Steven Spielberg, Dropbox and Me

Both of my posts this week conform to the "down in the trenches" theme of this blog. While I am not slogging it out in the classroom this summer, I am trying to develop actual solutions for real classes, using available technologies. No pontificating guru, I.

Recently I added to my collection of resources for my film class. I've described this process before: I write a script or outline and lay down a soundtrack with GarageBand. I then select jpegs and drop them and the soundtrack into PhotoToMovie. It took about five hours to synch the photos with the sound in the following ten minute movie :



This Speilberg movie has two new elements. Most of the Minority Report stills were captured with Voila. And I completed my work across two computers, using Dropbox. Dropbox is free. As described on its home page, this is what it does:

Put your files into your Dropbox on one computer, and they'll be instantly available on any of your other computers that you've installed Dropbox on (Windows, Mac, and Linux too!). Because a copy of your files are stored on Dropbox's secure servers, you can also access them from any computer or mobile device.

I have already added the link for my Spielberg movie to Moodle. My students will be required to listen to it. I hope you will sample a couple of minutes, voluntarily!

Digital Anthology update

Last year, my major project for the summer was for my AP American Government and Politics class. I posted this plan at that time:

I am using Google Docs to collate my materials. The hyperlink feature (see Hyperlink Heaven) allows me to pull all the resources into one space. After seven years I have a pretty clear idea of the kinds of topics I want to include for my students. As I pull together the resources, I also compose critical thinking topics, which I compose in a different color text)

Next school year, besides saving my students fifty dollars, I will break by anthology into course packs which correspond to each unit. Students will have direct links to the resources with attendant topics to write, vlog, blog about (according to instructions).

The plan succeeded in nearly every respect, and I promoted the concept at MAME 36 and to our school staff on in-service day.

But since the strength of the anthology is its ability to stay current with events, it was time for an update. While I did add materials on the fly during the school year, I usually just bookmarked them for later consideration. By last month the bookmarks had accumulated to over fifty, and I felt like a slacker. But I'm glad that I procrastinated. As I sifted through the bookmarks last week, I found that many of the articles which had seemed very interesting a few months ago, already had lost their zest.

The anthology is organized into seventeen chapters which correspond to our text (available as an ebook of course!). I added material to eight of the chapters and deleted many old pieces, so I am pleased with the new level of currency. But I also have two regrets:

1) I could sense as I was adding some interesting sources to the later chapters of the anthology that they would probably not seem so great when we are finally ready for them in 2011. But the day to day time-consuming tasks of classroom teaching make it pretty difficult to freshen the anthology a priority during the school year.

2) I only added two multi-media resources to the updated anthology. This was also due to very practical reasons-- it is much easier to browse an article than a chunk of television program or a podcast.

Despite these regrets I am happy to share a slice of the 2010-11 Digital Anthology. (The red text describe the assignments which correspond to the resources.)

Chapters 8-10 of Baker's Digital Anthology for AP Gov

Feedback is welcome!

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Screen Capture from MAME 36 "Digital Anthology" presentation.

Experimenting with Assessments

Last school year, I taught six sections of American Government. And I had very positive results with the projects I designed for the class. These resulted in multi media products, presentations, self-reflections and other unconventional means of assessment. Nevertheless, most of the assessment for the class was dominated by a variety of conventional quizzes and tests.

I ended the school year determined to shake this habit. Somewhat cautious (or perhaps practical) by nature, rather than tackle the entire course in one fell swoop, I decided to address the first unit. My first impulse, as usual, was to over-complicate everything. I tried to correct this, but I'm sure I will create plenty of confusion on the first go-round.

Here are the main features:

* Students choose from a menu of assessments.

* Within the conventional testing choices there are options.

* A project assessment (two choices) is available instead of some of the testing.

* A pass/fail pathway is available to a top grade.

* Students can stick with conventional testing if they (or their parents choose).

* Students will track their own progress toward their grades.

Possible Strengths

- The variety of assessments should allow for more individualized personal assessment.

- This should work well as a pilot-- With three classes in the Fall I will generate lots of feedback.

- I think I have come up with a couple of interesting multimedia ideas that are valid tests of authentic knowledge.

Possible Weaknesses

- By only sticking a toe in the water of alternative assessment, I may actually generate little enthusiasm for the alternatives.

- It's still likely to be pretty confusing for students, I'm afraid.

- I want to try this out early in the semester so that I can build upon it if I choose, but the earliness may only compound the confusion.

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Please check out the plan. Feedback of any sort is welcome:

Unit One Assessment Options

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"Studying Hard" Flickr Creative Commons photo by Dean+Barb

Re-imagining Learning in the 21st Century

Last year, Karen Cator was one of the leaders at the 2009 ADE Summer Institute (USA). She led the Challenge Based Learning piece of the Institute. She was hands-on during the process and her conversations with my project group had a terrific impact upon me.

Since then, Karen has become the Director of the Office of Educational Technology at the U.S. Department of Education. Recently Karen spoke at a MacArthur Foundation event at New York City's New School which focused on re-imagining learning for the 21st century. I have included a video of that event. Karen's remarks start at the 4:29 mark.

Karen's theme theme on this occasion was "Re-imagining Learning in the 21st Century". Three points in particular resonated with me:

*The current trends in educational technology are

- Mobility

- Learning outside of formal school

- Proliferation of digital content

- Publication going from print to online

Keys to 21st Century Assessment include:

- Measure what matters

- Embedded assessment

- Real time feedback

- Persistent learning

- Universal design

* And this great quote: "A highly effective teacher is one who is connected-- connected to the data, to the information, to the content and resources. . . connected to experts, and connected to learning environments for themselves and learning experiences for themselves. . . ."

Good stuff. Give Karen a listen. What resonates with you?

Today's Take-out from the Opinion Drive-thru

Today, I'm sharing quotes form three of my go-to sources:

Will Richardson

"We say we want our kids to be problem solvers, but all too often, when faced with the challenges of a changing educational landscape, we don’t offer solutions. Instead, we offer excuses as to why we shouldn’t solve the problem, why it’s better to just keep on keepin’ on. And solving these problems is getting easier and easier, actually, as more and more schools have already done the heavy lifting to find and implement solutions. It’s not like anyone needs to reinvent the wheel any more. And it’s also not like you need a solution overnight, either. Frame the problem, create a timeline and a process, and have at it. If you had say, two years, is there really NO way to solve that access problem?"

Shelly Blake-Plock

(About homework) "The key is in having kids do things outside of class that will complement or drive things within class; problem is that too often homework not only fails to do this, but in fact instills bad habits and resentment towards school in general. As the school-day itself is gradually redefined over the course of the next decade, I do think however that our concept of what exactly homework is will change."

Chip Heath and Dan Heath

"Many leaders pride themselves on setting high-level direction: I'll set the vision and stay out of the details. It is true that a compelling vision is critical . . . . But it is no enough. Big-picture, hands off leadership isn't likely to work in a change situation, because the hardest part of the change-- the paralyzing part-- is precisely in the details."

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"Take Out" with generous permission of americanvirus

I Love Being Lost in La Mancha

Ordinarily creating a study guide for students is a bit of a chore. However, I've always enjoyed fashining guides for my Lit into Film class. When Tom S. and I created the class a few years ago, we both thought it was pretty important that students have a guided viewing of the films, so that they would be prepared for discussion. Since we selected films that we really liked, it was no chore to comb through them for good discussion topics.

Two years ago, I began to convert my guides to Google Docs with hyperlinks, so that they popped out with YouTube and jpeg examples of film techniques that were merely defined in prior semesters. Putting the guides on Google Docs also allowed me to link them easily to Moodle.

This summer I have begun to improve the guides by using the screen capture software, Volia. I recently completed a study guide for Lost in La Mancha, a film directed by Keith Fulton and Louis Pepe which "chronicle[s] the making of a movie that was never actually completed . . . Terry Gilliam's repeated (and repeatedly failed) attempts to bring the story of Don Quixote to the big screen." It's a wonderful documentary, a genre unappreciated by most students.

Voila has permitted me to inch through the film and pull out illustrative images from La Mancha. Viola allows for publishing directly to iPhoto, where I edit them before import the photos into the guide. I am very pleased to show off my handiwork and look forward to more summer fun with Voila:

Lit into Film Study Guide for Lost in La Mancha

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Terry Gilliam on location in Spain-- Voila screen capture from Lost in La Mancha.

So Now, Who Is the Expert?

The Big Sports Story

I have a voracious appetite of for online sports commentary, analysis, and rumors. Recently, whether Michigan State's basketball coach, Tom Izzo, would bolt to coach in the pros was the big story around her. At the news conference where he announced his decision to stay in East Lansing, the university president, A.D. and Coach Izzo all criticized "the media" for its role in hyping the story and running off half-cocked with unfounded rumors during the nine day "Will he or won't he?" drama.

The Old Guard

In response to these cliched jabs at the media, our resident dean of sports writing, Mitch Albom, metaphorically cleared his throat with a large harumph! and took the university to task for its criticism of those in his trade:

Look. An institute of higher learning already should know there is no such thing as a single "media" anymore. You cannot put credible newspapers or television stations in the same sentence as tweeters. You cannot lump legit Internet posts with a blog that begins in some guy's basement.

How ironic. If Albom was not so busy with his "entertainment plus news, traffic, sports and weather" radio show , book signings, etc. he might have noticed that his former sports writing buddies (as well as sportscasters) are hustling to become that blogging and tweeting guy in the basement.

What makes Albom an "expert" whose opinion on the Izzo decision has more value than others? He's a talented writer to be sure, but there is little evidence that he follows sports very closely with all his other lucrative distractions. While others lack the same talent for turning a phrase they have not lost their passion for sports. I'm more interested n their opinions. In this 24/7 news age, no voice should get preference simply because of an appointed position based on past journalistic accomplishments.

A Strained Analogy

What makes for expertise these days? I think about this question a good deal. I encourage my students to venture outside the box for their research, seeking untraditional sources of "expertise" for their CBL projects. My whole concept of M-Hub is premised about the importance of learning how to do this for future careers. Through my own initiative and my personal learning network, I have developed areas of "expertise" in educational technology. I actually have thirty hours of post-masters university work in a degree program in this domain. But the university credits toward a degree-- certainly the traditional way of measuring expertise -- are absolutely worthless compared to what I have learned independently.

So, yes Mitch, you write your column from a traditional perch under the Free Press banner (For all I know, you pounded out the words in your basement). But I no longer recognize your expertise on the day-to-day of sports. And since you don't deign to blog or tweet, I don't really follow you very closely. Perhaps your reputation is secure with all those folks who read ink on paper and see you photo above the fold. Good luck with all that.

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Mitch developing his sports expertise at a Seven People You Meet in Heaven book signing. Flickr CC photo by [James]