Peer-to-Peer Learning Handbook | Peeragogy.org Badges/Onboarding-Displayer Mozilla Open Badge Infrastructure (OBI) NOTE: For a general introduction to badge displaying with the Mozilla OBI, read on. For more technical documentation, please see our github pages. Background Why Are We Doing This? Learning happens everywhere. Goals Develop badges as a system for alternative accreditation, credentialing, and recognition; Help badges expand beyond siloed environments to be broadly shareable; Truly support earners learning everywhere; Optimize the value of these representations by allowing badges to be remixable and shareable with different audiences; Develop a supporting infrastructure to standardize the process and support each earner; Create an infrastructure that is open and as decentralized as possible to give earners control and support of the entire ecosystem; Provide software and development tools to help organizations implement badging systems. Description The participants in a badging system are characterized using a few broad groups: Tech Specs Badge Earner
The 8 Elements Project-Based Learning Must Have If you’re contemplating using Project-Based Learning or are already trying out the latest craze to hit the modern classroom, you should know about this checklist. It details if you’re actually doing it correctly. For example, does your project focus on significant content, develop 21st century skills, and engage students in in-depth inquirty (just to name a few)? If not, you might want to reconsider your PBL approach. See Also: What Is Project-Based Learning? The checklist is by the PBL masters over at BIE and they’ve outlined 8 different ‘essential elements’ that must be present in a project in order for it to be considered PBL. These elements are actually useful for even more than PBL. What do you think about this PBL Checklist? Via TeachBytes and BIE.org
Great Lessons 9: Possibilities The sky’s the limit…. “The sky’s the limit”…… It’s a wonderful motivating phrase. It suggests that anything is possible; that there are no limits. To infinity and beyond and all that…. I’m a huge advocate of giving students choices; of making the learning open-ended as far as possible, creating an environment where it is safe to take risks. “What would you like for tea?” This applies to learning too. So, should we really be offering an open choice – or is it better to start with a limited menu to get them started. Now here is a paradox of sorts…if you give an example of how to do something, are you simultaneously limiting horizons? The classic ‘Tracy Island’ made from Fairy Liquid bottles.. With this approach (which I have seen time and time again) we just get lots of the same thing made with varying degrees of accuracy. One of my least treasured school-memories is of a particular homework composition task for Music O Level. So, the resolution to this is simple: Show them! Audio Player
Four observations on how OER initiatives are modelled | littlebylittlejohn.com Isobel Falconer, Lou McGill, Eleni Boursinou and I have been commissioned by the EC to carry out a SWOT analysis of Open Educational Resource initiatives for adult learning. In 2012 we carried out a scoping of adult learning initiatives using OER. We identified over 150 different initiatives distributed across Europe. In March we invited the leaders of the initiatives to fill in a structured questionnaire. We’re in the early stages of data analysis and plan follow up interviews. Here are four observations: 1 European OER initiatives are based (largely) on the traditional view of instructor using OER as content for teaching 2 Most European OER initiatives rely on government or institutional funding 3. 4 Significant groups of people are not being considered as key users of OER People outside formal structures (eg lifelong learners) were not considered key users of OER, yet learning is critical for this group of people.Another key gap we identified are manual workers.
Western Philosophy How Do We Define and Measure “Deeper Learning”? Big Ideas Culture Teaching Strategies Flickr:Saxtourigr In preparing students for the world outside school, what skills are important to learn? This goes to the heart of the research addressed in the Deeper Learning Report released by the National Research Council of the National Academies of Science in Washington. Simply defined, “deeper learning” is the “process of learning for transfer,” meaning it allows a student to take what’s learned in one situation and apply it to another, explained James Pellegrino, one of the authors of the report. “You can use knowledge in ways that make it useful in new situations,” he said in a recent webinar. To deconstruct the definition of deeper learning further, the researchers came up with what they call three domains of competence: cognitive, intrapersonal and interpersonal. “The kinds of tasks we need to assess take kids more time to enact and more time to score.” If deeper learning is the ultimate goal, can it be taught? Related
OER – in Deutschland am Bedarf vorbei gedacht? | Damian Duchamps' Blog Setzt man sich mit der Frage auseinander, warum es mit freien Bildungsinhalten (OER) in Deutschland nicht so recht vorangehen möchte, so begegnet man unweigerlich immer wieder der Gegenfrage nach dem Warum. Vielmals wird eine Notwendigkeit für OER an sich angezweifelt. Stellt sich ein Erfolg für OER in Deutschland nur deshalb nicht ein, weil es keinen Platz hat in unserem Bildungssystem? Brauchen wir hier in der Bildungsrepublik Deutschland überhaupt OER? Und falls nun doch, wer braucht es dann, wie soll man es einordnen und welchen Stellenwert soll es haben? Das sind sehr grundlegende Fragen, welche die gesamte Auseinandersetzung um OER in Frage stellen. Braucht Deutschland also OER oder nicht? Eine Antwort ist vielschichtig. Eine Frage des Geldes Wir sind kein armes Land. Beispiele für die vom Geld gesetzten Grenzen im Bildungsalltag kennt jeder, der im System tätig ist. Eine Frage der Rechtmäßigkeit Eine Frage des Angebotes Verbreitung von Bildungsinhalten weltweit Idealismus Gefällt mir:
18 Things Highly Creative People Do Differently This list has been expanded into the new book, “Wired to Create: Unravelling the Mysteries of the Creative Mind,” by Carolyn Gregoire and Scott Barry Kaufman. Creativity works in mysterious and often paradoxical ways. Creative thinking is a stable, defining characteristic in some personalities, but it may also change based on situation and context. Neuroscience paints a complicated picture of creativity. And psychologically speaking, creative personality types are difficult to pin down, largely because they’re complex, paradoxical and tend to avoid habit or routine. “It’s actually hard for creative people to know themselves because the creative self is more complex than the non-creative self,” Scott Barry Kaufman, a psychologist at New York University who has spent years researching creativity, told The Huffington Post. While there’s no “typical” creative type, there are some tell-tale characteristics and behaviors of highly creative people. They daydream. They observe everything.
Inclusive Questioning I today read an excellent blog by @headguruteacher on differentiation, which defined it as a key aspect of great lessons – see here. I was most interested in the role of inclusive questioning in continuous differentiation. The first, and most crucial, aspect of differentiation is knowing your students. Of course, I don’t mean knowing your students just by their name, although this is important (I once spent a month in a sulk because one of my teachers kept getting my name wrong!), but having a thorough understanding of their skills and knowledge level, beyond just prior attainment and their target level or grade. Just as important is the intimate, expert knowledge of the soft skills of our students: their confidence level; their willingness to speak in group activities, or to contribute in front of the whole class; their attitude, or mindset to learning, and your subject in particular. So what are the key aspects of inclusive questioning: 1. Closed questioning: Closed ‘hinge’ questioning
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