Reflections for this week in EDUC 391.

I had to let it simmer for a few days to get a good grasp on what it was that I needed to understand about my presentation. After letting it simmer over the weekend I think I have narrowed it down a considerable bit. This was the first time I actually articulated this idea, and though at the time it was crystal clear in my mind it became obvious to me as I presented that the idea was still very raw. I have been reading some articles and visiting some websites, as well as databases and search engines that I believe are going to help with a lit review and to polish my presentation to make a better proposal.

Looking back, I need to work on my delivery a little bit. I need to slow down the pace and not rush through so that I can devote enough time to each component of my proposal. I also need to get a good review of the literature to establish real need as opposed to just talking about a need that could be the offspring of my subjective bias. Is there a real need for this? This is the question I am trying to answer. Based on my conversations during the last few days with some teachers and librarians there is a need, but I need to put a spin on my approach to make a more solid case.

Overall I think last week’s presentation was a success. Not because I delivered an awesome presentation, but rather because by taking the first step early on I might have started on a course that will lead me a to potential master’s project. The hardest thing sometimes is taking the first step. Well, I have taken that first step now. My next steps are to do a good lit review to establish need, and to discuss in more detail and with more eloquence the ABCD’s and the six principles.

I think this is doable, and am feeling good for getting this opportunity early on to start throwing my thoughts down on paper!

M. Ricardo Flores

This week’s installment.

I was in the group that reviewed Vyew.com. I thought this application has a lot of potential for teaching and learning once they iron out some of the kinks. Right now it seems to require too much bandwidth. The application froze or crashed a couple o times while we were using it. Another problem that we observed in our group was that because it had too many features it would be easy for the instructor or the course facilitator to loose control because the many bells and whistles can be distracting. This happened in our group. Once we were given free reign to use al the features we all inevitable tended to want to test everything out and to almost deviate from the task at hand. In spite of these downsides, I think that with proper planning an instructor can turn this into an advantageous medium for imparting curriculum. I believe that once they solve the bandwidth issue this could be a great tool for it enables learners to participate synchronously or asynchronously depending on the needs of the learner or the curriculum objectives. I have added this to my bookmarks and will continue to explore its functionality for I think there are some things that can be exploited here. It is true that many of the features here are already found in Skype or other applications, but sometimes taking an existing idea and expanding it to a higher level is better that coming up with a new one that might not be as good.

Action Research & Contextualized Innovation

I had passing knowledge of Action Research, but after this week's discussion this concept has become clearer in my mind. If my understanding is correct, then this is perhaps the type of research that is best suited for me. Many times I find myself wanting to find out more about a subject which I don’t necessarily know much about, but I still want to try things out and get my hands dirty and see what happens.

I now understand that action research allows for that sort of, exploratory if you will, approach to research. Additionally, I like that action research encompasses many qualitative aspects. I personally am interested in studying qualities as opposed to quantities. I do however recognize the importance of knowing how to gather and interpret quantities, but I enjoy much more the subjective intricacies inherent to the interpretation of qualities. As I get ready to register for courses for next quarter I am shopping to see if there is an action research course offered anytime soon.

Another new concept I learned this week is Contextualized Innovation.
This type of innovation requires consideration of context, situation, culture, practical usability, etc.

Also, when one has an idea one should allow some break-in period to find out how it will settle in. Social science studies need this break in period, so it is important not to stop the project before allowing it to take its natural course first. If one lets the project follow its natural course, then one can carry out action research throughout the project’s re-iterative and cyclical stages, as well as come up with ideas for contextualized innovation.

Making the world a better place

Well, it was wonderful to see the variety of technologies that are out there, especially the free ones, for delivering instructional content via the web, and otherwise. What was of most interest to me was to see the variety of interests we all have. Throughout the quarter I have had opportunities to discuss my interests with a few of our peers, and to listen to their interests as well. But there were still a few with whom I had not yet been able to converse. Through my participation in this project, both as a presenter and as an observer, I felt that we are coming closer as a cohort. I think we are at the point where we are becoming a cohesive unit. The range of topics presented, and the variety of technologies used to deliver those presentations are evidence of our cohort's ability to identify important issues and real needs. The presentations were also evidence of our creative thinking and adaptability in order to execute the project on time and in a manner that facilitated our collective learning. Thanks to this process our zone of proximal development has been expanded! Yes, I just learned this concept in this class, but I expect that my ZPD will continue to expand.


Another thing that I found very interesting is that although we have such diverse interests and levels of technical expertise, we do have one major theme in common; we all seem to be interested in making the world a better place. Whether we explicitly said so or not; social justice was at the core of the topics presented. Hopefully we will have many opportunities in the future to collaborate on projects for the benefit of humanity.

Authentic Assessment, Bloom's Taxonomy, & Zone of Proximal Development

Authentic Assessment is assessment that is anchored to real problems, and it is situational. Rather that presenting hypothetical situations or scenarios to the students, authentic assessment requires that students be evaluated through real world problems and situations.

Bloom’s taxonomy:
• Cognitive domain
o Student will know how to do x
• Affective domain
o Student will have confidence, positive attitude towards math
• Psychomotor
o Subject will land the airplane 100% of the time
• Social domain (this one Bloom did not think about)
o Interaction, if two people own two different pieces of knowledge and they can teach each other what they know. Because one of the learners was there and demonstrated their performance, the other learner was able to augment their own knowledge. This is also known as ZPD.

Zone of Proximal Development represents the zone of development between where one is and where one could be. In other words it is the space between our current state and where our maximum potential is. More applicable in social contexts: wisdom of crowds, for example when we interact with others through an avatar in a virtual setting. The source of new knowledge could be a peer or a teacher.

Audience – Behavior – Conditions – Degree

This week we learned the ABCD’s of designing instructional technologies and applications. Here they are in a nutshell.

A determining factor of what the final manifestation of our design will be like lies in having a good understanding our intended audience. For example, it would be unwise to design a model that is heavily dependent on graphics to achieve its purpose if our target audience is the American Association of Blind Persons (fictitious name for illustration purposes only). Obviously, they would not be able to see our beautiful graphics, and possible miss the entire point. In this case, the audience’s learning needs would perhaps be better addressed by creating a model that employs auditive and tactile affordances to engage the learner.

Just like it is important to understand what physical attributes or limitations our target audience might have. It is also necessary to have a good understanding of other qualities they bring to the table. For example, we need to know what previous knowledge they have because if we don’t know this from the start we might end up designing inadequate models that might be too easy for the learners. On the other hand we might increase the level of complexity to the point where learning will be much more difficult than it needs to be.

It is important to have a well-defined set of objectives that we intend to achieve. Defining our objectives, using action verbs (higher order from Bloom’s) we can then make assumptions as to what kinds of behavior patterns we can expect to occur.

It is also important to have a clear idea of the conditions or circumstances under which our model will be utilized or implemented. Understanding the conditions surrounding our audience will help us choose the right tools for the job. Our audience might be in a location where there is no electricity available and where generators might be too difficult to procure. In this case a low-tech solution might be the best strategy. In some cases a pencil and paper might be sufficient. After all they are technology. Understanding the conditions helps us choose the right tools to do the job effectively.

Lastly, it is important to quantify the degree of change that we intend to bring about. This is important to know because we need to measure that we have achieved our objective. This concept ties into assessment. How do we know when and if we have achieved what we said we were going to do? What does it look like when there has been significant change in the behaviors we sought to influence? This is particularly important if our project is being funded by a source other than ourselves. At some point the funding party will want to know that progress has been made and that they have invested their money wisely. Failure to quantify the degree of change/achievement might result in a withdrawal of the funding.

WHERE THE MONEY IS, AND WHERE THE REAL NEEDS ARE

EDUC 391X WEEK 1
For the next ten weeks I will be posting my reflections about my EDUC 391X class in here. These reflections will be about themes discussed in class, and/or ideas that might spring into my mind based on what I learn through my participation in this course.

This was our first class meeting, and therefore we had to cover basic housekeeping information. I will not go into that, but I will mention a theme that was of particular interest to me.

Although we did have an opportunity to view course projects done by former LDT students, and got a pretty good feeling for what kinds of projects are appropriate, my interest was particularly peaked by the notion that funding does not always go necessarily to where the need is greatest.

WHERE THE MONEY IS, AND WHERE THE REAL NEEDS ARE
In one example Dr. Kim mentioned the difference between where the money is, and where the real needs are. This is an important subject, because when one looks at this question and tries to answer it candidly one cannot help but be confronted with the reality of inequality and how certain populations are kept in a perpetual state of poverty and disarray. Under the current paradigm, we educate the wealthy and we train the poor at best. This is how we end up with the George W. Bush’s of the world.

The advent of computers and the Internet have the potential to revolutionize the world by allowing access and equity in education to millions of people who would otherwise be kept in the dark. It is true that proper methods and careful choice of technologies must be used to address a well defined and specific problem, but that’s why some of us are here at Stanford, taking on that big loan, so that we can learn how to effectively make an impact in education here in the United States, and in the world at large.

The course’s focus on the use web technologies to empower the vulnerable is of particular interest to me. Coming from an underprivileged background I have my own biases. However, putting my proclivities aside, many will agree that we all have a stake in social justice and that empowering the un-empowered can have a positive impact on society at large.

Again, we can turn a blind eye and continue to have a perpetual working class and continue to send males of certain ethnic backgrounds into the prison pipeline, or we can educate the masses and bring forth all the genius that exists within the untapped potential of the marginalized.

Some of us may choose to be activists and participate in heated debates or political rallies in the name of social justice. Others might turn a blind eye to the status quo and selectively perceive the world around us, and yet others choose to create opportunities by embracing technology, and making alliances with like-minded individuals from all backgrounds to create professional networks that can bring about, or at least facilitate, the means to empower the un-empowered through technology.

I look forward to learning new concepts and skills, as well as developing and being exposed to new ideas to implement them in my work practice to revolutionize education.

M. Ricardo Flores