Discussion+2



Discussion 2

**// What is the role of distributed learning in a Personalized Learning model? How can D2L facilitate personalized learning? //**

Questions to Guide Your Discussion:


 * //How do you see teaching changing in a connected learning environment? How does connected learning facilitate a move to personalized learning?//


 * //How do you see teaching nurturing creative and critical thought changing within a connected learning environment? How does nurturing creative and critical thought facilitate a move to personalized learning?//


 * //What does online collaboration 'look' like? What distributed learning tools would be integral to nurturing collaboration online?//


 * //What would a personal learning space be like? What distributed learning tools would be integral to this space?//

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[|Edutopia: Taking the Lead]

[|Edutopia: One Project]

Some of the questions posed are addressed in these videos.

Cheers,

Kevin

Hi Kevin & Group,

Hi Tech High certainly seems to be on to something with their school's organization. Thanks for the interesting video links.

Robin

By providing learners with tools to interact with the subject matter in so many ways, learners can internalize material more effectively. Connected learning facilitates the concept of personalized learning when projects allow learners to engage in their preferred learning styles and exposes them to unfamiliar methods. In the videos posted to this discussion learners were challenged to work with material in groups and in multiple disciplines to complete a meaningful project, learning objectives were achieved in more than one class using a collaborative project that explored learning material from many points of view. Learners were tasked with learning opportunities that held an expectation of a tangible and professional outcome, knowing that the projects would be public domain created ownership and pride in the final product. In these types of environments teachers can act like subject matter experts and learners can take the roles of cognitive apprentices performing real world tasks, while being presented with real world expectations.

Technology when used in the completion of projects can be used as a value added tool, either in the learning of material or in the presentation of finding/projects. Different forms of technology may appeal to the many different learning styles present in the group when working in a collaborative environment and may help these individuals engage the learning material on their own terms thus enhancing personalized learning.

As far as an online collaborative environment goes I have found this WIKI very useful in hosting these discussions and much more convenient than the discussion boards on the D2L platform.

Interested in your thoughts,

Kevin

Thanks for doing such a great job formatting the Wiki, Kevin! It looks great! You've packed so many thoughts into your posting above that I'm not certain where to begin. I agree, having so many tools to interact with in subject areas not only allows learners to internalize more effectively but also allows them to make more of a personal connection - which I suppose is the reason for richer, more meaningful learning experiences. The examples given in the video made me think of another short video I viewed today: __ [] __ - "A Vision of K-12 Learners Today" - one of the web resources linked in D2L. I particularly liked the quote that the video begins with:

"Students will use engaging technologies in collaborative, inquiry-based learning environments with teachers who are willing and able to use technology's power to assist them in transforming knowledge and skills into products, solutions, and new information."

I believe that a connected learning environment lends itself to a participatory, production-based culture, rather than the passive consumer-based culture that most of us were raised in. There is simply too much information to be able to continue with the passive model. Critical thought, as noted in discussion one, becomes an increasingly important skill to develop. Students need to be able to critically analyze the validity and relevance of information that they come across. As to nurturing creative thought, I wonder if there is a limit? I have come across so many amazing web based tools in the past two weeks that I think I need a week straight to sort them all out. When we allow for choice and student input we nurture creativity and foster personalization in learning. More to come ... I have to go and sort through distributed learning tools, of which this Wiki, as you note, Kevin, is an excellent example.

Robin

Hi Group!

Just when I thought this wiki had disappeared forever, I find it looking better than ever!! Well done team - thank you so much for your hard work! Sorry I have been MIA for the past few days. I couldn't find you and then I was very busy with my day job!

It looks like you are well into the discussion. Thank you so much for providing the interesting link to videos! I am going to attempt to 'jump' into the conversations and look forward to working with you even more throughout the week. I feel that we have a head start (compared to last week)!

Kevin, I agree when you say that "connected learning facilitates the concept of personalized learning when projects allow learners to engage in their preferred learning styles and exposes them to unfamiliar methods". As a teacher in a very diverse learning environment (students from K-6 in one classroom), I can appreciate the need to allow personalized learning. Last fall, I took a course in universal design. We looked at how to incorporate the use of technology to make the curriculum accessible for all learners. In addition to accessibility options, technology also has a unique way of keeping us all connected.

On a side note, this morning I attended a teleconference about autism. I live in a small community in the NWT. Without the use of the teleconferencing technology, I would not have been able to attend this lecture. I could see and hear the people in the lecture (and they could see and hear me!) I actually felt as if I were there! By December, this technology will be located within my school and utilized to help us assist particular students with speech an language, as well as occupational therapy. It is really cool! Another teacher that attended the conference told me that she has seen this equipment used by a classroom teacher in Toronto to teleconference another class in China - this is the modern taken on "pen pals". This is the epitome of change! I could have only dreamt about this when I was growing up (in the 80s!)

I was a little side-tracked today...I will do my best to respond to each of the questions later on this week!

I'm looking forward to hearing more of your thoughts.

Nicole

Another interesting video "It's going to be messy, but messy doesn't necessarily mean bad"

[|The Twitter Experiment]

Kevin

Hi Kevin & Nicole,

What a great example of connected learning, Kevin! Using Twitter in the class allowed every student to have a voice and to feel as if they were being heard. I just watched a 30 minute video called "The Machine is (Changing) Us: YouTube and the Politics of Authenticity", by Michael Wesch. The video is focused on YouTube as a social medium, yet I think that many of the points made would also apply to connected learning environments. The link for the video is http://mediacultures.net/ksudigg/. There are quite a few clips on the page that apply to this conversation - one showed a prof in a class about technology, yet the prof wasn't using technology (other than a whiteboard). Although this was a face-to-face learning environment, it showed the disengagement of students and what can happen when teachers do not change. I think that the same could be said of connected learning environments (as in distance education). If the delivery doesn't change somehow with the medium, then we are losing the power of the medium. For example, in an online class I had last week, I really felt that the prof had not changed his teaching much from a 'media-free' face-to-face learning environment. Three times during the Elluminate session the instructor went down the list of names and required that each student contribute to the conversation in turn. It made me think of sitting in rows, with the teacher at the front, calling on students as he/she went through the rows (that's when I used to get up and sharpen my pencil in class - just as my turn came!). When I compare my experience to the 'Twitter Experiment', it is very clear to see that the latter had far greater student engagement in authentic ways. Imagine if the prof in the Twitter class had insisted on going row by row to allow for student input. How would that change the conversation? What would it do to student engagement?

How do you see teaching changing in a connected learning environment? I think that a partial answer is in using the media in an authentic manner - as in the Twitter example, then seeing what possibilities emerge. In a class earlier this week, one student said that the role of teachers is changing in that they are no longer 'the sage on the stage', but rather, 'the guide at the side' - interesting to think about.

A few important points from the video:

Media do not just distance us, they connect us in different ways -- but sometimes that distance allows us to connect more deeply than ever before.

... it allows us connection without constraint

- we know ourselves through our relations with others - new media create new ways of relating to others, therefore new media create new ways of knowing ourselves.

- media can transform individual pursuits into collective actions

Robin



Hey Nicole & Robin,

We certainly seem to be making great headway with this topic, lots of interesting videos and comments. I liked the Twitter Experiment concept so much that I was messing around with it most of the morning trying to import a window into the home page with synced information using the hash tags described in the video. No luck as of yet the hash tags will go to the account home page but as of yet I haven't figured out how to forward the information to the widget??? (Any thoughts?) I guess thats the joy of technology, you invest time up front to reap the rewards at a later date.

Only by learning the language of our audience can the conversation truly begin, I certainly know what you are talking about Robin when you say you need to take a week to sort through all the tools we are discovering!

"In the midst of a fabulous array of historically unprecedented and utterly mind-boggling stimuli.......... whatever" well said quote from the video The Machine is (Changing) Us: YouTube and the Politics of Authenticity [] thanks for the link. All of the tools are great but they still must have application to benefit learners.

Kevin

When looking at the infancy of the social media tools much of the uses have proven to be superficial, often hateful and sometimes destructive. Many passive users see this technology as nothing more than a media to elevate disenfranchised members of society to demigod status if only in their own minds. However the possibilities to create real change in the social fabric starting with a small number of individuals is at our fingertips, the creative commons culture redefines the human experience from passive social consumer to active social contributor. These realities will force our hand in the educational establishment and challenge us to provide learners with the most enriching learning environments possible. When shifting teaching strategies to have learners “produce” when providing evidence of learning we are giving them the tools to contribute on a meaningful level to an emerging culture and their new reality.

Kevin

Hi Kevin and Robin,

It was very interesting for me to watch "The Twitter Experiment". Other than knowing what Twitter is, I am not familiar with this tool at all - I myself have never 'tweeted' or even thought about the possibilities of such a tool within the classroom.

This discussion is very rich and full of interesting contributions. I am also finding it very easy to follow along this discussion in the wiki format and it is usually quite convenient to add my thoughts (although the tech-side of the wiki has not always agreed with my computer for some reason or another!). One thing to keep in mind, is that the wiki is more of a public environment, where as D2L discussion creates a private discussion space - 'for members of the discussion only!' - I think this is important difference (and I am pretty sure we talked about it during our last discussion). I am also worried that I might accidentally delete our entire discussion - this could not happen in D2L!

Kevin and Robin, I like how you talk about developing strategies to allow learners to "produce" when providing evidence of learning. Not only are students able to contribute on a meaningful level, but they are also developing new sets of skills that will be essential in our changing environment (and will help them later in life, i.e. jobs and professions).

I don't think I will say anything new here, but when it comes to collaboration, there are endless possibilities to nurture such an environment online. From tools such as moodle, blackboard, d2l, Delicious.com, Facebook, Twitter, and video conferencing (ex. Skype), learners are exposed to learning environments that are rich in discussion (both synchronous and asynchronous). Consider the possibilities - the ability to connect with 'experts' from all around the world and engage in video conferences! Students can compare and contrast cultures by collaboratively creating iMovies and podcasts (by file-sharing) with students from another country! Creativity and productivity in the digital world holds infinite possibilities!!

I found YouTube video about using Facebook in the classroom - I would have never thought to use Facebook - in fact, it is blocked from our server at school! []

I am excited by the possibilities to develop a personalized learning environment - a place where all students can develop their skills through an approach that is sensitive to their individual needs and multiple intelligences. Not only do connected learning environments inspire communication, technology also allows for accessibility options for students with special learning needs (e.x. mobility issues, speech-to-text, text-to-speech, enlarging fonts, etc.).

And now, I will leave you with a few videos: [|Anytime, Anywhere Learning] [|Motivation and Learning] 'Talk soon',

Nicole

If you are in agreement I will do the synopsis of this discussion when we are ready to post. You gave me big shoes to try and fill Nicole : )

[|Another interesting video for your consideration]

Kevin

Hi Kevin & Nicole,

That would be great if you would do the synopsis, Nicole. Thanks!

Thanks, Kevin! Loved that video! I think that it really speaks to collaboration and the way in which connectivity nurtures collaboration. As noted in the video, "Great ideas often come from the collision of smaller hunches" and we need to "create a system that allows hunches to come together" - isn't that what we are doing when we create learning environments, such as this wiki?

Other great ideas from the video:

Historically, an increase in connectivity has driven creativity and innovation. Chance favours the connected mind.

Robin

Hi team, Yes, I will do the final summary and post it to d2L discussion board. I will have this done by tomorrow (Saturday)

Kevin - your twitter addition is so cool! I've never used twitter and am not sure how to tweet! I'm going to check it out tomorrow :)

Nicole

Hi Kevin & Nicole, Kevin - great job adding the twitter ... now how did you do that??

I came across a quote from the next section that addresses personalization:

//"Perhaps the biggest promise of technology is that it can mass-personalize, per an individual student's learning style. It strengthens education because it scaffolds the learner in multiple learning dimensions - visual, auditory or tactile, for example. ... Technology also motivates, because young learners are drawn to// //it; and it connects them to a world of people// //and information."// //(Charles Fadel (2008), Education Lead, CISCO)//

I can't help but wonder how personalization fits with 'mass'. Does simply addressing learning styles serve to personalize learning? I think it has to go beyond simply learning style by pulling in content and the interests and passions of individuals. When I think of the term 'mass-personalize', I equate it with 'de-personalize'. Perhaps our next conversation on TPACK will help to answer the question of how content fits in with personalization.

Robin

Sorry, Kevin & Nicole. I misread who was going to summarize - I read the "You gave me big shoes to try and fill Nicole :)" as being from Nicole - still not sure about that, as I did the last summary ... am I still confused? Robin

Sorry for the confusion Robin, I guess I got a little confused. How is everyone feeling about this topic have we concluded this set of discussions?

Kevin

No problem - but I'm still confused (I'll get over it!). I think we are ready to wrap it up. Thanks to whoever is doing the summary. :) Robin

= //Discussion 2 Synopsis// =

Sage on the stage to guide on the side......

Only by learning the language of our audience can the conversation truly begin. By providing learners with tools to interact with the subject matter in so many ways, learners can internalize material more effectively. Connected learning facilitates the concept of personalized learning when projects allow learners to engage in their preferred learning styles and exposes them to unfamiliar methods. The connected learning environment lends itself to a participatory, production-based culture, rather than the passive consumer-based culture that most of us were raised in. When learners interact with material on a meaningful level authentic learning takes place.

Media does not just distance us, it connects us in different ways -- but sometimes that distance allows us to connect more deeply than ever before and can transform individual pursuits into collective actions.