Exploring Learning

The ‘create’ part of the revised Bloom’s Taxonomy is THE most important to me, both as an educator and as a learner. I like to think about the intention of the learning and how the learners might create something to show this. Then, via backwards-by-design planning, I craft stages that correspond with the taxonomy, working up from understanding to creation - although I see the taxonomy as cyclical rather than hierarchical (blog about this HERE ), so stages are often revisited along the way, and ultimately, the creation should assert the understanding. In terms of ‘creation’ and in allowing opportunities for creation, and in questioning how rich the curriculum is for my learners, I feel very lucky being a teacher of English Language Arts. Being skills based, I am free to develop the lessons and units as I wish, as long as I meet the required standards. For example, the skill to, “organise and present whole texts effectively, sequencing and structuring information, ideas and event...

In the academic year 2012-2013 I took or qualified in the following Professional Learning:- Extended Essay Category 3 Training (IBO, Malaysia) Google Apps for Education Teacher Certification Presenting Read? Me?  at Hands on Literacy Conference 2012 (Singapore) Designing New Learning Spaces (Stanford University) Professional Learning in the Digital Age (Virtual book club with the author) English B IB Diploma Training (IBO, Online) Flipped Classroom Certification E-learning and Digital Cultures (Edinburgh University) PBL Certified Teacher Flat Classroom Certified Teacher Most of the learning from the above is documented in this blog.  Now, at the end of the year, not feeling the need to slow down for some reason, I have begun my Masters in Education and Instructional Technology at the University of Maryland University College .   This advanced degree program focuses on integrating technology in the preK-12 schools to strengthen and transform te...

Statement of Accomplishment For learning-junkies - like me - Coursera allows you to search for, enrol and take part in interesting and varied courses, offered by legitimate universities - for free! I have written before about taking control of our own learning; whilst I am lucky enough to be in a school that values Professional Learning highly, that funds PL and devotes one afternoon session a week to helping staff learn, not everyone is so lucky. However, as explored in Kristen Swanson 's book, ' Professional Learning in a Digital Age ', the advent of technology and the Internet, means our learning can be 'user-generated' - we take control. Organisations such as Venture Lab and Coursera make this even easier. This year online, for free, I have taken part in the following online courses:- Designing a New Learning Environment (via Stanford University, through Venture Lab ) E-Learning and Digital Cultures (via The University of Edinburgh) I am also s...

In my post ' Evolution technology: Visual Digital Literacy ', a response to the MOOC 'Digital Cultures and E-learning' via  Coursera  and The University of Edinburgh, I explored the notion of how visual representations are considered less scholarly or rigorous than written exposition. I use, as an example, artist Ebon Heath, whose beautiful word sculptures expound my thinking that visual representation is just as valid as written explorations of thinking. His three dimensional poetry rebuts any criticism that we can only think and explain sufficiently in the written form. The final assignment of the course asked for a digital representation of an element of the course that had impacted on us, or that we wanted to explore more. I admit that I did find it difficult to express my learning of the course in a visual way, as I am, by default, a writer. However, I think that being taken out of my comfort zone actually made me think harder and really consider what it was I w...

This is my final assignment for the MOOC,  E-Learning and Digital Cultures  through the University of Edinburgh via  Coursera . Click to view Silent Noise on GLOSSI.COM

human |ˈhjuːmən| adjective relating to or characteristic of humankind: the human body | the complex nature of the human mind. • of or characteristic of people as opposed to God or animals or machines, especially in being susceptible to weaknesses: they are only human and therefore mistakes do occur | the risk of human error. • showing the better qualities of humankind, such as kindness: the human side of politics is getting stronger. http://bostinno.com/channels/the-history-of-education-infographic/ The final part of the E-Learning and Digital Cutlures course asks us about to think about the effect of technology on 'the human'; how it "works to re-define what constitutes ‘the human’ - for better or worse - and what that might mean for education. " http://bostinno.com/channels/ the-history-of-education -infographic/ This infographic suggests a history of (US) education. In twenty years time, it suggests that "the future will never be witho...

"Educational institutions are established around a privilege of writing as the ultimate means of demonstrating understanding"; the question is, can digital technology and the creation of images "demonstrate competence, knowledge and understanding in a rigorous way?" As a life-long learner, I have recently been taking part in an  E-learning and Digital Cultures MOOC  via Coursera (see posts Graveyards of Technology and The Machine is Us ) and the sources they offer for thought include a lot of visual sources. In conjunction with the fact that I have been trialling Flipped Classroom methods and just completed certification through Sophia.org , I have been thinking about the use of visual sources for teaching and their impact on engagement and learning. https://class.coursera.org/edc-001/wiki/view?page=Howtointerpretimages Part of the outcomes of the  E-learning and Digital Cultures  course is a consideration of "the extent to which visual representation...

Flipping the classroom is something I have been thinking about since I read Flip Your Classroom last summer. However, despite the book being really informative in both clearly explaining how Bergman and Sams' journey evolved as well as in consolidating my belief that flipping is a great method to differentiate, personalise and manage the diverse learners we find in our classrooms today, there were a distinct lack of good English class examples out there. I can clearly see the advantages for science and maths, but English has often already been flipped to some degree, in that we often ask for reading to be done preparation for a lesson, where discussions and writing are then supported. My explorations led me to Sophia.org , who offer a great free course on planning and thinking through rigorous and authentic flipped lessons. However I became stumped after the theory part and at the point where I had to actually start planning a flipped lesson that went beyond the 'norma...

"They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."  Benjamin Franklin. Week 2's exploration for the Coursera MOOC, E-learning & Digital Cultures  asks us to look forward to the future of educational learning within a digital realm. Retaining our thinking about Utopian and Dystopian representations, this time we were to focus on the "sorts of metaphors that are used to draw comparisons between the unfamiliar and the familiar, or the abstract and the concrete" as a way to try and understand the assumptions made about e-learning - the digital ‘native’ and the digital ‘immigrant’ being one of the most widely used at present, for example. Sunrise, Singapore, Morning Run, 09 February 2013 A Utopian perspective presents technology as our salvation - transformative and revolutionary; a Dystopian perspective sees technology as destruction - as attacking and supplanting. Separation of the two...

Utopian & Dystopian Views of Technology I just started a new online MOOC, ' E-learning and Digital Cultures ' offered through the University of Edinburgh and Coursera . I tried to say no, I really did. I 'pinned' the tab on Chrome and opened a new section in Netvibes for it, but had no time to look over the material other than the introduction in the first week. I decided therefore, that with my Flat Classroom Teacher Training starting this week, it would be better for me to accept that I cannot do the two courses plus my heavy work load at the moment. So I was a good girl and I 'unpinned' my tab. But I gravitated back to it this morning because it interests me so. I accept that my engagement can only be limited but I also accept that I do need to engage with it, as it will inform my thinking not only as a educator operating in ever-increasing digital culture, but will also provide some great insight and resources for my actual teaching of this topi...