Use of the design cycle is the focus of MYP Technology classes.
It can be difficult for students accustomed to a final assessment project style (as is partially the case in the PYP) to grasp that the manner in which they create products or solutions is more important to the course than the actual products or solutions themselves.
The design cycle is quite involved with a number of sections, each with its own purpose. To support students I made this slideshare to break it down into steps for them.
I also put together this page where I add new insights and direction as inspiration hits.
Every part of the design cycle builds upon the previous so the Latin finis origine pendant, The end hangs upon the beginning, is extremely applicable. I made this poster to illustrate the idea to my class on how the solutions to the problems as identified in their design specifications then can be used to form some of their test questions which become fundamental to their final Evaluate section of the cycle.
The reason for this focus on the design cycle I tell my students is simplicity itself. We use it for every unit for one good reason. Getting in the habit of addressing problems in this way is simply engendering good habits that will stick with you for the rest of your lives. And after all, as Picasso said, you need to:
I would like to share with you an idea. We are presently having the students involved in the Primary Years Programme‘s (PYP) culminating Exhibition use the Middle Years Programme‘s design cycle (left) as a fundamental part of their process.
As educators we all know how important transitions are; be they between classes, horizontally across a year level curriculum or vertically across a Programme of Inquiry in the PYP. We take our students at the end of the year (or throughout if we are that organized) and let them experience the new area of the school they will be going to and arrange for them to get to know their new teachers a bit.
Now, I spent seven years learning my way around the PYP and have acted as a mentor for the exhibition numerous times. As the technology coach for teachers in grades 1-12 and the MYP Technology teacher in my present position I was approached by the grade five team asking how I could support them with some sort of video production for this year’s efforts.
I would like to share with you just how we are going about this. I hope you may find an idea or suggestion here that may be of use to you. If you improve upon anything I ask only that you post me a comment to share. This blog is all about sharing though sometimes it feels a little one-sided.
The Initial Idea We kicked around a few ideas, as is often the manner of the creative process with these things, before settling on the idea of having the students produce a video sharing their journey and explaining their process throughout the exhibition. We identified what we felt were the fundamental components and decided to lay the video story map out for the students. If you have any experience with a PYP exhibition you will understand that the students have enough to do already without having to learn the entire film-making process from scratch on top of it!
The Front Loading of Skills Speaking of learning film-making…
We had arranged previously to front load some digital storytelling skills including story boarding, narration and video production as part of the unit just prior to the exhibition. Can you say horizontal planning? Sure you can.
This is an example of what two of our G5 students completed in just a few sessions with no prior knowledge of Windows Movie Maker. Now Riku & Jun may not win any awards for this work yet and yes, for you techies out there, the level of sophistication in terms of technology deployed is not exceptional, however, they did:
Make a compelling argument
Use transitions effectively
Narrate their work in an evenly paced and appropriate tone and volume
Incorporate (and cite) creative commons licensed images and a soundtrack
Resist the temptation to animate everything under the sun
Now I may be biased as one of their teachers but this is better than I often see colleagues pull off and they did it on their second (publishing) try (after the initial public viewing begging for the chance to make improvements). How much better will their PYP Exhibition Chronicle be for having had the chance to do this before even having the project put to them?
The Role of the Design Cycle Now, where does the design cycle fit in? As the students are very much left up to their own devices to complete the considerable undertaking that is “THE EXHIBITION”, we supply them with supporting documents. In the case of this year’s exhibition they are receiving:
An exhibition packet outlining the exhibition for student reference (Great stuff Freya!)
A digital storytelling handbook with the aforementioned story map for their process video (link to come)
The BIG PROJECT booklet (below) for executing the necessary research, planning and creating of their proposed green company through the Design Cycle
The Generosity of Apple Japan To better resource our efforts we approached Apple Japan with a request for some iPad Loaners. Happily, we received them the very day we were set to present the exhibition to the students and parents. I shall have to write a follow up blog post on my efforts to employ iTunes U a s delivery platform.
Special thanks to Freya Vaughn & Sue Loafmann, superstar teachers.
This is a subject of much controversy, surrounded by secrecy and shadowed in darkness. Alright, that isn’t exactly true and more than a bit of an overstatement. It has a nice ring to it though.
Preamble I just had the privilege of becoming an ADE (Class of 2013). As there are many eager for more information on the subject of how to become one, I thought I would write this blogpost. (Why do I hear fellow newbie Rab Paterson‘s voice in my head as I type this?) I suppose on some level I heard his voice so much over the past several days that I must have become fond of his soothing (constant) Scottish tones… but I digress.
Out of an unknown number of applicants, all earnest in their use of technology to improve learning outcomes, Apple selected somewhere around 120 of us (in no way an exact number) in the Asia Pacific region to join their ranks earlier this year. This number is representative of both native to the respective country language speakers and English speakers alike.
Personally, when I received the email that I had been selected I walked around my apartment a while re-reading it on my tired, old iPad 1. Yes, it seemed to say I made it. But there must be some mistake… Me?!Really?
But there it was and once the shock wore off I posted the top of the email to Facebook, which is where the comments and questions began. Congratulations! How did you get in? I always wanted to apply but heard it was hard.
The Experience Apple was good enough to put us all up in a very nice hotel in Bali. They supplied us with access to some software to help us pick up our games further and even loaned those of us with old devices newer iPads for some of the workshops planned for the event. They overfed us, taught us, gave us time to practice, share and reflect, and get to know our fellow ADE’s in this incredible community.
It was demanding
It was rewarding
It was tiring
It was a phenomenal learning and networking experience
And it was fun!
I learned an incredible amount in the four days of the event (Apple Distinguished Educator Institute 2013). Was it really that short?!
Let’s be honest, Apple spent a LOT of money putting on this event. They deserved the best return on investment and we earned our spots throughout.
The Sidebar Many people I know were eager to hear how much of this whole thing is about education and how much of it is about selling Apple products. Well, here’s my take. Apple knows that education and technology are inseparable. Apple is a technology company. Their best interest lies in supplying technology that works to meet the demands of the classroom. What they often do well is to try and get out ahead of that curve or even lead it.
iBooks Author and iTunes U are perfect examples. Students as creators, teachers leading the charge through modeling, Apple there trying to figure out how to bring it all together and, in the case of the ADE Program, investing in the human infrastructure to see what works and put tools in the hands of those who have gone out of their way to demonstrate their dedication through a reasonably intensive screening and application process.
The Advice Wow, I can see my house from this soapbox!
And now, without further adieu…
How to Become an Apple Distinguished Educator
Apple is looking for innovative educators. If you aren’t trying new things in your classroom you shouldn’t bother. Just having iPads is not enough (though using them in your application video, however, couldn’t hurt. C’mon, let’s be honest here!).
There were some seriously impressive folks at this Institute. Not just alumni presenters but other teachers I met who were newbies as myself who are doing some truly amazing things (“amazing” the action word of this event. I wish I had counted how many times I heard this word <I’m sorry Apple! Don’t take away my new letters because I’m being cheeky. It was amazing. I’m just sayin’ is all…>). Don’t let that intimidate you though. Hey, I got in.
I asked many new people how they thought they got in. Many had “amazing” stories of what they were doing in their classrooms but I could discern no pattern or algorithm other than innovation or well-documented best practices.
How’d I get in? I don’t know. If I had to guess, I would think my video had something to do with it. I tried not only to showcase how I’ve used Apple technologies to enhance learning outcomes but also how I, myself, am unique through the images I chose. Photos of me as a hippie tree-planter, a young new teacher in a kindergarten class, pans of my websites, webinars, training sessions for teachers, examples of student work, me teaching with my white beard… (I shaved that off pretty fast I can tell you!). I mean, MOST applicants are doing similar things. They are up on trends and keeping on top of developments. Others, the smaller percentage, are the really, truly exceptional, innovating with challenged learners or hauling iPads into the jungle to save a language. If there is one other way I made myself (not one of these latter types I fear) stand out it was to be everywhere at once: by Deepening My Digital Footprint
Parting Shot Ask yourself one thing before going further.
Why?
Why do you want to be an ADE? For your résumé or CV?
Yes, it would be a feather in the cap, to be sure. But really, if you work hard enough to earn a spot, you really have already gone a long way towards becoming the sort of educator you want to be.
Don’t let a pass one year deter you. I know educators whose workshops I have benefitted from in other arenas who have taken two and three runs at it. If you are continually picking up your professional game what harm has been done?
In the end, it should be about your practice anyway, shouldn’t it?
If you want something to be remembered you have to frame it in a narrative.
Visual Literacy, which can be broken into further subsets like infographics and digital storytelling, encompasses a skill set of increasing importance in a world where information grows exponentially.
THERE IS TOO MUCH INFORMATION
How much information is there? In 2010, Eric Schmitt, former CEO of Google hit us over the head with this statistic:
“Every 2 days we create as much information as we did from the dawn of civilization up until 2003″.
How fast is information growing? In the year 2011 information is doubling roughly every 11 hours. This is according to somestatistics I’ve seen cited from IBM, Gartner and Accenture.
Here is an oversimplified illustration that shows you what’s happening:
My tech class recently finished a unit on digital storytelling with Power Point. Many students produced videos for the Sakura Medal Book Trailer Contest here in Japan (sorry private until judging is complete). We learned many valuable lessons about how to create book trailers that touched on many of the skills and considerations needed to to produce effective communication through video.
When researching for resources for a new unit on infographics (A little obsessed with visual literacy? GUILTY!) I came cross this incredible video. The content is captivating but the fact that this is, to me, an animated, narrated infographic made it perfect for my class. It is a exemplar of the elements of design we continue to develop while offering yet another example of good digital storytelling (expository this time). I hope you will find value in it as well.
I have started putting together a resource site specifically for video chronicling of the PYP Exhibition at my school that is available to all here and will be putting together an iTunes U course on this very subject at the ADE Institute in Bali later this month.
I had an aunt if mine pose a confusing question the other day.
What if someone sees my daughter’s picture online?
Hmmm… I post them so they can be seen. I asked her if she remembered how exciting it was when, in grade 1, I got my photo in the Wpg Free Press.
People saw it! That’s why it was exciting. Did my parents put me in danger allowing it?
When my magazine article was published my photo was there. People saw it.
What should we be afraid of?
We should keep private photos private. We should not post information about addresses or banks. I personally don’t like to give my birthday either (identity theft fodder) but sharing our lives is why we’re alive.
Caution yes, prohibition, no. I choose to participate in the world. The leading cause of death is life but I prefer it to the alternative.
This blog post will cover many topics. I wear many hats. In brief, I will discuss how I have recently employed technology:
as a homeroom teacher
an ICT specialist
a school promoter
a teacher trainer
an MYP Technology teacher
I will further make ongoing reference to the SAMR model of technology integration in education throughout. As this infographic is self-explanatory and this blog post (which will likely reach epic proportions) is meant as part of a culminating assessment for my Master’s I will not be explaining it in detail.
But first… the video:
As this is a post written as part of my coursework, it will further act as an exposition on the merits of the Certificate of Educational Technology & Information Literacy (COETAIL) program (A more apt name for a course I have not come across.)
I have finally arrived at my final unit of study in the course. As a primary school teacher who has worked with children as high as Grade 12, I was at an impasse. I still loved teaching but had reached a point where, for me, the demands of being a general teacher and taking care of the minutiae of managing most of the needs of a large group of children in the age group was proving to be more than I was able to do while maintaining my zest for the job.
I had always enjoyed using digital technologies and had a bit of a knack for it and thought that pursuing a specialty in the field would be both timely and rewarding. It is. If you have read this far, (thank you) I will now reward you with some examples of what I have managed to do so you can do likewise.
As a Homeroom Teacher As the Grade 7 Homeroom teacher at my new job (the one with all the hats) I have created a website for my class. While there are a variety of pages (not all completed in this ongoing project) every student has a page of their own to design and add to, with some parameters, as they see fit. Students, furthermore, can make a record of the reflections they make on their term goals for all to see and share their progress.
Very simply put, some of the the International Society for Technology in Education’s (ISTE) National Education Technology Standards for Students’ (NETS-S) objectives met here are:
Creativity and Innovation
Communication and Collaboration
Technology Operations and Concepts
I could go into much more detail here but with so much to say I am trying to keep things a little briefer than the opus this could so easily become (learned in COETAIL to keep blog posts short to attract readers, failing here!). SAMR rating:
This is also a formative task of sorts, as we will be delving in much greater detail into the creation of websites in the unit that will ultimately become the focus for this presentation.
As an ICT Specialist As a specialist charged with integrating ICT across the curriculum and promoting the school I have been expanding Doshisha International School, Kyoto’s presence on many fronts.
Online Presence I have created The Learner Profile @DISK to raise awareness of this fundamental aspect of our school’s programme. The site is composed mainly of student generated content. Students share their work and reflections on what the attributes of the profile mean to them. We have actually had IB mucky-muck commentary on this already…
The ISTE NETS objective Strands met here are:
1. Creativity and Innovation
2. Communication and Collaboration
6. Technology Operations and Concepts
Students in the Middle School have the opportunity to mentor their Elementary School counterparts for service hours by assisting them with their uploads (scanning if need be) and reflections. This is line with our International Baccalaureate Programmes as cross-year collaboration and project-based work focusing on the development of Transdisciplinary skills is one of our highest aims. SAMR rating:
Responsible Use @DISKis another website where families in our school community can spend time together learning about safety, copyright and issues of responsible digital citizenship. The online agreement form is then filled in and tabulated via Google docs.
SAMR rating:
Student Life @DISK rounds it off by offering more social insight into life at the school, along with newsletters and updates. It further acts as a hub, linking our main home page, EdTech Training Sessions site, photo blogs and Facebook page.
Training Others to Integrate I have started slowly here. Being new to the school and having more than enough work to keep me busy, I wanted to let people get to know me before making demands on their time and introducing any changes to classroom practice.
After having shared my work with the aforementioned increase in web presence, I began taking classes to introduce both the Learner Profile @DISK and the Responsible Use@DISK to the students. I explained the process for the latter with families through email and at an introductory session held during our Meet & Greet at the start of the year.
I worked (indeed continue) to help colleagues with technical trouble-shooting before our first edtech training session. The initial session was held for the Elementary School teachers and focused on a very general introduction to the use of new media tools in class through the creation of Weebly accounts. Teachers created individual home pages and added blogs before going on to experiment with posting pictures and commentary on both. We discussed copyright, creative commons citation and privacy issues. There is much more information available at the site, EdTech Training Sessions.
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As an MYP Technology Teacher I have used a website for the course to flip the classroom. As you can see, all of the important documents for our classes are here. I have also incorporated a number of instructional YouTube video/SlideShare mini-lessons for students to use and review at home, freeing up more class time for creation and face-to-face collaboration. As units finish I can “hide” their pages to avoid cluttering up the site with out-of-date information.
Having caught the ‘Flip Bug’ I have also created another tutorial in this manner for students struggling with question and answer work based around short passages. I was amazed to find that this SlideShare had over 250 views in a little more than its first hour! (The Design Cycle @DISK SlideShare has enjoyed nearly 2300 views but I have been promoting it actively.)
SAMR rating:
(Finally) Back to the Unit in Question From this point I will discuss and explain my unit as more specifically prescribed. It will cover aspects of planning and execution but will not be finished and not, therefore, ready for complete reflection.
Everything I discuss, however, is directly related to my study and implementation of what I have learned in COETAIL. The unit is about Web Design & Online Responsibility.
First off, I was able to execute this unit as my first flat classroom experience with a fellow COETAIL’er at New International School Thailand (NIST). Jesse Scott (@twowaystairs) has proven insightful, full of ideas (I will naturally claim as my own now) and patience in planning and executing this task. Flat classrooms, I have learned, are harder than they sound.
For starters, while the NIST focus had a solid content correlation to our focus, I was committed to website creation while Jesse was all about an introduction to programming through Scratch, we clearly were producing products in significantly different formats. Fair enough. We decided to forge ahead regardless in a more limited fashion. Sounded easier to me that way anyway.
We backed and forth about times, plans and directions through email and Skype. Jesse shared his guiding questions and pointed out that there were a number of excellent resources available from the good people at Yokohama International School in their Digital Dragons program while I produced tracking documents through Google Drive. Easy-peesy, right?
Even with no drastic time zone issues to overcome or complete shadowing necessary, with everything else in the busy lives of two IB teachers messages through email soon get muddled and we actually considered bailing at one point. I am so glad we didn’t. With the blog communications poised to begin over the weekend and everything else our classes have gained and still stand to gain it would have been a tragic waste of an opportunity.
Please take a look at my planning here in the Understanding by Design Unit Planner (template provided by COETAIL) for a better idea of what I mean.
All of my planning is online here but be warned, it covers more than just this course. My students are producing password protected websites in order to share their research in an accessible, communicative online format in the hopes of helping others understand how to better protect themselves, protect others and manage their digital footprints.
I may choose at a later date to post my MYP Technology planning here as well. (As it is not required for this coursework I am reserving judgment on the matter for the time being.)
Google Ninja This is some serious stuff. Open and available, teachers helping teachers. YOU MUST CHECK THIS OUT! It has taken me more time than I imagined to set it up (with automatic grading through Flubaroo, thank you very much) but is something I will be using for the rest of my tech teaching career. Impressive doesn’t begin to explain this. Click the image to get started.
So there you have it. One educator’s journey through COETAIL captured in one culminating unit of work and summarized in one BIG new job creating and sharing digitally and loving (almost) every minute of it.
If you ever have the chance to take this course DO IT!
No doubt there are those out there who would argue there is only one “true way” to define a flipped classroom effort. To those of you (and you know who you are) who find offense at what I am about to say… perhaps you should consider a vacation?
I am “flipping out” as much as possible these days. I started writing (and will finish some day) a HOW TO post to help those with less experience (must be someone) than myself with this.
I am flipping my classroom by making important mini-lessons and other resources available online so as not to have to use up classroom time with what can clearly be done at home, unlike the current unit’s work, in which students are collaboratively planning and constructing play structures for the Elementary School children.
I am doing a sort of one-two punch of presentations to SlideShare and YouTube (or Vimeo).
Example 1 I made a Keynote presentation explaining the current use of the MYP Design Cycle at my school. This is now available on the class website for students to review at any timeat any place. It is very important as the process is the main focus of these classes. I am available to help students at any time but, with this available without question, the onus falls back on the students to take the time to review at home first instead of taking class time away from their project groups.
Now, I make it first. Then I add a soundtrack. Then I upload it to YouTube or Vimeo. Like with any assignment, it is often easier for students to sit back and take it all in once before dissecting it, hence the video version.
Then comes the SlideShare version. This is the more functional of the two. When students get into their work, or later, when assessing themselves, the SlideShare is the best format to find and keep the information in front of them while they get to it.
I’ve done this for a number of different reasons now and I will share some examples below. I feel encouraged by the feedback from students but also from the thousands of views some of the SlideShares & videos enjoy, presumably from other teachers and students.
And there are still times when I make simple videos on their own to reinforce important messages:
The digital tools I am using here, however, could be used to improve anyone’s practice be they homeroom teachers, drama, math or any subject. I made this after an impromptu session helping a student in my homeroom with homework before classes begun:
As attested throughout this blog (and just about anywhere else you are likely to find my work), I love to share and I never claim to know anything more than Plato has Socrates claim:
The only thing I know is that I know nothing.
Socrates
But I do feel compelled to share. It’s only human.
I would like to share today how I believe we all model literacy, in all forms, for our students daily. In the way we carry ourselves, the manner in which we speak, make visuals to aid in our teaching, layout websites, write, create wikis, make slideshows (both the photo kind and the information disseminating kind) and, well… I think I’ve made this point.
I will share one such presentation I made and shared with my class recently. Having recognized a pattern in some students of not seeming to view the student-teacher relationship in the most positive and useful (from their standpoint) light, I took it upon myself to have a homeroom discussion explaining how it may be seen, encouraging productive dialogue and, well I am the tech teacher heading towards grammar of cinema and digital story-telling units down the road so, I saw this too, as a means of front-loading the use of visuals for effectively communicating. Take a look:
Naturally, I did not just leave the desire of teachers to help as merely self-interest and we discussed this as part of our dialogue. I used this in the slideshow to pre-empt my cynics. Wherever possible, know and anticipate your audience.
PLEA FOR HELP: How can I turn my Keynote presentations into movies I can upload without losing quality?
It was quite useful. We had the discussion I had hoped for while sitting on the floor with the presentation going behind us (setting the stage and timed by myself) as an extra, a visual to help those more visually inclined, and a reminder of where we were at in the conversation for any day-dreamers.
Why “Presentation Tao”?
Two reasons. One, I am hopelessly cheeky. Two, Taoism is reductionist. It is about cleansing and getting back to the source, reducing superficiality and being natural. Unlike Zen, which is concerned with an awakening or realization, Taoism is about returning to your true nature which is, “naturally” part of the totality to the Nature of all things that we are already a part of. Or this view is, at least, to go back to Plato:
…a likely story.
Because, after all, we all have different stories and should have different ways of telling them as opposed to coming to the realization that there is only one right way. It’s like this “bento” I recently bought at Kyoto station. It was all right, but not really to my taste. I prefer to shop farther away from the station.
Always looking to improve my practice of ICT integration across the curriculum, learn and share new things, I am presently involved in a course of study for a post-graduate certificate of educational technology and information literacy.
My studies have illustrated to me the importance of new media in education and the necessity of empowering students with the skills to both use them effectively and to learn how to better direct their own learning. It has further underlined for me how inextricably interwoven effective use of new media and development of collaborative skills are becoming.
Having worked with students from K – 12 for years I have a real respect for the necessity of an articulated integration curriculum from a whole school standpoint. I am excited to announce my new position at Doshisha International School, Kyoto. To learn more about me please feel free to view my Hub, the website where I am currently updating my online creations.
Use of the design cycle is the focus of MYP Technology classes.
The reason for this focus on the design cycle I tell my students is simplicity itself. We use it for every unit for one good reason. Getting in the habit of addressing problems in this way is simply engendering good habits that will stick with you for the rest of your lives. And after all, as Picasso said, you need to:
As this infographic is self-explanatory and this blog post (which will likely reach epic proportions) is meant as part of a culminating assessment for my Master’s I will not be explaining it in detail.
school. This is now available on the class website for students to review at any time at any place. It is very important as the process is the main focus of these classes. I am available to help students at any time but, with this available without question, the onus falls back on the students to take the time to review at home first instead of taking class time away from their project groups.
get into their work, or later, when assessing themselves, the SlideShare is the best format to find and keep the information in front of them while they get to it.
