Activity #4

After contributing to the Collective Intelligence activity in the Google doc every day, I feel that it could be used in my classroom.  At school, we have had in-service days on Google in which we actually did an activity like this.  The only issue I see is that if everyone is working on the same document at the same time.  We did this during the in-service to test what it was like.  It does get overwhelming if everyone is working on it at the same time.  The other thing is that is can get very unorganized and hard to find thoughts.  I do however like how the students could comment off to the side on the activities given.  For this activity, it was fun to see what everyone else posted.  I enjoyed looking at the different pictures with quotes on them.  After working on this, I feel that everyone contributed great meanings to define education.

I could see myself using this in my classroom.  Being in physical education, it is difficult to just stop being active and go log onto computers to be able to do this.  It would be a good activity to work along with the classroom teachers as well, because the students would need time in class to allow their participation.  This could also be an activity that is planned along with the technology instructor.  I could also see myself using different parts of Google as collective intelligence such as Google Slides for a presentation.

This activity goes along with what Bullock said in the article Collective Intelligence: What it could mean for education.  Bullock talked about social interaction being used “to produce, co-operate, and collaborate”.  Students before would have to collaborate only in class.  Now students can collaborate in class along with beyond the class by using this type of collective intelligence.  In Ilon’s article How Collective Intelligence Redefines Education, talks about how collective intelligence is not used in the schools like it should.  I feel like schools today are headed this way because of the various uses, such as our activity this week, Google.  I will definitely try to start incorporating this type of activity into my classroom.

Reflective Post #4

The first article, Collective Intelligence: What it could mean for education, argues why collective intelligence can benefit education.  The article states that “we tend to teach as we were taught according to familiar cultural patterns”.  According to Tyack and Tobin, traditional teachers do this because of being familiar to patterns called “grammar of schooling”.  Bullock argues through the article that Web 2.0 digital technologies can have the potential to reform education in powerful ways.  Bullock goes on to say how Web 2.0 has created an innovation to the technology where people are able to “produce, co-operate, and collaborate” in ways people have never before.  Some examples given of digital technologies were Wiki’s, blogs, and social networking like Facebook and Twitter.  With the use of these technologies, they can help improve students learning in the classroom.  The article also talks about the education system in North America and how it has “geared toward individual achievement and the completion of individual tasks”.  This type of teaching strategy is becoming less effective.  Teachers today though have a chance to change that and use digital technology to help with collective intelligence.

The second article which also talks about collective intelligence, How collective intelligence redefines education, is comparing and contrasting formal education system to collective intelligence systems.  Ilon first discusses the formal education system which was designed for giving the knowledge and skills people could not obtain every day in their environments.  To be able to incorporate collective intelligence, schooling must be redefined.  Ilon describes how formal education was based on a top-down management system which were viewed as government-controlled.  With the government controlling education, they want to see the results from the students.  The article also talks about standardized tests.  It says that the schools success is based on the results from the tests.  Ilon also discusses the structure of formal education to collective intelligence system.  Collective intelligence is not in the schools yet, but to keep up with the demands of our students today, we must start to implement collective intelligence.  To do this, the schools need to make changes.  It would need to start with the government since they are controlling education.  The administrators need to also be willing to make changes.

The article 7 things you should know about Personal Learning Environments, tells you about personal learning environments (PLE) by answering seven different questions.  First, what is it?  As defined in the article, a PLE “describes the tools, communities, and services that constitute the individual educational platforms leaners use to direct their own learning and pursue educational goals”.  PLEs are often contrasted to LMS (learning management system) because LMS are course-centric but PLEs are learner-centric.  The next question is who is doing it?  Examples of who is doing PLEs are University of Bolton in the UK, University of Mary Washington in Virginia, Baylor University, Penn State, and the University of British Columbia.  These students around the world are using PLEs as “tools for discovery” to “expand their learning experiences beyond campus boundaries”.  The third question goes into how it works.  Instructors provide the framework for student study which could be desktop applications or web-based services.  Students are encouraged to use the networks and external resources to discover and expand their learning experiences.  The fourth question explains why it is significant.  PLEs are a way students can “consume information” through different sources such as the library, books or LMS.  This puts the student in charge of their learning and challenges them to find tools and resources that can help them learn best.  The fifth question talks about the downsides of PLE’s.  One downside the article talks about is data can easily disappear because references to sources might not be enough in such an environment.  It also requires students to be self-directed and be able to reflect how they learn best where less experienced students might not be ready for that responsibility.  The sixth question talks about where it is going.  According to the article “a PLE is a result of the evolution of Web 2.0 and its influence on the educational process” and is “likely to become a fixture in educational theory”.  Finally, the seventh question goes into the implications for teaching and learning.  PLEs can take a role in the resources of teaching and learning.  The students will shift from collecting information to drawing connections from it.  PLEs can create a greater emphasis on metacognition in learning.

The video of a PLE example by a 7^th grade student was about how she set up her Personal Learning Environment (PLE) that she created.  She showed how she has organized her information she found online on her personal page.  It even included non-school items such as Facebook and her blogs.  She talks about how she was spending time researching how to find information online and put it on a personal web page.  The student states that she likes using the PLE because most of her work doesn’t involve papers so she hardly needs to have a pencil for class.  This video was great because we got to hear from a student who is experiencing this type of learning.  The way it took you through her day and allowed the students to view the assignment and learning task or choices for activities for the day was helpful to understand how it works, especially coming from a student first hand.  A PLE seems it was very helpful for this student because it allows her independence.

       After reading the articles about Collective Intelligence, I feel that Collective Intelligence seems to be a reasonable step to take for a learning environment in this digital age.  The first article talks about how digital technology and Web 2.0 can drive education.  The very first sentence in the article talks about “apprenticeship of observation” which is about student teaching in which provides the students with “hundreds of hours observing teachers” and their behaviors.  Thinking about my student teaching, which was 6 years ago, I still do many of the same things my teacher did.  I have modified certain activities that I feel needed to be changed.  My area of teaching, physical education, is also very difficult to incorporate technology into the program due to the environment and objectives of the class.  By getting my masters in technology and what I have done so far, I feel that I am changing what I am doing to try to incorporate technology into PE that will still allow them to be active the majority of the class.  With the digital technologies available now, and what the students are able to do, I am seeing a different reaction to how the students are learning.

       After reading and watching the video, they both did a good job of explaining what Personal Learning Environments (PLE) are.  I think a PLE could be a great thing for many students but not all.  I agree with the article and the PLEs downsides.  Students that are less experienced might not be ready for managing and building their environments along with the responsibilities.  The girl in the video is definitely someone who has benefited from a PLE, but not all students could be that organized and take on the responsibility of a PLE.  Thinking about my students, many of them need reminders for what they are doing. There are student though that I think would benefit from a PLE.  It just depends on the student.  I agree with what the article states about being a result of Web 2.0 and could become a part of learning environments.  Students would just need to be able to self-direct themselves that works best for the student.  It would provide the students to collaboratively learn more.

Activity #3

Using QR Codes with PE Central’s Cooperative Fitness Challenge Lesson:

http://www.pecentral.com/lessonideas/ViewLesson.asp?ID=12509#.VqFRaL8-dtA

The lesson is Using QR Codes with PE Central’s Cooperative Fitness Challenge.  This lesson is to allow the students to use technology (iPad or any smart device that has a QR code reader app) to show the different types of assessments for the Cooperative Fitness Challenge.  This lesson is for grades 4-5.  For this lesson, they have the students split up into 6 stations, one for each challenge.  The students are shown how to use the devices and scan the QR codes.  Once the QR codes are scanned, it brings up a website that shows a video and gives descriptions on how to perform that stations fitness challenge.

In the article Thinking Technology: Toward a Constructivist Design Model, constructivism is defined as a way that “learners construct their own reality or at least interpret it based upon their perceptions of experiences, so an individual’s knowledge is a function of ones’ prior experiences, mental structures, and beliefs that are used to interpret objects and events”.  This lesson is constructivist because the learners are actively involved in the process of learning each fitness skill.  Physical education is mostly constructivist teaching because we are always actively involved in what we are learning.  Rather than simply being told how to do each fitness activity, they are actively learning by watching the video and looking at the critical elements for the skill.

This lesson is exemplary because of the way it includes Constructivism as noted above.  It is also exemplary because it includes math, technology, reading and web technology into the lesson.  The students have to use the technology devices to pull up the web by scanning a QR code in which students have to also read what goes along with the video.  Math is included because students are told how many they have to be able to do in so many seconds.  This can lead them to think how many they need in a certain about of time in which they need to be able to judge their timing and pace.

This lesson is equitable because all of the students have access to the technology needed to do this lesson.  The lesson shows that there is an iPad at each station – total of 6.  This allows all students to access and use technology.  This lesson allows the students to be able to work together in their groups by scanning, watching and reading how to do the fitness activity.  This activity is one that has the students active in their learning will help them also take ownership of their learning.  As stated in the article Redefining Equity: Meaningful Uses of Technology in Learning Environment, “it is important that all learners have equal access to these tools”.  The students can each have an opportunity to scan the QR code using the device.

This would be a lesson I would include in my classroom if I had access to devices in my gym.  If I were to do this lesson, I would include many more QR codes with other activities as well.