CEP812 Wicked Problem Project: Final presentation

Alas, here is my final presentation.  I used Google Docs presentation to assemble the slides and screenr.com to record the screen cast. I was a little rushed by the 5:00 time limit of screenr.com, and was cut off right at the end...

Here is a link to the Google Docs presentation slides.

I identified a Wicked Problem as a lack of thoughtful or deep understanding of scientific, mathematical, engineering, and programming concepts that underpin my Middle School Robotics elective course.  My hypothesis is that the problem is caused by a lack of time available in class for students to reflect on their work and discuss their progress and findings.

My proposed solution is to have students create blogs for reflective writing and online collaborative discussion.  I aim to leverage online tools to extend the class beyond the walls of the classroom and the time limitations imposed by the schedule.

In order to successfully deploy this technology in the classroom, I analyzed the proposed solution through the lens of the TPACK framework.

The Technological Pedagogical Knowledge asks me to understand how the technology affects and supports teaching strategies.  Using online blogs supports reflective thinking and collaboration by students.  It gives them a space to think about the work they’ve done in the classroom and distance from it to process the results in their own voice, with their own creative style.  Students commenting in each others blogs creates a discussion outside of the classroom walls, free from the time constraints of the bell schedule, and is more accessible to students who aren’t inclined to verbally participate in classroom discussions.  For me as the instructor, I had to become very familiar with several blogging tools so as to be able to demonstrate and support the students’ use of them.

The Technical Content Knowledge requires me to understand how the content of the course can be represented through the technology used.  Students will be able to represent their knowledge and understanding in new ways.  They will be able to visually diagram their processes and results with drawing or charting tools.  They will be able to use various hardware (iPads, flip cams, and so on) to visually capture and document their work, which can be embedded into their blogs.  The digital tools open up new methods of recording and expressing results and their interpretations of what they are experiencing.

The Pedagogical Content Knowledge asks me to understand how the teaching strategies make the course content more accessible to students.  The nature of a Robotics class is that most of the work is kinesthetic, and creates a charged, excited classroom atmosphere.  As a result, it’s difficult to employ traditional teaching strategies such as lectures and class discussions.  While these strategies are not the most exciting, they do serve the purposes of transmitting information from the teacher to the students, and allowing the students to collaboratively interpret their work and build knowledge.  My proposed solution facilitates these underlying requirements in a novel way, without taking up crucial class time that the students use for building and experimentation.  Further, the online mode of discussion puts the class dialogue firmly within the realm that their work with the robots exsists: that is to say, via the computer in a digital medium.  This will lead the students to use computers with more diverse software tools to communicate, document, process, and synthesize their findings.  They assemble these artifacts into a presentable form to share with each other, and the world.

My implementation originally used two technologies to satisfy the problem: blogs, and collaborative spaces like Wikis or Google Sites.  It was evident rather quickly that this was too big of a chunk to bite off in one class, so I decided to narrow the solution to just blogs.  As a result, I had to recalibrate how the student collaboration element was meant to be satisfied.  In the end, the difference between the two types of tools was negligible, and the students were able to use the blogs to post the work they did collaboratively within teams.  I was able to harness the prior knowledge and enthusiasm of certain students to teach the class the nuts and bolts of how to use the online blogging tools.  Student-led lectures are a great way to recognize the specialized (or advanced) knowledge of students and shake up the traditional class paradigm.


Findings and Implications.  The students found the blogs not only novel, but also liberating.  As a result, I noted that students were collaborating and communicating in class much more effectively; minimizing a lot of the competitive atmosphere that is common in the class.  Students recognized that they were able to document and show their work in new ways with the multimedia options, and took to it with alacrity.  It’s difficult to get empirical data on a student’s understanding of concepts, I observed students using the robots and programming software in new ways, which leads me to believe they were gleaning new ideas about the programming and physics of the robotics challenges.  Overall, I believe the project to be a success, but can also be fine tuned and developed further.  While I was not able to use the collaborative spaces as an effective tool for the students, I still believe they hold a lot of promise for the right type of students that elect to try a different set of tools.

CEP 812 Group Leadership Project: Final

This is our final product for the Group Leadership Project.




Tools for information exchange & workflows in 1:1 iPad classrooms.


1) What tool did your group use to deliver the PD tutorial? Why?
We used a combination of tools to create this:  iMovie, Audacity, Explain Everything, IShowU HD, Reflection, and Final Cut Pro.  We used YouTube to deliver it to the audience.  We decided that there were various tools that each group member was comfortable with or wanted to try out.  We wanted to play to our strengths or seek out new challenges (in the case of new tools).  For instance, I'm very strong with Audacity and iMovie, so I used those.  Janet wanted to use the actual tool she was researching and demo'ing, ExplainEverything.  Ultimately, Fredy used Final Cut Pro X to pull everything together because he is really proficient with that full-line video editing software package.


2) What did you learn during the development process of the final product?
I learned that a group of people in disparate locations using diverse tools can pull together a convincing project with a minimum of meeting time.  We spent about 3 hours meeting in total over the course of a month, with the addition of a couple dozen emails in a flurry right near the end of the project.  While it was difficult to get everyone in the (virtual) room, synchronous meetings using a solid video-conferencing application (Google Plus Hangouts, in this case) went a long way to facilitate the development of the project.


3) What would you do differently if you had to develop a similar product again?
I would set up certain parameters and guidelines about the format and other technical specifications.  One thing that only came up at the end (after we'd all done our individual segments) is that had not agreed on an aspect ratio for the project.  Some content was in widescreen 16:9, and other segments were in 4:3.  Ultimatelty, Fredy was able to resolve these problems with some post-production trickery, but the final product does not look quite as fluid, visually, as it might have been otherwise.

CEP 812: Professional Learning Plan

Here is my professional learning plan for the upcoming school year...  This was the first time I've used Prezi.

CEP812 Professional Learning Plan on Prezi

Mobile Learning Lab

I think mobile technologies can be used in interesting ways in the classroom.  The possession of cell phones by most students in middle and high school can be leveraged by a teacher so that a school doesn't have to spend money to purchased an maintain certain types of equipment.  Most modern smart phones have a camera, and many are equipped with the ability to capture video.  In your typical classroom, you this basically means you have 1:1 or maybe 2:1 student to device ratio for digital photo and video cameras.  

Before the ubiquitous spread of smartphones, Flip cameras were a great boon to schools because they made digital video cheap: about $150 per unit, compared to $600 in the past for a decent DV tape camera.  Not only that, but the Flip camera's user interface is extremely easy to use, similar to an iPod, which means you can just put one in the hands of a student and they are working with it immediately.  The flash storage on a Flip camera with the direct USB connection makes dumping the video to a computer for editing nearly frictionless.

I had not considered the use of cell phones in the classroom for communication or polls.  Most middle and high schools have stringent policies about possession and use of cell phones, so the best you could hope for, in many cases, would be to allow the students to use them for the camera and video capabilities.  I tried out the PollEverywhere online poll taking tool.  It is a novel idea, but may not really be suited for MS and HS classrooms because existing policies assume that cellphone's don't have an academic use in the classroom and are distracting.

Wicked Problem: Part D - Findings and Implications.

1.  Formative assessment.  Did the project get implemented as planned?

Most of the elements of the project were implemented as planned.  The second part, the collaborative space was not wholly embraced by the students. I scaled that part of the project down due to substantial pushback by the students.

2.  Summative assessment.  Evidence of success in addressing the problem of practice.

I believe I began to see evidence of success of the project in two ways.  First the writing that the students posted to their blogs showed a determination to collect interesting facts and observations about their work in the classroom.  Some students demonstrated a lot of creative thinking, and then tried to apply their theories in the challenges and test trials.  Only a few seemed to slog through the writing and commenting requirements; which I expected.

The other evidence was more subtle.  In the classroom, I witnessed students communicating better within their workgroups.  Several groups attempted novel approaches to complete the challenges, and I witnessed more (helpful and healthy) inter-group communication rather than the usual secretive and competitive stances from the past.

3. 3. How would you approach another project of this type differently given what you’ve learned here?

   I would attempt to resolve the problem with one piece of technology at a time.  I realized I was basically using two approaches and two technologies to solve the problem, when I should have just focussed on one.  From this, one notable takeaway is to use technologies that can be used in different ways, rather than technologies that are really just single-use.  I also need to provide writing prompts for students.
   
   
   4. What are the lessons learned that others might benefit from knowing about?
   
   
   Blogs are a good communication tool to extend learning beyond the walls of the classroom.  They can be used in myriad different ways: as personal journals for reflective writing and group blogs for collaborative writing.
   
   In terms of solving a wicked problem, using a narrow focus with a technology is better than a broad or blank-slate approach.
   
   
   
   
   5. In what ways will you endeavor to do the same project again, and what will you change or not do?
   
   
   I expect to correct these problems by eliminating the collaborative space, and recalibrating the blogs as group blogs.  Posts containing individual recollections and reflections will still be required by each individual in addition to collaborative posts.  The students did not seem enthused with the blank-slate nature of the collaborative space, in terms of choice of tools and design aesthetics, so folding the collaborative work requirements into the blog tool seems to be the most reasonable approach.  For students who chafe at the lack of space to be aesthetically creative, I can offer Google Sites as an alternative for those that want to put in the extra effort.
   
   

Data Visualization Lab

I tried out several visualization tools as a part of the Data Visualization lab.

Flow charting is something I try to use in my MS Robotics course so that students can develop techniques to organize their thoughts into useful plans for programming.  Visualizing a flowchart, even a simple one, helps students connect abstract ideas together and create methodical logic for a robot's behavior.


Google Docs.  
Used Googe Docs Draw module to create a simple flowchart for an embedded set of loops for a Robot Sumo program.  Notes: Hard to keep lines straight, but easy to draw, get shapes out, and label things.

Cacoo.  

I tried Cacoo for the first time to create a chart for a possible workflow for "The Chasm" challenge.  Notes: Had to sign up for an account to use the tool.  Made lines with rounded corners really easily.  Control key short cuts failed to work sometimes.

Gliffy.

Lastly, I used Gliffy to model a robot sumo board.  I was able to fake a 3D model with 2D shapes and drop shadows and built in lighting effects.  Notes: Didn't have to sign up for an account to use the tool (just to save files).  Had a lot of templates to start from.  Had a lot of different shapes and stencils to use.  It was easy to make good looking shapes with drop shadow, lighting effects, etc.  The web-based interface responded very quickly to mouse movements, no latency.

I also use a freeware program called Lego Digital Designer with some students who are particularly adept at building so they can create 3D models of their creations.  This is essentially a simple CAD (computer aided design) program that has a specialized set of pieces loaded for the LEGO systems.

Group Leadership Project: Part B: Script & Storyboard

Image courtesy of http://www.sotherden.com/video101/storyboardwritten.gif

Here is a link to our group's script/storyboard.  We used a Google Docs presentation to facilitate this part of the project.  Admittedly, the format is not very exciting, but we were able to do all the work remotely and asynchronously.


Storyboard