Resources To Help Teachers Prepare For Flipped Classrooms

There are a great many resources available to help teachers "flip" their classroom.  It could easily take hours for me to write about them and hours for you to read about them.  We're not going to go down that road, at least not today.  What we are going to do is simply look at two resources.

The first resource is Podbean.  Podbean is a FREE (this is in all caps because teachers love FREE) podcast hosting service.  Teachers can easily set up their podcast site and begin podcasting right away.  This service allows teachers to present information to students in a way that they can access through a computer at home or at the library.  Students can also easily access this through their smart phones or can download each podcast to their MP3 player so they can listen to it on the bus ride to and from school.  Did I mention this is FREE?  It's definitely worth your time to check it out.  I've also used this with students.  It was definitely motivating for students to post their first ever podcast and hear back from peers who took time to listen.

The second service I want to tell you about is GoAnimate.  GoAnimate is an online service that allows users to make and share animated videos.  You don't have to be an artist to produce these videos.  A variety of preset characters and scenes allows you great flexibility in creating your videos.  Unfortunately, this service isn't free but the plans are fairly reasonable once you consider what you get for the cost.  GoAnimate also offers a service called GoAnimate for Schools.  This service is geared toward teacher use as well as teachers using the service with their students as part of their instruction.  It's a great alternative to the typical PowerPoint project.

I hope you enjoy checking out these resources.  Going to a flipped classroom concept takes a lot of time and resources.  Hopefully these two suggestions will help save you a little of both.

SuperMemo-Is having a great memory worth the risk?

This article is about learning technology-SuperMemo.  SuperMemo is a software application that enhances your memory, teaches learning techniques and strategies.  I like how the software application allows you to choose what you what to learn and remember. I believe this tool can be affective for children who have a stable environment.  When I say stable environment, I mean the ability to purchase a home computer or laptop, etc.  I am also referring to a parent or peer that can help them stick to the schedule/routine and encourage them to be successful while using the SuperMemo Application.  I believe anyone is capable of utilizing SuperMemo, young and old (any age).
The one dangerous condition mentioned is an overload of information which is believed to cause Alzheimer's Disease.  Is having a great memory worth the risk?

Mom you never encourage us

 I should start this blog with  "I hate you mom" I am never good enough for you. That is what my eldest used  to say to me when she was in fifth grade. Now  She is 20 and doing her second year Phd in biomedical engineering.
 When she was to she was tested for a gifted student and she has been doing her academic work at her pace, but during middle school years she had a tough time because she felt I did not say "good job" often compared to other parents.
 I did not understand what she was saying, so I encouraged her by asking how can you improve herself.
I did not know she was asking for my approval. I showed my approval by encouraging her. My focus is on  making her independent,
I want her to understand her own strength, but even today she feels I don't approve of her.
 I should share this link with her.
My second daughter is not a gifted one, but still she also feels the same way.
She feels that she can never satisfy me, but I know they both are independent and make their own decisions.
I trust their judgment completely, because they know their strength and weakness.
for both my children, they thrive on their achievement  than somebody's praise.
It is not to say that they are successful.
 They are academically successful but socially they don't do things for their approval of their friends. They do what makes them feel right so sometimes they have a hard time adopting to their friends
 and they do not know how to approve their friends behavior .
Some times they feel out of place in a group.
So praising the kids may look like a drawback put it helps them to understand the society that they live in.
Practically speaking, all these academic article is good for particular audience  and  great for a class room settings because the peers are also exposed to it in the same level, whereas when I did it myself at home it was very hard for my children.

Gestalt learning theory and teaching grammar in Tamil

 

When I was learning art at HACC, I came to know about the gestalt theory. I thought it was an art principle, but knowing the same as cognitive capacity of the brain makes a difference for my teaching techniques in Tamil. Though Tamil grammar rules are 2000 years old, they are living breathing rules of the language today, but they were taught as a strict rules that one needs to follow. These grammar rules were taught in a sequence. Though they were right behind the lessons in the text books there was no co-relation between the lesson and the grammar instruction that followed the lesson.

So as a student I felt very lost learning those rules and memorizing them, let alone applying them in real life writing. This problem continues even today. I know I am good writer but my grammatical errors turns my thoughts in to poor writing.

Undertaking the cognitive theory and gestalt theory as a learning theory inspired me to look at Tamil grammar in a new light.

The Transposition experiments of the chicken and the idea that humans are predisposed to structure their experiences in predictable way gave me an idea to look at grammar learning in a new way.

 I am going to base my learning on law of similarity and the law of pragnanz. Learning the grammar rules by using similarity, I can make the connection between the rules and its application

 Associating similar words to a rule will give me much more understanding. Learning the rules as a part of word which is a whole will also help me remember to apply the rules in my writing.

I am going to present my case in the other activity.

Class Dojo in the news

ClassDojo is a behavior management app that rewards students with points based on standards set by a classroom instructor.  The app is used in many schools and classrooms across the country.  The idea behind ClassDojo is that it is a motivation tool within the classroom that encourages students to participate and be on their best behavior.  In the article "Privacy Concerns for ClassDojo and Other Tracking Apps for School Children" the author Natasha Singer reports that some professionals think that ClassDojo may in fact be an invasion of privacy and not be a fair tool for the classroom.  The author also reports that some feel that the technology tool is unproven to work and that the positive reinforcement method of classroom discipline should no longer be used. 
From a teachers perspective I find ClassDojo to be very effective and appropriate for a classroom.  While the app itself may be unproven, the theories of positive reinforcement  and motivation are not.  The idea of a student following directions or completing work and getting a reward for it is very motivating and can be seen by any teacher using ClassDojo.  Within the article a few people mention that it is a privacy issue, because students information may be shared with unapproved outlets.  I don't feel that ClassDojo violates privacy of students when it is used effectively.  It is possible for a teacher to use the app inappropriately by setting ridiculous behavior standards, choosing favorites or using it without parent/administration support. Ultimately, it is the teachers responsibility to seek parent support and use it effectively by knowing the population of their classroom.  If used correctly I feel that ClassDojo can have a motivating and positive effect on a classrooms behavior management.

Conceptual learning

 

 

 

 

 

 

Conceptual learning

The human race has evolved in intelligence and their potential from their experiences because of their surroundings. Even non humans learn to adapt to the environment. Based on this basic principle the connectivism theory has come to light.

The digital age has changed the way the humans experience the information around them. It has changed the way they connect with each other.

The humans are always learning. They are learning and responding to the experiences around them.

This learning does not reflect in one's grade. It is a reflection of the growth of their potential and a positive way.

For me a housewife the digital tools like google has opened up a new opportunity. I can sincerely say that I am a student where connectivism applies.

As I watched my children learn to read and write using computer games when they were toddlers, I wished there was something like that for my language.

I used google to research to find out about how certain things are done. I came across adobe, then I learnt adobe watching YouTube.

Then I slowly got my skills in adobe software and all the windows applications wanted to learn more.

So i became a student in HACC. Meanwhile, I created learning site for my language. Now I am taking a master’s degree.

I have a YouTube channel for my language. I have a WordPress blog. To market my learning site. I tweet my lessons and post them in Facebook. Because of these classes in Harrisburg University I have presented papers on learning in Tamil computing International conferences.

Classical Conditioning in Domestic Violence

What is domestic violence to do with learning right?

For one, this is domestic violence month. Secondly the survivors of domestic violence have a long road ahead of them to heal and be normal again. When I say domestic violence I am talking about domestic violence in the context of changing the behavior of the survivors. If there is a way to undo the damage of abuse by applying the learning theory, may be the survivors can escape the trauma of their experiences easily.

It is said that abused people develop PTSD, which is at a higher rate compared to military personal developing PTSD after the war.

So for an abused person their fear, their reactions to environments, their anger in situations consumes them. Most of the time facing the day today is a nightmare.

Why is that?

It is said that classical conditioning involves a response over which the learners have no control. When a person is abused their emotions, logical mind, and body start responding to certain events are involuntary. They lose control over everything. They are always responding and reacting because the conditional response makes them to anticipate and prepare for the worst. Their attitude also changes, All these happen because of association with fear.

So if we agree that classical conditioning plays a role why is it hard for the survivors be normal once they leave the abuser or the situation.

I think that is where the spontaneous recovery happens. Spontaneous recovery is recurrence of the conditioned response after a rest period. Though the response is weaker it still happens. That is why it is hard for the survivors to move forward.

When the abuser cannot leave the abuser or the situation their conditional response may develop into generalization. Generalization happens when the conditional response happens to other stimuli the same way,

When the response of the abused person is generalized can they be called as victims even though they are alive?

What learning theory can one apply to make these victims a survivor again?

Oops, We're Doing It Again

"How Amanda's Brain Works" could probably be a grad class unto itself.  I have a lot of random things jumbling around in my head and sometimes they link up in odd ways.  (The theorists and psychologists would have a field day…)  Here are two examples.  Both came to mind as I was reading the chapter in our text on Social Cognitive Theory, I was particularly intrigued by the section on Modeling, specifically symbolic models ("a person or character portrayed in a book, film, television show, video game, or other medium.") and Bandura's four characteristics of effective models:

1. The model is competent
2. The model has prestige and power
3. The model behaves in stereotypical "gender-appropriate" ways
4. The model's behavior is relevant to the observer's situation

Reflection 1:  for some reason as I read through the above list of "characteristics of effective models," point #4 got lodged in my head.  What does "relevant to the observer's situation" mean?  I suddenly remembered an episode of the TV show "Will and Grace" where, for some reason, this happened:

















Obviously there is learning taking place as a result of modeled behavior.  The model in question is competent (or at least was perceived as such in 2000, when the video originally came out; more recent events could call Ms. Spears' competency into question); has prestige and power due to her celebrity status; and is certainly behaving in gender-stereotypical ways. But how about point #4?  I cannot remember the episode of Will & Grace fully, so I'm not sure if the behavior was relevant or was presented as a non sequitur simply for laughs…

… but that got me thinking, in turn, of "what other resources exist on YouTube if one wanted to learn this routine?"  A quick search turned up this:

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=dance+routine+compilation+oops+I+did+it+again 

So… a LOT of people apparently thought that this dance routine was relevant enough to learn, record, and share.  (I wonder how many of them can still do the routine on demand?)  I missed the "Britney boat" -- I was in college by the time that she was taking the teens-and-tweens world by storm, so I never thought that learning to dance like Britney was particularly relevant enough to spend the time on.

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Example 2:  Similar to example 1, except surrounding the idea of Comic-Con (the New York Comic-Con just finished), cosplay, and this article (http://theweek.com/article/index/269570/why-the-rise-of-cosplay-is-a-bad-sign-for-the-us-economy), which a friend of my posted on Facebook earlier this week.  Again, if one's reality is one of boredom, relative powerlessness, and feeling adrift… then emulating (or modeling your behavior after) a character that, even if fictional, is powerful and competent probably feels pretty good.  But is it relevant?  How would one even DEFINE relevance in this case?

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I guess of Bandura's 4 characteristics of effective models, point #4 (relevance to observer's situation) is the most subjective and hardest to quantify.  A particular observer/learner's situation can be extremely nuanced and can involve a lot of invisible elements; what's relevant to me and what's relevant to you could be completely different, even if we are placed into the same situation.  That is why it's so important for a teacher to try to know his/her students to the greatest extent possible -- to find that "relevant" aspect.

Cognitive View, Tolman-Cognitive Map

I would like to start this blog with the definition of cognitivism, which is a learning theory that focuses on "how information is received, organized, stored, and retrieved by the mind."  Per Tolman, a cognitive map, which is an internal representation (or image) of external environmental feature or landmark.
My assumptions are based on personal experiences and job experiences.  I work in a class setting everyday as a TSS, Therapeutic Staff Support with children that have mental and behavioral disabilities.  I use rewards as reinforcements for my client to stay focused, complete assignments, and maintain good behavior.  Often I find that the client is capable of doing the work but they get dependent on the rewards and will start asking for the reward before they complete the work.  However, there are students that come to class daily and complete their assignments without any reinforcements.  Those students are motivated to learn and complete assignments. 
The cognitive map is something we use constantly without awareness.  I will give an example, I got a phone call to meet a friend at Pizza Hut.  Here are the questions that entered my mind:

• Which Pizza Hut?
• Where are the Pizza Hut restaurants in the area?

My mind began mapping out routes to the Pizza Hut before she told me which one.  When she responded my mind started mapping out directions from previous memories.

My Views on Andragogy and Pedagogy

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Andragogy- A Process
My view is based on Malcom Knowles, who described the theory of adult learning with six assumptions.  He believes these are the key assumptions to learning.  Here is a list of the assumptions:

1. Need to know-Why?
2. Self Concept-Who's responsibility?
3. Experience-Does it lead to being bias or single mindedness? Is the key adding knowledge?
4. Readiness to Learn-Do you need direction? Do you need support or encouragement?
5. Orientation to Learning-Is learning based on task and problems? Do we generalize from experience to develop concepts and theories?
6. Motivation to Learn-Do we need rewards and grades? Do we need self satisfaction?

My personal opinion based on my knowledge and experiences is that we would like all of the six assumptions.  It would be great to have all six but most of us do it everyday with maybe one out of the six assumptions. He also believed that children could not learn from experience. I totally disagree with that. I have three children and when they were toddlers they learned valuable lessons.  One example is not to touch the iron. She touched it after many warnings but she never did it again.

Pedagogy-Content Teachers Decide
Malcom Knowles belief is that teachers lead the knowledge because most students go into class unaware of subject so whatever information the teacher feeds the student will then gain knowledge that the teacher presents.  Here are some assumptions Knowles made:

1. Dependency-Is it learned dependency?
2. Importance-Is learners knowledge and experience not important?
3. Subject-Is it centered (what teacher would like you to know)?

I agree with him stating learned dependency because my experiences working in many schools have me to believe the children gain a dependency and most forget responsibility of learning on their own. Most teachers do not pay attention to students personal experiences or knowledge.  The subjects are centered by what the teachers or school requires.

"Observation Tool Based on Learning Theory." Which one?

I just got back from a national annual conference in Washington, DC, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education.  The attendees are all staff and evaluators, either at the state or local level, for research projects funded by USDoE's Math-Science Partnership grant program.  As most conferences do, this one included large plenary sessions on such topics as educational policy and research initiatives, advocacy, and the ever-changing definition of "STEM education."  It also featured many breakout sessions on evaluation techniques, data-management, project implementation, and more.

The overly-simplified crux of all projects funded by the MSP program is that by conducting professional development for teachers (using specific guidelines), positive impacts can be seen on student achievement in math and science.  Lots of data is collected, and classroom observations of teaching practice is a major component; thus, observation protocols are a big deal for this type of project.

I attended a session sponsored by Horizon Research on a new classroom-observation protocol/tool they are developing.  It's not yet published, the draft we got had "DO NOT Copy, Cite, or Distribute" all over it, so I won't name it or provide a lot of detail on what it actually involved.  Overall I liked to tool, it's better than the one we are using for the project that I manage, so I'm interested to see what the final version looks like when it becomes available.  But there was one statement that the presenters made, out-loud and in their slides, that really made me scratch my head in light of the reading and discussion we've had in LTMS525 thus far, and that statement was:

"[name of tool] is the only classroom observation protocol that is explicitly aligned with learning theory."

And I said to myself… "Um.. WHICH learning theory? because I KNOW from my reading that there is more than theory, and they are very different! If we were observing a classroom where learning was being measured through the lens of behaviorism, it might look a LOT different from a classroom where learning is being viewed through cognitivism." And the more I thought about that, the more it started to get under my skin.  Here we are, at a conference of educational researchers, in a presentation conducted BY educational researchers, and we're in a session using the term "learning theory" as if it is ONE theory?  What's wrong with this picture?  You couldn't tell us which theory? Not even a hint? Because I'm sure we would have understood, at least vaguely, if you had tried -- we're all educated in education.

Naturally, I didn't synthesize these questions until after the session had ended, so I didn't get a chance to ask the presenters.  So when I got home, I even tried googling "learning theory," "learning theory as jargon," and a few other phrases to see if there was another, more generic use of the phrase "learning theory" that is used euphemistically or as shorthand or something like that.  Nothing turned up.  Even Wikipedia's entry for "learning theory" goes to "learning theories" and a page that summarizes them in a manner not unlike Chapter 1 of our text.

That, in turn, made me wonder if this particular usage of "learning theory" was meant as a hook for marketing purposes.  "Hey, check this new thing out, it's aligned to learning theory!" and everyone goes "ooooh, ahhhh, niiiiiice."  (Kind of like the phrase "gluten free" is showing up on so many consumer products now, and there have been no real changes/removal of gluten from those products, we're just highlighting the fact that there isn't gluten.  If you know about gluten, you KNOW that yogurt, water, and corn chex cereal is and always was gluten free.  Sorry, different soapbox, it just amuses/annoys me.) 

So anyway, I do have a draft of the observation tool, and although it says "DO NOT copy, cite, or distribute" it doesn't say ANYthing about "do not pick apart to try to find the alignment to whatever learning theory you can find" so I plan to do that at some point, just to satisfy my own curiosity.  I don't mean to call Horizon Research out on this, but I AM curious (and a little suspicious, as you may have gathered) about this point.  If I can figure anything out, I'll post a followup to this post.

Reading and brain

The blog is the reflection of something I read in the our Group in dingo

The Link is below. It is written by Kathleen Lees

I read this article because I am interested in biomedical engineering, specifically for the brain. I heard recently that they discovered a dish shaped equipment that is small enough to hold the baby's head. It will measure every single brain cell's activity monitoring for any kind of abnormalities. Looking at the pictures I though it is an article about that kind of invention. But not so.

The study was done by umiko Hoeft, MD, PhD, senior author and an associate professor of child and adolescent psychiatry at UCSF, and member of the UCSF Dyslexia Center, The researchers examined the brain scans of the kindergarten students. The study found that the volume of brain's white matter is related to reading. They believe this discovery will help one understand the nurocognitive behavior of students who have reading disabilities.

It may be expensive to use in schools at the early stage of using these neurocognitive profiles,If the study is conclusive about the relationship between white matter and reading,it will be a great tool for teachers as well as students. Looking at education from the point of n physical health is unique.yet this is not a conclusive test.

Chapter 2 of the textbook says that if a child is exposed to stimulating environments along with proper nutrition is inevitable.

IF there is a study that observe a child from birth at regular intervals up to kindergarten, looking at the white matter of children, the study may be conclusive.

Doing brain scans for babies may not be healthy in the long run.

So as much as the nurocognitive profiles may help a teacher identify the struggling readers, it will not help them develop their reading skill. So providing a stumulating envioremnt through out the growing years are very important for developing their learning skills of the children

How Does the Brain Learn Best? Smart Studying Strategies
 is an article by  Ingfei Chen in \mind shift.
This articles give the student's some great tips on how to study. I think this article will be a very good help for adult learners like me. As we balance other activities among studying, It is very important to pay attention to what is effective learning. I know it will help an E-learning student like me; function with out stress. I can have planned learning goals and achieve them if I apply these tips. These tips are taken from the  book "“How We Learn: The Surprising Truth about When, Where, and Why It Happens,” " Benedict Carey.
  Breaking up and spacing out study time over days or weeks. This tip will help well as I  travel a lot. I used to think I can study only in one place and if I cannot sit down in that place I will not be able to focus. Usually when I study like that I get distracted. More over it takes more time to learn  learn the concept. I am going to apply this tip from now on. Hopefully change of scene will make me focus better.
   
   The second tip the author  gives is to experiment with different learning tactics. I guess I use the method often. So I am pleased to  see that I am on the right track.Changing the routine makes me  very curious about the things that I already know or learnt.
 The third tip: Surviving the Modern Jungle looks like it is written for me. Because  I love to write (in my language of course)so when a thought comes to my mind I  just sit down and start writing. I rarely plan  what I  write.  Then when the editing part comes a week later I  feel certain new ideas come to mind and make my writing get better.
   I guess I need to apply the skills for studying and writing a rough draft will make be brave enough to face the writing assignments.