Friday, May 29, 2015

Educational Resources & Tech Tools 05/30/2015

    • How could I organize the learning for the day for a group without actually meeting the group?
    • The first thing that I do is give some kind of content that I am going to share.  It is important to start with some content, even if it is something that some people “know in the room”.
    • After content is given, what I do is try to give a “reflection break”, where I actually give time to share their ideas on a simple google form, and also connect with people in the room.
    • I usually give people 25-30 minutes to take time to reflect but to also connect with others in the room informally.
    • Connecting with people in the room ensures that even if the presentation isn’t meeting the needs of some, the people in the room can fill those voids.
    • “What is one big question you have moving forward regarding today?”  The opportunity for participants to share a question, helps me to shape the rest of the day based on the people of the room and their thoughts.
    • the first 1-2 hours have a plan, and after that, we are going with the needs of the people in the room.
    • First of all, to be able to “go with the room”, you have to know your content area in a very deep manner and be able to push learning on the fly, but on the opposite end of the spectrum, you also have to be comfortable with not knowing everything and learning from the room.
    • it is great to be able to co-create the day with participants,
  • How to use Google Hangouts and record the sessions.

    tags: google hangouts professional development GHO GAFE google

    • Hangouts on Air have increased in popularity due to their ability to broadcast live discussions publicly on YouTube.
    • Up to ten people can participate in a Hangout on Air, but the number of viewers who can watch the live Hangout is unlimited.
    • Focusing on SAMR and TPACK, our PD options have included face-to-face Tech Tuesday sessions and virtual options found in our iTunes U course, "iInnovate: Teaching and Learning with Tech."
  • tags: images graphics fonts photography

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Wednesday, May 20, 2015

Educational Resources & Tech Tools 05/21/2015

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Monday, May 18, 2015

Educational Resources & Tech Tools 05/19/2015

  • Two approaches to making- direct instruction and independent learning. Both have psychological studies backing them.

    tags: makerspace making maker

    • In all, self-directed maker activities may have students expending a lot of time and effort—and scarce cognitive resources—on activities that don’t help them learn.
    • cognitive load researchers caution that learning and creating are distinct undertakings, each of which competes with the other for limited mental reserves.
    • The best way to ensure learning, these researchers maintain, is to provide direct instruction: clear, straightforward explanation, offered before any making has begun.
    • Kapur has found that presenting problems in this seemingly backwards order helps those students learn more deeply and flexibly than subjects who receive direct instruction. Indeed, the teams that generated the greatest number of suboptimal solutions—or failed—learned the most from the exercise.

       

    • Learners pay especially close attention when the instructor reveals the correct solution, because they have now thought deeply about the problem but have failed themselves to come up with the correct solution.
    • Some tasks, like those concerning basic knowledge or skills, are better suited to direct instruction.
    • We should tell student makers exactly how to perform straightforward tasks, so that they can devote cognitive resources to more complex operations.
    • By applying cognitive load theory to making, we can “unbundle” learning and creating—at least at first—so as to reduce cognitive overload.
    • Instead of asking learners to learn and make at the same time, these two activities can be separated and then pursued sequentially.
    • Once students begin making, we can carefully scaffold their mental activity, allowing them to explore and make choices but always within a framework that supports accurate and effective learning. The scaffolding lightens learners’ cognitive load until they can take over more mental tasks themselves.
    • Fixed stations have “low barriers to entry,” says Fleming; students can walk into the library and immediately engage in the activities set up there, without any instruction or guidance. Fleming’s fixed stations include LEGOs and a take-apart technology area, where students can disassemble old computers and other machines to investigate how they work.
    • Flexible stations, by contrast, are periodically changed, and they involve much more structured guidance from Fleming, who might lead students step by step through an activity, modeling what to do as she goes.
    • “Before I ordered a single piece of equipment [for the maker space], I did a thorough survey of students’ existing interests,” says Fleming. “I also looked for ways that the maker space could supplement areas in which the academic curriculum was thin, or make available to all students activities that had previously been open to only a select group.”

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Thursday, May 14, 2015

Educational Resources & Tech Tools 05/15/2015

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Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Educational Resources & Tech Tools 05/14/2015

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Monday, May 11, 2015

Educational Resources & Tech Tools 05/12/2015

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Tuesday, May 5, 2015

Educational Resources & Tech Tools 05/06/2015

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Monday, May 4, 2015

Educational Resources & Tech Tools 05/05/2015

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.