Discipline Strategy: Quantative vs Qualitative Topics
A peer review report from Boston University Team Learning Assistant.
Recently I’ve been challenged to help varied but specific content disciplines succeed with a single technology platform. This is a pretty interesting challenge as generally we have not had the luxury of treating specific disciplines as needing the support of technology solutions. We instead implement a learning management system for a whole school and then different departments deal with discipline level implementation as best they can. However tuning your educational platforms and tools too a discipline engagement can provide a massive lift to the student engagement opportunities and begins to personalize the learning engagement to the interests of the student.
I’ve found that one of the components in analyzing a disciplines needs in implementation is based upon it’s utilization of quantitative vs qualitative student engagements. This need actually is a continuum of issue that can even happen in between certain classes contained within a discipline. A great exercise before bringing a class or discipline online is an understanding of which direction the learning style is weighted.
A quantitative discipline or class is firmly rooted in the ability for a student to answer educational challenges with a finite answer. As well a quantitative discipline can typically need a students response to activities with a literal answer. We see this type of discipline with Math, Economics, Statistics, and some of the Sciences. An example of this would be the classic Algebra I class. The student needs to learn specific formula and practice consistently applying the formulas to find the correct answer. Student engagement can be effectively measured in a pass or fail situation and we can quantitatively show the students progress with the concept. A quantitative discipline such as Algebra has the opportunity for highly normalized student interaction data and student knowledge is easily identified.
RE-invigoration
It’s time. I’m ashamed. My poor blog that started so well has been feeling abandoned. In my defense work has been incredibly busy and concentrated but there is more time to talk on that later. Suffice it to say that i’m pulling myself back together and committing myself to a weekly post. Thanks for your forgiveness and feedback.
Cheers,
Justin Beals
Sloan-C Conference Panel Session
I’ve been off my game here a little bit and while there are not many readers I want to apologize to the few. Suffice it to say I’ve recently been very busy with a large educational product design project as well as some small business interests that I’ll be able to discuss at more length later. However it’s time to get back in the good habit and so there will be more posts this week especially as I’ll be both speaking and paneling at the Sloan Consortium conference this week (http://www.sloanconsortium.org/et4online).
This week I’ll be paneling a discussion on the future of Learning Management Systems. If your attending the conference this week or want to join the festivities online here is the information for the panel discussion:
The Future Of Learning Management Systems
Lead Presenter: Jeff Young
Gold Room
July 21, 2010 – 10:30am
Special Interest (100 minutes)
SALT New Learning Technologies
Society for Applied Learning Technology
I had a wonderful time once again at the SALT conference this year in Orlando Florida. I’d like to thank everyone that was able to attend my session. We had a great turn out and looked at some very interesting systems for Learning Content Management. Many of the attendees asked if they could get a copy of my slide deck so I thought I would go ahead and post that here. I’d like to thank the SALT organizers for allowing me to speak and attend a great event.
Book Review: From Eternity to Here
I am a fan of science. Actually junkie may more appropriately describe my attraction to science. For the last year I have been reading a blog by Sean Carroll titled Cosmic Variance. Sean Carroll is a theoretical physicist currently working at Cal Tech. Recently Sean authored a great work titled “From Eternity to Here” (Amazon). This book is an approachable and exhilarating ride through the history of the physics and human exploration of the nature of time.
Dr. Carroll has created a book that opens the world of theoretical physics and cosmology in a read that is effective for those of us without a Phd in theoretical physics. The work ties the human story of exploration to the fundamental theories about how our universe operates. Sean introduces us to the scientists, their human challenges, and their immense contributions to how we approach our own place in the cosmos. I read this book as if I were engrossed in fiction and entranced by the amazing story related by Dr. Carroll. I highly recommend this book to those individuals that desire to literally scratch the surface of the nature of our universe; by a comprehension of all humans have been able to understand of the cosmos. Because quite literally we are just beginning to understand ourselves and our place in the dimensionality of our existence.
Recommendation aside I took a specific outcome from this book. I have spent a fair portion of the last year working with a team on the technology portion of a new Science publication for 3 – 8th grade here in the United States. I am concerned about the nature of science education in the world today. I am concerned that we short sell our children and their future in their own time and space. It is my impression that not only are we shackled by the cultural fears but an apathetic approach to teaching science in general. How often is the Newton and the law of gravity told without describing the fluid nature of time and space. How often is Einstein’s contributions thought to be ‘over the head’ of young students. I believe that Dr. Carroll has gone a long way to breaking down these barriers in his contribution. I would like to see this book in a high school class on physics. Perhaps even 6 – 8th grades. Why do I believe this is important?
I don’t believe that our books, media, and technology excite the young mind because we limit and box in the story. We don’t induct young minds into the mystery that surrounds us but proscribe the laws and theories of science as the limit of needed knowledge. This is the fundamental flaw in past STEM curricula and our cultural approach to science in the United States. Instead of expressing the limit of our knowledge as the stepping point with which young minds begin we hammer in the basic laws of physics and consider that we’ve met the baseline requirements. Why not reverse this trend? Why not tell the story of mystery, excitement, and green-field knowledge yet to be explored?
I’d like to posit a distinctly different approach to our understanding of teaching young minds. Instead of taking years to build upon fundamental concepts never quite reaching the exciting aspects of human discovery, why not begin by telling the story in an engaging manner and then opening the details over time. Instead of spending the first 10 years of our education on Newton shouldn’t we express the mystery of an interconnection between physics, cosmology, and astronomy? I sure wish I had Dr. Carroll’s book in high school I believe it would have led to a desire to learn the details. A passion to find the very difficult details about the macro-concepts of our universe.
Playing Urgent Evoke
In an era of ‘lowest common denominator’ education we often leave behind the most important aspect of the educational process. We abandon creative and critical thinking strategies for our students. In the implementation of large-scale education technologies many times we are challenged to meet the minimum of content availability and baseline educational standards. In this era of breakneck innovation pace often we find it hard to implement innovation as we are still trying to get a basic textbook online effectively. I recently signed up for a new online game called Urgent Evoke.
What I find special about Urgent Evoke is the game is using a ‘mash’ of a variety of different styles of play and organizational strategies. By combining all of these elements in an effectively low tech methodology the game is an approachable but challenging play. The game attempts to involve people in the effort of social entrepreneurship. The concept that sustainable social activities are the method by which we best raise the human state. This concept is best personified in the efforts of the Ashoka Institute which began by sponsoring individuals dedicated to changing the human condition through sustainable activities. Urgent Evoke attempts to create a virtual space where participants can attack creatively the most pressing problems for humans around the world.
The game play for Urgent Evoke centers around an effective plot / storyline introducing the concepts of social awareness in fairly straightforward interactions. Players congregate around missions, researching, and providing action plans for resolution. The threaded storyline and collaboration are light but effective methods in preparing players for an engrossed experience. While this game is a highly collaborative process there is little in the way of repetition or the inevitable ‘first person shooter’ experience. Instead it seems to be played more like a group project as a board game. The sponsors of the game hope that by crowd sourcing solutions for large human issues that they may find new answers to difficult questions.
I’m off on the journey of Urgent Evoke myself. I am excited to participate. I’ll try and relate some of the successes of the platform here. I certainly hope that this model may approach a more organized acquisition of knowledge and talent for learners. I certainly believe that if emotionally engaged the learning model can be incredibly effective for students struggling with concepts. That’s a great research topic: The correlation of empathetic engagement to knowledge.
SALT New Learning Technologies Conference
Just a quick post. I’ll be speaking on March 4th at the SALT New Learning Technologies Conference on Learning Content Management and Educational Outcomes. This discussion has a lot to do with organizing and analyzing learning content semantically. If for some reason you pass by this blog, and your at the conference please stop by and say hello!
http://www.salt.org/fl/orlandoP.asp
Scheduled Date: 3/4/2010
Scheduled Start Time: 2:15:00 PM
Scheduled End Time: 3:00:00 PM
Track: Knowledge Management
Abstract Title: Leveraging a Learning Content Management Strategy to Enable Outcome-Based Instruction
Primary Speaker: Justin Beals
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