Voice and Choice - Dissecting ISTE Standard for Student "Empowered Learner"

ISTE Student Standard #1- Empowered Learner: Students leverage technology to take an active role in choosing, achieving and demonstrating competency in their learning goals, informed by the learning sciences.

The idea of centers is nothing new in education. In fact, if you are an elementary teacher centers/stations are probably a part of your day, every day. They allow you to work with small groups, they allow for embedded movement and centers/stations can be a great way to differentiate. But how often do we let students choose which center/station to learn a concept from? Or even yet, how often do we help students learn which ways they learn best through giving voice and choice of how they learn and feedback to help them think through what works best for them? For most teachers, this isn’t our natural way to teach but with the advent of this thing called the internet, we no longer have to be the imparter of all things known as knowledge in the classroom. Beyond that, we shouldn’t take that role on a regular basis. We should be growing our students into lifelong learners that know how to learn. Is this missing from your classroom?

For more years than less, teachers have spent 7 hours a day teaching all students in their classroom the exact same information knowing that some kids would get it quickly, some kids would eventually get it and some kids would never get it. We learned to teach to the middle. We hope that the quicker learners will help the slower learners as we work the classroom helping the average to slower learners and we have this predictable bell curve every year of what signifies our blood, sweat, and tears in trying to make a difference in this world.

Because of the closeness of information availability, our students no longer have to be completely dependent on the teacher to know the subject matter. The ubiquitousness of technology gives both the educator and the student the ability to consider the educational process differently. Platforms like YouTube and Khan Academy create opportunities for students to learn anytime, anywhere, and pretty much anything. Some students are doing just that. But how do we empower all students to be more involved in their learning path?

This is where giving them voice and choice in their learning process could make a difference. It’s not going to come naturally to them. One would think that when you say “Ok, kiddos you can choose how you want to learn this concept today - here are 3 choices” that they would be like, “finally!” But students are conditioned to learn the way we have taught them all these years. Tell me what I need to know so I can regurgitate it back to you to prove that I was listening in class. I’m not saying teachers don’t try to differentiate the way they instruct but let’s be real, most classes follow a predictable pattern of instruction that would look familiar to anyone walking in the door.

How do we change this? Options. It will take time on your part to create these options but what if students walked into class and there were 3 different stations in the room and they were given a rubric that let them know what they needed to learn that day. Let’s say the lesson was for third graders to learn about Electrical Circuits. You walked into the room and you see:

• Area 1 in the classroom is set up with 9-volt batteries, alligator clips, and a section of Christmas tree lights with one light available. (high tech)
• Area 2 set up with a video cued and ready to go in front of a group of desks. (low tech)
• Area 3 there is a small area in the front of the room where the teacher is waiting to lead a lesson on circuits. (no tech)

In the above case, you are creating voice and choice and have high tech, low tech, and no tech options all in the same lesson. But how can you empower your learners in other ways? 

What are ways you can look at ISTE Student Standard #1 "Students leverage technology to take an active role in choosing, achieving and demonstrating competency in their learning goals, informed by the learning sciences" in your classroom (yes, even a high school classroom) that would allow you to feel like you were introducing or even helping student master the concept of knowing what it means to be an empowered learner? If you are unsure, click on the link in the first line of this post and look at the breakdown of Standard 1, then create an opportunity. 

Other ideas for creating "Empowered Learner" opportunities in the classroom:

What This Instructional Technologist Learned from the MOMO Challenge

Yesterday I spent hours researching a sinister mother bird known as MOMO. This is time I can never get back but the time I felt needed to be spent to best support the families of our school. Trying to discern whether the MOMO Suicide Challenge was real or not. Trying to discern how pervasive the issue really was. Trying to answer emails from concerned parents. Trying to decide how best to communicate with our stakeholders regarding it all. Wavering between "it isn't something to be concerned about" to "yes, it is something to be concerned about" over and over throughout the day.

The frustration over all this is high but it has also been a huge eye-opening learning experience for me. Today, our school sent out this email to families regarding this hot topic. As someone that has lived with suicidal thoughts during a time in my life, I don't take this lightly. That being said, I also believe that social media can cause this to be blown out of proportion and it becomes glamorized. That's my concern.

Here are some interesting thoughts I have had while researching this:

• This is a direct hit to adult responsibility because MOMO is now showing up randomly inside what would be considered kid-friendly videos on YouTube (Peppa the Pig and Fortnite, for instance). When I look around I see adults oftentimes unaware of what children are actually doing on devices. There is a false sense of security and complacency that some adults have accepted that is getting a huge slap in the face.
• I spent hours researching MOMO and I'm still not sure of its initial pervasiveness and impact on society and this worries me as an instructional technologist. 
• Adults seem to be propagating the issue and it's mainly on Facebook. I get it, parents are scared. The MOMO character and it's message should not be heard by anyone but when I ask students what they know about it, most know very little. Facebook is now an adult heavy platform and the fear we are seeing there is not translating into actual issues- at least at our school. The concern is a breeding frenzy. The more we repost and share, the more likely that bad people continue to create bad things. We feed their need to think what they are doing is worthwhile.  
• This is a digital citizenship issue at every level. Yes, there are videos on YouTube that have been created in what I feel is a copycat manner based on the original concept of what purportedly was happing in the WhatsApp messaging app. But if you are allowing your students/children to watch any video of Peppa Pig uploaded by any person, these are pirated videos and the chance of them containing inappropriate information is there. Adults should use this time to model and teach children about looking for ways to view things that take copyright laws into account. If you want to watch a video on YouTube, look for an official owner of that video to see if it exists. If it doesn't, YouTube isn't where you should be going to watch someone's version of a video recording of that streaming TV program. 
•  We are in an era where we cannot just repost and retweet what we see on social media without looking a little deeper. Snopes.com is a great place to check for validity. What we are seeing this week regarding MOMO is lightyears away from what was originally being suggested was happening. It is still horrifying that people are trying to trick small children to watch self-harm videos but we need to be vigilant in knowing we have a responsibility on the information that is actually being shared. 
• Fear causes people to shut down good things. With every good gift that God has given us, there will always be people that use it for sinister plans. YouTube and WhatsApp aren't inherently bad, they just need to be used in appropriate ways. Don't allow evil to win. This is a reminder of the "Blue Whale Challenge." We must be both discerning and vigilant in the way we both address and ignore these type of things within our community.
• This is a great opportunity to talk to children about self-harm and self-awareness. Creating a sense of open communication is important in all aspects of a child's life, not just technology.  
• Lastly, there will be something else. When I was young it was listening to Ozzy Osborn records backward. Recently it was the "Tide Pods Challenge" and the "Blue Whale." As adults, we need to look at the last few days and not immediately repost what we are seeing or assume it is real. This is why it took me days to figure out if this problem was actually immersive or not. Help the world by not feeding the frenzy.