I have been attending the Teacher Development Series here at Lehigh, which aims to take those in teaching assistant positions or students who are about to become young faculty, and helps build their educational toolbox. From physics to mechanical engineering to theater, students come from a variety of backgrounds, but all have similar concerns about how to best reach their students. A large focus has been put on engaging the student and how relevance of material - or the understanding of how it will be relevant later - is key to getting those students engaged and absorbing the material. Because this has been at the forefront of my mind, I see the lessons that resonate from Snowman, et. al. (2009), and the Bransford, et. al. (1999) as being those of student engagement.
Snowman, McCown, and Biehler (2009) talk about "meaningful" learning and the characteristics of that exercise. Meaningful learning, they contend, happens when a learner encounters a lesson that is logical, well-organized that is relatable to prior knowledge and experiences. When meaningful learning occurs, the learner is more apt to remember and retain that lesson. At the same time, information taught that is meaningful, but not approached in a way that students can grasp as meaningful, is often not comprehended or retained as well. Sometimes as students, we put up barriers to learning because we fear the material is either too hard or seemingly irrelevant. In the transfer process, teachers and students must be aware that when new knowledge gets fit into the puzzle that is already comprised in your brain, it must make a logical fit that can be called up later. By relating it to real life circumstances, or potential future goals, students would be more apt to want to learn the material and retain it more readily.
From Bransford, et. al. (1999), the example of homemakers who could calculate the best buy in the grocery stores but struggled with math is one example of the need to bridge the theoretical with the concrete. This speaks to an issue of applicability and should be taken into consideration when crafting exercises and lesson plans for students. If students can find the relevance to their own lives - even if that simply means sparking interest, rather than a real applicable skill - they are much more likely to retain and use the information than if only relayed the bare facts.
Another important perspective is that of variety in the classroom. "Knowledge that is taught in only a single context is less likely to support flexible transfer than knowledge that is taught in multiple contexts (NAP 2000: 78)." Every student learns in a different way, and it is impossible to tailor lessons specifically to the strengths of each person in a classroom. Through a variety of methods and tactics, students retain information at a different rate and in a different way. The exercise done at the last part of class on Tuesday (I am sure by design) highlighted these differences. We are all students in a graduate program, of varied backgrounds but of same educational level for the most part, but through a simple memorization exercise, we could see just how differently our brains work to memorize. Some employed photographic memory to recall the list of words, others tried repetition. Stories were created. Pneumonic devices were employed. But the way in which every person in that room absorbed that information was in a different fashion. Even similar methods might have slightly different characteristics from person-to-person.
Technology, which has the inherent ability to flex, shape, and deliver information in different contexts, can be seen as the ultimate bridge between different learner personalities and we as educators. As we move further into the Clark/Kozma debate, we must keep in mind the lessons of meaningful learning and contextual varieties. While technology cannot be the silver bullet to solving our hardest learning challenges, it is unquestionably a key element to offering the variety and interactivity students need for meaningful learning.
REFERENCES
Snowman, J., McCown, R., and Biehler, R. (2009). Psychology Applied to Teaching. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Bransford, J.D., Brown, A.L., and Cocking, R.R. (Eds.). (1999). How people learn: Brain, mind, experience, and school. Available: http://www.nap.edu/html/howpeople1.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Thursday, September 17, 2009
How People Learn: Levels of Expertise and the Impact on Learning
In Chapter 2 of How People Learn, the characteristics of expertise are outlined to illuminate the difference between novice and expert learners. Of the ideas presented in this chapter, one in particular stuck out at me: the idea that it is not what experts learn, but how they think and recognize patterns that allows them to develop said expertise. Building from that, the authors also give some strong words of guidance and caution to educators on how this should inform one's teaching and approach to building knowledge in students.
Expertise, as defined by the authors, is not in the ability to recount bits of information on command, but the ability to apply the knowledge and facts accumulated over a lifetime to act in a particular situation. The author calls this a "conditionalized" set of circumstances upon which an expert can bring applicable knowledge and assistance. Experienced chess players, having seen many scenarios, can recognize meaningful patterns and therefore know the consequences of actions and the counteractions. It is not from reading a handbook on chess, per se, but the repeated turns at the chess board that cultivates expertise.
While the chapter discusses learners in terms of expert and novice, a question that arose in my mind was: are there only two types of learners? When talking about adult education, there is rarely a case when a student comes to class without some preconceptions or knowledge that will impact their capacity to learn the material. It is then especially important to take into consideration the different stages from which each student might be starting. Adult learners come from a variety of backgrounds and educational experiences, therefore measures must be taken to meet students where they are and guide them to the highest understanding they can attain.
The Dreyfus Model for Skills Acquisition, originally proposed in 1980, is one way of taking into account a learner's capacity for instruction. The essence of the report is that skill acquisition learning is only successful if the teacher understands how to help the learner to the next level. Categorized into Novice, Advanced Beginner, Competent, Proficient, and Expert, learners are not forced to be classified as knowing or unknowing, but rather through different stages of knowing. Conversely, I would argue that a realistic self-understanding for the student on what level they currently reside would be beneficial to their process, as well. Oftentimes, when subject matter is difficult, students become frustrated at their "half-knowing" concepts. They feel that if they do not understand it completely, they never will and give up. If they had a better understanding that there are many levels to learning, they may be less apt to forfeit study when they hit that struggle.
Harkening back to the chapter in How People Learn, there is a word of caution about focusing on experts educational prowess. The authors state that while the study of experts gives insight into what plays into creating that expertise, expert models should not be applied on those who are not ready to absorb that information. Understanding that sheer facts do not determine expertise-level or intelligence is an important in how we educate. Expert models can be applied to a classroom or a learner, does not mean that that learner will necessarily become an expert. Learning is a process, and this chapter reinforces to educators the need for lessons to build on each other for maximum "sticking power".
Physicist Niels Bohr said that "An expert is a man who has made all the mistakes which can be made, in a narrow field". The authors of How People Learn show us the reader why this is true, and why as educators we must not fall into the trap of merely cramming information into students. We should encourage the process and understanding that it is, indeed, a multi-step process so each student can nurture their own level of expertise.
Expertise, as defined by the authors, is not in the ability to recount bits of information on command, but the ability to apply the knowledge and facts accumulated over a lifetime to act in a particular situation. The author calls this a "conditionalized" set of circumstances upon which an expert can bring applicable knowledge and assistance. Experienced chess players, having seen many scenarios, can recognize meaningful patterns and therefore know the consequences of actions and the counteractions. It is not from reading a handbook on chess, per se, but the repeated turns at the chess board that cultivates expertise.
While the chapter discusses learners in terms of expert and novice, a question that arose in my mind was: are there only two types of learners? When talking about adult education, there is rarely a case when a student comes to class without some preconceptions or knowledge that will impact their capacity to learn the material. It is then especially important to take into consideration the different stages from which each student might be starting. Adult learners come from a variety of backgrounds and educational experiences, therefore measures must be taken to meet students where they are and guide them to the highest understanding they can attain.
The Dreyfus Model for Skills Acquisition, originally proposed in 1980, is one way of taking into account a learner's capacity for instruction. The essence of the report is that skill acquisition learning is only successful if the teacher understands how to help the learner to the next level. Categorized into Novice, Advanced Beginner, Competent, Proficient, and Expert, learners are not forced to be classified as knowing or unknowing, but rather through different stages of knowing. Conversely, I would argue that a realistic self-understanding for the student on what level they currently reside would be beneficial to their process, as well. Oftentimes, when subject matter is difficult, students become frustrated at their "half-knowing" concepts. They feel that if they do not understand it completely, they never will and give up. If they had a better understanding that there are many levels to learning, they may be less apt to forfeit study when they hit that struggle.
Harkening back to the chapter in How People Learn, there is a word of caution about focusing on experts educational prowess. The authors state that while the study of experts gives insight into what plays into creating that expertise, expert models should not be applied on those who are not ready to absorb that information. Understanding that sheer facts do not determine expertise-level or intelligence is an important in how we educate. Expert models can be applied to a classroom or a learner, does not mean that that learner will necessarily become an expert. Learning is a process, and this chapter reinforces to educators the need for lessons to build on each other for maximum "sticking power".
Physicist Niels Bohr said that "An expert is a man who has made all the mistakes which can be made, in a narrow field". The authors of How People Learn show us the reader why this is true, and why as educators we must not fall into the trap of merely cramming information into students. We should encourage the process and understanding that it is, indeed, a multi-step process so each student can nurture their own level of expertise.
The Daily Me and the Individualization of Information
After our class discussion, I wanted to find the reference for the "Daily Me" and the idea of what the web becomes when you customize to an extent that you never see alternative viewpoints. The originators of these ideas - Nicholas Negroponte of MIT and Cass Sunstein of Harvard - discuss the dangers of living in an echo chamber where information merely confirms your prejudices and biases rather than opens your mind to new ideas. They argue that when you do not have the ability to run across information you would not have sought out otherwise (e.g. reading an article in a newspaper, catching a documentary on public television), people become more polarized and unchanging on the views they already held. Technology, as Professor Sunstein argues, gives us an abundance of information and an abundance of ways to close your ears to information you do not like.
A terrific op-ed by Nick Kristof of the New York Times outlines these views. There is also an interesting article by Samantha Power that shows a fantastic personal story of what happens when you do not have a filter delivering all of your news. (Full disclosure: In my previous life, my job was as the author's Research Associate. I factchecked this article. This could be why it left a mark on my brain.)
A terrific op-ed by Nick Kristof of the New York Times outlines these views. There is also an interesting article by Samantha Power that shows a fantastic personal story of what happens when you do not have a filter delivering all of your news. (Full disclosure: In my previous life, my job was as the author's Research Associate. I factchecked this article. This could be why it left a mark on my brain.)
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
McLuhan's Wake and the Horizon Report: The Potential and Pitfalls of Cloud Computing
Looking through the Horizon Report, there are a number of technologies prime for viewing under McLuhan's microscope. From mobile devices to smart objects, each of these can be seen as an extension of the human condition, augmenting the way in which we interact with the world around us using technology. One of the more interesting examples to me was that of cloud computing.
As an extension of the human condition, one can look at this as an extension of the brain, the memory, and the ability to compute answers to problems as any computer does. Going beyond normal computers, cloud computing extends the capacity of internal hard drives and memory on computers and allows the computer user to host their work outside of their desktop. As cited by the article, the memory is almost limitless, the access is instant, and the ability to expand and contract as space is needed is available to anyone using the cloud.
The retrieval that comes from off-loading data to a larger "cloud" of memory is the ability to share and connect your work to a wide range of people, including colleagues and classmates you may have lost contact with. Furthermore, the easy separation of data from your personal computer makes access to data on the road or in transit much more feasible and instantaneous. This also would seem to make netbooks the ideal portable computing solution of the future, as netbooks have a limited capacity to how many programs they can run at the same time. If all of that heavy lifting is done in another place and space, there is no reason to continue to use the bulkier and more costly laptops. More access would be given to people with less money to spend on laptops, and the lightness of this type of computing would allow more mobility. Students could, in this scenario, maybe each be outfitted with a netbook for mobile lessons outside of the classroom.
Is this reflection an endorsement of cloud computing? Not at all. There are many dangers and ways in which cloud computing could be exploited that must be considered. At its maximum implementation, cloud computing would make obsolete the internal hard drive on one's computer and in some ways, the memory as well. If your computer is not expending energy running programs with them run on a server somewhere else, it is unnecessary to have both a ton of memory and a large amount of disk space on a computer. Furthermore, onecould look at cloud computing as a double amputation of sorts: not only is one using the computer to hold, store, remember, compute, but cloud computing takes it one step further when one externalizes the central nervous system of the computer.
If the cloud computing phenomenon becomes extremely popular, and profitable, the ability to exploit and charge for the benefits of the cloud become very real. This would lead to concerns about access - especially in school districts where funds are limited - and of exploitation of the free nature of education. Pay-for-service models have been explored and while giants such as Google have made money by giving things away, this does not mean that the precedent is set for it staying this way. In using these products, there exists a large amount of trust that the host of your cloud will consistently allow you full access to information (and not charge once the data is uploaded into the system), treat the information with due confidentiality (especially when dealing with underage students), and that they are consistently backing up the data. Another concern that arises if the technology reverses upon itself is the dependency on the cloud computing and its detrimental effects of a service outage. Two significant Google products outages this year (one in May, one a few weeks ago) showed the dependency on these cloud services and the problems that arise when a server goes down or a patching exercise goes awry. If students in a classroom became too dependent on posting homework and assignments to a cloud-based computing system, then issues could arise surrounding deadlines, computer access, service outages, and even security of information
These are not reason to completely avoid using terrific cloud-based products like Google Documents and Flickr to share and collaborate, but the lessons must now be thought through further to account for the times when those services are unavailable or breached. If the technology is overextended, as with any product, there is a chance that hard work, output, and months of research or assignments could be lost. As with anything in life, a balance must be struck that allows for careful protection of students data as well as technological advancement. Teachers must be aware of the benefits and disadvantages of cloud computing and take all measures to make sure that the students' educational experience is enhanced, not hindered, by the implementation of cloud computing in the classroom.
As an extension of the human condition, one can look at this as an extension of the brain, the memory, and the ability to compute answers to problems as any computer does. Going beyond normal computers, cloud computing extends the capacity of internal hard drives and memory on computers and allows the computer user to host their work outside of their desktop. As cited by the article, the memory is almost limitless, the access is instant, and the ability to expand and contract as space is needed is available to anyone using the cloud.
The retrieval that comes from off-loading data to a larger "cloud" of memory is the ability to share and connect your work to a wide range of people, including colleagues and classmates you may have lost contact with. Furthermore, the easy separation of data from your personal computer makes access to data on the road or in transit much more feasible and instantaneous. This also would seem to make netbooks the ideal portable computing solution of the future, as netbooks have a limited capacity to how many programs they can run at the same time. If all of that heavy lifting is done in another place and space, there is no reason to continue to use the bulkier and more costly laptops. More access would be given to people with less money to spend on laptops, and the lightness of this type of computing would allow more mobility. Students could, in this scenario, maybe each be outfitted with a netbook for mobile lessons outside of the classroom.
Is this reflection an endorsement of cloud computing? Not at all. There are many dangers and ways in which cloud computing could be exploited that must be considered. At its maximum implementation, cloud computing would make obsolete the internal hard drive on one's computer and in some ways, the memory as well. If your computer is not expending energy running programs with them run on a server somewhere else, it is unnecessary to have both a ton of memory and a large amount of disk space on a computer. Furthermore, onecould look at cloud computing as a double amputation of sorts: not only is one using the computer to hold, store, remember, compute, but cloud computing takes it one step further when one externalizes the central nervous system of the computer.
If the cloud computing phenomenon becomes extremely popular, and profitable, the ability to exploit and charge for the benefits of the cloud become very real. This would lead to concerns about access - especially in school districts where funds are limited - and of exploitation of the free nature of education. Pay-for-service models have been explored and while giants such as Google have made money by giving things away, this does not mean that the precedent is set for it staying this way. In using these products, there exists a large amount of trust that the host of your cloud will consistently allow you full access to information (and not charge once the data is uploaded into the system), treat the information with due confidentiality (especially when dealing with underage students), and that they are consistently backing up the data. Another concern that arises if the technology reverses upon itself is the dependency on the cloud computing and its detrimental effects of a service outage. Two significant Google products outages this year (one in May, one a few weeks ago) showed the dependency on these cloud services and the problems that arise when a server goes down or a patching exercise goes awry. If students in a classroom became too dependent on posting homework and assignments to a cloud-based computing system, then issues could arise surrounding deadlines, computer access, service outages, and even security of information
These are not reason to completely avoid using terrific cloud-based products like Google Documents and Flickr to share and collaborate, but the lessons must now be thought through further to account for the times when those services are unavailable or breached. If the technology is overextended, as with any product, there is a chance that hard work, output, and months of research or assignments could be lost. As with anything in life, a balance must be struck that allows for careful protection of students data as well as technological advancement. Teachers must be aware of the benefits and disadvantages of cloud computing and take all measures to make sure that the students' educational experience is enhanced, not hindered, by the implementation of cloud computing in the classroom.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Welcome!
This is the first post for what I hope becomes blog of interesting ideas, thoughtful introspection, and contemplation of what it means to "learn" and how we as human beings acquire and digest knowledge. It could also be a bit of rambling by me trying to work out the huge ideas we are going to be tackling in this class.
Either way, this will be a challenging semester-long exercise that will yield an electronic journal of our experiences in LST-401. I am excited to be here.
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