Art has always held a special place in a learner's relationship with the world. By creating and engaging in art, one can do many things. Among others, it allows you to take an idea through to fruition, to understand relationships between different materials and ideas, it can help you make sense of emotions or the world around you, it can foster creative problem solving, and it can help you to learn and develop skills through iteration.
I agree with Resnick that encouraging creative thinking and play in kindergarteners is crucial, and can develop into strong problem solving skills and resourcefulness as they get older. I also agree with Resnick in that this type of practice should not be limited to kindergarten, but encouraged throughout one's entire school years and professional life. While kindergarteners begin with glitter and glue, the transition to creating with digital technologies can begin shortly thereafter. Scratch, Tynker, and countless other programs out there allow young and old students to create stories through open-ended play while also engaging with graphics and digital art. Scratch even lets you design your own characters and environments with their paint tool, furthering the student's engagement with art. ExplainEverything, an online program that allows users to tell stories and even create lesson plans and videos, is effective because users can incorporate original art, provided graphics, text, music, and more. If an eight grader wants to create a class project about the water cycle, or if a teacher wants to create an expressive video about the Civil Rights Movement, both can be done in ways never accessible before. Therefore, the influence of digital technologies doesn't stop at art education, but now art through digital technologies can influence subjects of all kinds. I believe we are still in the relative infancy of how digital tools will revolutionize students' ability to create, but what's already available is still enough to disrupt (in a good way) and make waves in the education community.
Creative digital technology allows constructivist learning principles to truly take shape and reach its full potential. Students can use these programs to create, make mistakes, learn, create more, play, share, and learn again in their own way. It's exciting to witness the forefront of this movement, and I can't wait to see where it leads up next.
Tuesday, September 19, 2017
Thursday, March 23, 2017
Authenticity, Online Classrooms, and Learning
The concept of authenticity in the classroom is an interesting one. It can be argued that as a teacher, the strength of your relationship with your students is of equal importance to the information you're teaching them. Without that established connection, it's easy for students to "check out", become distracted, or overall apply themselves less fully than they are capable of - no matter how well the teacher believes they are performing.
Presenting your authentic self in every day life can be challenging, but that challenge is only exacerbated for teachers responsible for managing a classroom and teaching effectively. Thinking back to my high school years, I can clearly recall teachers who tried hard to be "cool" in order to appeal to students...an effort that consistently backfired, and often caused students to lose respect for the teacher or take advantage of them. My favorite teachers, those I found to be most effective at their jobs as well as the most memorable, allowed students to see their personal side (discussing their family when appropriate, decorating their classroom with some personal effects, sharing interests, casual yet professional language) which helped students view them as real people and created a genuine bond between them. They created a balance between personal and professional, which suggested their authenticity, and allowed students to respond favorably and learn better.
Translating this approach to online learning can be difficult, especially in asynchronous learning. I do believe that face-to-face communication (even if those faces are presented virtually!) is a necessary component for establishing authenticity. Without at least video lessons or synchronous learning, it's very easy for teachers to be seen as a robot (considering Susan's fear from Cranton's paper) or as an ephemeral presence without much purpose in the classroom. As a teacher in online learning classrooms, I think the winning combination is clear, casual communication that also conveys the teacher's expert knowledge with firm, clear guidelines. This allows students to form a bond with the teacher, learn from them, and understand upfront what is expected of them.
Were I to lead an online classroom, I would design a synchronous program which encourages expert instruction, live student participation and community building. Similar to how we began our class at the beginning of this semester, I would dedicate the first class to introductions, providing time for both myself and all of my students to share a little and get to know each other. For following classes, I would start off by introducing the material, providing a synopsis of that week's concepts and any relevant context, as well as pose questions for the students to consider during class time. I'd encourage students to respond, ask questions, challenge me or the material, and discuss ideas. At the end, I'd leave them with some open ended questions for them to consider regarding how these concepts impact their life or their work. Of course, this is just a general framework - there would be lots of room to facilitate activities, utilize online learning resources, etc, but that would be my overall plan to establish my authenticity, connect with students, and allow them to participate and collaborate.
Presenting your authentic self in every day life can be challenging, but that challenge is only exacerbated for teachers responsible for managing a classroom and teaching effectively. Thinking back to my high school years, I can clearly recall teachers who tried hard to be "cool" in order to appeal to students...an effort that consistently backfired, and often caused students to lose respect for the teacher or take advantage of them. My favorite teachers, those I found to be most effective at their jobs as well as the most memorable, allowed students to see their personal side (discussing their family when appropriate, decorating their classroom with some personal effects, sharing interests, casual yet professional language) which helped students view them as real people and created a genuine bond between them. They created a balance between personal and professional, which suggested their authenticity, and allowed students to respond favorably and learn better.
Translating this approach to online learning can be difficult, especially in asynchronous learning. I do believe that face-to-face communication (even if those faces are presented virtually!) is a necessary component for establishing authenticity. Without at least video lessons or synchronous learning, it's very easy for teachers to be seen as a robot (considering Susan's fear from Cranton's paper) or as an ephemeral presence without much purpose in the classroom. As a teacher in online learning classrooms, I think the winning combination is clear, casual communication that also conveys the teacher's expert knowledge with firm, clear guidelines. This allows students to form a bond with the teacher, learn from them, and understand upfront what is expected of them.
Were I to lead an online classroom, I would design a synchronous program which encourages expert instruction, live student participation and community building. Similar to how we began our class at the beginning of this semester, I would dedicate the first class to introductions, providing time for both myself and all of my students to share a little and get to know each other. For following classes, I would start off by introducing the material, providing a synopsis of that week's concepts and any relevant context, as well as pose questions for the students to consider during class time. I'd encourage students to respond, ask questions, challenge me or the material, and discuss ideas. At the end, I'd leave them with some open ended questions for them to consider regarding how these concepts impact their life or their work. Of course, this is just a general framework - there would be lots of room to facilitate activities, utilize online learning resources, etc, but that would be my overall plan to establish my authenticity, connect with students, and allow them to participate and collaborate.
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