end of the course

This entry is just to show the end of the course. I tried to limit my entries to one a day, and they were summaries of the material that was learned in the program. Although not in order, they reflect the work don in the program. I did not put a blog entry for movies about teachers, because I don't as a rule watch them or think much of them. They are still fantasy and not reflective of what it is actually like. I have also worked on movies, so another reason for not worrying about them. I have looked at and contributed to the other students' blogs, but did not see much from them on mine. This is okay, as there really is a lot out there, and I am more concerned about my own learning with this blog. If for some reason you are reading this, then by all means use anything here. Most of the entries are reviews of the work done in the forums and the text. I normally would have just assimilated the information by reading and participating in the forums, but as there is no other way to see if I retained anything, this blog was born. Again, thank you if you are reading this, and I will contribute more in the next course taken for the PIDP.

"so long and thanks for all the fish"

Appreciative inquiry

History

The idea of appreciative inquiry came about as a different way of approaching problems. Whereas some organizations look for problems in reviews, and then attempt to analyse the cause so that they can find a solution and set up an action plan to make it happen, AI uses a more positive approach.  With AI the people reviewing look at what is going well, what might be possible, and then engaging in talk about what should  be while innovation what will be. This approach has also been looked at with education. Instead of looking at what people are doing wrong and trying to correct it, they look at what they are doing well, and try and work with that.

In previous models and the reason AI was developed, too much emphasis was placed on the negative, and irradiating it. However, this purposes that everything that we believe to be bad, is. Victorian fashion dictated a very conservative dress code, and the 60’s promoted a very liberal one, almost completely different from the former. If we were to look at what is an appropriate style of clothing based on these two time periods, then how would we conclude which was correct, and which was wrong.

With AI, we don’t, but work with the positive aspects of both. It is also believed that focusing on the negative problems will only promote them more. If you do not acknowledge a negative behaviour in the classroom, then it brings notice to it and can exasperate it more. Publishing the actions of mass murder’s only gives them power, encourages more and is counterproductive.

There are five principals to AI, which are:

1) The constructionist principle proposes that what we believe to be true determines what we do, and thought and action emerge from relationships. Through the language and discourse of day to day interactions, people co-construct the organizations they inhabit. The purpose of inquiry is to stimulate new ideas, stories and images that generate new possibilities for action.

2) The principle of simultaneity proposes that as we inquire into human systems we change them and the seeds of change, the things people think and talk about, what they discover and learn, are implicit in the very first questions asked. Questions are never neutral, they are fateful, and social systems move in the direction of the questions they most persistently and passionately discuss.

3) The poetic principle proposes that organizational life is expressed in the stories people tell each other every day, and the story of the organization is constantly being co-authored. The words and topics chosen for inquiry have an impact far beyond just the words themselves. They invoke sentiments, understandings, and worlds of meaning. In all phases of the inquiry effort is put into using words that point to, enliven and inspire the best in people.

4) The anticipatory principle posits that what we do today is guided by our image of the future. Human systems are forever projecting ahead of themselves a horizon of expectation that brings the future powerfully into the present as a mobilizing agent. Appreciative inquiry uses artful creation of positive imagery on a collective basis to refashion anticipatory reality.

5) The positive principle proposes that momentum and sustainable change requires positive affect and social bonding. Sentiments like hope, excitement, inspiration, camaraderie and joy increase creativity, openness to new ideas and people, and cognitive flexibility. They also promote the strong connections and relationships between people, particularly between groups in conflict, required for collective inquiry and change.

A comparison of the two methods

Problem Solving	Appreciative inquiry
Felt need, identification of problem(s)	Appreciating—valuing "the best of what is"
Analysis of Causes	Envisioning what might be
Analysis of possible solutions	Engaging in dialogue about what should be
Action Planning (treatment)	Innovating what will be

Digital Tools

The idea of technology in the classroom is not new, but they type is new. While in the UK, I helped build a Student management system, a database to track your students. In 2010 this was the state of the art, and it was connected with an awarding body’s data system.  I put the new student’s information into the system, checked the other database (awarding body) to see if there was an existing student. If there was not, it updated both systems. We tracked the entire student journey from induction, assessment, attendance, training, assessment, grades, certification, exit strategy and progression. This was a very good digital tool, but pales in comparison to some of the tools today.  We have digital tools for creating, publishing, presentations, file management, discovering information, collaboration and productivity.  Almost everything that used to be done on a paper, black board or an overhead projector can now be done digitally.

In the forum there was talk about the technology taking over as a novelty and the idea of teaching being a second. People lover their gadgets and latest tech. I have had an iPhone, but that was only because my company bought it. My two year old son uses my wife’s iPad more than she does. And the quest for the latest toy is never ending. Now to be certain, they are fun to have, but are they needed? For certain, you can still teach a class without them. And in some cases, if they are not available because of an internet problem, they are not useful.

I have a Sync account, Dropbox, Google Docs and One Drive (formerly Sky Drive). And I have something stored in all of them, because it is free and it is readily available. But if I don’t have the internet, I don’t have access to any of this data. This idea is most apparent when you use Microsoft products. If you do not register a Microsoft product on the internet with in a week (like a Windows install) it will stop working. Without the internet, you cannot use the templates or clipart, etc. At one time, not everyone that bought a computer necessarily went on the internet, now it is usually.  What about learning out in nature? It is hard to use digital tools without electricity and data from the internet. You can still use some, but it is just not as effective.

Of course this being said, there are a lot of really ‘cool’ things you can do digitally that if you have the resources. And when was the last time that you went to the library to read an encyclopedia?

• ·         This course for example
• ·         Flipped classrooms
• ·         Digital projects
• ·         Social media and blogs
• ·         Videos
• Skype
• ·         Research
• ·          Etc.

http://nyit.edu/library/tools/?=ln

There are many free tools, but the best ones cost. The problem is knowing, where they are and what they are. In the forum we only listed a few tools (Prezi, Wordpress, Wordle, Moovly, Glogster). However, there really are a lot more. We all know the Office suites of programs. We use search engines and storage. Basically anything that can be an aid for class in presenting information and getting the student to learn would be considered a learning tool. The digital part is just the electronic version. 

Flipped classroom

As the name implies, there is a shift in the hierarchy of the classroom. Traditionally, classes were attended by students that attended lectures, took notes and studied text books, took tests and so on. In a flipped classroom however, the teacher gives up their role at the head of the class, and becomes a facilitator. The class relies on peer teaching and collaborative work.  There are some advantages and disadvantages to both systems; we are looking at the flipped concept today.

It has been noted that many students gain more insight and understanding from their peers than a traditional teacher. This is not too uncommon as there is a higher ratio of trainee to trainer in these class settings. More class time can be spent on giving the direction to the student that needs it and the other more advanced student can gain more insight by training the other students.

The facilitator can give assistance to groups of students that are tasked with teaching themselves in the subject. This has many advantages such as;

1. 1.       Gives students exposure to material, prior to lectures – As the student is now becoming a trainer as well as a learner, they have the opportunity to research work for the group and present it as learning material, similar to the forum that we are doing.
2. 2.       This intern gives students an incentive for study – because they must produce resource materials, they are more likely to be active, or they run the risk of letting the group down.
3. 3.       Provides a method for student assessment – with pre-assignments or quizzes, the student has the ability to see what they know and what they don’t know, and thus the teacher can concentrate on what they don’t know.
4. 4.       Provide higher cognitive activities – because the students have done all the basic knowledge outside of class time, they can now concentrate on more specialized activities in the classroom. This could be assignments or utilizing the previously acquired knowledge for more practical purposes.

In theory this is great, but you can see that the facilitator and the collaborative learning have some weaknesses. These are usually based on the assumption that;

1. 1.       All students know how to research the topics that they are given
2. 2.       Their basic understanding will be adequate for the higher cognitive activities with the pre-exercises.
3. 3.       That they do not rely on the others in the group to do all of their work
4. 4.       They have the skills, aptitude and desire to work like this.
5. 5.       It must also be noted that resources must be adequate for the tasks of pre-learning research. If a student does not have facilities to do this, then they will not be able to accomplish their tasks.
6. 6.       It this is done, the knowledge must be clear enough for the other students to assimilate it from the student providing it. If the firs student does not fully understand it, then they will only convey part of the knowledge or not an adequate amount. Not everyone can teach after all.
7. 7.       With a large portion of time spent on research, if the objective are not well defined or understood, this time may be lost on irrelevant material.

It is unfortunate, that not everyone will be able to embrace this type of training model, but if they are not aware of this prior to signing up for a class, they are in trouble. It also takes a bit more discipline that a new student might not have. Giving the task of setting the learning objectives (or at least the interpretation of them) to the student can lead to deviations for the true course outcomes. It only takes one error in reading a set of instructions and the student that spent time getting his blog up and running will not get any marks.

Critical Thinking

Critical Thinking Defined by Edward Glaser

In a seminal study on critical thinking and education in 1941, Edward Glaser defines critical thinking as follows “The ability to think critically, as conceived in this volume, involves three things:

1.      an attitude of being disposed to consider in a thoughtful way the problems and subjects that come within the range of one's experiences,

2.      knowledge of the methods of logical inquiry and reasoning, and

3.      some skill in applying those methods.

Critical thinking calls for a persistent effort to examine any belief or supposed form of knowledge in the light of the evidence that supports it and the further conclusions to which it tends. It also generally requires ability to recognize problems, to find workable means for meeting those problems, to gather and marshal pertinent information, to recognize unstated assumptions and values, to comprehend and use language with accuracy, clarity, and discrimination, to interpret data, to appraise evidence and evaluate arguments, to recognize the existence (or non-existence) of logical relationships between propositions, to draw warranted conclusions and generalizations, to put to test the conclusions and generalizations at which one arrives, to reconstruct one's patterns of beliefs on the basis of wider experience, and to render accurate judgements about specific things and qualities in everyday life. 

(Edward M. Glaser, An Experiment in the Development of Critical Thinking, Teacher’s College, Columbia University, 1941)

There is some criticism on teaching students to be critical thinkers, as may be that what teachers are teaching is not actually ‘critical think, but questioning’. According to Mathew Arnold, critical thinking is

is more like a character trait – like having “a critical spirit”, or a willingness to engage in the “give and take of critical discussion”. Criticism is always about the world and not about you.

Socrates on the other hand includes the idea of uncertainty in his view of criticism.

“The Socratic education begins … with the awakening of the mind to the need for criticism, to the uncertainty of the principles by which it supposed itself to be guided.”

However, for the purposes of this topic we are talking about learning the underlying reasons for the answer, rather than just being fixated on the answer. If you teach to solve a problem, the student will only know the answer to that problem. But teach them why, and they will be able to solve any similar problem. This in essence is what we are trying to convey. In this field we look at the separate steps to analyse the processes of thought and problem solving. In this we look at

·         analysing

·         conceptualizing

·         defining

·         examining

·         inferring

·         listening

·         questioning

·         reasoning and

·         synthesizing

This in turn helps us to identify and reject false or flawed ideas or ideologies. One concept to take into consideration is that to truly engage in critical thinking, one has to take into consideration one’s own biasis and possible flawed thinking. This can be influenced by culture or upbringing. One has to recognize knowledge and evidence as being more important than opinion. This may go against held beliefs, and cause conflict for these ideas.

CT encourages scepticism, which reasons that not everything that is presented is necessarily true. This is sort of like the internet and Facebook. Sceptics withhold judgement until is adequately provided that is not refutable. This is the basis for reason above persuasion. A disregard for reason eliminates the process of CT.

One of the problems with Critical Thinking is the concept that many people like to see problems in either right or wrong, and not pursue more complicated outcomes. I find this very often in college students that will think this way. Problems are not always a dichotomy. The idea of good vs evil looses weight, when one views a perceived evil person, and find that they had some good qualities. The refusal to accept complex solutions for an answer could be a person’s refusal for the idea of uncertainty. Uncertainty does not allow for the person to be right, and thus, appears to be a flawed system or stance. The world used to be flat, because the thought of not know what shape it was seemed intolerable to a demanding audience. Uncertainty or ambiguity promotes doubt, and if there is doubt about an authority figure, then all of their hypothesis may be wrong. Critical thinkers must:

·         Demands the ability to handle uncertainty

·         Secure in knowing that they may be wrong, and accept this

·         Must be able to wait for valid, evidence based answers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OLPL5p0fMg

There are apparently nine standards for making questions in this area

Intellectual standards (nine of them):

1. Clarity: Could you elaborate further? Could you give me an example? Could you illustrate what you mean?

2. Accuracy: How could we check on that? How could we find out if it is true? How could we verify or test that? 

3. Precision: Could you be more specific? Could you give me more details? Could you be more exact?

4. Relevance: How does that relate to the problem? How does that bear on the question? How does that help us with the issue?

5. Depth: What factors make this a difficult problem? What are some of the complexities of this question? What are some of the difficulties we need to deal with? 

6. Breadth: Do we need to look at this from another perspective? Do we need to consider this from another point of view? Do we need to look at this another way?

7. Logic: Does this all make sense together? Does your first paragraph fit with your last? Does what you say follow from the evidence?

8. Significance: Is this the most important problem to consider? Is this the central idea to focus on? Which of the facts are most important? 

9. Fairness: Do I have vested interest in this issue? Am I sympathetically representing the viewpoints of others?

It is important to know that we may need to look at our problem/issue and take them/it apart. Define our purpose and ask, "Is this relevant"? Do our research on these facts so that we consider alternatives and differing points of view. Think about the implications, assumptions and dynamics of reasoning in our minds. Use this framework to help us make decisions on a daily basis...especially the really important ones!

Motivation

Of all the subjects that we looked at and researched, this is the foundation to engagement, positive learning environments and active learning, which were in themselves separate topics.

Motivation is a theoretical construct to explain reason or a reason that we engage; Interest or enthusiasm. Brophy and Cross concluded that there is expectancy multiplied with value is a good measure of motivation.

There are two types of Expectancy though.

·         Controlled – dependent on effort, and the outcome is not to chance

·         Non-controlled – luck, chance, not dependant on any amount of effort

It was found that if students expectancy was controlled, they were more motivated to succeed. Low probability of success is an outcome because there is a perceived non-controlled expectancy. Students that think there is no way to learn will not learn.

The other aspect of motivation is value. Many students that did not perceive the value of their lessons had lower motivation to achieve.  In this case, their concepts were not grasped, they could not see how they would utilize the lessons, or they thought the material irrelevant.

Thankfully there were many ideas to influence motivation. Our text suggest to

1.       Promote synergy by creating community in the classroom – this comes from the idea of social media and cell phone use. It is very important for many students to Tweet, text, blog, and update their status on other social media. By encouraging this type of community, it will inherit this motivational activity into a learning environment. This works if you Tweet, text and use social media. It is the motivation of socializing.

2.       Helping students work on optimal level of challenge – It is found (McKeachie) that tasks that are too easy to preform do not challenge the student enough for engagement. Challenging the student with assignments helps keep engagement and more motivation. This can be aided by

a.       feedback,

b.      assessments (summative, formative, educative and authentic)

c.       teaching metacognitive skills

d.      empowering students as partners in their learning

3.       Teaching holistically – this helps the student use their work in a broader sense, outside of just learned facts or skills. If they are able to use their newly acquired skills. This is done by engaging in several domains

a.       Affective domain – how the student feels which includes memory and learning

b.      Psychomotor domain – the physical learning aspects of the learning.

c.       Cognitive domain – what it means to the student, or how they understand it

Thankfully we have a whole book on motivational techniques, and to put them all into this report is a bit redundant. However, there were some categories that were used. The value of these techniques are up to social values and the engagement techniques. We are just looking at engagement in order to promote motivation.

• ·         Our first set of techniques use Knowledge, skills, recall and understanding – this is good for the thinking student
• ·         Our next set are analysis and critical thinking – this is good for interpretation
• ·         Next is synthesis and creative thinking – similar to the last, but with the idea of creativity based on the understanding of the lesson
• ·         We have problem solving – this utilizes the skills learned in the class to solve set problems
• ·         Application and performance – another creative idea but with application of set skills
• ·         Attitude and values – works on the affective domain previously talked about
• ·         Self-awareness as learners – is a developmental technique
• ·         Learning and study skills – is also developmental with practical applications to further learning