Best Practice

Web 2.0 Best Practice

 

My Best Practice Resources from del.icio.us | http://del.icio.us/djakes/bestpractice

 

See my Thursday techLEARNING blog post on best practice, Moving Target.

 

It's an exciting time to be in educational technology.

 

When I started teaching, I had an overhead projector, and a slide projector, not to mention the 16 mm. film

 

I remember when I got my first Mac Classic, and typing a worksheet with all seven fonts, not because it had a purpose, but because I could.

 

Today's instructional technology landscape looks much different, and much of it is due to the emergence of Web 2.0, and the explosion of the tools associated with Web 2.0.

 

The big 5 tools of Web 2.0 as they relate to learning are blogs, wikis, social bookmarking, podcasting, and Flickr.

 

Combined together, these tools provide a different entry point into instruction, one which can be leveraged to take advantage of the affinity and interest of today's student for technology.

 

We're here today to talk about that, and what that can look like.

 

 

Best practice in the classroom | What does it look like-Darren Kuropatwa

Upload:  Barbara Barreda and Clarence Fisher

Ning and Wikis:  Elizabeth Helfant

Life Round Here Project: Chris Craft

Advice Through Ethereal Walls |Consumer Math | Darren...again

 

 

Questions:  Life Round Here project

 

First, will the value of the process of digital storytelling as a learning tool be evaluated? Is it better than what kids have done in the past with other instructional methodologies? Does the process add value to the learning experience? For example, are other literacies, such as visual literacy, developed within the context of the storytelling experience? Do these skills improve, and how is that known?

 

 

Second, what is the value of making this a worldwide program? I mentioned earlier that I felt projects like this have the potential to promote understanding between different cultures. How can the connections between classes be utilized to add that value I mentioned earlier? For example, will the students be expected to evaluate each other's work and learn how to judge fairly and comment accordingly? Will the students be asked to reflect on the messages contained in the digital stories, and respond in kind? Will there be a conversation between kids started by the stories, and how will the teachers continue that? Will these conversations be evaluated for their impact on learning?

 

 

 

 

 

The concept of best practice usually illicits some strong emotions from educators; what exactly is best practice.  Best practice means different things to different people.  With that in mind, here is my perspective of a framework or scaffold that can help school districts implement learning technologies appropriately.  Again, my perspective; yours might be different.  Read my blog post on this topic.

 

1. Does the use of the technology support a fundamental literacy that the school believes in? This can range from a holistic literacy like writing to content specific objectives for a particular course. For example, digital storytelling first and foremost seeks to improve the ability of students to write.
2. Does the use of technology add value to the lesson? Does the technology extend the lesson to a place that could not be achieved unless the technology was included? For example, using the process of digital storytelling also helps students learn visual literacy skills, project management skills, network skills, and how to use media in an ethical way. If the products are shared, then the student can potentially write for a world-wide audience, and that's a much different experience than writing for a teacher.
3. How will I structure the lesson so that the technology fulfills the first two criteria? For example, the time-tested methodology of preparing a narrative, developing a script, storyboarding, locating imagery and other media, and then building and sharing the story is a truly effective methodology or framework for effective digital storytelling.  What pedagogical process will I use to structure the lesson?

    

4. How do I know what I did works?  How will I assess the outcomes, both from a student perspective (did they learn what they were supposed to learn?) and from a lesson design perspective (did the technology perform as anticipated, did the pedagogical process work as intended, and did I meet Criteria 1 and 2?).  How will I use assessment data to improve what I do?

 

 

For example, best practice ideas about blogging might look like this, from my Wisconsin Web 2.0 Workshop participants:

 

• Authenticy of blog posts-focus on authentic topics
• Teach audience and the power of writing for audience
• Use blogging and commenting features for peer review of writing
• Create a reading response-students read and write an interpretive blog post
• Focus on metacognitive activities and have students reflect on learning
• Like learning languages, start blogging young so it becomes a part of what students do
• Involve the entire school community in blogging
• Use blogging to establish connections and networks for learning
• Focus on cross-curricular applications
• Link to others to support content and create a culture of mashup
• A goal/focus should be on student empowerment through self-expression, promoting a competitive voice and an identity
• Take advantage of the digital nature of the medium to include other types of inforamation, repesented in podcasts, movies, graphics and hyperlinks.
• Provide additional time to complete blog posts when computer access for certain student groups is limited or not available.
• The teacher should model blogging by being a blogger.
• Provide time to read and comment on other student blogs
• Apply traditional writing skills to blog posts, no IM language
• Consider using blog posts as an ongoing portfolio of student writing.