Scribble Maps Presentation

Organizational Change and Learning

Think about trainings that you have attended or facilitated. What are the hardest attendee attitudes (i.e.‐ indifferent, passive‐aggressive, belligerent, attention grabber) for trainers to overcome? Why? How can a trainer effectively and professionally combat these attitudes?

Many authors have studied adults as learners and suggested ways to address their learning styles and communication styles. In the book Kolb’s book Experiential Learning (1984) he identified four types of learners who prefer:  Concrete Experiences, Reflective Observation, Abstract Conceptualization, and Active Experimentation.

Concrete Experience learners need to have practical ideas and illustrative stories to help them get the main idea of the training. These learners don’t listen well until they have that sense of understanding about how they might use this new tool with their students. They like to see examples of how it can be appropriately used and a chance to share with other teacher’s practical ideas and applications.

Reflective Observation learners prefer to think about what is being presented by listening and watching. They need lots of information to reflect upon before they can process anything. Discussing key points in small groups is an effective activity for them.

Abstract Conceptualization learners like to think, analyze and organize information. They like lectures, facts, and dates. They like traditional learning, often creating flow charts or outlines to help define what they think is important. They are not good at exploring on their own and may tend to get lost during training if they don’t have specific directions.

Active Experimentation learners are the ones who like hands on time to start playing. These types of learners do not like to sit and listen to lectures.

Considering the individual learning styles of the participants in your training can help you to understand the many attitudes unveiled and realize how important learner’s individual differences really are.  Kolb (1984) believes that we tend to teach in our preferred learning style. Therefore, as you plan a training you should build in different types of activities aimed at these different learning styles in order to be effective.

One way to combat the different attitudes would be to administer a survey that will quickly and easily identify how the participants prefer to learn. One example it is the Tech Training Preferences Probe based on the learning styles identified by Kolb.

Reference:

Kolb, D.A., (1984). Experiential  learning. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall

Looking ahead: what tools (websites, software, hardware) will you continue to use to help your current employer develop better organizational learning?

Ron Brandt describes organizational learning in his statement that “A school culture that invites deep and sustained professional learning will have a powerful impact on student achievement.” (2003)

One way to continue better organizational learning is by achieving shared goals. Our school as a whole has a technology plan that is implemented by the faculty. However, by breaking the goals down more individually will enable the school to accomplish more specific technology goals. The principal at my school took small steps by requiring each teacher to highlight their use of technology in their plan book each day. Her goal in asking each teacher to do this would make them more aware of how often technology was being used and also make them more accountable for their technology daily. Taking this one step further, each teacher could be asked to implement one web 2.0 tool that they are trained on each semester. Completing a training on a web 2.0 tool such as Glogster does not guarantee the teacher will implement the tool in their classroom. However, adding it into a shared goal would require the teachers to be accountable for using their professional development training.

Another way to continue organizational learning is by having teachers who can accurately identify their schools’ technological stages of development. Brandt describes that members of a learning organization are aware that their institution does not arrive at its final destination instantly but must develop one step at a time.(2003) They have a clear sense of what they're trying to do, what progress they have made, and what still needs to be done. Similarly, if teachers documented by semester what technological advances or trainings they have accomplished, progress would be indicated and administration could see improvements made.

Lastly, by implementing a school wide knowledge base and processes for creating new ideas will continue organizational learning. Teachers are to model lifelong learning that generates new ideas and collaboration among students, and promotes the school as being top notch. Additionally, teachers need to provide professional collaboration based on mutual respect and trust. An example of this can be teachers adopting a collaborative role rather than an advocacy role, be open to learning from one another, and be willing to embrace risk (2003).

Reference:

Brandt, R. (2003). Powerful learning. Journal of Staff Development, 24, (1)

Riding Freedom
After a long semester of learning how to conduct a teacher training session on Glogster, I finally have a finished product to show off. Mrs. Kim Mentzell is the grade 3-5 Reading Specialist at St. Mary CAtholic School. She also teaches Math and grades K-4 art. She created this teaching glog on the book Riding Freedom by Pam Munoz Ryan that she uses with her fourth graders. By creating the glog, she can show it on her SMART board and will now have access to two quizzes, chapter questions, a book trailer, and interview with the author literally at her fingertips! She is anxious to create glogs for each of her books that she teaches from. She said it was easy way to keep organized plus it added interactivity to the lessons.
To see the full size glog click on the following link: http://mbkenney.edu.glogster.com/riding-freedom/

Assessment for Learning:
A Comparison of Assessment in the Classroom to Assessment in Sports  

Assessments

              Throughout 20th century, classroom assessment was considered a mechanism for learning. It also followed a predictable pattern that teachers taught, tested the students’ knowledge of the material, made judgements about students’ achievement based on the testing, and then moved on to the next unit of work. More recently, however, this approach to assessment has come into question as the expectations for schooling have changed, cognitive research has provided new insights into the nature of learning, and the traditional role of assessment in motivating student learning has been challenged.

                In the article "Rethinking Classroom Assessment with Purpose in Mind" (2006) it begins by describing how in the past, schooling beyond basic skills and knowledge was viewed as optional and not required. But now, high school graduation is considered a necessity for all, and the educational community is being asked to guarantee that graduates be proficient in complex critical thinking, problem-solving, and effective communication to meet demanding societal, economic, and technological challenges (2006).

               The second interesting point made I found in the article is that learning was thought to be an accumulation of bits of knowledge that are put in order, hierarchical, and need to be explicitly taught and reinforced. Learning is now viewed as a process of constructing understanding, during which individuals attempt to connect new information to what they already know, so that ideas have some personal coherence. Individuals construct this understanding in different ways, depending on their interests, experience, and learning styles.
              
                Lastly, the article points out is that educators have traditionally relied on assessment that compares students with more successful students as a way to motivate students to learn. However, recent research suggests students will likely be motivated and confident learners when they experience progress and achievement, rather than the failure and defeat associated with being compared to more successful peers (2006).

How have assessments changed from when you were in school to what we use today?

               Formal and informal assessment of learning has always been part of education.  At the turn of the 20th century, children were expected to attend school to learn basic skills. Assessment was the tool for making decisions about future programs, and for providing information to parents about their children’s learning.

                Around the middle of the 20th century it became clear that schooling was an important key to social mobility and that achievement in school was the basis for entry into the workplace. Tests and exams took on major importance in determining which students would have access to higher education. Many jurisdictions instituted standardized testing programs alongside classroom assessment to ensure fair, accurate, and consistent opportunities for students.

               Since the 1960s and 1970s, the purposes for classroom assessment have grown.  The terms formative assessment and summative assessment entered into the world of education—formative assessment being assessment that takes place during teaching to make adjustments to the teaching process, and summative assessment being assessment at the end of a unit or term to convey student progress. In order to fulfill these two purposes, educators extended their assessment practices and began assessing a wider range of student work, such as practical tasks, coursework, projects, and presentations. However, assessment was still a matter of making statements about students’ weaknesses and strengths.

How has technology helped to produce change?

                
               By using technology to sort and organize data, teachers are better able to analyze individual and entire classroom data and then use that data to immediately help students.

Which types of assessments are aided by technology?

              
               Computer Aided Assessment can be used to provide a range of assessment types including summative (in which the mark contributes to a course result), formative (which provides a learning experience which is not graded), diagnostic (by which a teacher can assess the current understanding of students), and self-assessment (to provide the student with a measure of their own understanding).
               A wide variety of tools are available to enable tests and quizzes to be delivered online. Some are provided as services supported by the schools, while many more can be found on the Internet. The tool that will be most useful to the educator varies depending on the context in which it is used and the outcomes required. For example, a survey tool is used for data collection which only collects the responses to questions and provides no feedback to those answering the questions. This is fine for diagnostic tests where a teacher wishes to assess the level of understanding their students may have before and/or after a teaching session or course.

 Which types of assessment still need to be performed using traditional methods?

                According to the article, “What Are Some Types of Assessment?” found in Edutopia (2008), alternative assessment, often called authentic, comprehensive, or performance assessment, is designed by the teacher to gauge students' understanding of material. Examples of these measurements are open-ended questions, written compositions, oral presentations, projects, experiments, and portfolios of student work. Alternative assessments are designed so that the content of the assessment matches the content of the instruction.

               Effective assessments give students feedback on how well they understand the information and on what they need to improve, while helping teacher’s better design instruction.

Authentic assessment can include many of the following (2008):

• Observation
• Essays
• Interviews
• Performance tasks
• Exhibitions and demonstrations
• Portfolios
• Journals
• Teacher-created tests
• Rubrics
• Self- and peer-evaluation

 Cardon, A. (2010, May 31). Schools have come a long way with assessments, data analysis. mlive.com. Retrieved April 22, 2012, from http://www.mlive.com/news/muskegon/index.ssf/2010/05/schools_have_come_a_long_way_w.html

Edutopia (2008). What are some types of assessment? Edutopia. Retrieved April 22, 2012 from http://www.edutopia.org/assessment-guide-description

Manitoba Education, Citizenship and Youth (2006). Rethinking classroom assessment with purpose in mind. Manitoba. Retrieved April 22, 2012 from http://www.edu.gov.mb.ca/k12/assess/wncp/

The Traveler IQ challenge ranks geographic knowledge of cities such as: Barcelona, Indianapolis or Tumon by comparing results against 8,335,422 other travelers. Brought to you by TravelPod, a TripAdvisor Media Network member

The Traveler IQ Challenge

This is a cool game that students could possible play in a Social Studies or a Geography class. Players choose the challenge such as World Capitals, Flags of the World, or North America. Next, the student is to click as close to the location on the map as possible. The faster the better!

Pixorial

Last week I learned about a site called Pixorial which creates videos. The great thing is that you can use videos from your iPhone and edit them in Pixorial. You can ad titles, transitions, credits, etc. We all had a chance to play around with it during class and create a short video that we could possibly use in the classroom as an introduction to a lesson. I chose to do a video from a clip of my daughter Giselle's huge catfish she caught in St. Michael's on the Maryland Eastern Shore. I am no science teacher, but I created a video that could be used to introduce "dissolved oxygen".

Video: The Big Catch: "Dissolved Oxygen"