Challenge Projects and Their Unintended Consequences

I have planned and coached several Challenge Based Learning experiences over the last few years.  Since students have so much control over these projects, the direction the teams take vary considerably.  Always for me, the unexpected outcomes provide considerable excitement and anxiety.  Fortunately, I have found that the unexpected successes trump the failures, which is why I continue to forge ahead using the CBL principles.

This semester, I assigned a modified CBL with the following challenge:


Create a video on a policy about which you care, which has measurable impact.

As I told the students, since they were taking a political science course, the most essential (and most difficult) piece of the assignment involved assessment.  And fortunately, all the challenge teams did indeed develop legitimate means of testing for the impact of their messaging.  As I had hoped,  to what they learned through planning, researching and consulting about their survey plans, they gleaned almost as much from the post mortems we conducted after the studies were implemented.

When I issued the challenge, I emphasized that I did not expect the students-- without training-- to produce slick videos.  Nevertheless, each of the teams did significant research on visual messaging.  In fact all three groups consulted with at least one accomplished videographer who reviewed their work during the production.

Consequently, though I was attempting to teach political science, in their reflections, my students learned important information about  video production-- an unanticipated, but valuable outcome.  With their permission I've shared one, below:

Fear and Loathing in Las Videos

Less than two years ago, I made it a personal goal to bring video into my teaching. While I am not exactly a whiz, I can shoot, edit, and post with simple tools like my Flip Mino and iMovie. I also require student created video in all three of my courses.

For the most part, this is all cool. But sometimes, I feel kind of out there alone, floundering around. Since students are used to Skyping, chatting, or creating quick video messages for Facebook with their computer cameras, they don't necessarily arrive to class with high production values for their assignments. As I posted recently, our school has no universal standards for video, so I sort of make them up on the fly.

Colleagues present a different type of frustration. Thanks to the mandate by our administration, each academic department will make a short presentation about their curriculum to the entire staff. Thus, both of my departments have approached me for technical help, so that we can look hip and with it (There is considerable irony in this, since both groups have been slow to embrace techie stuff). Well, I recently made a suggestion to one department and posted in to our ning:

I propose that we include a 4-5 minute video that features the projects we do. . . . .The video would be composed of 40-50 still photographs and a voice-over narration. Each member would identify a cool project he or she does and collect some digital photographs that capture it.. . . . I am willing to edit the video but would like someone else to quilt the narrative pieces together into a whole script. I can then work on cutting down the photos or narration to fit the project.

I suggested we get started immediately. Well, you can still file this one under Procrastination.

Finally, since so many staff members are unfamiliar with actually creating videos themselves they have an anything-is-wonderful level of discernment for student creations. This semester, I have attended two all-school assemblies where student created videos were projected for the entire student body (at the request of adults, I'm sure). They were awful. In one case the editing was sloppy; in another case the sound was dreadful. The problems were so basic that the productions would never have been approved in other mediums. But since they were videos, it was assumed that something sort of YouTubish would communicate to our student body.

All things tech seem to evolve at a glacial pace in education, including minimal expectations.

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"with fear in my eyes . . ." Flickr Creative Commons photo by ifranz

A Simple Video Exercise

In the olden days (two years ago), I required my "Literature into Film" students to write a term paper as their final project. I still require a paper, but it is only one component to a project with four parts. My favorite part is the student created video.

Among their requirements:

* Shoot your review with the library Flip Mino or use a recorder at home. You will be marked down for using a computer camera designed for video chat. *Other production values include minimal ambient noise, no reactions to people off camera, undistracting dress (if informal, chic, not gumpy, informal). No mugging or clowning. Close properly * You may use prompt cards, but do not read a full script (Breezy, informal style). * Don't spend more than the first minute on plot. * Highlight the film's strengths and weaknesses. Be specific. * Conclude with a clear recommendation of the film (You are under no obligation to cheerlead). * Please submit your assignment on a thumb drive in a sealed envelope.

I provide students with some resources related to production values. But as is my custom, I spend very little time in class talking tech. I basically turn them loose and collect the thumb drives on the due date. Check out one of the best efforts from last semester:

Click to visit Whitney's video

This is an English class, so we don't produce our original films. But I think you will agree that that Whitney's production does not pale in comparison to a written assignment..... And the videos are so much more fun to "check"!

Procrastination

Having taught at one school for 35 years, I don't have a broad perspective on the subject of procrastination. But I observe that procrastinating has become a deeply embedded part of my school's culture-- students and adults are rather notorious for waiting until the last minute.

Why blog about such a mundane subject at the Drive-thru? Because multimedia and procrastination are a very bad mix.

I'm thinking of a student group that had all sorts of interesting ideas for expressing information about "equality under the law" on a wiki. They started plans for doing interviews with experts and creating a dramatic enactments on video. None of these came to fruition. They severely underestimated the logistics for achieving their best ideas. Appointments were postponed, technical complications were unanticipated.

Now, before you chalk this up to immaturity, consider this. I've had two academic departments at school approach me about the possibility of helping with video presentation. Cool. I'm glad they see that video can be an attention grabber. But I don't think they appreciate the logistics of making something good. Anyone can turn on a camera. But certainly they don't want to ad lib information about their departments. Who's going to story board this? How may takes will they need? I'm willing to edit their best takes, but not the night before the presentation. As I've warned them, editing is time intensive if you care about production standards.

I'm guessing that at least one of these adult groups goes belly-up with the multimedia. Likely cause of death? Procrastination.

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"07072007012" Flickr Creative Commons Photo by petemaskreplica

CBL Video - A Different Kind of Project

Alissa emphatically points out important differences between an Apple Challenge Based Learning Project and conventional group assignments. Until I tried a CBL, I was always frustrated by the artificiality of "project" assignments which were basically designed by the teacher and completed for the teacher. In those kinds of projects, students simply jump through hoops.

In my government classes I have often tried many different types of current events projects. But the results were often depressingly superficial. This school year I have tried cbls with both my AP and sophomore government classes. As Alissa reflects, the results were refreshingly different.

MACUL Conference Presentation on Challenge Based Learning

I'm the Amway Plaza, today (March 12), presenting for the 2010 MACUL (Michigan Association for Computer Users in Learning) Conference. Here's the description of today's session:

Using Apple’s Challenge-Based Learning to Build Learning networks
Larry Baker, Teacher, Mercy High School

This presentation outlines Apple’s “Challenge Based Learning” as implemented in two courses. CBL is not dependent on specific software/equipment. It fosters authentic learning and leverages technology tools and resources. Students use Web 2.0 for planning, collaborating, and sharing, while seeking solutions. The shift from teacher-learner to co-learners will be examined.

I've been looking forward to this presentation ever since the students completed their presentations in early December. I am going to let their videos and online solutions do much of the talking. Here are many of the presentation resources:

My 2010 MACUL Presentation Slides: Challenge Based Learning

The Challenge Assignment: Create an Authentic Medium for Improving our Democracy

Student Video Interviews: Challenge Based Learning

Student Created Challenge Solution: Gov Love Ning

Student Created Challenge Solution: Operation iVote Demo

Student Created Challenge Solution: The Ideal Voter Site

Student Created Challenge Solution: The Democracy of Tomorrow Site

Student Created Challenge Solution: What Up, Gov! Facebook Group

Apple Computer: Challenge Based Learning

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Screenshot from Apple Keynote created slide Challenge Based Learning presentation

A Virtual Parent-Teacher Conference

I am trying something new on Thursday-- A virtual Parent-Teacher Conference. Since I have been excused to attend and present at the 2010 MACUL Conference , I am improvising.

The Plan

* I collected parent emails from my 130 students. A few weeks ago, I sent a preliminary, "Howdy, I'll be missing....." email and yesterday sent the official email with a link to my virtual PT Conference site.

*At the site (click link at the bottom of post) I placed a video for each course. I also linked the kinds information sheets (pdfs) that I usually hand out in person at the conference.

* I indicated that I would be willing to meet face-to-face, but cautioned that with 130 students that an email or phone call would be more expeditious.

* Understanding that some emails would certainly be misaddressed or go unread, I am leaving a message at my desk, communicating the basic information that was in the email (Click here to see it).

Some thoughts:

*I realize that many parents check in to meet their students' teachers and that a video is a poor substitute.

*On the other hand, a considerable amount of time at the conferences is usually spent on course talking points rather than actual conversation. The web site actually allows me to convey my communications more completely.

*I wanted to create a simple design, so I opted for one web site and one page created with iWeb and hosted on MobileMe), but this means that the videos are slow to load. I wonder how many parents will just skip them as a consequence.

*I think it was smart to keep the design simple, because the first parent to contact me complained that she could not find the hand outs (Can you !).

* I'm sure some parents will give me credit for trying to do a close approximation of a PT Conference. I'm also sure that there will be some annoyance by parents who check grades for the first time on Thursday and find out it won't be easy to get some quick feedback from me. We'll see, and perhaps I will report back at the Drive-thru.

It will be pretty difficult to evaluate the success of my little experiment. I'd welcome feedback from my readers in the form of comments or in a private email.

As with any parent teacher conferences, wish me luck!

Link to Virtual Conferences: Thursday's P.T. Conferences:

Ruminations on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

When I saw the shirt last Saturday at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, I had to have it. And I had to wear it to school at the first opportunity. As reported in I Love My Digital Music:

On the first day of school this year . . . Each of us had to divulge a "secret" about ourselves. I told about my music collection and remarked that... I like my music LOUD. I've now taken this a step further. A good chunk of my music collection accompanies to school in my Macbook Pro. I arrive pretty early this year, and I play my music...loud.

Since posting this, I have gotten into the habit of playing my music pretty loud at every class passing, choosing a song that fits my mood or a theme for the day (e.g., "Taxman" on April 15).

So what does this have to do with educational technology?

Well, this is clearly a case where digital music offers a means of self-expression, while signaling to the kids that my classroom is different and our approach to learning may happen to a different beat.

Secondly, during my three day road trip with my son that ended in Cleveland was a total blast. And part of the fun was posting pictures on Facebook and Flickr, along with a daily reports to friends and family. It was a kick to get so much feedback during the trip and to be welcomed back, today, with remarks from co-workers commenting on my adventure. I love this kind of social media activity.

Finally, the Museum itself, is a wonderfully rich multi-media experience. Tomorrow, I will be talking to my sophs about using media tools to build their wikis and the museum trip has served as great inspiration. The exhibits at the Hall of Fame are so accessible. I saw little kids and old folks in wheel chairs enjoying the music, the films, the sculptures, etc. I watched a terrific 17 minute film that paid tribute to the blues, jazz, and country musicians of rural American who grew the roots of rock n' roll. Other exhibits offered opportunities to learn much more, but I enjoyed thinking of how many thousands of folks would get this lesson in such a vivid way at the museum. Of course the music business lends itself to multi-media exhibition. But think for a moment about how the industry has adapted with technology changes from vinyls, to tape, to CD, to music video, to mp3, etc.

I'm sure that many musicians-- like some teachers-- bemoaned each change as the day the music died. But the beat goes on, doesn't it? And imagine me trying to play a 78 rpm record (loudly!) on my Victrola between every class!

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Photos by Erin K. (3/1/10).

Consumer Technology Revisits My Film Class

I have recently come across two interesting blog posts about streaming video. A recent NYT piece by describes state of the art technology for HD on demand movies. I also read on Mashable that Netflix has recently added three hundred of foreign and indie titles to its rapidly growing number of "instant watching" features.

Now, frankly, I am not eager to move into regular viewing of streaming movies. I like big screen viewing and DVD features. I also don't want to deal with the buffering issues or other baggage the HD streaming technology currently carries with it.

But....my students sure do use streaming video. I am amazed by how many films they are able to track down online -- legitimately posted and otherwise. And I started thinking about how an emerging consumer technology might once again improve the film class I teach.

A few years ago, when I switched from VHS to DVD my entire approach to discussing the films changed too. DVDs made it practical to review several different clips during discussion-- something out of the question with tape due to winding. Nevertheless, I still have to spend the obligatory 2 hours or so (usually three full class periods) in order to watch the entire film in class. In fact, last year, when I decided to add a documentary film to the mix, I bought four discs to loan, so that we didn't have to use precious class time for viewing.

But what if students could obtain all or most the films through a source like Netflix. For a few bucks per month, they could watch the film on home or at during study periods (We are a 1:1 school), and I would suddenly have so much more time. We could actually visit more films and/or consider them in greater depth. Some kind of classroom license for for the service something to dream about as well. That would be pretty awesome for our learners (and would be an opportunity for the providers to introduce their service to consumers).

Ten years from now, the DVDs we now use may seem as quaint as the reel-to-reels that were on the scene when I started teaching. Any thoughts?

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Screen capture of Vudu's home page.

AP Government CBL Student Solution -- A Web Masterpiece

In my last post, when we visited The Ideal Voter, I did not mention that the group had been completely intimidated the day before revealing their beautiful site, because the Democracy of Tomorrow group had stunned us all with a finished product that surpassed our wildest dreams. I tweeted during their presentation that I was "being blown away" by what I was seeing.

You simply must visit the site to appreciate what this group has done. But as you click to their site, please note that most of the content you find there is original. They have created most of the videos posted to the site. And the site is divided into three sections in order to meet the needs of kids, new voters and active voters. Similar to the Ideal Voter Group, Democracy of Tomorrow seeks to teach citizens how to get involved in government and why their votes matter.

Other aspects of the site which impressed us and may interest you:

* The group purchased the domain name to their site

* The group drew so much traffic to their site that when they began their presentation they told us to google "Challenge of Democracy" and we were surprised to find that it was the top hit.

* Over 1150 visitors have been to the site. The students created links through Twitter posts, Facebook, and a Wikipedia page.

* Most of the students in this group learned the nuances of the technology they explored or emplyed in the project.

* As with the other groups, the only credit I can take for what these students accomplished was presenting a solid challenge, introducing them to the cbl process, and urging them to set the bar high. Their solution was purely student direced and created.

You might be wondering how I can top this with the last student presentation. I many ways I cannot. But my challenge to the class was to "create an authentic medium for improving our democracy." In the next post you will see the most authentic medium created by any group . . . on Facebook.

Personal Branding

Personal branding? Isn't that incredibly narcissistic for a teacher? After all, aren't we supposed to be quietly and diligently urging our students along? Decorating bulletin boards, preparing lessons, handing out work sheets, staying after school to give extra help, correcting spelling, meeting with parents, recording grades, passing them along to the next grade, and then enjoying a few relaxing summer weeks at the lake are all pretty below the radar activities.

Pardon me if I make a little more noise than this. I see myself in much different terms than a tutor, clerk, or classroom manager. I don't see myself as the teacher of a "subject". And I no longer see myself as I used to in terms of my notes, my books, lesson plans, or my "stuff." These days I would no more put one of my books out at Open House than I would t a pencil, a stapler, or a shoe. Instead, I send my students have them discuss their projects and show off their communications media.

Going through two days of exercises on personal branding exercises at the ADE Summer Institute was a valuable experience for me. It allowed me to really focus in on a digital educator with a unique skill set. A series of exercises called for us to think hard about who were professionally. The exercises culminated in our writing a one minute television script and making an HD recording of it in the Full Sail studios. Recently, Apple gave us the edited versions of our cuts, so I decided to hang out my shingle here. Behind this video, there is some real serious thinking about myself as an educator. With this in mind, check out my "brand":