pdZone

This would have been useful last summer when I took those courses in teaching with video games and adventure game learning: 26 Learning Games to Change the World. It would also be a good fit with our character education program. Gotta share…

Darren’s post A Difference: Assessment and Rote Learning helped to remind me why I was a math person (I would like to say that I still am but I seldom get to use it these days). In particular, I enjoyed the image of a math puzzle that he included with the post. I am embarrased to admit how long it took me to figure out the solution, but the type of thinking that I had to do was exactly the type that students need to be doing.

I also think that David Truss’ original comments about math assessment are spot on. I remember having several discussions with colleagues about how a student had demonstrated sound mathematical skills despite a small error early on in solving a problem. If I simply mark the question wrong because the final answer is nowhere near the correct one, am I really assessing the student’s skills? I still know many colleagues who are more concerned with designing an assignment or test that is easy to mark rather than one which goes into great depth. I know it takes a little longer, but looking carefully at the process followed by the student gave me a much greater insight into the student’s abilities.

Boy I miss math!

Manitoba Education’s Literacy with ICT Across the Curriculum provides some very impressive information and resources for the use of ICT in all curriculum areas. It is developed around the philosophy that teaching ICT skills should not be an educational goal. Rather, we should be developing good instruction, providing students with rich learning experiences into which the use of ICT is integrated.
Must come back to this resource!

As Susan reminds me in her post Different Flavors of Journals in Moodle, one of my favourite parts of this profession is the sharing of strategies that work. While the idea of being able to connect and share with other educators around the globe has become embedded in my way of thinking, every now and then I think about the incredible power of this medium. Ten years Five years One year ago I would not have had the kind of dialogue that I take for granted today.

I can do this, but I still can’t pick out clothes without my wife’s help.

Last week I attended the ECOO conference in Toronto and was fortunate enough to attend two presentations by George Siemens. I have read his Connectivism and elearnspace blogs for a while now and was not disappointed. He presented some interesting ideas regarding learning and technology. I just saw that he has posted presentation on Learning in Context today.

Now I have something to show my principal when I go off on a tangent about how the way kids learn is changing. Thanks, George!

EduBlog Insights »Six traits of writing metaphors

Random Walk in E-Learning: What if everything we think about school is wrong?

Key quote: “Education is in the heart of the listener, not in the voice of the teacher.”

I was at a workshop today on the use of LMS, specifically Blackboard. The presenters, from the Ottawa-Carleton D.S.B., told us about how they use Bb for blended and online courses, as well as for professional learning communities. As the day progressed, I had a look at Bb and compared some of its functions to those of Moodle. I took a few notes through the day and thought about how I could apply some of what I learned here in my own system. Here are my (very brief) notes:

• Very interesting
• There are a lot of similarities between Blackboard and Moodle. Bb does have a few more tools available, but I do like the open
• source nature of Moodle. I really enjoy the quick development and modules that are available in a project like Moodle.
• I would like to put board- or school-developed documents into a wiki and allow individual teachers to modify tasks and rubrics.
• This would allow teachers to have input into the process. It would also allow those who make the final decisions to see what the classroom teachers think about the process. This could be done in Moodle.
• Desire2Learn is licensed through OESS, but only for courses that are completely online.
• OCDSB has an “Intro to elearning” course for 7,8,9 students before they move into high school. What a great way to get the kids ready for those learning experiences that they will encounter as they progress through secondary and post-secondary learning!
• Use LMS as a vehicle for teacher PD.
• Professional Learning Communities could be organized in Moodle with PD courses for teachers. Teachers could also have the opportunity for sharing, asking questions.

As I read Wil Wheaton’s post the mystery hotel, I am reminded of an idea that I had a while ago for a writing project with the kids. Unfortunately, in all of the insanity of work, the musical, work, family, work, and vacation (oh yeah, work too!), I forgot about it until I read this post. Wil’s post actually makes things clearer because it has a ready-made example.

The Images Canada site has thousands of archive photos of various places across Canada. My thought was to have the kids pick a particularly interesting photo (of our community? perhaps another place?) and have them write a story (letter? travel brochure?) using the photo as the setting. I wish I could find a good narrative voice and write a story about this one.

Wil’s story reminded me of the possibilities of this exercise. While I’m sure you’ll never see this, thanks Wil!

Yesterday, I was looking through Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point again, just to see what new insights I might bring to my reading of a few passages. In the end notes, the author directs readers to his web site, where I read through a few of his archived articles. At the end of The Talent Myth (The New Yorker, July 22, 2002), Gladwell writes about the whole Enron fiasco from a few years back: “They were there looking for people who had the talent to think outside the box. It never occurred to them that, if everyone had to think outside the box, maybe it was the box that needed fixing.”

In education we often hear that we need to think outside the box (an expression I loathe, by the way). I wholeheartedly agree that we need to be adaptive and find strategies to be effective problem solvers, and to help the students develop similar strategies. What if, as Gladwell states, it is not just a matter of all of our thinking outside the box? What if it is also a matter of changing the way we do business?

While we still work within some pretty rigid confines, there have definitely been some moves toward more progressive changes in the system. I ofetn read people lamenting the fact that education does not seem to keep up with the bleeding edges of technology and societal changes. Inertia is a hard force to overcome. Many of the old “inside the box” strategies are still very effective, but differentiation of teaching and assessment strategies can certainly allow for greater freedom of student learning.

Where am I going with this? I am not sure, but I find Gladwell’s statement to be quite provocative. I am still trying to pull together pieces of my own understanding of these issues. The more I read, the more I think, and the more I realize I don’t know!

God, I love learning!