Lessons Learned

Instructional Technology - International Education - Wellness

Category: Mind-Concept Mapping (page 1 of 2)

Non-fiction Text and Note-taking

Students first need to understand common text structures in non-fiction texts. Guiding students to analyze text and media to take notes then is an essential instructional practice. As we know, non-fiction text comes at us in many different forms. The complexity can sometimes overwhelm students, so helping them with visual versions can enhance their learning. Here are a few of the main text structures: 

Cause and Effect | Chronology – Sequencing | Compare and Contrast | Main Ideas and Details | Problem – Solution 

I was fortunate to work with a master teacher who teaches lessons connecting the text structure to specific note-taking strategies. The teacher, Monica Escobar, shares the following strategies with her students using diagrams to connect the strategies to the structures. 

She teaches the following strategies: Annotated Diagram | Boxes and Bullets | Cause, and Effect (Flow Chart) | Cornell (my addition) | Reverse Boxes and Bullets | T-Chart | Timeline | Venn Diagram | Web

Here are images of the strategies and the structures they support: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Student-Centered News Shows (Lessons Learned)

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I am reviewing past posts, articles, and podcasts to share my main lessons learned. Here are a few lessons learned from supporting students to create news shows.

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After graduate school in the US, my wife and I returned to international education in 2002. My plan upon arriving at the Upper Primary of the Hong Kong International School was to start a student-produced news show. An essential part of my instructional technology program focused on videography.

My plans changed when I discovered that the school had a TV production studio, a closed circuit TV system with TVs in all the classrooms, and two costly Sony 3 CCD cameras. 🙂

While the infrastructure wowed me, I learned that the school community was not watching the student news shows for the most part. Students, in many cases, were given free rein to record whatever they wished to share as a news program. Silly was the main descriptor offered by several teachers. 🙁

From this starting point, I put together a plan of action which leads me now in reflection to share the following lessons learned. Student-produced news has become mainstream in many of our schools today, so what follows might be old news for some veterans, but hopefully, it can offer some ideas about whether you want to assess your current news program or if you want to start one.

Lessons Learned:

  • Look to make a needs assessment and information-gathering effort to get buy-in and insights and to promote the value of student-produced news. There are many other tools one can use today to do this task. The screen capture below is an example of an email questionnaire I sent out to teachers.

needs-assessment

    • Build the case for student news shows as a terrific example of project-based learning that puts students in the authentic roles of news gathers, logistics coordinators, editors, designers, etc.
    • There are many ways to organize students into teams to produce the news. The one we used was by classroom with teachers looking out to the upcoming year and reserving their week to present the news each morning. Classes would spend the week before their assigned week doing all the production work so their videos could be shown the following week. This made the entire process less stressful.
    • I titled this post “Student-CENTERED” because there might be a tendency in some schools to have an adult run the production process, including doing the video editing. This raises the question of why one is doing student-created news shows. If it is really about the learning process and not as much about the final product, students should run the entire process supported with lots of scaffolding and guidance when needed. When students are given complete ownership over a creative project, especially one that involves sharing a final product, they will want to shine in front of their peers.
    • Try to get the classroom teacher to take ownership of being the adult facilitating the process. In many schools, the instructional technologist, librarian, or other specialist is seen as the “news person,” and the students are handed over to them. A part of the teacher’s ownership is their work to connect the classroom curriculum to the news project. Think of all the habits of mind and dispositions that we work with our students to experience that the experiential nature of news production brings into play. Teamwork, active listening, problem-solving, etc., are so supported by videography and news creation. Another connection for teachers is to use news programs to communicate what learning takes place in their classroom.
    • News shows are about building community while celebrating what students and teachers do. One of my favorite parts of seeing students produce their shows was after their planning meetings, students would venture out to find the news and set up appointments with adults for interviews. Talk about real-life experiences!

    To help teachers get the hang of videography and news production, plan a small project a month or two before their reserved week of news. Work with a small group of students or the whole class to produce videos. This is so much easier today, with so many schools having mobile media devices like iPads. These opportunities offer the chance to start teaching the lessons the students and teachers need before they do their news gathering and production work. Planting videography “seeds” will open the door for teachers to see student-created videos as an assessment tool. The following is a screen capture of an Inspiration mind map I used in my lessons to teach the videography production process. Today I would supplement my lessons with online tutorials, and news shows samples for students and teachers who want a more blended approach.

vid-skills

  • Taking on a news project can make some teachers uncomfortable, especially with the technology giving students so much control over the process. With this in mind, look to produce guidelines, sample news shows, and templates to scaffold the process for your teachers. The following is a screen capture of my guidelines for our “DragonNews” program. It was a part of the Teacher Toolkit website (now only at the Internet Archive), where I housed tutorials and resources for teachers. I copied the entire page of DragonNews guidelines and posted them to a Google Site if you want many more details.
    guidelines
  • Another scaffolding tool is to provide templates. Here is a screen capture of a storyboard template populated by a Fourth Grade class with their plans. We used Inspiration a lot in those days as it was beneficial for storyboarding, with students being able to move topics around as they planned each day’s show. Today I would use a web-based tool so that the production team can access it 24/7.

storyboard

  • The organization is so vital to the production process. Notice in the image above how each symbol has a number and letter. Monday was “1” for example, and the letter designated the sequence of each scene. The camera team used a small whiteboard to write the day and scene to be recorded at the start of each shot. They also kept a log of each scene recording which one the video editors should use. With multiple takes, this made a difference for the editors. Also, notice the listing of student names. These were the assigned talent for each scene.
  • Regarding editors, we have two in charge of editing for the entire week. I asked teachers to think about which students had an eye for design, solid spatial understanding, and a certain seriousness in wanting to do a good job. One of my big design lessons was to stress that the classes were producing their shows for an audience other than themselves which included adults and, obviously, their peers. We stressed the importance of content and not special effects to be recorded in a quality manner with good audio and lighting and the on-screen talent using their best communication skills.

Third Grade Class
Fifth Grade Class

Personal Learning System (PLS)

Toolbox

Students (and teachers) who use technology to access information while using digital tools to create and communicate develop a personalized set of resources for learning – a “go-to” technology and information toolbox – a Personal Learning System (PLS). They work to maximize their “learning flow” (think about workflow for those in the work world). 

Finding and using active, organized, and collaborative tools are critical to managing individual and group learning projects. Self-directed students use devices, apps, web tools, and information sources, putting themselves in charge of their learning. Students also need to be project managers who engage their PLS as they plan for long-term assignments while often working as team members. 

Active and independent students in command on the bridge of their learning ship are ready for blended to full-out virtual learning opportunities. Engaging with the school Learning Management System (LMS) and other platforms for collaboration and creation furthers our students to trek into expanded learning beyond the school and regular hours of learning.

Personal Learning System (PLS) can include supportive tools in a variety of categories. The following are a handful of options among many. 

  • Creation- Learners are shifting away from generative software that ties their creativity to a device. While there are many cloud-sharing services, it is making more and more sense to use web-based creation tools for 24/7 access and collaboration with partners and teachers. The list is long for these style creation tools, with several noted bloggers constantly writing about new options for web-based creation tools and tools that support all the PLS categories listed here. Here are a few bloggers to follow. Kathy Schrock | Larry Ferlazzo | Richard Byrne. There are several curated lists of tools to keep an eye on. 101 Web Tools | 21st Century Tools | Top 100 Tools for Learning
  • Communication– We use e-mail, phones, and social networks to connect with others. Examples: Gmail, Hangouts, texting, phone calls, Skype
  • Collaboration– Communicating to share ideas, work on projects and innovate draws upon and develops skills for 21st-century learning and the workplace. Technology facilitates the process of developing, organizing, and sharing those ideas. Examples: Google Apps, Moodle (LMS), MindMeister
  • Curation of Information– Personal Learning Systems are more effective with a place to store, organize, and share the digital information we consume and create. Examples: Google Drive and KeepScoop. it! along with a Scoop.it! collection of PLS tools, DropboxDiigoPocket,
  • Documentation of Information– We need places and modalities (ex., voice-to-text) to record and responsibly cite the ideas we gather from others and make our thinking visible. Examples: Noodle ToolsEvernoteNotabilityMindMeister, SiriGoogle NowPaperPort Notes, Google Docs for typing and voice recording to text, Audioboo
  • Project Planning– Planning for projects that involve creating a learning product engages students in using many tools in their learning system. Watching students use their Information & Communication Literacies (ICL) and their PLS tools can be a fascinating aspect of teaching. Scaffolding does need to be in place to support students, whether working individually or in teams, as they manage their time and resources to be efficient and productive. What can support this process is to provide students with a project planning template with guiding questions and supportive ideas to have them create their plans. Regarding ICL, the plan could be called the ICL Project Plan. This blog post offers a few ideas about guiding students to create an ICL Project Plan
  • Reference and General Information Gathering– Remember when we had a dictionary, thesaurus, calculator, and an encyclopedia within easy reach of our workspace? Today we have online versions of each and various apps on our devices. Examples: English dictionary/thesaurus apps, Spanish dictionary apps, French dictionary apps, language translators, BritannicaiTunes for Podcasts, Chrome Browser with Extensions, and one’s school library Web site with its list of databases. Adaptive technologies like the Rewordify Web site help students simplify text above their reading level to make it more understandable. The growing Open Educational Resources (OER) is another area for students to connect to for information. 
  • Task and Time Management– The paper planner and calendar do not provide all the services offered by a web-based event and task management calendar. We can now easily access our time management systems across our computing platforms and integrate appointments and tasks into our e-mail. We can often share our appointments and timelines with team members to support collaboration. Examples: Google Calendar, TodoistWunderlist
  • Tutorials and Courses– Developing lifelong learners who know how to learn independently is one of our primary goals. Knowing where to go to not only gather information but also learn specific skills via online tutorials is so essential. Examples: iTalki and Duolingo for languages, Vimeo Education and Khan Academy for across-the-board tutorials, Knewton for individualized tutorials, and iTunes University.

This post originates from the Personal Learning System page of the Web Resources for Learning Web site. Also, check out the Edtech Co-Op podcast, where a couple of years ago, Mark and I talked about the announcement from Apple for iBooks and our thoughts on how students could personalize them. The show offers our initial thinking about personal learning systems.

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Blended ICL Integration

Collaborating Virtually

Sometimes, it doesn’t work out to do a collaborative curriculum meeting. This recently occurred with one of our grade levels, so there is still time this year to do ICL integration for their unit on ecosystems. I reminded myself that I can still support learning by using our curriculum mapping tool (Mangebac) to offer ideas for next year. Both my wife, a librarian and GATE coordinator, and I used to do this during our days in Hong Kong with our in-house curriculum planning tool (dragonet).

As we end this year, I am also reflecting on how I can better support our teachers and, ultimately, the students. Next year, I plan to go into Managebac to review the unit a couple of weeks before each grade-level planning meeting. I will post ideas organized in the content, process, and product differentiation framework. This blended integration technique will allow each grade level team to see some starter ideas ahead of the meeting, which should lead to more efficient use of time when we meet in person. It would be a blended model if curriculum collaboration team members offered ideas and built off one another’s ideas in Managbec before the meeting.

In the cases when we are rewriting units, I will work in person as a co-designer to develop the learning goals, assessments, and learning activities. We will have a full day and coverage to design new units.

What did I come up with for the ecosystem unit we did not meet? Here is my quick once-over looking at what the teachers did this year. I found a listing of learning activities and assessments that I responded to. I could contact my PLN and find other ways to approach the below strategies.

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ICL Possibilities for Next Year’s Ecosystem Unit: Here are a few ideas listing some tools and strategies that might replace, amplify or transform the learning opportunities for your students. As I only have what is listed here in Mangebac, I have limited depth of understanding, so these ideas are just places to start a discussion for planning in the future. -DC

Reading Response Questions to A Book on the Chesapeake Bay– There are a few possibilities here to make the workflow more efficient than using paper and pencil or a Word document. If this is more of a formative assessment where you want students to learn from each other, you could use the forum feature in Moodle to have a threaded discussion. Another choice would be to create a Padlet (www.padlet.com) online “post-it” note board where students post their responses while seeing what their classmates write. They can then be challenged to connect to a certain number of posts by adding what new thinking comes into their minds. If you aim to get individual responses, you could use Google Docs and have the students share their work on your Drive.

Field Trip to Chesapeake Bay Study Station– While there is concern about students handling iPads and cameras in a water-rich environment, there are ways to document the trip with images, voice recording, and video. We could brainstorm possibilities, with a few options, is having a couple of the adults handling the hardware to record media, maybe designating one or two students from each class to take turns in the role of “reporter,” or having teachers or parents or the LTC handle the recording. Upon returning to school with all of the digital media, the door is wide open for students to use technology to be creative in making their thinking visible about what they learned from the field trip. Possible options are: create a virtual exhibit, a podcast with or without images, a documentary, a newscast, a commercial, etc. For more information on field trips, review the Pedagogy & ICL section of the library website. (http://pslibrary.wis.edu/for-teachers/pedagogy-icl)

Poster on an Organism in the Watershed– the students could create an online digital poster using a Web 2 tool like Glogster or do a slideshow using text, images, and language with Voicethread. This offers the opportunity to share with a larger audience and to get feedback using the comment feature. Glogster transforms the project by allowing students to embed text, images, videos, and links to online resources.

Persuasive Letter to Congress about Protecting the Watershed– the students could do a transfer task by taking the content of their letters to create then commercials to make their argument using a screencasting app on the iPad. They would still use their writing but engage their media, visual, and technology literacies.

Brochure on a Biome– if they are not already using Pages or Word, the students could go digital instead of paper and pencil. An extension for differentiation could be to offer some students the option of creating a website. Like some of the other mentioned tools, a website offers students more opportunities to find information that can be inserted into the product. And just as with a brochure, they still use their design skills and can reach a wider audience.

Graphic Organizer to Organize Animals into Ecosystems to Name the Biome– if you are not using Inspiration, it could be used in this assessment. A template with images of all the animals could be saved on Moodle or the library website for easy download to each student’s laptop. When they complete the grouping of animals process, they can export the Inspiration file or take a screenshot to send to the teacher. They could e-mail, upload to Moodle or add the file to their Google Drive to share with the teacher. An extension activity could be to have students embed voice files into each group of animals where they explain in language their reasons for how they grouped them. If students demonstrate their understanding of some connections between groups, they can use the connector tool, which has a labeled text box where they can type in their reasoning for the connection.

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Personal Learning System- Graphically Represented

Mark and I have mentioned on the podcast and written about the value of students and teachers setting up their personal learning systems on their devices. The idea of a toolkit with websites, Web 2.0 tools, apps, widgets, etc., where one can easily access information, analyze it, create new knowledge, and communicate it is essential to help us be efficient and productive.

MindMeister put out their version of a personal learning environment, listing the tools with links. One could adapt their mind map for easy access to tools, use another interface like Symbaloo, or create their web page home screen with links to sites, etc. There are many interface choices to choose from.

Thanks to Nishant Mehta for the link.

iBooks and One’s Personal Learning System

Mark and I discussed yesterday’s iBook textbook initiative on the Edtech Co-op podcast. The show will soon be posted to the blog and iTunes. Hopefully, it offers some new ideas and background information on textbooks to add to your thinking about teaching and learning using digital resources.

Here are some of my main takeaways from the talk:

We need to remember that the iBook creation tool is just one part of a learning system for our students that includes a huge array of apps for learning, connectivity to a world of resources, cameras, and a mic for recording, all in a mobile device thus allowing for personal learning both in and outside of school. The iPad offers a Leatherman-type learning platform and supports the connectivity of the “1 to Many” movement, so we must remember not to see iBooks in isolation.

As future iPads are introduced, the question arises of what a student’s interface is when working with the iBook while also wanting to access other apps simultaneously. For example, we spoke in the podcast about thinking and the note-taking tool embedded in the iBook. Wouldn’t it help learners even more if they could take notes in a mind map and audio record their thoughts while reading an iBook? These two tools may be included in future iBooks, but Mark pointed out that some apps do these two functions. The barrier is that the student would have to continuously hit the home button to get out of the iBook to access the learning tools she wants to access.

This leads me to wonder if Apple can make some productivity apps more widget-like, where they could float on the screen while the iBook is open. It would be nice if a calculator, mind mapper, voice recorder, specific subject/topic apps providing text and images like Britannica, or simply a video feed with a search engine could float on the screen so that a student can access these tools while he is reading in the iBook. Or Apple may offer the possibility of a split screen so that two apps can be opened simultaneously, or one can swipe to a second or third screen with opened apps, similar to Mission Control on the Mac. (Note: One can turn on “multitasking gestures” in Settings to hold a hand swipe between previously opened apps.)

This hope for access to apps to help the student learn beyond the iBook textbook connects to our discussion of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and our hope that Siri on future iPads will offer further supportive and adaptive structures to help all learners. Whether Apple will build in the UDL constructs to the iBook app or use Siri is not that important as long as the learning tools are added to the iPad. Many of our students would benefit if the text could be highlighted as the words are being read to them. Being able to voice record their ideas and thinking either into MP3 files or into text would be another helpful adaptive technology.

How about asking Siri to gather a listing of videos that explain the three branches of the Federal Government that could be watched in the corner of the screen while viewing one’s US Government iBook? The same goes for an art history iBook, which has a curious student wanting to see more images of Picasso’s Blue period and text from Britannica or other sources. It is only a few steps to make these events happen, but it would be nice if the student could be immersed in the learning process, only needing to swipe her finger and potentially make voice commands to access further information.

We also discussed teachers building their iBooks while wondering how classes could collaborate to create eTextbooks. Mark brought up several good points regarding current tools and having access to these eTextbooks on the web for collaboration. Listen to the podcast for further details, as there was much to that discussion.

A connected topic is how a teacher could design and publish an iBook that could include interactive modules, as demonstrated in the Apple iBook video. My interest in developing eTextbooks goes back to a post about “information brokers” who could represent the publishers, media providers, and interactive module creators like Explore Learning to provide a marketplace for iBook creators to purchase copyrighted material to add to the iBooks. While there is so much free and non-copyright material on the web, one really would benefit from including, for example, Discovery Learning video segments and text resources from the vast library Gale offers. Another point is how much of the media and interactive modules would be in each iBook, or would one need to be connected to the web to receive the feed? Again, listen to the podcast as Mark unpacks this topic.

We talk about students “making meaning” and “constructing understanding.” A portion of this learning process is having access to the information and then having the scaffolding to bring it together. What might this process look like for a student using an iPad and iBooks? I am picturing a humanities course with a student reading the assigned iBook historical novel, reviewing her iBook textbook, and using various apps to seek more information while pulling his thinking together in one place, say a mind map or simple interactive whiteboard app. The interactive whiteboard app would be populated over time with screen captures from various sources, notes from the iBooks, and audio files of ideas the student recorded. The building of understanding stage occurs with the help of essential and guiding questions the teacher lists in the iBook textbook or through the school Learning Management System (LMS).

By dragging notes, screen captures, etc., into groups of shared ideas and then using mind mapping lines to make connections between them, the student constructs her understanding by working to answer the questions while making further “brain pop” idea notes in the parking lot section of the IWB screen. Technology could support the learning process as students use technology literacy to choose the best tools/apps for their individual learning needs.

Mark brought up an additional point about this learning process of using all these tools: the students could export their notes or the entire learning document/mind map to be shared with the class for further collaboration and connection-making. Again, it’s pretty cool beyond just reading a digital textbook.

As we know, change starts with validating where you are and what you are doing (the familiar) and is usually most effective when we take small steps that shift us to new ideas and behaviors. The iBook, with its potential for interactivity via simulations, manipulative maps and charts, gaming activities, media, etc., and access to the web, can support the shifting process. We empower students to use their personal learning systems to access information, learning activities, and tools for building their understanding and for being creative to construct projects to communicate their learning. EBook competitors like Kno and Push Pop Press can work with Amazon, Android device makers, and Microsoft to compete with what Apple offers, thus giving our students even more choices for personalized learning systems.

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Virtual Learning & Volcanic Ash

Volcano in Iceland

“Mr. C, we are in crisis!”

This was the Google Chat that appeared on my screen this morning. My student went on to say that she and another student were stuck in Paris and probably could only return to Morocco on Thursday as the airport was shut down due to the volcanic ash from Iceland.

I then asked if she had checked Edline, which lists the assignments for the coming week, and if she had posted five possible research questions in her Mindmeister mind map. Her response was “yes,” and could I look at them?

I went to her mind map and left comments to help my student narrow her questions to one. She is now ready to use her time effectively in Paris by working on the research process and doing the regular classroom homework. In both cases, I can access her work using online collaborative tools.

After sending out an email to all my students to check on their status, I will see how many other students will miss some class this week but will still be able to continue their learning wherever they may be “stuck.”

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Mindmapping, Essential Questions and How Students Learn

mindmap

This past week, they worked on the writing process, responding to the three essential questions for the unit on Imperialism and the Progressive Age at the start of the 20th century. The first step was to brainstorm, then to outline, followed by the writing of the essay. Besides interesting responses to the questions, I found myself learning further how students use the Web with their research techniques as they construct their answers.

Sophia explained that she started her mind map with one of the essential questions in the middle, building the first circle of responses leading to text boxes (nodes) where she recorded her first-level response. The next step, she explained, was to do a Web search using keywords. Sophia then linked new nodes into her map as she read the sites and experienced “brain pops” of understanding. She took in new knowledge while making connections back to her original responses.

What caught my attention was the next step for Sophia. She explained her discovery in the book The Culture of Excess: How America Lost Self-Control and Why We Need to Redefine Success, which connected to the essential question of “Why excess?”. Sophia then went on to explain how she built another circle of thinking and research on her mind map, where she added nodes listing her ideas after reading the author’s site and book review sites with sample pages.

Expanding the mind map into circles of new nodes at various stages of thinking and researching reminded me of the color-coded mind mapping system we piloted with Dave Navis at HKIS several years ago. We worked with teachers to have their students start each unit of study by doing a preliminary mind map where they listed their responses to the essential questions. This pre-assessment helped guide the next instructional steps. As the students progressed through the unit of study, they built out their mind maps with further responses. After the unit, the students would finalize their thinking by completing their mind maps. 

The teachers would then use the diagrams to assess student understanding and the student-produced projects, which were standard with our PBL units. Dave had his students use a different color for each stage of their thinking, thus emphasizing the metacognition of the connections throughout the interdisciplinary unit.

A further step that is especially helpful if you use Inspiration is to have the students use the text box on the connector lines between nodes to explain further their thinking that led them to each new node of understanding. Talk about a powerful way to help our learners think about how they learn!

Sophia went through a similar process. It was interesting for me to ask other students to explain their thinking as they answered the essential questions, leading to a deeper understanding. The mind maps outlines, and eventual essays provided a pleasant visual learning journey.

Catching Up…

I want to share a few items that folks might find interesting as I catch up with my blogging. As we are about to travel for the next two weeks in Morocco, I will be posting about living and traveling in this fascinating country.

SOS Podcast: Jeff and I enjoyed a wonderful conversation with Justin Medved in episode 29 of the SOS podcast. Our essential question was, “How can the IB curriculum be shifted?”. We also discussed the ins and outs of international school recruiting in episode 30. If you are interested in becoming an international educator, do check out the show notes for the two articles I list in the Links of the Week.

IB History: I continue to work to find ways to shift my IB history class more towards inquiry and constructivist learning. I tried a semi-WebQuest for the unit on Germany and pulled back a bit on the latest unit on WWII. The semi-WebQuest had some components of a normal WQ, but I did not have the students take on roles, and they had a choice for their assessment. They could take the standard IB essay test or do a more WQ-style application project. As so few students took on the application project, I made the unit on WWII more of a standard research project. I use the term “Learning Pursuit” when I have the students do WebQuest-style online research but are not required to do all the aspects of a WQ, especially when creatively using their new understanding in a real-world application.

Here are links to these two units:

Germany Learning Pursuit

World War II Learning Pursuit

ICE Model of Instruction: Our school director, Mark Lee, gave an excellent presentation last week on the ICE instructional model. One of the ways I like to use inquiry to make connections to extend student learning is through mind maps. My favorite collaborative tool is MindMeister. While now, one is limited to only three maps for a free account, my students can export their work and stay below the limit. Here is an excellent example by Hala, one of my IB students, on the Weimar Republic, where she created a mind map to research to make connections in her learning to extend the learning into new understanding. Hala’s map is so vast you will need to zoom out to see all of it and then scroll to see all the sections.

A Day in the Life of a Laptop Student

I wrote a short piece for our school yearbook describing how being a 1:1 laptop school affects our learning community. I cover just a few ways these excellent learning tools affect how we communicate, organize ourselves, and learn.

Technology and Learning at HIS

The 1:1 Apple laptop program drives much of the learning at HIS, giving students and teachers access to numerous software programs, online tools, and the Internet. From early morning through the evening, our community of learners uses their laptops to communicate, gather information, organize their day, generate learning projects, and expand the learning community.

Students start their days by checking their Google email accounts for any messages from fellow students and teachers. The next step is logging in to our classroom management Web resource, Moodle. Moodle is a virtual learning place where teachers post homework assignments and use several tools like forums, wikis, and Web site link directories to manage their courses. Moodle also brings our community together by listing important dates, links to our student-created videos, and online photo slideshows.

Accessing information is central to the learning expeditions our students and teachers take together. Whether venturing into teacher-created WebQuests or pursuing one’s questions, the laptops inquire about learning a significant part of our curriculum. Online textbooks, simulations, and Web site resources add to the information-rich environment.

The student MacBooks come with the iLife suite of multimedia software programs that provide the instruments to:

-edit and manage photo collections

-shoot and edit video

-create multimedia presentations

-generate original musical scores for multimedia projects

-record and edit podcasts

Moving into the evening, students check Moodle for assignments and updated information from their teachers. They might log into their Google Documents account to revise an essay they share online with their teacher. Or they are starting an essay or video project, so they go to their MindMeister concept mapping Web site to brainstorm their ideas, which their teachers can review. Finally, it is time to reflect and see what is happening. This is when students check their favorite news sites, think about their learning, and go to their blogs to record their thoughts.

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