Christopher Fluetsch
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Professor Loertscher has challenged us to develop some ideas about furthering the Creative Learning Commons projects. I thought it might be useful to have a discussion about some of our ideas in this blog format instead of on the Google Doc.
Here are some of my thoughts:
How many webmixes should we create?
I think we should have webmixes for content categories of webpages - Audio/ Visual; Graphic Arts; Writing; Communications and so forth. Final webmixes titles should be determined once we have a final list of content sites. It occurs to me, perhaps too late, that we might have wished to add tags to the website entry form, to allow easier categorization.
The webmixes do not necessarily have to be mutually exclusive. A website might appear in multiple places. The idea it to make it easier for users to find what they are looking for.
We could use webmix tile colors to denote reading level or age appropriateness.
I hesitate to place age categories on the mixes themselves, as age/ grade level is not necessarily a good predictor of student interest or ability.
How should it be organized?
If I were designing this on my own, the upper left tile on each page would link to a team created page with a quick explanation of each tile on that page. We can draw much of the information from the Google Form answers sheet.
I like the idea of having a visual guide of the linkages between the various pages. Perhaps a guide drawn with a program like Mindomo.
We should definitely have a tile leading to a "Suggest New Pages" form. I'd put it at the bottom right of each page, and lead to a Google Form much like the one we've been using.
Anyway, these are some of my ideas. Perhaps you'd like to add ideas in the Comments section and we can begin a discussion before Tuesday's class.
I just learned that it is possible to have something like a folder that has several tiles underneath it, so we could have a tile folder for a category.
ReplyDeleteI agree that a particular If the webmixes were all in the design center of the learning commons, students could choose the grade level they wanted to work at; or, is there some other way to name them that would make sense to kids and teens that might work.
the center Google search engine can also be replaced. Perhaps it could be the title of the webmix.
For those still struggling to find tools, you might search the gallery of Symbaloo for ideas.
I have not run into a webmix like the ones we are trying to build...most seem to be for more instructional stuff or consumption links
I sent in a query to see if a webmix could be built collaboratively like a Google doc. This is the message I received back:
ReplyDeleteThere are some ways that you may allow a group of students to create a group-webmix.
1. You can have your students share a webmix back and forth and have them make edits to it.
2. You can create an account where all your students can access and make edits to the webmixes, but you will have to devise a schedule because it is not recommended that more than 1 person be logged in at the same time.
Hesham | Team Symbaloo
You have some really excellent ideas Christopher and I appreciate the thought you have put into this already!
ReplyDeleteOne thing that you touched on which I think deserves some careful thought is delineating age appropriateness. If students are using this, at least part of the time, for their own exploration or self-directed learning, they may not have a concept of their Lexile score or their reading level, and even if they do, I wonder if putting it there would make it feel "too much like school" thus be off-putting. Admittedly I really need to play with Symbaloo more, but I wonder if there could be a gradation of colors within each category to indicate complexity. A program whose intended audience is early elementary school might still be an okay place for an older student to start if they know nothing about the topic (engineering or robotics for example) I know I would need to start there for many topics! The deeper they dive into the subject, the hue of the tile would change? I am not sure this is the best approach, but simply an idea. Like I said, I am really appreciate the thought you have already put into this and am looking forward to tomorrow night's collaborate!
I like the idea of color gradations. If the colors gradations are obvious, then it would be somewhat self-correcting. "Couldn't understand an orange? Try a red." That sort of thing.
DeleteI don't much like ranking by grade level. I avoid it in my library and classrooms. It can create barriers to student involvement, in my opinion. Younger students who might enjoy something labelled "4-6" might avoid it. Older students might scorn something labelled "1-3." Just a personal preference, though.
With Symbaloo, I have to approach these concepts visually to really understand what it will look like and how applications are accessed. I'd love to see a model of this. Based on our class discussions, it looks like we may be moving towards a model with these features.
ReplyDelete