Restless Pedagogue

Import Canvas Quiz From Another Course

2017-09-14T15:44:00.001-07:00

Overview

Below are the directions for duplicating a quiz from one teacher's course into another's. I wrote these because we collaborated on a test for the Ethnic Studies level in a Canvas course for which we are all "teachers" and in which there are no students; it's just for staging and sharing such materials as these.

The short version is that you need to be in the course you want to copy to, find the course you want to copy from, identify the material to copy, and then place it in the desired module.

Find the Course to Copy From

Be in the course you want to copy to, then go to Settings » Import

Find the course you want to copy from:

Identify the Desired Content

Place the Content In Desired Module

Customize

Not shown is the final step: customizing the settings for the quiz. For example, I set time limits, allow retakes, use an access code, etc, etc.

On productivity

2016-12-24T07:00:00.000-08:00

In a Freakonomics episode on productivity, author Stephen J Dubner interviews Charles Duhigg, reporter and editor at The New York Times and author of Smarter Faster Better: The secrets of being productive in life and business, who ellucidates the elements of high productivity:

Number one: motivation.
We trigger self-motivation by making choices that make us feel in control. The act of asserting ourselves and taking control helps trigger the parts of our neurology where self-motivation resides.

Focus.
We train ourselves how to pay attention to the right things and ignore distractions by building mental models, which means that we essentially narrate to ourselves what’s going on as it goes on around us.

Goal-setting.
Everyone actually needs two different kinds of goals. You need a stretch goal, which is like this big ambition, but then you have to pair that with a specific plan on how to get started tomorrow morning.

Decision-making.
People who make the best decisions tend to think probabilistically. They envision multiple, often contradictory, futures and then try and figure out which one is more likely to occur.

Innovation.
The most creative environments are ones that allow people to take clichés and mix them together in new ways. And the people who are best at this are known as innovation brokers. They’re people who have their feet in many different worlds and, as a result, they know which ideas can click together in a novel combination.

Absorbing data.
Sometimes the best way to learn is to make information harder to absorb. This is known in psychology as “disfluency.” The harder we have to work to understand an idea or to process a piece of data, the stickier it becomes in our brain.

Managing others.
The best managers put responsibility for solving a problem with the person who’s closest to that problem because that’s how you tap into everyone’s unique expertise.

Teams.
Who is on a team matters much, much less than how a team interacts.

The entire episode is well-worth listening to (or reading); it discusses not only the topics above, but others, such as internal versus external locus of control, and how one's productivity can actually be developed as a skill.

Exam Debriefs

2016-10-22T09:43:00.002-07:00

Having just concluded Midterms this past week, Getting More out of Exam Debriefs by Maryellen Weimer, PhD is a timely article worth reading. It might just change how you pass-back your Midterms at the first class meeting after Quarter Break.

The key to exam debriefs is two-fold: "First, it’s another opportunity for students to encounter content they haven’t yet learned," and second, "debriefs are an ideal time for students to confront the efficacy of the approaches they are using to prepare for exams." Most students can improve their study habits, and a Midterm exam grade can provide the impetus for change; it is therefore a good opportunity to make suggestions to students on how they could study for your discipline better.

Providing this framework to students at the same time as they get their corrected Midterms back, and requiring them to do a written reflection on the two points is a simple and effective debrief procedure. Having students do the reflection on a discussion board (in Canvas, in our case) leverages normative social influence to improve study habits by making those reflections public to the class.

Frosh XPeriod Tech Orientation: internet hoaxes, digital footprints and digital privacy

2016-10-19T10:32:00.002-07:00

How do you engage over 300 students with online safety in 50 minutes? Our school's director of the library, Christina Wenger, and I took on this challenge while designing a tech presentation for 9th graders.

Our three main points were:

1. Shield yourself against internet hoaxes
2. Protect your digital footprint and
3. Protect your digital privacy.

This year, I tried to steer away from a long list of do's and dont's. It was challenging, but in order to break away from countless slides, we decided to act out an actual internet hoax before the presentation. Shout outs to Kali Baird from San Domenico for sharing this creative idea with us. Common Sense Media is also credited with this idea.

Using the video, "Liquid Mountaineering", we made the wild (yet somewhat plausible) claim: there's a NEW sport where students will learn how to run on water. We're offering this sport at our school. Sign-ups and practice start next week!

We rallied the support of our school's director of athletics and had him deliver the announcement. By design, this was to validate our claim even more: this isn't staged, the director of athletics is on board.

We also rigged and presented a false web page where students could "sign up" for practices along with practice times and locations. How many students actually believed this? More than half the entire 9th-grade class raised their hands, determined they were going to learn how to run on water... or at least they believed the video said they would. Their psychological response to this experience was extremely curious; they were lured in.

It was a great segue way to Christina's piece on identifying click bait. Buzz Feed's editor in chief, Ben Smith, calls bait "tempting, vacuous, 'curiosity gap' headlines." In order to debunk this hoax, we enlisted the help of our school's physics teacher. His rationale: 1. We're not familiar with fundamental laws or concepts explained in a hoax [the interplay of force, weight, gravity, speed]. 2. There is some tinge of truth. 3. There is some touch of plausibility.

Click to view our presentation here.

This approach of rigging the director, the video, setting up a fake web page and running students through an online hoax helped set the tone for the overall presentation. There will come a time when every student comes across something online and will ask,"Am I being duped?" and it's important students have these strategies to help them navigate those traps. This hoax is an anecdote for them to reference.

How do you teach to these points in your schools? Have you found ways of co-creating this type of instruction with students? How do you engage students in an experiential way around these points, please share in the comments section below.

But What do Students Think about Canvas ?

2016-09-15T16:52:00.004-07:00

Last year, I ran a survey to capture student perceptions of Canvas. After all, with many teacher hours of transitioning work from old systems to our school's new learning management system, it was time to assess three major areas of focus: Simplicity of Design (Does course organization make sense?), Ease of Use (Is the site easy to navigate through?) and Online Engagement (Does the curation and design of course materials keep you engaged with the content?) All these questions would help us identify teacher designs we can learn from and how student perceptions inform our design moving forward?

I used Wordle to convey their responses. (*the size of the text relates to student responses, larger text equates to a large number of students submitting that response)

Vote for the Canvas course design that is easiest to figure out test dates for class.

Vote for the Canvas course design that is easiest to figure out homework for class.

Vote for the Canvas course design that is the easiest to submit assignments to.

Easiest to take quizzes and tests in.

Vote for the Canvas course design that keeps you engaged with course materials.

Common themes in these designs that were chosen by students include:

purposeful naming conventions of modules, teachers used chapters of a book, unit themes, character names in a novel, based on timelines covered in class (week 1, day 2)
teachers embedded quick links to helpful files in both the calendar posting and the assignment which meant less "clicks" for the student
teachers used spacing to create visual cues for separations
and I am only make an assumption here because I do not know for a fact this is happening, but teachers explained their design to the students in the same fashion teachers would explain a new classroom space. Here is where I put the assignments, Over here is where you will find assignment, If you're looking for homework dates, you'll find it over there.

And how did we measure value for the students?

And although it's not as customizable, adaptive, intuitive, integrated, and fully designed to enhance student learning as we would like it to be , it's definitely sparked lots of conversation amongst faculty around practices of information design and triggered an introspection of one's own curriculum.

First Day of School Checklist for Canvas

2016-08-22T22:46:00.000-07:00

1. Be sure your syllabus is easy to find and that your course is Published. See the Canvas guide: How do I publish a course?

2. Assignments, Quizzes, and Discussions - Dates have been checked and adjusted where necessary. Assignments, quizzes, and discussions can have up to three dates: (1) Due date, (2) Available from date (the open date), and (3) Available until date (the close date). For more information, see the Canvas guide: What is the difference between assignment due dates and availability dates?

3. Recommended: Some type of welcome announcement is ready to be posted. See the Canvas guide: How do I delay posting an announcement until a specific date in a course? You can send a message to your entire class inside Canvas (via the Inbox). See the Canvas guide: How do I send a message to an entire class as an instructor?

4. Modules – If any modules are locked until a specified date, check the date to make sure it’s for the upcoming term.

5. Use the Canvas link validator to verify that all external links in your course are valid. See the Canvas guide: How do I validate links in a course?

6. Switch to the student view of your course and do a final run through of your course. How to do this- See Canvas guide . To be even more thorough-- Add the student first to your class under +People. On the iPad, check student view using our school's test student account. See Jen or Jamie for this information.

7. Have you read and met the faculty expectations for canvas. If not, set up a 1:1 with Jen

8. Be prepared to introduce your students to how your course is structured during opening days. It helps them navigate through your course. It's as if you're introducing them to a new classroom. Show them where they can find assignments. Guide them to wear study guides (if you have them) are located. Explain the structure of your modules. Some teachers even run a scavenger hunt so that students can demonstrate their understanding of where things are located in the Canvas course. This is highly recommended for 9th graders and transfer students. Here is preview a module that introduces students to Canvas. Photo credit: Tacoma College.

Credit: http://bit.ly/2bcXpzs

Other Guiding Questions for the Design of your Canvas Course

HOME PAGE (how to set a home page)

The first thing students see is sending a message that says “This is important. Look at this first. “ Reflect on why this is the first thing they should see.
Do you want to share information on yourself ie. an About me page? work you’ve published, or professional sites you have?

CONTENT

How will you make it easy for students to find study materials?

Titles should make sense. How will you title your files, links and images?

How do you want your students to name files they submit?

MODULES

Will you organize modules by date? i.e. by week? organized by unit? by chapters in your book? Visit another teacher’s course (*ask permission from that teacher and I can add you to their course) See how they organize materials. Think about your experience while visiting their course. What did you like? Didn’t like? Things you can use in your own course?

Think about websites you visit frequently. What did you like about those sites? Imagine how you can use those practices in your course.

Some teachers use directionals--i.e. beginning assignment titles with “READ: chapter 1 “and or “VIEW: this video” would this make sense for you?

STUDENT EXPERIENCE

Have you talked with another colleague, or teacher in your network about feedback on their workload or best practices?

How will you get feedback from students on your course design?

Your Teaching Schedule in Your Calendar

2016-08-15T12:00:00.001-07:00

This takes maybe 30-minutes to setup, and it can be slightly repetitive work, but you will reap the benefits all year long. See your teaching schedule in your Google calendar:

To do it, pick a "normal week" – that is, not one with any special schedules. Schedule a calendar event for each class that week, and repeat each event through to the end of the year. Minimally, that's it. I happen to change a few other settings while I'm in each event for my long-term convenience and the convenience of other adults on campus who might need to schedule time with me:

Scheduling those twelve class meetings (it's only 12 because you're repeating them/ duplicating them throughout the remainder of the year) takes maybe 10-minutes. The remaining time is going back through your calendar and deleting events from holidays (such as Christmas and Spring Beak), or making more specific changes to account for special schedules. For those of us at SI, the special schedules can be found here.)

Again, this is an investment, but one you'll be glad you made. If you need assistance with this, see your friendly neighborhood Educational Technologist.

iTeach at San Domenico 2016

2016-07-01T11:05:00.002-07:00

I had the pleasure of presenting at iTeach with my colleagues Pedro Cafasso (World Languages Department Chair) and Alex MacMillan (Religious Studies Faculty). Kali Baird did an amazing job organizing a wonderful array of sessions (and she had Orchata on a hot summer day to quench the thirst of attendees!)

Alex and I presented on the future of lecturing: Lecture 3.0. Our slides are here. Pedro and I ended the conference with a session on design thinking. Those slides here.

Thoughts on our Lecture 3.0 presentation.

One attendee asked, "Is the idea that we start at Lecture 1.0, then go to 2.0 and 3.0? " I found this so interesting. I had never thought of it as a stepping ladder or a roadmap before, but I can see how someone would perceive that notion from this visual. Our response: the idea is to recognize and reflect on where you are in the spectrum and to use methods from each of the lecture models that make pedagogical sense.

Alex added how his religious studies course is actually taught using multiple lecture modes, a blend of paper, traditional lecture, both online and face to face group discussion and both silent and active reflection.

We argued that it's exhaustive (and arguably a waste of time) to debate on how one model is better than the other.

Let's reframe the discussion around: How might we use a blend of each of the lecture models to engage our students?

Thoughts on our Design Thinking session.

We wanted to end the conference on a lively note! Pedro and I designed the session to have teachers out of their chairs, talking with each other, and creatively brainstorming on ideal learning spaces. We had some lecture with lots of visuals; it was hands-on and fast-paced. We talked about how to use the design thinking process to approach learning spaces at their schools---then had attendees run through the process. (literally, teachers were running to the arts table to build their ideas out)

Teachers brainstormed their spaces, and designed a space to meet their partner's needs. I do wish we had more time was a common theme. The purpose of the fast pace. The ability to share unfinished work and welcome feedback are definitely challenges posed throughout the process.

We had attendees build out their ideas, but why? Because ideas "tend to die on whiteboards and google docs!" Make them come alive in 3D so users can interact with them.

We saw educators (both first year and veteran teachers) dive into this process with a willingness to engage with new materials in a different (some would argue-- laughable) way of approaching design problems.

But the idea isn't to do something different for different sake. It's nurturing a growth mindset and openly welcoming new approaches to tackling what might be a weathered problem.

And on that note, I appreciate new ways of approaching this process. Check out this blog post on re-thinking design thinking.

A Design Thinking Approach to Distraction (and technology)

2016-05-25T11:22:00.001-07:00

Together with my ed tech and innovation committee, we took a design thinking approach while investigating the following questions:

HMW- How might we keep students engaged in the classroom?
HMW- How might we define what focused, engaged, and attentive students look like in a 21st century classroom?

(ignore the backwards spelling in the photo)

In true design thinking format - we built upon each other's ideas. No "yeah, buts", all "yes, ands" .

Fashioned after the Teacher's Guild, we used these guiding principles:

As we wrote them down and posted them on the board, we would say the idea out loud, which would then elicit "oohs and aahs" and on those most serendipitous moments---the voicing of ideas aloud inspired someone else's idea.

Then each one of us pulled two ideas from the board.

One that was practical- something we would actually do and label as possible.

And the other was what we called the crazy idea, like a rocket ship to Mars.

We had such a rich conversation and I noticed the irony of how a few of our practical ideas soon became lackluster and uninteresting and the rocket ship ideas seemed intriguing and worth digging in deeper.

Here are a few of our practical ideas:

More dedicated time for discussing tech
Sharing successes around distraction others to inspire
Allow flex schedule - students have time to use tech, not to use tech
Look at what other schools do and School pays for lunch when you go out for site visit at another school
Tell students to leave the room, come back when they are ready

And here are the rocket ship ideas.

Creative punishment like a spray bottle when kids get distracted
Take a field trip to Tesla - how do they handle disruptive innovation
What if the school embraced on a "great adventure" to tackle distraction which then turned into a field trip to Great America

My top 2 favorites:

Mentorship around distraction
Badges for teachers who are experts in classroom management- connected to one's faculty page or LinkedIn account

Interested in trying design thinking in your classroom, here are two great resources:

The Teachers Guild and the toolkit.

10 Questionable Arguments Teachers Give to Ban Technology in the Classroom

2016-05-11T09:29:00.000-07:00

#1: It's just not worth the effort.

Quoting Alex Reid Digital Rhetoric

"Certainly it’s not as easy as just substituting one media for another. (Not that such a substitution is in any way easy, and in fact, the near impossibility of making that substitution will probably doom a number of humanities disciplines, but that’s a subject for another post.) To make it happen, the entire activity network around the curriculum needs to be rethought, beginning with the realization that the network we have is built in conjunction with the legacy media we are seeking to change. We need to change physical structures, policies, curriculum, outcomes, pedagogy…

It is easier to just ban laptops."

#2 Kids are distracted.

Again quoting Alex Reid Digital Rhetoric

"Can we imagine a liberal arts degree where one of the goals is to graduate students who can work collaboratively with information/media technologies and networks? Of course we can. It’s called English. It’s just that the information/media technologies and networks take

the form of books and other print media. Is a book a distraction? Of course. Ever try to talk to someone who is reading a book? What would you think of a student sitting in a classroom reading a magazine, doodling in a notebook or doing a crossword puzzle? However that students bring their books to class and strongly encourage them to write. We spend years teaching them how to use these technologies in college, and that’s following even more years in K-12. We teach them highly specialized ways of reading and writing so that they are able to do this. But we complain when they walk in, wholly untrained, and fail to make productive use of their laptops? When we give them no teaching on the subject? And we offer little or no opportunity for those laptops to be productive because our pedagogy is hinged on pretending they don’t exist?"

#3 Students don't know what it means to connect with one another anymore. They spend countless hours building useless apps. Example of this app.

#4 Kids need more face to face connection--- not a digital barrier. There's no way for technology to make this happen. And if it does, the connection is bad and it's not worth the minutes of troubleshooting.

Image source: blogs.skype.com

#5 I'm tired of folks telling me all the great things that technology can do. As an expert of my teaching profession, I know what kids need. I don't need them or my colleagues telling me what I already know.

#6 Kids need GRIT and technology denies them of this. And I can't imagine a better place to start than to ban technology.

#7 Kids will get addicted to it if we don't enforce a policy to ban it. If we ban technology, the problem will get better. You're not suggesting we teach yet another class on technology addiction.

Jordan Shapiro Forbes Magazine

"Screens are now a ubiquitous part of our lives. It is a technology that has been completely integrated into the human experience. At this point, worrying about exposure to screens is like worrying about exposure to agriculture, indoor plumbing, the written word, or automobiles. The screen time rhetoric that accompanied the television—when this technology was still in its formative age—is no longer relevant...The American Academy of Pediatrics now seems to agree. “In a world where ‘screen time’ is becoming simply ‘time,’” the update reads, “our policies must evolve or become obsolete. "

#8 I just don't have time.

Reason #9 Well actually I do have time, but I know my kids are more engaged without technology.

Kristen Purcell, the associate director for research at Pew, acknowledged that the findings could be viewed from another perspective: that the education system must adjust to better accommodate the way students learn, a point that some teachers brought up in focus groups themselves.

“What we’re labeling as ‘distraction,’ some see as a failure of adults to see how these kids process information,” Ms. Purcell said. “They’re not saying distraction is good but that the label of ‘distraction’ is a judgment of this generation.”

#10 We need to keep kids focused and take back those that are distracted.

"It isn’t that being distracted limits your ability to be curious. Many great entrepreneurs I’ve written about over the years would have likely been diagnosed with some form of an attention disorder and given pills for a fix. Thank goodness they weren’t."

Victoria Barrett, Forbes magazine

Surviving your next Education Conference

2016-04-01T10:34:00.002-07:00

It's about that time to start planning or pleading with your administrators for summer PD funds. Check out a list of this year's ed tech conferences here. Bay area folks, click this link.

In light of my last post -- "In-service is not a dirty word", I wanted to share strategies on getting the most out of your next education conference.

Slack

My fellow ed tech director and friend, Jamie, sent me this little gem mid-way through a conference. Slack is a platform for folks to share work with each other (links, text, images, files). It's like an online office or some folks like to call it the third space. I have to admit, we only have 4 or 5 things on our slack page, but this gem is definitely worth mentioning in this list. Check out slack. And again, like with any tool, the buy-in drives the power of the tool.

Coordinate with colleagues

If you plan to go with a group, see who is attending what. As an ed tech director, it helps gauge where everyone's interests are. When you come back from the conference, send a "We're Back, Now What" email. Don't expect everyone to be ready to start exploring, but definitely try to put those ideas in action. This helps to share: Write a future email to yourself, remind yourself of something you said you wanted to try.

Stay away from E-mail

I'm a fan of social media, so it's great to have a device handy to check out sessions under your conference hashtag. But beware of email. Email will zap your attention and suck you back into the world at school---it will anchor you back to your desk. Strategies for tackling this. Create an outgoing email message and stick with it. Even when you think it will only take a few minutes, it really won't.

Use the focus feature on your note-taking device

Byword is a great app that I like to use. Full screen, no tools, just you and text. Another great tool is stickies in full screen mode. MS Word even has a View Focus feature where it blocks out everything except for what you're writing. Lean towards less visually distracting so your attention is with the speaker.

Ideas typically die on google docs or notebooks

This ideas isn't new. But if you share that google doc, and let people engage with them, those ideas just might live on, even after the conference ends. I went with our Director of Learning Services and she shared this and this with me. Together, she and I can share these ideas with faculty. But what if folks don't read it? is it a giant waste of time? Some will read the notes and the very idea of sharing notes is an idea worth spreading. She and I also shared our conference takeaways with a committee back at school, so if you don't share online - share face to face. An unexpected and worthwhile conversation on equity and inclusion came out of our shared notes.

Protect your data

Beware of the conference expo and protect your name badge. Name badges now have scan codes with all your information. Those expo folks will want to scan your badge. Some will use candy in bowls, others will lure you in to their booth with shiny gadgets and before you know it, you've been scanned and they're sending you tons of emails later on. You can fold your badge, so that it's not easily scanned, or use a sharpie and draw over the bar code. If you really want them to contact you, just give them your business card.

Keep the conference guide
After the conference, I always like to see the sessions that I wasn't able to attend. Time permitting, I reach out to those folks and ask to set up a hangout to learn more or to I request a copy of their slides. Either way, you make someone's day by letting them know they had great ideas for presenting and you might add them to your PLN. This was a great conference app that I use as a resource--even after the conference ends, especially for ideas when I am planning out future PD. Some apps even have slides embedded in the site.

And some general tips

You probably know all this. Wear comfortable shoes. Bring bottled water. Don't drink too much alcohol the night before. Step outside the convention center when you can. Tweet all your gems to your colleagues, and keep it professional, you'll never know when the conference speaker you're talking about, will be sitting in your next session! If you grab an expo bag for swag and you don't want to be branded by Steelecase or Blackbaud as you walk around, you can turn the bag inside out.

And I'll end on my most favorite keynote session of all time with Jennie Magiera. Standing room only and it was well worth it. And so my last tip is to seek out those that will inspire you. You can get ed tech tips and tricks online and through google, but the art of storytelling in-person and a powerful narrative will stick with you even after the conference ends. Listen to her speak here.

In-Service is not a Dirty Word

2016-02-24T07:00:00.000-08:00

In-Service--- a term that some have made synonymous with jury duty or going to the dentist. As professionals who work in schools, we have all at some point, sat through an in-service next to a colleague who hijacks our attention with their under-breath grumblings or moans through every slide of the speaker's presentation. And yet, there are in-services that have also inspired us, kept us engaged with the material and pushed us to question our crafts.

This reflection calls to mind the performer-audience relationship. A symbiotic relationship: one of equal footing, the performer, or in this case, the in-service organizer shouldn't ignore the audience just as the audience shouldn't throw tomatoes at the performer.

And I use the term relationship because I would argue, that in-service attendees play a part in the success of any in-service as the organizer herself.

Throughout my 11 years of working in schools I've noticed the following personalities that influence the outcome of any in-service.

Perhaps you see yourself amongst these. I know, with humility, that I do.

The Early Bird Attendee As the name would suggest, this individual arrives before the rest of the attendees, is helpful with last minute tasks and might be found sitting close to the presenter. They are meticulous with notes, first to hash tag at an event. The kinder early-birds will offer to create a google doc of notes and share it with others, excited to participate in ice-breakers or first one up, when the keynote needs to be flipped to the next slide. Though helpful, this attendee needs to be careful they don't volunteer for all the tasks. Or they will attract the colleagues who will say, "No need to pay attention, John's going to take notes for us--he'll do it! He likes that kind of stuff!"

The Savvy Screener Tapping, clicking and swiping away, this attendee has 20 tabs open, most likely based on whatever the speaker is talking about at the time...or not... it could also be their facebook thread leading them down a spiral of profile surfing. Common phrases from this individual, "there's an app for that!" or "here are 100 sites that will do what you want" You'll find this attendee strategically placed by the nearest outlet, or near other savvy screeners, sitting cross-legged on the floor forming "digital campfires". Constantly tethered with "juice" as they hash-tag their way through the in-service. Instagramming their breakfast muffin or lavish lunch spread #blessed. Do not confuse screen surfing with a lack of attention, quite the contrary--- these savvy screeners are cued in and can serve as an in-service's best evangelist---use them to your advantage. Your in-service might gain popularity from positive tweets.

The Closet Opposer They nod their head. They listen. They smile. And deep down, this closet opposer harbors sullen defiance. I would argue, this is the most dangerous of all the personalities at any in-service. This counterfeit won't share their real thoughts with their colleagues during in-service; they wait till after it's over, particularly if they are forced to implement anything in their classrooms or programs. They'll feign interest, walk through the motions and then completely dismiss the presenter's message. Unbeknownst to the presenter, this closet opposer quietly leaves with the presenter's prize possession > feedback that would help the presenter get better. Repeating what other colleagues say, this character is a bit of a chameleon, but never truly adds any depth or new ideas to the table. At best, this individual is impartial and quiet, and at worst, they are secretly wielding faculty opinion in their direction.

The Second Presenter This individual feels a little displaced, knowing more, if not as much as the presenter on the topic. Sometimes this second presenter can be the surly sage. Common quotes include: "I presented on this topic for my graduate thesis!" "That's research is not true, I wrote a white paper citing evidence quite the opposite." The in-service organizer should be cued in on this group. This group will be vocal, but that's okay. It means they're still engaged. I would listen to this feedback. It's like gold. Smart in-service organizers would partner with these experts, to avoid losing them to the closet opposers.

The Stoner
Not to be confused with the individual who comes in "high" to an in-service. If that you have that going on, that's a different story. I'm referring to the in-service attendees who just will not budge. The in-service presenter can share the most compelling argument, convincing research, valid case studies that show the school for example, should reimagine their learning spaces to engage students and the response from a stoner is a blank stare. Anchored by their beliefs and rooted to their chairs till the clock hits 3:00 and they're out the door. You may hear "Not this topic again!", "We never get anywhere with this. We talk and talk and nothing changes." Is this a valid claim from the stoner? Perhaps? So what do you do with stoners? I say nothing. I think the in-service presenter should expense their energy on those who are willing to engage in the performer-audience relationship, and stoners are clearly denying that relationship. Focus on the attendees that are on the fence. They're a lot easier to tip over to your side. Stoners are so rooted, there's no budging there.

With the right in-service leader and working space, all these converging personalities can present a fertile ground for innovative ideas. I know that sounds like a banner ad for an Ed Tech conference, but one can even argue that every in-service needs these types. Each one offering a dynamic layer to cultivating a culture of change. And so, in-service is not a dirty word, it's in fact, a carefully crafted platform for a mingling of different personalities converging under one space, making way for the possibilities of ground-breaking work.

So there's my list. I may have missed some personalities. Comment below on what characters are at your in-services.

And on this note, I'm off to the NAIS conference (National Association of Independent Schools). It's like in-service on steroids. I'll report back in next month's post.

Hour of Code, Hours of Planning

2016-01-21T22:21:00.000-08:00

Over 180 countries participate in the global movement, "Hour of Code." And all over the world, lots of hours of prep go into making this movement happen. And yes, I realize the hour of code is not to be taken literally and could in fact be flexed out into many hours of code, but nevertheless, my hope is that this post helps those of you before your next hour of code event.

Recruit, recruit, recuit
If possible, gather supporters (both coders and non-coders) in your school. Avoid trying to take on this event on your own. You want to allow yourself to participate and enjoy in the hour as well , and it's difficult to do that when you're running around campus making sure all the bases are covered. It will serve the mission in the end, if the organizers themselves are sitting alongside the students. Create a map of where folks will be stationed. Use google docs so everyone can contribute to the plans. Think about communicating plans for your hour of code 2 weeks before, 1 week before, a few days before, the day before. The hour will go by fast which means, if you have "all hands on deck" it will help make the hour go smooth.

Leverage social media
Not only will it help the students at the school know what's going on, but you just might inspire another school to join the movement. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to much of this, and because of that, I missed the opportunity to touch base with folks from other schools... and missed opportunities to join that online movement of coders.

After the event, count lines of code, not number of people. Avoid focusing on improved skill level or number of challenges won
Often times, participants are disappointed or discouraged when the code just doesn't work for them and they fail the coding challenge and then they quit and walk out on the event. This is the exact disparaging feeling we want to avoid. As an organizer, you want to make sure folks leave feeling like they can learn code...not master code. And it's okay if you only get a few coders your first year. Make that event special for them and the following year, encourage them to bring their friends. They don't necessarily need to leave like they can re-code or program the next Pandora app, but they should feel good, like they can tackle another hour of coding event. Ask how you can "delight" your participants with code? or better yet, make them wanting to sign up for that coding or robotics elective that once intimated them. And again, counting lines of code could be self reported so you don't have to micromanage each participant, just set up a google form and ask folks to input the number of lines of code they wrote.

Start Small
You don't need to plan an Hour of Code extravaganza with a whole school shut down. You can start small with a few coding activities like these in a classroom after school. If you want to attract a good group, no need to expense too much on a budget, just purchase some snacks and Code.org actually gives you some swag for your school to help with he marketing (posters and stickers).

Hour of Code - Unplugged (no use of tech)
And those of you who want to attract the non-believers or those resistant to picking up code. You can slip this activity in as a friendly intro to coding. The logic skills and rationale of coding comes in all shapes and sizes!

And lastly, go beyond the hour. I feel coding is a wonderful instrument for life long learning. Learning to code is like building a muscle and requires constant exercise, just as any language requires constant practice. Investigate ways to have mini-hours of code, or minutes of code after school. Investigate ways to host or market local hack-a-thons.

Get creative and post other ideas on coding-related activities in the comment box below.

How and Why "We" Cheat

2015-12-17T06:30:00.000-08:00

If you – as a teacher – are even remotely interested in what research says about academic dishonesty, you would be hard-pressed to find a better primer on the subject than Shan Parrish's summary of Dan Ariely's work:

Dan Ariely on How and Why We Cheat

The Evolution of your iPad Program

2015-12-01T07:00:00.000-08:00

A common theme in this year's JSN tech conference was the question around what to do after Year 2 of an iPad Program?

Year One, although it may appear as the toughest year, has many resources on how to get a program off the ground: stumbling blocks, strategies, ideas for apps. But after that program gets off the ground, then what? What happens Year 3, Year 4 and beyond. How does your iPad program evolve over time? How can you plan ahead when

Photo Credit: https://upload.wikimedia.org

And then there's the awkward moment where one can no longer call an iPad pilot program -- a pilot. It's fully running. It's carved well into the school budget and built into every day operations, and so it's a bit backward for schools to hide behind the pilot label. Time's up > what was the real impact of this huge expenditure?

There's also the issue of quantity vs quality. After Year 2, you may find a substantial number of your faculty and students using the iPad, but what are the actual outcomes of usage? What real transformations have taken place?

Here are some ideas for approaching Year 3 and Year 4. Note that I didn't say Year 2 because I think a pilot needs at least 2 years to suss out the issues. After Year 2, the novelty wears off. You hit your implementation dip and then you say, "Ok, iPad show us what you can do!"

So here are some ideas on how to move forward. In the Comments section below, add your thoughts or ways in which your school is approaching Year 3, 4 and beyond.

How are you assessing other programs in your school?

How is the school assessing other programs like Athletics? the Diversity program? Wellness? Seek out other programs that are also fully running, carved well in the school budget and built into every day operations. How is the school looking into the success of those programs and could you learn from those assessment models?

Seek out other big school initiatives

2. What big initiatives are on the landscape? How can the iPad be in service of those other initiatives? Can you see the iPad supporting your school's diversity initiative? or service learning programs? Can you partner with those program directors and see the iPad built into their strategic direction? How can be transformative and not just transactional?

Investigate emerging insights

3. What new insights has the iPad brought to the table? Take on the tools of ethnographers and anthropologists and look around classrooms to see how students and teachers are using the device? Is there room to investigate a new learning behavior that has emerged from use of the device? I see design thinking definitely playing a role in this idea. Go straight to the users and see where they want to take Year 3.

Investigate if going 2:1 with laptops and iPads is an option

4. Assess whether you're ready to go 2:1. Does this make sense culturally and fiscally? Perhaps you find the iPad was a wonderful bridge or learning experience to now add another tool to the teacher's toolkit. Is the school ready for iPads and laptops? Warning: Proceed with caution -- start small with a small pilot group, assess for needs and challenges and then shift to a 2:1 environment. I have seen many schools embrace this with gusto and take a leap of faith to 2:1 before taking a human centered approach to implementation---identify how a 2:1 serve will your students' needs and design the program around those needs. Conversely, I would identify schools that have decided not to continue with their iPad program--where are the schools saying "no, not right now" to Apple and their disruptive innovation and going with something like a chrome books or MacBooks? What was their assessment model like and would it make sense to use that same model in looking to grow your school's program?

Re-brand the name of your iPad Program

4. Change the name of your iPad Program. Re-brand it to something new, and this isn't just about PR or a new font/logo. Focus less on the device and more on a defined and relevant purpose. What if the school announced the branding of Year 3 as an evolution of the iPad Program to Big Ideas in Education Program where the school empowered the teachers to use the iPad to support pedagogical explorations in the classroom. Perhaps faculty could explore the use the device as a laboratory, a movie production studio or a language lab.

After Year 3 of your iPad program, actively seek out avenues for change. How is your iPad program going to evolve? Add your thoughts or ways in which your school is approaching Year 3, 4 and beyond.

Design Thinking for Introverts

2015-11-04T20:22:00.001-08:00

What would design thinking look like for an introvert? (what is design thinking?)

In her book Quiet:The Power of Introverts in a World that Can't Stop Talking , Susan Cain says: "ideas can be shared quietly, they can be communicated in writing, they can be packaged into highly produced lectures, they can be advanced by allies. The trick for introverts is to honor their own styles instead of allowing themselves to be swept up by prevailing norms."

Recently, I attended the Inspired2015 conference and left feeling excited (and exhausted). I've gone to many "design thinking" and "innovation" type of conferences and I have to say this team curated an amazing lineup. I was shocked to hear that this was their first time hosting this conference---a trial run, they called it. I'm excited to see what's in store for next year and no, I have no business or personal affiliation with this team---nor will I be receiving any discounts for this post. The event felt like a 2 day dinner party on design thinking. Music, great food, folks checking in at every step of the process. There was a lovely photographer snapping photos and recording us (with a drone camera) and entertaining games where everyone was laughing. Every activity felt intentional, thoughtfully planned. As guests----we were welcomed and never neglected.

The premise of the conference was to "democratize design thinking", a term I had never heard before; I was intrigued by this notion. But as I ran through their exercises, I began to ask myself about the equity of the experience for both extroverts and introverts alike.

How will I bring this back to my school? what skills will students need in order to engage with the design thinking process? and more times than not, these skills were ones held by extroverts. For example, ideas are generated quickly and strong communication skills are key if you wanted to be heard. You also had to be okay with receiving feedback publicly, and more times than not, these ideas are far from being validated. And yes, there is a part where you can use drawings to communicate your ideas, but essentially you have to communicate these sketches to others. And if you didn't speak up, your ideas didn't make it to the table---they don't get chosen to share with the user. They end up dying on your paper, or stuck in your head. Then there's the fast paced feel of this type of design thinking process- forcing one to make a decision with little or no time for quiet reflection. And then "pitching" the ideas, standing before an audience and connecting with them. Would introverts find this process draining or could it be re-packaged for introverts?

Other DT activities include:

IMPROV activities with lots of eye to eye and sometimes physical contact but these were varied: connecting 1:1, small group, whole group
whole group reflection
small group brainstorming with those you came with
times to be fully present, (literally, there was an "I am present" activity)
high energy collaboration and divergent thinking during the prototype session
"restorative niches" : chances to decompress, one:one or "knee to knee" conversations
whole group share

I personally appreciated the cadence of loud, then quiet, then loud activities spread throughout the conference.

But I wonder how the introverts felt throughout the process, one attendee (I suspect was an introvert) raised his hand and said, " I get why we're doing all these activities, but I'm not sure if I'm having fun." ---I imagine this same man would say the same thing at a dinner party.

Failures Have to Hurt

2015-10-24T06:30:00.000-07:00

Andy Goldsworthy is a sculptural artist who lives and works in Scotland, creating beautiful "ephemeral works," as he calls them, out in the countryside. Interviewed on Fresh Air, Goldsworthy said something about his sculptures that made me think about the learning process:

Failure is really, really important, but failures have to hurt [emphasis mine]. ... And if I start making this work with the intention of it collapsing, then I've lost that intensity of the will for it to succeed, which makes the failure that much more poignant and significant. So there's a really odd sort of state of mind that I guess I get into when I'm making these works, that is necessary for me to extract the finished piece [and] extract the right kind of feeling for the work as I'm making it...

To achieve what I want, to achieve the works that I make, I have to be fully committed to them succeeding. I couldn't make them otherwise. And you cannot feel that commitment without feeling or having a deep sense of loss when they do collapse or fail, and that's inevitable.

Students have to care about their products, their demonstrations of learning… and failure – painful failure – has to be a legitimate possibility. At least that's what I heard.

[via The Wirecutter]

Quizlet and Canvas

2015-10-22T06:30:00.000-07:00

I’m sure that the Canvas feature works with other sites but I’ve had great success with Quizlet[1]. Quizlet, as you may know, is a website that allows students to create and study two-sided digital flashcards; there is also an app for their iPad that synchronizes with the website.

One of the best features is that Quizlet does not require a new username and password because it integrates with Google Apps for Education. As such, students can sign-in with their SI email address and their SI network passphrase.

When creating the Quizlet assignment in Canvas, choose the URL submission option:

When students create their flashcard deck in Quizlet, they copy the "share" URL, and paste it into Canvas via the submission tab on their iPad:

When it comes time for me to grade their work, I click through to Speedgrader, which – and here is the cool part! – shows me the Quizlet deck inside Canvas. I don't need to leave Speedgrader; I don't need to go to Quizlet.

I can just scroll through the student's flashcard deck, add a grade, and add a comment if needed, and move on to the next student's submission.

Easy-peasy!

I’ve also used the trick with YouTube videos that students uploaded from Explain Everything, the whiteboarding app on their iPads. ↩

A Sophomore's Take on Educational Technology

2015-10-15T06:30:00.000-07:00

A sophomore at Presentation High School in San Jose wrote an interesting piece on using technology for and with her education, A Cat is not a dog. She writes about a wide variety of challenges that she faces and what teachers can do to address them. It's such a good piece, I don't want to excerpt anything; just go read Audrey Mullen's article.

[via EdSurge]

Lectures and Employability

2015-10-14T06:30:00.000-07:00

Not to say that the purpose of school and education is to get a job, but Jo Dane, an education expert and consultant at an architectural firm in Australia, does make a good point in Lecture theatres should be ditched for ‘21st-century teaching spaces’, namely:

The elite universities are in the most danger as they probably think their reputation is going to carry them well into the future. But if they’re not changing their teaching and learning, students will find places where they can have the experience they value, which will be related to the kind of skills they’re developing so they become more employable.

If you spend four years sitting in a lecture theatre or tutorial room and you come out with a degree, I’m not sure what skills have been developed in that environment that [are] going to suit the employers that those graduates are then going on to.

Lectures are efficient for the transmittal of information, but their utility ends there.

Skeptics of Brain Based research

2015-10-02T07:00:00.000-07:00

Each year, thousands of educators and academic thought leaders travel far distances and spend hundreds of dollars to attend the nationally recognized Learning and the Brain Conference (our school included).

And yet amidst this buy-in of brain based research, articles like this one shed light on the spectrum of brain-based research from junk theory to convincing evidence. To be clear, I'm not saying the conference leaders excuse themselves from critically analyzing junk from evidence. Quite the contrary, their organizers closely examine brain based research and its implications on education, partnering with institutions like Harvard, MIT and Stanford and "bring educational research directly from the researchers themselves."

However, I caution those educators who fall prey to feeding into this false sense of trust that all brain based research carries merit, that it should be trusted and is worthy to guide fundamental decisions that we make in our classrooms and how we shape our curricular programs.

Skeptical raptor.com illustrates this false sense of trust in the image below, illustrating the vicious science news cycle. It starts off with legit and systematic research. Sadly, it ends up butchered through internet memes, falls prey to the propaganda in the local news, and various amateur online mediums and then falls in the hands of the public, where often times the end result is completely contrary to the initial study. In some cases the consequences can be misleading. For example, there's "brain- based research" that supports note-taking using pen and paper is more effective than using an iPad. Imagine how this could influence teachers reluctant to try technology. Or impact folks on the fence with technology? I imagine an overwhelming sense of relief from having to explore new technology tools, using this brain-based research as their defense. Consequently, students who actually benefit from assistive technologies like the voice record feature in Notability would be denied a helpful tool. I'm sure the producer of that brain-based research would have thought differently before publishing his blog post titled "Brain based research proves pen and paper trumps the iPad for note-taking".

In his article "Weird Neuroscience: how Education Hijacked Brain Research", Max Coltheart talks about how "brain-based learning: as if it could take place anywhere else, has been a major distraction without any practical meaning for educators." He asks, "how did policy-makers, educators ad the public become so misinformed?"

And yes, full disclosure, there is a guilty pleasure in reading junk theory- so long as you acknowledge it's junk---it's humorous, easy, a whimsical escape from serious research. It's like reading about Bigfoot, only in this unfortunate case, Bigfoot seems to be influencing big decisions in schools.

A Review of Types of Test Questions

2015-09-23T06:30:00.000-07:00

Faculty Focus has a good, short article reviewing the advantages and disadvantages of multiple-choice, true-false, short-answer, essay questions, and questions provided by a test bank. If you haven't thought about those relative advantages and disadvantages lately, and have just been doing what you've always been doing, it might be worth a glance to look at the short list — if for no other reason than confirming your current practices.

Maryellen Weimer, PhD, adds a summary of a different test question type that I haven't seen before:

Start with a question, and revise it until it can be answered with one word or a short phrase. Do not list any answer options for that single question, but attach to the exam an alphabetized list of answers. Students select answers from that list. Some of the answers provided may be used more than once, some may not be used, and there are more answers listed than questions. It’s a ratcheted-up version of matching. The approach makes the test more challenging and decreases the chance of getting an answer correct by guessing.

Intriguing…

[via Faculty Focus]

The Importance of Testing

2015-09-21T06:30:00.000-07:00

This is not about assessment; it's not about quizzes or tests. Rather, this is about the "best practices" we use in our classrooms.

Sam Nemzer, in Your Hunch is Probably Wrong – The Importance of Testing, writes, "No matter how good best practice advice is, it will never compare to evidence tailored to your specific situation and application. Best practice is applicable to everything, but perfect for nothing."

The single best thing we can do in regards to our curriculum and instruction is to carefully design a study and run it ourselves. Just as we want our students to be producers of meaning and understanding, we have a similar obligation to be producers of knowledge — not merely uncritical consumers of educational findings.

Many of our decisions, in regards to curriculum and instruction, a based on what feels right. "Obviously, the weakest form of evidence you can use to base any decision on is no evidence at all," writes Nemzer. "That’s what a hunch is – a feeling that may or may not be based on past experience, or just what ‘feels right’." We can – and should – do better.

If you've run any kind of test or study, measuring the outcomes of particular educational strategies or interventions, what did you test?

I'll start. My fellow psychology teacher and I are measuring over the course of this year whether students learn better (simply defined as performing better on the relevant Final exam items) if their chapter test attempts are averaged or if only their highest score is recorded. Since we don't have any control over the students placed in our sections, we're using a quasi-experimental design that alternates intervention and control across the course topics.

A Good Teacher

2015-09-11T06:30:00.000-07:00

Though the paper by Robert J Bloomfeld, PhD, from Cornell's Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management, is about How to Be a Good Professor, the similarities to being a high school teacher are remarkable. Take, for instance, the abstract and compare this "good professor" to your job in secondary ed:

A good Professor achieves a three part mission of research, teaching and service. After elaborating on this mission, I provide some broad strategies for accomplishing it: know when to say no; don’t try to win the measurement game; don’t be a jerk (in the technical sense); “think otherwise”, but judiciously; and be your own adversary. I then spell out specific learning objectives, explain why they matter, and provide advice on how to achieve them. Stated in the language of instructional design, a good Professor will be able to: communicate effectively; craft constructive reviews and effective response memos; put philosophical insights to practical use; motivate students; share in the governance of your institution; and blend work and life so that each enriches the other.

Now, I might add some to this job description (namely serving as a role model and mentor for adolescents), I still find it remarkably apt.

What would add? What would you subtract?

[h/t Tyler Cowen.]

Focus Between Adolescents And Adults

2015-09-03T06:30:00.000-07:00

In my visits to schools around the Bay Area and the conversations that I’ve had around modern teaching and learning, it’s common to hear that students don’t pay attention and that they’re too easily distracted. I used to ask if what was happening in class was worth paying attention to (though my phrasing was more gentle than that), and I still think that’s a fair question. However, a recent psychological study points to a separate issue: teachers’ perceptions.

When we as teachers say “students aren’t paying attention,” what do we actually mean? On what evidence are we basing that claim?

Apparently, adolescents and emerging adults are better at maintaining focus than adults. Dr Karen Campbell, at the University of Cambridge, says: “As we age, our ability to control the focus of attention tends to decline, and we end up attending to more ‘distracting’ information than younger adults." She goes on to explain that there may be advantages, such as an increase in creativity, from the distractibility of adults, but if we as teachers are to wag fingers at waning attention spans, perhaps we ought not do so at young students.