Connecting the dots . . .

This weekend I have to figure out how to get PowerPoints into Adobe Premier Elements -- I know it's a matter of converting the files and I have the FLV plug in for Adobe, but it's been a while since I worked with it. I'll have to retrace the steps I figured out last spring as I was helping the boys build their Earth Day video. I get so intensely involved in each project, it's hard to imagine that I'd forget such hard-won knowledge, but I do and I have to live with that in this post-chemo, post-estrogen life of mine. I know the steps are in my brain; I just have to reconnect the dots -- or find the old recipe and make a new pot of soup.

My word I can be long winded! In preparation for the Horizons Conference on Friday, I thought it would be a good idea to get the rest of our Freepath interview posted. Congratulations to any of you who read it all the way through! I guess the value for me has been in the writing and crystallizing of my own thoughts as I have been preparing for these 2 conferences and sending in proposals for others.

Read on, MacDuff! I hope some of it has been helpful. If you nave a moment, leave me a comment below. I'd love to hear back from some of you.

FINAL FREEPATH INTERVIEW QUESTIONS:

In your session, you discuss the idea of ‘blended learning’; what does this teaching model look like?

At its simplest, blended learning is a custom approach that mixes a variety of content delivery and student response options to get the best fit for the student (in our case) or for the class. We know that particularly with learning packages, it’s difficult to get the students off the bottom couple of steps of Bloom’s cognitive model (above) . Projects like making posters may offer a more creative, less ‘word bound’ way for students to respond -- but really -- how many posters can one student make in their high school careers? How many will they ever do in their work or family life (except when helping their own kids with their homework)? And do posters really reach up the lowest steps of the above model and engage learners in application, analysis, synthesis, or evaluations -- or are they just more basic knowledge presented in a visual way?

Here's what our new teaching model looks like:

I. Trigger Activity : Each new section or unit begins with an activity that serves 2 functions: (1) to generate student interest; & (2) to get the student and teacher to connect so the teacher can assess ability, prior knowledge, and interest levels of the student.

In my new Earth Science program this will be a mind map introducing the key topics of the unit but that will also be loaded with interesting links that will connect back to old learning, stimulate conversation about current events, amuse, surprise, or pique curiosity.

II. Content Acquistion : This is where we can save time. Typically with the current learning packages, our students spend so much time acquiring the information in a course we don’t push them to do much higher order thinking or truly creative projects. By setting out the learning objectives in a simple form right at the beginning, and using Freepath to package the learning materials, students will be able to accelerate their progress through this material, work non-sequentially if they wish, and have some measure of control over how much time they spend acquiring the required content and skills.

III. PEL -- Project Enhanced Learning: (I think I may have coined a new term!) Students will use a new web-based tool or resource together with what they have learned to solve a problem, answer a bigger question, make a connection, do the review, create a presentation, or fulfill the learning objectives. This requirement can be built into the body of the unit or done after the basic content has been covered. It is possible that a well- constructed project may become the vehicle for the content acquisition -- that’s the neat thing about finding these tools.

How do you see social media impacting students in the 21st century? How does it impact teachers and where do you see the intersection?

Marshall McLuhan created the slogan "Reach out and touch someone" for the Bell system in 1979. I think he’d be delighted by the way technology has so shaped our lives in the nearly 30 years since his death.

Clearly many students are wrapped up in a web of connections -- whether it’s as simple as passing notes by texting each other or participating in Facebook or Second Life. Contrary to school rules, their phones are always on. We can either fight this or, in the parlance of the 60’s and 70’s, co-opt it. We may not be able to ‘out-tech’ our kids but we can certainly outsmart them and harness their desire to be connected and use it for our own purposes.

Students with their phones out on their desks, accessing the internet and completing tasks using these as a primary learning tool can’t be texting each other under the table. Students who are using the wealth of the internet as their primary learning resource and who are more engaged in their learning don’t have time in class to manage their Facebook files and keep up with their Tweeting friends.

Regarding how social networking impacts teachers: I’m of the “Be wary because Big Brother is watching” generation, and I still have a lot of distrust for living so publically, but I will say that finding how willing people “out there” are to make time to help each other completely took me by surprise.

I can find a bit of software, get into trouble trying to make it work, e-mail out a request for help and then get back a response -- I find that totally amazing. I am so used to waiting for hours on the phone or weeks for a serviceperson to come to the house or even in line at the bank or at the market -- this online world of people who want to connect, to help, to dialogue, and to learn form each other is a delight.

However, trying to fit the hours it can consume into an already crowded day and still find time for relaxation, my husband, and sleep is a challenge. Perhaps the question on balancing time should have been asked in this context. It’s what I am truly grappling with right now.

Your presentation at the upcoming CUEBC Conference is entitled Small Changes; Big Returns: integrating Web-based Tools and Resources. Can you give us an idea of what we'll be seeing?

Debra and I have put a lot of thought into how education at the White Rock Learning Center can be taken from ‘pen and paper’ to more engaging delivery and improved student achievement.

The two of us collectively have been teaching for more than 50 years, and although we know that education should be a dynamic process, it is very easy for seasoned teachers to become complacent about the design and delivery of new educational material. Years of marking, large numbers of students in classes, and textbook upgrading can often squelch the teacher’s passion for the profession.

With our students’ lack of self-directedness and our own need for professional renewal converging, Debra and I decided to start making some “small changes” in our classroom delivery -- i.e. incorporate a Powerpoint activity, try an essay template set up like a fillable form, add links to video files and animations, and use the Google research engine to find information in all content areas.

The small changes had BIG RETURNS. A young man who had been struggling on and off to complete Geography 12 started attending regularly because the Powerpoint Jeopardy task we had set him was both manageable and intriguing. Students no longer complained about not knowing what Deb wanted when reading the essay assignments. The structure and her voice were there on the page. Some life was breathed into the deadly Earth Science course when the students could see animations of processes and get video instruction.

Then, with the discovery of Freepath it all came together. It became the delivery tool that would enable us incorporate these changes into a well designed lesson plans and package the new lessons up for the students.

Freepath is meets the criteria for our ‘tools of choice’ because it’s so easy to use and the company support is so good. With simple drag and drop moves, lessons can be created that allow students to work independently in a medium they are used to while at the same time allowing Debra and me to help those students who require direct instruction. The students benefit because they are involved more effectively in their own learning process, and Debra and I benefit because our passion has once again ignited.