Casting a wider net

Excited to begin my Doctoral journey at the Werklund School of Education at the Unversity of Calgary. I hope to participate in Design-Based Research (DBR) In the most basic form, this is when an idea is 

designed, 

implemented in the field, 

analyzed, and 

improved. 

One of the most important distinctions of DBR is that ideas are implemented in real educational settings. The overall premise change as ideas is improvable. DBR honors educators as designers, acknowledging vast and complex context possibilities. Through my doctoral work, I hope to refine my socially-minded design tool, scale implementation, reflect, analyze and improve the tool so it is of maximum benefit to teachers and students in the field.

Design for learning

Useful guidelines

Skits

Ended this long round of distance learning with skits. We shared some heartfelt moments as a class and true belly laughs which can be hard to come by in the often grey world of zoom. Grateful for the color the stories brought into our virtual classroom.

Voice

Today I am thinking about voice and how difficult it can be for some of us to express ourselves and feel heard. We gather so much confidence and purpose from having a voice in a learning community but it is also so easy to let others speak for us or even talk over us. How do we encourage all of our students to have a voice? What tools will they need to express themselves? What feedback will be most beneficial as they develop their voices?

UDL and autonomy

Starting with the very first square on the UDL roadmap to engaging the brain (and the heart) the first two words are choice and autonomy. I am entering Unit 2 with my students, we are 2 months into this massive social experiment of Distance Learning. They have been proof that students can and are learning right now. I am very fond of them- even though I only physically see them as 1 inch squares on my computer.

Student choice has been at the forefront of my curriculum design and the results have been very positive as demonstrated by their attendance, academic outcomes, and feedback.

This unit will on the second word in the UDL guidelines for engaging the brain (and heart) concept of autonomy.

More to come….

Getting students in front

One of the pillars of engagement I have always followed as a teacher is to get students in front. Using a zoom took like “hide all non video participants” it is possible to bring a group of students to the front of the screen to share what they have learned, lead interactive activities for the class, and even perform skits.

With a strong foundation of choice-based learning teams students will have more confidence to present to their classmates as they are surrounded by a team of peers they know and trust.

Learning teams and stamina

Today I am thinking about the stamina it takes to teach right now, whether it is hybrid or distance learning. Teachers are working around the clock to create, deliver, and give feedback on curriculum presented in a manner never used before.

Learning teams are one way to alleviate some of this pressure on teachers.

Having a robust social structure in place, with student input, creates the foundation for student-centered learning. Teams made up of students with prior social connections are able to move more quickly into Bloom’s taxonomy of learning instead of being stalled in the social threat and survival-oriented parts of the brain that inhibit higher-order thinking.

Robust learning teams also help shift much of the work of creation, delivery, and feedback from the teacher to the students. Teams can develop routes of inquiry and methods of demonstrating knowledge. Teams can lead activities for the class. Teams also bring our students together with their peers in a time where they desperately need each other. Check out slides on the resource page for steps to create learning teams.

Choice and distance learning

How can we help our students find each other to learn together?

Today I am reminded again of the power of student CHOICE in creating the engagement necessary for memorable and meaningful learning to occur, especially in distance learning. We are indeed wired to be social-learning together. We need to help our, students FIND EACH OTHER.

Let’s face it feels good to see a familiar face right now and makes working together- especially in an awkward breakout room environment- more enjoyable and effective. Zoom makes even basic relationships slower to form with its inability to foster small talk.

Allowing for student input in partners and teams allows them to begin communication above the bottom floor of Maslow’s Hierarchy and into higher-order thinking much faster. Familiarity and past positive social structures make an enormous difference in student satisfaction, engagement, and outcome.