student teaching/teacher education

Virtual classrooms: A vision of the future of teacher training [Smith]

On 03/05/2016, in 21st century, digital learning, education technology, emerging technologies, Microsoft, simulations, student teaching/teacher education, teachers, teaching & learning, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, by Daniel Christian

Virtual classrooms: A vision of the future of teacher training — from edtechmagazine.com by D. Frank Smith
A classroom simulator platform operating out of UCF is breaking new ground for how teachers hone their craft.

Excerpt:

Stepping in front of a classroom of skeptical students can be nerve-wracking for first-time teachers, but a new teaching platform at the University of Central Florida gives educators-in-training the option of conquering their classroom jitters in a virtual environment.

Educators must navigate social, pedagogical and professional hurdles all at once. And TeachLive is the first of its kind — a classroom simulator that can emulate these challenges and scale its difficulty to the specific needs of the teacher.

TeachLive places a teacher-in-training in a virtual classroom populated by computer-generated students. A Skype conference call and a Microsoft Kinect motion sensor power the high-tech pantomiming behind the platform. It’s currently being used at more than 80 campuses across the U.S. to train some of the next generation of educators, and it appears to be working.

Also see:

teachlive.org

Excerpt:

TLE TeachLivE™ is a mixed-reality classroom with simulated students that provides teachers the opportunity to develop their pedagogical practice in a safe environment that doesn’t place real students at risk. This lab is currently the only one in the country using a mixed reality environment to prepare or retrain pre-service and in-service teachers. The use of TLE TeachLivE™ Lab has also been instrumental in developing transition skills for students with significant disabilities, providing immediate feedback through bug-in-ear technology to pre-service teachers, developing discrete trial skills in pre-service and in-service teachers, and preparing teachers in the use of STEM-related instructional strategies.

“2020 Vision: Experts Predict the Future of Virtual Reality”; using VR to train teachers; plus 7 other items re: VR/AR

On 02/19/2016, in Asia, Augmented Reality (AR), education technology, emerging technologies, Europe, health, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, journalism, student teaching/teacher education, teachers, teaching & learning, vendors, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, by Daniel Christian

2020 Vision: Experts Predict the Future of Virtual Reality — from vrscout.com by Eric Chevalier

Excerpt:

VR will be the new internet.
You will spend your flights in virtual reality.
AR will beat VR.
There will be no MMO. [yet]
Virtual reality will change the film industry.
Parallax technology won’t be able to support augmented reality.
The space we’ll explore won’t be in the sky.
We will see a MMO game with a million subscribers.
The Divine Comedy will provide a model for successful VR storytelling.
Robots will touch you in VR and you’ll like it.
Journalism will be forever transformed.

Teachers-in-training learn through virtual reality — from thedmonline.com by Madeleine Beck

Excerpt:

The UM School of Education is using a program that allows teachers-in-training to practice classroom skills in a virtual setting before sending them into local elementary and secondary schools.

The simulated TeachLivE classroom consists of an 80-inch monitor with five student avatars. Each avatar has his or her own personality.

“All five avatar children are actually controlled by somebody in Florida, an actor or actress,” Dean of the School of Education David Rock said. “They’re set up with equipment so that if the actor raises his hand in Florida, the avatar child will raise his hand on the screen.”

EON Reality launches EON Creator AVR, a do-it-yourself augmented and virtual reality knowledge content creation application for teachers and students
EON Creator AVR empowers students and teachers to make engaging AR and VR knowledge transfer applications without programming skills.

Excerpt:

IRVINE, CA, February 16th, 2016 – EON Reality Inc., the world leader in Virtual Reality based knowledge transfer for industry, education, and edutainment, announced the upcoming release of EON Creator AVR (Augmented Virtual Reality), a mobile based application that enables users to easily create, share, collaborate, and publish Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) knowledge content. Using EON Reality’s patent pending Augmented Virtual Reality (AVR) technology, EON Creator AVR combines both Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality with a large AR/VR component library and assessment database to create one of a kind learning experiences. EON Creator AVR also leverages built in intelligence to help students and teachers quickly create highly interactive learning content directly on their tablets, smart phones, VR headsets, or AR glasses without requiring programming skills.

5 top augmented reality apps for education — from hongkiat.com by Gabriela Jugaru

Excerpt:

1. Google Sky Map
This is an augmented reality app which makes learning about astronomy interesting and fun. Instead of looking at descriptions of constellations in a book and then attempting to identify them in the sky, you can use Google Sky Map to directly identify stars and constellations using the camera on your smartphone.

Google Sky Map

How virtual reality could soon help stroke victims recover — from cnet.com by Max Taves
A $100 million investment in a Swiss startup highlights how VR offers more than just fun and games.

Excerpt:

Doctors could soon start prescribing an unusual solution to help stroke victims in the US: virtual reality goggles.

That’s the hope of Switzerland-based MindMaze, which on Wednesday got a $100 million investment to bring its blend of virtual reality hardware and neuroscience to market. The four-year-old startup’s technology has already won approval from regulators in Europe, where its applications for brain injury victims showcase what could soon be possible in the United States.

MindMaze’s 34-year-old founder and CEO Tej Tadi explains how: Imagine a stroke victim who’s lost control of her left hand but can still move her right hand. After putting on MindMaze goggles, the patient sees a 3-D image, or avatar, of her left hand that moves as she moves her right hand.

“That triggers areas in the brain to say, ‘Wait, let’s regain control of this hand’,” says Tadi. “The hand that was not working now works.” And that process of tricking the brain into seeing something that’s actually not there in the real world accelerates recovery, he says.

The Associated Press is partnering with AMD for more virtual reality journalism — from theverge.com by Adi Robertson

Excerpt:

After moving into virtual reality video journalism last year, the Associated Press is partnering with chip maker AMD for a new push into VR. Today, the companies announced that they’re launching a web portal for AP virtual reality, promising more journalistic endeavors soon — including “lifelike VR environments” built with the help of AMD.

Several news outlets have now started producing 360-degree videos, which can be watched through a Google Cardboard headset or a smartphone. The New York Times, which partnered with production house Vrse.works, offers documentary video about topics like child refugees and the 2016 presidential election in a dedicated NYT VR app. Vice has similarly partnered with Vrse.works, and ABC News worked with Jaunt to record a 360-degree version of a tour in North Korea. So far, the AP has partnered with a VR studio called RYOT, whose past work includes a short film about the April 2015 earthquake in Nepal.

Blippar’s new augmented reality app is supposed to recognize any object you point it at (video) — from recode.net by Lauren Goode

Excerpt:

But it’s safe to say that augmented reality is coming into a new phase: The contextual information being supplied is getting smarter, and people are gradually becoming more aware of the capabilities of AR and virtual reality (some are even excited to wear headsets, if you can believe it). So Blippar, in an effort to evolve along with the rest of the AR world, has just launched a new version of its smartphone app that is supposed to recognize literally any object you point at it — whether it has been “tagged” with an AR code or not.

Meta Unveils Incredible Augmented Reality Headset at TED — from uploadvr.com

Excerpt:

Redwood City-based Meta showed its latest AR glasses live on stage at TED in Vancouver.

The Meta 2 was demonstrated live by CEO Meron Gribetz with a person-to-person “call” showing a hand-off of a 3D model from a holographic person. Gribetz’ perspective was shown through the glasses as he reached out and took a model of a brain — a 3D hologram — from the hands of a colleague he saw projected in front of him.

“We’re all going to be throwing away our external monitors,” Gribetz said.

Example slides from one of the presentations at the Flipped Classroom Conference 2016
[Held at Harvey Mudd College in January; with special thanks to Mr. Jeremy VanAntwerp,
Professor of Engineering at Calvin College for this resource]

Three reasons for switching to flipped learning — from rtalbert.org by Robert Talbert, Mathematics Professor at Grand Valley State University in Michigan [USA]

Excerpt:

The argument from pedagogy: We use flipped learning because it puts the best-known/best-available practices for teaching and learning in the spotlight, including active learning of all kinds, student-centered instruction, constructivist techniques, differentiated instruction, spaced repetition, Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development idea, self-regulated learning, and the like. Whereas these things can be featured in a traditional classroom but it feels unnatural, like the wrong tool for the job.
The argument from logistics…
The argument from relationships…

Peer instruction for active learning — by Harvard University Prof. Eric Mazur on difficulties of beginners, teaching each other, and making sense of information

Also see Eric’s presentation out at Auburn University from back in September 2014:

Why are we so slow to change the way we teach? — from facultyfocus.com by Maryellen Weimer, PhD

Excerpt:

However, lecture isn’t the only example of where we’re slow to change. Many aspects of teaching—course design, approaches to testing, assignments, and grading—have also changed little. Granted, some faculty do change, a lot and regularly, but not the majority. The question is, “Why?” Here are some possibilities I’ve been considering.

Crafting questions that drive projects — from learninginhand.com by Tony Vincent

Excerpt:

Not only does project based learning motivate students because it is an authentic use of technology, it facilitates active learning, critical thinking, collaboration, and creativity. Projects begin with a driving question—an open-ended question that sets the stage for the project by creating interest and curiosity. Writing an effective driving question is surprisingly challenging. You want the question to be intriguing and irresistible to students, which makes it very different from the typical questions they encounter on tests.

A Driving Force
Like many educators, I call the “mission statement” of a project a driving question. It captures the heart of the project by providing purpose using clear and compelling language. With so many different flavors of project based learning (including problem based learning, challenge based learning, student centered learning, exploration, student driven inquiry, and authentic learning), it’s not surprising that we have a variety of other terms for a question or statement that is the project’s driving force. These terms include essential question, challenge, prime question, WILD HOG question, focus question, and smart question. I’ll stick with driving question, but do know that sometimes the driving question is not interrogative. It might be a statement, but I’ll still refer to is as a question.

Literacy help: Alan Peat story bags – How to develop story writing and literacy skills in younger children. — from hubpages.com

Excerpt:

There is no getting away from the fact that the more a child has been read to and the more they try to read themselves then the better their literacy skills are going to be. Parents have a massive influence on this. As a parent myself I considered reading to and teaching my daughter to read the one most important thing I could do to aid her life at school.

Sadly this is not always the case and too many students we teach read rarely at home or in rare cases don’t even own a book. Sad I know and to be honest I can’t imagine a house without books in it. I jokingly refer to my daughters collection ‘her library’ because she has so many which are updated as she reads through them.

But lets be fair, it is not only the students who struggle with reading that need help with story writing. A lot of students will benefit from this approach including your high flyers. I have taught this in year 3, although i would consider it to be more a KS1 activity, but in year 3 they do need certain aspects of a KS1 curriculum to help there development as it is a hard transitional year. Saying that I have seen other teachers use it in higher years than that and why not if it will benefit their writing.

…
On the front of each bag, so every child can read it easily should be the questions:

Who?
Where?
Where next?
Why?
What goes wrong?
Who helps?
Where last?
Feelings?

Simple tips to create a blended learning classroom — from blog.edmentum.com by Jasmine Auger

Excerpt:

We’ve compiled this list of five easy ways to start incorporating technology into your classroom and building a blended environment!

Blogging
Social Media
Virtual Presentations
Infographics
Video

Other somewhat related items:

Full STEAM ahead: Why arts are essential in a STEM education — from edutopia.org by Mary Beth Hertz

Excerpt:

The connection is also obvious for anyone who has ever worked in any traditional STEM career. Everyone from software engineers and aerospace technicians to biotechnical engineers, professional mathematicians, and laboratory scientists knows that building great things and solving real problems requires a measure of creativity. More and more, professional artists themselves are incorporating technological tools and scientific processes to their art.

Also see:
STEM to STEAM: Resources Toolkit — from edutopia.org | Originally Published: 5/21/14 | Updated: 1/20/16
Whether you are looking for resources on integrating science, technology, engineering, and math or on infusing the arts to transform STEM into STEAM, these curated compilations will help you plan different approaches to integrated studies.

…and a related item re: curriculum, but at the collegiate level:

What is the value of an education in the humanities? — from npr.org by Adam Frank

Excerpt:

In spite of being a scientist, I strongly believe an education that fails to place a heavy emphasis on the humanities is a missed opportunity. Without a base in humanities, both the students — and the democratic society these students must enter as informed citizens — are denied a full view of the heritage and critical habits of mind that make civilization worth the effort.
…

So, these are my traditional answers to the traditional questions about the value of humanities and arts education vs. science and engineering. From my standpoint as a scholar, I’ll stand by them and defend what they represent to the last breath.

But the world has changed and, I believe, these answers are no longer enough.

It’s not just the high cost of college that alters the equation. It’s also vast changes that have swept through society with the advent of a world run on information (i.e., on data). So, with that mind, here is my updated — beyond the traditional — response to the value of the humanities in education: The key is balance.

It is no longer enough for students to focus on either science/engineering or the humanities/arts.

Collaborative classrooms mark wave of the future in higher ed — from educationdive.com by Tara García Mathewson
Student-centered models turn instructors into guides as students investigate for themselves

Excerpts:

The designs put students at the center of instruction, shifting the faculty role to one of tutor or guide.

“This changes the whole way we teach,” Benavides said.
…
Some colleges and universities are designing these spaces in new, modern buildings, while others are remodeling existing classrooms and making them work for this next generation of teaching and learning.

From DSC:
This sort of change may be uncomfortable to students and to faculty members alike. However, to shift the ownership of the learning to the student is a positive move. Why? Because we all need to be lifelong learners now. The learning rests with each one of us now, or we could be broadsided and have a very difficult time getting back up. So to come out of college knowing how to learn…that’s a huge plus in my mind.

Also see:

Learning Spaces Collaboratory

What do we want our learners to become?
What kind of learning experiences enable that becoming?
What kind of learning spaces enable such experiences?
How do we know?

PBS’ School Sleuth: The Case of the Wired Classroom <-- A well done, creative, objective, solid discussion of technology in the classroom

On 01/16/2016, in 21st century, active learning, Apple, blended learning, Bring your own device (BYOD), change, collaboration, creativity, digital audio, digital learning, digital storytelling, digital textbooks, digital video, education, education reform, education technology, elearning, game-changing environment, generational differences, Google, hybrid learning, internet, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning theories, media/film, Microsoft, multimedia, online learning, organizational change, parents/guardians, pedagogy, personalized/customized learning, research, student teaching/teacher education, student-related, tablets, teachers, teaching & learning, teaching online, technology (general), the downsides of how people use tech, tools, trends, United States, web-based collaboration, youth, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
If you can clear up just short of an hour of your time, this piece from PBS entitled, “School Sleuth: The Case of the Wired Classroom” is very well done and worth your time. It’s creative and objective; it offers us some solid research, some stories, and some examples of the positives and negatives of technology in the classroom. It weaves different modes of learning into the discussion — including blended learning, online learning, personalized learning and more. Though it aired back in October of 2015, I just found out about it.

Check it out if you can!

Also see:

Schools push personalized learning to new heights — from edweek.org
Excerpt:
For most schools, reaching the next level of digitally driven, personalized learning is far from reality. Still, some schools are extending their digital reach in significant and sometimes groundbreaking ways, as the stories in this special report illustrate. They are making moves to integrate a variety of technologies to track how students learn and to use the resulting data to expand the use of hands-on, project-based learning. The goal is to build never-ending feedback loops that ultimately inform the development of curriculum and assessment. Plus, big data and analytics are gradually making their marks in K-12 education. This special report outlines the progress schools are making to use digital tools to personalize learning, but also raises the question: Are they reaching far enough?
.
A Pedagogical Model for the use of iPads for Learning — from higheru.org

Using 3D printing to provide deeper learning for those taking calculus, geometry, & the like

On 12/21/2015, in 3D, adjunct faculty, faculty, higher education, ideas, K-12 related, learning, maker movement, mathematics, pedagogy, student teaching/teacher education, student-related, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
Could 3D printers help students trying to learn about geometry, calculus, data visualizations, and the like? These articles seem to think so, and so do I:

Re-envisioning the Calculus Curriculum

$3Dprint-math$

Thinking like Archimedes with a 3D printer

Math Professors + 3D Printing = Real World Learning

Explore Calculus with the MakerBot 3D Printer Bundle

3D Printing in Calculus Class

Also see:

Schools, Universities Largest Market for 3D Printers — from educationnews.org

Excerpt:

Schools and universities are beginning to incorporate 3D printers into their curricula more often, and now make up the largest market for 3D printers under $2,500.

Contrary to expectations, educational institutions buy more 3D printers than individuals. The number of US schools that have 3D printers hasn’t been quantified, but 5,000 schools have MakerBot’s 3D printers, and they are only one of the major sellers. Others include Stratasys, 3D Systems, and Variquest.

3D printer purchases are expected to double in 2016 to 496,500 shipments. By 2019, numbers could reach 5.6 million. These statistics come from a report by Gartner Inc., an independent technology research company.

U.S. Department of Education Releases 2016 National Education Technology Plan [ed.gov]

On 12/20/2015, in assessment, education, education reform, education technology, K-12 related, leadership, legislatures / government / legal, open courseware and systems, student teaching/teacher education, teachers, United States, by Daniel Christian

U.S. Department of Education Releases 2016 National Education Technology Plan — from ed.gov

Excerpts:

The U.S. Department of Education announced [on 12/10/15] the release of the 2016 National Education Technology Plan and new commitments to support personalized professional learning for district leaders across the country working to improve teaching and student achievement through the effective use of technology.

Updated every five years, the plan is the flagship educational technology policy document for the United States. The 2016 plan outlines a vision of equity, active use, and collaborative leadership to make everywhere, all-the-time learning possible. While acknowledging the continuing need to provide greater equity of access to technology itself, the plan goes further to call upon all involved in American education to ensure equity of access to transformational learning experiences enabled by technology.

“Technology has the potential to bring remarkable new possibilities to teaching and learning by providing teachers with opportunities to share best practices, and offer parents platforms for engaging more deeply and immediately in their children’s learning,” said U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan. “It can change the experiences of students in the most challenging circumstances by helping educators to personalize the learning experience based on students’ needs and interests—meeting our students where they are and challenging them to reach even higher. This year’s update to the National Education Technology Plan includes a strong focus on equity because every student deserves an equal chance to engage in educational experiences powered by technology that can support and accelerate learning.”

The plan calls for schools and districts to:

Redesign teacher preparation programs to shift from a single technology course to thoughtful use of technology throughout a teacher’s preparation and minimum standards for higher education instructors’ tech proficiency.
Set an expectation of equitable access to technology and connectivity inside and outside of school regardless of students’ backgrounds.
Adopt high-quality openly licensed educational materials in place of staid, traditional textbooks.
Implement universal design principles for accessibility across all educational institutions and include these principles within teacher preparation programs.
Improve technology-based assessments to allow for embedded delivery within instruction and making near real-time feedback for educators possible.
Establish a robust technology infrastructure that meets current connectivity goals and can be augmented to meet future demand.

Could/should some of these things be leveraged in the public schools as well?

On 09/17/2015, in attention, digital learning, education, education reform, education technology, engagement / engaging students, experimentation, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning spaces, student teaching/teacher education, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, using teams, youth, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
I don’t care for the title here, but there are some valuable items that can be found by digging around in this article entitled, “Silicon Valley billionaires are appalled by normal schools — so they’ve created this new one” — from businessinsider.com by Melia Robinson

Excerpts:

A typical day at Altschool, the Bay Area-based school system that raised $100 million in venture capital in May, is anything but typical.

Kids take attendance on an iPad, complete a “playlist” of activities, and learn 3D modeling software to design a playhouse for the class pet.

Founder and CEO Max Ventilla previously helmed the personalization team at Google, where he helped build Google+ and other products that make the internet feel more personal.

His latest venture aims to transform the outdated, early-1900s model of elementary education for the digital age.

In May, we spent the day at AltSchool‘s Fort Mason location in San Francisco to see its revolutionary teaching style in action.

From DSC:
Is there anything here that public schools would find attractive and/or could implement?

AltSchool divides students between the ages of 4 and 14 into three groups: lower elementary, upper elementary, and middle school. There are no traditional grade levels.
A typical day at AltSchool begins with attendance. As kids arrive, they sign in to the school’s attendance app on a dedicated iPad.
The attendance app is one of a dozen or so tech tools developed by the school’s 50-person product team, which includes former employees of Apple, Uber, Zynga, and Ventilla’s alma mater, Google.
The PLP is the foundation of the AltSchool experience. Teachers collaborate with families and students to design a set of goals for the learner based on the student’s interests, passions, strengths, and weaknesses.
Each child receives a weekly “playlist” of individual and group activities that are aimed at achieving those goals. This student is writing an entry for his blog on coin collecting.
Teachers pick activities for their students by creating items in their playlists or searching the My.AltSchool library to find items that other teachers have made.
This 8-year-old demonstrates a game of Pac-Man using MaKey MaKey — a simple circuit board that transforms everyday objects into touchable user interfaces …he attaches alligator clips to four mounds of clay and tapes one clip to himself. When he taps the clay and completes the circuit, the computer interprets the input as arrow key actions.
This streamlined instruction time frees up the teacher to walk around the classroom and interact face-to-face with students.
The lower elementary students spend the morning knocking a shared item off their playlists: “writing the news.” These guys are chronicling a recent trip to the park.

Many of the younger kids wear headphones during playlist time to drown out distractions.
Technology isn’t necessary to complete all activities, but it is used to document students’ work. This student takes a picture of her news clipping using an iPad and uploads the image to her playlist.
The classroom, like the tech, fosters AltSchool’s individualized learning approach. Students sprawl across the room on carpets, beanbags, and even lofts of their own construction.

Classrooms are treated like stations, rather than designated areas for particular grade levels, and students move from room to room throughout the day. It’s especially important for micro-schools to maximize space so that a four-room schoolhouse doesn’t feel cramped
Craft and cleaning supplies are stored where the smaller kids can reach them, giving them a sense of agency.
After lunch and PE in the nearby park, students put aside their playlists and work on more integrated group projects.
The middle-school students were tasked with a classroom redesign. This 11-year-old, who was wearing an Iron Man T-shirt, built a parkour course. He’s writing a parent permission slip on his Google Chromebook now.
His classmate learned from online tutorials how to use the 3D-modeling software SketchUp, and she designed an urban-garden-inspired seating area for the unused deck on the second floor. There’s an obstacle course inside the benches for a class rabbit to tunnel through.
Another student, who wants to be a veterinarian, lawyer, writer, and manga comic-book writer, grew an indoor tea garden. She says she loves how the assignments “bend to your ability.”
If Silicon Valley’s favorite elementary school has its way, personalization will remain king.

Matching pedagogies with technologies — this is the type of interface that could help!

On 07/24/2015, in accessibility / UDL, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, education technology, emerging technologies, ideas, interface design, neurodivergent/special needs, parents/guardians, personalized/customized learning, student teaching/teacher education, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, youth, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
The folks who worked on the Understood.org site have done a great job! Besides the wonderful resources therein, I really appreciated the user experience one is able to get by using their site. Check out the interface and functionality you can experience there (and which I’ve highlighted below).

We need a similar interface for matching up pedagogies with technologies.

DSC-NeedThisInterface4SelectingTechs4Pedagogies--July2015-flat

Also, there are some excellent accessibility features:

From DSC:
When you read the article below, you’ll see why I’m proposing the aforementioned interface/service/database — a service that would be similar to Wikipedia in terms of allowing many people to contribute to it.

Why ed tech is not transforming how teachers teach — from edweek.org by Benjamin Herold
Student-centered, technology-driven instruction remains elusive for most

Excerpt:

Public schools now provide at least one computer for every five students. They spend more than $3 billion per year on digital content. And nearly three-fourths of high school students now say they regularly use a smartphone or tablet in the classroom.

But a mountain of evidence indicates that teachers have been painfully slow to transform the ways they teach, despite that massive influx of new technology into their classrooms. The student-centered, hands-on, personalized instruction envisioned by ed-tech proponents remains the exception to the rule.

The top ten things student teachers teach me — an excerpt from “To teach is to learn” [Schoone-Jongen]

On 06/18/2015, in faith, hearts -- matters of the heart, history, K-12 related, Michigan, relationships, religion, student teaching/teacher education, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, Uncategorized, United States, by Daniel Christian

To teach is to learn — from historicalhorizons.org by Robert Schoone-Jongen

Excerpt:

…here is tonight’s Top Ten Things Student Teachers Teach Me:

To be a teacher is to be a student, a learner. A teacher cannot just pour out knowledge on students. A teacher needs to learn from the students in order to teach them. Your students are the best methods book you will ever read. Listen to what they will teach you every day.

Each class consists of two parts: what went right and what went wrong. Being a teacher and a student means living with both successes and failures. During each class we learn something new about students, subjects, and our selves as teachers.

Each class is another chance to get things right. All our advance planning must be proven in the fiery furnace heated by real students. In our teacherly minds we may have covered all the bases, but the students likely will exhibit different thought patterns. The big question of the day might get the lesson off ground, but the students determine the actual flight plan and landing pattern–be it a smooth one or a swim in the Hudson River. You and I may be in the cockpit, but we can’t control the wind swirling around us. Serendipity is the order of the day in a classroom, not stolid stability.

The students are the most important thing in the room. These individual image bearers of God, his precious jewels in the words of an old hymn, come to us in various grades–some highly polished gems, others very rough hewn. They all have one overriding need: the guidance of a responsible adult, you, their teacher. Despite all the technological doodads and wizardry–the stuff computer companies equate with effective teaching — students still need you, a living, breathing, three dimensional human being, to provide the companionship no silicon chip and flat screen will ever provide.

You and me, those breathing human beings in the front of the room, are not super heroes, but fallible people with limited abilities and vast weaknesses. Chronology and a state-issued certificate separates us from our students. That has its advantages, but also its weaknesses. We may have accumulated more of what only experience can provide, but our age also renders us exotic in the eyes of our students.

Our humanness requires maintenance–both physically and spiritually. Without a healthy you, students will see just a sick teacher. Physical maintenance is not optional. The students deserve our best effort, and we owe them more than mere endurance. My informal teachers, the student teachers, remind me every semester that sleeping and eating and exercising are what keeps our heads on straight, and our feet firmly planted underneath, from the first bell of the day until the last.

Spiritual maintenance constantly reminds us to be humble about running a class. Each time we teach, thousands of words pour forth, and hundreds of instant calculations determine our vocabulary, our inflection, and our reception. A spiritually-maintained teacher prayerfully acknowledges that the torrent of words cascading through the room will carry rocks that can bruise students, and even scar them. We need divine purification to keep that torrent as a clean as possible, for the wisdom to know when a rock flew, and for the character to admit it and make amends.

That never ending prayer should have a second petition–thankfulness for the blessing of being commissioned to mirror Christ’s love to another group of His image-bearers. You and I have the chance to show goodness and love to students, many of whom are unlikely to see those divine traits elsewhere. You can be Calvinistically proud when God entrusts you with being His messenger of light in the classes you teach. It is a precious gift to show students that despite all the wrong we see, the light does still shine in the darkness, even when it is very dim.

That light is more than words and worksheets; it is the presence that students experience in your presence. Your reputation looms larger than your facility with the facts. Presence is the part of a class the students most likely will remember for years. In the end, what students really want from us are two simple things: to be treated justly and to be treated respectfully. The highest compliments–the evaluation that really matters–will come in two short sentences: one direct–“You were always fair”, the other left-handed–“You never made me feel dumb.” If students can say that, they have glimpsed the face of Christ in us.

These student renderings of “Well done, good and faithful servant” are far more important, and more eloquent assessments of our teaching than all the numbers Pearson Corporation can tease from all the standardized tests inflicted upon students. Teaching’s essence cannot be measured by algorithms, formulas, or equations. God, and those image bearers in our classes will evaluate us by our faithfulness, not by the dots on a bubble sheet.

Reflections on “The Campus of the Future: Hybrid and Lean” [Winkler]

On 01/15/2014, in adjunct faculty, blended learning, change, changing business models, colleges, community colleges, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, cost of getting a degree, Daniel S. Christian, disruption, distance education, education technology, elearning, faculty, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, hybrid learning, IT in HE, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning spaces, lifelong learning, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, more voice more choice more control, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, new business models, online learning, online media, online tutoring, organizational change, reinvent, smart classrooms, social learning / networks, staying relevant, student teaching/teacher education, student-related, UK, United States, universities, videoconferencing, virtual tutoring, by Daniel Christian

The Campus of the Future: Hybrid and Lean — from edcetera.rafter.com by Kirsten Winkler

Excerpt:

When people imagine the campus of the future, two main ideas seem to come up. On the one hand, the campus experience will be blended or hybrid, meaning that even with the majority of learning taking place online, there will still be demand for activities in a classic brick-and-mortar setting. On the other hand, the campus of the future will be more like a technology startup, focused on cutting expenses and running a lean operation.

Three recent articles in Education DIVE, The Times Higher Education, Slate and Inc. underline this trend.

The above article links to:

Internet mentors could supplant traditional lecturers — from timeshighereducation.co.uk by Jack Grove
Horizon Scanning study points to a ‘new kind of pedagogy’ in higher education by 2020

Excerpt:

Traditional lecturers may soon be replaced by networks of online mentors working for several universities, a new study predicts.

In the report, titled Horizon Scanning: What will higher education look like in 2020?, the Observatory on Borderless Education suggests that academic staff are likely to be employed part-time by several universities – often working remotely via the internet – rather than relying on a single employer.

…

With one undergraduate module, Forms of Identity, already taught via video conferencing to students at both institutions, the alliance “may be pointing the way to a new kind of pedagogy”, the report says.

“Undergraduate lectures, for example, may be delivered simultaneously to any number of participating institutions, either across a whole sector or indeed across borders,” it states.

From DSC:
With adjunct faculty members playing a significant role at many institutions of higher education, I could see a scenario like this occurring. In fact, even years ago I knew an adjunct faculty member who sat behind her PC all day, servicing students at multiple universities. I’m sure that this is not a rare occurrence. Plus, we are already above 30% of the workforce working in a freelance mode, with estimations of this going to 40% or more by 2020.

Learning hubs: (how I define it)
Places of blended/hybrid learning whereby some of the content is “piped in” or made available via the Internet and whereby some of the content is discussed/worked on in a face-to-face manner.

Questions:

What if learning hubs spring up in many types of facilities, such as in schools, libraries, buildings on campuses, corporate spaces, parks, cafes, other places? How might such a trend affect the possible scenario that there will be online mentors working for several universities?
Will these mentors make enough to cover insurance costs, retirement costs, etc.?
Will this be a potential model for lifelong learning? For learning-on-demand?
How might MOOCs — and what they morph into — affect this type of scenario?
How might this scenario affect how we teach student teachers? (Will it involve more efforts/endeavors like this one?)
Could this type of scenario also happen in the corporate world?

Last comment:

I’m not saying that this sort of setup is better than a seminar-like experience that has a dozen or so students setting down with a highly-trained professor in a strictly face-to-face setting. However, that model is increasingly unobtainable/unaffordable for many people.

Reflections on a solid webinar “In the future, the whole world will be a classroom” [Gorbis]

On 07/03/2013, in 21st century, analytics, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, assessment, Augmented Reality (AR), corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, Daniel S. Christian, data related items, education reform, education technology, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, global / globalization, higher education, innovation, internet, K-12 related, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, lifelong learning, mobile learning, new business models, social learning / networks, streams of content, student teaching/teacher education, student-related, trends, ubiquitous learning, web-based collaboration, workplace, by Daniel Christian

In the future, the whole world will be a classroom — from fastcoexist.com by Marina Gorbis

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From DSC:
What Marina is asserting is what I’m seeing as well. That is, we are between two massive but different means of obtaining an education/learning (throughout our lifetimes I might add). What she’s saying is also captured in the following graphic:

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Also see:

A long-overdue technological revolution is at last under way — from economist.com
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Catching on at last — from economist.com
New technology is poised to disrupt America’s schools, and then the world’s
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School’s out for summer: Rethinking education for the 21st century — from allthingsd.com by Naveen Jain

Also, from Steve Wheeler’s Are you a meerkat or an ostrich?

Etienne Wenger recently declared: ‘If any institutions are going to help learners with the real challenges they face…(they) will have to shift their focus from imparting curriculum to supporting the negotiation of productive identities through landscapes of practice’ (Wenger, 2010).

We live in uncertain times, where we cannot be sure how the economy is going to perform today, let alone predict what kind of jobs there will be for students when they graduate in a few years time. How can we prepare students for a world of work that doesn’t yet exist? How can we help learners to ready themselves for employment that is shifting like the sand, and where many of the jobs they will be applying for when they leave university probably don’t exist yet? It’s a conundrum many faculty and lecturers are wrestling with, and one which many others are ignoring in the hope that the problem will simply go away. Whether we are meerkats, looking out and anticipating the challenges, or ostriches burying our heads in the sand, the challenge remains, and it is growing stronger.

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Also see:

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Also see:

The Nature of the Future: The Socialstructed World — from nextberlin.eu by Marina Gorbis, Institute for the Future
Marina Gorbis, Executive Director of the Institute for the Future (iftf.org) discussed the evolution of communication and its consequences at NEXT13. She analyzed the perks and challenges of the new relationship-driven or “socialstructed” economy, stating that “humans and technology will team up”. Her new book ‘The Nature of the Future: Dispatches from the Socialstructed World’ was published in early 2013. Watch her inspiring talk on April 23, 2013 at NEXT13.

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From DSC:
My best take on this at this point:

Give students more choice, more control of their learning
Help them discover their gifts, abilities, talents, passions
Help them develop their gifts, abilities, talents, passions
Provide content in as many ways as possible — and let the students work with what they prefer to work with
Implement story, emotion, creativity, and play as much as possible (providing plenty of chances for them to create what they want to create)
Utilize cross-disciplinary assignments and teams
Integrate real-world assignments/projects into the mix
Help them develop their own businesses while they are still in school — coach them along, provide mentors, relevant blogs/websites, etc.
Guide them as they create/develop their own “textbooks” and/or streams of content

Projections of education statistics to 2021 40th edition [nces.ed.gov]

On 01/10/2013, in career development, future, K-12 related, student teaching/teacher education, teachers, by Daniel Christian

Projections of education statistics to 2021 40th edition — from nces.ed.gov

Some techs that can significantly help in teacher preparation/training

On 11/27/2012, in education technology, higher education, K-12 related, student teaching/teacher education, teaching & learning, by Daniel Christian

Other possible tools/ideas/approaches:

Blackboard Collaborate — have student teachers record their student teaching for professors to critique back at campus
teachscape — Some innovative products for classroom observation; again, very helpful for having student teachers record their student teaching for professors to critique back at campus. This tool offers better functionality for asynchronous commenting.
The four modular components of the new Teachscape Effectiveness Platform include:
- Teachscape Focus – Will include the Framework for Teaching Proficiency System and the Framework for Teaching Effectiveness Series. Teachscape Focus is designed to focus and align educators on a common definition of teaching effectiveness relative to Charlotte Danielson’s Framework for Teaching.
- Teachscape Reflect – Will include enhanced versions of Teachscape Walk, Teachscape Reflect Live, and Teachscape Reflect Video. The new Teachscape Reflect system supports multiple measures evaluations, and combines in-classroom and video-based observation data with measures of student learning, surveys, and artifacts for a holistic view of teaching effectiveness.
- Teachscape Learn – Will include an expanded version of the current Professional Learning Suite, our research-based preK–12 course library, as well as a new learning management system, online learning communities, video capture and sharing tools, and personalized learning plans.
- Teachscape Advance – Teachscape’s new talent management system will help districts organize, train, and align district staffing to best meet student needs and support larger strategic human capital management goals. The system includes tools for goals alignment, career path and succession planning, and competency management.
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Addendum — with thanks going out to edSurge’s mailing today [11/28/12] for this resource:

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Learning Ecosystems

Virtual classrooms: A vision of the future of teacher training [Smith]

“2020 Vision: Experts Predict the Future of Virtual Reality”; using VR to train teachers; plus 7 other items re: VR/AR

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