Constructing a Streaming Video-Based Learning Forum for Collaborative Learning
An Article Review

There should be some way to allow distance learners to participate in video based collaborative learning strategies. That is the premise of the article ‘Constructing a Streaming Video-Based Learning Forum for Collaborative Learning’ by Chang, Chih-kai. Even though the article was written in 2004, the arguments are still valid, when discussing the use of videos in education today. Often videos are used to supplement activities that could not be duplicated in the classroom setting, rather than being interactive.

In addressing the issue of how to include distance learners in the collaborative learning strategies, the author introduced the concept of a screen camcorder. This allows learners to record their current activity on their computer as a video. Video is recorded in standard format that could me easily changed to streaming video. The experiment, conducted on 37 students, studying programming design in the Information Management Department during one semester. The conclusion was that most of the students thought the camcorder was useful, and easy to use. This study demonstrates the feasibility of using such devices in the classroom

Better Idea

I have some revisions for my project I think I will gear it more toward a first year class, instead of on an individual basis. I would like to see it in an Biology/Chem class of student who think they want to go into the field of medicine in some aspect. The students would be divided into groups for different shadowing experiences. During the shadowing experience they could text or twitter some of their more rewarding experiences. They would get together and discuss it later, then one "spokesperson" from each group could go explain what their shadow was like. This is one way to use handhelds and the jigsaw strategy. At the end of the project they would complete a video to be put on voice thread that would allow other to comment on different aspects of the experience. I am still working on the details. Let me know what you think.

Using Handhelds in a Jigsaw Cooperative Learning Environment

The premise for this article is that technology is changing rapidly, and educators need to assess their teaching strategies to adapt to these new technologies. Huge strides have been made in the hand held devices that most of us know as palm pilots or PDA’s. These small devices, that were originally supposed to be a personal organizer, now have the capability of laptop, or even tower computers. These devices provide an amazing opportunity to enhance cooperative learning both inside and outside the classroom. The article ‘Using Handhelds in a Jigsaw Cooperative Learning Environment’ followed an experiment that was conducted to study the effects of adult learners using hand held technology. The authors, C.-Y. Lai and C.-C. Wu conducted the study using two classes of nursing students in their fourth year, of a five year program. They followed these students in their learning process. They also address their attitudes and their interaction with other students and their professors.

Through this study they concluded the use of handheld devices has many benefits, but there are also many obstacles to overcome. They also concluded that at the present time hand held technology is not fully mature enough for educational uses. They decided that, at the time the article was written, this implementation would require a lot more work for the instructor and they would need a lot of support from a technology specialist. They also mentioned that students would have to be trained in this technology as well as the teacher. But they also said that with the advancement of technology these problems will be greatly reduced and then the benefits will be more obvious (Lai, C., & Wu, C., 2006).

Final Project Idea, Get a Job

My final project idea has to do with students discovering what their strengths and weaknesses are and how they will find careers that match their strengths. I am not sure how to go about it, but I would like students to take a web based interest and skills inventory, and then be able to identify where their interests are.
They could then take advantage of the professional career counselor we have on campus to evaluate their results and direct them to research careers of their choice. To do this, we would access computer based technology, web research, web access to professionals in the field. Hopefully it would lead to a shadowing day, that they would be able to document their shadowing experience in a video journal “a day in the life of…..” This would eventually lead to a huge data base that has been created by students to document many different careers.

Class Project "Food bank"

I have been thinking about the project that was mentioned in class about the food bank. I think that we could really do something good with this. I know they want it to be run like a store, so why not set up a “store front” on the web for the food bank. I am sure I don’t know how to do all this, but with help I think it will work.
Everyone who is now helped by that food bank must have an identifying number. If these patrons were given access to the food bank data base, and were given a “budget”, they would be able to see what is available and spend their “budget” on things that they want, vs getting things they really can’t use. Because they are given a budget, they would get experience with managing their money and meal planning as well. The store could actually be set up in isles like a real store, meat in one isle, fresh vegetables, canned goods on another isle etc. They could “shop” and then “check out”, sort of like you don on any web site where you can make purchases. As long as they have the funds in their “budget” the food will be picked and packed and they could actually pick it up the next day. There is a whole other component to this, and that is how the food that is donated gets set up in the data base, but that is just a process of data management. Like I said, this is just a thought. I would be interested in hearing what others think about this project.

So what is so great about PBL?

We have previously talked about some of the difference between conventional learning and project based learning.
Conventional has a Didactic Curriculum (sage on the stage)”stand and deliver method”
· Facts and memorization
· Technology is taught in specific time blocks
· Information source is the teacher, textbook, reference
· Method used is paper, pen, pencil
· Focus on specific disciplines
· Careful adherence to time schedule
PBL (guide on the side)\
· Questions, hypothesis, higher order thinking
· Technology is integrated in everything
· Information source also includes Web and the internet
· Also use calculators, computers, and software programs
· Interdisciplinary curriculum
· Time is flexible
PBL is also
· More complex
· Uses IT that even the teacher may not be familiar with
· Louder, less structure in the classroom
· More interesting to student

Time Bandit

Time Bandit
Has anyone ever had to turn in a project, or a paper and been struggling, at the last minute to get it done. That very thing happened to me last week. I have a yearly report to turn into my boss every year. Each year it is due by Sept. 15th. It seems like every year I am always struggling to make the deadline. Each year when it is done, I spear I will never let that happen again. Yet every year when Sept 10th rolls around I am in a crunch again.

This year, I looked back to analyze what happened. Am I that poor at managing my time? Am I really that inefficient? I don’t think that is the problem at all. I think what happens is that in general I don’t plan for the unexpected. When I planned, I know how much time it will take, I actually gave myself two more weeks to do it than it should take. Then, the unexpected happened. I didn’t plan to miss a week of work when I got sick. (Seriously, I have not been out a full week in fifteen years.) Right after that, I had to go to San Antonio to take care of a robbery at a house we have there. There went all my extra time. It was just stolen from me. I don’t think I am unique or jinxed either. I think it happens to most of us when we have something important due. Life just gets in the way. So how do we handle that? We have to plan for the unexpected? Mentally move up the deadline. We have to ask ourselves what if this happens. Next year, my solution will be to plan to be done one month early. Now at times we won’t have the luxury of one month, but try to plan for the unexpected.

Cooperative Learning

Team work is so important in our everyday lives, but often people are reluctant to work in teams. One of the side benefits of using technology in PBL is the collaborative component. One very important aspect of using technology to assist in PBL, is that teams of students usually work together to address issues and solve problems. Peer instruction is encouraged and expected. Often time PBL provides real life situations where teachers can enhance students cooperative learning skills.

Cooperative learning, through training in collaboration and communication, has been proven to increase academic and social skills

Inquiry-Based Learning

This style of learning is often referred to as discovery based learning. This type of learning has often been used in the science field, and is also starting to be used in the math arena more and more. It is an approach based on hypothesis, or questions. The emphasis is always about questions, and assumptions. It is about developing higher order thinking skills. This style of learning helps students develop curiosity. This curiosity becomes a habit and develops into investigative analysis of problems they encounter.

In both the math and science field, students learn to identify the problem, search for patterns, develop hypotheses, and then systematically go about proving or disproving the hypothesis.

Theories on Intelligences

When I looked at the theories on intelligences by Howard Gardner, Robert Stermberg and David Perkins, I saw many similarities, and yes a few differences. The one that I was drawn to in the very beginning was Stermberg. He seems to have a lot of the same ideas as Gardner, it just seems to be more easy to digest. Instead of breaking the intelligences up into eight categories as Gardner did, he only has three categories,
Practical intelligence,
Experiential intelligence
Componential intelligence
As I said earlier, I was first drawn to this idea, but then as I read further, it seemed to be less appealing. I was not able to put everything into his neat categories. What actually seemed simple to begin with became more and more complicated, so I took a second look at Gardner and Perkins.

After spending a little more time on all three, I find that I really like Howard Gardner’s idea that there are more than three intelligences.
· Bodily kinesthetic ie dancers
· Interpersonal (people who are good at dealing with public) sales, teachers, clinicians
· Intrapersonal (people with good insight into themselves)
· Linguistic (poets, communicators)
· Logical, mathematical
· Musical
· Naturalistic (the ability to understand other species
· Spatial (surgeons, sculptors)
I am still not completely sure that I agree with all eight, the one that I really have the most trouble with is Naturalistic, to me it seems like that might go with logical and mathematical, but I guess that is another post.

If we take a minute to look at the PBL lesson idea from chapter 3 that involved a group of students developing a news letter, I can see how students with all different intelligences could be actively involved in this project. Students with interpersonal intelligences would be the logical ones to interview people and sell ads. Linguistics and special students would probably editing and layout. The logical and mathematical students would probably be the ones who would be able to set up the data base with all the information on the mailing list. Students with Intrapersonal Intelligences would probably enjoy writing an editorial page. There are some that of the categories that don’t seem to fit, but the project could be adjusted with a different focus to make it more appealing to them.

Examining Strategies for Project Based Learning

Anyone who has studied Problem Based Learning is probably familiar with the strategies on PBL. For those of you who are just discovering it though, here is a great sight to research Problem Based Learning strategies.
One of my favorite strategies is Think, Ink, Pair and Share. The way this strategy works is that you get your students to think about a question you have given them such as, Give me an example of a time…………
Show us what happened when……………

The strategy is about writing skills, I think that students today would enjoy the experience more if they were able to use technology to not only tell someone one what happened, they would be able to show them.

For example. What did you do this summer? This is a question all elementary students are asked when they come back in the fall. If presented with this as more than a three minute question, students could take some time and build a video journal to explain what they actually did that summer. If they had actual pictures, they could upload them to their journal. I realize students have very different summer experiences, as well as different financial constraints.. Some will have fantastic family pictures that either they or their family took, while others who may not have the means don’t have those pictures. This is where the teacher needs to really encourage them, and help them to understand that they don’t need elaborate pictures that they have taken. Through this enhanced version of “Think Ink Pair Share” they will not only develop their writing and presentation skill, they will also develop their technology skills.

There are many great sights where students can find a lot of free, helpful technology tool to let students accomplish this. One of the best sight I have found for this is Web2tools.”
There are some great tools on the web, where students can down load pictures that relate to different vacation areas, such as Yellowstone Park. You can also just target events line swimming to show others in their class what they did that summer. Soon it will much more about the process than actually where they went that summer. There are many great sights where students can find a lot of free, helpful technology tool to let students accomplish this. One of the best sight I have found for this is Web2tools. There are a couple of very easy tools that I found where you could document your vacation, even if you didn’t get your own pictures was called Corbis or “Photoxpress” Though this enhanced version of “Think Ink Pair Share” and various sight where students can access free software, they will not only develop their writing and presentation skill, they will also develop their technology skills.

Two Project Based Experiences

I looked at one site for project based learning http://www.globalschoolnet.org/gsh/pr/
This is actually a very kind of a cool site where you can sort projects by student’s age. You could look at projects that are currently going on, or projects that are scheduled for a future date. You could also look for a project for a specific curriculum. If you are interested in finding a project that involves a specific type of technology or information type, you can search that way. You are also able to search by collaboration type. I looked at two of the projects in the site, for students who are a little older.

Weather outside their window
One of the projects I looked at was called weather outside their window. In this project, everyone who participates will look out their window at 12:00 on Oct 15, January 15 March 15 and May 15. Each participant will report on four weather features, cloud cover, precipitation, wind and temperature. They will all take pictures and then all the data will be linked to a map and compiled on an online spreadsheet. The curriculum that this will fit would include community interest, as well as science and social students. The different technologies used would include e-mail, a list serve, web published graphics and photos. Students will collaborate through electronic publishing; information exchange; and global classroom. The objectives would be to compare the weather conditions around the world, and this would be made relevant by associating in with particular classes.
Weaknesses, I am not sure that students will feel a compelling interest (at least at the beginning) to look out their window at clouds.

Strength, I think that after they start working on this project, they will develop relationships with other students in other classrooms and that will make this project more interesting

Homes where we live

Another project I looked into and thought might be very interesting for students was called Homes Where we live. Even though I am directing it at student, really all age levels would be appropriate. This is a very simple concept, but could prove enlightening to students. It would be a social studies Curriculum fit. The idea behind the project is to see the way geography will affect the way families live in other places. Participants will take pictures of the typical home where they live. The photos will be linked to a map and posted online.

Additional information could be gathered that includes building material, climate and physical features. Although the original project did not discuss this, I think it would be appropriate to also target different types of clothing as well as food. That would all revolve around the different life styles. The different types of technology that that will be used are e-mail, graphics, photos, as well as web based publishing. This would be a great time for students to experience global collaboration and information exchange.

There was one other sight that caught my eye http://www.4teachers.org. In this web site, student and teachers discuss technology in the classroom and the difference it has made in the lives of the students. Although most of the sight deals with technology, I can easily see how the concepts can be applied to Project based learning

Technology Journey

Starting a journey in technology can be a little stressful. Starting a blog can be even more stressful. I hope that this will become second nature to me soon. There wer some rvery useful tools that we were given in class today for methods and strategies of technology integration.