Disney 'Connected Learning' Aims To Infuse Games with Learning

Posted by Darren Ng

ET

Corcoran, B. (2013). Disney 'Connected Learning' aims to infuse games with learning. https://www.edsurge.com/news/2013-02-06-disney-connected-learning-aims-to-infuse-games-with-learning


Summary:
Disney has been developing games with learning in mind. A marriage of entertainment and education. Game designers and educators are collaborating to produce games that can hopefully be both "fun" and support "learning".


Evaluation:
Unfortunately there is not any research provided in this article as to whether or not the efforts of Disney to "infuse games with learning" has been successful. As of the writing of this article it is still too soon to know if their efforts have had the impact that they intend. There are too few games at the moment designed with these teaching goals in mind, and the games that do exist have not incorporated all of the concepts that the game designers and educators hope to teach. This is a great idea and one that has gained a lot of STEAM.

Blended Learning: Working with only one iPad

Sullivan, Maureen
IL

Weller, K. (2014) Blended Learning: Working with One iPad.
Retrieved from: http://www.edutopia.org/blog/blended-learning-working-one-ipad

Summary: Kristin Weller describes how she used the Show-me App to allow students to teach each other ways to solve math problems by way of podcasting. Although she only has one iPad, she has developed a way for students to use the app that is then accessible to all students. After pairs finish recording their podcasts, she uploads them to her interactive whiteboard to review skills and new standards. This process of recording their thinking in a podcast reinforces the students' understanding, and also solidifies their thinking as they teach the problem to a peer.


Evaluation: I find it encouraging to see how a teacher continues to integrate technology into her class in meaningful ways, even if she doesn't have enough devices to go around simultaneously. Many teachers are quick to point out the deficits in their classrooms regarding technology, rather than thinking though how to get around those barriers.

Kindles in Classrooms

Anusasananan, Chalida

IL

Rudd, L. L. (2013, March). The Kindle goes to high school. Retrieved February 24, 2014, from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/mar13/vol70/num06/The-Kindle-Goes-to-High-School.aspx

Rudd discusses the implementation of 75 Kindles among 16 teachers at a high school in Ohio. Some of the benefits included reluctant readers reading entire books for the first time and not feeling embarrassed about reading books with a low lexile number or larger font size because of the privacy the Kindle offers. Additionally, teachers downloaded articles on Kindles to save having to make millions of copies. The students still had trouble with the Kindles as they were used to touch technology. Teachers also complained about the amount of time it took to download materials and the money required to purchase high-interest texts for students. Yet, overall, teachers believed they were able to reach students who were adept to 21st technology.

As the recipient of 8 Kindles for the school library, I found this article helpful.

World Peace and Other 4th-Grade Achievements

Anna Taylor

ET-Inquiry and Problem-based Learning
IL-Critical Thinking

What if you showed kids failure because life has failure? They learn from it.

John Hunter has shown his students how to learn from failure through his teaching method: playing a game called "The World Peace Game". Take a look at this short clip below to get the idea.

John's students are typically 4th graders and use resources like "The Art of War" by Sun Tzu to help learn how to create peace through war and chaos. This game is able to explore creative thinking, empathy, compassion, sacrifice, critical thinking and collaboration. John gives the students the floor to make things happen and serves as a guide and supporter, or as he says "clock watcher". Pretty amazing. Take a look at the great TED video to find out more and check out his book for even more inspiration!

Rethinking Reading Promotion

Jennifer Brickey

ET—Educational Theory

Chance, R. & Lesesne, T. (2012). Rethinking reading promotion old school meets technology. Teacher Librarian, 39(5), 26-28. Retrieved from http://edition.pagesuiteprofessional.co.uk//launch.aspx?eid=5e332207-1bc6-4a7d-8ce1-01b678060ecf

Chance and Lesesne notice that promoting books in middle and high schools pose a large challenge for teacher librarians. They suggest that strong reading and book promotion can change a school’s culture. In order to accomplish this, they suggest reverting to an oldie, but goodie—booktalks. Booktalks offer a brief description of the book that allows students to have an initial reaction of interest in a book. However, Chance and Lesesne advise teacher librarians to give traditional booktalks a modern twist they call “Book Trailers.” Similar to booktalks, Book Trailers offer students a taste of what books have to offer, yet, Book Trailers allow traditional booktalks to be “easily morph(ed) into other forms that will be used by everyone in the learning community” (p.27). Chance and Lesesne provide multiple examples of sites that do just that—promote books amongst learning communities. This offers yet another tool for students to interact with books in a 21^st Century model. To assist teacher librarians in their efforts, Chance and Lesesne offer ways to create book trailers and methods of extending the concept to classroom teachers.

Links provided in the article:

1)    Book Trailers for All, run by Teresa Schauer, a teacher librarian in Texas http://booktrailersforall.com

2)    Guys Read

http://youtube.com/watch?v=DCd9ln6Y5Cs

Flipped Classroom at Byron High School

Besich, Lauren

ET
IL

Fulton, K.P. (2013). Byron's flipped classrooms. Education Digest, 79(1), 22-26. Retreived from http://web.ebscohost.com.libaccess.sjlibrary.org/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=3&sid=da1cd922-d43f-47a8-ae92-31beccca99e9%40sessionmgr113&hid=126. 

Summary- In essence, a flipped classroom assigns students to view video lectures and classroom lessons at home on their computers, and then complete their “homework” at school under teacher observation. 

In 2010, the Byron Independent School District 531 didn’t have money to fund new textbooks for the math department.  Working together, the high school math teachers suggested they ditch the textbook and write their own curriculum.  With the support of their administration and superintendent, they began creating their own videos and posting them on YouTube, and building class websites using Moodle.  The first year the flipped classroom technique was initiated, it wasn’t without a learning curve, but student enthusiasm and math performance encouraged the math teachers to improve their model.  

YouTube channel for Byron High School math teacher Troy Faulkner

The math teachers needed to convince the school board to unblock YouTube, and lift the cell phone ban at school to give students access to content online.  It was a challenge to change the mind set, but they were successful.  

Evaluation- This article is a great example of how a school implemented the flipped teaching model, the challenges they encountered, and how it changed their school culture.  It’s a motivating example for instigating change in our teaching practices.  

Building Skills in the Interactive Schoolhouse

Vaile Fujikawa
IL
ET
CO
Thibodeaux, B. (2013, March 14). Building Skills in the Interactive Schoolhouse. Education Week. Retrieved from: http://www.edweek.org/ew/toc/2013/03/14/index.html?intc=EW-TC13-EWH

Summary: Very inspiring video about a new take on learning at a school in Texas. Lots of hands on, see how things work, do it yourself type learning in environments that differ from traditional learning spaces. Instead of a teacher telling a child how something works the student gets to look it up or build a model of it herself.
Evaluation: What a great place to go to school. I wish these kinds of opportunities were available for all kids everywhere. It seems like it's kind of the trifecta of learning: you get to hear it, you get to do it, and you get to see it.

The Object Formerly Known as the Textbook

Vaile Fujikawa
IL
Young, J.R. (2013, January 27). The object formally know as the textbook. The Chronicle of Higher Education. http://chronicle.com/article/Dont-Call-Them-Textbooks/136835/
Summary: What is the future of textbooks? Some publishers are creating an entire course worth of content with video, text and homework included in e-versions of their textbooks. How do these ebooks (or personalized learning experiences as some would call them) play into the future of education, especially MOOCs? Will MOOCs become the new textbook? How do these changes effect the publishing industry?

Evaluation: Reading this article really helped me see the value in these kind of interactive textbooks. The stuff that Young reports on in the article is a lot like what we have been doing in 250 and SLIS as a whole. I have a lot of questions about where we go from here and how these kinds of programs can be developed to help students who don't learn as well on their own. The move toward all "E" everything is slightly disconcerting to me, because I feel very strongly about the value of presenting materials in several ways to students. I just don't think that an ebook, even with a bunch of interactive software is going to appeal to all students. I guess that on some level it doesn't matter how far we've come, some students are still going have to learn in ways that are uncomfortable for them.