguistic representations, cooperative learning, and cues/questions/advanced organizers (Brabec, Fisher & Pitler, 2011).  By way of viewing or creation of their own digital story, students would engage in higher order thinking as prescribed by Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy.  If used by a teacher to deliver and engage students in lower order thinking skills, a digital story can help students remember, understand and apply certain concepts.  A digital story, as prescribed by Brabec, Fisher and Pitler, can provide a preview of content, activate prior knowledge, cues about what is “central and important” and provide “higher level questions” that force students to dig deeper into the content (2011).  

The benefit of digital storytelling is that a teacher can use the medium for said advanced organizers to build off of prior knowledge or use the medium as a culminating project to display student analyzation, evaluation and/or creation.  An instructional use of storytelling in my classroom would include aforementioned advanced organizers that could also be used as a means of student review.  An advanced organizer digital story can introduce a concept and draw upon prior knowledge (Brabec, Fisher & Pitler, 2004).  Viewing a digital story about colonizing America (or any topic for that matter) before and after a unit of study could increase what a student remembers, is able to understand and apply.  As stated by Dreon, Kerper and Langis, there are seven elements of digital storytelling that offer “tremendous opportunities” for teachers to engage students (2011):

1. Point of view: Outlines the point of the story and the perspective from which the story is told.

2. A dramatic question: Sets the tension of the story by identifying issues to be resolved.

3. Emotional content: Engages the audience through common emotions and themes (love, pain, humor).

4. The gift of your voice: Helps the audience make meaning of images.

5. The power of the soundtrack: Sets the mood of the story.

6. Economy: Balances the auditory and visual tracks of meaning.

7. Pacing: Sustains the attention of the audience by establishing and modifying the rhythm of the story.

(Dreon, Kerper & Landis, 2011)

If adhered to in principle design of digital storytelling, a well-crafted story can be used and reused as a learning resource for students before, during and after a concept is studied.  Moreover, if students build their own digital story via iMovie, Windows Movie Maker, YouTube, Vimeo or any other medium, they reach the higher order thinking levels of Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy.  For example a project in my American History class includes created a digital story about a World War Two topic.  Students select from a list that includes Bombing of Pearl Harbor, Nazi Invasion of Poland, Battle of Britain, Operation Overlord/D-Day Invasion, Executive Order 9066 & Internment of Japanese-Americans, or Operation Barbarossa.  Once they select a topic they gather images, video footage, statistics and details about the topic.  This includes the analyzation and evaluation levels of Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy.  They analyze the events and then evaluate what is important to report and detail in their digital story.  They then use either iMovie or Windows Movie Maker to narrate and present a digital story from the point of view of someone that may have been at the event.  The results are usually mixed but it is evident that the “digital natives” (my students) are engaged, interested, learning and building upon what they have learned as they create an authentic assessment of topic.

Webquests

A webquest is, According to Bernie Dodge (1997) from San Diego State University, an “inquiry-oriented activity in which some or all of the information that learners interact with comes from resources on the Internet”.  Webquests provide an opportunity for students to visit all levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy.  If used and crafted with care, a webquest can allow for students to revisit and remember key concepts, understand and apply the content then analyze, evaluate and create an authentic assessment of their learning.  

When constructing a webquest there is a certain formula used.  Each webquest has an introduction, task, resources, process, evaluation and conclusion (Dodge, 1997).  The elements build a systemic approach to first learning (remembering) and understand the content.  Students are engaged during the introduction which is supposed to be interesting and “set the stage for investigation” (Dodge, 1997).  The task and resources provide the objective for students and provide internet resources for investigation.  The process outlines provides a step-by-step guide to complete the activity prescribed in the “task” (Dodge, 1997).  The evaluation states how the students will be assessed on their learning (usually in the form of a list or rubric) while the conclusion de-briefs students (Dodge, 1997).  The fact that webquests are online make it an accessible medium at schools with labs or personal tablets and at home.  The webquest seemingly puts the learner in the driver’s seat so to speak.

According to Dodge (1997) the benefits of webquests are numerous and include encouraging cooperative learning and encouraging the development of thinking skills.  After instituting a handful of webquest in my own American and World History classes I tend to agree.  As such, webquests tend to be excellent supplements to informational reading, lectures, notes, discussions and activities.  Webquests use a few of the “proven instructional strategies” as outlined by Dreon, Kerper & Landis (2004) including cooperative learning, setting objectives & providing feedback, generating & testing hypothesis, and cues, questions & advanced organizers.  In implementing those range of strategies, one could surmise that webquests address remembering (knowledge)-resources, understanding-resources, applying-task & process, analyzing-task & process, evaluating-task & process and creating-task & process (Strickland, 2005).  

An example of a classroom webquest would be my World History “Civilization” webquest.  The students are tasked with creating their very own early river valley civilization using the basic building blocks of early civilizations: institutions, technology, religion, agriculture, cities and specialization.  They must draw, build, craft, engineer and eventually re-enact their own civilization.  The students use a series of online resources (teacher-made instructional digital stories, articles, websites) to investigate early river valley civilizations and ancient empires like the Sumerians, the Persians, the Mauryans and the Phoenicians.  The process is a colaborative effort by the entire class.  In conjunction with one another they must recognize class leaders, divide tasks, implement rules & norms, craft replica hoplite shields and Corinthian helmets and finally test their mettle against another class in an epic game of “Hoplite dodgeball”.  The webquest serves as a static and dynamic tool while this three week project un-folds.  It is static because the webquest never changes and is placed on my class website for all to view.  It is dynamic because the students are constantly learning (remembering & understanding), applying, analyzing, evaluating and creating and going back through the webquest for help.  It is the quintessential “ahah” moment for many students.  It is a challenge that touches upon every level of Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy.  In the end, the webquest and it’s subsequent classroom activities are some of the most memorable moments of the year.

   Digital storytelling and webquests implement a number of effective instructional strategies and address all levels of Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy.  Each medium can be used either to instruct (remember, understand, apply) or to engage learning in constructing their own learning (analyze, evaluate, create).  In the end, “digital natives” both appreciate and respect teachers that implement effective use of such strategies that should be the norm in every modern classroom.

References

Atkinson, C. (n.d.). An Interview With Richard Mayer. In Indezine. Retrieved June 21, 2009, from   http://www.indezine.com/products/powerpoint/personality/richardmayer.html

Dodge, B. (1997). Some thoughts about WebQuests. Retrieved June 19, 2013, from the San Diego

http://webquest.sdsu.edu/about_webquests.html

Robin,B. (2008). Digital storytelling: A powerful technology tool for the 21st century

classroom. Theory Into Practice, 47(3), 220–228.

Dreon, O., Keper, R. M., & Landis, J. (2011, May). Digital Storytelling: A Tool for Teaching and Learning in the YouTube Generation. In Association for Middle Level Education. Retrieved June 18, 2013, from http://www.amle.org/Publications/MiddleSchoolJournal/Articles/May2011/Article3/tabid/2409/Default.aspx

Mayer, R. E. (2008, November). Applying the Science of Learning: Evidence Based Principles for the Design of Multimedia Instruction [Electronic version]. American Psychologist, 760-766.

Oblinger, D., & Oblinger, J. (2005). Is it age or IT: First steps towards understanding the net generation. In D. Oblinger & J. Oblinger (Eds.),Educating the Net generation (pp. 2.1–2.20). Boulder, CO: EDUCAUSE. Retrieved fromhttp://www.educause.edu/Resources/EducatingtheNetGeneration/IsItAgeorITFirstStepsTowardUnd/6058

Robin, B. (2008). Digital storytelling: A powerful technology tool for the 21st century classroom. Theory Into Practice, 47(3), 220–228.

Strickland, J. (2005). Using webquests to teach content: Comparing instructional strategies.Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education, 5(2), 138-148.

PREZI

This week's installment of the FHC Brad Anderson blog is all about the multimedia presentation tool PREZI. It is an exciting tool that can be used to visually link concepts.  In my introduction to the medium (I have seen it used a few times before but never worked with it) I first watched the handful of online tutorials and then sampled concept map Prezis in my content area, Social Studies.  Here is an example of one that I found helpful and tried to model for my own attempt at a prezi.




My constructed prezi is about the causes and consequences of WWI, otherwise known as The Great War.  I would use this as both a presentation tool in class as well as an embedded tool on my class website.  I have also become more adept at Twitter and Facebook as a means to distribute such multimedia and I could "share" this WWI presentation.  I am very glad that our instructor chose Prezi as a unit of study.  I can see the possibilities for use opening up for my class content.  As an instructor, I can use Prezi as multimedia lesson tool.  For students this can be a creative way to research, concept map or present their own findings on content.

Enjoy!

EDU 642 GLOGSTER Assignment

• Given that Glogs have the potential to create extensive cognitive load, what deliberate efforts did you make to reduce cognitive load in your Glog? Do you think you succeeded?
  
  
  The Glogs were created with the cognitive load theory in mind. After reading the "40+ Ways to Innovative Teaching Using Glogster" I chose the "Virtual Tour" route. In my case, the Glogs below are more or less "Back-in-Time Virtual Tours" where a particular time era is being toured. As such, the Glog is used as a classroom supplement. Although there seems to be a myriad of information (the cognitive load) the students have already read, discussed and been quizzed on the material. In the first glog there is perhaps a little too much multimedia video (the documentary). Nonetheless, it is review and the cognitive load should not be too cumbersome. The brief reminders about key concepts do not violate the cognitive load theory.

• Do you think that Swisher (and Mayer) would consider a Glog one piece of multi-media, or a collection of separate multi-media elements? Why or why not?

  
  

  I cannot speak for them, however, I believe that Swisher/Mayer would consider a Glog a collection of separate multimedia. As Swisher said, "Working memory is limited in capacity." The Glog seems more like a "grand central station" for a student whereby they can traverse any number of multimedia elements. Rather than a few key concepts whereby students are NOT cognitively loaded, a Glog serves as a springboard to elements that are meant to illustrate adhering to the cognitive load theory. A Glog seems to blur the line of being too much and "just enough".
  
  

  • Defend or refute the following statement: It is entirely likely that almost every Glog ever made breaks all six of Mayer's multimedia principles.

  
  
  
  

  When you consider the Mayer''s six multimedia principles ( the multimedia theory, the split-attention principle, the temporal contiguity principle, modality principle, redundancy principle and the coherence principle) it is entirely likely Glogs FULFILL all of the principles.  The first time I wrote this, I did not believe so.  However, after writing my entire blog refuting this I went back and re-wrote this blog.  Glogs are interesting, aesthetically pleasing "virtual posters" that students could enjoy making, viewing and visiting.  Nonetheless, as a medium it does blur each principle.  The cognitive load theory threshold is crossed when you have too much information.  However, if done correctly a glog can balance the cognitive load.  The dual coding theory also is blurred as there is a mix of test, images, video and that may be too much for some students.  Again, however, a glog can aptly match text and visuals to stimulate a complex understanding. The Glog fulfills the six multimedia principles.  The multimedia principle - a Glog has words, pictures and video.  The split-attention principle - "several sources of information substantially increases" the risk of cognitive load (on a glog, the information is separated).  The temporal contiguity principle - If constructed properly, a Glog can "simultaneously present words and visuals". The modality principle - using Glogs, information can be party presented using visuals and partly using narration/auditory.  Redundancy principle - a well-made Glog does not duplicate directions nor does it 'double-up' on content.  Coherence principle - Glogs can purposefully exclude extraneous information.  

  
  

  In the end, I changed my mind after re-reading Swisher/Mayer and looking back on my Glogs.

  • Defend or refute the following statement: Even if a Glog breaks most of Mayer's multimedia principles it can be still be used to facilitate a more complex understanding of topics than many other multimedia representations.
  • Even if a Glog breaks most of Mayer's multimedia principles it can be used to facilitate more complex understand of topics than many other multimedia representations.  If constructed with Mayer's principles in mind they can overcome the breach.  "Keep it simple" should be the litmus test for a constructed Glog.  The Glog does have many positive aspect that could be used in the classroom.  When I first viewed a Glog I thought of the Glog as an interactive poster (kind of like the posters/infographics you find in National Geographic).  If you think of it as such, it can overcome Mayer's principles in that each link, image, video, and text item can be a stand alone medium that is simple located on the glog.

  
  
  
  

  • Glogs are very popular in K-12 classrooms.  Why do you think they are so popular with teachers and students?

  
  

  Glogs are easy to create and include a multitude of mediums that students find familiar.  The construction of a glog itself can be cognitively rewarding for a student.  Viewing or interacting with them can also be fun and informative.  Teachers can construct Glogs with ease and use as simple forms of review, virtual tours, ice-breakers or newsletters ("40+ Ways").

  
  

  GLOG I: Dark Ages

  The Dark Ages Glog features three 10 minute segments from the History Channel Dark Ages series as well as the popular "Crash Course" series installment "Dark Ages?"  The instructional activity that this would facilitate would be home/computer lab review.  Students are always asking for sources of review.  Our classes do NOT have text books.  If students missed notes or have lost items or maybe were not in class, such a multimedia source is a valuable tool.  As stated above, it does blur the line on many of Mayer's multimedia principles.  Nonethless, "The Dark Ages" glog can be an epicenter for student review from home.

  
  

  GLOG II: Age of Empires

  Like the "curated" Glog 'Dark Ages', the "Age of Empires" includes a self-made review YouTube film, class photos & images and review in the form of summarized notes.  Students can use this Glog as a virtual tour of the time period.  I could post the Glog on my class website for students and parents to visit/view before the unit assessment.