Designing Positive learning environments

Technology alone cannot make learning engaging (Burns, 2020). As we integrate media into our learning resource, we want to ensure that our students are not only interacting and engaging with the media itself – but also with the content, their peers, the instructor(s), and with their prior knowledge as they make connections and deepen their understandings.

Below, I have chosen a video from John Spencer (2017) that could be integrated into our synchronous learning resource on Growth Mindset for grade 4 learners, and will assess the interactions the video provides, or could provide, if implemented correctly.

Growth Mindset vs. Fixed Mindset – John Spencer

What kind of interaction, or response, does the video require?

Spencer’s Growth Mindset video is an example of a computer-managed learner interaction – it would be effective for developing comprehension and understanding of the concept – but without interaction from the students or teacher, it will not develop higher order thinking skills such as analysis, synthesis, and/or critical thinking (Bates, 2019).  YouTube videos’, without follow up assessment activities or discussion, are not-inherently interactive, as they do not force learners to respond.

In what way are students likely to respond to the video on their own?

As educators, we need to be mindful that the media interactions we provide are linked to desired learning outcomes (2019). YouTube videos are often characterized by learner-materials, media interaction (2019) and without guidance and assessment from the instructor – students cannot respond to the video alone in a way that aligns with learning outcomes.

What activities could follow the video and what skills could be developed?

The quality of learner-generated interactions could be increased by implementing open-ended prompts for the students to consider and reflect on following the video. Students could also create a mind-map or sketchnote of their understanding of the content as they are watching. These activities would aid in prior knowledge activation and students ability to describe factors that positively influence mental well-being.

Other activities that would increase interaction from learner-material  to learner-learners, would be student reflections on the video via a classroom platform (such as Padlet) for peer-feedback. Another idea for peer interaction following the video would be to integrate a Socratic seminar by providing higher order thinking questions or prompts for the students to interact with the content and each other.  This activity could be delivered in recorded Zoom breakout rooms to provide assessment opportunities as the students’ display their critical thinking skills and  understanding of the concepts.

How could the video have been designed to generate more or better activity from viewers or students?

Spencer’s video would be more engaging for students if it implemented reflective questions throughout (ex. “Have you given up, when faced with an obstacle?”) As he progresses through the characteristics of growth and fixed mindsets, pausing for a few seconds following the questions would allow students the time to think and reflect on their experiences with their own mindsets. In our learning resource, we could also integrate this process as we watch the video with our students to increase their engagement and interaction with the media.

My colleagues blog:

Below, one of my colleagues Chantale outlines the importance of interaction for student learning and some great considerations and activities to increase connection amongst students. In her post, Chantale points out a lack of  examples in the video she chose to highlight. Examples are so beneficial for learning because not all students will come to their learning spaces with the same level of understanding. By providing examples of what we expect them to know/understand/do – students can focus their attention on the task at hand and not the high cognitive load of trying to discover what is expected of them. Great insights this week Chantale, I look forward to checking out your finished learning resource!

Blog Post #4: Interaction

References:

Bates, T. (2019). Teaching in a Digital Age-Second Edition. Chapter 9: Choosing and using media in education: the SECTIONS model. Retrieved from: https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/teachinginadigitalagev2/chapter/pedagogical-roles-for-text-audio-and-video/ 

Burns, M. (2020). Getting Ready to Teach Next Year. Edutopia – Online Learning. Retrieved from: https://www.edutopia.org/article/getting-ready-teach-next-year 

Universal design for learning (UDL) is a framework meant to optimize the learning process for all people (CAST, 2018). Universal design guidelines help educators identify the barriers and limitations of their designs – rather than focus on the perceived struggles or limitations of their learners. Utilizing the concrete suggestions provided by CAST on how to integrate the three main guidelines of engagement, representation, and action and expression into learning designs will ensure that all learners have access and can participate in their learning process in a meaningful way.

Below, I have taken one of the learning activities from my group’s learning blueprint on growth mindset and have adapted it – with the assistance of UDL guidelines – to reduce any potential barriers for our learners.

Current Learning Activity:

Peer Assessment: Students will submit 1 SMART goal via Zoom and comment on one of their peer’s SMART goals with a 2 stars and a wish.

UDL Integrations:

In addition to creating an accepting and supportive classroom climate and establishing appropriate prior-knowledge on goal setting and digital skills, we can increase engagement and remove potential barriers for this activity by integrating the following UDL guidelines.

• Engagement: Supporting learners self-efficacy
  • • prompt learners goals or have them restate a created goal
    • allow for adaptations in the length and difficulty of task (i.e.. 1 star and a wish,  or responding with an emoji versus a sentence)
• Representation: Choice in how learners access materials and information
  • • display goal setting information in flexible formats (i.e.. text size, contrast, volume/rate of speech, fonts)
    • provide captions and/or language variability for ELL and hearing impaired learners
• Action & Expression: Demonstrating knowledge/skills in different ways
  • • provide prompts and scaffolds to estimate the effort and difficulty of the task
    • provide multiple media options for students to express their goal setting (i.e.. speech, drawing, movement, or video)

New Learning Activity:

Peer Assessment: Students will create, or restate, a goal using the SMART goal format that is meaningful to their learning and share with their peers via a medium of their choice on Zoom or Google classroom (10 mins.)  Students will respond to one peer’s goal with either one star and a wish or with a thumbs up or sideways emoji (5 mins.)

Inclusion is not just changing what we do, but how we do it. Adapting learning designs to be inclusive for all can have unintended positive consequences for everyone in the class – as everyone requires different supports, at different times, throughout their learning process.  Referencing the UDL guidelines while creating  our learning activities  will ensure that we are not creating  barriers to our students’ success.

My colleagues blog:

Thomas’s approach to inclusive design is realistic and considers the multiple approaches that can be taken to ensure all learners can engage with the course material. His strategy to access student’s prior knowledge and continuously formatively assess will be really effective to understand where the students’ current knowledge lies, and what they still need to learn.  His design also provides opportunities for course access via multiple medias, which will accommodate many different learning styles – ensuring everyone can be successful in the course. Well done Thomas, I am excited to see your finished learning resource.

Blog 3: Inclusive Design

Resources:

CAST (2018). Universal Design for Learning Guidelines version 2.2. Retrieved from http://udlguidelines.cast.org 

Imagine a classroom where curiosity is encouraged, passions are celebrated, and students’ choices and voices are honored. A space that engages and motivates students to take ownership over their own learning goals and fosters their curiosity while deepening their understandings (beyond memorizing facts and content). This classroom can, and does exist – it is an inquiry-based learning classroom!

What exactly is inquiry-based learning?

Inquiry-based learning is a process where students take on a more active, meaningful, and personalized role in their learning (MacKenzie, 2018).  Through inquiry, students create essential questions, investigate widely, and build new learnings, knowledge, and understandings as they become content-area experts (Wolpert-Gawron, 2016).  The knowledge students gain is presented to others in a public manner and can often result in meaningful action.  At its core, inquiry-based learning prepares students for the world of tomorrow through creating authentic connections and acquiring 21st century skills (2018).

Types of inquiry

Created by local, inquiry-based educators – Trevor MacKenzie and Rebecca Bathurst-Hunt. This sketchnote can be found on Trevor’s website.

When new to the inquiry process, teachers often begin in the structured phase. As you, and your students, become more comfortable with the inquiry process – you can move towards the free inquiry phase.

4 main phases of the free-inquiry cycle

1. Students develop questions they are genuinely interested in/personally meaningful to them-Students are the thinkers, and drive their learning process by choosing appropriate, essential questions. The role of the teacher is to guide students to enhance their questions but not to create or provide the questions for students to solve (2016).
2. Research-Teachers can guide students where to look for information but inquiry is about allowing students to discover what they need to know, on their own. If you feel your students don’t yet have the skills to seek out their own information, you can provide a collection of resources from which they can select their evidence (2016).
3. Students present what they have learned-Students have the opportunity to share their learning in diverse ways that suit them. This is also an opportunity for them to teach others about their topic – effectively increasing their motivation and self esteem.
4. Students reflect on what worked/what didn’t work-Reflection provides an opportunity for students to understand the cause and effect relationships of content and helps to build cross-curricular connections.

Things to keep in mind while integrating inquiry-based learning in your classroom

1. If students are struggling to come up with essential questions, you can guide them with a ‘provocation’. A provocation can be an image, story, article, video etc. that arches the theme of the content area/learning standards you are hopeful to cover through the inquiry process (2018).
2. You can pause the inquiry process at any time and incorporate mini-lessons to teach students specific skills they may be lacking to achieve their final goal (2016).
3. Make sure to celebrate students work! Invite other classes, parents, administrators, or community members to view the students’ work. They just completed creative independent research on something they care about and that is something to celebrate!

Inquiry in Action-A video of Elementary students practicing inquiry

How does inquiry-based learning align with growth-mindset?

Inquiry-based learning involves a pattern of questioning, discovering, trying (and sometimes failing), while reflecting on the growth and learning that happens during the process. Growth mindset is very similar – we learn through our mistakes and see failure as an opportunity to grow and learn. Our lesson on growth mindset will integrate inquiry-based learning as we have our students move through the modules with a focus on discovery, student-centered (and paced) lessons, and personal reflection throughout the process.

Resources:

MacKenzie, T. (2018). Inquiry Mindset-Nurturing the dreams, wonders, & curiosities of our youngest learners. Published by ElevateBooksEdu.

Wolpert-Gawron, H. (2016). What the Heck is Inquiry-Based Learning? Teachers use inquiry-based learning to boost student engagement. Retrieved from: https://www.edutopia.org/blog/what-heck-inquiry-based-learning-heather-wolpert-gawron

What is a learning theory?

Learning theories provide information on the relationship among instruction and design – indicating what techniques and strategies will work best within different contexts, with different learners (Ertmer & Newby, 2018). Below, I will touch on three main learning theories: behaviourist, cognitivist, and constructivist, as well as discuss how the same lesson would be taught under the guidance of each individual theory.

Lesson scenario: A high school social study teacher is planning a class on climate change.

Behaviourist Theory

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

Behaviourist learning is based on the key elements of stimulus, response, and the association between the two (2018). It focuses on reinforcement and outcomes – viewing the learner as reactive to learning, rather than participating in their learning. Behaviourists focus on habits and periodic practice to transfer knowledge from educator to learner.

How would a behaviourist teach climate change?

• Guided practice, repetition and recall: Teacher would guide the lesson on climate change while students listened. They would then be required to complete task(s) based on what they learned. Tasks could include drills, flash cards, organizers, and finally testing.
• Rewards/punishments: Students may be rewarded (or punished) for their behaviour and/or learning throughout the week/lesson depending on how well they meet the teachers standards (ie. treats or prizes at the end of the week, or consequences for not completing homework).

My take:

Behaviorism can be effective for subjects that require a lot of memorization (ie. math and science) but it does not address the many unobservable behaviours that affect learning as well as comprehension and critical thinking skills.

Cognitivist Theory

Photo by Jo-Anne McArthur on Unsplash

Cognitivist theory understands that individual learners come to class with varying experiences that will impact their learning abilities (2018). It is the role of the educator to determine how to connect and accommodate students’ prior knowledge to newly acquired skills and learning.

How would a cognitivist teach climate change?

• Prior knowledge: The teacher would start the lesson by asking the class what they already know about climate change. Students would write their answers on the board and the teacher would adjust their lessons based on what students already know.
• Connection building: Students would gather the information they learned about climate change and compare it to another idea. (ex. concept mapping)

My take:

I value taking students prior knowledge into account while planning lessons as everyone comes with varying degrees of what they already know on any topic. Cognitivism provides an opportunity for students to explore these connections and reflect on old and new knowledge, which is great for expanding their thinking.

Constructivist Theory

Photo by Li-An Lim on Unsplash

Constructivist learning theory focuses on ‘meaning-making’ through individual experiences (2018). It considers individual experiences, interpretations, interactions, and building learning through scaffolding old and new knowledge.  Constructivism focuses on active application of ideas and knowledge (2018).

How would constructivists teach climate change?

• Meaning making: Teacher would present multiple perspectives on climate change and have the learners collaborate on researching and presenting differing ideas/knowledge.
• Authentic experiences: Students may choose to attend a rally, write to their local leaders, or start a school wide campaign that contributes to authentic  climate change. Great for inquiry/project-based learning projects!

My take:

Constructivism is great for diverse learning styles, student ownership and motivation. It provides students with opportunities to interact with each other and their communities while guiding their own learning, and reflecting on the process.

References:

Ertmer, P. A. & Newby, T. (2018). Behaviorism, Cognitivism, Constructivism: Comparing Critical Features From an Instructional Design Perspective. In R. E. West, Foundations of Learning and Instructional Design Technology: The Past, Present, and Future of Learning and Instructional Design Technology. EdTech Books. Retrieved from https://edtechbooks.org/lidtfoundations/behaviorism_cognitivism_constructivism