EduCon 2.5 in Philly this Weekend!!!

EduCon 2.5 is happening in Philly this weekend!!!!Educon 2.5 is a national conference in Philly this weekend. It has some of the leading minds in 21st Century education attending. http://educonphilly.org

Here are the guiding principles behind EduCon

1. Our schools must be inquiry-driven, thoughtful and empowering for all members.
2. Our schools must be about co-creating — together with our students — the 21^st Century Citizen.
3. Technology must serve pedagogy, not the other way around.
4. Technology must enable students to research, create, communicate, and collaborate.
5. Learning can — and must — be networked.
6.  

At this time, there are 278 attendees.  Here is a link to a page with their names and photos. http://educonphilly.org/attendees

You can see the schedule of presentations down the right side of the page. 

Wish I was there, but instead I can watch the conversations through live streaming video.  You can TOOO!   

1. You have to begin by signing up and creating a profile. http://educonphilly.org/register
2. Go to the Conversations and find ones that interest you. http://educonphilly.org/conversations
3. You just need to select the conversation and then sign-in.
4. The list of conversations look appetizing and the people presenting them are leaders in our field.  These aren't lectures, they are interactive sessions with attendees discussing ideas and the presenters facilitating discussion.
5. You can watch it occur as it happens because they are using YouTube Broadcast to stream the presentations.  The greatest part is that if you miss a session, the session is posted immediately for your enjoyment.

You can also follow some of the happenings through Twitter using #educon

This is a MUST experience.

Good luck and enjoy your first Virtual conference.

End of the Semester Humor

Does this sound like your interaction with some students?

Brittany and her professor discuss her success in class.




Another student complains about his grade.

 

 Hope you had a good semester. 

 Z

Your Class Might be Learner-Centric If . . . (a work in progress)

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 I woke up this morning thinking about learner-centric learning environments. Hmmm, is that dedication or distraction if you dream about 21st century learning? 

Anyway, I had the opening phrase "Your class might be learner-centric if . . . " on my lips when I awoke. I am interested in making a conscious effort to make my courses learner-centric.

Many of my activities and my teaching philosophy tends to be learner-centric, but I want to finding a set of guidelines that I could use in refining my courses. 

So I began my search for such a list and composited the list below. This is a work in progress, so please provide me with feedback or your ideas about the list.

Please note that I have stated that your class MIGHT be learner-centric if it has these characteristics. A learner-centered learning environment is more than a few characteristics.  It is an overall learning experience that can be created when these characteristics are present.

Add your ideas to the comment section down below.

Your class might be learner-centric if: (apologies to Jeff Foxworthy . . . )

• ·      Your students talk more then you do in class.
• ·      Your students are working harder than you.
• ·      Your students are explicitly learning the required thinking skills for mastering material in the discipline.
• ·      Your students are reflecting, analyzing and critiquing what they are learning and how they are learning it.
• ·      Your students have some choice about which assignments they complete.
• ·      Your students help create the assessment criteria/rubrics.
• ·      Your students are collaborating as learning communities.
• ·      You share the learning commitment with your students.
• ·      You and your students see learning individually and collectively as the goal of education.
• ·      Your students demonstrate their knowledge in unique ways.
• ·      Your students are actively engaged in individual and group learning activities.

What do you have to add?

Weimer, M. (2012). Five characteristics of learner-centered teaching.

Characteristics of effective instruction: Student-centered classrooms

Delaney J. (1999). What are learner-centered schools?

Steve Jobs: Self-Proclaimed Hippie

Steve Jobs was one of the most fascinating people of the 20th century. He was a visionary, marketeer, designer, and self-proclaimed hippie (see the end of the video.)

I just wanted to share with any Jobs-Heads out there that last night I found a 1995 video, Steve Jobs: The Lost Interview, on Netflix. 
It was terrific!!!!!

This 72-minute video takes place when Jobs wasn't employed by Apple.  He had been released from employment by John Scully and was running his new computer company, Next.

I found the video absolutely fascinating. Jobs talked about using a computer when he was 10 years old. He led us through his whole developmental process from creating a "blue box" to creating and marketing the Macintosh.  The greatest part of this video is that it provides insight into how Jobs thought and what he valued.

Robert X. Cringley led this 1995 interview. I have been a big fan of Cringley as well since the early 80s.

Hope you enjoy this video. Tell me what you think.

Z

Related articles

• Aaron Sorkin On Steve Jobs Biopic: Video
• The Best Steve Jobs Moments In History [Video Gallery]

ITEC 2012 - Making Learning Meaningful for Millennials

What does it take to make learning meaningful to your millennial students?  That is a question that should be on the lips of every teacher.  The first thing that we need to do is realize that our students today are different than 20 years ago.  They are the first generation to live in a digital world.  They may not be born knowing how to use technology, but they have grown up in a world where digital answers have always been available and they are Digitally Comfy (as Angela Maiers says).

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: For all of your twitterers, we will use the hashtag #ITEC12 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.

The Slideshow

ITEC Making Learning Meaningful for Your Millennial Students from Leigh Zeitz

Who Are the Millenials?

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

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)

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

What Happens when Reality Meets Virtual

I just had to share this video with you.  Here we have a real frog trying to get lunch off of the screen of a smart phone.
What do you think? Do you see any metaphors for life? Z

What Characteristics Make 4th Graders Better Keyboarders?

Keyboard (Photo credit: Shane Pope)

Recently, Amy Lockhart and I had an article published in the Journal for Computing Teachers. It was the result of our research with her 4th graders into what characteristics affected their success in keyboarding. We investigated gender, age, hand size, music experience and athletic experience. Beyond the characteristics, we explored using the Almena Method for Keyboarding. 

The Almena Method is quite different than your typical instructional model for teaching keyboarding. Almena King developed a series of mnemonic jingles to assist in remembering the key locations. Once you learn these jingles, you can recite them to yourself to assist in remembering the location of the keys.

 Here is a brief overview of the study we completed:
This study evaluated the effectiveness of using the Almena Method keyboarding program to teach keyboarding to 4th grade students. Student characteristics were evaluated to measure their effect upon keyboarding success. Seventeen Midwestern fourth grade students of a mixed sex, ethnic, and racial orientation were involved. Students participated in daily 30-minute keyboarding lessons for four weeks. Students tended to increase their keyboarding speed by 33%. Age affected success inversely. Younger students improved more than older students. Music Experience had a positive effect. Larger-handed students improved the most. Gender and athletic background didn’t have any effect upon keyboarding improvement. Specific student characteristics can make a significant difference in student success.

Here is a link to the complete article:  http://www.iste.org/Store/Product.aspx?ID=2523

What do you think?  Does it fit your experience in student keyboarding?

Z

Related articles

• Have Kids Learn to Touch Type Before Going Back to School
• Amazing Computer Key Boards
• Top 10 reasons why an iPad won't replace a laptop for your college student
• SnapKeys calls for the death of the QWERTY keyboard
• Gates: Tablets in the classroom won't work without keyboard
• Is Keyboarding in the Classroom Archaic?