Participatory Culture

1) What features of Participatory Culture are evident in the Networked Student video? Which are not?

The Networked Student video is a good example of many features of Participatory Culture and the skills associated with it. In terms of features, the video in and of itself is an example of the “low barriers to artistic expression and civic engagement” as the creator is able to use his imagination to create the video, and thus engage our own imaginations to help us understand the concept. Even the character in the video was able to use his own artistic expression to put together his presentation. It also displays “strong support for creating and sharing one’s creations with others” since it is his creation and he has posted on youtube to share with others. The character in the video also share’s his creations with others. It also shows how “what is known by the most experienced is passed along to novices”. The character also passes along his own experiences to novices as he is also having experiences passed to him from others. This person also clearly believes “that their contributions matter” or else he would not have taken the time to create and share his video, the same goes for the character within the video creating his bookmark website and sharing it. Though the video doesn’t directly show that the creator cares what others think of his video, the video mentions blogging and commenting on blogs which shows that people care what others think.

In terms of skills associated with Participatory culture, this video is a good display of many of them. For example, this video shows the skill of “play” as the creator experiments with his surrounding’s in creatively solve the problem of communicating this information. It is possible that he also adopted an alternative identity for the purpose of improvisation for his “performance”, though this is not clearly evident. This video also effectively shows a “simulation” constructing models of real-world processes in an active way. It also shows “appropriation” since the creator was able to sample media content before deciding how he wanted to convey his information, and then essentially “remixing” another creators style to make his own point. The video also demonstrates “distributed cognition” since the creator was able to interact with tools to enhance mental capacities and facilitate learning. Due to the credits at the end of the video, we can also assume that it demonstrates “collective intelligence” since one person wrote the script, and another created the visual media, an someone narrated, thus showing their ability to pool knowledge towards the accomplishment of a common goal. We can also assume that the creator(s) used “judgment” to determine what information to include in their communication. The character in the video shows us “networking” skills as he uses a social bookmarking page to collect, distribute, and compare information.

Some skills that perhaps were not entirely evident in this video were “multitasking”, since the narrator only needed to know his script and didn’t necessarily have to pay attention to the visual components, and “transmedia navigation” since the information was portrayed the same way throughout the video. Also “negotiation” wasn’t very prominently portrayed since there was no clear evidence of “discerning and respecting multiple perspectives, and grasping and following alternative norms”.



2) How do the experiences of the student look similar/different from experiences students have in your classroom/context?

In my classroom context, the experiences of the student look fairly similar to those expected of my students. The character in the video uses the internet to research his topic, as my students will do. He also was involved with blogging and although blogging is not involved in my most recent lesson plan, it was an important part of my first lesson plan, and would be utilized in my classroom. Also, as the student is able to share his work with the web, in my classroom the students would also be sharing their work on the web through the course wiki, which is publicly viewable. There is no experience that the student in the video had that I would expect not to be found in my classroom, however, some of his experiences I had not originally planned on. For example, though I did not directly plan to use social bookmarking websites or google scholar specifically, I would certainly not rule out using them in my classroom.

Critical Thinking and Problem Solving

Based on Bloom's Digital Taxonomy

Example learning objective: The student will write a compound sentence using conjunctions.

Knowledge: The student will write a list of conjunctions from memory.

Understanding: The student will write a sentence describing the purpose of a conjunction.

Application: The student will write a compound sentences about conjunctions, using conjunctions.

Analysis: The student will analyze a list of compound sentences and organize the conjunctions used into 3 main categories.

Evaluation: The student will judge a classmate's compound sentences and determine the validity of their conjunctions.

Creativity: The student will design a short presentation explaining the uses, and how to use conjunctions.

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A Disturbing Discovery: The Case of Paul and the Astronomy Exam

Were the students less capable than he had assumed? Were they not paying attention even though they seemed to be interested in the topic of astronomy? Was there something about having to put their thoughts into writing that caused them to do poorly? Given that he would be teaching the course the next year, was there something he should do differently? And if so, what and why?

The students themselves were not necessarily less capable than he had assumed, but perhaps their critical thinking skills were less developed than he had assumed. It is not out of the question to suppose that the students didn't acknowledge their errors and thus weren't able to learn from them. It is possible that they weren't paying attention to that particular topic because they already thought they had a grasp on the concept, and therefore weren't able to fully acknowledge that they didn't. It isn't uncommon that when a person believes the wrong thing for a long period of time, when it is explained to them that they are incorrect, they don't always remember later on that they were incorrect, so they go back to their original way of thinking.
There is a possibility that putting their thoughts into writing caused them to do poorly, but it seems somewhat unlikely that it would cause them to completely misunderstand a concept simply because they were writing it. However, if that is the case, it may be advisable that in the future the instructor has the students write about the concepts more often so that they can become accustomed to communicating their thoughts on paper accurately. It may also help to have some kind of demonstration that makes the correct answer more clear, or find a way to relate it to something the students already have a clear grasp on. Taking these actions should help the students realize their mistakes and take corrective action so that they can more firmly cement the correct concepts into their memory and understanding.

Critical Thinking Readings & GWAP

Critical thinking isn’t just thinking a lot or for a long time. Critical thinking is using knowledge, evidence and reasoning to ascertain the best answer or solution to a problem. It allows us to make reasonable judgments and decisions without bias or emotional interference. When a person is aware of critical thinking strategies they can be applied to any subject matter.

As an educator, I want to know more about teaching critical thinking strategies and how to let students learn about their own metacognitive processes to help them understand critical thinking principles.

I could apply critical thinking skills to my lesson planning by reasoning the best way to teach a subject. By using critical thinking strategies I could find a way to more clearly express my ideas and information, and be aware of when I am lacking knowledge or reasoning on a topic. As a student in school, I can use critical thinking to more thoroughly understand principles being taught in class so that I could apply them outside of class. I could also use critical thinking strategies to revise any flaws in my thinking once I have acknowledged that they exist.

GWAP games support sharing, communication, collaboration, and action through the use of interactive communicative games. In order to succeed in these games, a player has to be able to figure out what the other player is thinking, so that the two players can play off of each others thoughts to win points. In the game “Verbosity”, players have to think critically to find ways of describing a word, without using the word, in a way that the other player can decipher the secret word. This game requires communication and collaboration for the players to get closer to the best ways of describing the word, and for the players to give feedback on the guesses of one player so that they can work their way together to enter the correct word.

One could use GWAP games in their lesson planning to demonstrate how essential it is for students to work together and collaborate on certain projects in order to gain a better understanding of the world around them through the ideas of their peers. It could also be used to get students to think outside of the box with games such as “Verbosity”.

Introduction to How People Learn

Preexisting knowledge is important to learning because without it, the learner has little to compare the incoming knowledge to. It can either help or hinder the learning process. It influences the incoming knowledge and adapts it to fit with the old knowledge. An example of this can be seen in Fish is Fish (Leo Lionni), where a fish imagines everything it is told about (cows, people, birds) to be variations of fish because fish is all the fish knows about. Without a basis of other things to compare the incoming information to, the fish can only suspect that it must be like something it already knows. If the fish had experienced other things and gained first-hand information on them, it would have a better basis on which to build and compare the new information with.

Active learning is when the learner is engaged in learning and is aware of the strategies that work best for them to learn. Active learning is important because it enables the learner to know how they learn best, and thus they can learn as effectively as possible. It allows the learner to know what they need in order to understand incoming information, and to know when they don’t fully understand it so that they can further investigate the new information and find meaning that makes sense to them.

The key findings indicate that preexisting knowledge can help or hinder the learning process, and if the preexisting knowledge is false and strongly believed, it can be very hard to correct the knowledge permanently. Also, learners must have a good understanding of facts as well as how to use the facts in a conceptual framework, and an efficient way of organizing information in order to develop a competency in a field of study. The finding also indicate that metacognitive approaches to teaching help students learnt to teach themselves and understand things better.

Metacognition is the knowledge a person has about their own learning and how they learn. It should be taught across disciplines and specifically adjusted to each discipline so that students can get a better understanding of the material as well as an understanding of how to explain things to themselves so that they can understand difficult material.

Assessments are vital to teaching and learning environments because they allow the teacher as well as the student to monitor their progress. They teacher is able to see how the students understand the concepts and adjust their teaching accordingly and address any problems that need to be fixed. They also enable the student to track their own progress and understand their own weak points so that they can improve their thinking. Without assessments, teachers may not be able to identify gaps or misconceptions in the student’s thinking, and the students may not be able to tell how well they understood the information or how they have progressed.

Course Expectations

1. What are your expectations for this course?
   I expect to learn about a huge range of technology that can be used for teaching. I also expect to learn more about the online resources mentioned on the first day of class. I imagine that we will also gain some valuable teaching experience through the activities in class. I fully anticipate learning about different mediums that can be used for teaching, and how to integrate them into teaching to keep students interested in learning. That being said, it sounds like we will learn how to become good teachers instead of teachers that just lecture everyday in the same way without any variation or teacher efficacy.
   
   
2. What are your expectations for your classmates?
   I expect that my classmates will be responsible and responsive. I expect to learn invaluable lessons from them. I also expect that we will be able to work together to help each other better understand how to use the technology available to us.
   
   
3. What are your expectations of your instructor?
   From my instructor I expect that I will be able to pick up various techniques and characteristics that make a good teacher. Based on the first day of class, I expect that I will learn more from this class and instructor than I have from most of the classes I have ever taken. I also expect that this instructor will have an interesting way of presenting information that will result in actual retention and understanding of the material.
   
   
4. What questions do you have about this course and/or learning, teaching, and technology?
   The only question I can think of currently would be whether or not the programs required for things such as the podcast and screencast could be downloaded for free or if we need to go to a computer lab to use them.