Building a System: Complex Problem Journey

Complex Problem Journey


In the beginning....

I started with a problem in mind. Working as a technology/computer teacher in a middle school, I get lots of questions. Questions about computers and the Internet. The first question I get mostly when students become acquainted to the computer lab I teach in and supervise is, “Can we go to MySpace?”


It took me a minute to get hip to social networking sites like MySpace. I always thought they were a little too public and did not see what difference they made from a simple email where you can have a private conversation between two friends/family/acquaintances. But then I graduated college and seeing friends, having time to write those personal emails did not exist anymore. So I jumped on board and became a part of MySpace. And then Facebook. And my opinions of social networking started to change. I saw the emergence as Web 2.0 and social networking as revolutionary in the way that these networks brought people together allowing multiple conversations to go on all at the same time.

But my answer to my students’ questions about MySpace is , “No...” even though I wish to say that I believe that students should be allowed to use social networking in school. I believe that we should teach our children how to use it. Just like in my educational experience as a student I was taught how to write a letter, I believe our students in the twenty-first century should be taught how to “MySpace” one another.

Though we do not allow students to use MySpace in schools. There are too many risks. Child predators are lurking in the shadows of MySpace comments and Friend Adds. There are too many bad influences on MySpace with members doing all sorts of objectionable and appropriate code of school conduct violations in MySpace. How can we responsibly teach our students in an environment that is unsafe, inappropriate and distracting to the learning process. My logic translates the stance of schools to block social networking instead of teaching Internet citizenship, responsibility and safety as a message of authoritarian ignorant fear. But what do I know, I’m a part of the Millennial generation that invent and consume such travesties.

And so the journey begins...

So I have a dope project! I start to look for ways to research. So I started by stating the problem first.


Then, after reflecting on the problem, I was able to list of ideas that are valued by social networking sites and educational institutions.

Social networking offer opportunities for meaningful learning because they capitalize on the human need to be social and interact with others. The socialization/interaction in social networking sites is nontraditional because you can possibly make a “friend” with someone without physically meeting them. This has become a common practice where friends in cyberspace become friends in the real world. This idea is meant to bring us all closer. Social networks also encourage communication, collaboration and creativity with relatively no restriction.

Education encourages communication, collaboration and creativity as well, but there is also the value of protecting students and educating them on being citizens who use the Internet safely and responsibly for communication. This difference is where the conflict begins.


Read read read...

And so I started to feel out the process. Read articles and basic information about the internet. I read one article about how teachers encouraged students to use is titled “Don’t Tell Your Parents: Schools Embrace MySpace” (http://www.cps.edu/Spotlight/Pages/Spotlight136.aspx) from Wired Magazine discusses two factions. That people are involved in the debate on either one shrouding in the need to ban use of social networking in schools while the other sees social networking as an opportunity to enhance current and create new learning experiences. In the article, it even sites legislation to withhold educational funding from schools if they allowed/implement social networking in their building. It came down to do you support social networking or do you see it as a public danger that needs to be thwarted.
(http://www.ala.org/ala/alonline/currentnews/newsarchive/2007/march2007/myspacebill.cfm)


It seemed like all the research I read discussed more the opinions of whether or not social networking was beneficial to students or that it should be restricted. I felt as if I were reading the same two articles. So I decided to take a break and work on it at a pace where I would hopefully be inspired.

The Crash....
Last week, I was getting ready to give another presentation when my computer crashed. It took basically everything. And so I re-examined my expert system. I decided after about a half hour that I would be “on to the next one”. I made the decision after I could not figure out a way to model the conflict between education and social networking.

I decided after some thought that the system I would be modeling would be how to win an NBA championship. There is much debate on how to win a championship and everyone thinks they know who will win. But when it comes down to it, if you take time to consider all the different factors that go into wining an NBA championship, you’ll realize it is a lot of work. And though there are intangibles, debatable opinions of winning basketball team characteristics and multiple undisclosed factors, winning can be predicted by key statistics of player performance. Or so, my system is to predict for the current NBA season.

There has to be a formula.

I am a basketball fanatic and even with all of my knowledge of basketball, I did not realize that there are three teams that have 38 of the 62 NBA Championships. Two teams have 32 out of 62. So there must be something that these three teams know that the others just can’t compete with. And so, my system is based on trying to figure out what that is.

First, I used basketball cliches to determine what stats I would use. After consideration, I determined to use mostly team stats. Then I took these stats and created an index matrix that would predict a comparison of who is a contender and who is not. I have to still take into consideration some different stats, but I will get it right. But as of now, my model predicts that the Cleveland Cavaliers have the best chance to win it all. Go Lebron!

*Take a look at my presentation slide show screen shots and see how the journey unfolded.

Peace.

David

Reflection on TIE 512 Mini Unit

Create.
Implement.
Learning experience.
Best practice.
Inquiry and problem solving.
Ready.

Set.
Go.


Sometime in February 2010, in a computer lab in Wheeling, IL on the National Louis Campus. A dozen or so teachers sit in a U shaped table listening and participating in a lecture discussion regarding problem solving. The course is a graduate level course and so the pace is fast. Until we are asked to define a problem.

Slowly, but surely we all come to a consensus what a problem was. A problem is a conflict between the desired state of a particular situation/context and the reality state of a particular situation/context. Which brings me to the problem of creating a problem based mini unit for TIE 512 as applied to my Creative Writing class.


The way I have crafted my teaching is to supplement any instruction in the homerooms for the classes I serve. If the class I have now is doing a major science project, we learn to use slide show applications to create slide shows that present and enhance the data students need. In the meantime, students also keep a digital writing journal that they use as a place to keep thoughts, notes and ideas.

When presented with doing a mini unit centered around inquiry and problem solving, I salivated at the chance. I perceived it as a motivating force to help me create learning activities that could be easily modified to meet the needs of the teachers I serve. 

Though at first glance, I dove right in and unconsciously made lesson plans that excluded inquiry and problem solving strategies (i.e. KWHLAQ and OTQ). Instead the lessons resembled a problem instead of problem based learning.

I asked my 8th grade class for about 4 days to consider how the Internet could enhance their learning. We started with a quick survey of Internet knowledge and the preferences of Internet usage among students. In doing so, we created a database. Then we analyze each website on the database creating new fields to explain what the purpose was of each website. A concept map was created by students of websites in groups of two to three. Each student decided on the website they would map based upon the frequency of usage it had among the group. Finally, I asked the students to craft letters to teachers to advocate for the use of their websites in real application of their content area skills using the websites they designated, (i.e. a student analyzed the nike.com website and the application to math and social studies).

During all these learning activities, there was teacher directed time, a session with modeling, individual and group/partner practice. The classroom was not prepared any differently except for the conscious effort to make a problem/inquiry based mini unit. Barell suggests in Problem Based Learning: An Inquiry Approach that during planning, you should consider the affect inquiry will have on your learning environment. My classroom is set up for students to work individually, computers arranged in rows facing the front of the room at a white board.

I am not sure where my head is at and ultimately what lessons come down to is fidelity. Being about to project the enthusiasm and authority to drive home the lesson and learning experience. So halfway through the concept mapping portion of my mini-unit, I decided to omit the database and story collection parts of the mini unit in favor of a final product/real world application for the exercise. Students were to lobby their teachers to use the websites they found appropriate in their learning.

It was a moment of clarity for me. Throughout my teaching career I have been asked to many things in the classroom that I am no expert on thinking all the while that my ability to own it and deliver instruction to the kids was a reflection of how flexible I am. Though over the years, I have taken to a less is more attitude. And that is how I felt about implementing this mini unit. I could not find a way to present it in a way that could mesh with the things I am already teaching.

I still have not completely revised my mini unit plan because I would like it to be something I’d actually use. I would love to continue a class on the Internet and learning, but I simply do not have the space to do it. Or rather at the moment I do not have the capacity as I have yet to identity how to implement problem based learning into my instructional with the content I am asked to teach (writing as an elective in fifteen day rotations as a supplement to content core classes).

So I am thankful that the new requirement is to create a unit that does not have to be completely implemented. That part has put my mind at ease and I hope to focus on a mini unit on email/text communication.

TIE 512 Concept Map

TIE 512 is described as “Students Using Technology for Inquiry Learning and Problem Solving.” Deconstructing this course title you look to the keywords “student”, “technology”, “inquiry”, “learning” and “Problem solving”.

The class is based around these concepts and how they ultimately lead to learning. I chose to make the main concepts of the concept map: Problem (Problem Based Learning), Modeling, Technology, Challenge and Essential Questions. After all these concepts lead to the main objective of the course, Learning or how to get students to the point where they are learning through problem solving and inquiry.

The center of the map is the name of the course. The arrows are pointing out from the course name because the different concepts do not necessarily need to be discussed sequentially. The emphasis is that each component is equally important in the process of understanding how to put it all together into learning.

The concepts of problems in TIE 512 is in the context of how problems motivate children to learn and how it creates learning that is meaningful and a learning experience that is engaging and creates fidelity in the experience. When students solve problems, they are thinking critically and are able to use their strengths in a way to come to a solution that makes sense to them.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Problem-based_learning


This need to make sense of the world personally through experience is what makes the modeling concept a major one in TIE 512. In the course, several different ways of modeling have been presented to provide different approaches to share ideas and visualize a common understanding of a problem and solution. The use of modeling a problem or a learning objective is to understand, visualize, compare and experience the problem. Depending on what the problem is, all or a specific mind tool may be used to analyze the problem thoroughly and appropriately. The use of databases, spreadsheets, stories and expert systems are all different ways to interpret and share information about a problem. One of the more common ways of articulating understanding of a problem is to combine the collection of data in the aforementioned mindtools and then create a concept map.

http://thejournal.com/articles/2005/04/01/using-mindtools-in-education.aspx

Concept maps are great mindtools for visualizing data as well as taking dating gathered in other medium and piecing it together. There are all sorts of ways you can create concept maps, but the common piece in all concept mapping is the need to show relations between different items on the map. You can do this using words and images.

http://www.inspiration.com/Kidspiration

The concept maps and other mindtools are often guided by the presentation of essential questions to a problem. These are sometimes generated by students, but often times presented by teachers. These questions are ones that are meant to engage and provoke student thought. The lead to inquiry which is a key part of problem solving. The inquiry and questioning lead to any proposed solutions.

http://questioning.org/mar05/essential.html

The last concept I included on the map is learning. Learning is the ultimate goal we seek for all of our students. The use of inquiry and problem based learning are practices that have been proven to increase student learning engaging them in practical applications of their critical thinking skills while also exposing them to content. All the concepts on the map lead to learning directly or indirectly. The one concept that does not relate to any other concept with the exception of learning is learning theory. The course started with a refresher/brief summary of various learning theories. It is important that we know how our students learn before we can teach them. If we do not, why teach?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learning_theory_%28education%29

20 essential questions about social media and schools

20 essential questions

These essential questions are meant to guide student learning and assist in analyzing the disconnect between social media and education in schools.

1. What tools/methods of teaching are valued in schools?
2. How do you learn?
3. What is the classroom experience like? How are students engaged in the lesson?
4. Do computers help all students learn better?
5. How do students use computers? In school? At home?
6. What is the message you receive from teachers and other school staff about the value of computers?
7. Who teaches you to use a computer? Is it something
8. Do your teachers need to be experts on a subject to teach it/use it?
9. What should be blocked from school Internet Access?
10. How should Internet content be chosen to be censored from school networks?
11. Should schools teach students what is appropriate Internet behavior? How do students know what is appropriate Internet behavior?
12. Should the Internet be censored? What lesson is learned from censoring the Internet?
13. Is it a right or a privilege for people to create content on the Internet?
14. Is Internet access a right or a privilege? Should schools be a place where this is decided for students?
15. What is social media?
16. How aware are you of social media? How aware are your teachers? How aware are your parents?
17. How is social media valued in school?
18. How can schools integrate social media into learning?
19. What is appropriate usage of social media in schools?
20. What are the benefits of using social media in the classroom as part of a lesson?

Troubleshooting... in Room 313

One. Currently, I am a computer lab teacher. My responsibilities include teaching three exploratory creative writing classes. I teach writing in the computer lab while also teaching students how to use productivity software like Apple’s iWork ’09 and iLife ’09 suites. Besides teaching, I run an open lab where students can come in and use the computers to work on projects, homework, et cetera. And finally, I also have several after school programs that use the computer lab as a meeting and work space.

Two. After school, it can get kind of hectic directing traffic. Getting students to leave the building after class is dismissed while funneling into the computer lab the students that have permission to stay for extra help, use the computers and/or stay for an after school program. From Monday through Thursday I have anywhere from a dozen to thirty students stay in the lab with me until 4:00 PM. Some days I have another staff member, but most of the time it’s just me and it is a mad lesson in micro managing as I am running anywhere from two to four different programs at the same time depending on the day of the week and the time of the year.

Three. Managing is problematic at times and though there have not been any major problems with the after school lab, I have had some instances. Mostly regarding students remembering permission slips or becoming frustrated because they can not login to the computers because they forgot the password, are using a wrong password or they have the caps lock button on unconsciously. For the most part, these problems are easy to trouble shoot. I am confident in my ability to assist in most situations with the exception of if there is an issue with computer hardware.

Four. About two weeks ago, I had a problem with one of the computers. It happened one day after school when I had two dozen students shuffling in and out of the lab. I was checking to see if students has permission slips and that they were doing what they were expected: logging into a computer and starting their homework before activities started or getting started on their projects. In the corner of my eye I observed something that was unusual. Two students were standing over one of the iMac computers and one was attempting to stick in a CD. Thinking that they simply needed help loading the CD, I walked over and pushed the CD in. It went in a with some resistance; that should of been a red flag to me.

After not seeing the disc mount on the desktop, I tried to eject the button. I realized then that there was two discs inside the iMac. “Was there a disc in the computer already?”, I asked calmly to the two students.
“I don’t know.”

“Maybe. Ask George. He was sitting here when we got here and then he moved.”

Looking behind me I spotted George listening to music, headphones on and a couple of CD cases stacked on top of his books. George confirmed that he must have forgotten to take the CD out of the iMac and it was in there.

Five. I did not know how to get the disc out. Had it been a traditional CD rom where a tray pops out by push button or by a motor, it was easier to take out. It was simple as taking out a tray. But with the iMac, the computer is all enclosed in a unibody case. There is no way to opening the casing without voiding the computer’s warranty. And I was not about to do that. But immediately after the problem occurred I started to think in those extremes. It took a minute, but I composed myself and posed some questions to the two students who were intent on loading the second disc, “So, there are two discs inside the computer? How do we get them out?”

“ We press the eject button,” student one said and proceeded to press eject. Again, no response except a painful motor clicking sound that I was praying did not disable the motor.

“Well, that did not work. What else can we do? How can we find a solution?” Before either students responded, I saw they both quickly moved to another computer and had opened a Google search window and typed in some keywords. The first results appeared on the screen.

“How about this Mr. Loreto,” student two had fond a Mac Forum that explains how to eject a disc from an iMac. It was not the answer we needed as it asks to restart to the computer and press eject. We tried it and it did not work.

“Hmm, what should we do next?” I asked a little more nervous. We tried several more suggestions. One asked to shut down, unplug the iMac and then reset the computer before ejecting. Then another called to restart and try to do a force boot of the disc that would eject the disc when the computer recognized that the disc was not an OS boot disc. Another asked to fish in the slot with a credit card. Another said to lay the computer on it’s side. On an on.

We did not get the disc out that day, but I did see that my students were capable of being problem solvers independently which makes me wonder what other problems they would flourish to solve.

I eventually got the discs out. I laid the computer on it’s side and ejected the discs when I was alone in the computer lab.

Meaningful Learning

What is a 21st Century Classroom?

As I sit here and “type” my first draft of a class writing assignment I sit and think about how the classroom has evolved in the 21st century I think, “Damn, I did not think I’d ever be I remember when I was in 5th grade (circa 1994) to describe what the future would be like. I wrote about how when I was grown up that I would awake to an automated voice announcing the time. A machine would make me perfect scrambled eggs, rice and sausage. I’d get on a super fast train that could get me anywhere in the city in seconds. And I’d listen on a walkman to all the news I wanted and tell the news channel what I wanted to hear in what order.

For the most part, most of my 5th grade future predictions have yet to be fulfilled. But now thinking about all the visions of the future I was exposed to in my childhood of what the year 2000 would be like, let alone 2010, have not come to reality.


In the movie 2000: A Space Odyssey we are vacationing on the moon with commercial flight in space. In the Jetsons a car shrinks into a suit case and a pill turns into a turkey dinner. I could go on and on about how the future or rather the present is supposed to be so advanced. But the more I think about it, the more things in our lives change, the more I see the culture of the classroom stays the same.



The most intriguing image of the future is the glimpse into the alternative future of “Demolition Man”. The observation I made about this vision of the future is that paper is seeming nonexistent except for the use of paper tickets that come out when you are in violation of a law. Paper has become punitive.



Everything bad for you is illegal. In the classroom, what I think is bad for students is paper. Students lose paper. They waste paper. They write anything on paper. They hoard paper. Paper is the one thing I thought for sure would be much different about the classroom of 2010 from the classroom of 1994.

I used paper and pencils to take notes in school as a 5th grader. As an elementary school student I remember measuring my value as a student in the amount of papers I had and completed. Paper is obsolete.As a grad student I type every little note and what not on my computer. If you see my writing in my notebook, that only means that my laptop is powered down because there is no battery life left.

In the school I work, my students use traditional paper and pencil in most every class except for mine (I teach in the computer lab). It is no fault of their teachers who do not have the luxury of a a one to one computer to student ratio. In 2010, I thought there would be school access to computers for all students to equate to one to one ratios of computers to students combating a digital divide. I have heard of other school districts where there are “pilot” programs for students to have individual laptops. But I thought by 2010, every child would have one.

 This ratio would be significantly reduced if students were allowed to use their cell phones in class for tasks like note taking, web searching, calculating, and other tasks that many phones have capabilities to do. But cell phones are deemed bad for students and in my school at least, are illegal.

So my vision for the 21st century classroom is that students would be able to be more efficient with their work by using computers.

It would save lots of time in grading of HW. Students would be able to get instant feedback on something like practicing their addition or subtraction. They would be able to organize notes into digital notebooks, folders, et cetera. If the computers they had were designed in a way to replace the need for a backpack full of supplies and seamlessly integrate the teachings of core subjects. They could also add options for students to gain access to electives and explore other content on their own. All the time keeping a record that can be viewed by student, teacher, parents and other stake holders.

With all the reforms that are going into education, I think all of it is missing any authentic reform because our classrooms are stuck in the 2oth century. If you look at the basics of our classes, they resemble closely the same basic structures as they were 20 years ago, 50 years and possibly 100 years ago. Schools are often not a choice. Students are told where they are placed and they go from there. The average placement is more average than exceptional meaning we are stuck on this belief that all of our children learn the same. We have classes of students that are 20-30 students in a room with one teacher. School days are standardized at around 6 hours of instruction a day. And the “academic” subjects are uniform across the board: math, science, language arts and social science.

To me, this model is one that is made out of convenience in terms of finances and tradition. Education is one industry where we can not afford to be conservative. In higher education, I have experienced a plethora of different learning experiences. I have learned with different settings (on line, lecture, discussion group, lecture/discussion, lab, field placements, et cetera), technology, and structures that have enriched my educational experiences. Not all of them were successful ones, but I have gained knowledge from all of them.

And so, with this first entry I want to ask questions.
In class last week, we were asked to think about complex problems. What are problems that we think about every day that we hope to solve? 

The complex problem I hope to find answers for is, “What does a 21st Century Classroom look like?”.

The classrooms I have taught in and still teach in still have too many relics (the notebook and pencil) from the 20th century that hinder the progress of our students to become successful candidates for the careers of the 21st century.