Leveling Up Updates Support the n00bs: Community Design for Inclusivity A common topic of discussion among our team of Leveling Up researchers is how communities maintain different barriers to entry. The Powerful Combination of Interests and Peer Culture The connected learning model emphasizes the importance of peer culture and interests in fueling members’ participation and learning in the rich activities and opportunities these communities create. Supports for Help and Feedback in Peer-Supported Communities As I’ve described in a previous post focusing on the professional wrestling community, the Wrestling Boards, help and feedback are key ingredients to an active peer-supported community. Tracking “Interests” in Interest-Driven Learning Communities Why the interest in interests? A new year and a new book It’s the start of a new year and time to take stock. *This* is Learning: How Perceptions of Learning Relevance Matter for Student Success Training with Purpose in the Junior Lifeguards Figure 1.
"Connected Learning" Connected Learning: Designed to ‘mine the new social, digital domain’ SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. -- Citing an ever-widening gap between in-school and out-of-school learning experiences, a team of researchers today introduced a model of learning -- ‘connected learning’ -- that taps into the rich new world of information, knowledge, and online collaboration available to youth and learners. The connected learning model, which is anchored in a large body of research on how youth are using social media, the internet and digital media to learn and develop expertise, also seeks to respond to deepening fears of a class-based “equity” gap in education that, without intervention, is likely to be accelerated by disproportionate access to technology and new forms of knowledge sharing. Interest-powered...Research has repeatedly shown that when a subject is personally interesting and relevant, learners achieve much higher-order learning outcomes. ...and the embrace of three key design principles: S.
competition winners will use Mozilla software to supercharge learning The Badges for Lifelong Learning Competition winners were announced yesterday at the Digital Media and Learning Conference in San Francisco. The winners—awarded grants ranging from $25,000 to $175,000 —will use Mozilla’s new free and open source “Open Badges” software to issue, manage and display digital badges for learning across the Web. The competition brought together Web developers, designers and technologists with educators, online learning innovators and collaborators that range from NASA, the U.S. The goal: explore how digital badges can provide learners of all ages new ways to gain 21st century skills, harness the full educational power of the Internet, and unlock career and learning opportunities in the real world. And the winners are… The Competition was held in collaboration with the Mozilla, and is part of the Digital Media and Learning Competition supported by the MacArthur Foundation and administered by HASTAC. Why digital badges for learning?
Digital Media and Learning Competition Connected Learning Connected Learning is a set of principles designed to nurture the kind of students that can thrive in the 21st century. By the time today’s first graders graduate high school, there will be whole new industries we can’t even imagine today. Project:Connect - Hack for a Better Web Hackathon to create a more equitable, social, and participatory internet. Digital Badges for Learning I'm excited to be here to celebrate the launch of the 2011 competition, and its potential to propel a quantum leap forward in education reform. We're on the verge of harnessing education's power to unleash the full measure of human potential. I want to commend the MacArthur Foundation's thoughtful and forward-thinking approach to educational philanthropy. And, I applaud the collaborative partnership that makes possible this groundbreaking competition, now in its fourth year. The MacArthur Foundation and its partners – Mozilla and HASTAC, hosted by Duke University and the University of California Humanities Research Institute – are working together to provide venture capital for technology innovations that can dramatically improve educational access and quality, in America and around the globe. This year's efforts will expand the hub of digital media projects and products, and the record of success begun in 2007. This administration has a systemic, cradle-to-career vision for reform.
Khan Academy: Learning Habits vs. Content Delivery in STEM Education Email Share March 20, 2012 - by Guest Author 0 Email Share Co-written by David Castillo and Peter McIntosh Most math education analyses in urban high school classrooms focus on delivery of content: What content to deliver, when to deliver it, how to explain it, what textbooks to use, how much home work to assign, and more. As reform efforts have shifted to technology and online learning, we are still asking questions about content delivery in a different context: How to automate it, individualize it, manage it remotely, and deliver it without killing trees. Improving content delivery helped, but not enough Oakland Unity High School is a four-year (grades 9-12) public charter high school located in the tough urban neighborhood of East Oakland. In the summer of 2010, we conducted a diagnostic test with all incoming freshman to evaluate basic algebra and arithmetic skills. The number of students scoring below basic (approximately score of 40 percent) decreased from 77 percent to 28 percent.
Khan Academy: Students Regain Confidence to Tackle Math Challenges Co-written by David Castillo and Peter McIntosh Poor study habits result in a domino effect of poor confidence Many of our students at Oakland Unity High School in Oakland, Calif. lack confidence in their ability to solve a simple problem like the one show below. This basic problem is very challenging for many of our students. A visual demonstration of how one student regained confidence The graph above records one student’s effort on a series of problems similar to the one above (number line). Looking at this portrait, you can see that the student began to confront his false confidence, recognizing that he does not know how to do the problem. This is a clear example of a student repairing the bad habits that were preventing learning. 24/7 access to Khan Academy Academy unleashes significant effort for one student The chart below relates to one of our high school freshman algebra students who failed every major assessment through Semester 1.
When Will Blended Learning Be Mainstream? By Alan K. Rudi At the CUE conference this month, a questioner asked our Panel a simple question about blended learning – What is your prediction for when blended learning will be a mainstream application in education? A simple question, but it does not have an easy answer. Education technologies like Learning Management Systems, Simulation tools, Games, Online applications, videos, new blended models, etc., are all rapidly emerging now as critical tools demonstrating the ability to improve learning outcomes as quality continues to improve. So what’s my prediction for when blended learning (which incorporates all kinds of digital tools to a large degree) will become mainstream in education? The trend lines are accelerating. Alan Rudi is the General Manager of Thesys International , an education business that supports schools with a hybrid online / classroom approach to education.
The Role of Tech vs The Purpose of Education Working in the field of digital media and learning, where the important role of new technologies in learning seems self-evident, the slow pace of change in mainstream education can feel frustrating. Responding to this challenge, we give a lot of attention to thinking about ways to support and encourage teachers to make greater use of the opportunities presented by digital media, but perhaps we should spend more time considering how and why technologies come to be used, or not used, in the first place. Ambitious Goals for the Transformative Potential of Digital Media Enthusiasm for the use of digital media in education stems from a number of very different places. Whatever the reasons behind enthusiasm for using digital media in education, it can quickly turn to frustration at what can seem to be a distinct lack of progress in mainstream classrooms. A Bolder Sociological Imagination is Needed Rewriting the Narratives of Technology and Education
Gaining Some Perspective on Badges for Lifelong Learning I first read about the idea of Open Badges back in the middle of last year. It excited me. One thing I’ve always been interested in is how to shift the power dynamic within classrooms towards learners in a positive way. Changing (or at least providing additional) ways for students to demonstrate their knowledge, skills and understanding is one way to do that. Using Mozilla’s Open Badges infrastructure, any organization or community can issue badges backed by their own seal of approval. In a previous post on DMLcentral I tried to reframe the debate around badges by showing that we do, in fact, have a problem with assessment -- and education more generally. “I worried that we were moving reward stickers and gold stars online, and I wasn’t impressed with how well those worked in the face-to-face classrooms. Getting Practical (and Visual) As fantastic as some of the discussion and debate about badges has been, I do like visuals and the practical implementation of ideas. Conclusion
Badges Will Be Big Email Share March 20, 2012 - by Tom Vander Ark 0 Email Share Earlier this month there was a flurry about badges. “Who needs a university anymore?” I’m bullish about badges and job certification like Jobs for the Future Credentials that Work and just-in-time job training like the online program just launched by GeneralAssemb.ly . Audrey Watters reviewed the Badges for Lifelong Learning awards at DML12 earlier this month—a MacArthur funded celebration of informal learning. I get the Christensen’s non-consumption thesis and starting in the informal space, but my interest in badges remains in the heart of K-12 education and the Common Core State Standards. We need a great Common Core-aligned merit badge system that motivates and recognizes achievement. Here’s my point—folks are treating badges as peripheral and I think they (and related achievement recognition systems) will be core to the shift to student-centered and competency-based learning. Badges will be big. For more, see: About The Author