Technology + Guidance = Real Learning

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I entered my Ph.D. program in Education with the theory that giving students technology was enough to engage them in learning. While working at a low-income, low-performing school with one computer per classroom (that usually was not setup), I brought in my laptop and iPod touch with educational apps and students were instantly drawn to the new technology. The students that had behavior problems even sat still to play math games on the Internet for hours.

I worked with a student with severe Autism and when he was able to use my laptop and iPod touch, he really started gaining ground in math. I thought it was the technology that was making a difference. But, on reflection, it was my guidance along with the technology. I asked my student questions to scaffold his thought processes, provided hints when he needed help with a problem, and conducted daily assessments to determine where he needed to focus his learning. I helped him learn to use his fingers to count so he could input the addition solution on Math Fact Cafe instead of guessing. We spent a lot of time drawing clocks on a whiteboard to figure out how to tell time and testing out different iPod apps to learn about patterns and solving puzzles. Since I love technology, I attributed my student's success to the tools that I was bringing him and omitted the fact that I was actually teaching him skills beyond what the technology provided.

Technology has that aura of a shiny object that will instantly solve all of the problems in education - I fell into its enticing trap. Luckily, my PhD program classes and the articles I read on a daily basis about education from SmartBrief opened my eyes to the fact that technology needs to be supplemented with teacher guidance in order to have a real affect on learning. Three recent articles/podcasts have echoed these thoughts:

FabLabs@School
I recently listened to a podcast by Paulo Blikstein, a Stanford Professor who required the School of Education to build a FabLab as part of his hiring package. A FabLab is a fabrication laboratory where students can build things using 3D printers, laser cutters, programming tools, and other engineering equipment. Blikstein described that when students first entered the FabLab, they learned how to create a keychain. The students kept returning to the lab to create keychains because that's all they knew how to do (instead of exploring the other tools). Blikstein explained that just having the tools available was not enough to inspire learning. Students needed someone to teach them how to use the tools and provide support and feedback.

Are Kids Really Motivated by Technology?
Bill Ferriter calls technology a "motivational red herring" as he describes his efforts to engage his students in learning through blogging. He provided an online blog for students and had to "beg" students to use it. He describes how students may like technology because it's different than a typical worksheet or in-class activity, but students are really engaged when they can think critically, socialize, interact, and solve challenges.

Show and Tell for Teachers, Inspired by Reality TV
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation are providing the Washington, D.C. school district with funds for hiring a reality TV crew to film highly effective teachers and develop a database of videos of best practices. I had a similar idea a while back and I thought it would be a great research topic, so I am excited to see this project in action. However, the article highlights the fact that athletes don't just watch a video with good technique and then go out and execute the technique perfectly. The athletes, just like teachers, need guidance - they need to know what to look for while watching the video, how to use the technique shown in the video, and they need feedback. This was very enlightening. You can't just give teachers videos of best practices and expect that they will perfect these techniques without any support.

As more schools adopt one-to-one laptop and iPad programs, it is important for administrators to recognize the value of training teachers to guide learning using these new tools. The idea of teachers shifting from "sage on the stage to guide on the side" sounds catchy, but it's really the teachers leading the classroom, determining which technologies to use, knowing how to assess learning with the new tools, and providing feedback and guidance. Technology should not devalue great teaching. Instead, we need more great teachers to bring out the value of technology as a learning tool.

The Power of the Network

Learning has moved beyond what you know, to what you know plus what you can find out from your online network of information and people.

On a drive to Santa Barbara from Sacramento, a group of friends and I started discussing the UCSB mascot, the Gaucho. One of the individuals in our group had attended a workshop at the Student Lobby Conference in Sacramento where the presenter said that all of the UC’s originally had bear mascots, so we started debating the validity of this message. Our debate was short-lived because no one in the car had extensive knowledge of the history of the UC’s and their mascots, until one of the individuals pulled out a smartphone and did an in-depth search. We then found out that the original UCSB mascot was a roadrunner (which was considered weak by the Athletics staff) and in the 1930’s UCSB adopted the strong, South American, cowboy mascot (nicknamed Olé). (source) 

This is just one example of how learning is no longer limited to the classroom. Students can learn anytime, anywhere (as long as they have a computer or smartphone and access to the Internet). Students are starting their own businesses, giving and receiving professional feedback on their photography skills, learning how to design clothing hacks for popular online games, and participating in collective knowledge building for real world science applications (http://fold.it/portal/). However, students aren’t doing this alone – they are building personal learning networks.

Personal Learning Networks

A personal learning network (PLN) is a collection of resources and connections that facilitates informal learning. There are two main types of PLN’s: information acquisition (using Google Reader to stay up-to-date on hundreds of blogs, websites, and resources) and social media connections (using Facebook/Twitter/social media tools to connect with a global audience to give and receive advice, help, support, and feedback).

At 9-years-old, I created my own Beanie Baby enterprise – buying beanie babies in bulk, waiting until they were retired, and selling them for a solid profit through ebay. I followed many websites and discussion forums that predicted trends for which beanie babies would be retired, how much beanie babies were worth, and which ones to buy. And this was over 15 years ago.

Imagine what students can do today with access to millions of people worldwide. I posted a link to my K-12 Tech Tools website on the Math subject community in Edmodo and asked if anyone had any resources to add. Within 1-hour, I had 10 responses with multiple links and suggestions. That’s how easy it is to find information nowadays.

PLN’s are the future of learning and the students that have figured this out are shaping their own learning and gaining essential skills for the 21st century. Unfortunately, education is still stuck in the Web 1.0 world where the teacher has all of the information and the student must wait to learn from the expert. In the book, Personal Learning Networks: Using the Power of Connections to Transform Education, authors Richardson and Mancabelli recommend that teachers need shift being the experts to being the connectors. As connectors, teachers connect students to resources and people that have the information the students need to learn.

This also means that teachers should role model how to use their networks as learning tools. With the vast amount of information available on the Internet and people to connect to through social media, students need to learn how to organize, sort, evaluate, and analyze the validity of the information they find and whether the people they interact with are trustworthy. This is where the teacher comes in – as a role model of safe and ethical use of PLN’s for sustaining lifelong learning.

What’s Next?

With the fantastic opportunity of continuing my ED 257A class to ED257B next quarter, I will spend Spring quarter designing an e-course for new teachers about building PLN’s (or professional learning networks) in hopes that the connections they build will help them feel less isolated and more confident in seeking help when facing challenges in the classroom. Here’s a powerpoint preview of what I have in mind:  A Teacher's Guide to Building a Professional Learning Network (PLN)

View more PowerPoints from Torrey Trust

Listening and Learning with Computers

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As I walked to the front of my ED 257A class (Teaching and Learning with Digital Media), I looked around at my fellow classmates and wondered how my presentation could compete with the 24-inch iMac computers in front of them. Not only were these computers physical barriers that separated students from the teacher or presenter, these computers were the gateway to information – why would the students listen to me when they could look up the same information in seconds on the Internet? I myself have fallen victim to the allure of the World Wide Web during class lectures and presentations. I’ll look up an article or two (or Wikipedia page) that describes what the teacher is talking about, read it, and then move on to more important things like checking email and responding to Facebook posts while the teacher continues talking at the front of the classroom.

I started my presentation with minimal expectations, and then something changed – I saw for the first time how technology is redefining education. My presentation was a critique of the social learning network for students and teachers, Edmodo. This website has a lot of promise for being an interactive learning environment that can supplement in-class learning or fuel learning outside of the classroom. During my presentation, some of my classmates were actually looking up toward the front of the class, but the rest were furiously typing and clicking away at their computers. I finished my presentation and asked if anyone had any questions – a student raised her hand and said she had just set up an Edmodo account and was wondering if she could create separate class groups. Another student had pulled up several articles about whether Edmodo “stole” the interface of Facebook and shared a summary of what he found. Three more students referenced articles they read or experiences they had using edmodo that all took place during my 15-minute presentation.

One student asked whether Edmodo had the capability of engaging students for countless hours every day in learning the way people spend 4+ hours on Facebook daily and this lead to an in depth discussion with my classmates finding articles online to support their argument.

This is learning 2.0. In a typical computer-less classroom, my classmates would watch my presentation and share a few thoughts (like “good job”). Some might even remember the website when they return home so they can check it out. But in a computer lab, my classmates were taking what I was showing and researching, trying out things, and sharing their experiences. The questions and discussions were in-depth and people even cited various resources.

The next student started presenting another online tool. I looked up the tool on my computer in seconds and then moved on to checking my email….I had 4 new Edmodo “friend” requests…from my classmates (they listened!). Presentation – success!

A Doctoral Discussion about Education

I have to say that I am very impressed with the faculty at UC Santa Barbara. The classes that I have taken have taught me new ways to look at and think about things. The readings, in-class discussions, and opportunities to present make classes interactive, enjoyable, and applicable to real life.

So what I have a learned thus far? 
Here’s a recap (I’m writing this to get a better grasp of where my research is heading and to share some thoughts with you – I’d love to hear your thoughts/advice/etc… as well!):

U.S. Education 

• K-12 education in the US was primarily developed during the Industrial Revolution to provide factory workers with basic skills for working on an assembly line. 
• The K-12 education system is still using this model today – the teacher is the expert, the students must learn all of the knowledge bestowed upon them, creativity and innovation are not recognized, and students, regardless of ability and knowledge, are grouped by age and sent from one grade level to the next 
• Think about this, if a surgeon from the 1800’s were to walk into an operating room today, would she be able to perform an operation? No… If a teacher from the 1800’s were to walk into a classroom today, she could still perform the relatively same job tasks with ease. 

The U.S. Education system would be fine if the goal was to prepare students for jobs that only require the ability to perform one task over and over without thinking.

However, today’s employers are looking for individuals that can think critically, analyze problems, develop creative solutions, and collaborate on multidisciplinary projects with individuals around the world.

How do we address the disconnect between education and the working world? 

Learning 2.0
Web 1.0 refers to the early days in the Internet era where websites were used like encyclopedias and only a few users controlled all of the content. Web 2.0 is the shift from the Internet as a place for people to find information to a collaborative, global atmosphere where users create, mix, mash-up, design, produce, and share content through social media sites.

Education needs to evolve from a place where teachers are the experts that stand in front of the classroom and lecture to an area where students can shape their own learning. Students can find answers to pretty much everything online (Wolfram Alpha has step-by-step instructions for solving advanced calculus problems). So why should they have to go to school and sit in a classroom when instead they could research what they need to know on the Internet in seconds?

To engage students in learning, teachers need to tap into the students’ knowledge and expertise. What do students bring to the classroom? How can they use their knowledge and skills to advance their learning? Why assign an essay when a student who has taught herself how to develop iPod apps could turn in an app instead? Why not give students an advanced problem, let them use whatever tools they want to devise a solution, and see what they come up with?

As Socrates said, “Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel.” Education is about inspiring lifelong learning. Teachers that design practical, real world learning experiences, allow for creativity, use tools that students are familiar with (i.e., Web 2.0), and are willing to forgo being the expert to encourage students’ interests and passions are the teachers who are truly preparing students for success in the 21st century.

There’s No Silver Bullet 
If I’ve learned one thing so far, it’s that there is no silver bullet that will magically solve all of the problems in education. Throwing money at a problem will not fix it. Buying iPads for every student won’t increase test scores if teachers don’t know how to use iPads to improve learning. Market-based reforms, charter schools, merit pay for standardized test scores all increase competition but none of these have shown to improve learning any more than public schools.

The Solution
It all starts with the teachers. Teachers are amazing! Teachers have the capacity to create a Learning 2.0 environment that inspires lifelong learning and prepares students to excel in college and beyond. However, teachers must be willing to change their teaching style and stop teaching to the test. They also need more support and the freedom to be creative…This is a discussion that will be saved for a later date.

Those are my thoughts for now. Here are some excellent books to read that touch upon some of the topics I addressed above:

Out of Our Minds: Learning to Be Creative – Ken Robinson

The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education – Diane Ravitch

Language and Learning in the Digital Age – Gee & Hayes