How Does Watching/Listening Faster Affect My Learning?

OK, having read my previous posting, Learn Faster by Watching Faster, and asked "How does faster watching/listening affect learning?" How can my brain comprehend content that is faster than the typical human speaking pace?  

Good Question.  The answer is - It all Depends!  Some research supports accelerated watching/listening.  Some research found that students do poorly on tests after watching/listening to videos 2x times the regular speed. The problem with these studies is that they approach it as an either/or situation.  They have students listen to content at 2x and then test them.  

Success with this process is a personal outcome. It depends upon:

• Content of the video/audio. 
• Your ability to understand the audio language. 
• How much attention you are paying to the audio track. 

People typically speak English at about 150 words per minute (wpm).  (I would assume that this applies to other languages as well, but I didn't find any research on that.) Our maximum rate for comprehension is about 450 wpm.  This means that we might be able to triple (3x) the speed of discourse and still understand it. 

What Will Work for You?

I must admit that I usually keep my listening at a 1.5x or 1.75x rate. I have tried 2x but don't find that comfortable. Your choice must be based upon what works for you . . . but what is that magic speed?

The Oxford Online English center suggests a short test to identify which speed works best for you. 
Oxford Online English - How to Understand Fast Speech.

Begin by finding an audio track (maybe on a video) containing the type of information you typically need to learn.  Wouldn't make sense to listen to a highly-technical medical video if you will be listening to lectures for typical education videos.  It will work best if you have a transcript of the piece, but not necessary.

1. Warm up by listening to a few sentences in the video.  Try to remember what they said.
2. Listen to another sentence.
3. Try to type/write out the sentence exactly.
4. Repeat this for 2 more sentences. 
5. Compare what you typed/wrote to the transcript (or listen to it again.)
6. How many mistakes did you make?  Every missing, wrong, or forgotten word is a mistake. 
7. You are only allowed 1 mistake.  Any more, then you need to slow down your speed and try again.
8. If you got them all right, try it again at a faster speed. Continue until you find the speed you want to use.

What worked for you?  I had a couple of errors at 1.75x - but I plan to get better.

Pay Attention!

The most important part of understanding rapid speech is to PAY ATTENTION!  It's too easy for us to try to multitask while watching a video.  The problem is that we often don't remember what we just heard because our minds had drifted to something else. That means that we have to listen to watch/listen to it again. 

You have to pay careful attention if you are speeding up your videos. If you speed up a 12-minute video to 1.5x, you will be able to watch it in 2/3 of the time, or 8 minutes.  If you try to multitask while listening, you may have to watch it again and extend it to 24 minutes - it's YOUR CHOICE.

Watching/Listening Faster

Watching faster can mean a big difference in how much you can learn in a short period.  This can be a great boon to your students' learning as well. Chances are that many of them are doing this already, but they may think it is cheating.  Let them in on this secret.  Try doing it in class so they can see how it works. 

Introduce your students (and yourself) to another way in which you can understand the world.

Have you been speeding up your watching/listening?  Leave a comment about what you have accomplished.

Z

BTW, Speeding up podcasts to make listening more efficient is called PodFasting.  It's a great way to catch up on the podcasts that you missed. Check it out.

Inouye, M. (2016) Can We Speed Listen and Still Understand?

Developing Innovation through Invention

While I was at the ISTE conference in Philadelphia last month, I had the opportunity to meet with Bob Greenberg who recorded a few minutes of me talking about how we might integrate this into our classrooms. This is the basis for the presentation I shared at ISTE on using Rube Goldberg in the Classroom to teach STEM with our students.

Bob Greenberg's Brainwaves Video Anthology

Bob Greenberg has been recording a number of education leaders for his Brainwaves Video Anthology.  These recordings include discussions with leaders in education like Alan Kay, Sir Ken Robinson, David Jakes, Vicki Davis, Julie Lindsey, Yong Zhao, Noam Chomsky, Robert Sternberg, Nicholas Negroponte, Tony Wagner, Linda Darling-Hammond - The liste is endless. 

Watch a couple of these videos and share them with your friends.  Share in our comments what you learned while watching them discuss their ideas.

Z

Teacher Spends 2 Days as a Student and is Shocked at What She Learns

washingtonpost.com

I just read this revealing post in the Washington Post blog.  It is about an educator with 15 years of teaching experience who spent 2 days being a high school student.  She sat through the lectures, took the tests, asked the questions, did the labs and sat through hours of teacher lecturing.

I found it quite interesting to read her TakeAways from the experience.  She identified realizations that 1) Students sit all day and sitting is exhausting; 2) High schools students are sitting passively and listening during approximately 90% of their classes; and 3) You feel a little bit like a nuisance all day long.

I must admit that these are not the realizations that I would expect from this experience.  What do you think?  Is this the experience that your students are probably having?  What are you doing to make it different?

Do You Fit Any of These 7 Signs That You Are a Fast Learner?

So how many of these signs do you find in the way YOU learn?  

How about in the ways your students learn?  

How can you use this to support your students' learning?

 

What do YOU think? Does this fit your ideas about learning?

Alfie Kohn Doesn't Like Open Badges and Gamification - Do You?

Are you using Badges in your classes? 

Alfie Kohn definitely isn't using badges in his classes. He doesn't like them. 
The video above is his discussion of caution about using badges and gamification. 

As you may know, Alfi is an advocate for change in schools.  He has written a number of books about making learning more relevant to students.   In this video, however, he is talking about how using badges and gamification in classrooms are merely manifestations of the behavioralist strategy towards learning. 

Kohn begins the video talking about how badges limit education to mere skill acquisition. He points out that the Kahn Academy  uses badges and that is a limiting factor because it doesn't deal with application of the skills. He says that this is the basis for another modern educational model, the Flipped Classroom. He also questions who is going to validate the criteria that will be used to identify success in knowing and mastering specific skills. 

Later on, Kohn criticizes using gamification in the classroom because we are taking gaming aspects from video games and applying it to the real world.  He also discusses the need to build intrinsic motivation in learners rather than extrinsic motivation where every success is rewarded by points or other external awards. He points out that psychological research actually states that extrinsic rewards will damage the acquisition of internal motivation. (His emphasis on this is understandable based upon his Punished by Rewards book that he wrote in 1993.)

While Mr. Kohn brings to front many good points about things that need to be considered when using badges and gamification in learning, I think that he is missing the boat.  He is presenting this in an either/or format.

• He presents badging as an uncontrolled system for relegating the learning experience to mastery of skills with no application.
• He limits his scope on gamification to the use of rewards for learning.

The important thing to remember in either of these situations is that they are NOT the only strategies that need to be used in today's learning environments. Today's students need to have authentic learning situations where what they learn extends beyond master of skills. They need to be organized in a way that will provide a relevant testbed for using the skills that need to be mastered. This can be organized in a fashion where students can earn badges as they master their skills but concurrently, they are applying their skills to create things that are relevant to themselves.

This morning I came across a CNN interview with Salman Kahn where he talks about how his video instruction can be used to provide content for flipped classrooms.  This provides more context for understanding the limits of Kohn's perception of education's opportunities.

Kohn's understanding of gamification is limited by a 20th century perception of learning. Learning is an ongoing process of trying to accomplish something and then receiving feedback on your success. This feedback might be a grade on a test, points in a game, feedback from a colleague or teacher or just having the real world tell you if it worked or not. 

It IS best to have a learning situation where students have an internal need to do well on a project, but learning is a gradated process that has multiple levels of success.  Success on these successive levels needs to include feedback for the learner to gauge his/her level of accomplishment and adjust future activities accordingly.

What is your opinion about Alfie's opinions?  

Are you using badging and gamification in your classrooms?

Is it the only way your students are learning or are you integrating it into your curriculum?

How do you do this?

Z

Magic CAN BE TAUGHT!!!

I was just reading Shannon Doak's G+ postings when I found her posting about Christopher Emdin's TED talk called Teach Teachers How to Create Magic.  In this presentation, he talks about using Hip Hop Pedagogy to engage students in learning.  He is a dynamic teacher who knows how to talk with people.


I must admit that I was a little disappointed in his work because he was just talking about teachers talking with students. His Hip Hop talk was about how to make lecturing more engaging. My question is that maybe the problem is in the pedagogical structure where the basis of the teaching is lecturing. I would like to see less lecturing and more student-based interaction with content.

I found his Dr. Emdin's website and Dr. Emdin is a prolific writer and engaging speaker who makes learning interesting. The only question that I have is that if the students are just listening to a teacher rap, where is their proactive learning occurring? I watched another of his videos where he talked about students sharing their ideas on a blackboard wall, but what were the projects that they were completing? Should a learner's sense of engagement be based upon how well a teacher can speak or how well teachers can challenge students to create projects to solve problems.

I watched another of his videos and he talked about more student-based learning:


I don't know much about Dr. Emdin's Hip Hop learning, but he appears to be a man who is addressing change in education and will be well worth following.

What else should we know about his work and vision?

What do you know?

21st Century Learning is ALL ABOUT Moving Beyond Uncomfortable Beginnings

I was just reading through my email when I found a link to a PBL article about Moving Beyond Uncomfortable Beginnings by Theresa Chimenti

This article rang a bell for me because the author talked about a student who "was really frustrated because I was making her think."  I know that this is true because I have experienced this myself. I teach courses in an unconventional manner where I want to see the students explore the world and then make decisions on their own. I have had students in tears saying "Why can't you just tell me what I need to know and then ask me on a test on Friday?"  

The key to creating successful 21st Century Learning Environments is to pose difficult questions that require learners to make decisions and explore the world. Read the article to see if anything rings true.   Do you have additional resources or ideas you want to share?

Z

Related articles

• What is PBL ?
• Feeling Better About PBL
• The real 21st-century problem in public education
• 21st Century
• 21st Century Education
• The 21st Century Classroom

Making Learning Meaningful for New Gens with Readings, Watchings, Listenings, and Doings @ ISTE '13

Making Learning Meaningful means more than "getting the point across." Meaningful Learning is a transformative experience where learners are building a Relation with what they are learning. Instead of memorizing information that can be recited on a test on Friday morning, Meaningful Learning involves students:

• Connecting to content because of interest.
• Finding relevance because it relates to what they already know.
• Having a great deal of freedom in how they involve themselves with the content. 

Building a Relation with what you are learning involves making decisions about what you are learning and how you will learn it. It doesn't mean that the teacher is not leading the learning process. It means that the teacher is not the center of all content and the purveyor of knowledge to the learner. The teacher learns along with the learner.

Today I am sharing my ideas with educators from around the world at the ISTE '13 conference in San Antonio. This is a huge international event where 20,000 educators from 70 different countries convene to share how they have been teaching and learn new ideas for how technology can be used to support learning.  It is an INCREDIBLE event.

I am presenting on Wednesday, June 26 from 11:45 - 12:45 in Room  217 D. I don't know how many people will be at the conference but you will be able to follow along through a couple of pathways from anywhere in the world.

Twitter
For all of you twitterers, we will use the hashtag #MLMiste When you tweet, include this hashtag in your message so that others can follow along with your ideas. If you want to see what was posted, click on the hashtag above and it will show you what has been said.

Collaborative Notes
We will also use collaborative note taking. This is a Google Doc that I created and then laid open to the world for anyone to edit. (tinyurl.com/MLMiste) This means that you just need to click on the link and it will take you to the Google Doc. You don't have to sign-in but you will be known as Anonymous???? when you are entering your ideas.  Go ahead and add the info that you find interesting.  Go out on the web during the session to find relevant information and add the link to the document.

The Slideshow

Making learning meaningful iste 13 from Leigh Zeitz

I have posted this slideshow on SlideShare.  You are welcome to follow along or use the content later with your colleagues or students.  Just remember to provide attribution for where you found it. =-)







(Will be posted before the presentation on Wednesday.  Never know what else we will add.)

Generations
I will begin our discussion with talking about Generations. The world is changing and so are the learners we encounter in out classrooms. We MUST consider that if we are going to Make Learning Meaningful. Here is a small chart that distinguishes the generations.  The rest of the content on this can be found in the slideshow above. 

Readings, Watchings, Listenings and Doings (RWLD)
Readings, Watchings, Listenings, and Doings (RWLDs) are online pages that hold digital  content for topics that you are studying in class. Instead of relying on a textbook, you are providing your learners with Multimedia Opportunities to prepare for the work you will be doing in class.

Check THESE Out!!
Here are some examples of RWLDs that I use in my classes. They are designed for University classes at the University of Northern Iowa, but you could use this same format for 3rd graders. It's just a matter of making a blog posting. 

• Selection and Integration of Instructional Technologies
• Educational Technology and Design
• Coordinating Technology in an Educational Setting
• Seminar: Writing a Graduate Paper
• Classroom Computer Applications (Students helped create some of the postings.)

This is the Flipped Classroom LONG BEFORE there was a Flipped Classroom

You will can learn more about RWLDs at my posting Textbooks are NOT Enough Anymore!

Thank You!!
I hope that this session has been useful for you. I am interested in knowing if and how this material has been useful to you. I hope that this is just the beginning of our connection.

• Subscribe to this blog using the link in the right column.
• Send me an email at zeitz@uni.edu
• Follow me on Twitter:  @zeitz
• Let's visit on Skype:  leighzeitz

 How else can I help you?  Respond in the comments below.

Z

MY GAWD! It's Saturn thru Google Hangout!!!

There's Saturn. I can't believe it!

Fraser Cain in Courtenay, British Columbia, is SHARING THE UNIVERSE!
He is using Google Hangout to share this image on his telescope with other astronomers from all over the world.

English: Auroras on Saturn. Français : Des aurores polaires sur Saturne. Русский: Полярное сияние на Сатурне. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I know that the technology is here and I have connected with people all over the world, but this video brought me to tears.  I don't know why, but the idea of connecting people from all over the world to through Google Hangout to see Saturn through a personal telescope in British Columbia, Canada, was incredibly moving for me, the teacher.

Sure, we have seen telescopic images on our televisions or even our computers, but this experience is not being directed by "The Establishment." It isn't something on PBS that someone in New York decided would be good for us to see. It is about a Canadian amateur astronomer connecting through Google Hangouts with individuals in Pakistan, Australia, U.S., Mexico, South America, South Africa and ??. It is an example of people sharing/learning/teaching with one another in a way that wasn't possible even 5 years ago.

This is what 21st Century Learning is all about. It is about connecting and collaborating and exploring on a global basis. It is about using our daily resources to constantly expand our opportunities with others. 

What are you doing in your classrooms to encourage such collaboration?

Z

Happy Father's Day

Related articles

• 3 Creative Ways to Use Google Hangouts
• 27 Ways to Be a Better 21st Century Educator
• Learning Tools Every 21st Century Teacher Should Be Able To Use
• 21st Century Teachers
• Think You're a 21st Century Educator?
• What Does Teaching in The 21st Century Mean ?

Voki is a FUN way to do an Intro!

Voki is a fun way to have an avatar introduction you to your class.  I have asked my students to do this, but rarely have done it myself.  I am going to do that this year.  Should be fun.  Here is the intro that I did for an INTEL course that I am taking called "Facilitating and Implementing Online Professional Development."  Should be fun.

What do you use for introductions?  Can you suggest Avatars that you can make talk?  I tried Xtranormal but it didn't work correctly.

Z

Related articles

• V is for Voki
• Playing around with Voki
• National Poetry Month: Web 2.0 Poetry~ Voki
• Communicating with Technology (our next unit of study)

6 Important Resources for Learning Google Apps

google.com

I was looking for some instructional resources for using Google Apps and one of my students, Randon Ruggles from Minneapolis, sent me a plethora of them. While I feel that writing this blog is important because I can share information with you. the real reason is so that I can put it someplace where I won't lose it.

Introductory overview video for Google Docs:

This video is great for those who have never heard or understand the concept of an online, collaborative document.

Short training videos:

This is an index page of a bucketload of videos. You can access them by the specific app if you look for Learn by App towards the bottom of the navigation column.

Training videos AND documentation:

This page includes documentation AND the training videos.

Google apps certification resources:

Interested in getting REALLY GOOD at Google Apps so you can be certified? Here ia a beautiful set of lengthy modules designed for people who consider themselves  certifiable. It might be helpful for those who have no background in Google Apps to run through a few of these.  They are lengthy, but beneficial if you are targeting an app or only one specific part of an app.  The chapters nicely break them down.

General support documents for Google:

This is a multi-layered collection of documentation for using Google Apps. You can begin by selecting the apps in the left column and then narrow it down the specific activities in the application you want to use.

Online support for Google Apps:

This includes everything (Blogger, Wallet, etc.) from Google.  It's all there, just click on "Show All Products" and you will see icons for every product. The support is supplied through a Help Center,  Forum Community of other users, or options for contacting support personnel at Google. 

Do these fill your needs?  Do you have other suggestions for resources?

If so, include them in the comments below.

It is ALWAYS good to hear from my readers.

Z

Making Learning Meaningful for Millennials

Today I have the opportunity to provide a session at The Way Up XXV conference in Des Moines. This is an opportunity for about 100 women from Iowa higher education to experience learning opportunities in seeking leadership. It is a wonderful opportunity for networking both professionally and personally.

I am sharing my ideas about how we can best address our Millennial students' needs.

Here are the resources that I used. If you have additional ideas, please add them to the comments below.

We will be using technology throughout the session so let's begin with some of the opening resources:

Twitter: If anyone is twittering, we will use the hashtag #WayUpXXV. When you tweet, include this hashtag in your message so that others can follow along with your ideas. If you want to see what was posted, click on the hashtag above and it will show you what has been said.

Collaborative Notes: We will also use collaborative note taking. This is a Google Doc that I created and then laid open to the world for anyone to edit.  This means that you just need to click on the link and it will take you to the Google Doc. You don't have to sign-in but you will be known as Anonymous???? when you are entering your ideas.  Go ahead and add the info that you find interesting.  Go out on the web during the session to find relevant information and add the link to the document.

Making Learning Meaningful for Millennials Slideshow.
You can review the slideshow at slideshare.com.

Who Are the Millenials?

• Millennials: Confident. Connected. Open to Change. (article) 
• Echo Boomers video by L. Franklin Devine 

Readings, Watchings, Listenings and Doings

• Emerging Instructional Technologies
• Educational Technology and Design
• Seminar: How to Write a Grad Paper
• Selection and Integration of Instructional Technologies 

Millennial Mindset

• Boomers, Gen-Xers and Millennials: Understanding the New Students. (article)
• Is Google Making Us Stupid? (article)
• How Millennial Are You? (quiz)
• Networked Student (video)

Personal Learning Network 

• iGoogle

Gaming

• ChoreWars
• Partnership for 21st Century Skills
• Iowa CORE Curriculum
• Universal Constructs
• Student-Centered Classroom
•  Alternate Reality - World Without Oil
• 3D GameLab (Boise State University)

I hope that this session has been useful for you. I am interested in knowing if and how this material has been useful to you. I hope that this is just the beginning of our connection.

• Subscribe to this blog using the link in the right column.
• Send me an email at zeitz@uni.edu
• Follow me on Twitter:  @zeitz
• Let's visit on Skype:  leighzeitz

 How else can I help you?

Z

David Warlick: PLN; A Gardener's Approach to Prof Learning

Warlick is beginning by talking about the different bloggers that he follows. He talks about those who have good original ideas and those who filter other blogs.

3 aspects of PLNs:

• Web 2.0
• Mining the Conversation
• Mapping the Conversation.

Notes that he uses MindMeister to plan his presentations.

Wikis: He claims that he doesn't understand why he has a Facebook account. He uses his wiki to make his connection with his readers.

Twitter: Says that if he tried to explain it, we would say "why would we use it?" He notes that twitterers love it because they have a direct line to new things. Some people won't go on vacation because they don't want to leave twitter. Used the Twitter Search. Spoke about using TwitterPic to find out about a pyramid that he saw while on a trainride.

Second Life: Talks about the unusual experiences he had when he gave a speech in Second Life.

Nings: turns out that about half of the 200 people in the room don't know about nings. Nings developed by the same guy who developed the first web browser, Mosaic. Just shared the Classroom 2.0 ning. Now shared the learning 2.008 ning for the conference in Shanghai.

Blogs: "The Blogosphere is the exhaust of the human mind." Shows Technorati (Blog search engine). Just did a search of Technorati about "cartography". Technorati allows you to search specifically in Posts, Blogs, Videos or Photos. (this makes it much more functional than search.google.com) Just showed a blog called Strange Maps - hmmmm, interesting.

Delicious: Showed how he is using Delicious to sort and store and search resources.

It has been a good presentation and I like how he is sharing his PLN. Good job, David.

Z