Journal 3 Assignment
PIDP 3240,
Media Enhanced Learning
Chapters 9
- 11 - Teaching Naked
Reflections by Michele Sinclair
Jose Bowen’s book “Teaching Naked” is a practical handbook written in three distinct parts, offering the reader an overview with specific examples of our current environment as educators, describing what can be changed (and why) to adapt to our digital world, and then motivating action: Go, create the change you want to see in your classroom, in your course outlines, in your delivery.
The paradox however is contrary to what one would assume - use more technology to be a successful teacher. Rather, Bowen emphatically says: use less technology in the classroom, and connect with students during this valuable teaching time. Lecture less and problem-solve, engage, listen, and wrestle with the content together.
Objective
“Change, especially in universities, can be uncomfortable, but
bringing everyone into the process, listening hard, being transparent, and
making everyone responsible for innovation can create a culture of
transformation.” (Bowen, 2012)
1.
Abraham Lincoln’s tyranny of
common sense:
o
“The dogmas of the quiet past
are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with
difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must
think anew and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves and then we shall save
our country.”
2.
Bologne Convention (Europe)
o
a process in Europe that began
in 1999, to set up the European Higher Education Area. Over a 10 year period,
the 46 countries taking part created “tools to facilitate recognition of
degrees and academic qualifications, mobility, and exchanges between
institutions.” (http://www.eua.be/eua-work-and-policy-area/building-the-european-higher-education-area/bologna-basics.aspx)
3.
National Survey of Student
Engagement (North America):
o
A measuring stick (The College
Student Report) used to determine the quality of a school of higher learning,
using student engagement indictors: the amount of time a student puts into
educational studies; the way in which an institution uses resources etc. to get
students to participate in activities that are linked to learning
4.
“Faculty, like students, are
motivated by autonomy, mastery, and purpose because intrinsic rewards are the
ones that really change behavior.” (Bowen, 2012)
Reflective
Bowen presents many
examples of what happens when trends are either ignored, or not understood. The
evolution of the music industry from live productions to recordings, and how
packaging has changed over the course of time; the evolution of books being
sold from large stores to e-books that can be downloaded; the addition of
on-line learning as a viable option for students seeking higher learning.
Change is happening,
and while it seems that education has not been impacted as dramatically as the
music industry, I believe change is happening in areas that traditionally held
the status quo. To prepare for change takes planning, as well as some
risk-taking.
In Europe, the Bologne Process is shaping
change in educational institutions preparing students for the workforce based
on a number of factors. For example, the 2010 Trend Report on Education states
that:
“Prompted primarily by the Bologna
Process, a range of measures affecting teaching and learning are being
implemented in order to enhance the student
experience.”
These changes impact the Bachelor, Master and
Doctoral levels of post- secondary education. This means, at the Bachelor
level, the focus is on student centred learning and flexible learning paths,
with greater student support services; the Masters level is a new and separate
qualification level for many places, and at the Doctoral level, more attention
is being paid to the supervision and training of PhD students. In North America, many schools are using reports like the National Survey of Student Engagement to inform what must change to better the quality of the educational experience for students. In Canada, it is the results of this survey that McLeans University uses to rank institutions. Does this matter?
Perhaps not so much in Canada, but when attracting international students, which is becoming more the norm than the exception, it is an important consideration: “Where does your school rank?” is one of the top questions a potential recruit will ask.
Interpretive
In processing the information that Bowen leaves with the reader, it is clear that ignoring the current “stormy state” and holding on to our old ways of teaching will not work for us as individuals or as institutions. The focus of teaching from a podium is a thing of the past, as the focus is about the student experience in learning. This is a huge shift that has evolved in the last couple decades.The most recent NSSE reports (2014) indicate some key pieces of information that I find interesting to begin the discussion of change – not for the sake of change – but for the sake of creating a better, stronger, and more supportive environment for students.
Some of the key, quick takes from the NSSE 2014 results include:
1. The number of meetings with an academic advisor – NSSE results show that the more a student saw an advisor, the higher the score the institution received as having a supportive environment;
2. Likewise, one in three (33%) first year students rarely saw an advisor, and of this number, the proportion was higher for students who commuted, were mature students, part time students – begging the question – how do we support these students, and do we create mandatory meetings with an advisor at intake, and progression
3.
Regarding social media, the NSSE
survey suggests that about two in five first year students, and a third of the
senior students who were surveyed said that social media substantially
distracted them from coursework;
4.
This validates what happens
when a student has a positive experience … NSSE finds that “First year students
who earned higher grades than they had expected were more engaged in learning
strategies; reported greater faculty use of effective teaching practices, and
studied more compared to students who performed below their expectations”And finally, two findings that supports the learning outcome of this course:
1. “The more time faculty spent trying to improve their teaching, the less time they spent lecturing in their courses, and the more time they spent engaging students in discussion, small group activities, student presentations or performances and experiential activities”
2. “Faculty who spent more time working to improve their teaching interacted more with students and attached greater value to a supportive campus environment. They also had significantly higher learning expectations for their students and more often used effective teaching practices.”
Decisional
It seems to me that the rapid changes in
technology correlates directly to the need for innovative thinking – there is
no room for status quo to be successful today. With technology, the pace of
change is faster than ever before. The
old way of teaching is no longer effective. Educators must invest in their professional
development, in skills that center on student engagement and focus on employing
technology that allows for more time to connect with students to prepare them
for the immediate skills they require – and the best way to teach how to be
adaptable, is to be adaptable oneself.
I shudder to think that a few weeks ago I
wasn’t sure that this course was something that I need to invest time in.
Technology is frightening, and it is here to stay. But it is only a tool to be
used to further the goal of teaching. I’ve decided that learning as much as I
can about this powerful game changing tool is a very good investment.Bibliography
Bowen, J. A. (2012). Teaching
Naked: How Moving Technolgy Out of Your College Classroom Will Improve Student
Learning. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass
NSSE. (2014). NSSE Annual Results 2014 -
Bringing the Institution Into Focus. Retrieved February 8, 2015, from NSSE
Findings: http://nsse.iub.edu/html/annual_results.cfm
Robinson, S. K. (2010, May). Bring on
the learning revolution. Retrieved Februay 2015, from Ted Talks:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9LelXa3U_I
Sursock, A., & Smidt, H. (2010). Trends
2010: A decade of change in European Higher Education. Belgum: EUA
Publications.Journal 2 Assignment
PIDP 3240,
Media Enhanced Learning
Chapters 4
- 8 - Teaching Naked
Reflections by Michele Sinclair
Objective
·
“More people now have access to
more information than ever before in human history.” (Bowen, 2012)
·
This means that a critical
skill required of our workforce is the ability to triage information. (Bowen,
2012)
In numbers, what
does this look like?
According to the
Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) in their 2014 Fact Book, the
numbers collected from various sources show that “Canada ranks 2nd
in internet penetration just behind the U.K.”
Statistically, the
Fact Book reports that: (my thoughts in parenthesis)
·
87% of Canadian households are
connected to the internet – we are one of the most wired countries in the world
·
The average number of hours
spent on the internet, per visitor, is 41.3 hours (that’s one full work week
just surfing the net!)
·
The average monthly pages
visited per visitor …. 3,731 (that’s a lot of information)
·
6 in 10 Canadians access the
internet using their mobile device (what does this mean for the future of
mobile learning?)
In a similar US
report, the September 2014 Pew Research Centre provides the following
statistics related to the use of social media:
·
Facebook (FB) is the most
popular social media site.
·
71% of all internet users are
on FB, and 56% of internet users who are over the age of 65 are now on FB.
·
on line adults who use more
than one social media site increased 10%, from 42% in 2013 to 52% in 2014.
·
Other social media sites
include Instagram, Linked In, Pinterest, and Twitter. Of the internet using
young adults (18 to 29 years old) 53% now use Instagram, and of that number,
49% use it daily.
Reflective
“More people have access to the internet
…. “
When I read this
statement in Bowen’s “Teaching Naked” I was struck by how relevant and
important this is to us in the Western World. I recognize that the statistics
for developing countries may be starkly different, but I suspect that in time,
things will catch up.
I think we are
living through a time that will in the future be likened to other great
inventions, like the Printing Press, Automobile, Space Travel - each great
discovery revolutionized the world.
And I wonder what
these changes mean for how we approach education in the future. To help me understand our future, I chose to
look back and figure out how we got to where we are. It seems like it all
happened so quickly.
I found an article
written by Andrew Molar in 1997 for The Journal: “Computers in Education: A
Brief History”. In setting up the context of this brief history, Molnar writes
about the “confluence of changes”:
“… Innovators in this field have created some of the most
provocative and stimulating ideas in the history of education. … The two major functions of education are to transmit the culture
values and lessons of the past to the current generation; and to prepare our
children for the world in which they will live. ``
Molnar also provides
a perspective of what this means for the Scientific Information explosion.
Computers are used to access databases that store “numbers, words, maps,
chemical and physical structures; and they search them millions of times a
year.” This base of scientific knowledge is huge, and it is growing each day.
He says:
“It is estimated that it would take 22 centuries to read the annual
biomedical research literature or seven centuries to read a year’s chemical
literature.”
And while this
article is 17 years old, Molnar provides an interesting perspective on how we
have arrived here, where, without a doubt; it is the internet that will shape
how we continue to advance in educating and preparing our next generation.
After all, how do
you prepare children for a world that is in a constant state of rapid change?
“Rapid changes in many fields are
making basic knowledge and skills obsolete,” says Molar. But the question he
hinges his thoughts on is one that was posed by Herbert Simon, Nobel Laureate,
who believes the meaning of the verb “to know” has changed. “It used to mean
‘having information stored in one’s memory.’ It now means the process of having
access to information and to know how to use it.”
Interpretive
Fast forward a few
years, and we can see that a shift is already happening. The new verb for “to
know” is, I believe, “to google”.
We have also seen
new ideas emerge in how we approach education, like “21st Century
Learning” or “the Flipped Classroom”, and more recently ``content curation.``
The Journal’s Dian
Schaffhausen reports a summary of findings that relate to “what it takes to make a 21st century classroom run smoothly”
in a January 2015 article: “5 productivity skills every educator must have.”
As a result of
having so much information available at the click of a mouse, teachers today
need to be comfortable with technology.
Here is a summary
of the skills:
1.
Acing productivity applications – these applications
help teachers to be more effective, especially in communications.
2.
Mastering Search, Research and Internet Literacy – learn to be “effective, fast and targeted” to save time and frustration.
Teaching must include showing students how to evaluate sources.
3.
Connect through social media – “Social
media ‘permeates our students’ lives … Social media is running the world right
now.”
4.
Finding and sharing files – “teachers
need to know how to share resources with each other”.
5.
Managing learning and students – use a
platform that allows students to access information 24/7.
Decisional
I believe that as
an educator today, it is important that I continue to learn and stay current
with technology that allows me to be effective and efficient. The lecture is
losing ground as an effective way to share or impart knowledge; my ability to
adapt is imperative as students expect to use tools that enhance their learning;
I think I need to find ways to connect with students where they are at – employ
social media to continue the discussion from the classroom; for example, use
twitter to share news that connects to learning and encourage critical
thinking; use Instagram to post a picture and generate comments.
My role as an educator
will continue to change, as the traditional classroom changes from desks and
chairs to on-line and mobile, and as technology opens doors to more information
that one could conceivably process in a life time. Learning how to organize
information into manageable and meaningful pieces will be paramount.
Bibliography
Bowen, J. A. (2012). Teaching
Naked: How Moving Technolgy Out of Your College Classroom Will Improve Student Learning.
San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Duggan, M., Ellison, N., Lampe, C.,
Lenhart, A., & Madden, M. (2015, January 9). Social Media Update 2014.
Retrieved January 30, 2015, from Pwerinternet.org: http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/01/09/social-media-update-2014/
Factbook 2014. (2014). Retrieved January 30, 2015, from circa.ca:
http://www.cira.ca/factbook/2014/index.html
Fosnacht, K. (October, 2014). Information
literacy and NSSE: Introducing the experiences with Information Literacy Module.
Retrieved Janaury 30, 2015, from College & Research Libraries News:
http://crln.acrl.org/content/75/9/490.short
Fox, S., & Rainie, L. (2014, February
27). The Web at 25 in the U.S. Retrieved January 30, 2015, from Pewinternet.org:
http://www.pewinternet.org/2014/02/27/the-web-at-25-in-the-u-s/
Molnar, A. (1997, June 1). Computers in
Education: A Brief History. Retrieved January 30, 2015, from
thejournal.com: http://thejournal.com/articles/1997/06/01/computers-in-education-a-brief-history.aspx
Schaffhauser, D. (2015, January 19). 5
Productivity Skills Every Educator Must Have. Retrieved January 30, 2015,
from thejournal.com:
http://thejournal.com/Articles/2015/01/19/5-Productivity-Skills-Every-Educator-Must-Have.aspx?Page=1&p=1
White, N. (2012, July 7). Understanding
Content Curation. Retrieved January 30, 2015, from
d20innovation.d20blogs.org:
http://d20innovation.d20blogs.org/2012/07/07/understanding-content-curation/
Journal 1 Assignment
PIDP 3240,
Media Enhanced Learning
Journal
Entry #1 –
Chapters 1
- 3 - Teaching Naked
Reflections by Michele Sinclair
Objective
"Gee (2004) is emphatic that games teach more than how to play the
game in the same way that learning biology is more than just learning its
facts." (Bowen, 2012)
“The average American 21 year old has played 10,000 hours of games …”
(McGonigal, 2010; Prensky, 2010) (Bowen,
2012)
Gamification – does
it belong in or out of the classroom?
Reflection
According to Dr. Justin Marquis, Ph.D., from OnlineUnversities.com, "Many
successful educators try to appeal to their students' interest in order to
engage them. With so many children and adults currently playing video games,
games represent a natural way for teachers to reach a larger audience and have
fun at the same time." (Marquis,
2013)
However, there are those, like Jeff Watson of OCAD University, who says
"a game is about the unexpected. Gamification ... is about the expected,
the known, the badge-able, and the quantifiable. It is about "checking
in" and being tracked ... its surveillance and discipline system ...
beware its lure." (Watson, 2013)
Or Jeffrey MacCormack who says “...gamification may evoke responses
like: “Look, I’m not here to entertain the students” or “This is education, not
edutainment.” (MacCormack, 2014)
In his article, Marquis points out that the negative aspects of
gamification often reported by those in the anti-gamification camp. The list
includes:
- “… there is no empirical studies that demonstrate real learning from
games, or that the skills learned in game play do not translate to the real
world …”
- The cost – of the game based curriculum, equipment, software and
training teachers;
- Distraction from other subjects, and harder to integrate into something
that will translate to skills for the future;
- Social isolation; however with Web 2.0 technologies, game play now is
social play. “While players may not be interacting face to face they are
interacting…. The process and social norms taught by these interactions
represent very real and useful skills that translate perfectly outside of
games.”
- Shortened attention span.
Marquis continues this balanced article by also listing the positive impact
of promoting games based learning (gamification):
- Technological literacy;
- Multitasking mentality;
- Teamwork, especially with more current games that involve social
networking;
- Long range planning;
- Individualized instruction.
(Marquis, 2013)
When my children were growing up, I was guilty of seeing very little
value in video gaming in the classroom. I
belonged to the "no video games" camp for many years, especially when
the kids were at home. The number of hours they spent playing games was
shocking to me, and my fear was that the lure of the game was addictive. I know
I wasn’t the only parent struggling to understand the new way of playing. At
work, there would be a group of us at coffee time lamenting about the way
things have changed in play and the use of ‘spare’ time. I reasoned that when
we were younger we played different kinds of games, but at least we were
outside playing hide n’ seek, or around the table with real people making our
way through the Game of Life.
I was a skeptic. How relative is it to teach our children that
collecting badges and gaining coins to reach the next level will teach and
prepare them for the future? Surely video games were a distraction from
learning to figure out math equations, to read and to spell properly?
Daniel Donahoo, in his Huffington Post Blog Gamification in Education: Should
We Play? posts “… in an education system and learning culture so entrenched in
standardized testing, the role and value of play and games is still finding a
place, which is why the backlash against gamification is problematic, not just
in the backlash, but in the way it is reported and then ready by those who’d
prefer the way we teach our children remains the same.” (Donahoo, 2011)
This post resonates with me. It is challenging to understand how
something that created conflict when I was raising our kids could actually be
used for learning, by engaging students and actually preparing them for the
world we now live in. And to learn that gamification isn’t restricted to
computer technology was an interesting tid-bit to learn; Donahoo mentions
educators use trading cards too, something that young students have collected
and played with for decades.
Interpretive
I was surprised at how much information there is available on the
internet related to gamification and the cool ways that teachers can engage students
using games, both computer based, and non-technological games. The resources
seem limitless.
I was also surprised that while this may appear to be a controversial
topic, it was more challenging to find arguments supporting the “No to
gamification” camp. Was the “NO” merely a reaction to something that is
happening anyway? And that whenever there is progress in our society, there
will be opposition.
My opposition, I believe, was because I lacked the understanding of how
games could be used in an educational context. I failed to engage with my own
children to learn more about what it was that they were playing, and when they
were younger, link what they were doing to the day to day. My hope is that they
were doing that anyway. My reaction may have been different if I’d taken the
time to dig a bit deeper.
As an aside, I love watching Downton Abbey, and in the last episode, the
advent of the radio was revealed. Initially, there was strong reaction; with
the more youthful characters, the radio was exciting, progress, something to
embrace; with the more senior characters, it was something to be aware of, and
the “wireless” had no place at the abbey. Certainly no good could come from it.
And then everyone gathered to share the experience of hearing the King speak to
his people. Well, not to be a spoiler, but the wireless did not leave the abbey;
it found its home in the library.
Decisional
I think the wheels of progress have already
turned too far to keep gamification out of the classroom. It will obviously be
up to individual teachers to find creative ways to use the tools they have
available to them now, but eventually, I suspect the curriculum changes, and
the shifts in how we approach education will be no different than the shift we
have already made from heavy text books to e-books; from the talking head to
experiential learning.
As an instructor, my hope is that students
would find the “learning experience so exciting, interactive and fun that
(they) can’t wait to participate and reap the benefits by mastering the
content.” (Rosen,
2014) And I also believe it is the job of instructors to create such an
experience with whatever tools are available to meet students where they are
at.
Works Cited
Bowen,
J. A. (2012). Teaching Naked: How Moving Technolgy Out of Your College
Classroom Will Improve Student Learning. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Donahoo,
D. (2011, August 23). The Blog: Gamification in Education. Retrieved
January 15, 2015, from Huffingtonpost.com:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daniel-donahoo/gamification-in-education_b_927842.html
MacCormack,
J. (2014, Fall). Features: Gamification in the Classroom. Retrieved
January 16, 2015, from EFFO Voice:
http://etfovoice.ca/article/gamification-in-the-classroom/
Marquis,
D. J. (2013, 04 07). Game-Based Learning: "Debates about Gamification
and Game-Based Learning in Education. Retrieved January 16, 2015, from
classroom-aid.com:
http://classroom-aid.com/2013/04/07/debates-about-gamification-and-game-based-learninggbl-in-education/
Rosen,
D. (2014, August 19). From Chalkboards to Chat Boards: What will elearning
look like in 2075. Retrieved January 17, 2015, from edudemic.com:
www.edudemic.com/chalkboards-chat-boards-will-elearning-look-like-2075/
Watson,
J. (2013, September 21). Gamification: Don't say it, don't do it, just stop.
Retrieved January 17, 2015, from media commons, future of the book:
http://mediacommons.futureofthebook.org/question/how-does-gamification-affect-learning/response/gamification-dont-say-it-dont-do-it-just-sto
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