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Digital tool smashing – Learning can include more than APP smashing!

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So, your class has mastered Book Creator for writing a story to share with a real audience, they rock at using Do Ink for green screen movie making and they are all over SeeSaw for recording their learning. It’s time to integrate a few quality apps to take it to the next level.

App Smashing is the process of students utilising a core of quality apps that complement and enhance each other to create inspiring and engaging ways that not only demonstrate their learning but showcases it and allows you to assess their understanding and skills.  The term App smashing was coined by Greg Kulowiec (USA) in 2013. Laura Cummings has a great blog post about App smashing if you’d like to know more about setting parameters and supporting app smashing in your learning space. Whilst this post focuses on the power of combining iOS apps in an education setting, over time the term app smashing has also come to include the use of more than just iPads and at times more than one device type, for example using a Chrome book,  and an iPad to create a finished product.

Students intuitively explore apps long before we’ve had time as a teacher to offer step by step instructions and often find an apps limitations and special features before we’ve fully explored the apps learning and integration potential. Students also often soon realise one specific app doesn’t allow them to produce a final piece of work or product with all the features they need or want and intuitively experimenting with a variety of apps to create their final product.  They key to app smashing is the camera roll or the ability to save a photo, a video, an image you’ve sourced or created and importing it into another app to combine, manipulate to create something new that wasn’t possible to make happen in either of the other apps on their own. App smashing it more than utilising the features and functions of more than one app to reach an objective.

The power of app smashing is the transformation of projects into rich media creations and encourages the seamless use of digital tools for learning. The two key elements for success when app smashing with iPads are the camera roll and the ability to share your creations. When you first introduce the concept of app smashing to your class, depending on their age and familiarity with the apps, you may recommend and demonstrate how to utilise specific apps together to create a finished product. Eventually, however, the goal is for students to consider the assessment criteria and decide themselves which apps will work best for their learning task or project idea by considering what the various apps features are and which one, two, or even four apps would work well together to suit their needs.

Why App Smash?

  1. encourage creative and imaginative thinking
  2. Support collaboration
  3. Students have choice, control and ownership in their learning process
  4. encourage critical thinking
  5. help students construct knowledge and demonstrate deep learning
  6. help maximize the potential of digital tools by combining features and functions.
  7. Allows creativity to shine and allows students to demonstrate their learning in their preferred communication mode. For example, speaking (audio or video), writing (typing text or with a stylus) or drawing.
  8. Provides opportunities to purposefully create and share with a real audience
  9. Empower students to share their voice and showcase their learning.

Dr. Monica Burns (ClassTechTips.com) recently wrote an e-book How to use App Smashing as an assessment tool full of ideas for using book creator as a formative assessment tool.

Combining apps for innovative project ideas

  1. Create a multimedia book (topic/ theme can cover any curriculum or interest area)
  2. Podcast / radio show/ review (book, movie, TV etc.)
  3. Interactive comic
  4. Student created biography interview videos

A few of my favourite Apps

With links to Apple App Store. Those that I know are also available on other platforms I have identified.

Tips

  1. Communicate clear assessment criteria to your students.
  2. Make sure students know how much time they have to complete the task or project.
  3. Make it a clear and easy process for students submit to you finished work created digitally.

I hope that this post has given you enough ideas to start app smashing with your students, encouraging learning and creativity in your classroom. If you need more inspiration I recommend checking out Jornea Erwin aka @Savvy_Educator, or the #AppSmashing hashtag on Twitter.

I will be presenting about these ideas and others at the Leading a Digital School Conference this year, come along and say hi – www.iwb.net.au/digital/program

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Flipped Learning, a brief grounding in the research literature, by a teacher, for teachers

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Flipped Learning, a brief grounding of the research literature

I was recently challenged to show the effectiveness of flipped learning through research by a member of leadership at my school. What follows is a brief summary of the research that I had at hand that situates a reader generally within the literature and opens some avenues for further exploration. It also gives a good overview of the general direction of flipped learning research with many recommendations of where further research needs to be aimed to produce a greater understanding of the methodology. Keep in mind this is simply an excerpt of my current understanding, as a full-time teacher, not currently participating in any part-time study. I am pursuing research into flipped learning, purely as a hobby rather than any structured academic study. For a broader overview of flipped learning in regards to adding to the research base, I would recommend this blog by Robert Talbert: http://rtalbert.org/what-does-the-research-say/

With that in mind, I hope that teachers interested in the concept of flipped learning, educational technology or using instructional video in their classroom would find this an interesting starting place and jumping-off point for further investigation of these ideas in their own practice. Or in a pinch, use this to justify the interest and emerging nature of flipped learning and some of its positive findings in regard to learning outcomes for students.

Firstly, as meta-analyses are all the rage at the moment, let us begin with these two-literature review/meta-analysis style articles that give us a good aerial view of the research and a good grounding in some of the already completed research.

The Flipped Classroom: A Survey of the Research

View the paper

This document provides a good summary of the research circa 2013, it sets out some of the pedagogical practices and ideas that underpin the practice and allow it to be used. It is an approachable and easy to read piece that defines key words and ideas well and establishes some of the intellectual lineages of flipped learning. It is especially valuable for people with a limited understanding of flipped learning in the way that it outlines key ideas that most teachers and educational practitioners will find familiar and easy to engage with. It focuses mostly on qualitative information (numbers) and is therefore easy for a person wired in this way to engage with quickly and without requiring much of an analysis of complex results.

A critical review of flipped classroom challenges in K-12 education: possible solutions and recommendations for future research

View the paper

A very recent paper (2017) that comments on the paucity of K-12 flipped learning research and discusses some of the issues that are presented by this pedagogy for teacher workload and other key factors. Appendix 1 provides a summary of a number of studies and their results, whilst Appendix 2 provides a brief summary of the ways that class time was being used in each of these studies. This is useful in the way that it can be used to understand the myriad ways that flipped learning can be used to transform the classroom environment and the activities that take place there. It must be noted, however, that a number of the studies cited do not very closely align with flipped learning as it is generally defined or best practice. As a result, some of the studies show less than favourable results due to a number of reasons, which I will refer back to in a future piece of writing. It also gives a good overview of the way that different uses of this methodology can be applied and as a shortcut around where it would be best to begin a practice of flipped learning for an individual or school aimed in a positive direction. In summary, the paper shows that without looking too closely at what is or isn’t flipped learning, all studies that purported to be flipped learning showed positive results or no significant loss or gain (stayed comparable). Looking more closely, those studies that made use of video in the individual space and used group discussion or some other form of active learning in the class space showed improvements in student’s learning outcomes. These two simple factors being present could be used as a rough proxy for best practice and something to be expanded upon in further research. The two aforementioned appendices also show that deviating beyond the accepted knowledge of best practice in regards to flipped learning does not show a positive result for student outcomes.

The Impact of the Flipped Classroom on Mathematics Concept Learning in High School

View the paper

This paper is a more recent (2016) study that took a small scale (82 participants) approach and used the traditional lecture vs flipped learning approach. Notably, this paper used genuine high school students, aged 14-15 years, a group that many practitioners tend to presume will not complete the pre-class work of watching videos. This study showed that this was not true but rather showed that the FL participant group outperformed the control group and were highly satisfied and positive towards the methodology. Notably, the study showed that the ‘low achievers’, as recognised via pre-test results, had greater success than the control group who received conventional teaching. It is suggested that this is due to these students with higher learning needs receiving more attention from teachers and greater time for the deeper discussion and engagement with mathematical problems.

The flipped classroom and cooperative learning: Evidence from a randomised experiment

View the paper

A recent study (2016) that comparing the flipped learning classroom with lecture-based lessons. It found a 12% increase in test scores when comparing these two methodologies, in favour of the flipped learning classroom. The study drew its participants from undergraduate students and used a simplistic multiple-choice style test form of testing. The sample size (235 students) is significant and indicates support for flipped learning, but also more specifically the types of active, collaborative pedagogies that it allows to take precedence over traditional lecture style teaching.

Optimizing Learning From Examples Using Animated Pedagogical Agents

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A laboratory-based, experimental based study (2003) that looks specifically at the levels of knowledge retention by undergraduate students based on the learning/teaching resource involved in the delivery of the content. The content was presented through three forms: text only, text and audio, or text and ‘animated agent’ (a small cartoon character who gestures and refers to key elements of the text). I interpret this study firstly in the sense that a teacher, known to the student will always be more effective than the noted ‘animated agent’, as well as more knowledgeable. More simply, however, this study posits that learning through video is simply more effective than more traditional and conventional means. Extending this concept further, this seems to indicate that even without flipped learning being applied, but simply replacing learning resources from text or worksheet towards instructional video would show an improvement in knowledge retention just as was shown in this study.

Learning from Examples: Instructional Principles from the Worked Examples Research

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This study (2000) is a very exhaustive summary of cognitive load theory which I believe holds many connections and associations with flipped learning. I believe it also suggests a number of practices and understandings that should become mainstream within the practice of producing instructional video and flipped learning. Rather than go over some of the complex interaction between the pedagogy of flipped learning and Cognitive Load Theory (CLT), I would suggest you look over this short summary of how these ideas and those raised by the previous research study are applicable in this video I made on the topic here:

Overall, I hope this limited overview of some of the recent research on flipped learning has shown you some of the ways that different ideas are being applied under the umbrella of flipped learning. As well as giving you some things to provide to interested individuals to begin their own learning journeys into flipped learning and its applications in a variety of contexts. If you are interested in any of these ideas please let me know, or if there is anything that you believe here is improperly covered I would love to hear about it. You can email me on kolber.steven.s@edumail.vic.gov.au

Using Microsoft PowerPoint to create Flipped videos and improve workflow

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Creating Flipped Videos in Microsoft PowerPoint allows for greater accessibility and smoother workflow for flipped educators.

An exciting development in Office 2016 is the addition of built in support for recording of PowerPoint presentations. This is a great improvement upon the previous iteration of this feature. This means that teachers are more likely to stumble upon this function and as a result find themselves producing video form content that might one day lead them towards a flipped learning methodology.

It also means that for practitioners looking to train staff in technology to support a flipped learning approach, the possibility of teachers new to the pedagogy can begin working within a program that is the industry standard for content presentations in class. It also means that the process of creating instructional video is streamlined, removing some key steps from the workflow.

Consider, the older, experienced PowerPoint king or queen at your teaching setting. Their presentations feature such a high level of development: animations, images throughout, diagrams and carefully crafted, word-perfect descriptions and depictions of key concepts. These highly proficient teachers could adapt their well-produced and refined, existing, presentations into videos by just clicking across the toolbar at the top of the program. As a result their practice begins to transform and modernise into the 21st century.

Technological competency serves as a great obstacle for teacher trainers and school systems generally. Any movement towards simplicity and accessibility for less technically savvy teachers opens up a range of possibilities that lead towards the pedagogy of flipped learning. A practice that carves out time for students and teachers to interact in more effective and engaging ways and practice a number of practices that are often viewed as lofty or somewhat mythical. Things such as differentiation, individualised intervention and mastery learning within the confines of a normal school. These concepts are often referred to, but less often achieved in the realities of actual teaching practice.

Below is a 1-minute description of how to create one of these recordings made using the exact functionality that it describes. The development of the resource, a PowerPoint slide deck took some time, but the actual conversion of it from a staid PowerPoint presentation to a video took the same amount of time as the length of this video.

The notable feature of this method is that it removes a common and problematic step in the production of instructional video, editing. The program has a way to remove silent elements from the final produced video, largely removing the need to spend additional time in ‘post-production’.

Looking below at the diagram you notice the standard five steps of creating a flipped instructional video and that two of these, content preparation and lesson planning, are standard teacher work. So the first thing you consider is that flipped learning is adding three additional steps to within the production of lessons. The benefits of flipped learning will not be discussed here for brevities sake but consider here from an outsiders’ perspective on adding three additional steps to their workload. Almost undoubtedly the thing that all teachers value the most is time, especially preparation and planning time. So one of the crucial factors for a teacher considering becoming a flipped learning practitioner is to streamline or remove as many of these three additional steps as possible.

Creating Flipped Videos by Traditional Means

Creating Flipped Videos by Traditional Means

Diagram 1: Note the navy colour represents standard teacher work, and the light blue denotes steps unique to flipped learning. Noticeably, filming and recording is a separate step completed with a separate suite of programs.

Notably, the first of the three flipped learning steps is now completed natively within a very familiar program. Notably, the step of editing can be completely removed as it is no longer essential, though a finicky teacher may choose to editing the video file produced for a range of reasons. Lastly, the uploading process is essential to making the videos available for students, however, it is a ‘lock and leave’ type of a process that typically takes place either in the morning of a school day or overnight at home.

The diagram below shows a more streamlined process of flipped learning, using the approach discussed above. Note, the editing is no longer necessary and the preparing content and the filming and recording process is combined for ease of use. This may seem unlikely, but it is not a great addition of workload to finish creating a PowerPoint as you would for a typical class, then plug in a microphone and perform this content, whilst it is fresh in your mind, as you would to a class.

Creating Flipped Videos within Windows PowerPoint

Creating Flipped Videos within Windows PowerPoint

Diagram 2: Note the removal of the editing step of the process, and the combining of the preparing content and the filming and recording.

It is worth mentioning briefly, that, as with all presentation and recording of oneself, there is a hurdle of confidence to be overcome. Just as student teachers have to become comfortable presenting to students, you, even as an experienced teacher may need to re-learn some of your presentation skills. The same tasks that you perform on a daily basis, explaining, describing and providing examples feeling for a time, strange and new. You may find yourself glowing red, or stumbling over your words. By doing this more and more, you will find yourself being more explicit in your instructions and being more strategic in the way that you explain concepts, as you are always aware of the length of the video you may create, or the potential need to edit or restart your explanation. This is one of the hidden benefits of moving towards instructional video and later flipped learning, you will begin to notice speech patterns and habits that you adopt during your presentation of information which you can then improve upon.
Though it may seem like a small change in teacher workflow by using this method it allows for far greater freedom for teachers adopting this teaching methodology. Furthermore, by removing some of the time needed to create flipped videos it also lowers the barriers of entry for teachers new to the concept of flipped learning and teaching through instructional video. Flipped learning can be considered as a way of freeing up the classroom time of a teacher at the expense of their out-of-class time, and this is also true for the students of said class. Therefore, by freeing up more time in the out-of-class space for the teacher, it allows a greater focus on the all-important step of lesson planning. As the ultimate goal of flipped learning is to transform the group space through, active, group and inquiry or problem-based learning, therefore, the lesson planning step is the core task of all teachers, whether they be flipped educators or not. That is why this small, incremental improvement in the out-of-school time necessary to complete a flipped video is so crucial.

As such the core role of a teacher remains always to create circumstances, events and experiences for learning during a lesson. Though at times, the tendency is to create these through a didactic and direct lecture style approach that allows for the communication of information, but less often retrieval practice and active interaction with that knowledge by the students. By forcing yourself away from this type of instruction, which is likely the very style of education that you yourself were educated with, you free yourself up to improvise. You free yourself up to try new teaching approaches, ideas and thoughts and have time within classes to interact with and trial these ideas. You have more time to communicate with individual students and develop more complex relationships with them and their learning needs and goals. Notably, flipped learning does not abandon direct instruction or refute its use, rather it provides a challenge to develop yourself beyond this default approach and to spread your professional wings and become more than a lecturer or deliverer of content.

In summary, the method of using PowerPoint to record instructional video is a clear, simple and speedy process. It eschews the need for editing and allows content creation and video production to be performed in the same place, within the same program, when the information is most fresh and cogent to you the teacher. It also makes the concept of producing instructional video content more achievable for less tech-savvy teachers and thus makes the potentiality of flipped learning being more widely adopted as a pedagogy more likely.

Feel free to watch the video below if you are interested in a quick guide on how to create an instructional video within PowerPoint:

Screen time: curse or blessing?

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There is no longer much doubt that digital technology or “screen time” takes away from the time we spend on our personal interactions in favour of our online life. You have seen it – people in trains, in restaurants, walking along the street their heads hovering over the screen – not for seconds, not for minutes, but for hours. Do they want to speak to you or make eye contact with you? No way!

Overexposure and excessive exposure to the screen causes children to lose significant time on creative play and the time they spend on manipulating and mastering their physical environment. For young children, this is a dire situation as there is plenty of evidence to suggest that neural pathways that would be beneficial to them in later life will not develop.

For teenagers, excessive screen time can lead to sleep deprivation leaving them with all the physiological and psychological problems that it can bring.

This is the curse.

As school leaders and classroom teachers, can we hide behind this curse and use it as an excuse to do very little or even nothing when it comes to positively influencing learning with digital technology?

Let’s hope not!

As responsible educators, we must be aware and wary of the curse and treat it with respect. But we have an even more important job to do than that.

We must embrace the blessing of digital technology – and there is much to bless.

Screen time: curse or blessing?

Even though research on the impact of technology on learning is in its infancy, we are beginning to see a body of work emerge which points to many blessings.

For example, both research-based and anecdotal evidence points to students learning more in less time when they use digital technology well; students like their classes more and develop more positive attitudes when their classes include digital technology; students in digital technology-rich environments experience positive effects on achievement in major subject areas; and students who use simulation and higher order thinking software show gains in their learning.

Who can remember trying to grasp some complex concept at school using pen and paper only?  For example geometry and physics: we would have killed for the software available today to teach the complex concepts involved. We would have passed!
With such obvious benefits, it is our professional responsibility to seek the professional development we need to keep up with the advances in technology that will improve the way we teach and our students learn. We should also appreciate the facility our children have with digital technology and steer them in a positive direction as they try to master it.

There is no option for any teacher to deny a child this.

After these arguments, would you knowingly send a child of yours into a school/classroom where the prevailing attitude of the principal/teacher was that digital technology did not add much value to learning, with the outcome being that it was not used or not used sufficiently to improve the learning of your child?

If you knew that this was the prevailing attitude, would you want your child to stay or leave that environment?

Please don’t be insulted if you are “with it” as far as teaching with digital technology goes. We know heaps of you are.

We do however challenge those who have more to do.