5 Steps to Sharing the Process

 

Now that educators are dialoging more about Connections-based Learning, a common question that surfaces is around assessment.  If the focus is encouraging students to ask "Who can I learn this from?", what considerations should be put into place to guide students down the path of learning?  What process sets the student up for authentic assessment?  What does that assessment look like?

In an approach to teaching that focuses on connection, feedback from multiple sources would seem to make sense.  In Connections-based Learning, the facets of Share the Process and Feedback Meaningfully encapsulate the CBL learning progression.  In this post I will focus on the facet: Share the Process.  Here we see how a CBL begins and how it supports students along the way toward their presentation of learning.  The assessment here is all formative.

I see five parts to Sharing the Process.  A task that opens the door to multiple points of entry is the first part of setting up a CBL.  At this point, students make a proposal as to with whom they are going to connect and what that connection might look like.  Students are asked to make some group guidelines about their collaboration and as the CBL continues, time is allotted for regular peer and teacher check-ins.  Finally the process is shared live and/or electronically.  Keep in mind, this represents half of the CBL process.

To add lucidity to the steps of a CBL, I offer an example used in my Science 9 class.  The learning outcome was to:

"relate electrical energy to power consumption." 

Here are the five parts outlined.

Connection criteria 

 

The connection criteria is meant to guide students in a general way to make some choices about learning. The topic is offered and the students are given examples regarding with whom to connect. The desired criteria is shared with the students and they are encouraged to ask themselves: are there people in the community, organizations or experts that can help us do something about this topic?

In the Power Connections example, students were asked to brainstorm experts or organizations they could connect with to solve a problem or promote awareness surrounding power use.

Learning Proposal

 

In order to make sure students are on the right track, a learning proposal is required.  Students answer questions such as:

- Who in the community, what organizations or which experts will help us do something about this topic?
- what information are we hoping to find?
- what solutions are we hoping to offer?
- what innovative ways to connect and present learning are we planning?

 

The proposal isn't just a quick answering of some questions.  Students are to put as much effort into the proposal as they do the presentation.  Formative feedback is given regarding the proposal and all proposals are available for each other to see.  I like to put the proposals up on the bulletin board to help us keep focused on where we are all going.

Collaboration Reflection

 

Facilitating effective collaboration is paramount in any group work.  Here a look at Crockett, Jukes, and Churches 21st Century Fluencies (2011) would be beneficial.  In the Crocket et al. Collaboration Fluency, a checklist is included that causes students to reflect on how the collaboration will go.  In CBL, the students agree on what guidelines they will follow as the CBL continues. Again, this opens the door for formative assessment, allowing the teacher to make comments on the agreed upon guidelines and decide on what mini-lessons are required to facilitate great group work. 

Progress Check-ins  

Throughout the CBL, providing peer and teacher check-ins is important to guide students along the way and to increase effectiveness of the process. This is not simply asking "How is it going?" but offering assistance as the students make their connections, develop questions to ask experts and organizations, and develop ways to share what they have done. An important question for the teacher to ask oneself is: What connections do I have that can move the group forward?  

Process Sharing

 

  

The process and learning is shared. This provides yet another feedback opportunity as students, teachers, principals or parents either make meaningful comments on presentations uploaded to student digital portfolios or make "questions, comments, or suggestions" during live presentations. The learning isn't over as students need to respond to comments made. I will outline that in Part 2 where I will discuss Feedback Meaningfully.

Why does CBL focus on the process?  Here is a good example of why:

Boti and Michael proposed an amazing idea.  They would contact companies that sell generators and connect them with homeless shelters hoping that the companies would provide free generators to these shelters. 

How can I honour and support their idea even if it might not work?  Focusing on the process opens the door for this. 

The boys made many attempts to connect but no one responded. When process is focused on, setbacks do not mean failures. The process and learning can still be shared and celebrated.

Innovative ideas that take risks can still be approved, honoured, and supported because everyone can share their process.

There is something special about watching students seek connections and take charge of their learning.  Engagement is high. Authentic learning leads to authentic feedback. And giving and receiving that feedback is pregnant with learning possibilities and brings us to Feedback Meaningfully.

 

 

Crockett, L., Jukes, I., & Churches, A. (2011). Literacy is not enough: 21st-century fluencies for the digital age. Kelowna, B.C.: 21st Century Fluency Project.

 

Can we teach too cutting edge?

Student: "What is the most recent advancement in stem cell research?"

Researcher: "The process I just described to you."

The stem cell researcher had just explained to my class the process of making hiPSC (human induced pluripotent stem cells) from skin cells.  This is an area that she is an expert in, a process for which Shinya Yamanaka recently won a Nobel prize, a process that allows researchers not to have to rely on embryonic stem cells to do their work.  And the students were hearing about it from someone with a PhD in the field, who works with stem cell technology herself.

I don't want you to miss the preciousness of this moment.  The student who asked the question didn't want to hear what had happened in the past, even recent past.  He didn't want to have to wade through the 30,800,000 results that would come if he typed stem cells into a search engine.  The student wanted to know what is happening now.  And he got his answer.  In a field where advancements are happening almost daily, he got the most current answer.  Real-time. With diagrams, even.

• How do you make the medium that sends messages to the pluripotent stem cell?
• What types of diseases can be treated with stem cells?
• Since Dolly, has there been any other cloning of sheep or other animals?
• Do the hiPSC's act exactly like embryonic stem cells or are there differences?

Even. . .

• Is there any truth to what South Park shows us about stem cells?

(which she answered beautifully)

Even. . .

• How do the people you work with feel about the stem cell controversy?

(you're not going to find the answer to that in a textbook or article)

Each student got their answer.

And all this came to my students . . .face to face.

I share that story because the experience galvanized my resolve to explain the importance of Connections-based Learning with the world of educators.  Skyping in a stem cell researcher into my Science 9 class was an amazing, worthwhile learning and connecting experience.  Connecting with experts is one of six facets of CBL: Question Experts.  This facet opens our students to the cutting edge of what is going on in our planet.  But it also opens the door to the hearts of others around the world, and in our own backyard, who are involved in what we are studying.  It humanizes the "scientists": real people who are seeking answers to the most current questions of our world.  Stem cells aren't just "out there" for my students, now.  They are something Charis, our expert and now classroom friend, is working on.

Moreover, this was a connection birthed at a Christmas dinner party with kids running around playing hide and seek and making up dance performances.  I didn't do anything special to make this connection other than to keep my ears open as I go about, listening for possible connections for my students.  And asking my students to do the same.  That is the beauty of CBL, asking ourselves as educators: "what connections do we as a group of 30 people have that can help us learn this concept?"

30 people.  Not 1.  There's a lot of possibilities there.

With the connections my students are making with experts, they have the most cutting edge information at hand that they can share with others.  Some of the connections I helped them make.  Some they made on their own.  Here are a few others:

Skype helps students study Mars rovers

Students work with real life companies for a connections-based learning project

Can we share information and ideas that are too cutting edge, too recent with our students?  Do we want anything less for them?

New #CBL Infographic

I believe it was Plato who said that no person can go into the same river twice. Not only has the river changed since the first entry, but the person has changed as well. 

A few months ago, I changed the name of my blog from "On the side of technology" to "Connections-based Learning". I'm not sure of the effects of a name change in Blogger, but for me, it helped clarify what I'm working on.

I started this blog with a focus on tech in the classroom. It was only a few years ago that I did the unthinkable (at that time and place) and allowed students to not only use their cell phones and tablets in class, but to use them for learning. I was "on the side" of using technology in the class. I also thought that the name leant itself to other blogs ... "on the side of..." whatever else I was into. 

As my learning morphed and changed I was really taken by what this connected world did for propelling my thinking. When one is faced with an almost endless supply of ideas on social media, it's hard to ignore the disparage between the status quo and the "what could be".

I want that same thing for my students.

I want them to be able to see what is really out there and be compelled to:

- embrace it

- change because of it

- have an effect on it

Connections-based Learning was born out of my desire to take Project-based Learning to the next level. The true learning that comes from a genuine project is through relationship. How are we fostering these connections in the class in everything we do, not just the projects we take on?

 

The Connections-based Learning infographic and the Whiteboard Interactive video have been ways to take a snapshot of what this new focus on learning is about.

Serve the Community. Plant a garden where there isn't one. Sing at a retirement home. Work on making the environment better. 

Help Organizations. Raise money for non-profits. Test out products for startups. Hold workshops for companies. 

Question Experts. Email questions to experts in a field. Have projects that ask students to seek out experts. Skype in experts into the class.

Share the process. Present to the class your findings, whether your connections panned out, or didn't. Record your learning in a portfolio. Share what you're doing with the rest of the school. 

Show the World. Tweet out the learning. Get feedback from outside the class. Seek out a genuine audience.

All these action steps, my classes have done and I can attest to the meaningfulness of the activities and significance of the learning. 

But to the last of the 6 facets: I had "Work as a Team". This was a carry over from my project-based learning focus: students working in groups to achieve project goals. I want to capture something else, though. Yes, I still think that group projects are worthwhile for many reasons. But learning activities don't have to be in a group. Sometimes it's me who brings in the expert. Students collaborate to create questions but it is different than the standard group project. I want students to read and respond meaningfully to each other's learning blogs. This is also a different focus from group work. So I've changed the sixth facet to "Feedback Meaningfully" using feedback as a verb. It's a little clunky but it gets across the point. There's probably a better way of saying it out there. Maybe you've got a suggestion?

Defining Connections-based Learning is a work in progress. But I think you know it when it is happening. It is defined more by classroom feel and student buy-in.  True experts are sharing with your class. Students are involved in making a difference. 

I am ready to take CBL to the next level. I am hoping to find some educators out there who have been looking for a way to push their learning, a way to describe the changes in their teaching as a result of wading into this connected world. Are you ready to jump into this river with me?  Connect with me if you are. 

2015: Year of the Digital Portfolio

A reflective quiet has blanketed the Robinson home.  It's not something I expect to last. 

The bustle of family over for the holidays, the excitement of presents under the tree, the fullness of church events . . . all over for now, giving me a moment, albeit a small one, to reflect on my learning in 2015.  The benefits of blogging are that not only do I have snapshots of learning to go back to, but the people have weighed in on their weightiness.  I not only get to see what has been important to me, but also what has been meaningful to others.  With that in mind, I will reflect on the top 4 Connections-based Learning posts of 2015.

Digital Portfolios: Where to start Part 2

I spent a lot of time this year reflecting on digital portfolios.  What started as a simple question on my blog blossomed into a whole series on starting digital portfolios.  I didn't want the focus to be on the nuts and bolts of it but more to take even a further step back: what needs to happen in ourselves as educators before we jump into the world of digital portfolios.  Part 2 was by far the most popular of the posts as it looked at what awesome educators were doing with their portfolios.  It also gave me a chance to talk about the different platforms and apps that teachers were using. Digital Portfolios: Where to start Part 1 emphasized the need to develop one's own portfolio while Digital Portfolios: Where to start Part 3 demonstrated how digital portfolios transform our teaching.  This was a great series to work on as I got to seek out the amazing things that were happening with digital portfolios far and wide.

#FamilyBloggingMonth

The Connections-based Learning post called #FamilyBloggingMonth came in as the third most read post of 2015.  I have to admit that I had great hopes for province-wide participation in this event.  I had grandiose ideas of families breaking down walls and coming together around their blogs in the month of November.  That parents and children would spend most of the month in a veritable virtual group hug loving on each other as they came to a deeper understanding of each other's inner child.  That dogs and cats would put aside differences and join paws with the blogging mice and unite in the spirit of connection as they barked, purred and squeaked out a chorus of "Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

It didn't play out that way. 

Moreso, I found that it was a chance to share with colleagues and a few of my connections on Twitter the importance of getting parents to read and comment on student blogs.  I did squeeze out a post from my own father in Remembering Education Past and made sure I got my own students to share their blogs with their parents AND get their parents to comment.  But you watch out for November 2016.  Practice up your Kumbaya and Trust-fall skills because #FamilyBloggingMonth is not going away.

Meaningful Comments: Why?

Well the whole #FamilyBloggingMonth thing got me thinking that we can't just say to our students: "Comment on each other's blogs, please" and watch magic happen.  We have to teach them how to do it.  That started a series of posts on commenting.  I went through the who's, why's and how's of commenting, sharing ideas and actual comments from my own school as I facilitated comment learning for multiple classes.  Once again, a great learning experience for my students and myself.

Who needs a Digital Portfolio?

The second most read post in 2015 was about me sharing my own digital portfolio story in Who needs a Digital Portfolio?.  I had to write this post.  We were sitting around the table as educators at my school talking about how to instill the importance of digital portfolios in our students.  It became very plain to me that my own story was the perfect testimony for this.  My digital portfolio made a difference in my life.  It got me my job.  I don't know how to make it any more plain.  It is worth it.

This post has been excellent to have to share with students at my school.  You might want to share it with your students.  It communicates better than simply saying, "Class, you have to put effort into your digital portfolio."  My story plays out for my students as they see me day after day, doing what I love.  Hopefully that can be your story as well.

As the quiet fades, and the bustle begins, I can see that for me 2015 was the year of the Digital Portfolio.  What was 2015 for you?

#CBL Behind Bars

"Do you ever get days outside the prison?"

The tweet caught my eye.  I had stumbled upon what I would call David Billiikopf's version of Connections-based Learning as I was scrolling through my twitter stream.

Do you ever get days outside the prison? Do you get to go home sometimes, or do you go out to do special activities sometimes? #norwask

— Henny Karine (@HennyKarine) December 9, 2015

I had to check this out.  I looked deeper.

#norwask @DavidBillikopf Do you celebrate Christmas or other holidays at the detention center or do you go home?

— Liv Smith-Sivertsen (@LivMullerss) December 9, 2015

There was some activity going on here that shocked the pants off me.  Could I have really stumbled on student conversations from the comforts of the classroom to ones behind bars?  I had.

A prison teacher, David Billikopf, was having his students communicate with Terje, a teacher from Norway.  The students locked up in a juvenile correctional facility were learning about Norway while the Norwegian students were learning about the life of a student inmate.  Amazing.

Of course. I had those internal questions: How can they maintain prisoner confidentially, is online management of behaviour an issue, basically ... How can you do this?  But they were doing it.  And doing it beautifully.  You can read all about it here: Our Twitter Class Adventure Continues or follow the #norwask hashtag.

Questions posed by the students

 

It didn't stop there.

Mr. Billikopf's students began sharing poetry with their counterparts. Here is one shared over twitter:

ICYMI Poetry from incarcerated teens on being locked up! https://t.co/sI0S4Zgx2M pic.twitter.com/zq3bs72wln

— David Billikopf (@DavidBillikopf) December 14, 2015

The response was so meaningful.

I think that your poem is strong. When you write It's like you tell your story. #norwask

— Amalie.G. Nilssen (@amalie1001) December 11, 2015

And the story will continue.  This is why human connection is so powerful.  The interaction is genuine.  A relationship builds.  People are humanized.  Crafting what is said and done becomes important.  And learning happens. . .important, individualized, meaningful learning.

Connections-based Learning in action

Learning begins with a good question.  Preferably one you have absolutely no answer for.

In Connections-based Learning, the process starts with a desire for students to seek out meaningful connections.  The first action is to ask a question that opens the door for those connections.  I wanted my students to learn about re-world electricity use, so I asked this:

Basically I asked: "With whom can you connect to learn or do something about electricity?"  I was shocked at how far my students would take this. . .all the way to Poland.

Experts

A Skype chat with an employee in a Polish electrical company where
we learned that 80% of Poland's electricity comes from fossil fuels

 

One group had a connection with someone who worked in the power industry in Poland.  A Skype chat was set up and the class not only learned about Poland's electricity situation but about Poland itself.  The real-world connection brings an understanding of what is going on currently, not what was happening at the time the information was written.  CBL also gives the students a chance to speak into another's situation.  Questions were posed as to what Poland's future plans were to get them to move to more renewable energy sources.  Our students got to share there concern about the environment and encourage the seeking out of better ways to produce electricity.

Organizations

 

 

A depiction of a real-life BCHydro interview produced using IMovie
 

Connecting with experts is just one avenue students can take in their Connections-based Learning.  Another possibility is to work together to strive for real-world change.  In this particular activity we had students trying to hook up generator companies with homeless shelters.  We had students contacting Me to We and Clean Energy BC, hoping to have an influence on the building of more wind farms.

I love the creativity students use to share the story of their experience.  One group interviewed our own BCHydro producers of electricity.  They put together a mock up of the interview in an IMovie that they put on their blogs.  Another group shared their interview with a BCHydro employee in the context of developing a Power Outage Safety Kit.  In CBL, it is great to see what type of angle the students use to communicate their learning.  Not every organization responds, but the requirement is to tell the story around the connection.  What was learned through the process?

Community

An interview with our principal on our school's

power conservation actions and hopes for the future

We also had students looking to our own school, wanting to ask what we were doing to steward our energy use and what the future holds for better school-based conservation.  These students interviewed our principal and shared school priorities for energy use, plus dreams for the future, including device charging stations hooked up to stationary bikes.

Connections-based learning is about sharing out our experiences.  This is often done through our digital portfolios.  One really cool thing that came from this #CBL was that one of the students wrote an article for the school newspaper on her #CBL experience.  You can find the article here.

 

 



Connections-based Learning prizes re-world connections.  Open the door wide to leverage those connections for learning. 

Then hang on.

Meaningful Comments: Who?

In Meaningful Comments: Why?, I looked at why good comments are important and the ways they can propel learning.  In Meaningful Comments: How?, I shared the discussions in my classes on how to make good comments: ask questions, expand on ideas, and share your story.  I was reminded in that post by commenter Bruno Winck that when you disagree with the author let them know by respectfully stating your thoughts.  Of course, this is in the hopes of both of you expanding your understanding.  When that happens, it is important for the author to not take things too personally (and delete objectionary comments) but more, to see this as an opportunity to learn and grow.

In this post I want to focus on who should be commenting on each other's work.  In this connected world, work done by the student shouldn't just be seen by the teacher.

Students commenting on each other's work

Publicly commenting on another's work, as Tom Whitby commented in Meaningful Comments: How?, is a relatively new thing.  Other than in peer editing, some kind of gallery walk activity, or an audience-question-time after a presentation, it just isn't done in our classrooms.  Often student work is for the teacher's eyes only.  But I want to state that there is something meaningful about students commenting on other student's work.  When you have to make a meaningful comment, you have to understand both what the author is saying and how you feel and think about it.  The wheels have to turn.  I think all of us Ed blog readers and writers know the feeling: "This is a great post but I just don't have the energy to intelligently synthesize my thoughts and put them into words.  I'll just hit like."  Commenting requires committing valuable resources.

If your hope is to have a community of learners, then your students should be commenting on each other's work.  They need to learn together in a safe environment that promotes sharing.  They need to be involved in each other's learning.  Furthermore, it brings them to operate at the highest level of Bloom's taxonomy: analyzing, evaluating and even creating (their response).

[Bloom's Taxonomy photo, “New Blooms Pyramid“, by Andrea Hernandez licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.]

Teachers commenting on student work

I've talked a lot about teacher commenting in this series particularly on how it promotes student learning.  In the comment above, it is the teacher who gets to learn.  Either way, learning comes from the dialogue.  The initial post is a shotgun approach to learning; it is the comments that target in on personalized learning.  I would go as far as to say: if you find yourself having to choose between commenting on student work and grading it, I suggest you comment.  The comment propels learning while the grade puts an end to it.

Principals commenting on student work

In this connected world we live, right from his or her office, a principal can connect and encourage a student.  In fact, they need to get in on the action.  What a way to put one's finger on the pulse of what is going on in the classes but to read and comment on what the students are doing within their classes!

Parents, other teachers . . . really anyone

What an excellent learning conversation going on here...from one student's post.  A parent, two teachers, and several students propelling each other to do and to be better.  Parents having a window into what is going on in the class. Other Math teachers chiming in on the student's learning.  Students encouraging each other along in the material.  This is what being in a community of learners is all about.

You

In the hopes of more genuine comments for my students' work from those outside of the school, I thought that I would end this post with a learning opportunity.  Here is a Flipboard magazine of some of my students' blogs.  Please take a moment to check their digital portfolios out and possibly expend some energy and make a comment.  I know they would love to have some of your input into their learning.

View my Flipboard Magazine.