Using Symbaloo for Teaching and Learning

In a recent Classroom Technology class session, one of my graduate students shared this great tool for organizing your online life. Symbaloo allows you to make webpages that contain links to all of the important websites for your classroom. You can create and share a page full of links to your students, their parents or another group. Then your students only have to go to one website, and all of the links they may need are provided there. Here's the recording:

Have you used Symbaloo for your own teaching and learning? What are the benefits for your class?

EdTech for SD Teachers Podcast - Episode 28: Universal Design for Learning

In our last podcast episode for this school year, I discuss the principles of Universal Design for Learning. Here is a nicely organized list of these principles:

• Provide multiple means of representation
• Provide options for perception
• Provide options for language, mathematical expressions and symbols
• Provide options for comprehension
• Provide multiple means of action and expression
• Provide options for physical action
• Provide options for expression and communication
• Provide options for executive functions
• Provide multiple means of engagement 
• Provide options for recruiting interest
• Provide options for sustaining effort and persistence
• Provide options for self-regulation

Some of the tools mentioned in this podcast are:

• Visuwords.com
• https://www.wikipedia.org/  
• http://www.nbclearn.com/science-and-engineering-of-the-2014-olympic-winter-games

The Future of Teaching and Learning in the Information Age - In a Nutshell

I have given a lot of attention to the future of teaching and learning on this blog in posts such as: Is information presentation part of the future of teaching, Is grading a part of the future of teaching, and
The future of teaching and learning - Designing learning experiences. I thought that I could sum up all of these concepts in one slideshow that helps envision what the future of teaching and learning would look like in day to day classroom interactions. This slideshow is also a part of my book, Educational Technology for Teachers. It shows what the classroom of the future might look like as teachers become designers of learning experiences:

Are you doing this in your own classroom? If not, what is stopping you from moving toward the future of teaching and learning?

The Future of Teaching and Learning - Designing Learning Experiences

In past posts, I discussed the future of teaching and learning and whether grading and information presentation (lecture) would be a part of it. Both of these activities will decline in the future, but there is one activity that is sure to be a part of the future of teaching and learning. In the future, teachers will likely spend much time designing learning experiences. Designing learning experiences is what teachers do when they begin to think about instructional strategies within the larger picture of the full days and weeks of the classroom. A teacher who designs learning experiences sees herself not only as a presenter of information, but as one who can make use of all possible learning resources and methods including one-on-one instruction from the teacher, information presentation from the teacher, information resources from the Internet, computer applications, and more. Most of this article is an excerpt from my book, Educational Technology for Teachers. 

As a designer of learning experiences, the teacher takes advantage of all aspects of the Information Age. The teacher acts as a seeker and evaluator of resources, finding accurate information and resources in formats that are developmentally appropriate and that match student needs (Aslan & Reigeluth, 2013; Reigeluth, 2011). In cases where appropriate resources are not available, the teacher might also act as a creator of resources from which students can learn. The teacher works with individual students to choose appropriate learning resources for each student, or she may design a project for the student to complete using the resources. Then the student takes personal responsibility to learn from the resources and make any necessary adjustments in consultation with the teacher. In this approach, the teacher spends more time working individually with each student and less time presenting information to the whole class. This process is also student centered because the student plays an active role in the learning experience.

This model, in which teachers become designers of learning experiences, allows for differentiation of instruction. In this approach, all students can reach mastery of the learning material, but not all students reach mastery at the same time (Reigeluth, 2011; Reigeluth & Garfinkle, 1994). Students learn a variety of skills critical for the Information Age when teachers design learning experiences, including information, media and technology skills; initiative and self-direction; and productivity and accountability. 

Seeing yourself as a designer of learning experiences makes your job as a teacher more enjoyable, more important and more effective. This approach to teaching and learning represents the way that we should teach because of the characteristics of the Information Age society in which we live. As access to and the amount of information continues to grow, teachers will increasingly see themselves as designers of learning experiences (Aslan & Reigeluth, 2013; Duffy, 2009).

References:

Aslan, S., & Reigeluth, C. M. (2013). Educational technologists: Leading change for a new paradigm of education. TechTrends, 57(5), 18–24. doi:10.1007/s11528-013-0687-4

Duffy, F. (2009). The need for systemic transformation change in school districts (part 1). Rice Connexions. Retrieved November 26, 2013, from http://cnx.org/content/m19579/1.4/

Reigeluth, C. M. (2011). FutureMinds committee meeting. Presented at the Association for Educational Communications and Technology International Convention, Jacksonville, FL.

Reigeluth, Charles M., & Garfinkle, R. J. (1994). Systemic Change in Education. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Educational Technology Publications.

Making Education Relevant: What is Task-Centered Learning?

Task-centered learning is a method of learning that uses real-world tasks that make learning more relevant. In task-centered learning, students gain skills that relate to outside of school activities and competencies. It's been a good year for publications with my book that also recently came out as I mentioned in a previous post. 

Dr. Joel Gardner and I recently published an article in TechTrends entitled What is Task-Centered Learning. A pre-publication draft can be found on my account at academia.edu or at this link. This article provides an overview of the task-centered learning/instruction models so far, reviewing and combining task-centered models including Merrill's First Principles of Instruction, the 4C/ID model, Elaboration Theory, and Cognitive Apprenticeship. Then the article synthesizes these models to show the types of things a teacher or instructional designer should do to ensure that they follow prescriptions for task-centered learning. It follows up on a previous article - Task-centered learning differs from problem-based learning.

For this article, we decided to call it task-centered learning. Task-centered instruction, as it has been referred to in the past, was (in our minds) not a sufficiently accurate term. When they think of the word instruction, many people conjure up images of stimulus-response learning made famous by B. F. Skinner. Task-centered learning is very different from behaviorist-based learning, the learning tasks, activation of prior knowledge, demonstration/modeling, application, and integration/exploration mentioned in the article are elements that we associate with learning, not instruction. What is Task-Centered Learning? is a great primer for anyone interested in understanding task-centered learning/instruction. Check it out and share your thoughts in the comments!