K-12 related

From DSC:
How can we better get the word out to our learners regarding how they can maximize their Return On Investment (ROI) from their studying time and efforts?

Two ideas come to mind here:

Place learning-related tips directly into our banners within our CMS’s and LMS’s
and/or
Link our banners to some other web pages/resources that provide such best practices and tips for our learners

Along these lines, we should have 11″x17″ (or larger) posters like this plastered in every hallway of every learning space out there:

Some would also add:

Active learning
Flipping the classroom
Providing individualized feedback
Metacognition (which was referenced in the first graphic above in regards to identifying gaps in one’s knowledge)

Tech & Learning Magazine Names the Winners of the Best of 2021 — from techlearning.com
Tech & Learning’s judges deemed these products as standouts for supporting teaching and learning in 2021

Excerpt:

Tech & Learning magazine has named the winners of the Awards of Excellence: Best of 2021 contest, which recognizes educational technology that exceptionally supported teachers and students last year.

The contest focused on outstanding products that supported education this past year no matter the learning environment, whether face-to-face, remote, or anything in between. Eligible products included hardware, software, curriculum, and more, all divided by grade levels to make it easier to find the solutions you need.

Each nominee answered the following questions: What specific problem does this product solve? How did your product exceptionally support teaching and learning in 2021? How does your product address the challenges facing education today?

6 Ed Tech Tools to Try in 2022 — from cultofpedagogy.com by Jennifer Gonzalez

Excerpts:

This year, for the very first time, I hired a team of ed tech experts to help me with the update. The task was becoming overwhelming and I knew if I was going to keep it up, I had to have some help. Here they are below: Marnie Diem, Brandie Wright, Lucia Hassell, and Kim Darche.
…

5. EVERFI
everfi.com/k-12

Originally a site that offered free financial literacy courses to students, EVERFI has expanded its course offerings to include career exploration (including one specific to STEM careers), social and emotional learning, diversity and inclusion, and health and wellness. Their newest additions are courses in healthcare literacy, data science and banking fraud, and compassion and empathy.

From Web3 to Ed3 – Reimagining Education in a Decentralized World — from mirror.xyz by Scott David Meyer; with thanks to Bryan Alexander for posting this resource out on LinkedIn

Excerpt:

Ed3 as a Source of Human Flourishing
Education is a right, and a cornerstone for human flourishing. The more we are able to teach our students, the better prepared they will be to enter the Knowledge Economy and leave their mark on the world.

We are at the beginning of the web3 wave. Entire industries are being re-imagined with a focus on participation and ownership. Education can, and should, follow suit.

By welcoming this new era of ed3, more students will be able to access, afford, and accredit a dynamic education that helps them flourish and leave their mark on the world.

From DSC:
Here’s a brief example of what teaching & learning could like in the metaverse. I realize this is just one example, and there will likely be a variety of options and formats…but it’s an interesting thought experiment.

The Metaverse in the works! pic.twitter.com/vmHL5oXOVP

— DekmarTrades via TradeCaster (@DekmarTrades) January 17, 2022

Talk about engagement! Here are some fun ideas to engage your audience, class, and/or group!!! [Christian]

On 01/18/2022, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, Adobe, adult learning, attention, Canvas - and other Instructure-related items, CMS/LMS, colleges, communications, communities of practice, community colleges, content development, corporate universities / corporate training, creativity, Daniel S. Christian, digital audio, digital learning, digital video, education technology, educational games / serious games, Emotion, engagement / engaging students, entrepreneurship, experimentation, higher education, ideas, innovation, instructional design, interactivity, IT in HE, K-12 related, law schools, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, lifelong learning, love of learning, Microsoft, multimedia, online learning, online media, participation, platforms, remote teaching and learning, smart/connected TV, teachers, teaching & learning, teaching online, technologies for your home, tools, training / L&D, user experience (UX), user interface design, using teams, vendors, videoconferencing, vision/possibilities, web-based collaboration, webinars, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
These ideas are specially meant for you entrepreneurs and vendors out there! Including such vendors and products such as Zoom, Cisco Webex, Microsoft Teams, Adobe Connect, and others!

This idea could also be profitable and fun for CMS/LMS vendors and products such as Instructure/Canvas, Blackboard Learn, D2L, Google Classroom and others!

How might we take engagement within an online-based learning environment to an entirely different level? Well, check out these ideas!

What if learning could feature more personality? Be more fun? Have shades of game shows even!? Yet at the same time, if you are a learner who ventures into the ideas that I’m about to suggest, you had better be ready to back up and explain your perspective/position!

Here’s what I’m getting at. You know when you are messaging you can insert some fun motion graphics into your message?

Well, what about if we could select from a bank of very short video clips during a live/synchronous discussion — or during an asynchronous-based discussion board posting — that contained a famous movie clip/message? Then, if you choose to do that, you are then required to explain your perspective/position.

Video	What the video could mean
“Beam me up Scotty! There’s no intelligent life down here.”	This is ridiculous. No one’s making any sense here.
“You meddling kids.” From various bad guys on Scooby-Doo.	You’re messing with me. I don’t agree with your perspective, and here’s why.
“That does not compute.” Spock from Star Trek.	I don’t agree with your answer. That doesn’t make any sense and here’s why.
“You can’t handle the truth.” Jack Nicholson in “A Few Good Men.”	Are you sure you want to know the truth about this topic? Can you handle such a truth? This is about to get real in here.
“Do. Or do not. There is no try.” Yoda. Star Wars	Take action on something; do something.
“I’ll be back.” Arnold Schwarzenegger in various films.	I’m stepping away from my desk…but I’ll be back soon. or You may have one this round, but I’ll be back for another round.

Learners within a learning community could use entertainment and have some fun while also having to backup their position/perspective! Talk about engagement! Shooooot.

And/or…learners could be like DJ’s at radio stations — and, on the fly, select from a bank of songs, audio-based noises and sounds!

The danger here is that humor can sometimes backfire and/or offend someone. So we would need to watch the content that’s available to choose from within the repositories of media. We would want to do some serious beta testing here to make sure things stay on the fun, entertaining, and educational sides of things.

Such an approach could introduce opportunities for creativity and for honing one’s ability to think on one’s feet. Also, learners could work on their communication skills as well as their ability to debate or persuade, or to practice some critical thinking.

While more gameshow-like on the surface, if you use such media, you have to explain why you used that media.

Exemplar of successful implementation of tech in schools — from donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com by Donald Clark

Excerpts:

It was impressive to find a school network that took technology as seriously as Curro, in South Africa. They had invited me to give a keynote on AI for Learning, based on my book and experience but I hung around as the teacher sessions were so damn good. This is what I learnt, as I think it is a recipe for success.
…
This was the big surprise. There were glowing testimonials from teachers about the power of adaptive learning, using AI, to personalise learning for students. It was described as a ‘gamechanger’ by the teacher who presented, with clear targeting, so that efficient and relevant, individual interventions could be made for students. It was clear that they knew why they wanted this technology, had implemented it well and were using teacher feedback to spread the word internally.

I was giving a talk as part of that process. The day’s activities were under the banner of ‘Imagining 2022’. It’s hard enough to Imagine what any year will bring these days but it was clear that this was a learning organisation, willing to learn from their mistakes and make the effort to plan forward.

Also see:

Curro

Trends Shaping Education in 2022 — from gettingsmart.com by Tom Vander Ark

Key Points:

It’s hard to see trends in a crisis.
Around the edges and behind the scenes three important shifts accelerated: new learning goals, team tools and staffing, and active learning.

NCDA | Career Convergence – The NCDA’s monthly web magazine for career practitioners

From DSC:
I like the continuum that I see here:

K-12
Postsecondary
Workplaces
Counselors, Researchers, etc.

We ask students in college, for example, to pay an enormous amount of money at a time when they don’t know what’s all out there. Many don’t know themselves yet (I surely didn’t) and they also don’t know what discipline/area/jobs might be a good fit (again, I surely didn’t). We need more seamless transitions from one chapter/phase to another (and sometimes back again). We need more resources for students to find out what’s out there.

This is why I like services like LinkedIn Learning (which was Lynda.com), MasterClass, MOOCs and the like. A person can spend an hour or two (or even less) to see if that class, topic, etc. is of interest to them.

Methods and tools to develop future-ready skills — from blog.neolms.com by Rachelle Dene Poth

Excerpt:

Because of the changes that we experienced in the past year, I believe that it is important to have various options, whether teaching in-person, hybrid, or virtually. Choosing methods like Genius hour or project-based learning, activities such as scavenger hunts or learning stations, or selecting digital tools that promote more interaction with and between students will help foster the development of essential future-ready and SEL skills.

There are many methods and tools to explore, but it’s important to focus on the why behind the choices we make for our students. The use of digital tools promotes collaboration, communication, creativity and many more essential skills while also promoting the power of choice for students to share what they have learned.

More choice. More control.

Also see:

What is Breakout EDU and How Can It Be Used for Teaching? Tips and Tricks — from techlearning.com by Luke Edwards
Breakout EDU is a puzzle game based in the real world and digitally that’s great for team-based learning

Escape rooms have become very popular as a place teams can go to work out how to get free from the room in which they are “trapped.” It’s like a real-world version of a computer game that makes you work together to solve puzzles to escape from somewhere.

Breakout EDU helps to bring that experience to educators so as to better engage students and help them learn while having fun.

Here’s a nice moderator checklist, courtesy of Eva Keiffenheim

On 01/13/2022, in adjunct faculty, adult learning, biology, business, collaboration, colleges, communications, communities of practice, community colleges, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, distance education, education, education technology, faculty, health, instructional design, K-12 related, law schools, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods, learning preferences, learning spaces, learning theories, teachers, teaching & learning, teaching online, technologies for your home, United States, universities, vendors, videoconferencing, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

Here’s a nice moderator checklist, courtesy of Eva Keiffenheim — from her Learn Letter, dated 1/12/22

Also see the following item from Eva Keiffenheim:

Four Brain and Energy Hacks for Better Learning — from medium.com
Use these mental and physical shortcuts to increase learning efficiency.

But how does exercise transform your brain? She shares the three main changes…

AR and MR bubbles above students' heads as to who has been called upon and who hasn't

From DSC:
I created this image back in May of 2016.

6 Elements of Thriving Learners [Fielding]

On 01/07/2022, in creativity, education, K-12 related, leadership, learning, learning spaces, more choice more control, teachers, teaching & learning, by Daniel Christian

6 Elements of Thriving Learners — from gettingsmart.com by Randy Fielding

Key points:

Schools aren’t to blame for last year’s Insurrection, but they can be part of the long-term solution.
After nearly two decades of designing creative schools around the world, Fielding International has defined six elements for thriving learners.
Each thriving element is mapped to a series of design patterns at SchoolPatterns.com to help schools shape environments where learners thrive.

Mound Fort Innovation Center, an environment where curiosity & mastery are nurtured

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