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Can I hack it? A reflection on designing digital solutions to authentic problems

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Written by my colleauge, Megan Tubb

I didn’t realise I’d been hacked! After 12 years of teaching highly structured units of work, I found myself teaching in a way that forced me to loosen my grip on the reins of the curriculum. What started as a small discussion with my grade 6 students about the problem of litter in our playground had grown into something so much richer.

My 11 and 12 year old students were: 

  • driving the direction of our learning.
  • thinking of digital solutions to address a real problem in their environment
  • making strong connections to the adults in our local and wider community

The kids were empowered and full of pride! Meanwhile, I was struggling with self-doubt and fear. I had been pushed right out of my comfort zone to face each day with a level of uncertainty. It was innovative. It was challenging. It was exciting.

Could I hack this new way of teaching?

As the world continues to evolve, our education system is lagging behind. We know it is our imperative to develop our students to become active adults, well-equipped to fulfil their potential and find meaningful pathways for their future. Yet for so many teachers it is too threatening to step away from complete control of the direction of learning.

There are educators who are pushing back against old paradigms. Teachers who acknowledge that the old way just isn’t good enough. These teachers know the value of 21st century learning skills. They recognise that in order to equip students with these skills, they need to take a different approach that shifts away from teacher-centred learning. It requires educators to be innovative, creative and brave enough to value students as capable and contributing citizens – key players in the act of learning.

How can we utilise these pockets of innovation within schools to generate cultures of innovation across a whole school? One possible avenue is to draw on the Stanford d School’s principles of “hacking for school improvement”.  ‘Hacking’ has the following characteristics:

  • quick and fast with a bias to act
  • a culture of prototyping (just try)
  • using what we have
  • low risk

This model acknowledges that some teachers can be reluctant to try new ways of doing things because of a need to ‘get it right’. It aims to remove this pressure by grounding innovation in low-risk experiments that value and encourage a bias towards action. According to the Stanford d School:

“Since doing beats talking about doing, we embrace jumping into new, invigorating experiences. Sure, there’s some initial discomfort, but the reward becomes clear as educators stretch beyond their comfort zone to pick up new skills and mindsets.”

By taking a leap of faith and trying something new, rather than waiting for it to be perfect or right, teachers speed up their own learning process. In adopting a fail forward approach, they use their own valuable experiences and reflections to improve the practices they have experimented with.

Leadership at Taroona Primary School saw the initial litter work I was doing with my students. They applied ‘d School’ school improvement hacks to enable, encourage and support me. My experience not only built my personal capacity in the area of authentic learning, it also served as a model for my colleagues.

Pushed by my principal, pulled by my students’ passion, I very quickly came to realise some of the benefits of bravely working in this new space.

Buy in

Students identified litter in the playground washing into the River Derwent as a problem.  The first thing that excited me was that the students were passionately connected to their learning. This created

Students installing the bird feeder they designed to keep currawongs away from rubbish bins

motivation, as they were invested in their efforts and outcomes. I realised that authentic learning is not only ideal for extending highly able students but also for students who are disengaged and difficult to motivate. There was buy in from my whole class!

Students are likely to think laterally, go left of field and dream big, rather than think something isn’t possible.

I had many projects on the go with students. Some worked, some didn’t. But what each project showed me was that with the naturally inquisitive, creative and uninhibited character of children, creatively solving real problems is a gift for teachers. Students are likely to think laterally, go left of field and dream big, rather than think something isn’t possible. And throughout all this, the significant community connections and learning that took place as a result of the journey, cemented my conviction that this was worthwhile, despite the uncertainties and challenges of working in this new way.

Digital Technologies

What also became obvious was the natural fit for digital technologies. Students intuitively considered digital solutions as part of their design-thinking approaches to problems. Our school had recently taken up the challenge of being early adopters of this curriculum area within the primary sector. It was so exciting to see digital technologies being organically applied within the authentic learning process. It brought alive our vision of ‘aligning and enhancing our current work with the digital technologies curriculum’.

My experience therefore served to build personal capacity in the area of authentic learning, as well as serving as a model for my colleagues.

We know from our own experiences that teachers are dedicated and want the best for their students. It’s what drives them to turn up every day. So why then is there a reluctance to adopt a culture of innovation that welcomes authentic learning? Why aren’t all teachers using the genuine and novel problems that exist within schools and communities to provide an opportunity for students to actively contribute as citizens in their own right?

Authentic Learning is Messy

Innovative, authentic learning can be a bit like what it feels like letting your toddler have a playdate with some friends. Even though as a parent you know the benefits of free unstructured child-led play, adults can be reluctant to just let kids go. As an adult, structured activities are easier. The adult knows that the fall-out following child-led play can be messy! And the mess can be both literal and figurative. For those who like to be prepared, organised and in control, this style of learning can be challenging. While pre-teaching and scaffolds are a critical part of the journey and are a requirement for student success, the open-ended nature of authentic learning means that it is not always predictable, the progress can be slow and the outcomes are often unknown.

Like a child led playdate, authentic learning in a school setting provides genuine opportunities for creativity, collaboration, communication and innovation in a way that could never be achieved in a highly structured, adult-centred environment.

Many teachers like the comfort of having content areas mapped out for the year in neatly-defined lessons.  They may justify their reluctance to relinquish control by claiming loss of curriculum coverage. Yet the curriculum is firmly at the centre, incorporated in every aspect of the authentic learning journey. Will everything you try work? No. Will the failures be frustrating? Absolutely. The difference is, authentic learning allows the curriculum to come to life through the actions of engaged, contributing citizens who are making their mark within their school, community or beyond.

It is no longer an option to see schools as places that prepare students for “the real world”.  We ARE the real world!

Hilary Purdie and I are presenting two sessions together at the Leading a Digital School Conference being held in Melbourne at the Crown Promenade Hotel on 8, 9 and 10 August 2019. Our sessions are Bias to action – using hacks to create a culture of innovation and Pump your PL – why mindset alone is not enough for teacher transformation, please come and join us.

 

Innovation in Action (Rapid Prototyping)

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Rapid Prototyping……Moving from our presentation on Teaching Innovation to the practical of Innovation in the Classroom, cuts into many areas.  As teachers and students, it can be difficult to cram these into a crowded curriculum and assess them against standards. Innovation as a concept requires measurement of some concepts and ideals that are difficult to quantify in the short term and difficult to measure against sensible / meaningful grades.

Some of these ideas include collaboration, creative problem solving, communication, critical thinking.  Wrapping these in the broader social ideals of global citizenship, entrepreneurial literacy, environmental awareness and ethics we start to provide a very broad place to operate within, one where we can focus on what students do; actions here are important.

In our workshop, Innovation in Action, at the Leading a Digital School Conference 2019 we will unpack some of these, as well as how to introduce students in a process of evolutionary innovation that follows a framework that fits into any problem solving methodology.

  1. What problem are we solving

    • why and who – we observe the the world and ask questions

  2. How can we solve this problem

    • what tools / skills and resources  do we have that might help, what do we need.
    • What are we actually going to do to solve the problem.
    • This is often the ideation stage.

  3. Plan and build

    • Prototype the solution

  4. Test and Evaluate

    • Did our solution work? (If not we can re-prototype)
    • How do we know it worked? (testing)
    • Did we deliver the product / service we said we were going to?

These fit most problem solving methodologies and are flexible enough to be adapted.

Our workshop will take attendees through a rapid version of this, where you will be expected to look at the world, discover a problem, come up with a solution, prototype the solution, and evaluate the solution.

We will use peer evaluation and presentation of solutions to evaluate this and most people will be able to take their prototype away with them.

Our workshop can be scaled and can be adapted to most year levels, and we provide concrete examples of differentiation.  What we won’t talk about is how we assess this, to find out why we don’t formally assess Innovation in Action, you will need to attend our presentation on Teaching Innovation.

Jon Roberts and Matt Zarb

Use curiosity to reach every student!

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I have always been attracted to unusual things. When I see something that looks interesting to me, I always try my very best to figure out the what, why and how. After I became a mother, I continued to be impressed by my daughter’s curiosity. For example, my daughter sees a penguin as a duck. To figure it out, I carefully examine the features of penguin and duck and eventually gain some knowledge in ornithology. After that, I started to realize how powerful the role our curiosity plays in our learning.

Here are some strategies that I find useful to spark my students’ curiosity.

Strategy 1: Flipped learning videos

Traditionally, flipped learning videos have been used as wonderful tools to reach every student. When thinking of a flipped learning video, we often consider videos with teachers’ direct instruction. However, I have found that flipped learning videos can be more than that! Starting this school year, I changed the way I use flipped learning videos and have received amazing feedback from my students. I make my videos with interesting scenarios and animations. Without directly teaching the students, I try to spark their curiosity and arouse their interests in learning.

Picture 1: a glance at a inquiry-type of flipped learning video

A glance at a inquiry-type of flipped learning video

Strategy 2: Trigger students’ observation

Activities like “Notice and Wonder” fit perfectly for the role to spark students’ curiosity. Have you ever noticed that Target’s sign is red in the United States and black in Australia? Same company with different branding. How about an emu and an ostrich?  How similar and how different are they? Trying to answer simple questions triggered by our curiosity can lead to a huge difference in learning.

Picture 2: Can you tell which one is Target Australia and which one is Target USA?

Can you tell which one is Target Australia and which one is Target USA?

Strategy 3: Look for a pattern

I love looking for a pattern. A well-known Californian teacher Fawn Nguyen created a website called “visual patterns.” Not only my students, but I would also spend minutes and minutes on the website trying to find the general rule for a set of visual patterns. By looking for a pattern, my students and I gain excitement and achievement by accomplishing the mystery of the pattern.

Picture 3: Visual Patterns created by Ms. Fawn Nguyen at www.visualpatterns.org

Visual Patterns created by Ms. Fawn Nguyen at www.visualpatterns.org

Curiosity is such a powerful tool for us to engage our students. Almost all people are attracted to unusual or unknown things. If you are looking for a way to reach every student, why not considering trying to spark your students’ curiosity.

 

Use gamification to reach every student!

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As teachers, we hope that all students are engaged during the whole class period. However, for most of the time, there still exits a small proportion of students who seem to be un-interested in what we are talking about. The issue of student engagement has always been my first priority so I continue to seek out ways that would help students to engage more. Today, I would like to share some gamification strategies that I have found useful to reach every student.

Strategy 1: Incorporate classical games with the content knowledge.

Have you ever considered incorporating classical games with the content knowledge that we are teaching? One thing I have found to be powerful in a classroom is to add our content knowledge as an element of classical games such as jigsaw puzzles, jeopardy, coloring, cut and paste, mad lid etc. With the help of Google slides, nowadays we can easily turn the puzzles of the classical games into solving and assessing the content knowledge that we covered a few minutes ago. For example, instead of asking trivia questions in a jeopardy, why not ask them to solve the solutions of a quadratic equation!

Picture 1: Incorporate classical games with the content knowledge

Incorporate classical games with the content knowledge

Strategy 2: Lock and Unlock/Rules and Reward

Another thing I love about gamification is that it creates excitement in class. Imagine that you and I have to unlock the envelope in limited time. Wow! How fun is that! Who wouldn’t fall in love with the kinetic experience plus the uncertainty of mystery? If you’re looking for something easy to implement, how about trying the simplest “Rules and Reward”. When students follow the rules, then they get to enjoy the reward. Something as simple as “turn in your assignments in time to get 5-minutes study break,” works out perfectly for my students.

Picture 2: Lock and Unlock/ Rules and Rewards

Lock and Unlock/ Rules and Rewards

Strategy 3: Gamification Software

I also found some gamification platforms that are made just for the purpose of gamification. My favorite two are: Pagamo and Classcraft. Pagamo is a Role-Play-Game incorporating content knowledge assessment. Students need to get their lands and earn some special props by answering the question correctly. Classcraft is a fancy gamification platform. By setting rules for each class, students can get different rewards in the classcraft platform and level up! How cool is that!

Picture 3: Gamification platforms: www.pagamo.org and www.classcraft.com

Gamification platforms: www.pagamo.org and www.classcraft.com

Gamification can be a great tool for teachers to keep students engaged and eventually reach every student! I love gamification because of the excitement and fun. If you’re looking for something that creates an unique experience for your students, maybe you should consider trying to gamify your class!

Could Flipped Learning Be as Effective as One-To-One Tutoring?

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Written by Steve Griffiths

In 1984 Benjamin Bloom wrote an academic paper that reported on research comparing student achievement under conventional instruction, mastery instruction and one-to-one tutoring.  Students that received mastery instruction achieved final achievement scores one standard deviation above those that received conventional instruction.  Students that received one-on-one tutoring achieved final scores that were two standard deviations above the conventional instruction students (figure 1).  Bloom went on to describe a quest to identify group instruction methods that could be as effective as one-to-one tutoring.   Bloom found that mastery learning could be combined with changes in teaching practices to achieve additional improvements in student performance.

Bloom proposed that student performance is improved with one-to-one tutoring because the students continually receive feedback, reinforcement and encouragement and the tutee is actively involved in the learning process.  Bloom recommended that instructors employ a mastery approach to instruction as well as implement teaching practices that promote students to actively engage in the learning and that provide frequent feedback and clarification to students.

In-flipped mastery may be a method that can achieve student improvement that approaches the improvements achieved by one-to-one tutoring.   To help explain why this might be possible, we must first define mastery and explain in-class flipped mastery.

One definition of mastery learning is “an instructive strategy in which students are expected to reach a certain level of proficiency.  Students study material at their own pace, receiving the assistance they need in order to meet the predetermined level of mastery, which is typically set at 80 percent on an objective test”  (The Greenwood Dictionary of Education, 2003). Mastery has traditionally been hard to implement in a conventional classroom.  However, the flipped classroom makes mastery possible and very effective.

The in-class flip involves students progressing through the study material at their own pace by watching teacher-made videos (in-class) and then practicing and deepening their knowledge through activities and problems, again at their own pace.  The student-centred nature of the in-class flip frees up the teacher to interact with every student.  The in-class flip allows the teacher to reach every student, in every class, every day and this may be why student achievement can approach that of one-on-one tutoring.  The teacher checks student answers, monitors their progress, ask them questions and clarifies misconceptions.  The interactions are frequent and individualised.

The daily interactions with each student in the in-class flipped classroom augment the formal mastery checks that characterise mastery learning.  The teacher is continually assessing mastery with every interaction with the student.  Not only does the teacher assess mastery of the content and skills but also the student’s mindset, their grit and their agency.   The teacher can then tailor their intervention specifically to each student.

A key aspect of mastery is that learning is individualised for each student.  Based on student performance on mastery checks, each student is prescribed an individualised program of correctives to master the content or skills or to extend students that have already achieved mastery.  It is little wonder that mastery learning is practically impossible to implement effectively in a traditional classroom where all students progress through the unit in a lock-step fashion.

In Bloom’s quest for group instruction that is as effective as one-to-one tutoring, he recommended mastery learning with teaching practices that promote active learning and regular feedback and clarification.  Flipped mastery ticks all of these boxes and is a powerful tool that can potentially transform the way that students learn.

The recent report into the state of Australian schooling, known as “Gonksi 2.0” has called for more individualised learning for students.  In-flipped mastery is a promising technique that can go some way towards achieving more individualised learning.

References:

Bloom, B. S. (1984). The 2 sigma problem: The search for methods of group instruction as effective as one-to-one tutoring. Educational researcher, 13(6), 4-16.

Collins, J. W., 1948, & O’Brien, N. P. (2003). The greenwood dictionary of education. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press.