Instructional Design – Page 4

Multiple Representations of Understanding with Technology

These are the slides from my first Tennessee Educational Technology Conference presentation. Unfortunately the animations and effects were lost when uploaded to SlideShare. I’ve shared my notes and resources from this presentation over on my wiki, Learning Telecollaboratively. I hope to create a Vidcast or SlideCast of this presentation once I return home and things settle down.

I demonstrated that with freely available digital technologies students can demonstrate their understanding of course content in multiple ways (images, audio, video, presentations, artwork, and more). Each student’s end product (learning artifact) allows them to personally self-express their understanding of the content/mastery of the skills. Although teachers may not be comfortable using all of today’s technology it is important to consider allowing students to use it to communicate their understanding as they are often more naturally able to more fully express themselves with digital media.

View more presentations from Clif Mims.

Conference Tag: #tetc

Did You Know 4.0

I’ve been developing workshops for the BILD Institute for the past couple of months and I’ve discovered/rediscovered many quality resources about educational reform, instructional design, technology integration, and innovation as well as many new web tools and services. I hope to share much of this with you here on this blog (You can also go ahead and access it on the BILD Institute site.). The first resource I’d like to share is this recently updated version of the Did You Know/Shift Happens video (See previous versions here, here and here.). “This is another official update to the original Shift Happens video. This completely new Fall 2009 version includes facts and stats focusing on the changing media landscape, including convergence and technology, and was developed in partnership with The Economist.” (Source)

What Is Effective Technology Integration?

I developed the following activity for one of the educational technology courses I teach. We talk about the below scenarios and questions during the beginning of the semester. I would appreciate hearing your answers to the questions and I’m sure the teachers in the class would find it helpful.

Consider the following scenarios.

A. A teacher keeps attendance and grade records on the computer.

B. Students use concept mapping software to help them organize information for a research paper.

C. A first grade class practices math facts while playing Number Munchers in the computer lab.

D. Students use the classroom computers to check their email and read the news at ESPN.com during their free time.

E. The teacher includes video clips of scientific principles in the real world that can not be easily replicated in the classroom during the lesson.

F. Groups of students work together to produce a podcast (audio) or vidcast (video) in which they critically analyze the events that led to the tragic deaths of Romeo and Juliet.

G. The teacher types and prints worksheets for students to complete for homework.

H. Pairs of students develop interactive games related to the Middle Ages using PowerPoint.

Please share your thoughts about these questions.

1. Which of these scenarios are examples of integrating technology with learning and instruction? Provide rationale for your responses.

2. What are some of the characteristics of effective technology integration in educational settings?

Educational Technology Certificate

You can earn a certificate in educational technology with our 4 online courses. Visit http://idt.memphis.edu/certificate for full details and assistance.

Knocking Down the Walls of the Classroom

Using Web 2.0 Tools to Create a Global Classroom Experience
Kristy Conger and Clif Mims
Instructional Technology Conference

The term Web 2.0 is certainly a popular buzzword. Other than hype, what do Web 2.0 tools really have to offer? Is it possible for educators to effectively use these tools to engage learners? Kristy will share specific tools and strategies we’ve found successful in hopes that these will help you begin implementing Web 2.0 technologies in your courses.

Presentation notes and resources

The Ustream will go live at 11:00 AM CST. Join us!

It’s about Learning and Not about Technology

Here’s a bit of news from the 2009 Gulf Educational Supplies & Solutions (GESS) Exhibition in Dubai, UAE. Discussions have highlighted the availability of technology and high-speed Internet access in schools around the world, the technology-rich environments in which many students live, and the revolutionary ways in which students and teachers can interact.

David Fairbairn-Day, Head of Education Market Development at Promethean Limited, states, “The challenge therefore is to embrace the new technologies into the learning environment and to realize that it isn’t what you know – it’s knowing where to find the information you need that counts.” He goes on to ask, “Doesn’t it make more sense to learn to use technology in order to aid the teaching process…as opposed to what I have seen so often in some countries where they are too busy learning the technology simply in its own right. At all times, teachers should surely concentrate on the fundamental question of how technology can enhance learning.” David shares that “whenever I talk to teachers and ministry officials involved in the purchase of classroom technology, I always say to them: invest 70 per cent of your budget on the technology, but lay aside at least 30 per cent of your resources for training and teacher support” (Source).

Read the full article.

New Diigo Group

I’m a big, big fan of Diigo. I appreciate that I can save and share bookmarks, highlight and leave comments on webpages, annotate resources, host and participate in groups and forums on particular topics, message and interact with friends and colleagues, and much more. It’s a very big component of my personal learning network (PLN). I’m also impressed and pleased that the Diigo founders and employees listened to its community of teacher-users and developed Diigo for Educators (More fondly referred to as EduDiigo). Here are some thoughts about about why teachers and learners might use Diigo.

I started a new group dedicated to the topic of design and development. I invite everyone with an interest/expertise in the topic to become an active member.

FYI, consider joining these other groups that started, too.

I encourage everyone to take a look at Diigo’s services and consider taking advantage of it. Please feel free to friend me because, as I frequently say, “Together we learn more.”

Prezi

I discovered Prezi today via a bookmark from Dean Mantz. I spent about 10 minutes looking through the site, the tutorial and the three examples on the homepage.

Here’s what some are saying.

When it comes to presentations, Microsoft Powerpoint is the desktop tool that most of us use. Apple Keynote delivers better visuals and is preferred by creatives. Google & Zoho presentations bring a subset of the functionality to the web and allow collaboration. Slideshare introduces community – following the strategies of Youtube (video) and Scribd (documents). But Prezi flips the paradigm of presentation inside out to bring you simple interactive presentations like you’ve never seen before. (Source)

Prezi allows anyone who can sketch an idea on a napkin to create and perform stunning non-linear presentations with relations, zooming into details, and adjusting to the time left without the need to skip slides. (Source)

With the help of Prezi you can create maps of texts, images, videos, PDFs, drawings and present in a nonlinear way. (Source)

Josh Lowensohn of CNET stated that Prezi is a presentation creator that ditches the idea of individual slides in place of a giant expanse that can be navigated with a mouse, keyboard, and eventually touch screens. The end result is pretty incredible and feels a lot like Google Maps. (Source).

Educational Uses

I must admit that while browsing through the site I almost gave up and left twice, but I’m very glad that I didn’t! It’s an interesting tool and holds untold educational potential. Here are a few thoughts that came to mind.

Presentations could become more dynamic, interactive and hopefully engaging. Prezi IS the message.
The ability to easily incorporate most any digital file or media allows teachers/designers to account for a variety of learning styles (audio, video, visual, etc.).
Prezi could be used as one of the (if not the) most robust concept mapping/semantic mapping tools that I’ve seen.
Teachers and students could find it useful for organization, collaboration and project management.
I like the idea of using Prezi to help during the design and development phases of lesson planning, unit development, team planning, cross-curriculum mapping, etc. In some instances (such as a typical presentation) your design and development work actually becomes part of the final product or learning artifact.

Collaborating with Online Word Processing

We’re in the second and final day teaching our professional development workshops with the Power Center Academy. This is a new charter school that will open its doors to students for the very first time next week. Take a look at PCA’s mission and consider ways that you can contribute to their worthy efforts.

We’re going to be looking at collaborating with online productivity tools this afternoon. I’m briefly going to highlight a few strategies and examples for using Google Docs and leading a quick collaborative activity. I went ahead and put together a self-guided module to which the teachers can refer for additional resources, video examples, and a more in depth look at integrating online word processing with teaching and learning. I invite you to share your related ideas and resources at the bottom of the wiki page.

Category: Instructional Design