Week 11 - PBL Presentations

My. Mind. Is. Blown. This week's tutorial was all PBL presentations.  I am beyond  impressed at the artifacts created by my peers and their presentation skills.

I have enjoyed the focus on group work and presentations in this class.  Life is a collaborative exercise.  No one lives in a vacuum or a bubble.  Human beings are social creatures - were were created that way.  The Lord designed us to live and love and laugh and be joyful.  You work with people, you live with people, you learn with people.  Most of what we do for most of our days involves people.  So why has learning traditionally been treated as an individual exercise?

I learn a lot by working in a group.  Working alone I can learn content, but working in a group I learn so much more.  Group members will challenge ideas and present alternatives.  They will remind me of things I forget, help me to be accountable for deadlines and to produce quality work.  They validate me when I do a good job, and I return the favour.  They pick me up when I fall or stumble and together we create something far better than anything we could create alone (and in half the
time).

I am clearly not alone in my pro-group position.  This POL class has almost 30 students - each of them part of a group - and all learning not just from the professor and the content but from each other as well.  It is absolutely a community.  The results speak for themselves.

As with every presentation in this course, there was a need for peer feedback on the rubric provided by the professor.  There was also encouragement to provide SPECIFIC, TARGETED feedback in the chat box.  While cheer leading and support are nice in creating a safe/trusted environment, there also needs to be feedback that students can use to improve.  The fact that it is coming from peers adds value and diversity to the feedback.  I tried to provide feedback in the chat to each group.  I also made a point of asking critical questions about their process and/or product.  sort of a Do unto others are you would have them do unto you thing.  Each group appeared to welcome this type of feedback (as I would if our roles were reversed).

All group slides were posted in the class padlet, which is getting very full but has become a large repository of knowledge - very "connectivist" of Dr. Robertson to do that!

As for my group, we did well.  I had a hiccough that occurred minutes before we presented.  We were on deck and I was forced to switch computers.  I had only minutes to find a new laptop and orient myself.  Very stressful but my teammates pulled me through.  Our presentation started with a video I made.

Here's the link:  Our PBL Case Study (Video)

This video demonstrates my learning through the script.  I included many aspects of our course in my description of Kayla Chipman.  Notice what Kayla was not getting?  In this course I have learned to LOOK for these things in designing, understanding, and applying learning.  Our PBL presentation, like everyone else's was real evidence of our learning, high order thinking, and effort.

Learning Outcomes from this week:

It was a great class, and one in which I met all 5 learning outcomes, but a couple of the learning outcomes were especially prominent:

- LO#4 involves the creation and production of a "well-informed and rigorously researched educational artifact".  Check.  While I have met this LO already in a number of different ways in this course, I am pleased to be able to include it in this blog post.  

- Our PBL assignment also met LO#3 insofar as we approached a complex educational problem and applied theories to develop strategies.  Another check.

This week, like the rest of the course was really fun.  I will be VERY sad to end this term - especially since this is my last graduate course before I embark on my Masters thesis.  I will miss learning alongside my peers.  I will miss their friendship.  I will miss the professors.  I will even miss Adobe Connect (ok, that might be pushing it a bit..  LOL).

I want to end this blog post with a Bible verse from 2 Corinthians 13:14.  It is a popular verse in scripture but apt nonetheless:

"May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all."

James

Week 8-9-10 - "It's Fab to Collab"

Weeks 8 and 9:
 I have to give credit to my AEDT buddy, Laura Eng, for that this blog entry's title.  She would say that whenever we were in a group together (which was often - AEDT has a lot of group work due to the PBL-centric design).

Weeks 8 and 9 spent collaborating asynchronously on our PBL assignment, but that doesn't mean there wasn't learning to reflect on or HPL elements in play.  First and foremost was the collaboration (group work).  My group met several times in week 8 (we took week 9 off for March Break) in Adobe to work on our Google Doc.  We collaborated asynchronously as well via email, where ideas were shared, documents were fine-tuned, and decisions were made.

The process to arrive at a problem statement was convoluted - reinforcing to me how much learning is NOT a linear process.  Learning for me is rarely from A (not knowing) to B (learning).  Rather, learning is from A-Z, passing through all sorts of (seemingly) unrelated contexts, experiences, and knowledge before arriving at Z. And the best part about "Z" is that it may or may not be the learning required for the class, but it is guaranteed to be relevant to me.  Learning is a VERY personal exercise, which means learning HAS TO BE learner-centered.

We met twice before submitting our plan to Dr. Robertson.  The first meeting was to decide on the problem, which we did, and then we went away for 48 hours to individually consider and reflect on which learning theories applied to the problem.  This type of consolidation is so common by now that we almost overlook it or take it for granted.  The second meeting we proposed our theories and discussed which ones were most applicable.  Chad agreed to aggregate our findings and decisions into a mind map and share with us prior to submitting for feedback from the professor.  Click here for a copy of our Google Doc thus far.

As you can see from the document, I proposed the idea of Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and 21st century learning.  I proposed the latter theory in part because it applied to our problem and in part because it was new to me.  I have discovered that I am drawn to topics that I do not understand very well - maybe I see it as a weakness?  But I suspect it has more to do with my love of learning and wanting to have the answers.  Yes, there might be some vanity there, but hopefully only a little bit.  :)

Our feedback from Dr. Robertson on our proposed PBL problem was very positive, as she stated that ours was one of the top submissions.  She liked the decision to use branches to connect the problem, the elements of the problem, the stakeholders, the theories, and even some possible solutions.  While this document was by no means a polished product, Dr Robertson was able to see our direction and general approach along with our ideas to tackle the project. This struck me as an excellent example of the Gradual Release of Responsibility we have been discussing in class.  the professor is slowly letting us take responsibility for our project (and our learning) while still remaining present to encourage and assist.  This approach would resonate with my adult students.

Here is an image of our mind map.  I apologize if it is hard to read - Blogs don't allow for much real estate!!

Learning outcomes from this week:
- LO#1 by way of considering our prior learning in the PBL project, and the implications to course design are discussed in the course design are discussed in the blog past above.
-LO#2 regarding demonstrating a critical awareness of learning theories by way of our PBL group discussions on which theories best apply and why
- LO#3 regarding approaching complex educational problems was addressed by the process of arriving at and composing our PBL problem statement.
- LO#4 (producing a well-informed and rigorously researched educational artifact) was met by the creation of the mind map.
- LO#5 was met by the group discussions and collaborative decision-making that occurred during both of our group meetings.

More meetings to come, Week 10 is next!


Week 10:
Collab Learning Theories, Assistive Tech, and Differentiation

This week in the tutorial we discussed collaborative learning theories, differentiation, and assistive technologies.  The last hour was devoted to meeting with our PBL groups.  This time was VERY well spent as our group had decided not to meet over the reading week.

Breakout groups this tutorial were fun.  We were given a scenario that involved collaboration and cooperation and our group chatted about these two concepts.  While clearly different, we ultimately arrived at the "let the students decide!", I realized that our professor, Dr. Robertson, was actually doing the same with us.  We were being empowered to choose our own method and Dr. Robertson was helping us understand the elements of each decision.  It was a meta-exercise for me as I was both the teacher (in the scenario) and the recipient (in real life).  Nicely done!

A very cool thing happened in the breakout group, in that I was asked to share the story of my daughter, Alexa.  We were talking about differentiated learning and I thought about my daughter, Alexa.  Alexa (not to be confused with Amazon's AI) is in senior kindergarten and is ambidextrous.  She writes, eats, catches, and so on with both hands.  The irony of this is that when Alexa was born we were told her brain had not developed in-utero and she would likely be challenged.  She is the smartest kid in her class.  I thought about differentiation because Alexa - who is exceptional - didn't WANT to be different.  She wanted to write with her right hand like everyone else.  She wanted to read like everyone else (she currently reads at a grade 2 level despite being in SK).  My point was that differentiation needs to allow instruction to be different but still INCLUSIVE.  My group loved it and I got to share that story with the whole class.

Upon reflection, I am struggling to differentiate (pun intended) between Differentiated Learning and Personalized Learning.  I suspect one is more student-centered than the other?  Maybe Diff Lrng is about the teacher identifying the different needs for instruction but personalized learning involves the student in the decision-making as well?   Not sure, but I will find out.

In breakout groups there were two students who had strong knowledge of differentiated learning.  After they shared their opinion they listed to the other group members struggle through a concept these two had already learned.  Despite the fact that we were all peers, those two were still "more knowledgeable others", who could guide instead of tell.  To their credit, that is exactly what they did - respectfully corrected me when I shared an incorrect statement about the theory, and guided the group to a clearer understanding.  My ah-ha moment was that peers - not just profs - can scaffold and use ZPD, and that collaboration among students is not always a group feeling their way around int he dark.  Every so often one of the students can be the light.


Ok, so Learning outcomes!!  L.O. #1 involves considering prior learning and its impact on the course design.  I mention in this blog post that I am enjoying the design of the course where we get the last hour for self-directed activity (such as PBL groups).  I continue to appreciate this practice for several reasons:
1. It is predictable and that kind of routine brings comfort
2. It is useful and I use this time wisely.  Students with less investment in their learning could misuse this time - I do not.
3. It allows the learner to sort of decrease and decompress from the cognitive load involved in tutorials (often new content being learned) and bounce ideas off peers while those ideas are still fresh in everyone's minds.

L.O. #3 surrounds the learning theories.  I paid special attention in this blog to the theories discussed in class because they were somewhat new to me (Diff Lrng and Collab) and I included a learning theory NOT discussed in class (Personalized Learning).  This theory stuff is great!!

Next week we will be presenting our PBLs.  I am very excited for this, especially after tonight's meeting.  My group is going to rock it.  We have (and continue to) work hard on this project.  I am creating a case study video based loosely on Kyle's wife (she is a teacher).  Her story inspired our PBL.



James

Week 7 "ngised drawkcab" (backword design spelled backward)

Class this week was all about backward design.  A neat concept I am familiar with from my AEDT days, but a deeper dive.  I continue to be amazed by the discussions that go on in tutorial  My peers have some fantastic ideas and ways of thinking about things.  I love it.  This reinforces to me the learning impact of discussion and diversity - definitely an element I plan to incorporate into my own teaching whenever possible.

We actually covered quite a bit in class this week.  We began with sharing visual images that explained backward design.  Dr. Robertson continues to make a conscious effort to provide alternative ways to share ideas.  Tonight it was images, other nights it is through discussions, or presentations, or academic literature.  And she always reinforces what we are sharing/learning with her own experience and opinion.

With respect to the HPL framework, this class was assessment-centered.  PBL and backward design were also part of tutorial.  The pre-class reading was the assessment-centered environment chapter in the course text.  As always, we turned theory into practice - this time by examining the rubrics for the PBL and Learning Logs.  We also read a PBL paper from the Stanford newsletter, where the elements and theory of PBL environments is described.  Fascinating stuff that goes beyond my AEDT knowledge of PBL.

I was in an engaging breakout group where there was a lot of challenging of ideas.   What a blessing it is when people are able to challenge each others' ideas with respect - the quality of the conversation goes way up.  Reminds me of this quote from Aristotle:  

"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it."

So, backward design (Wiggins and McTighe). In staying with tonight's theme of digital representations, I found this image that summarizes my understanding of BD:

I came to the realization the backward design is quite common. Every time you "design with the end in mind" you are doing backward design.    Check out this short video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Xzi2cm9WTg

We looked at rubrics as an example of backward design, and discovered that rubrics are not just for assessments, they can also guide creation!  I did not realize this about rubrics until this tutorial.

After BD we discussed problem-based learning (PBL).  While I had some understanding of PBL, I still learned more about this approach.  I knew quite a bit about the elements of PBL and how this approach is used in teaching and learning, but I did not know the theoretical basis for the student-centeredness.   That was an "AH HA" moment for me.

Another AH-HA moment for me came when Lorayne mentioned "enduring understanding - or, in other words, an understanding of something that is so central to an idea that it extends beyond the classroom.  Where simple concepts point to (and fit into) larger ideas.  This learning log is an example of this, where my reflections align with bigger ideas - especially when viewed in aggregate.

The students in the class requested a break from tutorials next week to work on our PBL assignments.  I am in a group with Kyle Chapman and Chad Mowbray.  Looks like we will be doing EITHER something on really next-gen technologies (AR/VR and/or AI and ML) or something on motivation theory.  Either way, it will be terrific.  The three of us all seem to be on the same page - I like our chances despite being a small group of three.  From a learning perspective the groups were asked to come up with a brief problem description and send it before the end of the week.  Just a preliminary document for Dr. Robertson to provide feedback and confirmation of our direction.  I am conscious of the scaffolding and ZPD happening here, and seeing it used so effectively is persuading me to incorporate these elements in my own teaching - especially now that I have examples of how to do so effectively!


Learning outcomes from this week:
Last but not least, I want to tie in some learning outcomes from this week. I continue to enjoy the process of rationalizing design elements of the course with the LOs.  What a great way to reinforce and consolidate learning!

This week there was a strong element of LO#1, which states: "Conduct an inquiry to determine prior learning and the implications for the design of this course".  I was frequently reflecting this week on what I already knew about PBL, BD, and assessment, and applying it to the course content and discussions.

LO#2 "Demonstrate a critical awareness of learning theories, their scopes and limitations, by participating in a culture of disciplined inquiry that includes independent work and collaboration."  The breakout groups this week and the blogs cover this outcome nicely.

James