SAMR: Digital Literacies

While attending Dr. Ruben Puentedura's session at the 21CL Learning Conference in HK (December 2014), I found myself in a group of teachers from very varied backgrounds and levels within a school.
In order to produce a product we might all use in the future, I suggested we look at a skills based SAMR Ladder as opposed to a curriculum specific one; Digital Literacies is what we came up with.

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SAMR

On the 11-13th of December, I attended the 21CL Learning Conference in Hong Kong. I had the pleasure of meeting, and chatting with, Dr. Ruben Puentedura who is responsible for the SAMR (Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, Redefinition) model.

Ruben's slides: SAMR - Thoughts for Design | SAMR - Getting to Transformation

Ruben's ability to apply the model to any scenario he was asked about, from pre-school upwards, was awesome. 

Question Ladder to develop SAMR tasks:

Substitution: 

• What will I gain by replacing the older technology with the new technology? 

Substitution to Augmentation: 

• Have I added an improvement to the task process that could not be accomplished with the older technology at a fundamental level? 

• How does this feature contribute to my design? 

Augmentation to Modification: 

• How is the original task being modified? 

• Does this modification fundamentally depend upon the new technology? 

• How does this modification contribute to my design? 

Modification to Redefinition: 

• What is the new task? 

• Will any portion of the original task be retained? 

• How is the new task uniquely made possible by the new technology? 

• How does it contribute to my design?

Evaluation: Final Report

Networking

The CISCO ICDN 1+2 book is very good, if only 3 inches thick!

The networking course follows this book closely and supports it with links to videos on YouTube. I  enjoyed working through the binary and hexadecimal transformations, and designing the networks.

While the only evidence of this process is the answers to the questions/labs submitted to the course, I have been able to use my new knowledge in school. While trying to do a Google Hangout into school with a colleague and our shared class (I was off campus), we discovered that I could see and hear everything that was going on in the class but they could neither see nor hear me.

After presenting this issue to out school IT helpdesk and suggesting that they trace the packets and ports, the IT team found that both Skype an Google Hangouts were using the same port as the various torrenting sites that the school blocks--they block the port! The "Network Guy" was able to alter the network permissions to all permit the use of the communication apps that we wanted to use.

Evaluation: Review of a published evaluation report

Evaluation: Course textbook review

Google Apps For Education conference Kuala Lumpur

I presented my use of Andrew Stillman's Doctopus and Goobric at the KL GAFE conference. Through the power of Google Sheets, I bring all of the assessment data collected by Goobric into one spreadsheet that acts as a Markbook. Since all of the students are identified by their email address, I can filter all of the data for each of them to create a report sheet that graphs the data.

Check out the presentation and embedded videos.

Evaluation: Research or Evaluation

Server Project and Moodle Installation

I have written at the bottom of this introductory page that I felt I had failed due to not getting my server online. Amusingly, and rather frustratingly, I had my server online the whole time! I was trying to view my server from inside/behind my own router firewall, which doesn't work.

After contacting an IT forum and receiving the advice that loopbacks don't work within a LAN, I used my phone on 3G and not my wifi and discovered that everything was working; I wasted so much time!

Server Project and Error Log

While building a system, keeping a log of what went wrong and how it was fixed is an important part of the process. I need to be able to build this system again in the future; knowing how I solved the problems and helping others recreate my work is what the error log is for.

Evaluation: Types of Data

Evaluation: Request for Proposal

Evaluation: Choosing an evaluation model

Evaluation: Evaluator's program description

Evaluation: Do we need one?

Staff IT Induction and IT Training Program

I am involved in the coordination and delivery of IT skills training for new, and all, staff at my school.

One of the biggest issues new staff face when they arrive is that we have several systems that new staff need training on before they can teach. This year, 135 minutes were assigned for me to deliver a tech induction to 22 new staff members; I went with the theme of "Your First Day", and focused on covering what the staff would need. I chose this theme as staff in the past have complained of overload and I did not want to contribute further to that.

Since a full program of training has not been built into the term 1 induction, new staff are required to acquire further skills from the Head of Department/Faculty/ or Learning Technology Innovator for the department/faculty, in their own time. Since many of these positions have just been filled by new staff, there has been a real need for IT support; our teachers are expected to provide this as our tech support team only deal with the systems.

I also have a role in providing our Learning Technology Innovators (LTI) with opportunities to learn how to integrate technology into their classroom. These individuals are very important in disseminating tech skills, and the experience they gain from me, to their faculty teams. These roles are voluntary and based on the good will of the LTIs to give their non-contact time.

This year the LTIs, as a team, have chosen a model of "Group-Ups" where they have identified a lesson in their timetable to get together and work on their technology focus (they do not want to have to stay after school, and this has been ineffective in the past as many of the LTIs have other activities they need to attend). Since I cannot attend all of these as I teach 18 of 24 lessons per week, I have developed skills video demos for the LTIs to use in an independent study style. LTIs can post questions and highlight their own good practice through my G+ Learning Tech community for the school.

They have also decided to hold "Lunchtime Drop-ins" for new and all staff. These drop-ins are manned by all of the LTIs when they can, and staff can visit with their issues on a needs basis any day of the week.

My evaluation will look at the effectiveness of the video demos, the Group-Ups, the Drop-Ins, department IT sessions, management organised IT training, the induction program for IT, and other IT sessions I coordinate.

I have already taken a pre-training self-assessment of the new staff on the their skills; upcoming sessions will specifically target those that need that content. New and all staff will complete the self-assessment again later this term and I will request an attitudinal response to the effectiveness of the various training initiatives.

I want to be able to identify and report on the most and least effective strategies and develop suggestions for improvement. This will be in context of our going 1-to-1 in 2015. The hope is that a more comprehensive training plan will be developed for Term 1 2015 that takes account of both skills acquisition and incorporation of the T-PaCK model.

Evaluation: Gap analysis and Program Cycle

Evaluation: Benefits and Limitations

Evaluation

Edtech Challenges 2

In my first post regarding Edtech Challenges, I highlight an issue of students developing a portfolio of evidence that can follow them throughout their lives. After completing a module on Project Based Learning and completing research on the use of blogs and eportfolios, I now fully subscribe to this belief.
I believe the process of developing the Edtech Challenges object has allowed me to reflect on how both the institute in which I work and my own views on different students' motivations are guided outside of school. Giving students choice is important, but I have also feel that the ability of the teacher to assess the work done by students is manageable. Understanding the diversity in our learners is an important part of our role, however I also see the need to balance the work load for teachers. I build and use rubrics for assignments that give students the choice of how they "respond" to the challenge of the task. By providing a grading rubric, students know what is expected of them and the teacher can assess submissions based on these standards.

Scaffolding

According to Jaime McKenzie scaffolding:
1. Provides clear direction and reduces students’ confusion – Educators anticipate problems that students might encounter and then develop step by step instructions, which explain  what a student must do to meet expectations.
2. Clarifies purpose – Scaffolding helps students understand why they are doing the work and why it is important.
3. Keeps students on task – By providing structure, the scaffolded lesson or research project, provides pathways for the learners. The student can make decisions about which path to choose or what things to explore along the path but they cannot wander off of the path, which is the designated task.
4. Clarifies expectations and incorporates assessment and feedback – Expectations are clear from the beginning of the activity since examples of exemplary work, rubrics, and standards of excellence are shown to the students.
5. Points students to worthy sources – Educators provide sources to reduce confusion, frustration, and time. The students may then decide which of these sources to use.
6. Reduces uncertainty, surprise, and disappointment – Educators test their lessons to determine possible problem areas and then refine the lesson to eliminate difficulties so that learning is maximized
7. Delivers efficiency – Since the work is structured, focused, and glitches have been reduced or eliminated prior to initiation, time on task is increased and efficiency in completing the activity is increased.
8. Creates momentum – Through the structure provided by scaffolding, students spend less time searching and more time on learning and discovering, resulting in quicker learning
From: Scaffolding as a Teaching Strategy

I intend to provide my students with a project website where they can access the full content, schedule, resources, assessments - formative and summative - rubrics, basically everything they will need to complete the project in the absence of a teacher. Communication will also be built into the site; it will be in Google Sites and part of our GAFE domain. All of McKenzie's points will be addressed by the project site and will offer the teacher access to statistics of access in order to preempt Issues of students not getting involved.

I want students to be able to submit work and receive feedback on their performance immediately. Since some students will work at a different speed to others, having students self assess their work in the first instance seems logical. To achieve this, I will use a GForm that submits the students' answer to a GSheet that is attached to a GDoc template, via Autocrat, with the correct answers written in. the students will be able to self assess and then receive comments and feedback from their teacher at a later date.

Scaffolding of skill acquisition in research and practical write-ups may be accomplished in a similar way using a GForm that marks and gives feedback based on a set of correct answers. Calibrating the students' research and write-up reviewing skills may be done by giving the students an exemplar piece of work that has been produced by the exam board. The students can complete the form for each part of the research exemplar and receive feedback as to their accuracy. If the rubric they use is easy to understand, hopefully the students will come into line with the examiners as quickly as they do the the research I have read!

Arguing for PBL

Situated Cognition. Brown, Collins and Duguid (1989, p. 34), point out that although students are shown the tools of many academic cultures in their school career, these cultures are that of schools, and not the actual domain for which the tools are to be used. Students may pass exams but still not be able to use the skills and tools of the domain. Students need to be exposed to domain learning and the tools of the domain on authentic activities.

Brown, J. S., Collins, A., & Duguid, P. (1989). Situated cognition and the culture of learning. Educational Researcher, 18(1), p32-42.

Peer Review of a Synthesis Paper

I am about to begin the review of a peer's paper. I have to say that I am not comfortable enough with my own experience to do this.

In Edtech 551, the final submission piece of work was built up over several submissions with the instructor reviewing each submission, offering suggestions for improvement which were fixed and submitted with the next section, this continued until the final piece was done. I liked this, as the draft and review nature of the process allowed time for assimilation and an understanding of the process to develop.

Without access to exemplars that represent good, medium and bad standards of writing, I am not in a position to use the rubric provided in a valid way. A level 5 edit is required of a peer's work, but how can that be achieved if the reader doesn't know anything about the topic?

I will take care to provide my students with the scaffolding and support they need to do their best work.

Post peer review. The paper that I reviewed was on connectivism, a learning theory I haven't read much about. It would seem from the paper that there is some contention that connectivism is indeed a new learning theory or just an amalgamation of several others; I find myself in agreement with the latter stand point. My peer has written well over twice the length she should have that has made my ability to make suggestions for improvement difficult. I have seen from her writing that my paragraphs don't flow together well and I will need to reorganise a lot to make the ideas and contexts link better.

My peer has made some excellent suggestions for improving my work and has been extremely thorough in her review. She has highlighted what I have already identified as a need to improve the flow and connections; I will use her suggestions to improve.

Writing a Synthesis Paper

I haven't written a paper since my bachelor degree...only 18 years ago!

My annotated bibliography wasn't very good as my focus was too broad and I didn't link the sources I chose well enough to generate a full taxonomy; clearly I needed to review the focus of my paper!

I decided to focus on the use of blogs for reflective writing. The majority of the research I found linked with Self Regulated Learning, so this along with social constructivism would be the basis for my taxonomy within the paper.

Of everything I have done over the course of the MET so far, this has been the toughest to date. The amount of time it took to find the relevant research, pick out what I intended to use, and then string it all together was huge. The process, and the research into SRL, has reminded me of the importance of scaffolding activities and formative feedback and support. I will use this experience to ensure my students are eased into the big write-ups that they will need to do for their course.

What I found useful, after forgetting where I had read parts of articles, was to write down the reference and the content I was interested in under particular headings. This, along with the use of Dropbox and Notability has allowed me to organise my research and content.

Due to the school trip, I was left with a couple of days to write my paper...it wasn't enough. I have to thank my peer reviewer for the thoroughness of her edits and comments for improving the flow of my writing. I'm still not 100% happy with the paper, particularly the start, but it is the best I can do until I can find the information I want about the UK National Curriculum and what the government did to the PLTS (personal learning, thinking skills) initiative from 2 years ago!

Learning from the PBL Process

When I reflect back on how a project should be run, I realise that I wasn't going into the detail needed nor was I focusing on the correct things i.e. the driving question, the motivating entry event, the scaffolding of the assessments, a detailed plan, and the culminating event. Basically everything.

In another module I designed a digital learning experience that I thought would work as a good project, but I see now from my PBL  work that I was not creating a thorough enough scaffold for my students to use to achieve the goals I had in mind.

The Driving Question has been one of the biggest eye openers for me with this module. I wasn't finding a question that was motivating enough for the students to want to go the extra mile with. On top of this, a weakness in my project has been the entry event. Even up until the peer review, my entry event wasn't very strong, however I think I have found an excellent video that discusses the rather outrageous abuse biotechnology companies are doing to farmers that will hopefully insight students to take action.

I have found the project writing experience very similar to doing a Bernie Dodge webquest. Obviously there are differences but there are elements of a webquest design that I think are rather redundant and repetitive, in the same way, there are parts of the project site that ask for repeats of content they have already been done. When I do this process again in the future, and I will do it, I will cut out the extraneous bits and link the relevant resources to the appropriate writing as I have done in this project. In this way, any of my colleagues viewing the content will have everything they need to run the project in as efficient a format as I can manage.

I have built other project sites in the last year and it is clear that I need to return to them and completely review the motivational attributes and assessment requirements in them. A proper culminating activity needs to be designed so that the students take the tasks more seriously as an authentic audience.

New knowledge of learning theory in the classroom

Throughout the course, I have been reminded of the learning theorists like Piaget and Vygotsky I studied during my certificate in education, although, to be honest, they were covered so quickly I didn't remember their theories!

Over the years I have done my own research on the use of games, simulations, projects, blogs, gamification, etc. in an effort to better apply the technologies and concepts to my lessons; it has been good to consider the theories that have generated the practices.  Unlike the U.S. Education system that requires teachers to recertify every few years, UK teachers do not suffer this pressure so reflecting on one's teaching and improving, is generally an intrinsic behaviour. When I think more on it, when I read about the theories now, I actually understand them and can apply them properly to my classroom!

Vygotsky's ZPD comes closest to the theory of learning that I implement in my lessons, although I tend to have a blend of many of the theories going all at once. I don't think about doing this, it just happens as the activities I use are enjoyed by the students and produce good learning results. I use a lot of assessment for learning techniques that involve students expressing what they know; they do this via mini whiteboards and by communicating with each other. My classroom would most likely be described as a social constructivist environment although I wouldn't have called it this before taking this module!

In my reading I have enjoyed looking at the scaffolding techniques associated with the ZPD. This led me to look at cognitive apprenticeship and how I might apply it to project based learning. I thought originally that allowing students to work in their friendship groups would lead to good group dynamics. The research indicated that managing a group is easier if the students feel comfortable telling each other to get their work done, which they may not do if they are close friends. Structuring the groups in such a way that there is a difference in the skills and knowledge of the students allows for cognitive apprenticeship to take place between the peers; less capable students can emulate and learn from the more experienced and the more experienced peer solidifies their understanding by using teaching/coaching.

Of greatest interest to me was the theory of Self Regulated Learning. This theory has implications for students in all areas of their learning and was brought to my attention as I looked at the meta-cognitive behavior of reflection in PBL. SRL considers three attributes of the learner: self-efficacy, motivation and meta-cognition. Believing in one's ability to do a task requires that a student feels safe to fail in their learning environment; developing an ethos of encouragement and support in a blended learning environment is essential and I will have my students generate the rules of how they behave and support each other at the start of each year.  Motivation can be intrinsic and extrinsic and depending on the students and situations, can be more of one than the other. I have completed a module on gamification via Coursera and was intrigued to see Mihali Csikszenmihalyi's name pop up in a reference to motivation in SRL. Demonstrating positive self-talk for students to emulate, along with the use of positive and negative self-rewards, will be new techniques to try this year.  Finally, self-reflection will require that students are coached and scaffolded in the behaviour. Reflective thinking expressed as writing in blogs or portfolios can meet the requirements of a self-regulated learner. Blogs also permit commenting by an authentic audience, thus increasing the motivation of the author while creating the situation where collaborative knowledge construction can take place.  I have tried to get my students to review and enhance their work after I give them feedback in line with assessment for learning strategies, but with a content heavy curriculum, this has been hard to follow up on. Blogs could be the answer!

Post project reflection

My colleagues will play a substantial role in the review of the project. They will highlight where elements of the project went well and what needs to improved. This will likely occur as they happen so I will keep a writing record of any discussions we have. As I want to see my colleagues engage in the use of a department blog this year, perhaps this can be a mechanism by which they record their observations.

The students will be asked to provide a response via a survey using Likert scales. This will allow me to quantify their opinions of the project concept and how it went. My students aren't shy in coming forward so no doubt I will hear about their concerns as they arise.

The experts and parent audiences that come into contact with our students will be asked for their opinions of the work and interactions they see, this will allow us to tune these elements for the future.

All of my work goes through multiple iterations and evaluative feedback. The students are instrumental in what and how my colleagues and I present our course. Trusted students will be sought out on a weekly basis and asked for their opinion; they know that their voice has power and that we will react to enhance their learning experience. One of my biggest concerns is that the students will find the project too much for them to handle along with their other subject content. If this is the case, we most be monitoring the students' concerns very regularly.

The Final Project

The Plant Project: (click for full website) Plants as Food, Plants as Fuel.

Final Synthesis Paper

Annotated bibliography

I struggled to get started on this activity. The concept of a taxonomy of learning theories as to how it  can be applied within a field of interest had me trying to decide what field I was interested in and what a taxonomy would look like. I sought clarification on "taxonomy". My original thinking was correct in that a taxonomy within biology shows a current organism's genetic/familial history i.e. it's origins. It seems logical then to look backwards from the organism to see from where it came, I figured that I would apply the same logic to the current task. Looking at recent research uncovers the work that those authors have based their research on, looking at that research uncovers more.

I decided to look at:

A Selection of Research on the Use of MOOC Software and Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning strategies for Reflection and Peer Assessment in K-12 PBL Classrooms.

I found a lot of articles. In retrospect, reflection and peer assessment are different beasts and I should have selected one of them; I got spanked for choosing articles that didn't address the question - I think they were relevant, but because the focus was so broad, the articles I chose seemed inappropriate.

Regardless of my graded performance, I have assimilated some useful info that I can use in the development of my self and peer assessed, SRL, topics.

I have found evidence that training students to use a rubric over 2 attempts can bring their grading of a piece of work in line with the instructor so that there is no significant difference. Since there is some evidence of poor attitude toward the grading done by peers, I believe allowing the students to see this in action should remove any anxiety they have regarding peer assessment. Research has been performed on Coursera's MOOC peer assessment that shows that they can take account of student bias based on their marking of a baseline piece of work. What is interesting is that Coursera makes everyone peer assess oneiece of work that is common to everyone, this allows for their algorithmic adjustments to the scores. Seems sensible then to do something similar with a class of students, but I do this anyway.

I have been trying to create a digital learning environment within Google Apps for Education that permits students in a PBL environment to submit a piece of work, self assess it and have it peer assessed without the teacher getting involved. If I can program Google Sheets to do something similar to what Coursera's does in the way that it anonymously distributes work to be peer assessed to every student I will be very happy. Research has shown though that students require the input of a more experienced peer and/or their instructor, so: a) the grading may not need to be anonymous, and b) the teacher still needs to give feedback.

APA style

It has been a year since I have needed to use APA style for citations and references.  In this module I have let myself get royally spanked for getting it wrong; I have an reason, but it is not an excuse!

I have been failing to put page numbers for direct quotes in citations, and I have been leaving off the journal pages from the reference itself! On top of that, I have to admit to using citations from GScholar and Albertson's library without taking the time to double check that they are formatted correctly, particularly the volume and issue number italicization and bracketing :-/ Serves me right for not finding and taking the time to get it correct.

For the final synthesis paper, I decided to start with the format of the paper, citation and referencing all copied into the doc I was writing in; this allowed me to quickly check every time I put a new reference in. 

I have bought a copy of the APA style guide in Ebook format but Kindle won't open on my PC anymore . This is a bit of a problem since I had to use a friend's Amazon account to buy the book; Amazon doesn't like Malaysian credit cards! Fortunately, the Purdue Owl has been useful in getting the basics of APA, and other resources are available online.

One element of citing that I am still uncertain of is referring to an author that is referred to by another author. Example: Author A referred to Author B's study stating "This happened in our research" (Author B, 2000, p15, in Author A, 2014, p20). To paraphrase Yoda; tricky, this is, and I am still not sure that it is correct. Ask for help, I will!

Reflecting on my Learning Theories work

I have been looking forward to doing a module on learning theories and doing some reading.

I have found in my work that my ideas about using technology are so far beyond that of my colleagues that they are resistant to my suggestions; the best way I feel I can get my message across is to demonstrate that the ideas I suggest are supported by the community of educational technologists and research.

When I began to read Jonassen and Land's book, I thought "I don't understand a word of this." I was having to read and reread every sentence of their introductory chapter, and look up every other word on order to make sense of what I was reading. Interestingly, reflecting on the issues I have had has made me appreciate Vygotsky's ZPD and the concept of constructing new meaning from previous knowledge and new experience; I have actually felt the cognitive distance between myself and the authors. 

What has been tough is that I have been teaching normally over this compressed summer module and I have struggled to read all of the materials and assimilate the content. On top of this, I have had a one week school trip where I had very little time to do my work; while I knew this might happen, had I been more aware of the cognitive load and time that the module required, I would have chosen to do the module in the Fall or Spring semesters when I would have had the time to think about my thinking and the content of the readings as they pertain to my work. 

So far, I don't feel like I am performing at my best.

Integrated Curriculum

In my current workplace, a British international school, we follow the U.K. National Curriculum and our students do GCSEs and A Levels. The specifications for these exams are rigorous and don't leave room for the scope and time that Project Based Learning really requires.
The development of the Plant Project to run outside of class time, and tying in as many of the specification points as possible, has been the only way to get all of my biology teaching colleagues on board. I have managed to convince them of the benefits of having the students do the self-regulated learning and reflection required of PBL.

I am positive that a lot will go wrong this first time around - I am planning a 2 year project :-/ - and I am sure there will be a lot of students who don't see the value in the project, but I am hopeful that we will see some improved interest in thinking about biology outside of lessons from our students. With the support of the biology teachers, and plenty of enthusiasm, we will change the culture and attitude toward schooling that many of our students have i.e. "we want to sit and listen to you talk."

To fully ingrain PBL and self-regulated learning into a classroom requires a culture of such teaching philosophies throughout the whole school, and be supported by the parents. Without the support from the leadership, and the students knowing what is expected in one class is actually expected in all, it will be difficult to get all of the students motivated to behave in a manner that suits PBL.
In an effort to extend the project to make it more interesting to the varied students that take biology, I have approached the Art and Business Studies teachers to seek their input into how the students might apply their biology to those subjects. Many of the Art students tend to prioritize their drawing over the other subjects as it takes so much of their time (and I do complain a bit to the Head of Art over our breakfast chit-chats), so I figured, why not get the students to inspire their artistry with the biology they encounter. Have you ever looked down a microscope at stuff...any stuff? Protein is just cool! Biology is cool! Plant xylem tissue looks like a vacuum cleaner hose - I wonder which came first? ;-P

The plant project could have the Art students developing their ideas from their plants. Creating their own paint from plant dyes. Creating their own brushes.
The Head of Business Studies has already expressed interest in having his students prepare the financial elements of the culminating activity. Since the plant project is about developing food or fuel, there are economic interests that can be applied.
Since part of the project will require a public address or video, I intend to get the Media Studies teachers involved. I recently viewed some of their students' work at a showing this year and I hope they will be able to use the plant project as a vehicle to showcase their talents.
Chemistry is a natural fit with plants and I am sure the Head of Chemistry will want to use the project for context in her teaching - plant fruit ripening is one area I can think of immediately that could be investigated.
The Textiles teacher may want to get involved if the use of plant products is part of the specification she teaches; in bio, we investigate the tensile strength of plant fibres, hopefully we can find a link.

If indeed I can get input from a wide range of teachers, in a small areas, and the project is a success for all of us, perhaps we can more formally organise and plan the integration for next year or the year after. The more success we have and the more interest we get, the more likely the culture of the school and the attitudes to strictly instructivist teaching strategies will change.

Annotated Bibliography

Theory and Practice of Case-Based Learning Aids

Authentic Assessment

The criteria I wish to address most with this project is the attitudes of the students toward plants. I have been guilty in the past of biasing students against plants and other areas of biology that are less laboratory based. Through learning and teaching about plants I have become a better teacher as I am more knowledgeable and interested in how plants function and their adaptations. Since plants are such a big part of the course, it is vital that the students acquire a sense of wonder about them and actively want to know about them. The course refers to adaptations twice: Describe the concept of niche and discuss examples of adaptation of organisms to their environment (behavioural, physiological and anatomical). Describe how natural selection can lead to adaptation and evolution.  These statements are vague and have wide context.

Attitudes -

• That plants are important to our survival,
• That our future depends on plants and we need to understand them,
• That while plants may be slower than animals in general, their adaptations for survival are very diverse and extraordinary.

I believe the creation of a video that highlights a number of local plant species, perhaps 5, for their “cool”, “strange” or “weird” adaptations would be a good way to bring the students into contact with the more interesting plants. The Raflesia species, native to Malaysia, may be a good start, but closer to home there is a weed that grows on our football field with fast thigmatropic responses to touch that protect its leaves and reveal its thorns!

The video could be presented as a documentary that highlights the plants’ adaptations with brief explanations as to the mechanism that causes the action to occur, or the reason behind the evolution of the adaptation. If the actual plants can’t be found, clips from YouTube could be used to produce the documentary with the student presenting their points in between.

I would be aiming to have the students move up Bloom’s Affective Domain Taxonomy by at least one step but with most showing an enhanced attitude to the level of Valuing. This will require a pre and post survey as to the students’ attitudes. Relying solely on the authentic assessment measure of the video documentary may not be accurate as some students may be good actors! Combining the effort they make with the video and their responses may provide a greater degree of accuracy; assuming they respond honestly!

Bloom's Affective Taxonomy (retrieved from :http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/bloom.html)

Receiving Phenomena: Awareness, willingness to hear, selected attention.

Responding to Phenomena: Active participation on the part of the learners. Attends and reacts to a particular phenomenon. Learning outcomes may emphasize compliance in responding, willingness to respond, or satisfaction in responding (motivation).

Valuing: The worth or value a person attaches to a particular object, phenomenon, or behavior. This ranges from simple acceptance to the more complex state of commitment. Valuing is based on the internalization of a set of specified values, while clues to these values are expressed in the learner's overt behavior and are often identifiable.

Organization: Organizes values into priorities by contrasting different values, resolving conflicts between them, and creating an unique value system. The emphasis is on comparing, relating, and synthesizing values.

Internalizing values(characterization): Has a value system that controls their behavior. The behavior is pervasive, consistent, predictable, and most importantly, characteristic of the learner. Instructional objectives are concerned with the student's general patterns of adjustment (personal, social, emotional).

Epistemology Paper: Discovery Learning

Assessment - Setup - Journal 2

Just tested IFTTT; works nicely.



This could be a rather useful, not only for this project but for the reflective writing the Pastoral team at my school expect of their tutees. I will look to incorporate this system into the ePortfolios I have built over the last 6 months.
Tutors want a one-stop dashboard of their tutee's work within their ePortfolios. The Blogger Blog for reflective writing has always been a bit of an issue in my mind; I had no way of pulling the data to the teacher. IFTTT allows this. It will require a bit of setting up, but once it is done it should work without any input from the less techie tutors!

Bizarrely, IFTTT creates a folder which, if you move, breaks the link to Blogger; a new IFTTT folder is created in the root directory of GDrive. I'll have to look at setting up a specific GSheet to write to. It would be better if IFTTT recognised files by their key and not their name!

Assessment - Setup - Journal

As part of the assessment plan for my students, I want my students to create a log/journal of their biology work. This log will be assessed for their critical thinking and problem solving.

To make the assessment as efficient for the teachers as possible, I thought I'd look at IFTTT to set up a push from Blogger to a GSheet. This will allow the teacher and student to see a log of the journal entries and quickly access those entries. I'm still toying with the concept, but I've just thought - this second - of using Doctopus to share the Journal Log sheet with the students. The teachers' assessments can be done with Goobric and kept private (FERPA) while comments directly on the blog can be formative.

Let's see how it goes!

Plants as food, plants as fuel?

I spent some time this week looking for YouTube clips that I can use to set the scene for the plant project, and stimulate discussion among my students. I found some really interesting stuff about the use of crude oil and plants that I wasn't aware of myself; I think I'm going to enjoy this project!
I have had some ideas about retrieving energy from plants that involve the breakdown of the unused cellulose in the stalks of crop plants when the crop is harvested. In Malaysia every year, farmers in Malaysia and the surrounding countries like to set fire to their fields, this creates a haze that has closed our school; this issue is what has prompted my thinking. Sadly, my research into this project has led me to find Cellulosic Ethanol production; always a day late and a dollar short!

I am still questioning the construction of my Driving Question - one of BIE's 8 Essentials for PBL - as to whether it is too vague:

Using plants, how will you produce your own food or fuel for a future of climate change, no oil and drought?

After a bit of thought and looking at other examples of driving questions, perhaps this will work:

Using plants, what do you have to do to produce your own food or fuel for a future of climate change, drought and an absence of oil?

Try again after watching the Wing Project!:

Using plants, how can I produce my own food/fuel for a future of climate change, drought and an absence of oil?

Considering the scope with which I have given this project - a 2 year course - the driving question really needed to encompass a lot of standards from the course. I hope I have managed this.

PBL Research

Research and thoughts on PBL
Over the past 3 to 4 years, the Edexcel exam board in the UK has produced exam style questions for AS/A2 (A Level) Biology that are increasingly more applied. In the UK, students are expected to submit their practical write-ups and a research paper as coursework to be assessed; as an international school, we are not bound by this coursework requirement and our students sit a written alternative practical exam. While my students do not like having to write practical investigations to the degree I ask them since they aren’t submitted as coursework, I am certain that the skills they acquire from going through the process are a necessary ingredient in their ability to perform while in these written exams.

I believe that having my students go through the process of proper investigation and research, they will be prepared for the strange scenarios the examiners present in the written exam.

What is more of a concern is that Edexcel have begun to introduce these styles of questions for IGCSE; the students have little experience of the thinking processes required of them to answer these questions. Anecdotally, I have found that students who are very good at being “traditional students” and do well in the traditional learning environment can struggle, whereas students who are less rigorous learners but have good common sense can see the questions for what they are!

Stephanie Bell (2010) highlights a study in the UK by Boaler (1999) where they found that three times as many PBL students achieved the highest possible grade in national exam. “Students at the PBL school were equally able to answer procedural questions that used formulas, but they were superior in answering applied and conceptual problems (Boaler 1999).”

I am hoping that by introducing more PBL style lessons for my students that I will be able to enhance their skills in identifying the scenarios they are presented with for what they are by asking the correct questions. At the moment, my colleagues call this exam technique but it is the skill of critical thinking that needs to be targeted as a whole.

“With PBL, assessment is authentic. We measure a child’s performance via rubrics, but a critical aspect of this model includes self-evaluation and reflection. Children learn from their processes. They reflect on how well they worked in a collaborative group and how well they contributed, negotiated, listened, and welcomed other group members’ ideas. Students also self-evaluate their own projects, efforts, motivations, interests, and productivity levels. Students become critical friends by giving constructive feedback to each other, which helps them become aware of their own strengths and improve on their interactions with each other.”

The self-evaluation and reflection part of PBL is clearly a huge part that cannot be overlooked. In a content heavy syllabus with little time for reflection, students often don’t get, or take, the time to consider their meta-cognition. If PBL is to be successful, I will need to carefully plan my contact time with my students in order to provide the support and reflection time they need; a combination of PBL, Flipped Lessons, and reflection time should do it!

Kirschner, Sweller and Clark (2006) are highly critical of the value of the constructivist theory that lies behind PBL:

“In so far as there is any evidence from controlled studies, it almost uniformly supports direct, strong instructional guidance rather than constructivist-based minimally-guided learning. Even for students with considerable prior knowledge, strongly guided learning can be equally effective as unguided approaches. Not only is unguided instruction normally less effective, there is evidence that it may have negative results when students acquire misconceptions or incomplete knowledge.”

Clearly, one should consider the issues they raise regarding “minimal guidance” in order to ensure students do not acquire misconceptions in their knowledge and understanding of the science concepts taught.

Andrew Provan (2011) also highlights the issues of minimal guidance in PBL in his article regarding the the delivery of the medical cases in a Problem based approach to learning at British Columbia. He points out how the course organisation expects students to hypothesise on problems before they have any base knowledge around which the problems are set; this leads to the students going in the wrong direction for their research and that the research is unnecessarily time consuming in an already packed course.

Considering the workload A Level students have in my current school where they study 3 or 4 A Levels plus the Extended Project Qualification, having students research all of their content and self study must be an unreasonable expectation when direct instruction and classroom activities supported by the teacher are more efficient.

Project Idea
A large part of the AS and A2 Biology syllabus is tied to plants; photosynthesis, flowering, hormones, totipotency, mitosis and cloning, seeds, conservation, affects of global warming. 

The project I would like my students to undertake will likely be based around the Driving Questions of:

• Can you produce Food for the Future?
• Can you generate sustainable Fuel for an energy hungry society?

The students will need to grow their own plants and maintain them over the duration of the course. The purpose of the project is to have the students take ownership of their learning and to be motivated in the lessons on plants as they will use their own plants in the practical lessons.

Their initial research is likely to be in germination of seeds, and on which plants will best suit their desired project goal. In order to ensure the students are further "hooked" by the project, their first lessons on seeds will be followed by a scientist from the Millennium Seed Bank giving a live virtual tour of the MBSP and answering the students questions regarding seed conservation and germination strategies.

As the students progress through the course, their plants and how they care for them, will become the central focus around which the content of the syllabus will be hung. 

The students will visit local universities and plant research centres in order to learn first hand the techniques required to allow them to investigate the propagation of their "food plant" or "fuel plant." If at all possible, students will gain experience of genetically modifying their plants in order to cause them to be more productive in harsher conditions predicted by global warming predictions.

As a culminating presentation, the students will present that plants/food/bio fuel at the school summer fair and pass on their projects to the younger students by using the seed banking techniques they have learned from the MBSP.

References:

Bell, S. (2010). Project-based learning for the 21st century: Skills for the future. The Clearing House, 83(2), 39-43.

Kirschner, P. A., Sweller, J., & Clark, R. E. (2006). Why minimal guidance during instruction does not work: An analysis of the failure of constructivist, discovery, problem-based, experiential, and inquiry-based teaching. Educational psychologist, 41(2), 75-86.

Provan, A. (2011). A critique of problem-based learning at the University of British Columbia. Retrieved June 22, 2014, from http://www.bcmj.org/mds-be/critique-problem-based-learning-university-british-columbia.

PBL Project Research

Cool PBL projects

All of the projects I looked at had well crafted Driving Questions that hook the students. The best projects were those that the students had developed the Driving Question themselves! 
What was clear from each example I looked at was that they were closely tied to the standards; learning objectives and assessments were clearly identified and communicated to the students. A good example of this was i-EARN's Find Solutions for Hunger.

Virtual School House: Tropical Rainforest Interactive Presentations http://www.virtualschoolhouse.net/r_o.htm 

In this project the students, teachers and local experts work together to develop a tropical rain-forest in a disused greenhouse. The students had to develop a bid for the acquisition of the materials ($8000) and had to do hands on work to a deadline to construct the habitat in time for a public viewing. The rain-forest is now used by the students to teach elementary students about the importance of the rain-forest.

I am impressed by the ownership that these students take and their persistence in finishing it. The value the completed project provides to the community is inspiring.

This project makes me think about the rain-forest on my doorstep but don't ever see! Much of the rain-forest has been cut down and replaced with oil-palm plantations; it is sad, but the people need their oil! Students could replant the school grounds with the indigenous plant species to give the school more cover and protection from the Sun; this would be interesting and probably good for the younger students I teach. For the older students whose exam specification has several elements of plant biology tied to plant growth, conservation, DNA profiling, etc., I would be more inclined to have the students investigate the food production and sustainability of plants, particularly drought resistant species.


High Tech High's African Bushmeat Project: http://www.africanbushmeat.org/

The students developed a more effective way of using DNA profiling and PCR to identify the species of meat in order to help the conservation efforts in Africa. Endangered animals are illegally killed and sold as other meats; the students work actually advanced the efforts to reduce this practice.

I think it is amazing that students can have this kind of input and affect on real-world issues. I want to see my students use the techniques of PCR and DNA-Profiling to identify traits in plant species that allow them to grow well in dry and hot conditions. I am currently working on several possible university contacts that may help us develop our Driving Questions and allow us work alongside their teams in their labs.

PBL and Vocational courses; just a thought!

When I was a kid, my town had a Polytechnic that ran vocational courses and they tended to attract those students that were not capable, for whatever reason, of being able to attend the High Schools and Grammar School. It seems to me that vocational courses and the concept of the apprenticeship is precisely what we are trying to mimic in our classrooms by doing PBL.

If schools are serious about preparing students for the "real world", should they begin to take this concept to the next level and have vocational units specific to the job roles students may actually do when they leave school.

My brother might have been what is termed an 'at-risk' student. He left the Grammar School because he always skipped school and entered the Poly where he did a Meterology, 100%, Project course as an A Level. He never turned up to class...but skateboarded (this was 25 years ago when skateboarding in N.Ireland was done by 5 people) to the Stevenson Screen to take his readings and make his weather predictions every day; he aced the project! He has since joined the Royal Navy as a Marine Engineer and was awarded an OBE from the Queen last month! 

Traditional schools and traditional teaching styles aren't always suitable for every student, but that doesn't make them bad students, or less intelligent or productive to society!

Project Based Learning

In the last couple of years I have been inspired by Simon Sinek and Zoë Elder to present content to my lessons in a more interesting way. Simon's "Start With Why" concept and his great Ted Talk was the start of my movement forward from the safe 3 course meal my lessons had become.  Zoë brought Simon's words into focus with her great insights and applications to the classroom; each module I teach now starts with the Big Question, and each lesson has the objective framed as a question for my students to think about as they enter the room.

I have used Simon's Golden Circle to frame my own classroom philosophy for what I do and how I work:

I believe in challenging the standard classroom model, in creating scenarios that cause deep thinking in students, and in allowing students to choose their own path and style of study.

I don't always manage it, but through my studies and research, and liberal use/abuse of technology, and with time, I have changed my classroom and the experience of my students for the better. I believe in what I do and I can back it up; some traditional teachers find my methods somewhat disruptive! ;-P

Which brings me to Project Based Learning, Problem Based Learning, and Inquiry Based Learning. They are similar and need defining. I have used the techniques without awareness of what they were called as they just make sense; Problem BL is my favourite for KS3 Physics, Moments - Crevasse Crossing! (get in touch, I'll send it to you! It started off as "Adam Levine needs to cross a ravine") 

What is Project Based Learning?

The Buck Institute for Education (BIE.org, n.d.) defines Project Based Learning as "a teaching method in which students gain knowledge and skills by working for an extended period of time to investigate and respond to a complex question, problem or challenge." BIE go on to define the essential elements for Project BL to include:

• Significant content; based on the specification and concepts at the core of the academic subjects.
• 21st Century Competencies; the 4Cs - critical thinking ( careful thinking, done reflectively, with attention to criteria), collaboration, communication and creativity and taught and assessed.
• In-Depth Inquiry; students pose questions and develop answers using resources over an extended time.
• Driving Question; students have an open-ended question that intrigues them and stimulates them to explore to find the answer.
• Need to Know; Students see the need to gain knowledge, understand concepts, and apply skills in order to answer the Driving Question and create project products, beginning with an Entry Event that generates interest and curiosity.
• Voice and Choice; Students are allowed to make some choices about the products to be created, how they work, and how they use their time, guided by the teacher and depending on age level and PBL experience.
• Critique and Revision; The project includes processes for students to give and receive feedback on the quality of their work, leading them to make revisions or conduct further inquiry.
• Public Audience; Students present their work to other people, beyond their classmates and teacher. This authentic audience can further motivate the students to do their best work; it also access Redefinition as part of SAMR (Dr. Ruben R. Puentedura).

Vanessa Vega of Edutopia (2012) outlines PBL as:

• students learning knowledge to tackle realistic problems as they would be solved in the real world
• increased student control over his or her learning
• teachers serving as coaches and facilitators of inquiry and reflection
• students (usually, but not always) working in pairs or groups

I want to know how to assess creativity!

John Larmer of BIE makes some suggestions on how to teach the 4Cs, from here assessment can be designed - http://bie.org/blog/start_the_year_with_a_project_or_wait

What is the different between Project Based Learning and a WebQuest?

WebQuests can provide a contained list of resources to guide students in their research, this will support younger students and speed up the researching process if their are time restraints

Why should teachers consider incorporating PBL in their classroom?

Project BL allows for meaningful, engaging work by students that they can relate to their real lives. Since students are more interested in the content, they are more likely to remember the content they come into contact with, this knowledge can be applied more effectively later and in other contexts. "In PBL, students...learn how to take responsibility and build confidence, solve problems, work collaboratively, communicate ideas, and be creative innovators." (BIE.org). Whith the technology available to students to access information and communicate/collaborate, Project BL is an excellent way to introduce the technology standards to the classroom; bringing experts from the field of the project into the classroom for the students to meet and acquire first hand evidence.

What considerations are important when incorporating a Project Based Learning approach into the classroom?

Students need the skills of working in a group, communicating effectively, researching and presenting. These skills must be taught and can be introduced as discrete lessons or as mini-projects designed to enhance the behaviour/skill that is the learning objective.

Teachers must support their students in order for them to do the best they can. Providing rubrics and the training the students will need to use them is necessary, as is giving them examples of what a success outcome to a project looks like. Introducing experts to the students early on may motivate them to perform better.

Students need to know that they are on track and doing a good job. Regular formative feedback via specified checkpoints in the project timeline are necessary to guide the students and support them. Students will need time to revise and improve their work; reflecting on their performance and putting into place the advice of their teacher and peers.

The students must feel attached to the project; it must be authentic to them and they should care. Who they present their work to may place an extrinsic pressure on the students to make sure they don't embarrass themselves, or they may be intrinsically motivated to impress those that they are presenting to.


Describe qualities of a successful project.
What issues must a teacher consider that are specific to PBL instructional strategies?

Teachers must acquire the skill of defining the Driving Question:

"...problems/questions must be relevant to teachers’ required curricula, or teachers will not be able to justify the amount of time needed for students to work through them. A good driving question is defined as one that is meaningful to students, includes relevant content, involves authentic problem solving, lends itself to collaboration, and is broad enough to permit students to develop their own questions and investigations" (Lehman, Ertmer, Keck, & Steele, 2001).

The strength of the driving question may hook the students' curiosity and they will become invested and put in the effort required. 
Teachers must take on a different role within the learner-centered classroom; the management of the cooperation and collaboration of the students, their roles within their groups, and the engagement of the students during the project. Teachers must become facilitators as opposed to instructors, changing both how and what they teach (Ertmer & Simons, 2005).
Project BL outcomes are generally assessed through the authentic product that is created, however tests and quizzes can be used to test the knowledge of the underlying concepts and their understanding.
Vanessa Vega (2012) summarizes the research findings for a successful project as:

"A realistic problem or project

• aligns with students' skills and interests
• requires learning clearly defined content and skills (e.g. using rubrics, or exemplars from local professionals and students) 

Structured group work

• groups of three to four students, with diverse skill levels and interdependent roles
• team rewards
• individual accountability, based on student growth 

Multi-faceted assessment

• multiple opportunities for students to receive feedback and revise their work (e.g., benchmarks, reflective activities)
• multiple learning outcomes (e.g., problem-solving, content, collaboration)
• presentations that encourage participation and signal social value (e.g. exhibitions, portfolios, performances, reports) 

Participation in a professional learning network

• collaborating and reflecting upon PBL experiences in the classroom with colleagues
• courses in inquiry-based teaching methods"

What types of students will be successful in PBL environments?
Prabhu Nasargikar (2010) describes the 'ideal' attributes of a successful PBL student as:

• Knows their role in a group,
• Knows to ask empowering questions,
• Monitors their progress through self-evaluation and motivation,
• Bonds with other students to achieve goals,
• Develops thoughtful and well structured approach to guide choices,
• Fosters collaboration with other group members to create a climate of trust.

While these are ideal attributes, these skills need to be fostered and are what K-12 teachers would be aiming to generate from the process of Project BL.

A student who can to think critically, find, evaluate, and use appropriate learning resources, work cooperatively in teams and small groups will be most successful in Project BL. Basically, resilience!

Nona Barker listed these attributes for her students:

• willingly ask questions and discover answers
• be curious and inventive
• be active listeners and good communicators
• actively participate in learning process (engagement and motivation)
• work collaboratively with others
• work independently, when needed
• manage time effectively
• possess research and reasoning skills
• set and meet goals / benchmarks
• be able to critique their work and the work of others (and revise it)
• embrace ownership of project
• willingness to demonstrate and share knowledge with other

What are the current and potential issues surrounding the use of Project Based Learning in traditional or nontraditional schools?

For traditional schools, the requirement to meet the curriculum makes it difficult to implement Pprject BL fully. There is a constant need to pack content into an already packed timetable; I currently receive 2 hours per week to deliver a course that other equivalent subjects get 4 hours for! For schools that are fee paying, the parents have an expectation that their children to pass exams; sadly an instructionist method is the must effective way of importing content knowledge in an environment such as this.
For the non-traditional school, students develop the skills that are sought after by employers, however universities in the UK require equivalent qualifications to AS and A2; Montessori students still do GCSE and A-Level!

References

BIE (n.d.). What is PBL? Buck Institute for Education. Retrieved June 10, 2014,     from http://bie.org/about/what_pbl

BIE (n.d.). What is PBL? Buck Institute for Education. Retrieved June 10, 2014, from http://bie.org/about/why_pbl

Elder, Z. (2012). Full on Learning: Involve me and I'll understand. Crown House Publishing Company, UK.

Ertmer, P. A., & Simons, K. D. (2005). Scaffolding teachers’ efforts to implement problem-based learning. International Journal of Learning, 12(4), 319-327.

Larmer, J. (2013). How to Use the “4 C’s” Rubrics. Buck Institute for Education. Retrieved June 10, 2014, http://bie.org/blog/how_to_use_the_4cs_rubrics.

Lehman, J. D., Ertmer, P. A., Keck, K., & Steele, K. (2001, March). In-service teacher development for fostering problem-based integration of technology. SITE (Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education) 2001 Conference Proceedings. Charlottesville, VA: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education.

Nesargikar, P. (2010). From student to tutor in Problem Based Learning: An Unexplored Avenue. Retrieved June 14, 2014, from http://www.bjmp.org/content/student-tutor-problem-based-learning-unexplored-avenue.

Sinek, S. (2011). Start With Why. Retrieved June 14, 2014, from https://www.startwithwhy.com/.

Vega, V. (2012). Project-Based Learning Research Review | Edutopia. Retrieved June 14, 2014, from http://www.edutopia.org/pbl-research-learning-outcomes.