A Smart Phone to Anticipate not Just Regurgitate

I do own a smartphone and a tablet, although, admittedly it was by happenstance and not by my own volition.  Three years ago, I started my employment in a school district that was Apple driven. I received a MacBook and iPad for my professional use.  At the time, I owned a very old flip phone that had very obvious antennae. I loved that phone, it could get a signal anywhere….while my smartphone friends were thrusting their phones in the air at meetings or walking around like lemmings to try and get one bar.  But my colleagues were also scheduling meetings, taking videos of events and posting them, sharing lesson plans, syncing their phones with the iPad and holding online meetings as well. And so two years ago, I said goodbye to my faithful always “connected” flip phone and jumped into the iPhone craze. Initially, I only used it to schedule meetings and take pictures…and of course an occasional game of Temple Run, but then as I downloaded and searched for more apps…it became a must have friend that I would panic if I could not find in my house or at work.

The tablet and smartphone immersion into our lives has definitely affected the way we conduct business, learning and even our personal activities. I think a good application for learning is to track not only how much you use your iPhone or smartphone and iPad but in what ways and to make it as interactive as possible not just with 2 dimensional reports that you export but with pop ups and reminders that of course you could shut off when you needed to. There are many time trackers and some you can customize by inserting projects manually but if we could access information that we want to know and “personalize” this tracking, I think people would be able to recognize its uses and its pitfalls.  The danger of course is once it is recorded the information can be compromised and involuntarily shared.  An example of a personalized customized approach might be, if I look up 20 separate times the latest research on dropouts in HS, then the app might conduct its own research and offer sources that would be helpful.  If I email a person 25+ times in the span of a month but don't add them to my contacts, there might be a popup do you want to add to your contacts?

Some might feel this is too intrusive but the fact is Google tracks the information and trends in the data that you share via email, downloads, purchases, etc.  Why not have a personal assistant that also recognizes information that you might want to organize, have a reminder of, and conduct research to assist you.  Knowing how many minutes I used an app is not particularly useful (unless I want to remove an underused one for space) but knowing how I used that app is very helpful and not only provides a report but offer ways to act on it. My smart phone assistant that not only regurgitates but anticipates my needs.  Kind of like Suri Ph.D.

You'e Connected...Now What?

There has always been the caution of vetting good sources and information from those that would be less desirable, suspicious, etc.  Now the challenge in the age of internet is streamlining the vast amount of information..good informion…and be able to discern, distinguish and find utility for it in one’s  personal and professional life. Web 2.0 tools have greatly influenced the way we receive, share and “create” information.  They have allowed for greater collaboration and worldwide input. Now more than ever before in our history, history is being written more inclusively.  As with any resource, web 2.0 tools, can be of help or hindrance to the user. The challenge to incorporating these types of tools into a design is defining the way in which it ought to be used based on the outcome that you want.  For example, a popular social media tool like FaceBook has been criticized for having little value, however, some organizations use it to reach masses of people for marketing and outreach.  Twitter has become for many isolated nations and peoples a way to teach others about the inequities that exist around the world.  Recently, there was research that stated that FaceBook is losing its younger audience...connecting people is easier but then there is the question of now what? New technology demands that we rethink the way we digest, transfer and create knowledge, the challenge will always be “keeping up” but more importantly maybe the greater challenge is answering the question “for what purpose”?

Reality Check

A great use of an eGame assessment is a tool on MassCIS called Reality Check.  It provides an overview of what real life costs and if your career decisions/jobs you choose can support your lifestyle by bringing you through a series of prompts and then comparing those choices to what your salary would be in the local/state labor market.  It’s possibly the best way I’ve seen to engage high school students about what they want to do because it invites exploration and the game lets you move in and out of different possibilities. It’s also based on real numbers….so not what you as a parent, school teacher, next door neighbor makes/wants but what the average salaries are based on data from Bureau of Labor Stats.  It’s visually appealing, not too wordy.  Each prompt is a bite size real life scenario. Start to finish it takes about 10 minutes to get a “reality check”.  It combines the best parts of an eGame; nice graphics, easy to use prompts and navigation, relevant information and “relateability”.  Answering the question “What do I want to be when I grow up?” just got easier…whether you’re 16 or 36 :) 

You Had Me at Hello: Great eLearning Design Starts with a Welcoming Approach

This week we are asked to explore our considerations for implementing eLearning. Prior to my studies in this grad program, I surmised that the challenges for eLeanring were similar to what a FtF course experiences; engaging the learner in a meaningful way, providing access through different materials, ensuring that the content is broken into parts to promote understanding and transfer of knowledge.  But after several courses and reflecting on a program that I oversee, there are two important elements that I think are critical in the design 1) environment and 2) feedback.

Think about a time when you walked into a classroom saw your teacher and immediately thought, I’m doomed or wow that person looks nice. We immediately form judgments about what our experience will be. That can change overtime but initially we have decided good or bad.  In the eLearning environment, I think the experience is the same that learners have an initial reaction to what their experience will be and decide to what degree they will invest their time but it is more difficult to exact change if the person decides they will have a bad experience.   In a FtF or hybrid course there are more opportunities to change a learners mindset because the environment demands it (social cues, proximity of instructor/learner). It is critical in an ecourse design that first impressions are the best impressions. If I cannot access material, I will be turned off, embarrassed, frustrated. If I do not feel connected with my instructor/ peers, I could disengage. It is much easier in an online format to check out.

Now think about a time when you were to meet face to face with your instructor about a grade/ project. The knot in your stomach, the nervousness, how would you greet them? I can remember meeting with a professor about a paper and he appeared more nervous then I was and I was immediately relieved. Good or bad, I still remember feedback from my favorite instructors and what they looked like as they told me. Feedback online is not as personal and you do not experience the body language feedback from an instructor….but should not be overlooked as an end part of the process but an integral activity included and embedded in the design.

Establishing a relationship and nurturing that relationship through consideration of the environment and feedback is challenging but these components are critical to eLearning design.   

Work Now or No Pay Later

You may have heard this statistic that youth employment is at its lowest level levels since WWII. If that doesn’t shock you, consider this according to Andrew Sum, Professor of Economics and Director of the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern Universtiy, “Since the end of 2009, we’ve created 5.4 million jobs for American workers [but] teenagers got minus 14 thousand of them.  They did not get a single net new job. In fact, there are fewer teens working today than when the recovery began”.  The urgency of providing real world work experiences and internships to youth is more critical than ever.

A great tool to assist schools, employers and students is the Massachusetts Work Based Learning Plan.  “The Massachusetts Work-Based Learning Plan (WBLP) is a diagnostic, goal-setting and assessment tool designed to drive learning and productivity on the job.” (www.skillslibrary.com‎) The online version is easy to use and has banks of job descriptions, skill sets that can be used to create the work based learning plan. You can assign permissions so that the users have restricted access or allow them to edit the plan and enter in evaluations.  More schools are recognizing the need for experiential learning and this is an excellent tool to measure progress and skills attainment. It also provides a “road map” to students before during and after the work and learning experience.

Connect Activity: KWL

One of the most memorable Connect activities that I had was in a previous class that included a KWL journal component (KNOW, WANT, LEARN).  I have written reflection pieces before but never an entire semester’s worth of a pre and post KWL. Initially I remember thinking about all the writing I do for work and that this journal in addition to the individual and group assignments, discussion threads etc, was a bit overwhelming. It wasn’t until mid-semester that I started to see the value in what I was writing.  It helped that there were loose parameters around the KWL, other than to reflect on the week’s reading, and of course use what we know, what we want to know and what we learned as our roadmap to reflect…..the coursework started to take form for me and I liked the bridge between what I knew going into the course, and what each week unveiled to me, through my group work and individual research.  For written assignments, I found myself referring back to my journal entries to confirm a thought, clear up a question, revisit recurring themes, etc.  It became “easier” for me to reflect and my entries became longer and longer.  I think this is an excellent way to guide a learner and help them evaluate, assess and CONNECT new knowledge to existing knowledge.  

The Case for Case Studies

In the classroom it is not unusual to hear, "Yeah but what does that have to do with real life or what does that have to do with me??" The term case study as a means of instructional engagement may sound very clinical but can be an excellent activity for students to make connections to the material and also if assigned as a group activity can provide an opportunity to develop the capacity to work as a team and increase interpersonal skills.   

Case studies can and have been used in many disciplines. They can be very complex or simple and developed from real life scenarios or those that are closely relatable to the material.  The greatest benefit is that the learner not only gains knowledge in the content area but in the process itself.  Students are able to develop problem solving and decision making skills.  One plus and one pitfall of group case studies is the group discussion that is generated.  If students do not have a clear understanding of the objectives then there may be discussion that is not relative or some students may not fully engage because they are unsure of their contribution.
 

As with any type of instruction, the case study must have a set of clear objectives as a road map for the activity.  What it should not have is a large amount of information that students are expected to process….one complex issue or a few simple problems allow students to think critically without being overwhelmed.  Case students are a great way to engage students and also an opportunity for students to use the material in way that answers the question, "What does this have to do with me?"