Here is my presentation on MassCustomization. My sources were curated from this Pinterest Board, and my full interview with Janel Vancas is available there. As I have previously noted, I am interested in this topic because my administration suggested I be, but through my research I have seen many similarities in mass customization to flipped learning, gamification, educational space design, and much more. With a student-centered approach to learning based on the opportunities presented by technology, mass customization has the potential to allow all learners to actively decide what and how they learn in order to meet standards in unique ways.
What do I know now that I didn’t know before this course?
I now know much more about using social media and online sources to connect to educational sources in general. I have especially learned a great deal about finding and following blogs and RSS feeds, and using Twitter to search, follow, and discuss professional topics. I see that once you know how to use these resources, they make connecting and learning from other professionals easier and more powerful. When other teachers have experience trying something and can share about it, it makes our own process of trying it out go smoother.
I also improved in my knowledge and skills for digital literacy. I see that I do have a voice and space in which I can share my ideas, and my ability to share them in engaging and meaningful ways has improved vastly. This was the area of the course that challenged me the most (along with the interview- man was I nervous!). Using headings, bullets, a balance of professional and personal, and creating my own voice are all important to a successful blog as well as quality writing online in general.
Finally, I learned that teachers are constantly trying new trends and changes to their teaching, classrooms, and schools to help students, and it is good to change up our own practice. From determining how to share content, to when to reward students, to the physical layout of the classroom, students deserve to have teachers who make figuring out the best way to help them learn a priority. I should not be relying on even the basic layout of my course from five years ago any more, but should try new methods of delivery, assessment, and practice with my students to see what can engage them better and provide more authentic learning environments.
What can I do now I couldn’t do before?
Through this course, I have learned in particular how to find and connect to other professionals, how to maintain a stronger online presence, and how to write online. I can now use curating, blogging, and social media to broaden my professional network. I used to be intimidated to try and contact educators who had any level of renown or following, but I now see that they are just trying to make their own practice better and help others along the way. The interviews in particular helped me see these other educators as ‘normal’ people, albeit motivated and talented in what they do. My personal online writing skills have also greatly improved, which allows me to further continue trying methods in my classroom and then talking about how it goes on my blog to help other people learn from me as well.
Why does it matter?
In the future, this all is important because I will now be able to better help my students be engaged in my content, be creative, and learn the important 21st century, digital skills they need. By connecting to other educators, asking them questions and following their work and tools, I can determine what teaching methods I want to incorporate into my own classroom, whether that be better design, flipped class, gamification, mass customized learning, all of the above, or something not touched upon in this course. I can also better help my own students to improve their online connections with others in the fields they want to be a part of so they can also use the wisdom of others to make informed choices about their lives.
In 2013, I attended a Google symposium where I saw one educator speak about how he gamified his high school English classroom. I was enthralled at the time, but I have only ever used a few elements of his ideas in my own room to this day. He discussed how he used existing technologies to embed his course, British Literature, as one long quest for students to overcome. His texts (Beowulf, Macbeth, etc) transformed easily into quests where students had to learn information in order to perform activities and solve problems. Along the way, they earned badges and experience points.
I thought all of this sounded amazing, but when he described his classroom on a daily basis, I was less excited. He said that students worked quietly alone or in small groups on their desktop computers at different rates, so there was little large group instruction time. He would help out students one on one, and generally lead the class at similar intervals about the topics they were probably approaching at that time. Overall it sounded like gamification solved some issues with education by increasing engagement, offering more student choice, and allowing students to feel confident in their mastery of the content, but it also raised new one issues with relationships and socialization.
professional development opportunity created with Wikispaces by a collection of teachers. It lists quests, questions, and links to resources, such as this Educurious Hunger Games Module which is an great example of a serious game you could use in a classroom. In the Hunger Games themed unit, students must work together to watch videos, look for clues, earn badges, take notes, and try to solve the mystery of how Katniss’ world became what is was, and possibly how to avoid it.
I then played around with some tutorials and resources on ClassCraft, which is visually appealing but includes an element of cost which not all teachers are able to work with.
Positive Effects of Gamification
The positives of these examples and other instances of gamification are that students can work at their own pace, they get to redo activities until they learn them, they have fun, and they feel good about school. For example, one educational researcher on gamification, Jane McGonigal said, “being able to fail, and get that feedback so you see where the gaps are you actually build learning actually helps you learn better and of course that’s what happens in games” (Wilkens, 2011). She explains that trying is what makes us learn, so by redoing activities until they are done well helps students focus on how to get better, as opposed to a test where they only have one shot.
Grading is one source of stress for many students, and gamification can help alleviate that burden. The company, Extra Credit, made a video about Gamifying Education where they discuss how to use a points system from games positively by starting at zero and then having students earn experience points for all the activities they do, and then over time they continue to level up which will ultimately result in a grade. The video also discusses how this process helps students improve their agency by controlling their learning, actions, and grades.
In terms of an English classroom, games have a lot of potential to pair well with curriculum. The ability to role play is one powerful way that educators use games to help their students experience different perspectives (Hand, n.d.). This would help with understanding point of view, empathy, and perspective in general. Games often include a story arc which students can study during narrative units, and characters have to communicate to persuade and inform each other throughout their quests.
Negative Effects of Gamification
As I noted about the speaker I saw in 2013, there are some potential aspects of gamification that are not perfect. For example, Paul Andersen, in his Ted Talk, discusses his attempt at gamification, and one area for improvement was the lack of socializing that his classroom allowed for students (Andersen, 2012). While some students prefer to work alone, many others want to collaborative and socialize with their peers, and gamification does not always inherently allow room for that. Andersen also noted the difficulties students have with text comprehension on their own, and an inability to monitor their own learning initially. When they have to create their own path for learning, students need to be able to set themselves up for success, which is hard if they haven’t done it before.
Andersen also said in one interview that a challenge can be classroom community if all of the students are just on their devices, and you don’t build relationships with them.
Like any teaching strategy, teachers will learn the issues with gamification and consider ways to avoid or lessen them as they try it out with their students.
Weaknesses and Strengths of Gamification Motivation
Another criticism of gamification is that it pushes too much motivation for school on the extrinsic rewards, instead of the intrinsic love of learning. When students are working to earn badges, points, and top the leader board instead of trying to genuinely understand the material, they may learn well in the short term but it will probably not relate to long term understanding or comprehension. However, games also allow for a level of competition which can motivate students to take the lessons seriously and try to do well on them so they can keep up with their friends and classmates. If students saw how their friends performed on all quizzes, they might be more motivated to study more and get higher grades. Gamification helps students to want to try a little harder, study more, and keep practicing in order to move on to new levels.
Part of the success of the motivation that games give students is that they are designed to allow students to use the knowledge they learn in an active way. James Paul Gee, in his video on “Learning with Video Games,” says: “when they are thinking, because they have go get ready to take an action that they want to take and they want that action to succeed, they think really well. But when you ask them to think about stuff when there’s no action they’re gonna take, and they don’t really care what the outcome is, they think very poorly” (Gee, 2012). So, if students watch a tutorial in the game and have to go around and find clues in order to beat the next boss or solve the mystery, they are actively learning because they know exactly how they are going to use the information.
While the showy side of gamification can push students to value those extrinsic motivations, as the students learn how to learn and see the value of what they are learning, it should improve their intrinsic motivation as well.
Other Educators using Gamification
I enjoyed reading about Vicki Davis and her work in the wiki I linked at the beginning of this post. She explores using serious games with a variety of students and writes a great blog, called Cool Cat Teacher. She has a lot of tools in her toolbelt such as using Google, flipped classroom, multimedia, and cross-curricular assignments.
Another teacher I came across was Micheal Matera. He has been playing around with gamification for many years, and one thing I like in particular about how he shares is work is his podcast, called Well PlayED in which he interviews a different person each week to discuss something related to gamification in the classroom. His most recent podcast touches on how to use gamification for professional development, and how that process would help teachers to become more excited about continuing to learn and take part in school activities above and beyond teaching.
I also liked seeing a 7th grade social studies teacher chiming in on Twitter conversations about gamification, Dwight Stevenson, about how it worked for his students. He is also just passionate about using technology in general with students.
Another teacher I found on Twitter is Rob AlvarezBucholska, who posts a lot about gamification and shares great resources to interviews and videos to help teachers learn more about how to gamify their classrooms easily, as well as the benefits of doing so.
I enjoyed reading/watching Gabe Zimmerman’s work and seeing his Webinars, but I don’t think he was ever actually an educator.
Final Thoughts
My biggest reservations to entirely gamifying my room are that I’m not sure of a platform with quests that I could use that already pairs well with my curriculum, and I do not know code well enough (actually not at all) to write my own games. I want my students to collaborate in real life as well as online, to take part in authentic assignments that I create for them, and to build strong relationships with myself and each other. I know that all of this is possible within gamification, it just seems harder than using a blended classroom with video lectures, learning centers, and a lot of exciting (in my opinion at least) projects that require the knowledge we learn in class as well as multi-media, 21st century skills. However, if I could find cool technology to incorporate easily, I do think my students would love to play the game of school in my classroom. Being able to not worry about grades, having the ability to continue trying at skills without penalty, and having fun in school are definitely worth exploring for my teaching and my students.
References:
Andersen, P. (2012, April 24). Classroom Game Design: Paul Andersen at TEDxBozeman. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qlYGX0H6Ec Extra Credit. (2012, May 13).
I don’t spend much time on Twitter, so I felt a little out of my comfort zone when I initially explored flipped classrooms, but I bet that is how students feel when they initially enter a flipped classroom themselves. When I took part in the live chat on Twitter this Monday about the flipped class and then explored other resources I found there, I realized that there was much more to flipping a class than I had originally realized. The theme of this live flip chat was about how flipping class can affect mental health for both students and teachers. While the concept of addressing mental health in education was not new, I had never spent so much time reflecting on one pedagogical practice’s potential to affect mental health in the classroom. Teachers shared ideas and resources about mental health and many other facets of creating a flipped classroom as well. The point of flipping your classroom is giving your students and yourself the time and space to focus on different types of activities and elements of learning as opposed to lecture alone. This new freedom allows teachers to spend more time on mental health, PBL, other inquiry projects, deeper discussions, and many other activities that may not have been available otherwise.
One of the main concepts people associate with flipped classrooms is videos. Often, teachers record their own lectures or find existing ones online to watch for homework and then come to class to practice and dig deeper into the content and skills. According to this Forbes article, one of the main benefits of using videos as lectures outside of class is that students learn at their own pace (Gobry, 2012). One prominent flipped classroom teacher, Crystal Kirch, quotes Jon Bergmann and Aaron Sams as asking in her book, “What is the best use of face to face time you have with your students?” (2016, p. 7). Instead of forcing the students to listen to the information at the same speed and with limited opportunities for questions or follow up inquiry, a flipped classroom allows students to take control of their time to learn the content and also frees up teacher time in class to help students learn in more engaged ways. Once she flipped her classroom, Kirch writes that “class time was focused on them and not on me as the master of knowledge…focused on active learning…and focused on higher-order thinking” (2016, p. 18). With all of these benefits in mind, one educator and former critic of using videos for flipped instruction writes, “So, it is about the video, but only in the sense that it allows the teacher to explore other methods of interacting with students within the context of the class” (Brian, 2016). Videos or any other medium that allows students to control their own learning on their own time while also engaging better during class is ideal. Catlin Tucker, educator and writer, on her website elaborates:
Today’s students have more access to information and resources beyond the classroom than any prior generation. They can jump online and watch a video tutorial to learn how to do something that interests them. They can explore the globe with Google Earth, go on a virtual tour of the Louvre or the MoMA, or tinker, build, and create in the comfort of their homes. Is this learning less valuable than the learning that happens in a classroom? I would argue this self-directed learning is in many ways more powerful for kids because they decide how they will learn, what they will learn, and when they will learn (Tucker, 2018).
So students cannot just work with information and content in the same ways that they have in previous decades, because not only is what available different, but their interests and passions have evolved.
In my own classroom, I have used videos and online lessons in a blended way (not exactly flipped) by providing my lectures in video form to view in a learning center, and then having students practice the concepts in other learning centers where I can answer questions and help students instead of actually delivering content during class. In the very first video I ever made, the audio quality of my laptop was terrible, but I didn’t have time to re-record or come up with a backup plan. The students asked me if I recorded underwater, or lived with a den of bats, because it was so terrible. I also only knew of Screencast-omatic to record videos at the time, which is certainly a fine tool. Since then, I have gotten a nice microphone I use and I like using the Record features in Microsoft Powerpoint and other tools. I either upload the videos to private online databases or just to Youtube where I can link it in my course, online agenda, or use it in another source to add questions.
I also really like using Nearpod to embed images, questions, and videos that I can then use to monitor how well the students interacted with the content. Here is a link to a background Nearpods I just made for The Secret Life of Bees and here is one for To Kill a Mockingbird. I plan on using these at the beginning of a literature circle unit for those two novels. Students choose one novel which they want to read, and I will have them browse through the content to answer the questions.
Another source I like using is Playposit, which lets me use others’ videos as well as my own to include questions throughout the video to check student comprehension along the way. I can combine other people’s videos with questions and notes such as this Playposit about Using Transitions, Romeo and Juliet background information, Irony, and Point of View.
Flipping Class: Other Technological Considerations
In her article on flipping the classroom without videos, Sydney Johnson explains how in one teacher’s class, she flipped her classroom by asking students to try out coding problems ahead of time, and then reflect on the process and learn more information in person (Johnson, 2018). Instead of always focusing on assigning videos, she wanted teachers to realize that they can flip their classrooms in other ways as well. For example, Holly Welham writes on The Guardian that, “The idea is that students learn new content outside the classroom (usually online) and then tackle assignments in lessons, giving teachers more time to help students with aspects they don’t understand” (Welham, 2014). While students could watch videos, they could also perform webquests, do interviews, and participate in inquiry that they unpack during class.
In one tweet during the live session on Monday, Angela Barnett shared an online survey about student feelings she does every morning during class. Flipping her classroom allows her to spend more time in class sharing their feelings and opinions.
When browsing through The Flipped Learning 3.0 Magazine, I found Catherine Nickerson. In her study based on her own experiences with flipping the classroom in her 2018 paper, she notes that while just spending time online doesn’t help students by itself, allowing them occasions online to improve their interaction, production and reflection do help students (Nickerson, 2018, p. 72). Outside of class or during class students should be interacting, producing, and reflecting to get the best benefit of technology.
In the future, I want to continue using videos to partially flip my class, but I should spend more time considering how I use the class time I save by assigning the video lectures and activities. I would like to incorporate more PBL, inquiry, and student choice with the extra time we have in class so my students have more autonomy over not only the timeline of their learning but also how and what they learn. I think that when teachers can make their classroom flipped in a way that works for them, it is more fun for the teachers (lecturing to a group of high school students is less fun than it sounds), and it is more fun for the students. Plus students are more engaged and learn how to become better learners and students! While assigning videos for homework can be overwhelming to some students, deciding how flipping the classroom works for you and your students seems to have great benefits. Let me know if you have tried Nearpod, Playposit, or any other resource to make your classroom more flipped than it was previously!
While most schools choose the same white, cinderblock walls and lines of desks, the physical layout and design of a space has been proven to make a positive or negative difference on student learning. Even studies into hospitals and other types of larger spaces, including schools, shows a positive correlation with improved design and overall health and satisfaction. For example, one paper published in the journal Building and the Environment, found that: “classroom design could be attributed to a 25% impact, positive or negative, on a student’s progress over the course of an academic year. The difference between the best- and worst-designed classrooms covered in the study? A full year’s worth of academic progress” (Vanhemert, 2013). If a full year’s worth of academic progress is at stake, it is worth the time and focus of educators to make classrooms positive learning environments.
Current Work space
I received new desks last year, so at least they are homogenous. The space is a fairly large rectangle, and I like to use a combination of whole class, small group, and independent activities often throughout class. I put my desks into four groups of eight, generally facing the front board, but with the right and left group facing in towards the center. These represent a media station for videos and online content, a partner station for more independent reading work where you can ask a partner for help, a keystone station for study skills and test prep, and a collaborative station for group activities. It has worked well over the past few years to allow me to see and help all students, while also assigning and moving groups efficiently throughout stations and activities. Pardon these pictures since our floors haven’t been waxed yet so all of my cords, bins, decorations, etc are supposed to be off any movable surface and are thus jammed in the back.
Redesigned Work space
I chose to focus on a few small changes that would improve the feel and flow of my classroom. I opened the blinds to allow natural light, added some rugs to soften the room, and most importantly arranged the stations into more collaborative ways and obviously separate ways. The media station is the same since students normally just watch videos there. I added a rug to center and soften that area.
The partner station has the desks grouped by a partner and an improved reading nook.
The keystone station can still be used for test prep but is more collaborative for games, flashcards, or discussions.
The collaborative station has two groups of four desks so that students don’t need to constantly move chairs to work with their groups.
Ideal Redesigned Workspace
If I had $1000 to add even more to my classroom, I would add some touches to make the space more comfortable and student-friendly. I would buy better curtains that could be shut to block out all light when watching video on the big screen, but could stay open to consistently let in light. I would also put two or more lamps around the room to vary the light source. I would buy more furniture for the reading nook in the back corner such as four smaller chairs and a rug for the area. I would also buy better extension cords that could be fastened so that they are always in a readily accessed location. Finally, I would paint one or more of the walls a neutral shade, such as a mint blue. In a dream world, I would also add some more interesting seating so that students could still sit and work on realistic tables, but they wouldn’t always have the same size and layout. A great example of a high school classroom (there are so many for elementary school but some of my students are just too tall for the kinds of chairs they show for elementary school) is from The Teal Paperclip, listed below. She found and made her own differently sized tables, added more color and light sources, and made the space useful but also comfortable. My ideal room would be more like this one.
Reflection on Design and its Impact on Learning
Learning centers
My main focus on redesign was the stations and learning centers for my students to work on a variety of topics around the room instead of just facing the teacher. One educator, David Rickert on his website, notes that, “You want to keep kids moving around the classroom. Many studies have shown that kids learn better when they are up and moving around” (Rickert, 2017). Using learning centers allows students to move between activities and to access necessary materials. Rickert also adds that, “I like to post activities around the classroom on the walls, usually using QR Codes that linked to the task” (Rickert, 2017). His focus is making the space work for your educational goals for students.
Another educator specializing in English, Brynn Allison, also adds on her site that she uses learning centers to get students to open books, annotate, find real world connections, be creative, conference with each other, and watch videos. (Allison, 2016). She also uses them to review skills, first day of school activities, preview the text, play with timelines, and perform independent and group (Allison, 2016). Her focus is using space to get students up and moving, instead of just sitting and listening to the teacher all day long.
Technology
In other countries such as Denmark, teachers go beyond stations within the classroom to learning zones throughout the school where students can work on a variety of activities with help from teachers along the way. Jenkin writes that, “Copenhagen, Denmark, is famously known as the school without classrooms. The 1,000 plus students, aged 16 to 19, study in the open plan building’s numerous “learning zones”. According to headteacher, Allan Kjær Andersen, the architects designed the school to fit with the ethos of mixing 50% teacher-led learning with 50% independent student-centred learning” (Jenkin, 2015). Jenkin also adds that new learning spaces also require new uses of digital technology. He says that “Digital technology has been one of the most powerful agents of change in how societies around the world work and live in the 21st century…The way we learn must therefore adapt to ensure students are equipped with the skills needed to thrive as adults now and in the future” (Jenkin, 2015).
Visual Noise
Other than just the learning centers, light and color (and other types of visual noise) were also a focus because while they do not allow for specific activities, they make a difference for student well-being and focus. For example, one article adds that, “Classrooms that are painted with color, lighted with full-spectrum lighting, and devoid of visual noise result in improved academic performance and decreased disruptive, off-task behavior” (The Science of Classroom Design, 2015). So removing unnecessary posters and bulletin boards gets rid of some visual noise that can distract students’ focus. Varying the color of the walls with paint, adding lamps and natural lights can also help students’ eyes to get less fatigued throughout the day, and help keep them focused on learning.
Student Happiness
While teachers want students to feel positive about their school experience, their happiness is not always our first concern. However, improving our students’ moods makes them more willing to listen, think, collaborate, and learn. Norman says, “when you’re happy- what we call positive valence-you squirt dopamine into the prefrontal lobes, which makes you a breadth-first problem solver, you’re more susceptible to interruption; you do out-of-the-box thinking” (2009). In order to improve creativity, I can make sure that the colors, textures, and feelings of my classroom help make students happy.
By making students feel comfortable, valued, and ready to work in the classroom, they will not only be more productive but will also be happier in school.
Whenever I participate in professional development, I listen or read information through the veil of how I could use the skills to help my students. If the connection is not clear, I quickly lose interest. So, I was surprised to find inspiration for my classroom when reading about professional curation this week. I teach my students how to select the best resources for research, how to cite them, and how to use them in their writing. However, I have never introduced the topic of curating resources not necessarily related to a specific research question. My students generally know how to bookmark sites and how to access the district’s Symbaloo and their teacher’s collections of resources, but the ability to find and collect their own resources never even entered my mind. With so many sites and tools available to us, it would be a beneficial skill to teach them how to collect and contextualize the resources that are useful to them in school or in their personal lives. What struck me most in my readings about curation were the reiteration of the importance of contextualizing the sources you select for yourself and others who see your collections. I began thinking more about how the process of curating, and especially contextualizing, helps us think critically, question our sources, summarize and synthesize, and do many other skills that we want our students to learn. To my readers, please comment about teaching or using curation with your own students. What have you tried and how did it go?
What Experts Say about the Benefits Curating
from Pexel.com
Other than just being able to save and access resources you want to use again in the future, the process of curating helps you in a number of important ways that would benefit teachers as well as students.
Contextualizing the Content
Joanne McNeil in a video entitled, “What is Curation” says, “A good curator is thinking about not just acquisition and selection but also contextualizing” (2014). So not just saving a great tool, but explaining how it works, where it came from, and maybe even how to use.
Robin says from “PKM as pre-curation” that, “Curation is about making sense of a topic/issue/event /person/product etc. for a specific audience” (Jarche, 2012). The act of contextualizing helps your audience as well as yourself. Many people blindly save or even share links to articles that seem interesting, but they don’t necessarily spend the time to reflect on the work to determine how it is useful.
Jarche also adds that, “The act of writing a blog post, a tweet, or an annotation on a social bookmark all force you to think a bit more than clicking once and filing it to an automated system” (2012). This process of thinking about each resource would definitely help students who have grown up on social media where sharing pictures and articles without needed to justify their choices.
Use for Reflection
Larry Ferlazzo, a longtime curator, blogger, and teacher from California notes in one interview how, “In addition, I began to write about what things I was doing in class what things worked, what things didn’t work, and found that that was really helpful for me as a process. It helped my thinking, helped me become a better teacher to just think through what I was doing and to get people’s feedback” (Shareski, 2014). Ferlazzo shared his resources and strategies to remember them as well as reflect on how they worked and hear tips from others as well.
Richard Byrne, author of the Free Teacher technology blog, states in another interview how: “a link is great but people really want to know what can you do with that link” (Shareski, 2014). So curating helps him to focus on the most realistic and useful of sources.
from Pexel.com
Importance in Avoiding Bias
Byrne also adds that he uses curating as a reminder to “try to keep my own bias out of reviews” (Shareski, 2014). Being aware of our own biases and noticing them in others is a crucial skill in this digital age.
Eli Pariser, in his TED Talk, says how, “You can’t see how different your search results arefrom anyone else’s,” when sifting through results online, so curating sources is another way to make sure others are aware of resources they may not be exposed to or news stories that get glossed over (Pariser, 2011).
My First Attempt at Professional Curation
from Pexel.com
This past spring, my administration introduced the idea of Mass Customization Learning Communities to our school, with the promise that it would be important. They attended a conference at the Lancaster Lebanon IU 13 this summer to learn about how to implement Mass Customization in our school, and then promptly sent out the pdf of notes from the meeting with an email blurb highlighting this as an important professional development topic for next year. Thus, I decided to take a look at what personalized learning and Mass Customization was while I had the opportunity to research something controversial. A number of sources I looked at were either too school specific, too lacking in credible information, or cost too much for me to use in this project. So, I started a Pinterest Board (which I was already familiar with) to begin finding sources that would give me an overview of what mass customization is, how to start using the philosophy, what the benefits are, and what the critiques of this system of learning are as well. I learned a great deal from my initial searches, and also already some trouble finding articles that gave enough specific information about what this model truly looks like in a school. Many articles give vague compliments to personalizing learning without telling you the essential steps to go through to back it a reality. Readers, please let me know if you have any experience with this concept! I’d love to hear your thoughts!
I will continue researching and learning over the next few weeks, but without further ado here is a link to my Pinterest Board on Mass Customization Learning Communities.
Dr. Gary Stager published the provocative review of Google Chromebooks for widespread classroom use on September 28, 2017 in Medium, entitled “Caution: Chromebooks.” He does not argue for one specific alternative to Chromebooks like some others do (such as iPads, in fact he claims to dislike them as well in a comment), but instead shares the deficits of Chromebooks in the wake of large scale use in so many districts around the country. While much of his article is informational in regards to the deficits of Chromebooks for students, he does use some negative language which inspired reactive negative language in regards to the article overall. For example, some phrases that commenters took offense to include, “unimaginative adult reptilian brains,” “A device is an object you buy on the cheap for other people’s children to create an illusion of modernity,” “The only time you hear teachers or administrators claim that kids love something is when those very same adults are desperate to justify a bad decision,” “Celebrating the fact that a teacher can use a Chromebook is an example of the soft bigotry of low expectations,” “employing a high school dropout named Lenny and all of his mates to maintain the network,” and that it is “irresponsible for educators to surrender pedagogical practice and the potential of our students to the whims of 23 year-old smartasses at any technology company.” While much of his points opened up avenues for great civil discourse about how schools allocate funds to technology for students, some of his lexicon and message caused gut reactions in other readers.
Great Civil Discourse
Will Richardson on Oct 3, 2017: “I’d really be curious to hear what commentors here would describe as “best practice” if students AND teachers both had full-fledged computers, a culture that supports inquiry, creativity, and creation, and a belief system that puts kids at the center of their own learning. “
Diem on Oct 1, 2017 published a lengthy response on her own blog: “You want to use a Chromebook for S.T.E.M. experiences? Have you tried Tinkercad for 3D design? What about Design Something? Google’s SketchUp is now Chrome friendly with their new my.SketchUp.com browser run product. Using cadonthecloud.com, Autodesk even works on Chromebooks. Movie editing? I’m a big fan of WeVideo, and after using the free version of WeVideo last year, at $5.00 per user, we upgraded this year, and it doesn’t add much to the cost of the Chromebook (only noting because laptops often come with some sort of video editing software built in.)”
Stager replied on her blog with: “The “it’s not the device, it’s the pedagogy” trope is deeply flawed. Technology is NEVER neutral. It always shapes behavior and influences our personality. If you don’t agree with me, I recommend reading Sherry Turkle’s scholarship.”
Jeff Mozdzierz on Oct 1, 2017: “There are limitation with Chrome devices but to say we wasted money … absolutely NOT. I would argue that for a majority of the professions our students will pursue, the chrome device would serve them well. For the rest of the students, they will still need access to much more powerful machines but to say I need to give every kid one on the what if… would be a waste of limited funds. The money saved by purchasing chromebooks, can be reallocated to help provide the computers needed to support student learning for programming,”
Jeremy Holton on Sept 29, 2017: “I have used Windows machines since before the beginning(MSDOS) and I am thoroughly familiar with the OS. For the past four years our family has been using Chromebooks. They are very reliable, easy to use, virus free and exchangeable. Any member of the family can pick up any Chromebook and instantly have their full computing environment available. It’s not just that Windows is outdated, clunky and unreliable, the last place you should be storing your data is on a local hard drive where it is difficult to backup and access through other devices.”
Bruce Dixon on Sept 29, 2017: “It’s a sad indictment on our profession when we continually stopt to the low bar doe educational resources and then spend the rest of our time justifying it. As you outlined, fully-functional personal portable computers are affordable. It’s just a question of priorities and awareness of what one can make possible for our young people.”
Shannon Doak on Oct 4, 2017 wrote, “First, let me start off by saying that I highly respect Dr. Stager and his work for moving to more authentic education in our schools. However, as with most people’s impression on the ability of a Chromebook his thoughts are limited. I just spent about 15 mins doing some searching on the Internet and it appears the Chromebook is far more capable for STEM type stuff than Dr. Stager has mentioned.”
Mean-Spirited Comments
James Welbes on October 1, 2017 said, “Well that was a garbage article…Just another old guy stuck in the old computing days afraid to embrace the much needed change in the world of computers.”
Jake Shea on Oct. 2, 2017 wrote, “Fascinating that you count Microsoft & Apple as your clients. No bias here :)”
Jackie Machamer on Sep 30, 2017 added, “Wow. My “reptilian adult brain” can barely process this attack parading as enlightened educational theory. I find this elitist, out of touch and cruel.”
Eric Patnoudes wrote on Sep 30, 2017, “I’m surprised to read such a narrow-minded perspective from someone with so much experience working with Edtech.”
Lucy Gray on Sept 28, 2017 wrote, “Brutal and ageist!”
LiterallySJWho? wrote on Oct 1, 2017, “Clearly someone who hasn’t actually attempted to handle a classroom full of grade school kids given unmanaged, unrestricted laptops.”
Dean Shareski on Feb 2, 2018 wrote, “I love Lenny.” (Just kidding! That wasn’t mean spirited but just funny.)
Reflection
Overall, the comments that opened up civil discourse about the topic of technology use in schools were more thoughtful and lengthy than the ones that appeared to be gut reactions. Additionally, when commenters were too personal or mean spirited, even if they obviously cared strongly about the topic, they did not elicit any meaningful follow up communication. If the user really wanted to change Stager’s mind, they should have more unemotionally explained their reservations and alternate viewpoints, such as Shannon Doak with her follow up research. Ms. Diem was obviously impassioned in her response, but she did clearly layout her reasons why she felt that Chromebooks were more useful than Stager was giving them credit for. The least helpful comments were only a sentence or two of hurtful responses without explanation, follow up research, or additional ideas. However, Stager’s original articles did use charged language that made pushing other people’s buttons easier than if he had used less charged language. The observational research from all of these combined teachers, while not conclusive, does at least allow a space for the teachers, administrators, and tech staff to question their decisions about devices for students. The article and comments left me feeling overall that while they can be very useful, schools should continue exploring their options before buying hundreds of Chromebooks. My school district has used Lenovo touchpad products that have worked very well over the years, but it depends on the students, context, and so much more. For those reading, what are your thoughts on the Chromebook debate itself, and on how our language about such topics affects others’ reactions when reading them?
Spotlight on Strategies: 4 Corners
Provocative Question: Chromebooks are the best tools to enable students to learn using technology based on cost, function, ease of use, and support needed.
Strongly Agree
The devices are durable enough for students, and are cheap enough to allow each student to have their own and employ a suitable technology staff to help facilitate their use.
The google platform allows teachers to personalize the apps they ask students to use in class, and the freedom to try out a variety of new tools with little to no additional cost or training.
Agree
While other devices may have better computing power, most teachers and students appreciate Chromebooks to help make the classroom experience richer and independent with a 1:1 environment.
Any teacher and student can use Chromebooks easily without too many tutorials or specialized programs.
Disagree
Chromebooks can be useful, but they are not a perfect fit for every student in every school, and the Chromebook bandwagon that so many schools are jumping on does not help empower students to learn.
There are other options that are similarly cost effective and easy to use with better features and computing power.
Strongly Disagree
Mandating that every student use a Chromebook is insensitive to the creativity and ingenuity of students overall, who deserve a better tool in school.
Students and teachers would benefit from better technology, and even if it is marginally more expensive, the results and freedoms offered would far outweigh the increased initial cost.
While thinking about these initial questions, I realize that I have spent little time researching new ideas outside of my graduate courses and the professional development through my school district. When I started teaching, I would ask other teachers for help, rely on the strategies I learned in college, and if desperate look up any online sources that seemed credible, relevant, and useful to me at the time. I did not have one particular source I would regularly return to. However, even when passively collecting resources, I have been blessed with an excellent network of mentors who share enough strategies to keep me curious all the time.
In my district, we have several technology coaches who cull resources, strategies, and tech tools who then offer them to teachers to try out and provide feedback for. This is how I discovered Nearpod, Playposit, and Padlet, which I have found useful in my classroom. The instructional coaches can also teach resources, or come observe you trying out a new one for feedback, such as a new problem-based assessment.
We have two additional sources of professional development that have helped me find good resources through inservice days in which teachers decide the categories of topics to discuss, and participants move fluidly to sessions where they can provide knowledge or gain some collaboratively. During our last inservice, I learned how to use a Socratic Seminar, the 20% Project, student-created assessments. Our final professional development option is called Flexible PD, in which we can choose from a long list of in person, online, or blended courses on many different topics. Last year I learned how to build a more inclusive environment in my classroom by improving rapport, and I learned how to use high level questioning techniques with students.
In my personal life, I have found new resources through these Wilkes Grad Courses over the past few semesters. These courses have pushed my to not only learn about and reflect on new practices, but to actually design assignments and assessments based on these principles to try out in my classroom. Each semester I have been in this program, I have added new lessons and assignments to the courses I teach. I am currently taking my last two courses for the EDIM program, so I will have to decide which program, if any, to begin next. I currently follow no particular blogs, but I have already found the Teach 100 resource a great jumping off place to begin.
I teach High School English, so the new challenges and controversies of teaching my students are often based on what level of technology to use with my students, and the level of rigor necessary to teach them well. My school is 1-to-1, so all students are provided with a laptop. This allows me to use online tools every day, which I do. However, this process also pushes me to spend more time in class discussing logging into sites, internet safety, plagiarism, research, online etiquette, blogging, and even more concerns that may not be in my curriculum, but I don’t feel comfortable directing my students online without discussing them. While many of these topics are becoming more important for 21st century learners, it does limit some time where I could be teaching reading and writing. Similarly, we less time devoted to reading and writing, the level of rigor in the texts my students read, and the accountability in their writing has gone down from when I was in high school. My students come to high school with less skills than they should have each year, so I find it difficult to hold them at the highest level of accountability that I would like to, even at the end of the semester.
Throughout this course, I hope to not only learn about new resources, but to learn more about how to consistently and actively find new resources to improve my practice. I am excited to continue learning how to help my students be 21st century learners, and how to provide them with the skills they will need to thrive in our current and future society. The beauty of education is that we get to start fresh each year, and to try new strategies to help our students learn, grow, collaborate, and enjoy every part of learning. What are your suggestions to get started great finding resources easily, and how do you find time to research while also lesson planning, grading, and doing all of the demands placed upon us? I am excited to start!
professional development opportunity created with Wikispaces by a collection of teachers. It lists quests, questions, and links to resources, such as this 
Mrs. Soper's Teaching Blog 