Integrating multiple, collaborative, and communication technologies—how can online,

teacher education benefit from 21st century skills and pedagogies?

Eileen O’Connor, Ph.D.; instructorDenise Snyder, ALM - instructional designer

Empire State College / May 2011

Problems to be solved: cultural shift / online format how can collaboration help?

Instructional designer & faculty member worked together; gathering a perspective and an approach to collaboration

Technologies used in the course Insights from observations and ear-to-the-

ground modifications and refocusing Results, lessons learned, and next steps

Agenda

How can you encourage

inquiry-based

science?. . . when K12 culture works against it?

And, how can integrating

multiple communication

tools & technologies help in this

charge?. . . what aid can come from 21st century skills &

approaches?

What’s the solution?

Instructiona

lDesign

What’s the problem?

Theory

Practice

Collaboration Issues

Recommendations Johnson & Johnson: "An Overview of Cooperative

Learning"

Design

Implement

Evaluate

ID Revision Cycle

Angel CMS

Second Life

Voice Thread

YouTube

Mind meiste

r

Information Communications Tools used

The instructi

on

Second Life

Synchronous interactions

Class meetings

Team meetings

Reports / presentations

VoiceThread

Asynchronous interactions

Class discussions & commentaries

Team planning &

collaboration

Field Reports

Mindmeister

Asynchronous collaborations

Team designing the project / unit

Team planning

YouTube

Asynchronous presentations of performances

3. Became – instructor modeling

1. Peer development

2. Peer review

Teams comprised of three or more Avoided putting individuals together from the

same geographic region shifted one to regional

Tried to group by content area (chemistry / physics had small #’s so they worked together)

Team results – first assignment

Earth sci Bio Chem Physics

# of teams 1 3 1 1

# in team 3 3/4 2 1

K12 schools? No Yes No No

Effectiveness at inquiry?

Good Poor at 1st Modest Good

◦ It's not perfect but hopefully it's what you're looking for. I don't mind doing independent work however, teams are good to have. We feed off each other and help develop ideas. I think some people do have trouble with the inquiry concept and applying it. They are so used to feeding students info and facts that it's hard to break away from that. We were curious if anyone else had trouble with it as well? I understand what you're looking for and understand the concept but it still is difficult to grasp in such a short period of time.

A student-expressed concern encapsulates the issue with epistomology

Therefore, the instructor modeled what wasn’t seen in the 1st lesson

YouTube – after modification

Asynchronous presentation of performances 3. Improved

performance

1. Individual

performances

2. Peer review

VoiceThread – after modification

Asynchronous interactions

Class discussions & commentaries

Team – review only

Field Reports

Online and ICT tools provide excellent insight and chance-for-adjustment for the perennial problem of shifting the K12 teaching culture

YouTube assignments show key weak/strong areas and served as an excellent area for modeling

Moving closer to the performances that must really be assessed – however, the paradigm of graduate-level writing persists

Outcomes

Worked / improvements from the tech integration perspectiveWorked Areas to improve

Rich interactions Useful tools to meet

diverse application & diverse types of learners

More ways to assess what is happening

More ways to present and scaffold good teaching

Excellent modeling & skill building

Need to provide more than simply readings about best practices before launching collaborations◦ Rich examples can help

(YouTubes, for instance) and lesson details

Need more time for collaboration after modeling w/ YouTubes

More time was needed to assimilate inquiry Must be clearer about what is best practice

in ways that students remember (YouTubes) Collaboration must be established after the

cultural shift has been established, more firmly ◦ The initial reports before the collaboration were

evidently not sufficient

Lessons learned about collaboration to “change mindsets”

Must embed more effective pedagogical practices to enable the complex psychology involved in bringing about this change