Blended Learning

Educators are constantly working on their craft. In our field, new ideas, strategies and best practices are consistently developed and shared in an effort to continually improve the teaching and learning process. One of the instructional strategies at the forefront of the educational conversation today is blended learning. Blended learning combines online learning with traditional classroom instruction. Most often, this means teachers will share content such as small, targeted segments of videos or screencasts online for students to access when, where and how they desire. Class time can then be spent working through student questions rather than sitting through classroom lectures. Students are able to take control and personalize their learning.

Time and targeted professional development is required in order for teachers to feel comfortable with this model. In my experience, the biggest hurdle teachers must overcome is simply the lack of confidence to get started. Newton told us that an object at rest tends to stay at rest. It takes effort to overcome inertia. Support and encouragement for teachers who are reluctant to try new things or to take a risk is critical. 

Blended learning can benefit the child who needs more time to review the day’s lesson. She can access the content as many times as necessary. Accelerated students can quickly move through the lesson and then go beyond to explore and consider new questions and further applications. Blended learning promotes classroom differentiation (individualized learning) – another powerful teaching strategy.

Blended learning is often more engaging than traditional lecture.  The online platform allows teachers to embed pictures, videos and resources which make the instruction more interesting. Online discussions and the use of online tools to engage in conversation with teachers and other students build community and interaction that is difficult to have in traditional classrooms. Shy, quiet students now engage more actively.

Time and money (not to mention the environment!) are also saved since assignments, notes, articles and resources can be posted to the online platform. The need to print is reduced or eliminated.

This model is helpful for the student athlete or thespian that often misses part of the school day because of away games, performances or competitions. The student who has a doctor’s appointment or an illness is also able to catch up when he begins to feel better. Teachers who have mastered this model of instruction are well equipped to teach electronically when their school is closed unexpectedly.  Say goodbye to snow days as we have known them. At the same time, say goodbye to make-up days.

I believe that the greatest benefits involve the students and their ability to optimally focus and learn at school. Students deal with issues on a daily basis and it is impossible to learn when they are experiencing anxiety, have had little sleep or are consumed by something that happened in the hallway or even at home before they came to school. The ability to learn without typical adolescent distractions is a significant benefit of blended classrooms. Blended learning strategies enable the teacher to meet students where they are and offer multi-faceted, rigorous learning experiences that continually foster a passion for learning.   

Learning Differences - Overcoming Obstacles

I recently served on an SAIS school accreditation team for a school that serves children with Dyslexia. During the process, we met with students from various grade levels. To one student, we asked the question, “What do you like most about your school?” A beautiful, articulate, fourth grade girl eloquently responded “I used to feel dumb until I starting attending this school. All of the kids here are just like me. Dyslexia,” she explained, “is a gift not an illness.” Wow. 

Jane M. Healy, Ph.D. , author of Different Learners: Identifying, Preventing, and Treating Your Child’s Learning Problems says that “A child born today in the US has a 30 percent chance of being diagnosed with some type of learning problem. “ Clearly, that’s a high number. 

I often wonder why there seems to be such an increase in the number of children with learning problems. Could it be a result of food additives, excessive media bombardment, over-scheduling or other environmental exposures? We don’t know but we do know that the list of childhood disorders continues to grow. Children must deal with ADD, ADHD, anxiety disorders, autism, Asperger’s syndrome, executive function issues and more. Many children have multiple issues.  For many children, the issues create tremendous challenges, frustrations and feelings of inadequacy. Many of these children are bright and gifted but because their brains are wired differently, learning in certain ways is difficult.

Thanks to advances in brain science, we are learning more and more about instructional strategies, routines and techniques that can help our children actually rewire and grow the needed dendrite-neuron connections in their brains.  Further, we are learning more and more about how to teach students regardless of their learning differences.    

Of course, parents should intentionally manage environmental influences such as diet, sleep, exercise, sensory stimuli and opportunities for play. Students with suspected learning challenges need more.  Bottom line, you are your child’s advocate. Tactically, begin with your pediatrician. Often, concerns are unfounded but if you discover your child does have a learning difference then the sooner you can start helping, the better. Research and create an action plan with trusted professionals.

More important is that the learning challenged student understands that he is a person of worth and value.  Being among one in three students with a learning difference can hardly be regarded “abnormal.”  In his book, David and Goliath, Malcolm Gladwell statistically supports that things popularly regarded as disadvantages are often, in fact, advantages and vice versa.  (An extraordinarily high number of the most successful innovators and entrepreneurs in recent decades are dyslexic for example.)  People who must work diligently to overcome learning obstacles and barriers quite often benefit from the struggle in significant, impactful ways. 

Everyone has obstacles and barriers.  What may initially seem as an insurmountable hurdle can turn out to be an advantage that results in empathy, sensitivity and compassion that can make the world a better place.

Thus, she says, “Dyslexia is a gift, not an illness.”  Again…wow.

This article appeared in Southern Distinction magazine. Volume 2:3 2014

Understanding Project Based Learning

In February, I traveled to Concord, North Carolina to the Cannon School and led a Project Based Learning workshop for the North Carolina Association of Independent Schools (NCAIS). I absolutely love helping teachers gain an understanding of the possibilities of updating current instructional practices to motivate children to want to learn.  

I like the definition of Project Based Learning (PBL) by Jane Krauss and Suzie Boss. They state, “In project-based learning, students gain important knowledge, skills, and dispositions by investigating open-ended questions to “make meaning” that they transmit in purposeful ways.”  (Krauss & Boss, 2013)

This instructional strategy is not new to educators.  The well-respected education and social reformer John Dewey suggested that treating students as receptacles of knowledge left true intellectual engagement to chance.  In 1916, in Democracy and Education, he said, “Education is not an affair of ‘telling’ and being told, but an active and constructive process.” University medical faculty started using Problem Based Learning in the 1950s as they questioned the effectiveness of massive memorization of science facts via lectures followed by exhausting clinicals. This approach that challenges students to learn through engagement in a real world problem continues in medical schools today and was the forerunner of today’s Project Based Learning.

Buck’s Institute at www.bie.org provides a wonderful framework to get us started with this type of lesson design. PBL starts with significant content and key concepts in academic disciplines.  Students are challenged to solve an open-ended, driving question and in order to do so they must use higher-order thinking and problem solving skills to create something new. They also must collaborate and communicate with others to work as a team. In-depth inquiry is an important component.  Students research, read, write and expresses themselves in a variety of ways. Since PBL begins with a meaningful, relevant question to solve it provides context and a reason to learn. Students will have opportunities to express themselves in their own voice and make responsible choices as part of the experience. A student learns to give and receive feedback through ongoing revision and reflection opportunities and present their created products or solution to a public audience which increases the students’ motivation and adds authenticity.

An example of PBL question might be, “how can we, as structural engineers, design and test bridge models for a walkway over Lakeview creek?” Traditionally, a teacher might lecture and then quiz students on the three types of primary bridges and the basic principles of engineering for each type in a science class.

Successful adults have learned to manage themselves, set goals, direct their time and make decisions. When students have opportunities to experience PBL they can also learn to develop the executive function skills needed in today’s world. I believe that children must have the opportunity to make decisions in order to learn to make decisions.  In addition, to stimulate the curiosity of children and to engage them as thinkers and learners can become a foundation for the development of creative innovators.

Krauss, Jane, and Suzie Boss. Thinking through project-based learning: guiding deeper inquiry. Thousand Oaks, Calif. : London: Corwin ; SAGE [distributor], 2013. Print.

Great Tools to Develop Essential Skills

I have been fortunate to be able to travel, speak and share at conferences and workshops around the country and internationally. In October I traveled to Doha, Qatar to share technology integration ideas and best practices with teachers. I truly enjoy learning about other cultures and meeting new people. It occurs to me that I always learn much more from my travels than I share and that the 21^st century skills that are important in Gainesville, Ga., are important all over the world.

We now have many tremendous technology tools available to support our desire to help children develop the skills that will help to prepare them for not only today but the future. The National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) is a great list of essential skills.  It includes creativity and innovation, communication and collaboration, research and information fluency, critical thinking, problem solving and decision making, digital citizenship and technology operations and concepts.

The program Algodoo by Algoryx is a great example of a tool that fosters creativity, critical thinking and problem solving. The program allows for playful experimentation with physics principles to build amazing inventions or to visualize the effect of actual physical forces. Imagine using Algodoo to build a Rube Goldberg machine.  This afternoon I served as a judge for our middle school robotics team and a 7^th grade student demonstrated the effects of an earthquake on various building materials using Algodoo. I must admit that I was incredibly impressed by the presentation.

Hyperscore is a new program from MIT that allows students and adults of all ages to creatively express themselves by composing music. I learned about Hyperscore this summer while visiting MIT’s Media Lab as part of the Constructing Modern Knowledge Conference.  Hyperscore uses a graphical interface that provides users with immediate visual and audio feedback. A sketching paradigm allows students to sketch ideas onto the canvas, listen and adjust which allows students to skip the theory and get right to the practice. In our Computer Applications course our students were asked to create an audio recording of their favorite children’s book.  They used Audacity to record the narration of the book, mix in sound effects and then added music created with Hyperscore.

One of my favorite data visualization programs for high school students is Fathom because it brings relevance and meaning to courses such as statistics or even history. One of the cools things that I shared with teachers while in Doha was that one can take data sets directly from the internet and drop them into Fathom to immediately manipulate and analyze. I believe real world data produces a depth of understanding that is powerful.

New tools and resources are developed every day. I never dreamed that 3D printers and digital fabricators would become affordable to many of our schools or that early elementary students would start learning to program using programs like Robot Turtles, WeDo Robotics and later Scratch but they can if schools have the vision to plan these opportunities with the focus on making the learning fun.

Improving the Educational Odds

As a whole, we teachers are constantly working on our craft because we know that a successful educational experience can be life changing for our students and is a critical element for success in their lives.  In his book Visible Learning for Teachers, John Hattie shares some wonderful insights that I personally align with wholeheartedly. Hattie has conducted one of the most comprehensive meta-analysis in education. He has studied the results of nearly every possible educational intervention and then compares their impact on student achievement.  He finds that the two most significant factors in student success are the student’s self-expectation of and the effectiveness of teachers.

How can we help students develop a positive image – an expectation – of accomplishment and mastery? Carol Dweck (2006) proposes that it may be a simple matter of mindset.  A growth mindset (which posits that intelligence can be continually developed) leads to a desire to learn, embraces challenges, persists in the face of setbacks, sees effort as a path to mastery, learns from criticism and find lessons and inspiration in the success of others. A fixed mindset (which conversely adheres to the belief that intelligence is static) leads to a desire to only “look smart” and therefore leads to a tendency to avoid challenge, become defensive or give up, see effort as fruitless, ignore useful or negative feedback and feel threatened by the success of others.   A positive, growth oriented mindset must be fostered.

So, how do we do that?  The expectancy x value model (Barkley 2010) can be used to define student motivation.   She states, “The effort people are willing to expend on a task is the product of the degree to which they expect to be able to perform the task successfully (expectancy) and the degree to which they value the rewards as well as the opportunity to engage in performing the task itself (value).”  In other words, students must be interested and must believe that they can be successful if they only try. A “can do” attitude is more important to success than ability or difficulty of the task. So how do we get students interested and willing to try? Enter the teacher.

Strategies that provide extrinsic rewards such as high grades, praise or bonus points may increase motivation for the short term but may inhibit students from developing the intrinsic motivation to experience truly engaged learning.  (Barkley 2010) Our goal should be to create opportunities for deep intrinsic motivation (deep engagement) or flow. When the interest and success expectancy of students are sparked, they become so absorbed in the task that it becomes work worth doing for its own sake. (Csikszentmihalyi  1997)  Students are no longer simply attempting to complete a task.  They are on a mission.

To foster a sense of flow teachers need to provide a safe, positive environment,  clear goals, sufficient feedback to communicate how well students are doing but not before they have opportunities to think and problem solve independently.  Tasks should stretch students just beyond their existing capabilities, but not be overwhelming.

To improve the odds of educational success, teachers must work to foster a positive learning mindset in their students and teach with intention and purpose.

Hattie, John. Visible learning for teachers: maximizing impact on learning. London: Routledge, 2012. Print.

Dweck, Carol S.. Mindset: the new psychology of success. New York: Random House, 2006. Print.

Barkley, Elizabeth F.. Student engagement techniques: a handbook for college faculty. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2010.

Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1997). Intrinsic motivation and effective teaching; A flow analysis. In Bess, James L.. Teaching well and liking it: motivating faculty to teach effectively. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997. Print.

 

Maintaining a Positive Online Reputation

Unfortunately, many people do not realize that postings to the Internet are not private. We forget that data is being collected and shared about each of us as we participate on various social media and internet sites. For example; ESPN.com, the Facebook “Like” button, Pandora and even Yelp.com will share our likes, clicks and preferences. My feelings are often hurt as I continually encounter wrinkle cream ads and weight- loss advertisements via my Facebook page due to my age even though I am very careful about my personal online profile.

We have all heard of at least one example of poor decision making regarding online posting like the Taco bell employee who was fired a day after his shell licking photo was posted to the company’s Facebook page, the Greek Olympian Voula Papachristou who was booted from her country’s Olympic team after posting a racial joke to Twitter or the numerous political figures who just don’t seem to get it. Clearly, once we post content online we have no control over how or where the content is shared or the subsequent consequences. All of us need to consider the importance of protecting our online presence or reputation.

This has become an important educational issue as well as a parental one. How can we help our children and students consider the importance of thinking before they post content that they will later regret?

First of all we must realize that all children and young adults are not equally at risk. If a child engages in risky behavior offline it is more likely he will make poor choices online.  There seems to be a parallel between children with a history of physical or sexual abuse or low self-esteem and risky behavior online.  

Children today are often quite tech savvy and may know more than many adults about the technology tools and devices available to them.  After all,  they consume an average of 8 hour sof digital media a day.  They are not, however, necessarily  “life savvy” and need our guidance and involvement as they learn to make decisions and manage their online activity.

To that end, parents need to devote the time to becoming more knowledgeable and comfortable with the tools our children use. We should teach our children how to block users from various communication tools and how to save screen shots when they feel uncomfortable with an online interaction. Their biggest fear, and the reason they are hesitant to tell parents about inappropriate interactions online,  is that the technology will be taken away.  It is important to never overreact and to calmly respond when they share sensitive information. Keeping the lines of communication open is critical.

For younger children, an internet filter such as K9 Web Protection (free download) or using  Open DNS on your network can be helpful in restricting explicit content. A family generated contract can also be used to communicate  Internet behavior expectations. The contract also provides an opportunity for family dialogue to openly talk about the issues. I do think that our children will only learn to make good choices if they are gradually given opportunities to make choices for themselves.   As they get older, they should be given more and more freedom as they demonstrate the ability to manage themselves online. Conversely, we must be willing to parent and enforce the rules.  The goal is to help them develop.

Our children are going to make mistakes online. We can help them by making sure they understand the viral nature of online content, keeping an eye out for questionable behavior and at risk children, becoming more tech savvy, keeping the lines of communication open and utilizing available filters and controls.

Helpful sites:

Common Sense Media - http://www.commonsensemedia.org/ - Excellent reviews, recommendations and parent tips for movies, games, apps, websites, books and music.

My Wiki – http://www.cwhitetech.wikispaces.com – I have shared dozens of links to help parents with setting up parental controls, family contracts, plagiarism resources and much more.

http://www.Netfamilynews.org - Anne Collier does a wonderful job of keeping parents and educators informed and engaged on a variety of topics related to our young people’s use of technology.

Drop and Give Me 20 - The Importance of Physical Activity to Learning

In this blog I thought I would share some of the things I’ve learned about how important movement and exercise is to learning. This topic is particularly relevant at this point in the evolution of education because many schools are choosing to eliminate physical education and recess in order to spend more time on subject areas that will be tested on standardized tests.

The science supporting the positive effect of movement and exercise on learning is real.  Research shows that physical activity catalyzes a biological process that causes brain cells to bind to each other.  These connections are directly related to the brain’s ability to learn.  In her book The New Science of Teaching and Learning, Tracey Tokuhama-Esponisa refers to substantial studies which support alternating movement activities and thinking activities as a means of focusing and re-focusing attention in the classroom to enhance learning.  Further, she details studies which support the theory that increased blood flow from physical activity enhances concentration and memory. 

      

When in early elementary school, our oldest son could simply not sit still. He had a horrible time paying attention and was later identified as having ADHD.  There was a large gap between his exceptionally high IQ and his academic performance. We struggled through the years until he took a summer course at Riverside Millitary Academy.  When he would be distracted, fidgety, unable to concentrate and off task, his teacher would command “drop and give me 20.”  He learned that after doing 20 push-ups he could again focus.  His classroom performance skyrocketed.  Our daughter, now a junior in High School, can often be seen studying while performing gymnastics routines around the room.  It seems unorthodox, but it’s effective!    

There are probably many things to which a general decline in classroom performance across the country can be attributed.  Perhaps, chief among them is the insistence that our children sit down, sit still and pay attention.

In response, some schools are adding exercise balls as chairs in classrooms or allowing fidgeting children to stand behind their chairs instead of making them sit in them.  Others are intentionally adding movement to the class experience. Naperville Central High School in west Chicago has gained national attention for emphasizing fitness at their school. They believe that physical education class should be used to instruct kids how to monitor and maintain their own health and fitness for the rest of their lives. The students develop healthy habits, learn how their bodies work and have fun. These educators also know how important physical activity is to learning.  In addition to being fit, the academic performance of the Naperville students in the classroom and on standardized tests has improved exponentially.  As one innovative NCHS physical education teacher put it, “It’s not really my job to teach them anything.  It’s my job to get them ready to learn.”   

There is a correlation between physical movement and academic achievement. Research also supports the idea that exercise may help improve the effects of addictions, stress, depression, anxiety, ADHD, menopause and even Alzheimer’s .  For more on this topic, read “Spark” by John J. Ratey, MD. 

Bottom line…movement can improve our ability to think and function well.  I think I’ll take that morning walk I’ve been putting off.