Bring a photographer and videographer to a classroom.... It's an easy way to get students to engage

This poster was
removed from my
classroom at a previous school.

"Where do you want to go?"

Here's a simple call to educators...  bring in a photographer.   Then put a globe on the table and see what happens.  
I asked my students:

"What languages do you want to learn to speak?"
"Where do you want to visit?  What countries?  What cities?"


JK McCrea came to make photos.  Here are the results

The student on the left
wants to create a digital
portfolio.  I'm ready when he
wants to meet
(954) 646 8246
VisualAndActive@gmail.com

In short, there's a certain "theater" to a lecture that is increased when a professional photographer is present.  The students appeared to view the lecture as more important because someone was documenting the event and then the interaction became MORE intense and interactive when the photographer asked, "Where in the world can you get a free subway ride by doing 30 squats?"
thenewscocktail.wordpress.com
She gave tidbits from a news column called theNewsCocktail.com and it was fun to see the students ask more questions....  


She also took this video with Jawaan.   

Dr. Fischler has a comment about the role of the instructor... but not to lecture (flip the classroom)
The class is the place to interact and demonstrate their learning and practice talking about the material -- the active learning environment, role playing, interacting with colleagues, games, practice.

The teachers have to be willing to change from being the preacher to being the key communicator of the setting, but not "all knowing."  
-- Dr. Fischler

Dr. Fischler at FETC: "Change is inevitable..."

Video of Dr. Fischler in FETC Conference

Click here to go to the video on Youtube



Dr. Fischler's "Model for Changing the System"

Click here to see the presentation

Here is Dr. Fischler's blog from 2006

The Problem

At the present time, teachers are working hard but we are still not fulfilling the demands of our students or our society. Why not? The schools are set up with an agrarian calendar and teachers are responsible for teaching to a class as a unit. Time is fixed and the only variable is performance – some pass and others fail. And, if the persons who fail do not make up and achieve the proficiency that the test is measuring, they drift further and further behind. The consequences are numerous and punishing. How does this instill a love of learning? This approach does not take into account a truism: ‘all students can learn but they learn at different rates and have different preferential learning styles’.

Instead of asking the student to fit the administrative structure (i.e., the class and arbitrary time periods for learning subjects and achieving competencies), we must provide each student with the time and means to succeed. Rather than punish the student who learns more slowly than the arbitrarily chosen period, we must treat each student as the class.






We must find a way of doing this. Other industries have made similar changes* and it is now time for education to do the same.

*Take FedEx, who can tell you where any package is at any time. Look at banking, which is now available 24 hours a day through ATMs and you can go to almost any ATM to withdraw or deposit funds. Both industries invested in information and delivery systems to meet the needs of their clients rather than asking their clients to accommodate to a fixed structure. Now the automobile industry is enabling customers to order on demand rather than requiring them to accept whatever is available in the dealer’s lot. In the business world, however, there is competition that requires companies to adapt – education has not had this catalyst.

What is my vision and strategy for educational change?

I believe that we in education must make the investment to do the same for our clients, i.e., each student. What investment is needed?

There are three modes of instruction: 1) self-paced or CAI, 2) project or problem-solving and 3) discussion. Self-paced or CAI requires that each student have access to a computer and modem and access to the curriculum on a server on a 24/7 basis. Projects and problems should be relevant to students so they can relate to the given subject area.

For English and Math, we should implement CAI in the 1st grade (and continue thereafter). The reason English and Math are chosen is that these are the two cultural imperative languages. If you know these two languages and are motivated as a self-learner, you can teach yourself almost anything you want to learn. And, one of the goals of education is to create self-learners.

For all other subjects, the teacher can pose a project or problem that is relevant to the student. Once the problem is defined, the class can be broken down into groups of 4-5 students in order to research the solution to the problem. If complex, each of the groups may study an aspect of the problem. With these subjects, the student uses the computer as a research tool (after having learned to read). Students are taught to use search engines such as Google or Yahoo as well as the intranet made available by teachers gathering information relevant for the students.

Students working in a group learn cooperation, shared responsibility and communication (face-to-face as well as e-mail). Having produced a written solution to the problem utilizing the computer (power point) as a tool, they can then present to the class for discussion. They can also use email or a written report to other students as well as the teacher.

Arbitrary learning within fixed time periods would be eliminated, i.e., no 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc. grades. Instead, students would be grouped chronologically with materials appropriate to their learning level and style using the CAI approach for English and Math, and the project/problem/discussion modes for other subjects. The projects given to the students match the level of English and Math competencies and are related to the students (their interests and their lives). For example, in 3rd grade, how would you study the amount of water that a plant needs to grow? I would utilize the students’ Math knowledge (learned through CAI) for science learning. Likewise, rather than studying history through memorization and chronology, it can be studied through problems based on the immediate environment for younger children and more abstract concepts in later grades.

What do we need to make this happen?
In order for this to be implemented, what do we need?

1) We need the people on board – parents, teachers, community leaders, etc.
2) We need the hardware – computers with modems and Internet access for each student.
3) We need the management system (many existing solutions can be adapted).
4) We need the curriculum – Computer Assisted Instructions (CAI) for Math and English and creative, relevant problems and projects for other subjects.
5) We need teacher training.

In order to begin to implement change, we need all of these things in place. In 2007, I would like to see a group of elementary and middle schools, and the high school into which they feed (a demonstration ‘zone’) of some size agree to adopt a vision where time is a variable and mastery what is expected from each student. A computer company can be found to donate (or the zone can buy) a laptop with a modem for each student. The zone needs to build an integrated management system in order to be responsive to what students do and how they learn. Part of the management system is administrative, part is the CAI component, and lastly, the management system needs to record and reflect the student’s learnings in non-CAI instruction (‘student portfolios’). The CAI component must be self-correcting and use artificial intelligence so that the component improves as more students utilize the program for English and Math. Teacher training is critical and must be done during the summer prior to implementation.

How do we make this happen? 

We know what needs to be done; this is the question that remains. I welcome your thoughts and comments and will share more of mine soon. Stay tuned.

Abe (29 July 2006)

Click to hear Dr. Fischler talk for three mintueswith Mario Llorente, educator from Cuba

Click here and go to the bottom of the page

What if we shared ideas worth sharing with each other? What if we recommended more विडोस...

What if we shared ideas worth sharing with each other? What if we recommended more videos to each other and colleagues?
Some of the youtube videos I've listened to lately have me thinking about the future.

What is social learning?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIlwGYY0_AA
what gutenberg did for written word, social media did for the spoken word...
fusion-universal for social learning

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HYYWK453g0
fusion virtual school in KENYA



attendance ... email to student "you are absent"
i care that you are here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YROSBbQO70E


creating nearly free textbooks
Flat World world class content
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWcH5LDlcSg
While the disruptive power of the Internet promises wider access to knowledge and new legal licensing structures open the door for enhanced sharing, old business models often stand in the way. How have we arrived at the era of the $200 textbook, with stakeholders so enmeshed in the status quo that they don't seem to question it - even though none of them are being particularly well served? And how can new business models bring disruptive innovation to educational publishing, building a sustainable, new, 21st-century publishing model, based on free and open textbooks, in the process? This paper will explore these questions, offering new perspectives on the future of academic publishing.

Jeff Shelstad is co-founder and CEO of Flat World Knowledge, a venture-backed higher education content company offering world-class, free, and openly-licensed college textbooks. Flat World Knowledge has raised over $25 million in private investment capital since February of 2009, setting out to disrupt the $9+ billion textbook market with its innovative business model


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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gu06K71JayE
flatworld knowledge youtube channel


the quote by Dr. Simonson from his 2005 book
https://sites.google.com/site/eddsteve2011/quotes-for-instructional-technology

When teachers try to make instruction equal for all students, they will fail. Rather, the teacher should provide a wide
collection of activities that make possible equivalent learning experiences for students using approaches that recognize
fundamental differences between learners, distant and local. Equivalence is more time-consuming and difficult, but promises to be more effective.

Michael Simonson, Trends and Issues in Distant Education: International Perspectives, page 285

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Maria Andersen's youtube posts about "Learn this" individualization of learning
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5kAOE3x1aY


Maria Andersen's Free range Learning from TedX
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWdSz2nHQNY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qiNiwUdmb4
general interview with Maria Andersen


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQGk-ak1dbQ
levers of change for education


edgeoflearning.com
Lift Institute
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9Fj4uspgj
Vision of education where we could go

Molinari's digital divide solution (not one laptop per child, but rather a myriad of computer centers with supportive training)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kaxCRnZ_CLg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NS2PqTTxFFc
he uses a word... soporific...
the formulation of the problem or question is more important than the solution ... 7 global skills (Tony Wagner)

Linda Darling-Hammond
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DuW5gGN0_0
Stanford School Design Network


What are scientists? Curious
Cornerstone 2011 - Dr. Autumn Sutherlin - Week 3
From: ACU | Sep 28, 2011 | 97 views
Our world is dominated by fact-based inquiry. At the heart of scientific discovery is the gathering of evidence from experiments; and it is the ability to repeat those experiments with the same results that helps formulate facts, which in turn allows for future experiments to happen. What science offers is an objective view of the world, unclouded by emotion or perspective or interpretation. But what happens when scientists dispute the "facts"? Is there room for interpretation, and if so, does that lead us down a slope of "my point of view" versus "your point of view"?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSREHEqBSZc




ACU and mobile learning university in Abilene
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=स्श्रा६४१ओक५

ACU and mobile learning university in Abilene
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSPA641oc5Q


माय My blog has been taken over by thai or maybe hindi?

A reminder from Dr. Fischler...

How do you become a visible change agent in this environment?

If you want to see change in education, you have to do it.

Not through talking about it. You have to do it.

You have to bring a group of people together.

It's going to take years of commitment, argument and debate.

You have to demonstrate that you are producing a product that we need.

-- Dr. Abraham S. Fischler

www.TheStudentIstheClass.com worth a visit...