homeschooling/homeschoolers

Coronavirus has led to a rush of online teaching. Here’s some advice for newly remote instructors — from edsurge.com by Jeff Young & Bonni Stachowiak

Excerpt:

The simplest way to go online is to shift to a video conference platform
Stachowiak says that just lecturing to a webcam instead of an in-person class isn’t the best way to teach online, but it is the easiest way to switch. Under the circumstances, it is better than nothing. “I’d rather that you do that for your students, for yourself than to cancel all the classes,” she argues.

Think shorter
If it’s hard to hold students’ attention in person, it’s even harder online, says Stachowiak: “You’ll want to think about shortening that experience. The online environment tends to have shorter, more-compact opportunities and then other things to do that are more engaging than just sitting and listening.”

Coronavirus school cancellations lead to education tech surge –– from finance.yahoo.com by Reggie Wade

Excerpt:

Online learning tools like Zoom (ZM), Instructure’s (INST) Canvas, Cisco System’s (CSCO) WebEx and a host of other ed tech companies are coming to the aid of schools across the U.S. as they suspend or shift classes online due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Columbia University, Amherst College, the University of Washington, and Harvard University are among the growing list of universities that have announced that they will provide online classes, as campuses temporarily shut down in response to the contagion. More than 500 K-12 schools have also made the shift.

Jamie Candee, CEO of Edmentum, tells Yahoo Finance that since the outbreak of the coronavirus in the U.S. in January, the company has seen a surge in interest in its online educational tools. On March 9, the company had over 140 districts register for its online platform in under an hour.

Top Learning Tools when School is Closed — from cyber-kap.blogspot.com
Here is a list of suggested tools that can be used to keep the learning happening when schools are closed…

From DSC:
Some of these tools might also useful for some homeschooling situations I would think.

What Katrina Taught Us About Online Delivery — from insidehighered.com by Ray Schroeder
In 2005, more than 120 U.S. universities came to the aid of some 20 colleges and universities that had been impacted by Hurricane Katrina through shared online classes.

Cisco, Google Hangouts follow Zoom’s lead in offering free video conferencing features amid coronavirus outbreak — from bizjournals.com

Coronavirus causes work-from-home technology use to skyrocket — from foxbusiness.com
Microsoft usage in China increasing because more people are working remotely, company VP says

For those of you who teach and/or give presentations, you might be interested in this new video regarding what’s called “cognitive load” [Christian]

On 03/10/2020, in A/V -- audio/visual, active learning, adjunct faculty, adult learning, attention, colleges, communities of practice, community colleges, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, Daniel S. Christian, design, digital audio, digital learning, digital storytelling, digital video, education, elearning, engagement / engaging students, face-to-face, faculty, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, ideas, instructional design, K-12 related, law schools, learning, learning ecosystem, learning theories, multimedia, online learning, pedagogy, presentations, productivity / tips and tricks, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, teaching online, training / L&D, United States, universities, user experience (UX), by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
For those of you who teach and/or give presentations, you might be interested in a new video that I put together regarding cognitive load. It addresses at least two main questions:

What is cognitive load?
and
Why should I care about it?

Transcript here.

How do I put it into practice?

Simplify the explanations of what you’re presenting as much as possible and break down complex tasks into smaller parts
Don’t place a large amount of text on a slide and then talk about it at the same time — doing so requires much more processing than most people can deal with.
Consider creating two versions of your PowerPoint files:
- A text-light version that can be used for presenting that content to students
- A text-heavy version — which can be posted to your LMS for the learners to go through at their own pace — and without trying to process so much information (voice and text, for example) at one time.
Design-wise:
- Don’t use decorative graphics — everything on a slide should be there for a reason
- Don’t use too many fonts or colors — this can be distracting
- Don’t use background music when you are trying to explain something

Healthy looks different on every body...and learning looks different with every mind.

From DSC:
What I mean by this is this:

While I certainly agree that research has produced excellent, proven, effective pedagogies that work with many students (the majority even), the fact is, learning is messy. When a child walks into a classroom, there isn’t even one other child with the exact same neural situation.

Nor is there even one other student with the exact same experiences, background, passions, motivations, interests, etc. I’ve experienced this with our daughter who isn’t a part of the 80% that the typical education train addresses. Look out if you are part of the 10% of either side of the bell curve! As your learning experiences are too costly to address and likely won’t be addressed in many cases.

All that said, I still agree that the teaching and learning strategies are still highly relevant across the masses. My point is that there is still a lot of diversity out there. They say that learning is messy for a reason. If you doubt that, go sit in on an IEP sometime.

Play is disappearing from kindergarten. It’s hurting kids. — from edsurge.com by Joe Martin

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

In an increasing number of schools, teachers of very young students are pressured to pack every moment of the day with structured, academically rigorous tasks. One recent whitepaper linked the practice to preparing kids for the long road of schooling ahead, in which progress is measured through standardized testing starting in third grade.

Friedrich Froebel, a pedagogue of modern education, coined the term “kindergarten” in 1840 after recognizing the importance of play in the development of young children. Inspired by the idea of a garden, he designed a classroom where the teacher presented children with objects, which they were allowed to play with in any way they could imagine. When they lost interest in one object, they would be presented with a new one to spark curiosity and creativity. Children were encouraged to grow and flourish in this free form, play-based environment.

From DSC:
Given that we are all into a lifelong learning situation now, I vote for more importance being placed on whether someone enjoyed their learning experience. That said, I know there is struggle in learning…and learning in the struggle. But we focus so much on grades and standardized testing. This robs the joy from the teaching and learning environment — for the teachers as well as for the kids.

Also see:

Why aren’t we paying early childhood educators what they’re worth? — from edsurge.com by Rhian Evans Allvin

Reflections on “Guides to help kids learn coding” [educatorstechnology.com]

On 03/01/2020, in career development, computer science, Daniel S. Christian, homeschooling/homeschoolers, K-12 related, learning, love of learning, programming, student-related, youth, by Daniel Christian

Guides to help kids learn coding — from educatorstechnology.com

Excerpt:

Below is a collection of some of the best books to help your kids learn coding. Kids will get to learn the basics of computer coding through a wide variety of interactive visuals, engaging games and project-based activities. They will also get to experiment with different softwares and programming languages such as Python, Java, Scratch and many more. Links to the books are under the visual.

From DSC:
I don’t subscribe to the idea/expectation that every student should become a programmer and have extensive exposure to it. Why? Because:

It’s been my experience that programming requires a different kind of passion, a different way of thinking and processing information, a different way of problem-solving, a different disposition/makeup that many people (including myself) don’t have. This is one of the reasons why coders are often in such demand and are often paid so much — because the vast majority of people don’t want to do it (at least as programming exists today).
I’d like to see our students enjoy their learning. In fact, I’d like to see more emphasis on students enjoying their learning, and far less on grades. Given the new reality of lifelong learning, folks’ quality of life would increase if that were the case. To expect everyone to be able to code applications of some significance is an entirely different matter.

All that said, I do think it’s helpful for students to at least have some exposure to how to program — a basic understanding of coding and what are some of the things that are involved in that space. To have an appreciation of the process, some basic syntax, what’s possible, etc. would be helpful.

Introduction to programming classes should explain why programming is relevant, list some of the various languages out there, list some different kinds of applications that we use today, and provide some basic elements of programming. Perhaps students could create some very basic, fun things. This could wet some students’ whistles big-time, while helping other students come to the conclusion of, “Well, I tried it, but I don’t want to do this for a living.”

DC: Precursor to a next gen learning platform…? Another piece is falling into place.

On 01/11/2020, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, adult learning, analytics, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, communities of practice, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, cost of getting a degree, credentialing, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, digital storytelling, disruption, education, education reform, education technology, educational games / serious games, emerging technologies, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, global / globalization, heutagogy, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, learner profiles, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning preferences, learning spaces, lifelong learning, marketplaces, microlearning, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, more voice more choice more control, multimedia, Natural Language Processing (NLP), New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, online learning, online media, online tutoring, personalized/customized learning, platforms, simulations, smart/connected TV, social learning / networks, society, staying relevant, streams of content, student-related, surviving, technologies for your home, tools, training / L&D, trends, United States, universities, usability, user experience (UX), using teams, vendors, videoconferencing, virtual field trips, virtual K-12 schools, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, virtual tutoring, vision/possibilities, voice recognition / voice enabled interfaces, web-based collaboration, webinars, youth, by Daniel Christian

DC: Precursor to a next gen learning platform…? I think it's one of the pieces of the puzzle that's coming together.

Google just revealed that 500M people around the world are using Google Assistant.https://t.co/6uHXUUIYVb #AI #global #NLP #InstructionalDesign #learning pic.twitter.com/hSp0sa79k3

— Daniel Christian (@dchristian5) January 11, 2020

I’m thinking that a global, inexpensive, next gen learning platform will enable/integrate/address some of this. [Christian]

On 12/30/2019, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, adult learning, career development, change, changing business models, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, colleges, community colleges, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, cost of getting a degree, Daniel S. Christian, elearning, emerging technologies, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, global / globalization, heutagogy, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, internet, learner profiles, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning preferences, lifelong learning, more voice more choice more control, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, online learning, online tutoring, pace of change, personalized/customized learning, platforms, professional development, reinvent, second screen apps, smart/connected TV, society, staying relevant, student-related, surviving, tools, training / L&D, trends, ubiquitous learning, universities, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, voice recognition / voice enabled interfaces, web-based collaboration, webinars, workplace, by Daniel Christian

DC: I’m thinking that a global, inexpensive, next gen learning platform will enable/integrate/address some of this…such as the item about stackable credits. 4 ex, I could see constantly morphing digital playlists/courses to provide up-to-date curricula.
https://t.co/ZGPAgqycRH

— Daniel Christian (@dchristian5) December 30, 2019

The Secret to Student Success? Teach Them How to Learn. [Bain]

On 12/27/2019, in education, education reform, homeschooling/homeschoolers, ideas, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, learning theories, metacognition / metacognitive skills, pedagogy, research, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, by Daniel Christian

The Secret to Student Success? Teach Them How to Learn. — from edsurge.com by Patrice Bain

Excerpt:

Abby’s story is hardly unique. I often teach students who react with surprise when they do well in my class. “But I’ve never done well in history,” they say. This is almost always followed by a common, heartbreaking confession. “I’m not smart.” Every time I hear this, I am faced with the gut-wrenching realization that the student has internalized failure by age eleven. Yet every year I see these same students soar and complete the class with high grades.

This raises two questions for me: How can we turn eleven-year-olds who have internalized failure into students like Abby who retain information for years? And how can we teach that poor grades don’t indicate failure, but rather that we haven’t found the correct learning strategy?

Enter research.

To the youth out there: You can — and do — make significant, positive impacts on our society!

On 12/21/2019, in cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, health, homeschooling/homeschoolers, ideas, innovation, neurodivergent/special needs, programming, society, student-related, tools, youth, by Daniel Christian

To the youth out there: Again, as we saw with Time’s Person of the Year for 2019, youth can — and do — make huge, significant contributions to our society! The impact you can have is real. https://t.co/E6GShPjDEO

— Daniel Christian (@dchristian5) December 21, 2019

With thanks to Mr. Joe Byerwalter for this resource.

Coming down the pike: A next generation, global learning platform [Christian]

On 12/19/2019, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, active learning, adult learning, analytics, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, assessment, attention, blended learning, Bring your own device (BYOD), business side of he, career development, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, CMS/LMS, collaboration, colleges, communities of practice, community colleges, competency-based learning/education, consortiums, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, cost of getting a degree, Cost of legal services - including access, credentialing, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, data related items, digital audio, digital learning, digital storytelling, disruption, distance education, e-publishing related items (EPUB and more), education, education reform, education technology, educational games / serious games, elearning, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, entrepreneurship, formal learning, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, global / globalization, heutagogy, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, informal learning, innovation, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, internet, languages and translation, law schools, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning preferences, library / librarians, lifelong learning, media/film, microlearning, mobile technologies, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, more voice more choice more control, multimedia, Natural Language Processing (NLP), New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, new business models, online learning, online media, online tutoring, pace of change, participation, passions, personalized/customized learning, platforms, professional development, reinvent, second screen apps, simulations, smart/connected TV, social learning / networks, society, staying relevant, streams of content, student-related, surviving, teaching & learning, technologies for your home, telecommunications, telepresence, television, tools, training / L&D, universities, user experience (UX), using teams, videoconferencing, vision/possibilities, web-based collaboration, webinars, workplace, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
Though we aren’t quite there yet, the pieces continue to come together to build a next generation learning platform that will help people reinvent themselves quickly, efficiently, constantly, and cost-effectively.

Colleges see equity success with adaptive learning systems [Neelakantan]

On 11/25/2019, in Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, assessment, colleges, community colleges, Daniel S. Christian, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning preferences, mathematics, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, pedagogy, personalized/customized learning, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, student-related, tools, United States, universities, vendors, vision/possibilities, by Daniel Christian

Colleges see equity success with adaptive learning systems — from edtechmagazine.com by Shailaja Neelakantan
Powered by advanced algorithms, adaptive learning technologies boost completion rates and give students confidence.

“I used to teach one class of 100 students, but now I teach 100 classes of one student each,” said Doug Williams, the adaptive learning coordinator at Arizona State University, in the white paper, describing the effect of using such a technology-driven system to improve learning outcomes.

From DSC:
I post this item because I believe that this is the type of thing that will be a piece of our future learning ecosystems. Learning agents. Systems that accommodate each individual’s learning preferences. Real-time formative assessments…that impact what you see and experience next. Intelligent systems. Intelligent tutoring.

People demonstrate mastery at different times — let that be part of our futures — versus this one-size fits all, hop-on-board-or-you-miss-the-train…a train that stops for no one.

Top ten podcasts every teacher needs to hear — from wiley.com; with thanks to Emily Liebtag for her posting on Twitter for this resource

Excerpt:

Listening to podcasts is an easy way to dive into a topic that interests you and learn something new from others who share your passion for education.

We’re highlighting the following ten podcast episodes featuring Jossey-Bass authors that you can listen to whenever, wherever to help you master your craft or reignite your love of teaching.

So, take some time for yourself, grab your earbuds, and press play on these…

Think you could learn Mandarin? This Kansas kindergarten classroom is Chinese-only — from by Robert Smith

Excerpts:

In a Wolf Springs Elementary School classroom with “Chinese Only Zone” signs taped to the walls, kindergarteners are learning their core subjects in the primary language of a global economic superpower located across the world.

This language-immersion class of kindergarteners is part of a new Blue Valley School District initiative to graduate high school seniors fluent in a second language, an asset school officials believe will give students a leg up as they pursue academics and careers and prepare students to participate in a global workforce.
…
Chinese Mandarin, a group of dialects spoken by more than 800 million people, is a tonal language in which the meaning of words can be reflected by voice pitch. Though its grammar is similar to English, words or phrases are represented by Chinese characters.

Besides the usual educational stresses, parents who put their children in the program would need to be committed to the program. Because these kindergarteners are expected to remain together in a Mandarin-speaking classroom all the way through high school, new immersion students can only enter the program in kindergarten.
…
While other elementary-aged students spend roughly 60 minutes studying Spanish per week, this group of kindergartens spends half of their school time each day with Pan learning math, science and social studies in Mandarin. The groups studies reading and literacy with teacher Haley Watkins in English.

“In under a minute we filled all of the slots. That afternoon we had hundreds of people on the waiting list.”

From DSC:
Wow! This is quite the K-12 cohort/immersion! Add to that type of setup tools like Cisco Webex, Blackboard Collaborate, Adobe Connect, etc. — and not to mention what happens with virtual reality in the next decade — and this type of cohort/immersion will likely be highly effective over time.

So what will the future classrooms of the world look like? My guess is that with 5G and virtual reality on the way, there will be a lot more “connections” being made in the future…with many nations/classrooms being involved.

iStock-1154674846-purchased-11-21-19
[From my purchase of iStock #1154674846.]

This former Apple designer is taking on Amazon’s Twitch with $146 million and Fox’s backing [Beer]

On 11/19/2019, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, Apple, collaboration, colleges, communities of practice, community colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, Daniel S. Christian, digital audio, digital learning, digital video, distance education, education technology, educational games / serious games, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, media/film, microlearning, mobile learning, more voice more choice more control, multimedia, online learning, online media, online tutoring, personalized/customized learning, platforms, play, second screen apps, smart/connected TV, social learning / networks, social media, society, technologies for your home, television, tools, training / L&D, universities, vendors, web-based collaboration, youth, by Daniel Christian

This former Apple designer is taking on Amazon’s Twitch with $146 million and Fox’s backing — from fastcompany.com by Jeff Beer
Caffeine founder and CEO Ben Keighran talks about why live streaming is much more than gaming—it’s the future of TV.

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

Live-streaming startup Caffeine, started by former Apple designer Ben Keighran, is emerging out of a two-year beta today and aims to overtake Amazon’s Twitch and Microsoft’s Mixer as the world’s leading live broadcasting platform. The official release version features a completely new design for its website and iOS and Android apps that combines editorial, algorithmic, and social connections to make it easier to discover live broadcasting from gamers, entertainers, and athletes, as well as create your own interactive broadcasts featuring live television content.

Twitch is the undisputed king of live-streamed gaming, but Keighran is betting that Caffeine’s more diverse focus to go beyond gaming—into entertainment and sports—will make it a more attractive place for both viewers and creators.

Keighran says another technological difference between Caffeine and Twitch is in its ease of use and quickness. “In just a couple of clicks, you can stream Red Bull 24/7 and be the commentator, you can stream Fortnite in one click, you can create an entertainment stream and talk about the new sneaker you just got, and you can do that all in one place,” he says. “And it’s all in real-time—there’s no delay in the video, whereas on Twitch, there’s up to a 60-second delay.”

From DSC:
Hmmm… social interaction. New platforms for streaming live content. Ability to comment and ask questions (i.e., audience interactions). Interactive chats.

Can we add learning-related experiences to the audiences and applications here?

A somewhat related item:

Large-Scale Esports Series Launches in Partnership with College Bookstores — from campustechnology.com by Sara Friedman
Students participating in the AVGL Masters: Campus Gaming Series will register for the tournament by visiting their campus bookstore and then compete online on BoomTV.

Learning Ecosystems

“Coronavirus school cancellations lead to education tech surge” + “Top learning tools when school is closed” + others

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