What is visual literacy? Why is it important for K-12 eLearning?
Visual literacy is the ability to recognize concepts thru pictures, graphs, charts, diagrams, videos or maps allow with digital and printed text. In addition, an eLearning student K-12 needs to be able to thoughtfully edit and accurately interpret these images. The new saying is " Just because it's on the internet doesn't mean it's true or a fact."
The eLearning students K-12 need to think about what the visual means. They need to elaborate verbally or in writing what their interpretation is of the visual object. The eLearning K-12 students should be expected to create their own visuals as a formative assessment of eLearning.
Things eLearning K-12 students need to think about when viewing visuals:
What exactly is going on in the visual?
Why do you think that is true or a reasonable interpretation?
Is there something else in real life that you have experienced that is similar to the visual?
How does it relate to you?
What have you learned from the visual?
Can you communicate this idea to someone else?
Can you summarize what you have seen?
Is this something real or made up (especially for younger students)?
Can the student put a series of visuals in order?
Can the students organize visuals and pictures?
How are things in visuals related?
How does a process work form beginning to end?
Can a student create their own visuals from a variety of media to show what they have learned, or to explain a concept in their own way?
Can a student explain a concept so someone else can understand it?
Saturday, October 24, 2015
Tuesday, October 20, 2015
ELN 103 Lesson 3 Role of Teacher in eLearning vs. Face-to-face Environment
What is the role of the teacher in an eLearning environment? How does this compare to the role of a teacher in a traditional face-to-face environment?
My idea of the role of a teacher in an eLearning environment and face-to-face teaching tends to be one of a facilitator and mentor rather than the somewhat clichéd "Sage on stage" that is often the delivery method in face-to-face classrooms. I have experienced both sides of face-to face and online learning from a student view and from a teacher view.
Both online teachers and face-to-face teachers have to develop lesson plans, keep records, match curriculum to state standards, give feedback to parents and students, provide access to multi-media resources not just textbooks, and provide both formative and summative assessments of student learning.
When I was a classroom teacher I used Howard Gardner's philosophy of learning styles. I tried to bring in as much as possible different ways of teaching the same math concept. I allowed students to make up their own problems for math concepts. When I was an eLearning teacher I did the same. The biggest question for me was: how can I present this difficult math concept to a student so they 'get it', so the light bulb goes off, so they realize that math is something they use everyday?
As an eLearning teacher and a face-to-face teacher I wanted my students to think. The greatest things someone can learn from the study of mathematics is how to reason and how to prove you are correct. Not how to look something up in an answer book, or expect someone to give you the answer to a problem. I would rather have a student solve one difficult real life math problem than hundreds of practice problems.
The worst method of teaching either online or face-to-face is the "Sage-on-stage". A teacher lectures the student back to class or camera, mumbling away, with many symbols and writing scattered over a chalkboard. Have I seen this used online? Yes! I saw a horrendous example of a traditional hated math teacher presentation on a program that offers an online learning package. It's everything that's wrong with traditional teaching and now it's migrating to online teaching. The program is Ascend Math.
http://ascendmath.com/index_stndrd.html
A teacher stand with back to the camera. A green chalkboard full of fractions. The teacher mumbles on, throwing inaccurate math terms; one time using minus the next negative; where minus is an operation, and negative is a direction on the number line. He uses these terms interchangeably. Can't this program use graphics to explain fractions? Most students hit a wall when they even look at fractions. This is exactly what I hate about some traditional math teachers. I cannot believe this program is inflicted upon online students.
The role of an online teacher is to offer students, especially in mathematics, a real world application. using the internet, graphics, and media can present information to students thru pictures, animation and real life scenes.
The role of a face-to-face teacher communicating to students is much easier than that of an online teacher. A teacher can walk around the classroom. They can ask quick formative questions to check for understanding. The teacher can tell by gestures and facial expressions when a concept needs more explanation.In an online class students can become easily frustrated because sometimes there is no immediate feedback, especially on summative assessments. (Note: I enjoyed the formative quick assessments in my on-line lessons at Rio Salado. I am sure I could adapt these to online math classes).
In a face-to-face classroom, glitches happen all the time. A good teacher can get the class back on track. Students are late, bells ring, fire drills scream, a parent walks in, and students have to use the bathroom. The worst interruption is the secretary announcing over the PA system something that concerns one student, which disturbs 750 students in 30 classrooms. It's inevitable.In the online classroom, the internet goes down, software has glitches, web sites aren't found, web sites move or are taken off with no notice, viruses attack, both school and learner software /hardware is out of date and sometimes vulgar or inappropriate web sites just pop up. Some learners are on the cusp of the latest technology, others can only afford older technology. The eLearners' technology expertise ranges from people and students who just barely know how to turn on a computer to those who are experts. This is especially true with community college and university classes with diverse levels of expertise
In conclusion, an online teacher must ascertain not only the learning style of the student but also their technological comfort zone.
My idea of the role of a teacher in an eLearning environment and face-to-face teaching tends to be one of a facilitator and mentor rather than the somewhat clichéd "Sage on stage" that is often the delivery method in face-to-face classrooms. I have experienced both sides of face-to face and online learning from a student view and from a teacher view.
Both online teachers and face-to-face teachers have to develop lesson plans, keep records, match curriculum to state standards, give feedback to parents and students, provide access to multi-media resources not just textbooks, and provide both formative and summative assessments of student learning.
When I was a classroom teacher I used Howard Gardner's philosophy of learning styles. I tried to bring in as much as possible different ways of teaching the same math concept. I allowed students to make up their own problems for math concepts. When I was an eLearning teacher I did the same. The biggest question for me was: how can I present this difficult math concept to a student so they 'get it', so the light bulb goes off, so they realize that math is something they use everyday?
As an eLearning teacher and a face-to-face teacher I wanted my students to think. The greatest things someone can learn from the study of mathematics is how to reason and how to prove you are correct. Not how to look something up in an answer book, or expect someone to give you the answer to a problem. I would rather have a student solve one difficult real life math problem than hundreds of practice problems.
The worst method of teaching either online or face-to-face is the "Sage-on-stage". A teacher lectures the student back to class or camera, mumbling away, with many symbols and writing scattered over a chalkboard. Have I seen this used online? Yes! I saw a horrendous example of a traditional hated math teacher presentation on a program that offers an online learning package. It's everything that's wrong with traditional teaching and now it's migrating to online teaching. The program is Ascend Math.
http://ascendmath.com/index_stndrd.html
A teacher stand with back to the camera. A green chalkboard full of fractions. The teacher mumbles on, throwing inaccurate math terms; one time using minus the next negative; where minus is an operation, and negative is a direction on the number line. He uses these terms interchangeably. Can't this program use graphics to explain fractions? Most students hit a wall when they even look at fractions. This is exactly what I hate about some traditional math teachers. I cannot believe this program is inflicted upon online students.
The role of an online teacher is to offer students, especially in mathematics, a real world application. using the internet, graphics, and media can present information to students thru pictures, animation and real life scenes.
The role of a face-to-face teacher communicating to students is much easier than that of an online teacher. A teacher can walk around the classroom. They can ask quick formative questions to check for understanding. The teacher can tell by gestures and facial expressions when a concept needs more explanation.In an online class students can become easily frustrated because sometimes there is no immediate feedback, especially on summative assessments. (Note: I enjoyed the formative quick assessments in my on-line lessons at Rio Salado. I am sure I could adapt these to online math classes).
In a face-to-face classroom, glitches happen all the time. A good teacher can get the class back on track. Students are late, bells ring, fire drills scream, a parent walks in, and students have to use the bathroom. The worst interruption is the secretary announcing over the PA system something that concerns one student, which disturbs 750 students in 30 classrooms. It's inevitable.In the online classroom, the internet goes down, software has glitches, web sites aren't found, web sites move or are taken off with no notice, viruses attack, both school and learner software /hardware is out of date and sometimes vulgar or inappropriate web sites just pop up. Some learners are on the cusp of the latest technology, others can only afford older technology. The eLearners' technology expertise ranges from people and students who just barely know how to turn on a computer to those who are experts. This is especially true with community college and university classes with diverse levels of expertise
In conclusion, an online teacher must ascertain not only the learning style of the student but also their technological comfort zone.
Sunday, October 11, 2015
teacher centered vs student centered instruction role in K-12?
What is the difference between teacher centered and student centered instructional strategies? What is the appropriate role of each strategy in K-12 eLearning environments? (Instructional Technology and Media for Learning).
First the definition of teacher centered instructional strategies with my example of each:.
Here is a lesson on how exponential curves are used in real life. I used many of these activities in my actual classroom, High School Algebra 2.
Teacher Centered:
Student Centered:
One web site I found is addressed to High School students. The other web site I found was addressed to 1st graders, but it could be adapted to High School students. Although, I would highly recommended blocking all comments on any web site that I as a teacher would post for my class.
With a teacher centered instructional strategy the teacher has more editorial control over the content of what activities the students are doing. A teacher can control the environment where a student is doing eLearning. Even on the internet there needs to be firewalls, virus protection and constant monitoring of what a student is doing on the internet. For example, a teacher can encourage a student to go on a math walk but the student also has to be supervised on the playground or school grounds.
With student centered strategies in eLearning a teacher needs to be an editor because some things are not appropriate for a school setting whether learning is through an on-line or a face-to-face format.
I absolutely am not a shrinking violet. I've lived too long, and seen too many things in my life that are rude, disgusting and appalling. Whether voluntary or involuntary just by being alive. I was very concerned when I was doing research on the various internet sites about how vulgar and rude many comments are in some of the really good instructional videos I found. I was appalled at the negativity shown to the 1st grader and her tsunami project. (http://youtube.com) Tsunami: Project by 1st grader Bianca. No wonder teachers have to worry about bullying, not only from students but from adults who cannot be civil.
Yes, I understand that the internet is literal fair game for anything goes, but sometimes mean people go too far. I was curious about how to eliminate the comments from the screen, so I asked the editorial board at You Tube if there was a way for a viewer to turn off comments, but still watch the video. I know the moderator can turn off comments but I wondered if a viewer could? I am awaiting their feedback. As a teacher I would not want my students exposed to demeaning vulgar comments in my classroom. They get enough of that outside the classroom. The only solution to this problem is to use the teacher's computer, then project the video to the class in full page format so the students could not see the comments
I am an adult so I can take mean vulgar comments and take them for what they are, but that earnest little 1st grader cannot. She's so excited about her experiment. Would these comments hurt her feelings so much so that she will stop exploring the world of science like so many other girls have done?
When I taught this unit I also used the front pages of the newspapers, news magazines and I had access to news feeds over my TV set in the classroom. It just so happened that we were studying a unit on exponential and logarithmic curves during the 2004 Indonesian Tsunami. I had a case of graphing calculators, and a portable laptop lab. The NCTM web site was on our approved list of safe sites. The students were surprised to find out that a tsunami travels just about as fast as a jet plane. They also found out that if they were ever in one, they better run as fast as they can to higher ground or a high building.
What about posting student work? I recently read The Elements of Blogging by Mark Leccese and Jerry Lanson, who recommend moderated comments when doing a blog. I would think that any video or blog involving student's work should be posted without comments. That way bullies, trolls and hotheads would be eliminated from the discussion.
First the definition of teacher centered instructional strategies with my example of each:.
Here is a lesson on how exponential curves are used in real life. I used many of these activities in my actual classroom, High School Algebra 2.
Teacher Centered:
- Presentation- Giving the students the formula for a tsunami and explain what the variables mean in a real life situation. - (http://www.pppl.gov/events) Disastrous Equations: The Role of Mathematics in Understanding Tsunamis
- Demonstration - What does this sign mean? (Have a tsunami sign printed out and taped to the classroom door so students can read it to start the conversation about tsunamis as they walk in the classroom.) (Http://pubs.usgs.gov/circ/c1187/c1187.pdf)
- Drill and practice - Practicing the exponents of 10 with flash cards (each exponent is 10 times more powerful than the next.) Explain the Fujita scale.
- Tutorials- Watch a video on the Japanese Tohoku Tsunami or the Indonisian Tsunami of 2004 (http://www.pppl.gov/events)
Student Centered:
- Cooperative Learning- Take turns timing a friend with a watch.Use the same distance, two blocks, then take an average of how long it takes to run two blocks. Do the same for your friend. Write your results in a table.
- Games-Pan Balance-Expressions ( http://illuminations.nctm.org). Use the pan balance game to try out different numbers. What happens to the graph as the numbers get larger?
- Simulations- Math walk: go outside and watch an airplane in the sky. Use a watch or stop watch with a second hand to time how long it takes the plane, from the time you first see it until it is outside your vision. Do this two to three times to get an average speed.
- Simulations-Build a tsunami experiment. http://www.youtube.com) How tsunamis work-Alex Gendler which has great graphics. Tsunami; project by first grader Bianca, watching this demonstration would be great for the many hands-on learners. They can build their own tsunami box.
- Problem Solving-Do after you have practiced with the pan balance. Using a graphing calculator enter the formula for a tsunami ( y= x*9.8) . What does the curve look like? Draw a picture in your math journal. What conclusions can you make looking at the tsunami curve?
- Discussion- Would you have time to run from sitting on a seashore playing in the sand to a safe two or three story building when a tsunami happens? Explain your answer using the table you have made when you were timing yourself and the airplane. Why or why not? How much warning would you need? What devices could give you a warning? Would you be worried about the tsunami if you were on a boat in the middle of the ocean? (http://pubs.usgs.gov/circ/c1187/c1187.pdf)
One web site I found is addressed to High School students. The other web site I found was addressed to 1st graders, but it could be adapted to High School students. Although, I would highly recommended blocking all comments on any web site that I as a teacher would post for my class.
With a teacher centered instructional strategy the teacher has more editorial control over the content of what activities the students are doing. A teacher can control the environment where a student is doing eLearning. Even on the internet there needs to be firewalls, virus protection and constant monitoring of what a student is doing on the internet. For example, a teacher can encourage a student to go on a math walk but the student also has to be supervised on the playground or school grounds.
With student centered strategies in eLearning a teacher needs to be an editor because some things are not appropriate for a school setting whether learning is through an on-line or a face-to-face format.
I absolutely am not a shrinking violet. I've lived too long, and seen too many things in my life that are rude, disgusting and appalling. Whether voluntary or involuntary just by being alive. I was very concerned when I was doing research on the various internet sites about how vulgar and rude many comments are in some of the really good instructional videos I found. I was appalled at the negativity shown to the 1st grader and her tsunami project. (http://youtube.com) Tsunami: Project by 1st grader Bianca. No wonder teachers have to worry about bullying, not only from students but from adults who cannot be civil.
Yes, I understand that the internet is literal fair game for anything goes, but sometimes mean people go too far. I was curious about how to eliminate the comments from the screen, so I asked the editorial board at You Tube if there was a way for a viewer to turn off comments, but still watch the video. I know the moderator can turn off comments but I wondered if a viewer could? I am awaiting their feedback. As a teacher I would not want my students exposed to demeaning vulgar comments in my classroom. They get enough of that outside the classroom. The only solution to this problem is to use the teacher's computer, then project the video to the class in full page format so the students could not see the comments
I am an adult so I can take mean vulgar comments and take them for what they are, but that earnest little 1st grader cannot. She's so excited about her experiment. Would these comments hurt her feelings so much so that she will stop exploring the world of science like so many other girls have done?
When I taught this unit I also used the front pages of the newspapers, news magazines and I had access to news feeds over my TV set in the classroom. It just so happened that we were studying a unit on exponential and logarithmic curves during the 2004 Indonesian Tsunami. I had a case of graphing calculators, and a portable laptop lab. The NCTM web site was on our approved list of safe sites. The students were surprised to find out that a tsunami travels just about as fast as a jet plane. They also found out that if they were ever in one, they better run as fast as they can to higher ground or a high building.
What about posting student work? I recently read The Elements of Blogging by Mark Leccese and Jerry Lanson, who recommend moderated comments when doing a blog. I would think that any video or blog involving student's work should be posted without comments. That way bullies, trolls and hotheads would be eliminated from the discussion.
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