Is all this technology good for us?

One of my main motivations for starting the EdTech program at Boise State is to attempt to get a firm handle on how and why to use technology effectively. I enjoy technology and I like incorporating it into my classroom. But is it helping students learn? Are the "old-fashioned" ways better for them overall and are they losing important life skills by being plugged in all the time? The articles we read this week for EdTech 537 don't exactly give me clarity on the subject. I look forward to hearing the thoughts of my classmates, especially those that are further along in the program that I am.

In Marc Prenskey's article he defines digital natives and digital immigrants. I personally find myself to be somewhere in between these two. He generalizes that most teachers are digital immigrants and that students are digital natives. This is a broad stroke, but I see what he means. He says that digital native students learn differently, they multitask, they like to receive info quickly, they like random access, networking, and instant rewards/feedback. I definitely have seen this with my students, especially the random access. As a teacher, I give directions step by step before they get started. More often then not I end up frustrated when I have to answer the same question several times because that direction was not really relevant to them until they actually got to that point.

Prensky says that games (like a video game) are the answer for meeting the educational needs of digital natives. When I read that I was completely on board. I have recently delved into the idea of gamifying my courses. I tried it with my Imperialism unit this year and it was great, I saw it meeting the needs of my digital native students. After reading Prensky's article I was giving myself a pat on the back. But then I read Jamie McKenzie's critique and I wasn't feeling so confident. McKenzie criticizes Prensky's lack of research to back up his finding as well as the broad strokes he uses to the portray digital immigrants, like claiming they don't think learning should be fun. He also pointed out that we assume to much about digital natives, they really are not as tech savvy as we think. I totally agree with this, I find that many students can use technology to entertain themselves and communicate but they don't know how to use their devices for learning. Oddly enough this criticism of Prensky is what compels me to incorporate technology. Students need to know how to leverage technology for more sophisticated purposes. Relating to that, McKenzie also points to the fact that most researchers agree that too much screen time is not good for us. Students are connecting with their devices more than actual human beings.

The final article referenced research about the generational differences and tried to reach a conclusion about if we need to take them into account in our instruction design. The article seemed to reach the conclusion that it certainly does not hurt to account for generational differences. And many studies referenced gave high praise to gamifying the classroom. Perhaps this is the conclusion I wanted to reach, but I do plan to continue to question the use of technology in my classroom and strive to help students balance their use of technology with the face-to-face interactions needed for a fulfilling life.

Greetings, EdTech 537!

Welcome to my blog! I have been working at this for about a year. I must admit, that I am not very good at updating it. I started it to document and reflect on my ventures into inquiry and  flipped learning in my history courses. I chose to use the Blogger platform because I love all things Google, but in my own classroom I am having the students use KidBlog.

I have just started the Boise State University EdTech program. I have always enjoyed educational technology so I look forward to learning more about it. I'm also pleased that I can take classes from the comfort of my home in Seattle, WA where I live with my husband. I am currently two weeks away from finishing my eighth year of teaching JH and HS Social Studies as well as advising the yearbook staff and student council.

Twitter is my favorite tool for professional development, you can find me @kaelynbullock. My PLN (Professional Learning Network) has inspired me to try flipped learning (#flipclass) and inquiry-based learning (#inquirychat). More recently, I have been looking into Standards-Based Learning (#sblchat) and gamification (#leveluped). These topics will be my summer projects and I hope to use this blog to reflect on my learning and progress.

Historical Thinking Skills

With the adoption of Common Core standards, history teachers are becoming more concerned with historical thinking skills. Many of us are happily leaving behind the long lists of content to be memorized. In fact, many history educators on Twitter blogged about that very topic on the new History Blog Circle, proposed by Joe Taraborrelli. I contributed to last month's topic here.

This month we are discussing how we plan for historical thinking. Recently the historical skills of my students have been put to the test through the National History Day competition. Students have been working on these since October and now I am assessing them. Over the past several months they learned new research skills. They learned more advanced Google searching techniques, they learned how to use library databases, and they had the opportunity to use the University of Washington's Graduate Library.

They were able to find great sources and analyzed them by using pre-made questions based on source type. However, as it came down to crunch time and I read their outlines, they struggled to put those sources to use in a historical argument. When I recommended they find a few primary sources to "beef-up" their arguments, they reverted to basic Google searching strategies.

They were asked to create Annotated Bibliographies and I was surprised at how much they struggled to make accurate citations. They turned entries in a total of four times, each full of red marks, and I am happy to say that most of them now have a better understanding of how to work with citations. Some of them even discovered Easybib for the first time.

At the heart of this project is a historical argument which they have showed competency in, in the past. Typically, they are able to do this with a "formulated" topic and given several resources. It certainly is more challenging to create your argument on your own in the midst of a vast array of sources. Some did it beautifully. However there were some that hardly incorporated the primary sources that had found (a certain number were required at checkpoints). One student did not use a single primary source.

It is hard to say if the students lacked the skills to complete this project well or if they did not commit the amount of time necessary to do this project well. Either way, I have learned a few things about what I would do differently in the future. An experienced NHD teacher advised that we incorporate the skills students need for this project in the content we are teaching all year. A few thoughts of what I can change:

• As a class we often look at primary sources together, but I think I should assess them more on an individual level. I know I already do this to a point, but I can always step it up.
• I also think I should regularly ask them to find scholarly articles and primary sources for class. 
• We often have inquiry questions and I allow students to do outside research, but I could include more detailed standards for those sources.
• Already in my "flipped mindset" of planning I am always trying to think of ways to gets students active in discovering their knowledge, not just sitting and hearing what they "are supposed to know for the test." But I think I need to open things up a little and allow them to develop historical arguments based on areas they are interested in. Like I said, I may be interfering too much, setting up the questions and often providing the resources.

I am excited about these changes and hope they will lead to improved historical thinking skills for my students.

On a related note, I think it may be a sin that I have not read Historical Thinking and Other Unnatural Acts: Chartign the Future of Teahing the Past by Sam Wineburg. Although I have read many similar books, I think I need to order it immediately.

A Few Gifts in December

For the past few months I have been loving what is going on in my classroom. In December, students were doing on some great, inquiry/project based learning.

Western Civilization students worked in groups to create an Art Gallery Tour, answering the question, "How did the Renaissance bring us both back to the past and into the future?" Students used Power Point, Prezi, or Google Presentation to put together the works of art and then use www.screecast-o-matic.com to narrate the screencast. I talked a little about the Explore-Flip-Apply approach I used with this here. The products were great. I was really pleased with their command of the content. I also like how some of their personalities came through in the tours, like this one.

My United States history course, had followed more of a "flipped-101" style. Now that we have progressed through the year, I wanted to step it up. We briefly went through information on Manifest Destiny. To get the students to process the information and create something meaningful, I turned to this awesome post, 15 Assessments that Don't Suck. I decided to use the Notecard Confessions assessment. I found it very valuable to have students approach Texas Independence and the Mexican-American War from the perspective of Mexico. It was so nice to come alongside groups, checking in and encouraging them to add more in various areas. It really helped students to not settle for the result being "good enough." But instead they know I am there to push them and support them to do their best.

Flipped History Google Hangouts

I work in a school where I practically the entire Social Studies Department. I crave collaboration. Twitter has been a wonderful gift in that regard. About a year ago, I noticed a link to a Flipped History discussion. I even sat and watched several, either live or posted on YouTube. Since then I have been invited to participate in them and I have thoroughly enjoyed it. This is a great group of educators and I love the opportunity to discuss what is going on in my classroom and get new ideas.

One of the more interesting trends of these discussions is that we all claim to be be "flipped" history teachers but we all have a different way of implementing it. I think it speaks to the truth that the flipped classroom is a mindset, not a strict list of rules. I think most of us started with Flipped 101 and then it evolved into the various ways we help the students take more ownership in their education. I think it develops differently for each of us based on our personalities and the students we serve.

Below you'll can check out some of the Hangouts I have been a part of.

"Just in Time" Learning and Part-Time Flipping

It has been awhile since my last update. Last time I was wrestling with helping my students find balance. They are overwhelmed with school and the National History Day projects. As far as the Middle Ages project, I did some "traditional" lecturing for two days instead of having students research and dig for information from a variety of resources. And then I had them actively apply it in project format. I gave them the choice of a board game, timeline, or European trip itinerary. Students could chose what project interested them and what felt manageable in terms of their strengths. They could work alone or in groups. I was able to lighten the load of the timeline student by directing them to this awesome tool. I felt happy about the "compromise." Although the accumulating information was teacher-driven, the application allowed the students to process the information and included student-choice.

For the next short chapter, I went back to the way I had been teaching it for years. Basically, in the past it had been a really fun unit for the students and resulted in learning. We had "Oprah: Crisis in the Church" skits, a Black Plague simulation, and a history bowl. It also helped keep homework loads light as students were working toward a big deadline for the NHD project. I was feeling a little guilty about not flipping this unit, but in the #flipping20 chat on Twitter, @kennybosch talked about the idea of Part-Time flipping, which he discussed in a chapter of the Flipping 2.0 book (Kenny's blog and book ordering information here). Basically, it boils down to the fact that you don't have to flip every unit. Just give it a try, get started, and you might find it works better for some units and not others.

Now we are back to flipping. I would call it flipped inquiry, but it is also taking on traits of Explore-Flip-Apply. My approach is based off of a Google Hangout I had with other flipped history teachers, in particular, @phillige. Students are trying to answer the question, "how did the Renaissance bring people both back to the past and into the future?" Students have been exploring websites and watching some videos to uncover the answer to that question. As they were exploring today, trying to come up with solid examples of "past" and "future," I was getting a lot of common questions. I talked over those key points aloud. But this is where the flip is needed. I plan to make a screencast going over those points I said in class today. Why make a video of it? Firstly, students researching at computers aren't always the best listeners. Secondly, maybe they didn't need that information yet. Carolyn Durley's awesome post talked about providing "just in time learning," rather than "just in case learning." Students are learning at different speeds. I noticed some kids struggling in the lab today, but some may not have been struggling yet and may need that information later. When I said it in the lab today, it may not have been relevant to those students. Even for the students that needed it at that moment, maybe they will need it again later. So I will "flip" that lecture, not because I planned to, but because that is what these students needed. Next, they will work to apply their knowledge by answering the focus question through an Art Gallery Tour. I look forward to seeing the results.

Enjoy the links above. The Flipped Community is about sharing, I would not be in this place, if it weren't for the inspiration of my Personal Learning Network (PLN). #thanksgiving

National History Day and Flipped Class Doubts

This is my first year ever, being involved in National History Day. I have been aware of it since my teacher ed days. The focus this year for our school's Open House is history, so I though it would be a great opportunity to try it out (kind of like a Science Fair for history). I attended a workshop about it a few weeks ago at the University of Washington and that only got me more excited. I love the historical, critical thinking skills it develops. NHD's website has many great resources for teachers. I am getting students started on it now and even tried to break it down nicely for them, handing out a weekly timeline from now until the end of January (the due date).

In stress surveys I handed out this week (something we are trying to do weekly for each of our classes this year), many students were positive. Saying they were nervous about the project, but appreciated the break down I gave them today. However, just one student wrote some nasty words to me, including "why are we doing this, again?" Ouch, it stings.

So now I start thinking about priorities. How do I continue in my "flipped" classroom? I have been planning for the upcoming Middle Ages unit already. I wanted them to crowd source information and then in groups make a Medieval Game of "Life" or "Monopoly." But I'm worried. Is the thought of another project, granted, mostly in-class, going push them over the edge? Do I resort to passive, teacher-centered lessons? Is there some happy medium in-between?