Educators as Learning Catalyst Designers

Designer- Educators design authentic, learner-driven activities and environments that recognize and accommodate learner variability. Educators:

• Use technology to create, adapt and personalize learning experiences that foster independent learning and accommodate learner differences and needs.
• Design authentic learning activities that align with content area standards and use digital tools and resources to maximize active, deep learning.
• Explore and apply instructional design principles to create innovate digital learning environments that engage and support learning.  (ISTE Standards for Educators, 2016)

In today's world, educators no longer have to be tied to a textbook as their source of information. By accessing the internet, teachers now have quick, great connections to information in both a curated and non-curated format. Resources such as open education resources (ck12.org) or a myriad of online information in free or paid form now allow teachers to add both depth and breadth to their teaching by designing opportunities for learning beyond the typical sit and get classroom. 

For instance, through the use of learning management systems teachers can create online classroom modules that allow for personalized learning. Teachers can assign different students different tasks and resources that best meet the individual needs. By creating robust digital learning environments teachers can put more of the onus of time and task onto the student and use their time more effectively in the classroom for small group or one-on-one instruction. 

This standard also sheds light on the concept of authentic activities for our students. As a Learning Catalyst Designer educators should be looking for opportunities to create inquiry-based, problem/project base learning opportunities for their students. Today's technology allows classrooms to have experiences that were not possible 2 decades ago. The ubiquitous nature of information creates ease of access and opportunity in a tech rich environment. Today's educator can design classroom experiences that taps into this information and allows for learner variability as well as voice in choice in their pathways of learning. 

What is Digital Pedagogy?

Lately my mind has been wrapping itself around how instructional practice has changed due to digital  instruction. I myself have said the words "Pedagogy before technology" hundred of times. But lately I fine myself personally redefining what "best practice" teaching looks like in a classroom rich with technology. What once was pedagogy now seems better defined as digital pedagogy for classrooms with the advantages of easily accessible technology tools. Bear with me as I stumble through this post...my first thought was to google what others see as best practice digital pedagogy but I decided that wasn't being true to myself so I am stumbling through this thought via this blog post and really hope for feedback to flesh this out further.

According to Merriam-Webster pedagogy is defined as "the art, science, or profession of teaching, especially: Education" (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pedagogy). Pedagogy is one of those words that is pulled out when plans don't seem traditionally grounded, rigorously based, or founded on accepted principals of teaching and learning. Teachers learn about pedagogy in their educational training in college and then they are observed in practice while teaching to make sure they are following good pedagogical practices. The thing is, that can be defined differently depending on the school you went to, the training you've received, the results you've seen in the classroom. On top of that, good pedagogy is changing depending on the availability of technology in the classroom. Technology availability is changing what good pedagogy looks like and not taking advantage of the technology opportunities in itself can be poor pedagogy.

So in my mind I have broken up what good digital pedagogy looks like into the following sections:

• Digital Learning Environments - We spend a lot of time looking at what our classrooms look like (and we should) but technology integrated in the classroom also looks different due to the need to move around the classroom to monitor for off-task behavior. A digital learning environment also means that students have access to resources digitally as well. Learning objectives shouldn't just be written on the board each day but in a Learning Management System that allows students to access if they are absent, behind, need to study, or even to move forward in the curriculum at hand. Good digital pedagogy means that educators are taking advantage of technology to best meet the needs of all students. It means creating a curated list of additional helps for access. It means well planned units that intentionally use helpful technology to engage students in curation, creation, connection, and consumption in this digital age. 
• Personalized Learning - The educational system we currently know came about during the industrial age when students were grouped by age and ability. These students were all taught the same things, the same way to best get them through the system. Technology allows us better meet the needs of each student due to various opportunities that educational technology can give like the following:
• Intuitive, smart technology software- adjusts to students' learning and keeps them both engaged and challenged.
• Blended learning opportunities- creates stations that allows teachers to work in small group/individual settings to better meet the individualized needs of the students
• Online learning - Creating curriculum that is mostly or totally online allows students to work at their own pace and reach out to facilitating teachers when struggling with concepts or needing to set learning goals
• Leveraging Data - Today's technology makes formative and summative assessment easier to connect with standards and to measure ongoing competency in student/class/grade level/school growth. This data also helps in the concept of personalized learning. It wasn't always easy to discern what concepts students didn't understand. Now software can do the algorithms for us and create paths to better help teachers and students in learning tasks. For instance, I noticed this September after our elementary students took their NWEA assessment, the software itself assessed the gaps and made suggestions to teachers for each student in regards to what areas of learning might need some scaffolding in place. 
• Culture of Innovation - Good digital pedagogy means looking for ways to be innovative in the classroom. I have always defined innovation as the intersection where need and passion intercept under an umbrella of creativity. Innovation often happens as that nagging in the back of good educator's heads that keep them up at night. It's wanting to the interactions between students and learning to click for everyone and looking for ways to make that happen. Innovation isn't always digital but it is always disruptive. It's tapping into a growth mindset and looking for better ways to do things. It doesn't mean throwing out the old, it means adopting the contemporary, keeping the classical, and ditching the antiquated. 
• Empowered Digital Citizen - Digital pedagogy means empowering students to learn how to use technology ethically, safely, and legally. It also means teaching our students how to leverage technology for their learning both now and in their future when they are not in our care. We must teach our students and teachers that we are digital stewards of the world we live in. The concept of stewardship includes both taking (consumption and curation) of information as well as adding value to our digital world (creation and connection). 

I realize these four points are very broad in nature but it is my opinion that a good pedagogy in today's digital landscape must have expectations placed upon them or we can't call it pedagogy at all. Technology changes what pedagogy is because it allows educators to measure, create, empower, and personalize for each student we teach...not the average, not the upper curve, or the lower curve but to everyone. We are in an age of education that the expectations are changing because the ability to both know and teach to the individuals in our classroom is now possible. We must tap into these educational technology tools and digital learning environments to best reach our student's capacity for learning. 

Taking Personalized Learning Personal

When I think about personalized learning I see two faces- my own girls. One daughter is a junior in college and the other is a senior in high school. They will both be graduates at the school I have been an educator at for the last 13 years. All through their k-12 educational experience they struggled with math. On and off (more on than off) I hired tutors to help them to feel more confident in the math classes they took. With tutors in their life studying for exams became less tearful. I couldn’t help but ask myself “how is the current system of math instruction not working for my girls and other students like them?” “Why do my girls not understand concepts in class?” When I think of personalized learning, I see my girls and what it could have done for them to make them feel like more confident learners.

As an instructional technologist for my school system I am constantly looking for innovative ways to enhance learning and help teachers become more effective. An opportunity was placed before me that has caused me to become a champion for personalized learning like never before. Three schools across the United States were coming together to look for ways to lower the cost of education through a blended learning math prototype. I was asked to be a part of this pilot as technology support. Our school, in Chattanooga, Tennessee would be a trailblazer.

It started simply with a below average 5th grade math class. The teacher felt overwhelmed by their lack of progress. We turned it into a blended learning station rotation class with the use of technology to fill gaps. The increase in test scores were phenomenal but what stuck with me was the confidence building I saw. I wanted to baby step into blended learning- this is what transpired: https://youtu.be/q_bk38syWfE

In 2015 those three schools came together to prototype blended learning math using the model of a lead teacher and paraprofessionals in the classroom. Each school looked at it a bit differently due to individuality of the schools. For Chattanooga Christian School, our teachers started off in a blended learning station rotation model with modality stations such as teacher instructed, hands on, technology instruction, gaming, inquiry based.

Our teachers created icons to help students navigate the day for movement in the classroom. They also used a LMS for instructions. It didn’t take long for the educators in the classroom to see they had students that could move forward and some that needed additional time. They decided to allow for personalized learning to take place with some constraints as far as pacing. Those moving ahead were often given opportunities to go deeper and those lagging behind were given calendar dates to get things done by.  It wasn’t an easy year. At the end of the year the lead teacher looked at me and said, “I’ve been teaching for 17 years and I never saw the cracks that my students were falling through. Please don’t make me go back to teaching traditionally again.” It still gives me goosebumps. Especially considering I thought she might quit on me at any moment during the school year! Here are testimonials from 2 students: https://youtu.be/XQFBb6Nmmug

In the 2016-2017 school year we are in year two of the prototype with two school systems still involved and 40 students in the classrooms with one lead teacher and 2 para-professionals. The educators in the room have found a rhythm and other math teachers are questioning positively “what’s happening in that room and how can I be a part of it?” I believe in personalized learning and think that maybe some students might become confident math learners because of the trailblazing these amazing teachers are doing at our school. I believe the culture of being grade driven students is changing to competency driven in this pilot. I believe these students have been given a glimpse at being in charge of their path of learning and seeing it for the process it is. I'm interested to see where the future takes us.

Why Not Personalization? Why not blend?

As technology creates opportunities for us to be more aware of the cracks that individual students are falling through, the question remains...why aren't we personalizing the education of our students more? Why aren't we using blended learning to better meet the needs of our students?

In a world where intuitive software is becoming smarter and smarter and less expensive, we have the ability to allow students to "practice" problem solving without feeling overwhelmed. What does that mean? When I was in school I remember melting down when I didn't understand a math concept at home but my homework was "do the odd problems on page 82." Everyone knew the answers to the even problems were in the back of the book so even if I had to show my work, I knew I could at least see if I got the right answer when I was done. But what about those nights when I didn't have a clue where to start? I would go to school the next day having done 20 problems all wrong. I would get a zero on my homework and I had done enough problems that I had created a "habit" of how to do it in my head, albeit the wrong way. Intuitive software changes that. It gives students a practice question and if they get it wrong it often shows them the correct way and also gives them an easier question to get back to what they do know and work forward again.

In some classes this is easier than others- math, sciences, anything that can be learned one way can be learned with this method. We all know that there is more to real teaching than this though. The beauty of technology today is this type of environment allows more time for the teachers to dig deeper with their students and help them to think more critically about the subject matter.

Personalized learning starts putting the onus on the student. Students begin to learn how they learn. They see that they can't just skim through things and take a quiz. They start learning how much time it typically takes for them to get a concept. And if students are learning from different modalities (differentiated modes of instruction), they also start to understand which forms of instruction best meet their learning styles. Owning this isn't easy for a student. We have conditioned students to "sit and get." "Tell me what I need to know so I can regurgitate it back to you." But what value it is to show a student how to learn! 

According to NEA, by 1930 multiple-choice tests were firmly entrenched in the education world. The reason being there needed to be efficiency and objectivity (http://www.nea.org/home/66139.htm). And I agree that both are highly valued in the education arena. But as we see a way to have those efficiencies and yet still meet the needs of the individual student, why are we not moving towards this more rapidly? One reason is the time and prep it takes on the teacher's side for this to be effectively managed from their viewpoint. Another reason is no major shift in education happens overnight.

For three years I have been watching personalization on some level start to happen at our school. I hear students learning more about themselves, seeing themselves as having potential when they didn't in the past. I see teachers seeing the value of personalization because they would have never have noticed the gaps in individual student's learning in a traditional classroom setting.

It is my desire to work to find solutions to make this process more mainstream for the educator. It is my desire to create efficiencies using innovation to better meet the needs of the teacher and the student so that personalization can be more of a realtime advantage for our students. I literally lay in bed at night trying to think of ways to do this. Call it passion if you want to but once you see the benefits in action, it's hard to ignore the fact that all students don't learn on the same timeline nor in the same way. Technology has the ability for us to work inside new boundaries...broader boundaries...in ways we have never been able to do before.

"Edcamp Style" PD- Personalizing teacher learning on a required PD day!

Last year our school had the opportunity to host Chattanooga's EdcampGigcity. Several of the elementary teachers at our school attended and many plan on attending again. After the experience it allowed the lower school curriculum coordinator and myself (lower school technology coordinator) to rethink some of our professional development days. On one day in August before the students came, and again in January of this year we set up Edcamp style PD days.

I am thankful for a curriculum coordinator that I work well with. She is someone that sees the value technology can add to the classroom and looks for ways to enhance learning in many different ways. While our PD days weren't like the traditional Edcamp style (we actually came up with the choices instead of the teachers making the choices), the teachers found the days to be useful.

So how did we decide what the session offerings should be and what did this look like?

• We both spend a lot of time with teachers and learn what their needs are. Many of our sessions were based on things teachers had asked us questions about.
• We have exemplary teachers using tools or creating environments that work. We asked those teachers to lead a session to showcase how they do things in their classroom. Two things happen when you do this:
• Teachers feel affirmed as educators by asking them to lead a session.
• Other teachers feel more comfortable asking questions and learning more from a peer because of the strong relationship bonds that already exist. Hearing "this is a good practice/tool" from a teacher already implementing is more effective than hearing it from myself or the curriculum coordinator that aren't using it practically.
• As the technology coordinator, I used it as a time to introduce new tools and practical ways to use them that would be beneficial for all grade levels in an elementary setting.

We then shared a version of this document below (see red) a day beforehand and asked teachers to think about which sessions would be the most useful for them. We even suggested that someone from each grade level attend different sessions so they could share the information with each other later but this was not a requirement.

                                         A Room               B Room                  C Room

9:00-9:30	RenWeb 1- Steve	Q & A on Integrated Units- Elaine	4 Cs of Tech Integration- Julie
9:35-10:05	Small Math Groups- Carie	Brain Pop- Myra	See Saw- Leigh Ann
10:10-10:40	Problem Based Learning in Math- Craig	Reading groups- Beth Ann	Book Talks- Sara
10:45-11:15	NWEA Resources- Allison	Small Math Groups- Carie	Formative Assessment with Technology-  Julie
11:20-12:00	Reading Groups- Beth  Ann	Positive Behavior Supports- Shonda	Mystery Skype- Julie

Session 1 Descriptions

RenWeb 1- Intro to the cloud-based version of our grade book system.

Q & A on Integrated Units-

We have spent the first half of this year mapping your Social Studies and Science units. During this session, you may ask questions or discuss ideas about the work which has been completed so far and the next steps in the integration process. There will also be five integrated unit notebooks for you to examine. These completed units offer examples of enduring understandings, essential questions, approaches on how to plan a unit map, Biblical themes, performance tasks, and culminating activities.

4 Cs of Tech- We will discuss four different ways to integrate technology into your classroom- CONSUMPTION (i.e.- reading and watching opportunities), CONNECTION (collaboration opportunities), CURATION (research and finding good information), and CREATION (presentation opportunities). I will give you examples of apps and websites to be used in the classroom that represent each of the 4 C’s..

Session 2 Descriptions

Small Math groups-

This session will discuss the benefits of teaching small group math.  We will discuss tips on how to manage your rotations and utilize your math time in the most efficient way.

Brain Pop-

This session will be an overview of the features found on BrainPOP. We’ll take a quick look at units and topics covered, as well as support materials: videos, quizzes, games, activity pages, graphic organizers, and the informational text feature.

SeeSaw- learn how Leigh Ann is using Seesaw learning journal app in her classroom. It's great to keep track of student work in one place, for students to reflect on work, and for you to easily look through. You can even share it with the parents. So easy first graders can use it but it is also even being used in eighth grade!

Session 3 Descriptions

Problem Based Learning in Math-  Quickly review what “Problem-Based Learning” is and the purpose of it.  Teachers will build capacity in strategically planning and implementing daily problem solving opportunities for all students, as we look at a 6-step process for planning for the “Problem-Based Learning” portion of a lesson.

Reading Groups-

You (really) can do it all!  Really!   We all know we feel crunched to make everything happen during a Guided Reading group.  We will discuss time management and the necessary skills that will allow even the shortest amount of time to be beneficial with individualized learning.

Book Talks -

This session will introduce or reintroduce you to the concept of Book Talks, especially as it pertains to a Reader’s Workshop model.

Session 4 Descriptions

Positive Behavior Supports for the Classroom

In this session we will discuss the principles of applied behavior analysis (ABA).  Do you know the difference between negative reinforcement and punishment?  These two concepts are often confused and are important to understand when determining the function of a behavior. We will discuss Functional Behavior Assessment and how it can be used as a powerful tool in the classroom. We will also discuss how to use these methods of training to encourage our students as they seek to serve Christ and His Kingdom.

Small Math Groups-

This session will discuss the benefits of teaching small group math.  We will discuss tips on how to manage your rotations and utilize your math time in the most efficient way.

Formative Assessments with Technology- Wouldn’t it be nice to know if your students got a concept you just taught? We will learn about a variety of different formative assessment tools that can give you immediate feedback from your students. This could mean less grading for you and a faster turn around on knowing what your students have actually learned! Win/win.

Session 5 Descriptions

Reading Groups-

You (really) can do it all!  Really!   We all know we feel crunched to make everything happen during a Guided Reading group.  We will discuss time management and the necessary skills that will allow even the shortest amount of time to be beneficial with individualized learning.

NWEA Resources-  Please bring your laptop and explore the NWEA website for all the resources available to help guide your instruction for your students.

Mystery Skype- Looking for ways to teach geography and connect with the world at large? Mystery skype! We will discuss how to lead your students to ask good questions, how to connect the lesson to other things you are learning in the classroom, and how to lead your students to have a global mindset in their world! We will even get the opportunity to try it out.

As you can see there were a variety of different voices sharing that day. This way even teachers that could share had the opportunity to also attend sessions as well. We asked our math interventionist, reading interventionist, IT director, exceptional education director all to be a part of this day.

I have definitely seen positive results from this. I have had one teacher in particular that followed up with me after sitting through all of my sessions and let me know how successful the use of Seesaw and Kahoot has been in his classroom. While this might be 100% personalized learning, it did give our teachers some voice and choice opportunities in what they felt might be most useful for them.

10 Keys to Success in Blended Learning

This blog post originally appeared in the www.ditchthattextbook.com blog. After meeting Matt Miller at ISTE 2015 and interacting with him on Twitter, it was an honor and a privilege to say yes to his guest blogging opportunity.

The original post cane be accessed at this link: http://ditchthattextbook.com/2015/12/28/10-keys-to-success-in-blended-learning/#more-3735

What if Blobla DID look at us based on an algorithm?

So have you been on Facebook and seen the "Bill the Stickman" app by en.blobla.com? It keeps appearing over and over on my newsfeed. Occasionally I also see a little parody of it or frustration with it as well. BUT, I had to try it. Mainly because the edtech educator in me needed to see if it was algorithm driven. Was it really looking at my posts, friends, etc and deciding what to say about me? Obviously with the post on the right, I immediately thought it was a data driven algorithm. I found myself running it again, again, and again and finally realized it was just a random assigner of silliness. BUT, what if it actually ran on an algorithm? Before I realized it wasn't algorithm based, I would click and find myself looking hard at myself about the results. "I don't click like on friends photos just because they don't have many likes, do I?" "I don't just hate everyone, do I?" Forgive me as I chase this bunny down a trail but algorithms are so wonderfully interesting to me. In this case, what if it allowed me to take off the rose colored glasses in the way I see myself and truly see myself as others see me based on data? Would that be a good thing? Could I grow from that? Would it make me feel like sitting in a corner and sucking my thumb because I realize I am much more fake than I really want to admit? AND WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH AN EDTECH BLOG POST?

Ahhh...I'm getting there, I promise. "Big data" gets a bad rep at times. The educational industry is so enamored with data points from testing- and yes, I agree we are in an over testing culture right now, but what if these algorithms could lead us to personalize learning? I think it's the future of education. We are already seeing it happen within some software/app options, for instance Dreambox Learning and Mangahigh both have created intuitive environments that adjust to student learning. If a student gets one question right, he keeps being challenged with a progression of harder questions. If a student gets a question wrong, the student gets an easier question so as not to overwhelm the learner with a sense of failure but to keep them active and progressing just the same. At our school we are using a LMS called Edify and it has the ability to suggest to a student relevant learning aids (videos, etc) after taking an assessment. This is based on what that student is still struggling with. These examples are the beginning threshold of algorithms that help us with personalized learning.

See if you can wrap your head around this... 25 students in a class taking assessments that tell them and their teacher what their best learning styles are, what they still struggle with, who they best learn with (collaboration efforts), what days are harder for them to learn on, if they need to be challenged by a new modality, if the lesson will be a struggle or a challenge. The options could go on and on. The next day the teacher has looked at the data from the day before and knows where 8th grader Annika should sit, what modality she should be taught with, etc. Algorithms could do that. Could they replace the teacher? Not well. But what if it helped the teacher affirm they are doing everything in their power to meet the needs of that student? That's student-driven. Big data and the way we are seeing it being used to pour kids into boxes that place them into categories are scary but what if big data meant meeting an individual kid's needs better than ever before. I believe this is the not so distant future of edtech.

The question becomes how do we harness the power? How do we, as educators, use the ability without losing the relational aspects of school? As I look at our school's blended learning prototype this year I see so much potential. I see technology allowing teachers the ability to have more 1 on 1 and small group instruction time to build relationships with their students. I believe beyond a shadow of a doubt we are on the cusp of innovational educational change. Is it scary? Yes! Even for someone like me that is excited about it. I fear it being used wrongly, I fear it being depended on too deeply, I fear administrators thinking that relationships aren't that important and instead of it becoming a change agent for engagement between teachers/students it becomes another step towards "mill-based everyone looks the same, come in and get it done and graduate education." But I don't think educators will let that happen. I leave you with this Twitter post I saw today that makes me believe that teachers will choose to empower their students for lifelong learning as they begin to see the options and opportunities open up before their eyes.

The Four P's- The Future of Edtech

At the ending keynote for the Tennessee Education Technology Convention (TETC) this week, Kathy Schrock left me thinking about the four P's that she said might exemplify the future of educational technology. I've found myself thinking about what this looks like from an instructional technologists viewpoint, from the eyes of future students, and from the perspective of the classroom teachers. It will effect the technologists, students and teachers differently. Some will be changes that are readily embraced, some will be cause for concern, some will just happen but we will all have judgment- because that is human nature.

Personalization- This is the "P" that resonates the loudest with me right now. It appears I'm already on the edge of this one with a math prototype project I am involved with. At TETC I offered a session on "The Benefits of Blended Learning Math Instruction." To be honest, I had a fear I would be speaking to 5 people and it would be a total flop because "who cares?" Imagine my surprise when it was standing room only! Imagine even more surprise when the realization came that we are fairly innovative in this project compared to many of the participants of the session. Adoption of a blended learning classroom is just now becoming less trendy and more commonplace. To me, one of the most surprising things about our station rotation blended learning model adoption has been how quickly it could have morphed into personalized learning for each child to meet their needs where they are. Current technology trends allow for real-time data, ease of assessment, and the ability to let a student move at their own pace. Educational technology resources are getting better and better- the future will make learning less like educational mills and more specialized to meet the needs of each child and prepare them in the path they choice earlier than ever before. Is this good or bad? Only time will tell.

Programmable- Last week there was a huge push in the educational technology world for students everywhere to participate in the Hour of Code. "The Hour of Code is a global movement reaching tens of millions of students in 180+ countries. Anyone, anywhere can organize an Hour of Code event" (www.hourofcode.org). The uprise of teaching coding has inspired the growth of robotics in schools, it has pushed the trend towards STEM in the school systems, and created a culture where the idea of computer science is cool and acceptable. Critical thinking coding apps such as minecraft have revolutionized what is "fun" for students to do. Our future classrooms will include more opportunities for programmable endeavors as it enters makerspaces, science classrooms, and math instruction. Programmable options will make educational technology more hands-on than ever before. As the cost of options like make-makey, sphero, and drones decrease the mainstream use of them in the classroom will increase. Everyone will become a computer programmer. Students will be creating apps themselves, websites for both personal and educational reasons, and it will become another "presentation" choice of the future. Will coding be recognized as an option for language credit for high school students? Only time will tell.

Participatory- There are many different directions the term "participatory" could go in terms of the future of educational technology but here is one area that excites me as an instructional technologist: Having the ability to speak into the creation of websites and apps for educational purposes. In the last 3 years I have been amazed at the immediate feedback I've received from app makers and website creators when I have questions, concerns, or suggestions. Never before have every day educators had the ability to speak into making tools better for our students and ourselves. Just like the fact student learning is becoming more personalized, technology for teachers is becoming more personalized as well. I feel this will give educators everywhere the ability to meet the needs of their students better because they are given a voice in the creation of technology tools. 

From a students viewpoint, educational technology will no longer just be a "sit and get" option of watching a lecture via a PowerPoint presentation by their teacher. As educational technology options evolve to be more creative, helpful, and well written, and less expensive teachers will continue to adapt and adopt options that allow students control over the path of their learning. Students will participate in the path of their learning because teachers will no longer feel the need to be the sage on the stage. Teachers will see that their student's worlds can reach beyond the four walls of their classrooms and they will learn to give control over the learning process to their students. Students will participate in the curation of information like never before. Will lesson plans look the same from year to year if this is the case? Only time will tell. 

Predictive- My phone already predicts who I might want to communicate with next. Amazon already guesses what I might want to buy based on my previous searches and buys. The future of edtech will be algorithm driven. Teachers will not only know how students learn best but the software options themselves will know what the students need to know next. This makes the idea of personalized learning even easier. Teachers will become less "givers of knowledge" and more "facilitators of learning." Will there be a need for educators as we know them? This is probably the most controversial question that I've listed. I do believe educators will have to adapt and be trained differently than the past. Only time will tell.

As I think on each of these four P words, I see an intertwining of them all with each other. While each word could be pulled apart and dissected in numerous ways, I feel it is important to look at them from a big picture approach to see the biggest P word of them all...POSSIBILITIES!

Personalized Learning Misconceptions

"Personalized learning doesn't mean there aren't learning goals and benchmarks it just means it isn't cookie cutter #whatisschool"

The above quote came from me during a recent Twitter chat I participated in as people very hippy-like said "give students control over their learning," "no one wants someone to tell them what to learn."

Misconception #1- Personalized learning doesn't mean a free for all within an organized learning environment such as "school"; It means educators guiding the path of learning for students but allowing those students to have more control over pace and passions through a variety of different levels of choice. Depending on the needs of the student and the environment, it may not mean complete control over pace and passions. Blended learning can look differently for different situations.

Misconception #2- Personalized learning means less teacher interaction. I think it would be safe to say that more than ever before, we are seeing the individual student's needs due to our blended learning classroom. More small group instruction and data from technology-based applications means knowing what makes your students tick, what is their struggles, and how their day is going more than ever happened in a traditional classroom. Personalized learning means instructors have to know the person.

Misconception #3- Personalized learning means students easily adapt to this mode of learning- not necessarily. For most students, they have learned in a traditional way in schools. Teachers stand in the front, give information, students curate the information, practice it doing homework, are tested on it and regardless of knowledge gained- the next lesson begins. Personalized learning means helping that student learn concepts until they learn them. Pushing them more, expecting more, "making" them be in control of their learning. It's a hard change to more personal accountability for some students. It's not easier for some kids, especially in the beginning- change from the norm is hard.

Misconception #4- Personalized learning means a teacher isn't needed because a computer can replace the instructor. Great personalized learning happens when novices at learning are guided by instructors that care. I watch our instructors searching for best resources, interacting in small groups with likeminded students, and creating videos for students to watch again and again for multiple step problems. I see them care if these students progress. I see them lament on the lagging ones- on how to meet their needs. I see them struggle with the fact they might have a student outpace them and become more dependent on other things for instruction. I see our instructors keep an eye on these personalized learners to make sure true learning is happening. That can't be replaced in a classroom.

What About Blended Learning?

As we are now 4 weeks into an eighth grade math blended learning prototype at our school we are hearing things, we are experiencing things, and we are learning things. We've started, adjusted, moved forward, and camped in place for a few days. We've listened, we've researched, we've visited, we've adapted. These are things teachers do in any class- whether traditional or blended. Good teachers adjust their teaching to their students needs. As a technology coordinator, this is what I have learned 4 weeks in:

1. A need to explain expectations well. Our students are submerged in a traditional school environment, this model of learning is very different for them. Being in control of their pace, learning that homework doesn't necessarily happen with pencil and paper, and using time in class wisely have been either new concepts or concepts being leaned on more heavily than ever before. Some of these kids seem to have the "mind blown" look in their eyes as they enter into a collaborative-based learning environment with strange looking desks, 3 teachers in a classroom, stations, and technology.

• We thought we would just let these students be "self-paced" and we may eventually get there but we quickly learned that eighth graders need CHECKPOINT EXPECTATION STRUCTURE. Perhaps it's because it's all new but we have set some progress check points so that we can make sure they are on track.
• Some zeroes had to be placed in the grade book to remind students "this is for real." They are adjusting, but just like a traditional classroom some kids lag behind based on bad priorities of getting things done- not just ability. Those things are being addressed.

2. Pacebreakers are seen quickly. The ones that struggle to understand and the ones that can just go on ahead show themselves and their learning can be adjusted for much earlier in the classroom than in a traditional environment. Coming up with a plan has been a bit more tricky because this is a prototype and there is no "plan" for those with the ability to zoom beyond Intro To Algebra within the year and we have to keep the stragglers on target to finish the class in the school year as well.

• Having 3 adults in the classroom has made it easier to small group instruct those students that need additional help. The adults have also taken advantage of some available daily RTI time built into the school day.
• Using technology has allowed students to move ahead a bit from the pack as well. In a traditional setting, these students would be sitting there waiting for the teacher to address the issues for the majority of the class and they wouldn't have had the ability to do anything but wait and possibly aid their friends in peer-to-peer tutoring. These students can also have the ability to go a bit deeper with projects or tasks that show critical thinking of concepts beyond the norm.

3. A base for good resources is a must. Giving teachers time to create their own videos, places to go to look for additional resources, and a flexible budget to adjust to standards is needed. For instance, we have been using Khan Academy as one of our main technology-based instructional options but the upcoming unit doesn't seem to have as many good videos and problems as we have had for the last 2 units. We plan to adjust by buying something. 

• Last year, before the project was actually being implemented I spent some time looking into various technology-based options. This list came from that research but I find it to be ever changing with the hardest problem being me finding the time to research more and more. 
• Using something like educanon.com or edpuzzle.com to take a pre-made video resource and allow the teacher to personalize it is also a great way to personalize resources for a certain environment.

4. Standards-based assessment with blended learning could open the door for true personalized learning to happen and for future teachers to know exactly where the gaps are for students next year as they could see "this student is not proficient in these concepts" or "this student is proficient beyond the concepts of this class, dig deeper!"

• Using a new LMS called Edify has had its challenges but what we are seeing is what value there is in standard-based assessments. We now know what concept a student still isn't getting with a quick look instead of just seeing a grade. While we have not been able to use this to it's full potential, I see amazing capabilities. 
• We have to start with the standards and work backwards, not start with a curriculum and work towards the standard. Expecting teachers to work from a curriculum forward greatly increases the amount of work they have to do to reap the benefits of standards-based learning.
• With standards-based learning, the next teacher would know exactly what concepts a student struggles with not just "Suzie is historically a C+ student." Standards-based learning is a longterm continuous key to personalized learning for each student throughout their educational life if handled appropriately. While we aren't "there," I want us to be there and reap the benefits! 

Looking forward to what this means for the future!

Julie Davis: Blending Classroom Learning Since 2007.

If you are old like me and learned how to type on an IBM Selectric (or something like that), you remember your typing teacher standing in the front of the classroom saying something like..."A, A, A, A, S, S, S, S, D, D, D, D, F, F, F, F" and so on for a monotonous 50 minutes of instruction. I can still hear Mrs. Pendergrass droning off all the letters as she multitasked from doing it for so many years.

Fast forward to 2006ish: I started teaching keyboarding to elementary students at my current school. Their form of instruction looked a bit different- instead of me droning the letters for them to type, my students worked in "Type to Learn Jr.," "Type to Learn," or "New Keys for Kids." I sat in the back of the room and worked on things for other classes and walked around the class making sure the students were on task and typing with the correct fingers. It drove me insane! I was bored out of my mind as a teacher and I had very little interaction with my students. So I made a change.

I googled other options for ways of teaching keyboarding and I was intrigued by a method I found that was targeting special populations to boost their writing skills. I bought the Diana King: Keyboarding Skills book and quickly realized I did not want the book to become the instructor but there was a section in it that book that kept my (and other educators) attention. I adopted, and then adapted, the alphabetic sequencing "jingle" written in the book as one of the ways I would instruct the students as well.

Like any teacher worth their salt,  I always wondered which form of instruction worked the best for my students. In 2006 I had to choose a research project for my masters degree in Instructional Technology. At that time,  I taught 3 sections of grade 1-5 once a week, a grade a day. It was time to actually test to see what method of learning worked best.

I took one grade level and taught the class three different ways:

• Class A was taught using instructional technology only (Type to Learn)
• Class B was taught using a teacher-led approach only (Diana King Method Jingle)
• Class C was taught using a combination of the above (Blended Learning)

After  several weeks of instruction, students were then evaluated/tested to see which method (if any) showed the greatest WPM (words per minute) for these students. I then ran the data through the available statistical software and with the help of my statistics professor (because I was clueless on reading the data), I found that only class C (Blended Learning) showed a significant positive effect on student learning. It was 2007- for the next 4 years I taught using that method whenever I taught keyboarding.

Blended learning is getting a lot of attention these days as teachers are seeing more and more significantly good options for using technology as a teaching tool enter the market. Quite honestly, it is no surprise to me. I ran the data years ago. 

As the school year starts in a few days, I look forward to helping teachers blend their classroom. I believe technology will never replace the value of a great teacher and the emotional and social  interactions they share with their students. I do believe good teachers are learning every day that there are technology options to help them better their classrooms by personalizing the needs of their students through differentiation and the ability to self-pace. I am looking forward to being a part of this process!

Why Was Doogie Howser An Anomaly?

Remember Doogie Howser, M.D. of the late 1980's early 1990's television world? According to the world of wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doogie_Howser,_M.D.), he graduated from Princeton at age 10 and finished med school four years later. We watched each week as this phenomenal surgeon was dealing with teenage acne, typical teen best friend goofballs, and first girlfriends while prescribing drugs and working heroically in the medical world as the country's youngest licensed doctor. As a kid of the 80's I was drawn to this larger than life character that didn't seem plausible...or did it?

One thing I look back at now as "telling" of the TV show was that Doogie kept an ongoing journal on his computer. Most episodes typically ended with him entering an entry on his computer. In an age where computer technology was just finding it's niche in the world, it makes this EdTech person's heart happy when I think on this. It also leads me to this blog post.

Should Doogie Howser's really be an anomaly in today's world? Granted there are social, emotional, economical, and educational ramifications of the EXTREME example of Doogie but the question remains, are we holding our students back in our typical ways of teaching? I watch these days as my friends that homeschool their children often send their kids on to college at age 16 ready for their next adventure. I see students I teach that could probably "test out" of some classes they are required to take just because that's what the rules say. I see required "seat time" as a help to education systems but a hindrance to some actual children.

In today's world with the availability of learning and teaching within our grasp 24/7 due to online learning possibilities that are both structured or unstructured, do we have a responsibility as educators to change the way we educate? Do we break down the walls of age-based grade levels? Do we allow students (and their families) to be more in charge of their path of learning? Do we adapt and adopt personalized learning plans for every child we educate not just the ones with special needs?

It's a can of worms. We, as educators fear it because we loose control. Can it even be managed? If this idea was adopted, there wouldn't be any "cookie cutter curriculums." Does that make education more or less expensive? Does that make schools as we know them obsolete? And then what do we do with the kid that finishes "Physics" in the first quarter that is sitting next to the kid that doesn't finish it by the end of the school year. Thinking about the what if's is overwhelming but are we really best meeting our students' needs teaching the way we have always taught when the greater possibilities for growth are so easily and cost-effectively accessible in today's world through technology?

I do think Scott McLeod's recent 3 minute video for the ISTE board is spot on... http://dangerouslyirrelevant.org/2015/06/3-minutes-with-the-iste-board.html?utm_content=buffere1f4d&utm_medium=social&utm_source=linkedin.com&utm_campaign=buffer. We must start thinking outside our comfort zones of what education looks like and beyond to visioning what it could look like.

Food for thought.