One Hook

The visit to UCF’s Emerging Media campus allowed us to see the intersection of many of the ideas we’ve been studying. We’ve studied game theory and design, and learning is the process that continually happens throughout the course of this program. Therefore, it seemed natural that we look at all three concepts in a unique way.

Design, learning, and games all seem to work synchronously anymore. So, as an educator, how does this look in the classroom? What impact does gaming and design have on my students’ learning? More than I can even imagine.

I often defer to Ian Jukes and Lee Crockett’s work in media literacy because of the powerful impression it left on me. The thermal brain scans, MRIs, and CAT scans of todays networked students are simply awe-inspiring. Their brains function in such drastically different manners than previous generations, that it is hard not to reconcile the fact that learning is different. But the process of learning in the form of traditional education has not! We are losing kids and their own vested interest in education before they even reach intermediate grade levels.

We need to shake it up. We need to challenge the traditional design of school and bring in gaming techniques in which students are familiar. If they are given the ability to learn through exploration and utilize just-in-time and on-demand counsel, they will be much more invested and engaged in their learning. If they are encouraged to learn from their community and work together for the greater good, they will be pioneers of collaboration that can solve problems. If they are required to assess situations, make quick decisions, and continue to work through the results, they will increase problem-solving skills and become more aware of their thinking.

Our trip inside FIEA simply confirmed the future of gaming in our lives. If it is so ubiquitous with life today, then it should be with learning as well. Small changes to the manner in which we approach learning with our students could make huge improvements. Gamifying one thing could be the hook for a student. And that one hook could make all the difference.

ShowMe - A Review

The increase of mobile devices in the classroom has equated to a flood of educational apps in the iOS App Store and Google Play.  Just a quick search for educational apps brings back thousands of results.  Many of the apps are fair at best, but then there are some that prove to be worthwhile.  ShowMe App is just that.

ShowMe is very simple, but can do so much.  The whiteboard interface allows users to record and capture text, voice, images, and more.  Users can import images from their photo gallery or web and annotate on top of the images.  The writing feature works with the touch surface to appear as natural as possible.  The best part is the ability to record voice because it forces one to verbalize their thinking, much like teachers practice with "think alouds" where they walk through the process aloud for students to hear and understand.

A worksheet is one thing, but what if students could create their own problem, solve the problem and talk through how they solved it, and then submit it to show their understanding?  Better yet, what if they used this to record themselves teaching the concept?  That is the highest level of Bloom's Taxonomy!

I could continue to write about this or actually show you...


Even better, watch real students use ShowMe...

A.E. explains mean, median, mode, and range:

 E.B. is attending the middle school for algebra, so this tool allows her to explain her math while everyone continues to work on the 6th grade math standards:

 M.R. explains one of her vocabulary words:


If you still want to see some more examples, please visit the following links for more student work:

6th graders doing more math:
http://www.showme.com/sh/?h=9vqrhNA
http://www.showme.com/sh/?h=fL8XbzE

6th grader discussing vocabulary:
http://www.showme.com/sh/?h=NFTMsJE

2nd grader doing place value:
http://www.showme.com/sh/?h=7vb5vO4

PearlTree SchmearlTree

The assignment: Write about 1/2 page on your theorist, should be bullet points rather than narrative, summarizing your theorist's big ideas.  Put these summaries online in a way that shows the connections between theories/theorists.  

I chose to type mine up in Google Docs because I could get all of the information in that I needed to and it seemed cohesive. I added the image of Bandura and an infographic that explains his social learning theory in three simple parts.  It was quite simple to do and provided a quick way in which to view my theorist's information. 

Then came the part that became disastrous....putting it together with everyone else's.  First impressions of Pearltrees made it seem possible to connect things fairly simply.  Wrong!  

I wasn't impressed by Popplet when using it the first time, but I actually wanted to go back to it after we started to have so many issues with Pearltrees.  Surprisingly, for as visual as I am, both Popplet and Pearltrees fail.  I think much of it has to do with the limitations of each...and the chaos that they create.  At one point, I just wanted everyone to write their information on Post-it notes and then put them on a posterboard.  My board would have looked similar to an FBI Profiler's, but the string connecting everyone's theories and theorists would have made so much more sense.

I wish the content would have been displayed better so I could read everyone's and not bounce around so much.  Overall, I was able to determine the connections and understand how many theories have evolved out of other work.

Creating a Pinterest CoP

Wenger, McDermott, and Snyder describe a community of practice as "groups of people who share concern, set of problems, or a passion about a topic, and who deepen their knowledge and expertise int his area by interacting on an ongoing basis" (p.4). 

What better way to share my passion for all things Pinterest than creating a community of practice?

In all my free time these days, that is...

Pinterest still remains a hot topic of conversation at school and among friends because of the slew of ideas that can come from it. I had previously tried to capitalize on it by doing holding a craft club with staff members, but it quickly fizzled out.  Maybe it's my desire to do something non-academic for a nice break, or maybe it's because I really wanted to start my own community of practice...

We have had several get-togethers now and I am pleasantly surprised with the group thus far.  Every member comes with varying levels of experience.  I generally present the project to the community and they decide if it's something that they want to do.  When we start, those who have more experience, or have even done the project before, help ensure that everyone understands the steps to complete it.

I am glad that my principal challenged me to try it again this year!

Initial Thoughts on Bandura

Much like we learn over time and build upon what we already believe or hold to be true, Albert Bandura has done the same.  When Bandura first started out in the field of psychology, he moved away from the behaviorist theories into the social learning theory.  His research at the University of Iowa expanded the dominant behaviorist theories by focusing on the ideas of modeling, observational learning, and self-regulation, which led to the social learning theory.  With further research and application, Bandura expanded his social learning theory to cognitive theory in order to support the social cognitive theory.

Bandura is one of the most cited psychologists to date.  His work has had a profound impact on the field of psychology and even mass communications, communications, and education.  We use his theory in education very often, without even fully knowing it.

I appreciate the fact that Bandura's work continues to develop, even now.  Psychologists always seem to develop a theory and it remains stagnant with absolutely no further research that might influence change (this could be because they die before that is possible).  In Bandura's case, he is still alive and still working at Stanford where his theory continues to expand and develop through continued application and research.

CoP - CrossFit Hydro Video

The final product of my community of practice case study on CrossFit Hydro:

Who wants to join this community of practice?

Gamifying my Intervention Group

As I sat and watched my 6th grade intervention group work on Friday, I realized that I could gamify their learning.  One of my 6th graders is an avid gamer, so I proposed my idea to him first.

What if we earn badges as we work through the lessons on various comprehension strategies?  We could then Level Up to the next strategy.  We could create a bulletin board where others see the badges that each student has earned.  There are no prizes necessarily, but there would be public recognition.

He bought it immediately!  Before I even had the chance to propose the idea to the other members of the group, he was sharing the idea and that we should do it.  Two of the boys even asked if they could design the badges.  SWEET!

Can't wait for these kids to badge in Main Idea, Finding Details, Cause and Effect, and more!