Learning Technologies Week
Purpose
Active Learning
Active learning encourages students to be more involved during class time. Specific learning activities are organized that will allow students to think critically, collaborate, and engage in the topics at hand.
Turn your outdated pedagogy that encapsulates inactive, passive learning to active, transactional learning.
The Center for Educational Innovation at the University of Minnesota (n.d.) suggests the following guiding questions while preparing for active learning activities:
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What are the most important things students should learn from this class session?
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What misconceptions or difficulty do students commonly have as it relates to this content?
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What kind of practice can students do that will help them prepare for an upcoming assignment or assessment?
Visible Thinking
Visible Thinking (Ritchhart, 2011) routines and framework are comprised by Harvard's Project Zero. Visible Thinking's research led to a set of key ideas and routines. Overall, the idea is to lead students to greater thinking and learning to better understand what they are learning.
Skills are not enough, and thinking needs to go beyond superficial thoughts. To do this, specific routines and practices must be used to foster this growth.
Active Learning through Visible Thinking Using Technology!
Visible Thinking Routine #1
Visible Thinking Routine: Here Now / There Then
Purpose: The routine encourages students to consider past perspectives and develop a better understanding of how thinking changes over time and across cultures. It helps students acknowledge that we have strong stances regarding controversial issues, and that our stances are influenced by social and historical context. It is also helps to uncover stereotypical perceptions as well as ethnocentric and presentist judgments.
Instructions
- Read the article below (click button) and choose 1 of the issues outlined.
- Think about the present state of one of the issues spoken about. How are you affected by one of those topics? Do you agree/disagree with them?
- Think about how this issue was in the past. What were the values held on them? What were the judgements or opinions about them?
- Reflect on the 2 perspectives. How have things changed? Why did people in the past not think the way we do today? Which way is better? Why did the shift occur? Was it necessary?
- Once you have thought about it, proceed to Padlet link below to provide your answer.
Visible Thinking Routine #2
Visible Thinking Routine: Connect-Extend-Challenge
Students will make connections between new ideas and prior knowledge. It allows them to analyze and reflect on their thinking and any misunderstandings they may have.
CONNECT: How are the ideas and information presented CONNECTED to what you already knew?
EXTEND: What new ideas did you get that EXTENDED or pushed your thinking in new directions?
CHALLENGE: What is still CHALLENGING or confusing for you to get your mind around? What questions, wonderings or puzzles do you now have?
Instructions
- Read an article within the Prism application (click on link below)
- Prism allows you to highlight the text depending on what you connect to as you read.
- To the right are 3 colors with attached facets or idea you must find in the article. Click on the color circle to change colors.
- As you read, highlight information that is relevant to you based on the facets. You may erase any highlights if you need to by selecting the eraser button.
- When you finish, click on 'save highlights' for your responses to be populated with the others.
Visible Thinking Routine #3
Visible Thinking Routine: Headlines
Purpose: This routine helps students capture the core or heart of the matter being studied or discussed. It also can involve them in summing things up and coming to some tentative conclusions.
This routine draws on the idea of newspaper-type headlines as a vehicle for summing up and capturing the essence of an event, idea, concept, topic, etc. The routine asks one core question:
1. If you were to write a headline for this topic or issue right now that captured the most important aspect that should be remembered, what would that headline be?
A second follow-up question involves probing how students' ideas of what is most important and central to the topic being explored have changed over time:
2. How has your headline changed based on today's discussion? How does it differ from what you would have said yesterday?
Instructions
- Think about the questions above.
- Now you are going to apply the headlines routine to your personal experience.
- Think about the following questions below as you gather your thoughts.
- If you were to create a motto for what you have learned about teaching/education now that captured the most important aspect that should be remembered what would that headline be?
How has your motto changed based on your experience over your years teaching? How does it differ from what you would have said (2-5 or 10 years ago--pick the one that is furthest back from now if you were teaching or even thinking about teaching then).
Visible Thinking Routine #4
Generate, Sort, Connect, Elaborate
This routines encourages understanding through concept mapping.
Select a topic, concept, or issue for which you want to map your understanding.
- Generate a list of ideas and initial thoughts that come to mind when you think about this particular topic/issue.
- Sort your ideas according to how central or tangential they are. Place central ideas near the center and more tangential ideas toward the outside of the page.
- Connect your ideas by drawing connecting lines between ideas that have something in common. Explain and write in a short sentence how the ideas are connected.
- Elaborate on any of the ideas/thoughts you have written so far by adding new ideas that expand, extend, or add to your initial ideas.
Continue generating, connecting, and elaborating new ideas until you feel you have a good representation of your understanding.
Sample courtesy of: https://www.sadlier.com/school/ela-blog/how-to-use-generate-sort-connect-elaborate-concept-maps-visible-thinking-routine
Sample courtesy of: https://conceptdraw.com/a150c3/preview--Concept%20map%20-%20Internet%20marketing
Instructions
- Think about the topic: duties as a professor for higher education.
- Use one of the apps below to create a concept map.
- You will be prompted as you continue to add new insights.
Popplet Lite
iOS app & web app
Text 2 Mindmap Alternative
Alternative: https://tobloef.com/text2mindmap/
Bubbl.us
Bonus App
Visible Thinking Routine #5
Layers
This routine identities certain aspects of the given topic for deeper analysis and understanding of creative works.
Each Layer Consists of 4 Possible Elements to Seek Out and Identify in the Work
Narrative - The story, the back or pre story, the other or hidden story, the message
Aesthetic - The appeal (what pulls you in?), the reward or take away, the skill/mastery of the artist on display, the new/different/unusual
Mechanical - Technique, Form/structure, Methods, Symbolism
Dynamic - Surprise, Tension, Emotion and Movement
Connections - To other works (in and out of the medium/genre), to history, to oneself, to
the artist’s other works or personal life.
Classmint
Microsoft OneNote
PicCollage
iOS app.
Bonus for Layers Routine
Use Book Creator in a similar way to PicCollage. Use images from the book, article, or other source to find the information needed.
See sample video below.
Cynthia L. Pina
Assistant Professional of Curriculum and Instruction
College of Education
Department of Education Programs
Office: KL 418B
Email: cynthia.pina@tamiu.edu
Website: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cynthia-l-pina-92b9b6147
Phone: 956-326-2684
Twitter: @CynthiaLPina
Dr. Gilda Y. Martinez
Assistant Professional & ACP Director
College of Education
Department of Education Programs
Office: KL 418C