I had a extremely brief conversation with a coworker this week about my job as technology liaison and "other people’s edtech jobs". She said she was sorry I didn’t get a job in the district I’d applied for and that it must be awkward working with the person who did.  I thought about that a […]

The noise about the release of Apple’s iPad has been a bit overwhelming. Were you too busy to read the reviews, analysis and opinions? No problem. I summarized the gist of it in a quick handy dandy rating system focusing on the iPad’s future for online learning. Size As Apple says, the iPad is slightly smaller than a magazine. Its 9.7 inch diagonal screen bodes well for mobile learning. You’ll be able to display more content on the screen than on most other mobile devices. Detractors say that it’s too large to slip into a pocket, but why not slip it into your brief case or backpack? It’s only 0.5 inches thick. Weight Weighing in at 1.5 and 1.6 lbs (.68 kg and .73kg), it’s light enough to carry around, even for wimps. Lightweight technology makes learning. collaborating and communicating convenient. User Interface The iPad uses the iPhone’s basic user interface with additional multi-touch capabilities. Some applications apparently work more like what you’d find on a Mac. This high-touch type of interface should enable lots of interactivity, games and simulations. This is a great way to foster engaging learning experiences. In terms of input, the iPad has a virtual keyboard and Apple offers an auxiliary physical keyboard that connects to and charges the iPad. Flash Ready For a variety of reasons that probably only insiders understand, both the iPad and the iPhone do not play Flash movies. Although there will be other types of content creation tools, I see the lack of Flash support as a huge limitation for course developers. [UPDATE: When Flash CS5 is released, developers will be able to package ActionScript 3.0 programs for the iPhone. See this article for more.] Delivering Content The iPad is well-equipped for delivering movies (sans Flash), music, narration, graphics and text. For eBooks, it’s using the ePub format, which is an open source standard allowing digital publications to work on different devices. Unlike the Kindle (at the time of this writing), the iPad has color capabilities. The operating system is not capable of multi-tasking, however, which could present obstacles when using the iPad for learning. Don’t you like to move between different content windows? Collaboration You’ll be able to collaborate on the iPad, but not through video. The tablet does not come with a video camera. It does have a built-in microphone and stereo speakers so it is audio ready. Text chat is an obvious use and VoIP services should work. The iPad then, can be used for audio-based synchronous learning, collaboration, meetings and just-in-time support. Social Media Because the iPad can connect through Wi-Fi and 3G (depending on the model) and has a screen size that makes text legible, it’s ideal for mobile social media activities. Users of social iPhone apps, like Facebook Mobile, LinkedIn, TweetDeck and Seesmic, will have an easy time integrating the iPad into their social media universe. On the other hand, you’re probably not likely to whip out the iPad to text someone like you would with a cell phone. Applications It looks as though users won’t be left behind on the iPad. According to Apple, 140,000 existing iPhone applications will run on their tablet. They have also redesigned iWork, the Mac productivity suite with Keynote (for presentations), Pages (for documents), and Numbers (for spreadsheets). Relevant to learning is the iBook app for downloading digital publications. I see hyperlinked and interactive textbooks in our future. In addition to specific iPad applications, users can access the Internet through the iPad’s web browser, Safari.  As mentioned, the iPad is not multi-tasking and this can limit how one uses its applications for content creation and online learning. Connecting To Other Devices In my mind, connectivity is part of the informal learning paradigm. But the iPad doesn’t have a USB port. Instead, it has a 30-pin connector for docking and charging. The connector gives you access to iPad accessories like the Camera Connection Kit and the Keyboard Dock. To use your USB devices, you’ll need to buy a separate adapter that only works when the iPad is plugged into its proprietary dock connector. For file management, you’ll need to sync the iPad with another computer in the same way that Apple’s iPod and iPhone work. The problem is that you can only associate your iPad with one other device. If you have multiple computers, just pick a favorite. Open Development Standards There are many objections to Apple’s closed development model used for both the iPad and the iPhone. Conventionally, creators of operating systems don’t control the software that users purchase or download. But Apple’s closed model means applications must be approved before they can be loaded onto the iPad, which can be an arbitrary process according to critics. The Free Software Foundation even staged a protest at the iPad’s launch event. In terms of online learning, this could potentially hamper innovation, though learning opportunities through iTunes seem to be plentiful. [UPDATE: Just to be clear, a content creator or developer can create a web application that could be accessed through the iPad's browser. Some current technologies, such as Flash, will be blocked, however. See the note about the coming change for CS5 in the Flash section above.] Application Development Course developers will be able to use Apple’s new version of the iPhone’s Software Developers Kit (SDK) which now supports the iPad. This proprietary environment comes with coding resources, libraries, some training and an interface builder. This is a definite advantage for those who have built iPhone applications. I’m leaving this unrated as I have no experience with their SDK. Even though the iPad doesn’t have a full 5-star rating, I sure would love to own and play around with one! What’s your take on the potential of the iPad for formal and informal learning? Post from: The eLearning CoachMaking Sense Of The iPad For Online Learning Tweet This! Share this on Facebook Share this on Linkedin Buzz up! Share this on del.icio.us Stumble upon something good? Share it on StumbleUpon

During the WCET Annual Meeting Thursday November 11, 2010 Luncheon presentation, during the session the Debate between Dr. Dave Longanecker and Dr. Peter Smith on the topic of Rethinking the Academy in times of Great Change, a question about higher...

I have a masters degree in educational technology and although I have been using my new found skills to make the education world a  better place, it occurs to me that I’m missing out on something. As I sat in the holding room at the Drury Lane Theatre back in May with my fellow M.Ed […]

This post is part of my continuing series of weekly lesson summaries. My goal is to give parents & caregivers in our school community the resources needed to extend student learning at home, and to share my professional practice with teacher colleagues around the world in the interest of improving my craft. Week ending 10/05/12 Synopsis: The theme for this week is "What doesn’t kill you makes you strong." Our our Meraki enterprise wireless access point was installed Thursday, reducing the number of dropped wireless connections (and our "agita" levels) quite a bit, but, we still had problems the rest of the week. After researching the issues, we’ve decided to "wipe" and "re-enroll" all 26 Chromebooks on Monday, which should hopefully solve any remaining problems. (If it were not for the delay in obtaining the Meraki [several months] and our mold closure, I’m sure we’d have had these issues addressed by now. We’re doing the best we can.) Instructionally, it was an okay week, with slow but solid progress made by students in grades 2-3-4 regarding sign-on procedures, and, our first graders enjoyed using the Chromebooks for the first time. The point of the graphic below? Failure is a *REQUIREMENT* because my lab is literally a crucible of technology innovation in our district. We try everything here. We figure out what works, discard what doesn’t, and in the process ensure others in the district (both schools) have as few technology problems as possible when it’s their turn to use the latest tech. I consider it a "cost of doing business." Please also note: due to our current "Day" rotation, two of my classes (Day 4 & 5) haven’t had these lessons yet; they will this week. We will start with new material on Thursday (Day 1). These days change over the course of the year due to holidays, in-services, etc. .Kindergarten What we learned / did / explored together: We reviewed important Chromebook keys, the location of the headphone jack, tabbed browser navigation tips, practiced connecting headphones and turning volume up and down. We learned a new, easier way to log off (hold the power button until the screen goes black) that also helped us reduce the number of wireless disconnects. We practiced transition procedures ("lids down, eyes on me") and kids are getting pretty comfortable with the Chromebooks. We continued to work on mouse skills with the Roly Poly game on PBS Kids as well as others on our Kindergarten Symbaloo page. We talked about the things we were good at with the Chromebooks and the things we still needed to improve. And, of course, we ended with some quality time on ThisIsSand.com (aka "The Sand Game"). What I observed / inferred / connected: Students are taking to "tabbed browsing" easier than I thought. Must be because they are using tabbed browsers at home. Since we have Kindergarten students for nearly an entire hour, it’s very important that we incorporate a variety of activities, lots of movement and free play into my lessons. It’s very easy to see when the kids have reached their learning limits and we can change things up instantly with a hop over to the SMART Board for some "Wheel of Fitness" fun or another program or two. What students can do at home: Hit up the Kindergarten Symbaloo page and explore together. Let them explain the activities and why they are important. There are a few we haven’t addressed yet but all are age-appropriate. Just have fun! First Grade What we learned / did / explored together: First we gathered in the SMART Board area with the cubes set in a "Campfire" arrangement and passed around the paper laptops we’d made last week. We used a SMART Notebook lesson I’d prepared earlier (which I controlled using my iPad via Splashtop Remote for convenience and also to blow their first grade minds.) This allowed students to mark up the notebook in response to my questions ("can you find the key that makes the sound louder? Circle it for the class using a SMART Board pen.") It went really well. We introduced them to the key aspects of tabbed browsing and showed them what to expect when they opened up the Chromebooks (which were already logged in for them.) We bounced over to the First Grade Symbaloo page and worked on mouse and keyboarding skills before letting them choose a fun activity for the last few minutes of class. We also practiced transition procedures ("lids down, eyes on me".) What I observed / inferred / connected: Students are taking to "tabbed browsing" easier than I thought. Must be because they are using tabbed browsers at home. This class (first graders overall) are very helpful and kind to each other, it’s a wonderful sight. What students can do at home: Head over to the First Grade Symbaloo page and explore together. Let them explain the activities and why they are important. There are a few we haven’t addressed yet but all are age-appropriate. Just have fun! Second, Third and Fourth Grade What we learned / did / explored together: This was "change your password" time and what a learning experience for everyone, especially me. My lesson changed dramatically from the first time I presented it through about the fourth or fifth iteration. By then I’d made adjustments that simplified things and made sure everyone got done with time to spare. The password change process is pretty straightforward, and I prepared a screencast, I ended up drastically shortening the process (and incorporating the EASY BUTTON just for fun.) Between that and transition process practice, the period was gone before we knew it. What I observed / inferred / connected: It is taking everyone a lot longer to master the login process than I had anticipated. The general lack of familiarity with email addresses is a real challenge for most kids. They are having problems finding the "@" symbol (I call it "Capital Number Two"), some put extra spaces in the email address, or they leave the .org extension off. I’m sure they will get better with practice, and, the login cards I prepared for everyone (see above) helped immensely. We will be keeping these on file in my room until kids can log on without them. Kids really got the discussion about strong passwords. They came up with some excellent ones. Hopefully they will be memorable. We’ll soon find out. I am starting to wonder if my plans to use the Haiku learning management system (LMS) for these kids will pan out. Right now it’s too early to tell. What students can do at home: The grade-level Symbaloo pages are worth exploring [ Gr2| Gr3 | Gr4 ]. My screencasts are there as well as links to important drill and practice programs. I’ll be adding to those pages constantly throughout the year. Have your child explain to you what password they chose and why. Encourage them to use different passwords for different (i.e., more important) websites. Managing multiple passwords is a 21st century skill, that’s for sure!  

Help! I’ve been caught in an immersive 3D Learning Environment! Oh wait, this is just my office. I guess the book, Learning in 3D, has kind of rewired my brain. I’m sure this is an improvement. According to the authors, Karl Kapp and Tony O’Driscoll, it’s just a matter of time until virtual immersive environments are commonly accepted as the learning mode of choice. So when 3D Learning invades your organization, will you be able to design or facilitate this type of experience? If you understand the cognitive advantages underlying this approach, you’ll be way ahead of the game. When Kapp and O’Driscoll refer to a 3D learning experience (3DLE), they’re talking about a rich interactive space in which the learner lives and interacts in real-time within an immersive virtual environment and community. The learners might collaborate to solve a problem, accomplish a task or overcome a challenge. You may be surprised at the ways learning can potentially be transformed when people are engaged in a virtual immersive environment. Here are some of the key advantages to this approach that the authors highlight. 3D environment created in Thinking Worlds Generative Learning In a well-designed 3DLE, learning is transformed from a one-dimensional, directed and managed activity to a multi-dimensional collaborative activity. Learning is generative as it emerges from a participatory experience. Through this approach, peer-to-peer learners or a group of learners create shared meaning together. Power of Being There Learning in a virtual world creates the visceral effect of being present in that environment. This has the potential for increasing learning transfer because applying knowledge is more powerful than simply knowing something. Accomplishing a series of tasks in a virtual environment creates an ideal learning experience. It connects the "visual and mental cues that make the recall and application of the learning" more effective. Promotes Informal Learning By now we’ve all heard that the majority of one’s learning occurs informally. Whether it’s  related to work, recreation or personal development, an immersive environment can be designed for creating the appropriate context and conditions for informal teaching moments. As in real life, the learning experience will depend on the knowledge and skills of the learner. 3D environment created in Thinking Worlds Individualized Guidance One might imagine a 3DLE where avatars run wild and nothing is accomplished. Not so. The effective 3DLE is designed to provide guidance as learners engage in discovery activities that facilitate the learning goals of the experience. Because individuals enter the experience at different levels, the guidance they are offered will naturally vary. Ultimately, effective learning is dependent on creating experiences that facilitate the learner’s cognitive processing. Learning in an immersive environment appears to have many advantages, but these will only be achieved if the designer uses new paradigms to match this innovative approach. What are the advantages or disadvantages to learning in a 3D Virtual Environment from your perspective? Resources: Buy Learning in 3D from Wiley: Get a 20% discount. Use code L3D1 at the shopping cart. Learning in 3D Site: Go to the book website to learn more. Slideshare Presentation: Learning in 3D Thought Leader webinar. Karl Kapp’s Resources: Good list of resources for 3DLE. Tony O’Driscoll’s Nuggets: Get nuggets from the book here. Buy from Amazon: Learning in 3D. If you like this article … share it with the social tools below. Post from: The eLearning CoachYour Brain On 3D Learning Tweet This! Share this on Facebook Share this on Linkedin Buzz up! Share this on del.icio.us Stumble upon something good? Share it on StumbleUpon

Not sure if you’ve heard of this, but, its a great way to get kids involved in the fight against homelessness.  Its important that children be aware of the issue of homelessness, poverty, and hunger in America.  Our school is in the midst of a #Socktober drive where we hope to gather more that 1000 […]

I attended the Indiana Computer Educators conference in Noblesville this week.  ICE is the Indiana affiliate of ISTE.  Among other business at this conference, the group will be changing their name to the Indiana CONNECTED Educators.  This is a great thing; a way to acknowledge the change in HOW we interact with each other and […]

This terrific piece came to me via email (thanks Krisca Te) and it’s too good not to share. "20 Things Educators Need to Know about Learning Spaces" talks briefly about Stephen Heppell’s work including his Ingenium project, but the crux of the article is 20 of Heppell’s learning space design ideas in tasty, bite-sized morsels.While "imagineering" the classroom that is now our K4STEMLAB over the last six to eight months, I talked to talented learning space architects & educators like Christian Long, David Jakes, David Bill and Chris Johnson, and I read books like Make Space, The Third Teacher (by Christian’s own firm, Cannon Design) and The Language of School Design. (It was like having my own personal "dream team" of learning space designers at my beck and call. For FREE.) It is great to see how well Heppell’s "20 things" describe our new classroom. Go ahead, take a look for yourself. If you haven’t seen our space, come by for a visit, we’d love to show you around. Sorry for the lame low-resolution photo. As soon as my camera is back from the shop, I’ll take some proper pictures of the finished space.

I’m always looking for new ways to add meaningful interactions to courses and have been exploring Raptivity for this purpose. Raptivity is a rapid development software tool that comes with a library of pre-built templates, most of which are interactive. The pre-built templates provide a way to quickly assemble an interaction or presentation segment and publish it to a Flash (.swf) format. You can use Raptivity to create a stand-alone course or you can import the published file into another tool, like Articulate Presenter or Captivate. I’ve been working with the latter approach and have been pretty happy with the results. The Libraries of Templates The full Raptivity library of around a dozen products provides over 225 presentation and interactive templates for various audience groups. Many interactions are appropriate for adult learners, while others would only be appreciated by children. The central product is the Raptivity Essential Pack, which provides a dozen different categories of interaction models, like Brainteasers, Presentation Aids, Interactive Diagrams, Interactive Questions, Software Simulations, Surveys, Glossary, etc. Within each category are several templates. For example, in the Brain Teasers category you’ll find templates for a jigsaw interaction, flash cards, analogous pair, wild cards and a classification exercise. Some of the templates in the Raptivity Essential Pack Many of the templates provide users with a quick way to design and build an interaction. A few of the templates, like building a screen of text bullets synchronized with audio, already come in most authoring tools, but are useful if you’re using Raptivity to make stand-alone courses and presentations. Although the templates are quite customizable, they are not completely dynamic and are limited in the number of objects they allow. For example, an interaction might only allow 4 pictures or 8 sets of matching items. Unique Features One of the things that makes Raptivity unlike any product I’ve ever used is that it provides just-in-time support right in the design template. At first I found it confusing because it crowds the screen, but over time I’ve come to appreciate the assistance. Essentially, the documentation for using the template is on display as you work. It’s a unique approach. Another unusual feature is that the product is immersed in instructional design models. As you browse through the library of templates, you can choose by the category types mentioned earlier, or you can browse by various instructional design paradigms, like Bloom’s Taxonomy, Gagne’s Nine Events, Keller’s ARCS Model and Experimental Learning. See the screen capture below. Even if you’re not familiar with these models or not interested in them, it does point out that someone at Raptivity is thinking about instructional design. User Interface In my opinion, Raptivity needs a redesigned look and feel. This is not a deal breaker, because the product works well. But the user interface of the product is its weakest aspect. The screen feels crowded and the look is dated. Where’s that bright and shiny web 2.0 feeling? And where’s the white space? (See below) I think the intentions were good. In an effort to make everything easily available to the user at one time, they crowded it all in. If Raptivity had a Tabbed Interface, however, users could still have access to the tools and support documentation but the clutter would be gone. In addition, the terminology needs tweaking. As you design, you select parts of the template, like the Title of the interaction, from the "Select Parameter" window. You change the text or number of items in the "Set Parameter Values" window.  Huh? This is the kind of talk that makes sense from a programming perspective rather than the user’s perspective. On the positive side, there’s a cool little feature where you can take Notes. Conclusion Once you become familiar with the interface, it’s quite easy to quickly build new presentation aids and interactions from their templates. And I like the wide range of interaction types. If you go to their Products page and select pre-built interactions, you can view the categories and templates that are in each Pack. Raptivity has a free 14 day trial period, so you can check it out without immediate purchase. Let me know what you think. The Raptivity Essential version sells for $750, with great discounts for education, government and non-profit organizations. Other Reviews: Lynda.com Online Training Library Making Sense Of The iPad For Online Learning 10 Book Recommendations From Varied Fields If you liked this article, please share it with the tools below. Post from: The eLearning CoachRaptivity: A Review Tweet This! Share this on Facebook Share this on Linkedin Buzz up! Share this on del.icio.us Stumble upon something good? Share it on StumbleUpon

Thanks to social media tools like Twitter, many of us who work in the technology-mediated learning arena find ourselves making lasting connections with fellow practitioners of this thing that we do with technology and learning from all over the world....

sharing a little science/technology truth… Use of Mobile Technologies in Science Education from Eric Demoncheaux

This post is part of my continuing series of weekly lesson summaries. My goal is to give parents & caregivers in our school community the resources needed to extend student learning at home, and to share my professional practice with teacher colleagues around the world in the interest of improving my craft. Synopsis: Kindergarten students enjoyed learning about healthy food while "feeding" our class mascot webkin, Gumdrop, online, via Webkinz.com. First graders answered the question "What is Technology?" and explored the courtyard (our outside classroom) looking for examples. Second, Third and Fourth graders finished resetting their Google Account passwords and practiced logging on (they are getting better and better every week)! And in the furniture department, we finally got the giant colorful work tables we ordered back in the summer; once we get the correct chairs, our room setup will be complete! Please also note: due to our current "Day" rotation, three of my classes (Days 3, 4 & 5) haven’t had these lessons yet; they will this week. We will start with new material on Thursday (Day 1). These days change over the course of the year due to holidays, in-services, etc. Week ending 10/12/12 Kindergarten What we learned / did / explored together: We have for the last few years used our class mascot webkin, Gumdrop, to learn about healthy eating via Webkinz.com. (Handy fun fact: this lesson was actually mentioned on CN8′s "Your Morning" TV show back in 2008.) Students took turns examining some "play" plastic food as we discussed which were healthy and which were not (and why.) Using the SMART Board, we logged on to Webkinz.com and went "food shopping," then we took turns feeding Gumdrop. When we were finished, we played some healthy food games from Sesame Street and PBS Kids (look for Cookie Monster), and some tried our "Healthy or Unhealthy?" food puzzles to work on their mousing skills. The SMART Board makes it easy to randomly pick students so that everyone has a turn. I have a SMART Notebook file for each class like the one shown in this video (sorry about the annoying music, it was the best video I could find on YouTube.) It works wonderfully and ensures that no one is left out! What I observed / inferred / connected: This lesson is one of our favorites every year. I love how it connects something most kids know a lot about (healthy eating) and a popular website (Webkinz). The latter is not as hot as it was years ago, but it still works perfectly anyway, despite the ridiculous advertising. The food puzzles are a little challenging for kids this age but they are definitely doable; http://www.jigzone.com/ is a wonderful free website you can use to make your own puzzles. Just upload a photo and go! What students can do at home: Ask your kindergartner to explain which foods are healthy and why. Have them create a picture comparison. Spend some time on the Kindergarten Symbaloo site for fun and practice. . . First Grade What we learned / did / explored together: We asked and answered the question, "What is technology?" We had a LOT of fun offering ideas as to what "technology" meant (I wish I’d written them all down) before clearing things up with our definition: Technology is anything man-made that solves a problem. Using this definition, we were able to identify MANY types of technology around us, highlighted by a visit to our outside classroom (also known as the Courtyard) where students were challenged to find things that were and were NOT technology and have a classmate photograph them. (You can find more pics from the set here.) We also asked and answered the question, "What is an engineer?" (An engineer is a person who designs and creates technologies.") It was great to see several students who had engineer parents or relatives literally bursting to tell the class about them. Students then were divided into groups and given a "mystery" technology in a brown paper bag. Together they had to discuss why it was technology, what problem it solved, what is was used for, made of, etc. They also had to draw a picture of the item. Once finished, students headed over to the Grade 1 Symbaloo page for a few minutes of fun. (Most chose to carve a virtual pumpkin.) What I observed / inferred / connected: Students worked together beautifully thanks to expert grouping by the classroom teachers. (They know these kids much better than I do and having groups of compatible kids together ensured that everyone got along and had fun.) It was amazing listening to them discuss their technologies as a group. I am going to have to make a better effort to record the things kids say in my class; some are really profound and well expressed! This was the first exposure for these students to the Engineering is Elementary curriculum and it worked incredibly well. The activity was fun, got students thinking and talking, and the performance task (have to say I’m not a fan of worksheets) was appropriate. I look forward to building on the knowledge with our lesson for next week, designing a card tower! What students can do at home: Ask your child to identify something that is and isn’t technology. If it IS technology, ask them to explain why - what problem does it solve? Where does it come from? What is it made of? How does it work? Let their imaginations run wild as they explain the world around them! Have them use a digital camera to "record" their "observations." Visit the Grade 1 Symbaloo page and explore the activities there. Second, Third and Fourth Grade What we learned / did / explored together: Our adventures with password setting/resetting continued as I (think I) perfected the process to record and store student passwords. (We will be providing them to homeroom teachers to send home while they memorize them. In the meantime, if your student needs their password, use this handy password reset form. Students also worked on Typing Pal keyboarding lessons, including the initial test. What I observed / inferred / connected: The highlight of the day was letting students change their desktop wallpaper. (They say "the little things" in life are what matter most; this is definitely a "little thing" that had a big impact on the kids this week. It really gave them a sense of ownership of the Chromebooks.) What students can do at home: The grade-level Symbaloo pages are worth exploring [ Gr2| Gr3 | Gr4 ] for fun activities.  I’ll be adding to those pages constantly throughout the year. Have your child explain to you what password they chose and why. Encourage them to use different passwords for different (i.e., more important) websites. Managing multiple passwords is a 21st century skill, that’s for sure!  

I’ve never done a formal survey, but I’m going to guess that the majority of online courses don’t have a strong emotional impact on their audience. This is true even though it’s been known for some time that appealing to the emotions is one of the keys to motivating people, attracting their attention and facilitating memory. I have to admit, I don’t always think hard enough about the emotional dimension of my audience either. But I sense that if we were better able to recognize and speak to a learner’s emotions, it would help us escape the rigid design mindset that often prevails in our community. This is the first in a three-part series about this topic. Emotion and Cognition The idea that emotion and cognition are opposing phenomena comes from a long philosophical and scientific tradition. It was thought that if emotions were connected to feelings and bodily sensations then they must be quite separate from cognition, which was associated with logic and the mind. Now sophisticated imaging tools like the fMRI have demonstrated the error in this thinking. We now know that emotion and cognition are dynamically intertwined and interdependent in terms of both neurology and psychology. Emotion and cognition not only interact, but their integration is necessary for adaptive learning. The Amygdala and All That The amygdala is believed to play a key role in emotions You can’t really discuss emotions without a nod to the amygdala. This is an almond shaped brain structure packed with neurons located as shown in this graphic (in red). Each half of the brain has one of these 1-inch long structures—not too far from the ear—thought to be part of the limbic system, which regulates emotion. The amygdala is considered to be the primary component involved in emotional memory. Of interest to learning design, is that activation of the amygdala correlates with greater retention of information. In other words, increased emotional arousal following a learning event influences the strength of the memory for the event. This makes sense in terms of survival. It’s important to remember the fearful and rewarding events in order to protect and enhance your life. Emotions Are Our Alert System Cognitive scientists define emotions as powerful, usually short-lived experiences that are a reaction to a specific stimulus. As part of the human evolutionary legacy, emotions arise from a rapid appraisal of an object or event’s significance in order to prepare us for action—similar to an alert system. Emotions not only increase our general awareness and help us adapt to changes in an unpredictable environment, but they also facilitate social communication and interaction. That’s because we read the emotions of others through their facial expressions, bodily postures, gestures and tone of voice. Related to this is the concept of feelings, which are the subjective experience of emotions. Whereas emotions are thought to be linked to survival, feelings are not. Emotions can be measured in terms of brain imaging, skin temperature, heart rate and blood pressure. Feelings are currently difficult to measure. Rapid Decision-making In terms of making decisions, emotions are thought to bypass the cognitive processes involved in decision-making. While decision-making through cognitive processes involves evaluating and analyzing the costs and benefits of an action, emotional decision-making relies on "rule-of-thumb" concepts and approximations. Emotions allow us to make rapid evaluations and exert less mental effort when making decisions. That’s why advertisers prefer to appeal to the emotions. As designers, developers, educators and online facilitators, we can take advantage of a person’s emotional capacity to enhance learning. Read about it in Emotions and Learning: Part II. Do you try to speak to the emotional dimension of your audience? Tell us how. Related Articles: Emotions and Learning: Part II 10 Ways To Design For Emotions (Part III) Books You May Like: Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things The Emotional Brain: The Mysterious Underpinnings of Emotional Life Post from: The eLearning CoachEmotions And Learning: Part I Tweet This! Share this on Facebook Share this on Linkedin Buzz up! Share this on del.icio.us Stumble upon something good? Share it on StumbleUpon

In the spirit of "a picture is worth a thousand words", here are a few snapshots from December roadtrips, including a trip to Berlin and another to northern Wisconsin. This time the travel itself became part of the story. Sonoma...

I got up and participated in #satchat this morning. 6:30am CST on a Saturday must mean I wanted to be there, huh?  Glad I was, the discussion on student engagement was empowering. the first question focused us just right: What does it mean to engage students in learning? What DOES it mean? My thoughts? #satchat […]

Just so you know, the challenge to collect 1000 pairs of socks by the students and staff of our school was accepted and not quite met. We did collect 984 pairs of socks though!  Shout out to my community team member, D. Silvas, whose class won the Middle School Challenge with 154 pairs of socks! […]

This post is part of my continuing series of weekly lesson summaries. My goal is to give parents & caregivers in our school community the resources needed to extend student learning at home, and to share my professional practice with teacher colleagues around the world in the interest of improving my craft. Synopsis: Kindergarten students were challenged to re-think what they know as "technology" and were surprised to learn that an "engineer" isn’t necessarily someone who drives a train. First graders had a hands-on engineering design challenge and second, third and fourth graders officially mastered the Google Account login process. It was a great week! Please also note: in our current "Day" rotation, Mondays are Day 3, which means three of my classes haven’t had these lessons yet, and will get this new material on Thursday (Day 1). These "days" change over the course of the year due to holidays, etc. Week ending 10/19/12 What we learned / did / explored together: We started off with a few fun games to warm everyone up: ABCYA’s Alphabet Order and Moon Rock Patterns. We introduced Engineering is Elementary conceptual definitions of "Technology" (something made by man that solves a problem) and "Engineer" (someone who uses technology to build things that solve problems.") It’s great fun listening to the kids’ definitions and then blowing their minds when we talk about the fact that "technology" isn’t just something that plugs in or turns on. We rocked a SMART Notebook lesson as a class in which kids had to identify items that were and were not technology - some were obvious, others not, and we even debated a few! We also played with another SMART Notebook lesson as students took turns gradually erasing (revealing) a picture of something an engineer makes. Several students excitedly told the class about family members that are engineers. It was fantastic. What I observed / inferred / connected: Blowing kids’ minds (and challenging them to think in new ways) is crazy fun! Never assume a SMART Notebook file is complete. Kids always find a way to change something or discover a new feature. I really, really like the way the Engineering is Elementary curriculum is done so far. I can easily scaffold the material as I need to. What students can do at home: Have your child explain what "technology" is and what an "engineer" does. Sit back and enjoy. Then ask them to draw a picture with as much detail as possible. Ask them what they might want to engineer. If you or someone you know is an engineer, have a conversation with your child about it. Let them ask questions! Spend some time exploring the Kindergarten Symbaloo page: http://ncs-tech.org/embed/kdg.html for fun! . . First Grade What we learned / did / explored together: For the second week in a row, our first graders were the first students in the school to try Engineering is Elementary "hands-on" lesson material. This week, students were challenged to work as a team to create the highest tower they could using the provided index cards, scissors (which I intentionally did not demonstrate) and a small amount of tape. As students entered the room, I was in the "cube pit" working by myself trying to design a card tower. I asked the students to sit down and I explained what I was doing and asked for their advice. I used that as the beginning of my anticipatory set and transitioned into a conversation about the Engineering Design Process. I explained the challenge (design the tallest tower that could hold a small Beanie Baby) and we brainstormed some potential designs. I intentionally had mine fail so I could model the reaction (What happened? How could my design have been improved?) and the hook was set. We broke the kids into five teams and let them loose. When time was up, each team’s creation was measured for height and tested by placing the Beanie Baby on the structure. What I observed / inferred / connected: Grouping students for a project like this is incredibly hard work. Pairs would be much easier (that’s what I’ll be doing in the future.) Effective teamwork is hard. We had many conversations about being a good teammate, the fact that our projects were not competitive (we acted as a single company of engineers all trying to find the right design.) I love how the Engineering Design Process is explained by the EiE program, it is so easy for kids to "get" that they just take to it naturally. I need to remember to take pictures of ALL the towers, especially during the test phase when we place the Beanie Baby on top! What students can do at home: This project is easy to replicate with index cards (any cards really) as long as there is a fixed supply, they are uniform and can be bent, cut or otherwise manipulated. Kids need the ability to mold the material into whatever shape they need. There should also be a time limit. Check out the First Grade Symbaloo page http://ncs-tech.org/embed/gr1.html for fun activities! Second, Third and Fourth Grade What we learned / did / explored together: We introduced the concept of the "Do Now," a series of instructions running on the screen when students come into class. (We used these last year with great results.) This was the first time we’d used a "Do Now" in the STEMLAB and I was curious if it would work. IT DID! The weeks of practice paid off as virtually every class was able to successfully log into their Chromebook, follow the instructions and accomplish the task (a warmup with Typing Pal.) This PROVES to me that the students are capable of self-directed work, and I now have to start designing differentiated lessons that take advantage of this ability. When we were done, I took the opportunity to lead the classes through an abbreviated (but still riveting) conversation about "technology" and "engineering" along the lines of what we did with the First Graders. This is important because next week the students will be designing card towers as the First Graders did (but likely with a few extra "enhancements" I will throw in.) What I observed / inferred / connected: Dare I say it? Our network issues appear to have been resolved - most of Friday was an error-free experience! We are so excited! What students can do at home: The grade-level Symbaloo pages are worth exploring [ Gr2| Gr3 | Gr4 ] for fun activities.  I’ll be adding to those pages constantly throughout the year. Have your child explain to you what password they chose and why. Encourage them to use different passwords for different (i.e., more important) websites. Managing multiple passwords is a 21st century skill, that’s for sure!  

Today's (January 13, 2011) early #Lrnchat session was loosely oriented around learning technology standards. As happens during #Lrnchat sessions on Twitter, moderators post questions for participants to discuss in 140 characters or less. One of today's questions asked participants to...

Over the past few decades, research has shown that emotions have an effect on many of the processes involved in learning. It’s safe to say that emotions are an influence on perception, attention, motivation, and the encoding and retrieval of information. What follows is a synopsis of some of the many ways emotions affect these various processes. You may want to read Emotions and Learning: Part I of this series first. But it’s not a requirement and you won’t get tested. Perception There is little doubt that emotions color perception. They influence and bias the way we see the world. Not surprisingly, research shows that people who are in a positive emotional state will be open to a learning experience, make more positive judgments and give more favorable feedback than someone in a negative state. The challenge for designers is to create learning experiences that are sufficiently meaningful and engaging that they elicit positive reactions from learners. In terms of attitudinal training and soft skills, it’s important to know that a person with an emotional bias may be unwilling to accept facts that cause unpleasant feelings or to believe facts that cause positive feelings, even when there is clear evidence to the contrary. Motivation Emotions are at least partly responsible for our motivation to pursue goal-directed behaviors and activities. They serve to energize people, providing intensity and direction. For example, motivation increases when a goal is neither too difficult nor too easy to succeed. A moderate challenge is optimally motivating. Also, studies show that a person’s affect influences the cognitive processes associated with motivation. For example, people who feel positive emotions, such as fulfillment and satisfaction, are willing to exert more mental effort to a task than those experiencing negative emotions. In addition, emotion often underlies curiosity and creativity, all of which can be motivational factors in the learning process. Attention Through attention, we select the object of our concentration and focus on it, ignoring the noise in the environment. Research indicates that attention and motivation are highly correlated. People tend to pay attention to those things with a higher motivational significance. Paying attention to a task implies the person expects to find or is currently finding an intrinsic or extrinsic reward. During a learning experience, participants continually appraise the experience. This may elicit an emotional response that affects the learning process. For example, a learner who is bored might experience dissatisfaction and irritation, which can interfere with paying attention. A positive reaction to the experience should help the learner sustain attention. Memory Many studies show that positive emotions can facilitate the processes of working memory as well as help long-term memory and retrieval. When emotions are central to a learning experience, they can enhance a person’s ability to remember the experience. For example, when a group collaborates and successfully solves a difficult challenge, the achievement and social nature of the experience can arouse positive emotions. The emotions enhance the encoding process and make the learning experience meaningful and memorable. When powerful visuals or emotional scenarios are part of a learning experience, these can also enhance memory. The explicit conscious memory of an emotional situation will be more powerful than a non-emotional situation. Emotional Distractions What’s the down side of appealing to emotions during learning? Emotions can be disruptive when they are irrelevant or unrelated to learning. Irrelevant emotions seem to use up a person’s capacity to attend to a task and to remember it. Although the dominant belief is that positive emotions facilitate the learning process, be aware that they can both enhance and detract from learning. We designers have a two-pronged challenge: to design for the emotions using instructionally appropriate and meaningful strategies and to create positive experiences that enhance learning. The final article in this series will present practical ways to design for the emotions. Check back soon or sign up for updates through the form at the top. Have you had success with emotional design? Share your stories. Related Articles: Emotions And Learning: Part I 10 Ways To Design For Emotion (Part III) Share this article with a friend! Use the tools below. Post from: The eLearning CoachEmotions and Learning: Part II Tweet This! Share this on Facebook Share this on Linkedin Buzz up! Share this on del.icio.us Stumble upon something good? Share it on StumbleUpon

Click on the graphic to read more about this fascinating technology phenomenon. Find more education infographics on e-Learning Infographics

This post is part of my continuing series of weekly lesson summaries. My goal is to give parents & caregivers in our school community the resources needed to extend student learning at home, and to share my professional practice with teacher colleagues around the world in the interest of improving my craft. Synopsis: this was by far the  most powerful (and FUN!) week yet in my new classroom. We had four - count ‘em - FOUR - classes (Kindergarten, Grades 2-3-4) do the What is Engineering? Tower Power lesson that first graders did last week. I learned something from each and every class. It’s not that the material is so ground-breaking (it’s not, it’s actually very simple) … this week’s lessons rocked because the kids were in control of the learning like never before. First grade had fun, too, with a Halloween safety activity using one of our all-time favorite resources, Kerpoof. Week ending 10/26/12 First Grade What we learned / did / explored together: First Grade has actually gotten more exposure to STEM material, more than any other grade level, which was partly by design (but not entirely.) This week I wanted to make sure the kids got some quality time on the Chromebooks so I told them we were asked to create Halloween Safety posters using Kerpoof. It’s a wonderful, free website with incredible power and capability - but most important - a beautifully simple user interface (UI) that makes the site a joy to use. It’s absolutely one of our all-time favorites for use in the lab. Students had to choose an appropriately themed background then add text (a safety tip and their name) and graphics to complete the finished poster. They needed to change fonts, colors, text size as well as place, size and in some cases rotate images into position. It’s harder than it sounds (to do correctly) but I am pleased to say everyone did a fantastic job and had a ton of fun in the process. To make things easier for students, I prepared small pieces of paper with suggested safety tips and "Happy Halloween" spelled out. Some students used them, but not all. They made a big difference for those who needed the help. When students finished, we saved the projects for later printing on the color printer in Computer Lab #1. We are still working on printing capability for my new space. What I observed / inferred / connected: Fine motor skills are solid at this age and the kids easily found their way around the site to add what they needed to complete their projects. The conversations we had at the start of the lessons were priceless, we brainstormed different safety tips in ways that only a room full of first graders could. What students can do at home: Have your student visit Kerpoof and click the yellow square to "Make a picture." Then, get out of the way and watch them create. For fun, ask your child about the "Spaghetti Head Baby" in Kerpoof. They will most likely start laughing uncontrollably and try to find it in Kerpoof to show you. [slickr-flickr type="slideshow" tag="LWIL1026" id="29304822@N00" flickr_link="on" link="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kjarrett/sets/72157631648412574/with/8126400230/" attribution="What is Engineering? Tower Power Project"]Kindergarten, Second, Third and Fourth Grade What we learned / did / explored together: What is Engineering? Tower Power is one of the "prep" lessons at the beginning of every Engineering is Elementary unit. First graders did it last week and that writeup was pretty complete, so instead of rehashing it, I’ll highlight some of the more powerful things that happened in class this past week. (Remember, 60% of my students haven’t had this lesson yet!) I wanted to do this lesson for the rest of my classes because it is an important introduction to the Engineering Design Process which is central to the STEM work we will be incorporating into my curriculum this year. The regular classroom teachers were essential during this lesson because they helped group students into five teams. So far, the process has worked extremely well, with personalities balancing out nicely and only a few problems requiring coaching / adult intervention. Most importantly, every team was successful. Each and every one. What I observed / inferred / connected: My new favorite classroom sound, second only to laughter, is CHEERING. I absolutely, positively love the sound of the class cheering for a team when "Crabby McCrabbypants" was placed on each structure. It was … pure magic! Going into the project, I was most concerned with Kindergarten students’ ability to work collaboratively. This lesson would be ideal with partners; four on a team is a lot for this age, especially when there are strong personalities in the mix. To my surprise, and perhaps because of my insistence at the start of the lesson (and modeling) that they listen to each other, Kindergarten had no more issues than any other grade level. Go figure! A second grade team has the current record, a 26″ tower. One of my third grade students, when asked "what could have been better" during the debrief, replied that the reason her team didn’t make much progress as the others was because there was a lot of arguing. I went out of my way to acknowledge her honesty and brainstorm ways to reduce conflict. Fourth grade students were, as expected, the most animated and came up with the most elaborate designs. One group added "a zip line ending up in a pool" to their tower. Many added similar non-height-related "features" that really expressed their creativity. This was essential because it gave everyone the chance to contribute to the design. One of my fourth grade students, who is easily distracted and frequently off-task, saw me at the end of class to ask, "Can we do Engineering again next week in computer lab?" What students can do at home: Build a card tower! Find a small stuffed animal that can serve as the "subject" to test the design. It should be sufficiently light as to not instantly crush your student’s creation. Use thick index cards (5×7 work even better than 3×5). Just limit your student to a fixed amount (plus a small section of tape.)  

It’s quite clear from research on the effects of emotion and learning, that an emotional connection can be generated through instructional strategies and creative treatments. These have the potential to facilitate learning and performance. This is the third article in the series on emotions and learning. If you’d like some background on this topic, read Emotions And Learning: Part I and Part II. Now let’s jump into some practical approaches to designing for the emotions. Please add your suggestions for emotional design in the Comments section below. 1. Acknowledge emotions This most straightforward and direct approach is underutilized in online learning. The idea is simple: to speak to the emotions, speak to the emotions. Acknowledge how learners might feel about the subject matter or the learning experience itself. Try framing the purpose of a course in emotional terms. This might mean telling the audience how a program will help them become more effective, more competent, or enable them to help others. You might ask learners to think about how a scenario made them feel, or how a character might have felt. Allow learners to respond to questions about emotions in an end-of-course survey. The bottom line is this: adult learners have a wide range of life experiences, much of which is associated with emotions. They bring this emotional dimension to the learning environment so it deserves acknowledgment. 2. Respect the audience People appreciate being valued and respected. This is one way to generate positive emotions during a learning event. How can we do this when all we have is electrons? Avoid a tone of condescension or superiority in scripts and in live webinars. Ensure feedback provides solid information and is phrased in an encouraging way. And make sure the instructional level is appropriate for the audience. If the content is too basic for an experienced audience, it implies we don’t care about their time. If it’s too challenging, it implies we don’t know them well enough. 3. Design for social interaction Humans evolved to read signals from each other, often through emotional channels. Using collaborative tools and social media can help learners build relationships, cooperate on tasks, and provide support and feedback to each other. If you design for social interaction, consider providing guidelines to make the experience more meaningful. For example, if group members are reviewing each others work, encourage them to offer detailed  explanations rather than superficial comments like, "Nice work." See 10 Social Media Tools for Learning and Social Media and Learning for more on the social approach to learning. 4. Use principles of aesthetic design The visual design of an online learning environment can impact the learner’s emotional response to it. You  can leverage the human capacity for aesthetic appreciation by ensuring your courses are well-designed. In one study that examined emotions and multimedia learning, the authors concluded, "There is significant effect of emotions on … [the participants'] transfer test, mental effort investment, as well as level of satisfaction. It also indicates that positive emotions can be generated by the instructional design that may be able to affect learners’ experience and performance. The study implies that positive emotions should be considered as important factors in instructional design."  — Eunjoon Um et. al. Even if you are not the graphic designer, you can provide ideas and feedback on the layout, colors and type for a look and feel that will induce positive emotions. 5. Make it easy to use Don’t let the technology or user interface get in the way of learning. The tools of learning should be as transparent as possible to the whole experience. When technology is easy to use, it can have a positive impact on the learner’s affect. Research shows that people notice the dynamics of their own mental processing and are sensitive to the resulting feelings of ease or difficulty in usability. Some things you can do are: avoid slow downloads, write clear user interface instructions, let learners know what to do on every screen and adhere to common user interface conventions, when possible. Most users have a mental model of how an online program should work and may get frustrated if your course breaks the mold. If you’re interested in user interface design, see User Interface Design For Learning and Writing Microcopy. 6. Generate emotion through surprise You can evoke emotional responses by adding unexpected elements to your courses. When things move along at a steady pace, brain activation also remains steady; but when a surprising event occurs, the brain registers a jump in activity. What about letting learners fail at their first try in solving a problem, if it can be framed as a learning experience? For some, the frustration of moderate failure can increase motivation for success. What if an action resulted in an unexpected consequence? Why not avoid the linear mindset and allow exploration and discovery? You can provide humor in an unexpected moment or add an unusual twist to generic scenarios. When a learner encodes and stores information, an emotional reaction can serve as a mental index for locating the stored memory and corresponding information at a later date. 7. Immerse the learner in 3-D challenges For an all-encompassing emotional experience, consider designing a learning event in an immersive 3-D environment.  The realism and authenticity of games, virtual events and problem-solving challenges in an exploratory learning environment may simulate emotions one would experience in the non-virtual world. In addition, the ability to role-play and problem-solve through avatars is the ideal environment for emotional arousal while learning. For more on this topic, see Your Brain On 3D Learning. 8. Tell stories Humans seem to be hard-wired for telling and listening to stories. They’re an age-old device for transferring knowledge and sharing information and values. Stories have a way of touching the emotions, because people perceive their own and others’ lives in a narrative form. The narrative device is effective in case studies, interviews, simulations and role-playing scenarios. Stories make content more memorable because their authenticity adds detail and emotion to content. 9. Use emotionally charged visuals Both pleasant and disturbing pictures elicit a physical response in the body and speak directly to emotional centers in the brain compared to neutral pictures. Images of facial expressions and dramatic gestures are known to arouse emotional reactions and have similar interpretations across many cultures. When instructionally appropriate, emotional pictures are an effective way to pique curiosity, gain attention and engage the audience because they evoke emotion. Does this photo on the left evoke an emotional response in you? 10. Evoke Memories In the book, Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things, Donald Norman points out that people build attachments to objects that have a significant meaning. This is typically because the object is associated with emotional memories. You can allude to significant personal memories of your audience through common significant objects or by using analogies and metaphor in an effort to help learners connect with the content.Memories from childhood, times of fear or frustration, family celebrations and romantic love are all possible avenues for reaching out. The take away point is that it’s important for us to remember that learners have a rich emotional history and they’re not simply containers for depositing information. Your comments, additions and feelings are welcome. Use the comment form below. Related Articles: Emotions And Learning: Part I Emotions And Learning Part II Relevant Research: Aesthetics and Human-Computer Interaction (Research by Noam Tractinsky) Um, Eunjoon et. al., The Effect of Positive Emotions on Multimedia Learning If it’s easy to read, it’s easy to do, pretty, good, and true Post from: The eLearning Coach10 Ways To Design For Emotions (Part III) Tweet This! Share this on Facebook Share this on Linkedin Buzz up! Share this on del.icio.us Stumble upon something good? Share it on StumbleUpon

Happy New Year! So, Winter Break is over.  I literally did not leave my house unless forced or the sun was shining. (15 days, with 5 days of sunshine, need … Continue reading →