EDIM-502: u05a1 - Where are Web 2.0 Tools taking us?

Web 2.0 tools are popular entities to projects and classrooms that allow our students to learn, create, synthesize, and connect globally in ways that were not possible a few years ago.  These Web 2.0 tools are utilized in different fashions in all types of classrooms across the globe.  Many of these tools allow students to easily communicate, collaborate, and publish in order to create a deeper meaning and a higher level of learning.  Web 2.0 tools allow students to create and innovate, “authentic projects that are based on things that happen in the real world (Boss, 2007, Chapter 3, Section 3, para. 6),” and invest in their education to create life-long learners.  Without a doubt, our 21^st Century Learns are acquiring skills and knowledge at an exponential rate and can be overwhelmed with how to organize and deal with all of these matters in the brain.  These virtual tools allow students to digest knowledge on a different level; and many of these tools are developed with a small learning curve and intuitive technology skills in mind.  As life-long learners ourselves, we have already observed the evolution of teaching, learning, and the ever-changing demands of the work force in a few short years – and Web 2.0 tools are developed with this in mind.

With the national popularity of these tools in the classroom, the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) created new standards for Advancing Digital Age Learning and they are as follows:

1.      Creativity and Innovation – the ability of students to gain a deeper understanding by developing and investing.
Web 2.0 Tools Exemplar: Glogster is a website that allows students to create a technology driven poster board in order to compose and express a culminating idea or activity. 

2.      Communication and Collaboration – the ubiquitous need and interest for all learners.
Web 2.0 Tools Exemplar: Tangler allows teachers and students to effectively discuss and debate via a thread or board post.

3.      Research and Information Fluency – fashioned after the availability and access to all types of knowledge discovered with a few short clicks.
Web 2.0 Tools Exemplar: The Globe Program creates projects where students are the authentic investigators and observe, record, and publish data. 
Web 2.0 Tools Exemplar: Diigo allows groups to create and access bookmarks in a group from any computer.

4.      Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making – integration takes learning beyond the classroom walls and makes Big Ideas applicable to students’ everyday lives.
Web 2.0 Tools Exemplar: Mindomo is a location where groups can collaborate on a MindMap and brainstorm ways to organize information.

5.      Digital Citizenship – mastering learning tools with responsibility and respect to self and others.
Web 2.0 Tools Exemplar: A location where every member can take responsibility to contribute and edit their own virtual space or classroom is Wikispaces.

6.      Technology Operations and Concepts – investigate different tools to help us master and demonstrate content.  Most Web 2.0 Tools offer a webpage dedicated to FAQ or even a discussion board where members can answer each other’s questions and offer advice.

In the student portfolio section of the ISTE standards, for environmental science, I could see my students utilizing the identification of complex global issues; develop a systemic plan of investigation; and present innovative sustainable solutions in every unit.  These ideas are all encompassing, applicable to the majority of my big ideas, and easily student topic driven for learning investment.  I am thankful for Web 2.0 tools not only for allowing my students to digest and process incredible amounts of information, but for them to be able to feel that they are making a difference and invest in their one shot at an education.

Reference List:
Boss, S., & Krauss, J. (2007). Reinventing project based learning: Your field guide to real-world projects in the digital age. Washington, D.C.: International Society for Technology in Education. [Kindle DX version]. Retrieved from Amazon.com

Nets for students 2007. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-students/nets-student-standards-2007.aspx

Nets for students 2007 profiles. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-students/nets-for-students-2007-profiles.aspx

EDIM-502: u01a1 - What is Project Based Learning?

Project based learning is a non-traditional way of teaching content in meaningful, creative, and global-connecting way.  With technology being the forefront of our student’s interest, project based learning allows students to solve problems, develop solutions, and analyze the future in ways that are very different from the traditional classroom.  Generally when students drive their own learning their attention is increased.  While viewing three different videos on www.edutopia.com based on project based learning for different student ages, subjects, and areas a few common threads emerged.  First, for any age, it is important that students work in groups and actively engage with their peers.   The groups had to study, design, and execute a common problem.  They also had to determine how to settle differences within their group.  Many times the topics that the projects were based around were not select by the teacher, but were driven by student discussions.  The second common thread of project based learning at any grade or subject was the ability of teachers to deliver content from many different subjects with one project.  Who doesn’t like to complete more with less? Enabling teachers and students to cover multiple subjects is an empowerment to the public education system, and develops life-long learners.  And lastly, I noticed that while viewing all the videos, not one student had a textbook out or were writing notes.  All students were actively engage, passionate, and opinionated.

The student and teachers roles in project based learning differ greatly from the traditional classroom; however, there are still core educational laws and practices that remain effective.  I discovered that the teacher still played the main initial role of planning, rubrics, assignments, and timeline of these projects, and had to correlate the projects to state standards.  But, in one case, Geometry Students Angle In Architecture Through Project Learning, the teacher was not the assessor of mastery of a standard, experts in the field were those who assessed and assigned a grade based on students’ culminating presentations (Armstrong, 2002).  Teachers seemed to be more of a coach during the process too rather than the lead.  Students were really in the driver’s seat with the projects.  Many times curiosity and discussions drove initial ideas and development of the projects.  It seemed as if students set their own goals in the project by questioning the world around them.  This also allows the content to be taught in a manner that is relative and interesting for the student.  Students also seemed to play a more reflective role at the end by either responding to prompts or writing a journal entry about the success and difficulties of working in a group.  One item that really caught my interest was the use of volunteers as mentors, coaches, and experts during the project.  These volunteers were able to donate their time in ways they probably never thought their careers would generate.  Also, the fact that they work in the field every day allows them to excite students in to career choices that may have not been discovered.

This non-traditional style of learning is effective in increasing student engagement, knowledge acquisition, and transfer in ways that the best traditional lesson cannot compete with.  In project based learning student engagement is at an all-time high due to the fact that the topics and goals are student derived.  This places more of an emphasis and pride on the importance of meeting the deadlines for the project.  Students also find themselves engaged the majority of the time because they are discussing the future.  In the video, From Worms to Wall Street, elementary students were discussing the causes and possible cures of Cystic Fibrosis (Curtis, 2001).  They also wanted to determine a different future for one of their classmates.  In another video, based on a high school geometry class, high school student developed plans for a school in the year 2050 (Armstrong, 2002).  These projects based were on the discussion and prediction of the future created an excitement in students that lacks in a traditional classroom.

In project based learning, the educational environment tends to be rich and diverse.  Students are able to acquire knowledge in a different way and apply the objectives in a lesson to real-world settings.  Teachers are able to make curriculum viable by placing an emphasis on the challenge aspect of the presentations in, Applying Math Skills to Real-World Problems.  In this same article, the real-world was really tapped into when students had to think of ways to develop an energy-efficient building.  The exemplar that really hit on the idea of gaining knowledge from a source that is not your teacher or textbook was the Journey North: Children Practice Real Science byMonitoring Monarchs reference.  Not only did students create traditional pen pals with students in Mexico, but they tracked and plotted the migration of the butterflies using the internet and observing the phenomenon outside of their classroom.  They were also able to generate a connection that these natural happenings were studied by other students in far countries.  The internet gave these students the ability to extend their learning by creating global contact and communication.  Project based learning tends to trick students into taking responsibility of their own learning by making subjects highly applicable and the best lessons utilized technology to gain information, process, and produce relative materials at the end.  A teacher is also quoted as saying, “Using technology to represent learning has increased the quality of their work (Curtis, 2001)“.  Technology empowers students to be life-long learners.  It is our responsibility to teach them tools of developing a creative and intriguing mind and not just the state set standards.

Reference List:

Armstrong, S. (2002, February  11). Geometry students angle in architecture through project learning. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/geometry-real-world-students-architects

Boss, S., & Krauss, J. (2007). Reinventing project based learning: Your field guide to real-world projects in the digital age. Washington, D.C.: International Society for Technology in Education.

Curtis, D. (2002, June 6). March of the monarchs: Students follow the butterflies' migration. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/march-monarchs

Curtis, D. (2001, October 01). More fun than a barrel of.. worms?!. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/more-fun-barrel-worms