Authentic Learning and Scaffolding

This past week in my Drexel class we had many challenges with the podcast upload. Hopefully we will all get the kinks worked out and shortly you will be able to see my students' podcasts on iTunes U!! : ) For them, this process was a very good example of authentic learning and also of some additional scaffolding that we should have provided to make the upload process a bit easier.

As teachers, and technologists, when we design a learning environment that incorporates technology, we must think about our student audience and where they are with their level of technology use. It is clear to me today that my students needed a bit more scaffolding as to what a VPN was and WHY on earth they would connect to it and HOW from that connection they could upload their files. That information (along with some not so complete directions) was not provided so the students had some challenges in understanding the context for what they were doing and then completing the task.

We will discuss this in our live classroom. They all persevered very well in the process and are finding success in uploading their podcasts. They will be discussing the science of learning and how this can be applied to instructional desgin. Podcasts certainly worth checking out under Drexel's iTunes University!

Gaining Perspective

Over the past month and a half (wow, has it been that long since I blogged??!!) I have had a number of experiences that have (again) brought to the forefront of my mind the NEED we have to be able to examine multiple perspectives before responding (and not reacting) to situations, events or actions.

While it would be wonderful if others in this world did the same, I will focus on myself continuing to do this, at work, at home and in all of my relationships. It seems that if I pause, even for just a moment, to do this, understanding comes and my response is thoughful.

I am currently reading Change or Die by Alan Deutschman. While I agree with the principles in the book, I think we have to be careful to make a blanket statement and expect everyone to "change or die" in the same way or at the same rate.

For examples, teachers who have never created a WebQuest before are not quite ready to create their own blog or even post so someone else's blog as they are not confident yet of their ideas (maybe haven't even really formed them yet) and feel naked posting out there to the world. As an advanced user of technology, I think it is important that we all keep this in mind. Especially if we are working with teachers who are NOT advanced users. We must remember the point that they are at and strive to move them to the next step. Sometimes pushing them too far ahead will lead to refusal. Afterall, shouldn't we differentiating our strategies for technology integration and scaffolding for teachers just as we expect them to do for their students?

I will try to get on track again with my blogging with the goal of one idea at a time and continuing to change the discussion ~ it's not about the technology...it's about the processes and pedagogy that we use for 21st Century learning.