YouTube, TikTok, and Media Literacy

 YouTube and TikTok Videos Should Be Included in Media Literacy Lessons 

There is no doubt about it, YouTube and TikTok have taken the place of network television for many American Children. Part of educating our children to become responsible consumers and prosumers includes teaching our students to evaluate these videos, evaluate them objectively, and to determine if that video has been created by a credible source. According to Social Constructivism theory: Learning is a social activity - it is something we do together, in interaction with each other, rather than an abstract concept (Dewey, 1938). Learning is a collaborative process, and knowledge develops from individuals' interactions with their culture and society. 

We know that our current culture is being shaped video technologies, let’s embrace that as educators and include evaluating videos in our media literacy lessons. What better way to get students to think critically about the information they consume than to include technology they use daily as part of our lessons?  

The Learning Journey Never Ends

I just wanted to take a moment to say Thank You to all of you for two great days of learning. As we wrap up this class I thought I would leave you with my own reflection on our time together.

Get Connected!

flickr photo shared by Frau Hölle
under a Creative Commons ( BY-SA ) license

It's not the same education you remember as a student. Remember you are on the other side now and on this side of the desk being connected is what it's all about! The traditional connections are still important. Connecting with your team, your school community, that doesn't go away. But being an educator in 2016 and beyond means also connecting to your PLN (Personal Learning Network) this includes people you'll never meet in real life and yet will have a connection with. Education is one of the largest global professionals. There are millions and millions of us out here and we're all helping each other. Learn to use all of us. Whether it's through hashtags on Twitter, groups in Facebook, or Pinterest boards. Connect...and remember part of connecting is SHARING. Sharing is just as important if not more so than taking. The more you give away the more you get in return.

Find Your Fit

flickr photo shared by Horia Varlan
under a Creative Commons ( BY ) license 

I loved listening to what you all want from School Districts. I also thank you for doing this assignment so I could use what you said you are looking for in a School District at the Washington State Personnel Association conference on Monday. Here are main themes that came out of your videos.

You are looking for a school district that:

Has a strong sense of community

Is Technology Rich

Has a strong mentoring program

Has a strong supportive leadership

Find your fit...find a school district and a school that matches what you want. We are in a teacher shortage. That gives you power to find a school that really fits with you and what you need to be successful. Here's the presentation that I gave to WSPA so that you can see what I'm telling school districts what they need to be considering if they want to hire and retain great teachers like you!

Keep Reflecting

flickr photo shared by Nick Kenrick.
under a Creative Commons ( BY ) license

This blog does not have to end with this class. Reflecting publicly on your learning is a powerful practice. Make it part of what you do. I hope to come back here often and see new blog posts from all of you as you continue on your learning journey and build your positive online profile. I'll also continue to follow the Twitter hashtag #WWMIT until you stop using it.

Don't Be Afraid to Reach Out

flickr photo shared by kaetidh under
a Creative Commons ( BY-NC-ND ) license

Know that I now consider myself part of your network. So please reach out if you need anything. Also know that one of my companies Eduro Learning produces some fantastic content and we spend hours curating the best educational stuff for you so you don't have to. So please do connect with us.

Eduro Facebook Page: Here you'll get the educational articles we're reading. 

Eduro Flipboard Magazine: A curated list of educational articles that span the globe. 

Eduro Newsletter: If you didn't sign up for the Eduro Newsletter on the WWMIT site. Then I highly encourage you to do so. We'll keep you up to date with tutorial videos on how to use technology with kids, blog posts that we write, events and workshops we're holding around Washington and what ever else I decide to throw in there. :) 

In a networked world we never say goodbye....we just say until we physically meet again.....

See you on the network!

Jeff

Flipped Classrooms

Who doesn't love sitting down for an hour and listening to a teacher spout off facts as you furiously try to keep up in your notes?  I would be willing to guess that this is not many people's favorite thing to do.  From personal experience, I know how frustrating it can be to try and listen to a teacher's lecture while still writing the thing they said two sentences ago.  Even through my teachers have generally been good about asking for questions in class, I often have found myself still trying to absorb the information or scribble down those last few words when the time for questions expires.

What would happen if students could come to class having already witnessed the lecture for the day and ready with questions?  This is the premise of a flipped classroom.  I think that it would be rewarding to apply this principle to the high school physics classroom.  For classes such as physics that are more difficult for some students than for others, having the lecture prerecorded and in video format allows students to pause or go back in the video to absorb and understand the concepts fully.  After having time to absorb the information outside of class, students can then bring the questions they took away from the lecture to the classroom.  During the in-class time, students can then ask questions, work on assigned problems ("book work" instead of "homework"), and have more time for laboratory experiments, projects, and collaboration in learning and practicing the concepts.



Oh thank heavens for the technology that allows for ideas such as flipped classrooms to become a reality!

Connectivitism

Connectivitism. In contrast to the learning theories of behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism, connectivism has been developed in a time when learning has been impacted by technology and thus includes technology and connection making as learning activities.  This theory has many interesting aspects. For example, the fact that competence comes not from our knowledge of something, but our ability to make the connections and find information about that thing.  In the past, information's development was slow and its lifespan long, but now most information has the half-life of about 18 months.  Because of this incredibly short lifespan and the ever increasing accessibility of information, what is important is not knowing the answer to your question, but being able to filter through information to find the answer.



Connectivitism as a learning theory is certainly a relevant one.  I think that it has many valid claims and benefits which apply to many instances.  We had a "fishbowl" discussion activity and discussed several of the claims of connectivitism during this time.  These included the claim that learning and knowledge rests in diversity of opinions, that learning is a process of connecting specialized nodes or information sources, that learning may reside in non-human appliances, and that capacity to know more is more critical than what is currently known.  I believe that each of these claims are generally true.  However,  I think that it is important to note the limitations to these statements.  Although capacity to know has gained importance in our society, that does not mean that knowing things for oneself is completely moot.  As a future math and physics teacher, I have experienced firsthand the benefits of understanding concepts and recalling them later for use in more advanced problems, as well as the critical thinking skills I have gained through working hard to learn and know a concept and apply it to different situations.  I agree that many things have changed, for example, if I forget a math fact, it is much easier to look it up quickly than it was 50 or even 25 years ago.  However, as advanced as our technology may be, it still remains important to seek to know things for our own cognitive stimulation.

Connectivism reflection

Connectivism has made me think about technology and specifically technology in education much differently. I have always seen technology as a tool that promotes anti-social tendencies in people. The attention that people pay to their cell phones, tablets, ect. when they are in social situations made me feel disconnected from them. But after learning about connectivism in this course, I realize that technology can be a so powerful in peoples lives in regards to being social with people around the world and the learning capabilities of being connected at all times. Technology allows us to search for information with different perspectives and knowledge at all times. It also gives students the power to be creative and innovative with HOW they get information.When students are able to connect information from different sources and viewpoints, they are in position to improve comprehensive knowledge of the content.

After reflecting on this course, I believe technology such as 3D printing and social media should be available and utilized in any school district. Instead of keeping the wifi password a secret, make it public so that students can use their devices in a positive and educational way. If educators give students the tools to use technology in education, they will be more prepared for what the world is really going to be like for them. Technology is only growing and students need to learn to use it to enhance their education.

Redefinition Goals

I think everyone who grew up in the 90's and is now leaving school saw a crazy amount of technology change in the classroom. I clearly remember my fifth grade class having overheads, but then everything being on a document camera the minute I walked into sixth grade (also remember seeing an overhead  in my freshman geometry class three years later... Never change Mr. Jamison, never change). We also grew up when cell phones, the internet and social media exploded, but can still remember a brief time before any of that. What I'm getting at here is that we witnessed a ton of examples of substitution and augmentation in the classroom setting but were scarce to see anything implemented passed those levels. Like typing our essays on laptops instead of writing them by hand, using a document camera instead of an overhead, or watching youtube videos on projectors instead of VHS tapes on cart tv's. It was by no fault of our teachers that they only showed us a lot of good examples of substitution and augmentation but not much else. They did the best they could. They were just trying to understand the technology like the rest of us. What I think held them back from modification and redefinition the most was a lack of accessible internet and hubs for students to gather online. Those two things aren't issues for us today which means our generation of teachers has to strive achieve the two higher levels of SAMR more than any previous group before us. At this point with everything we witnessed over the two days of this course we have no excuse not to. We all have to be aware those moments when new technology is introduced to the classroom over our lifetimes - when something replaces the projector and document camera (or better when we can Star Trek beam our students places) - and how do we implement these at the higher levels of SAMR as quickly as possible? 

Connect

I think the principals of connectivism is bringing forth a lot of ideas that teachers would like to apply in the classroom but will struggle to as the overarching system doesn't favor connectivism as it does the other theories. Connectivism calls for a diversity of opinions to maximize learning and knowledge, yet by the time students get to the secondary level and start "playing the game" they quit caring about diverse opinions and just want the opinions that get them the letter grade their looking for. This theory also says that the capacity to know is greater then what they currently know but than on a practical level both the state standardized tests and the SAT /ACT wants to measure what kids already know. The system is valuing their current knowledge way more then what their capable of knowing. To an extent I agree with checking what they know as well, colleges want kids who already know a lot and can build off that base of information. Now different schools value different amounts of route knowledge, I'm guessing what Stanford wants their kids to come already knowing is much more vast then say Harold Washington Community College in Chicago. Just to touch on one more idea, connectivism talks about the ability to see connections between fields or concepts as vital. Yet interdisciplinary study was only a word I heard about once I got to college. Outside of some basic biochemistry we barely relate any of the sciences together. I also don't think we do as good of a job tying biology to history as we should. We let kids skim on names and dates in biology class when understanding the context of why the events happened when they did would only strengthen the kids understanding. I think connectivism is great, I hope to apply its principals in my classrooms but I think the system isn't doing it any favors in thriving.

SAMR

How do I teach my students to use technology for their learning advantage? How do I learn to use technology for their learning advantage? What does it look like to infuse my classroom with a healthy amount of technological aid that it would advance learning through classroom management, formative assessments, one on one's, teaching strategies, etc.

The four levels of the SAMR model are helpful in gaging how I am using the tools available to the maximum potential. Why would I invest in something that is simply a substitute for some other learning aid rather than completely redefining learning with tools that project learning forward, leaps and bounds?

As a future teacher, I aspire to use the SAMR model towards propelling my history and reading subjects into a global group project. Collaborating with another classroom in another country, the teacher and myself would agree on a historical biography that our students would, together, read and report on. The students, being from different countries and cultures, would be paired in groups of two for duration of the project, each group including one student from each country. They will need to be communicating via Google Docs and Skype to complete the report. The book would be specific- incorporating the involvement of each individuals national background for example, a book on WWII. This here will give the students opportunity to engage with someone from the other side, with a different perspective on an issue, while learning more about their countries interpersonal history and providing the sharpening of reading, typing, and working with others. Following the rubric, the students will together write a review post on the web, like Amazon, for other viewers to read and they will also create a short video capturing their experience as partners and what they learned about the others culture. These videos will be played in both classes, at different times, across the world, giving historical, national, and safe relational exposure with peers who may never crossed paths.

Each of these project assignments- the book report, book review, video review- all require the internet to be accomplished. Students, thousands of miles away, not only become pen-pals, but actual co-pals in the academic world. Technology here advances the students perceptions of a historical issue and people who are different then themselves, while giving the tools of computer skills and collaboration.

I desire to climb to the top of this SAMR mountain as often as I can with my future students while encouraging others around me to do the same!

Refection on SAMR

      I am planning on teaching 1st or 2nd grade, and through this course I have been trying to think of creative ways to apply to younger students. Some of the ideas that we have talked about would work wonderfully for secondary, but are a little too elaborate for younger children. Jeff had me look into something that I had not thought of before, but now I am definitely going to use  in my classroom. Skype! The two things that Jeff had me look into were "Skype an author" and "Mystery Skype".

    Skype an author is just as simple as it sounds, but this is a great way for kids to connect what they are learning in a classroom unit to the world outside a classroom. Say for example I start a bug unit. We can read a book about bees such as "The Honeybee Man" by Lela Nargi and Krysten Brooker.

    I could then have the kids Skype these authors so that they get the chance to ask questions and learn about what it is like to be a professional writer. I think that having these young children actually speak with and meet the author would inspire them and really get them excited about their learning. We could then find a beekeeper and Skype with them so that the kids could learn about bees from a real "bee expert". I think that this would take our lesson to the Redefinition level of SAMR because without the technology being infused into the bee lesson, the kids would not be able to meet the author and the bee keeper in their classroom. This use of technology helps the kids make connections that would be hard to arrange outside of the classroom.

   

can we connect?

You would be ignorant if you said that technology has not completely transformed the way that we as humans connect to each other. Our fingers do more for the work these days.

We often think and type more than we think and talk. The interesting phenomena is that our typing cannot only be read by the local mailman, or the telegram officer at the post office. Communication has become limitless. Our words travel to distances we may never visit. Our thoughts, ideas, and notions do not only communicate information to new and far off lands, but they connect us.

The question isn't can we connect, as much as it is, are we?

Technology has enabled us to be connected to other human beings we may never have the pleasure of introducing ourselves to one day.

A hand shake may connect one being to another, but it is limited. A persons arm can only reach so far. A handshake can go about two feet in distance and the relationship probably 5 years. Although ink letters typed on a piece of paper have a finite livelihood, the words typed on a digital device are timeless in lifespan and endless in bandwidth.

In the classroom, this outrageous ability enables students to transcend not only the boundaries of their desks, but even their classroom walls, district boarders, and more so, their continental shores.

One medium useful for connective learning is known as collaborative note taking. With my fellow MIT peers, I was able to expand my imaginative horizons and through google docs experience the pleasure of working on one single project, with 45 people, at the same time. The online document stored through google chrome gave us the ability to type simultaneously on the same project. This ability was invigorating while also proving to be a little challenging because, at times, there were 'too many cooks in the kitchen.'

Providing my future students with opportunity to engage with other students around the world via online connection is an astounding feet. Others perspectives not only become a story, they becomes tangible. The fourth grader in Paris, France whose relative passed horrifically one evening on a cobblestone street can now know, resonate, CONNECT with another 10 year old in New York City whose uncle was tragically captured in a twin tower.

Internet is power.

I look forward to experimenting with this learning medium for the rest of my life, for my personal development, and also in my classroom with young minds that simply want to explore.

A common trade mark found in public school districts today often include some kind of 'environmentally friendly' or 'globally aware' or 'community oriented' poster phrase we desire to impart to millennials. What a better way to teach children how to engage in the global world than by imparting a tool that can inspire 'connectivism' with the entire universe, for the rest of their lives.

The world is at their fingertips.

Day 2: Afternoon

Of all the new technology that I have seen come into existence in the last few years, I am most excited for the educational impact that virtual reality and augmented reality will have. Using these technologies in the classroom will allow to completely change lesson at the redefinition level. Imagine being able to take a "virtual" field trip to the Louvre or to MOMA in New York, This technology will allow students to experience and appreciate art in real time and in an immersive environment. As a teacher, I will no longer have to rely solely on pictures of various works, but will be able to show my students the actual work in a gallery setting. And beyond that, we will have the ability to intimately explore the world in a way never before possible. It will be like having a time machine that every student can use. Want to visit the Moulin Rouge of the late 19th century and watch Toulouse-Lautrec work on one of his famous posters? We will be able to do that. And think of the way this will change the way we look at visiting artists and lecturers. Right now we can video chat and bring these people into out classroom for minimal cost and with great convenience. But image a classroom where a visiting artist is there, instructing and giving feedback, interacting with the students, but also still physically in their studio. The minimal cost and greater convenience is still there, but now we have a totally different experience.
These technologies are at the redefinition level because without them, none of what I mentioned above would be possible

Connectivism: Morning Reflection

I am a twenty-six year old master's degree student.  It hasn't been that long since I was in a public school classroom.  I remember school during my senior year, 2008, when text messaging was the ultimate offense and MySpace was the only social media around.  At least in my hometown, technology had yet to rise to a level of significance in the educational experience.  Teaching and learning philosophies still centered around behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism.  

As it turns out, learning philosophies have evolved just as much as the classroom itself.  The education realities that students experience today are just not the same as they were (almost) ten years ago.  With the evolving classroom, a new learning theory has emerged.  Connectivism.  I'll admit that I am a bit of a skeptic when exposed to brand new ideas; however, connectivism sticks.

Connectivism is a hybrid philosophy theorizing that learning occurs by connecting different bits of information to improve our current knowledge.  Much like a nebulous environment of shifting core elements, there is no one piece of concrete knowledge.  Knowledge is forever shifting, changing, and connecting pieces of information from different sources to create a truth.  We obtain knowledge by integrating the diversity of opinions, practicing decision making, utilizing non-human appliances, and finding connections from known data to create new ideas.  

Personally, I view this philosophy as a theory that all knowledge is changing and growing.  To find new truths, we must move away from past "facts" and connect our current knowledge to the bits of new information.  This connection will increase our knowledge capacity and continue our intellectual evolution.  In today's classroom, we should teach children how to apply skills to obtain new information, how to find relevant resources, and how to work together to summarize new ideas.  The "facts" I was supposed to memorize during high school are now just a click away; therefore, I plan to use a connectivist approach to teach kids how to connect documented facts to create new knowledge.   

Earning a C++ in Math

     Learning all the unique ways we can use technology in the classroom has been a very eye-opening experience.  Through most of the days though, I struggled to see where I could really take advantage of it as a math teacher.  Most often in math, I have only seen technology used at the substitution or adaptation level, with things like answering problems online, or using iPad notes in lecture.  In one of the technology integration videos I watched though, one teacher introduced game creation into their classroom, using an online programming template called Scratch.  In this class, students created their own little games, where a character would ask math questions, and the player would have to solve them.  Essentially, the students were creating their own homework assignments, and getting to play with other classmates games.

     This is an idea I can certainly get on board with in my math class.  Computer science is quickly becoming one of the most popular careers, and yet we don't introduce it until high school as an elective.  I think Junior high students are more than capable of learning basic programming, and integrating math projects through this shows redefinition–solving problems impossible without the computer programs.

     One example of this I would like to incorporate, is having students write computer "calculator" programs, that input numbers and output a solution based on what is being asked.  Maybe instead of having student simply memorize the quadratic equation, have them write a computer program that solves it given three coefficients.  They can write program that solves for the third side length of a triangle using the pythagorean theorem.  Or, what if you have students create a program that multiplies two numbers, but they can only use addition in their code?  Not only does this require students to know the formulas when they create the program, but they will have to find and solve any problems that they have within their code, requiring more detail and attention to the mathematical concepts, and better preparing students for our digital world.


Picture from http://www.hindscc.edu/Assets/images/computer-programming-tech.jpg

Reflection on Connectivism

     Learning about connectivism has been an eye opening experience for me. To be honest, I was very resistant at the beginning of the course. My skepticism grew from my dislike of youth constantly being glued to devices in a public setting. It has become one of my biggest pet peeves. (Insert young couple on a date, both of them nose deep in their cell phone.) From this class I have learned that that is something different, entirely social. A revolutionary idea for me was the amount of ways in which we can use technology to actually enhance education. I never knew the depth to which this idea could go. 

      Wearable technology, 3D printing, maker spaces, BYOD, Twitter, Instagram just to name a few. Today's classroom needs to be geared towards connecting with people and thinking outside of the classroom. We need to be able to equip our students with the tools that they actually need to be successful in our ever changing technology world. In the connectivism article that we read, I loved the analogy of the oil pipeline. Instead of telling our kids what information they need to know for a brighter future, we need to teach them how to know and learn through technology. We need to help them to build the pipeline that any knowledge can flow through.

Final Reflection (2nd from Friday)

Hello Readers.

The fishbowl exercise was something that I need to keep in mind when it comes to discussions. The dynamic that it sets up is great for students to really control their own learning environment. Since my subject is based on a lot of analyzing and writing, I feel that this exercise will help students. By having a set of laptops or even a full one-to-one inclusion of technology in the classroom will help provide my classroom the environment for positive, engaged learning. Just getting the kids writing is a powerful thing and this activity gives them the opportunity to sort out the important information and pose questions to their classmates as if they were the teacher of the room. There are multiple facets that help create this environment of learning and it's one that I plan on using in the future!

I too loved the video "Monster Trap" because it showed how great the learning experience can be for kids. To be able to spark that much interest in a student will be incredibly rewarding. What I took from that video is that as teachers we will fail, but it's up to us to celebrate those failures by finding solutions to better ourselves and our classrooms. Failure doesn't have to be a thing that inhibits our growth as individuals and teachers; rather it should be the very basis that helps us realize that we are all human and make mistakes. If I could celebrate like that kids after even successful lesson and had a few failures in the beginning, I'd be elated!

Lastly, This class has taught me humility in the sense that technology is ever-changing and we cannot assume the role of expert on technology. I thought I knew it all when I came into the class, but something as simple as "site:" I had no idea about. There are many tips and tricks that we as educators can learn to help better our students. Collaboration is key to success as we all embark on this journey together! We are the faces of the classroom and the students ability to better their lives an be something even greater then them!

Cheers.

Ryan

Reflection #2 (Friday)

In class on Friday, I really enjoyed learning about the SAMR model. I feel like I can just relate well to the visual aids and understand the concept. I really hope to apply this model for technology in my future classroom and get to a point where technology is so integrated into the environment that the students do not feel that we are necessarily having a specific "tech time". By incorporating more technology and allowing students to communicate across time and space to their peers around the world, I think that we would be achieving the modification level, on a general basis. To reach the redefinition level, I would like to do one collaborative project with students where they worked with students that were outside of our building. I believe that would redefine group work and learning for my students. 

I really enjoyed both days of this class, but I found special appreciation for the Monster Trap youtube video that we watched. Every time the monster trap failed, the child learned something about his set up, and was able to improve it. He celebrated his success, in a big way, but was not discouraged by his failures. He even predicted that he would fail multiple times before he ever succeeded. I took that to heart and feel like it applies to my journey using technology. When I attempt something new on the computer, like using twitter, blogging, or navigating around a website, I may not be successful on the first attempt. Through that I noticed that I am still learning as I struggle. It is not just about the end result, it is the journey, and not getting everything on the first try makes the journey much more interesting!

Savanna's PM Reflections, Day 2

In the afternoon session on Friday, I was blown away by all of the extensions that Google Chrome has to offer.  I hadn't ever understood how to properly use the Chrome browser before, but I feel a bit more confident after taking this course. Additionally, I enjoyed learning about different websites such as padlet.com and qrstuff.com (I hadn't known what a QR code was before).
I completed a bit of additional research on Harvard's Project Zero that Jeff mentioned in class and was intrigued by the program.  In 1967, Project Zero was founded by philosopher Nelson Goodman to improve education in the arts.  Goodman studied arts learning and since "zero" research had been previously completed on this cognitive activity of learning, the research project became known as Project Zero.  Researchers have found that learning is a consequence of thinking (NOT vis versa). Today Project Zero's work takes place both internationally and nationally, and has broadened its research emphasis to not only focus on the arts but also on the nature of intelligence, ethics, cross disciplinary and cross-cultural thinking.  Harvard offers a 5-day course that all museum educators, prek-12 administers and prek-12 teachers are encouraged to attend.   The course focuses on questions such as:
-How can we best inspire and nurture creative thinking and problem solving in our students and ourselves?
-What is understanding, and how does it develop?
-What are the roles of reflection and assessment in student and teacher learning?
-How can participants continue to share and pursue their understanding of Project Zero's ideas with others after the program?

After seeing the price tag of $2,950 per person, however, I was a bit skeptical about whether or not the 5 days could be worth nearly $3,000.  I found the website and the video below helpful, as they explain a bit more about Project Zero.

https://vimeo.com/96762490

https://www.gse.harvard.edu/ppe/program/project-zero-classroom

Finally, I absolutely loved how Jeff ended the class; his encouragement to love every single student was powerful and made me incredibly excited to be a teacher.

Savanna AM Reflections, Day 2

Bonjour!
On Friday, my eyes were opened to the world of Connectivism and the ways in which encouraging technology as an academic connection tool can positively transform a classroom.  During the morning class session, I was intrigued at the way that we used TodaysMeet as I had never before considered a public chat room as a place for academic advancement.   I now believe that this could be a useful tool in a high school classroom, but I am still hesitant because it is so easy to quickly become off topic.  After Jeff showed us how he combined the collaborative note taking with a group chat (names attached) in a lesson for high school students, I became much more convinced of how the chat room would be productive in class.
Prior to this session, I had never heard of the SAMR Model of Tech Integration (Substitution, Augmentation, Modification and Redefinition). It took me a little bit to fully understand the differences between the levels, but they became much easier to determine after completing the group activity.
I completed a bit of research on the heutagogical academic approach that Jeff mentioned in class.  This student-centered approach emphasizes self-determination, which not only encourages an inner passion for the subject but also sets a student up for lifelong learning. I found an article (http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/1076/2087) that explains heutagogy (self-determined learning) vs. andragogy (self-directed learning).  Technology plays an important role when discussing how to incorporate heutagogy in education, as social media enables heutagogy. I was surprised by the information below-- I wouldn't have expected higher GPAs to correlate with Twitter activity.

• Twitter: A recent study by Junco, Heiberger, and Loken (2010) showed that students who used Twitter (as compared to those who did not) were more actively engaged in their learning processes and had higher GPAs. Junco et al. (2010) also found that the use of Twitter boosted student-student and student-instructor interaction, as well as promoted active learning.

Thinking Inside the Blocks

As we were engaged with the SAMR model, as well as some of the amazing Coetail projects that arose from the integration of technology into the classroom; I stumbled across the video of Reid Wilson. Wilson used Minecraft with his students to get them involved in the idea of countries. Through the use of four different "countries" in Minecraft, students learned about natural resources and allocation, socioeconomic diversity, political systems, and even gender roles. Students were immersed in the lessons they were learning in school, rather than attempting to memorize the complexities. Not only were they actively engaged in the countries' various economic processes, but they also were imbued with a better sense of social justice and understandings of institutional systems within the countries. Education was redefined through the absolutely phenomenal use of technology to allow students to experience and interact with information that would previously have been absolutely unheard of! This Minecraft idea was very inspiring to me, an I would really love to implement this into a classroom of my own in order to allow students to truly experience a redefinition of the traditional teaching methods. This sort of connection to the material is exactly what students will remember in years time, and I want to be someone who helps facilitate that type of learning. And for those of you who missed our on watching this particular video but are interested, I'll attach the link below. Approaching world cultures and understanding through such a unique lens is an opportunity that can't be missed (plus, how fun is it that you get to play video games in class?)!

Here it is: https://youtu.be/akCaJ0e7il0

Get Connected

Connectivism is all about how we as teachers can educate students using strategies focused around their connective learning beyond mere behaviors or cognition; it extends to a place of experience. Technology has created within our society, the unique opportunity to reach beyond previous limitations to education. Students can now communicate to individuals around the world on a nearly endless number of topics. Additionally, technology can be used to supplement individual growth and learning by offering unique strategies for many subjects, as well as perspectives. Technology is changing the way that we think about everything in today's society; even our brains have altered structure and process as we become more and more exposed to technological advances and every-day reliances. Student's are able to connect with ideas through the interactive and engaging use of technology. Connectivism allows meaningful connections to be made with subject material and topics in ways that supplement the individuals learning in a fantastic and unique way. I remember in grade school, "outside sources" meant extra books; with today's technology, an outside source can easily be a historical narrative clip, an interview with a specialist from the place of origin, or a variety of other amazing sources. New technology and information have opened the world to a bevy of new wonders and as educators, we should help spread that amazing connector.

Here is a video that I found about Connectivism. I find it very helpful annnnnnd it's a great link to represent how we can use technology to improve our understandings:  https://youtu.be/cFCYjm6nf40