Web 2.0 Tools
"I have yet to have a student tell me they can't use technology in class because they haven't received any PD on it.", Sean Junkins, (Twitter post at June 2012 ISTE Conference in San Diego).
How might I transition my present F2F classroom to the online environment? Which parts would be the most challenging online? Which parts might be improved online? Questions were posed, my research follows.
Goal: Change my F2F class to a flipped/blended classroom.
This concept resonates with me in that our small district still (with very senior staff now) remains reluctant to embrace technology. Flipping a classroom? "forget 'bout it", I can hear teachers saying! We need to change the mindset! In our small district, working with our elementary and 6th grade teams, we, at our middle school (Mary Putnam Henck) could begin the transition, to cloud product generation. By the time students entered 7th grade, their online toolset would surpass their teachers and THEY would probably be better at answering the tools and strategies question. We, as teachers, need to stop pointing students in the right direction, but just let them run! The use of Skype for F2F interactions and the use of Google Docs for collaborative discussions/feedback might require training or refreshing for students, staff and community.
A team of educators were challenged to collaboratively generate a favorite Web 2.0 tool, our presentation follows below:
Reflection 3.3: Using Web 2.0 Tools
The use of Web 2.0 Tools in the classroom will change the learning from teacher-to-student to student-to-student with guidance/facilitation from the teacher. Web 2.0 tools will shift the responsibility for learning from teacher to student, revolutionary pedagogy!
The experience from the student perspective becomes as a teacher/learner in the application (Bloom’s) of knowledge via teaching modules (wikis, videos, blogs, websites).
The types of student outcomes (via the wiki, videos, blogs, websites) will be analysis and synthesis. The student will demonstrate the ability to scaffold the lesson, reteach if required and provide a stress-free environment in the process.
Our district has restructured the Algebra curriculum into essential standards and developed benchmarks and pacing guides to measure these. The outcome of our student-directed learning will dovetail into the pacing guides.
http://wiziq.com, and other collaboration tools culminate in Bloom’s synthesis and evaluation levels. As demonstrated in our Google Presentation, a problem, of buying tickets to a basketball event, is the ultimate use of algebra in the real-world.
This Web 2.0 stuff is changing so fast. It is difficult to catalog and keep up with all the tools. Through a colleague, I have discovered http://www.edsurge.com, a handy newsletter. Their mantra: Technology is reshaping education. EdSurge keeps you ahead of the curve. The what kind of tools out there that are aligned to our district expected outcomes are catalogued and organized with EdSurge.
The directions and guidelines that I will provide will be to provide a “framework”, (just like we were given for our Google Presentation to live within). The expectations will be to produce a product explaining a concept/lesson given the tools provided (via the wiki, videos, blogs, websites). However, I do not profess to be an expert, these experts are sitting in front of me in the classroom. My future classroom is flipped, not be me, but by the students themselves.
WizIQ and the Classroom
Flipping the classroom is a formidable task as I write this. It will take great time and energy and as I read through this material, I realized that I am not the only expert in the room. Students will be in charge and as such will use WizIQ to re-teach and guide each other through the hurdles of abstract algebraic concepts.
The ease of collaboration in real or non-real time can be completed quickly with WizIQ. Given its minimal Web 2.0 requirements, classroom licenses will allow concept lessons, homework and classwork sessions to be recorded, massaged and reposted for other students to utilize. Web 2.0 tools like WizIQ allow the student to become the teacher and the teacher to become a facilitator/guide.
In closing,
“We now accept the fact that learning is a lifelong process of keeping abreast of change. And the most pressing task is to teach people how to learn.” -- Peter Drucker
An inspiring video for the flipped math classroom can be found here!