RSA #3: Research Based Learning

Links to resources

If students designed their own schools...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RElUmGI5gLc

Resource-Based Learning
http://epltt.coe.uga.edu/index.php?title=Resource-Based_Learning

Sir Ken Robinson:  Bring on the learning revolution!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9LelXa3U_I

Refining Assessment for Resource Based Learning
http://web.a.ebscohost.com.cucproxy.cuchicago.edu/ehost/detail/detail?sid=80acab7f-aac7-4e26-9c0e-043c1a7a224c%40sessionmgr4003&vid=2&hid=4104&bdata=JkF1dGhUeXBlPWNvb2tpZSxpcCxjcGlkJmN1c3RpZD1zODQxOTIzOSZzaXRlPWVob3N0LWxpdmU%3d#db=trh&AN=2333443

The Effective Implementation of Resource-Based Learning
http://web.a.ebscohost.com.cucproxy.cuchicago.edu/ehost/detail/detail?sid=a98142d2-5605-42ea-9e94-d8928b9fee85%40sessionmgr4004&vid=0&hid=4104&bdata=JkF1dGhUeXBlPWNvb2tpZSxpcCxjcGlkJmN1c3RpZD1zODQxOTIzOSZzaXRlPWVob3N0LWxpdmU%3d#db=trh&AN=9508185284

Summary of assigned readings

Tsai (2015) exemplifies Research-Based Learning (RBS) as students working independently to find an answer to a self-derived inquiry.  He shows students working on independent projects were on Monday they come up with a question based on one of their core subjects, their midweek is then based on research, and they share their findings of what they learned on Friday.  They are motivated by their own passions and learning becomes a group activity.  To encourage their independence, the students come together to push each other, give constructive criticism, give support and praise, help each other be creative, learn to ask questions, and find and use resources that they need.  This support become peer pressure that is stronger than a test and in fact feels far worse to them when they let their peers down.

            Campbell, Flageolle, Griffith, and Wojcik (2014) begins their description of RBL by giving an example of Mr. Hartman and Ms. Russell collaborating on creating a RBL project about the American Civil War for Fourth graders.  They then go on to explain that RBL is an educational model that is designed to engage students with multiple resources.  RBL is to give them the responsibility in selecting resources which are incorporated into tasks that give students the opportunities to develop skills and effective users of information.  Those resources can be print or non-print, human, video, guest speakers, or hypermedia presentations.  They then give steps on how to implement RBL, go over the role of a teacher, and share Benefits that RBL can provide.

            In the Popular TED talks (2010), Sir Ken Robinson lectures about how there is a current crisis of human resources and how current education systems has dislocated us from our talents.  He explains that common sense is getting in the way of how learning should be, organic.  He shares that time changes when you are passionate about something.  An hour can feel like five minutes, when you are working on something interesting.  He laments that Education does not feed the spirit and that humanity needs to create conditions where the spirit will flourish.

Summary of new online resources

Macdonald and Mason (1999) note that technology has opened up a new dimension into RBL now that resources can be found and delivered online.  They conduct a research project to study student perspectives on assessment for a resource basked UK Open University course to see if it supports student learning effectively.  They find that students need to practice working in a RBL setting as they are not used to it.

            Mullan (1995) conducts an action research to be deliberate in improving her teaching of a mixed ability group in a General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) course.  She explores different factors that can be promote learning through the use of learning resources.  She finds that the new methods are slower than her usual methods of teaching, but yields better results.

How the new online resources relate or contrast to the module topic

When comparing the resources it is interesting to see where their focus lies.  As Macdonald and Mason wrap up their research they note that, “The more time students need to spend on learning new skills, the less time they may have to spend on constructing an understanding of course content” (1999).  Which is different from what Tsai is exemplifying.  The students in Tsai’s video (2015) are given a whole semester to work on a personal inquiry. They come wanting to investigate and the results are amazing.  Students spend hours on writing poetry, others have solved logic problems, and one student has even learned how to play the piano.

Mullan’s research (1995) finds that as she introduces factual information her pupils failed in learning and comprehending what was presented.  “The inclusion of too much information resulted in confusion and pure 'rote extraction' “ (Mullan, 1995).  She does find through the active learning process of RBL the students appeared more interested and so their enthusiasm continued.  She finally states that through the process “genuinely leaving things open for discovery also necessarily leaves open the opportunities, too, for not discovering them.”  This is more consistent with the assigned readings.  Campbell et al. (2014) states that students are engaged when RBL is designed correctly.  Sir Ken Robinson, in his TED talk (2010), confirms that learning should be more organic and what can be more organic then students truly interested and enthused about a topic. Tsai’s video (2015) clearly shows an open-endedness to the RBL process.  Students are led by their interests and not necessarily the curriculum.

Concepts applied to an Educational Setting 

In a typical classroom where the curriculum is developed by a school district or department, Macdonald and Mason would be correct in what they say about time being devoted to learning new skills versus learning the course content (1999).  But in a RBL classroom, the learning isn’t driven by a sole curriculum, but more of the individual interests that the students may have.  Yes, the curriculum may not be covered.  However, that is not the point in RBL.  In a classroom that utilized the RBL process, the point is not about the destination, but how you get there.  Tsai (2015) showed how that could be properly done, what the students learn and do may cover more than any curriculum can cover.

            So for example when students ask about how math can be applied in real world situations, you as a teacher can return the question with a provoking question.  You can ask what they are interested in becoming and challenge them to find the math in a real world situation that interests them, such as building a bridge, developing video games, tuning cars, or designing the newest styles on a New York style runway.   Once the imagination of a young student is captured, just as the Ted talk by Sir Robison emphasizes, learning becomes organic (2010).  Student become interested and enthusiastic as Mullan (1995) notes.  And yes, you might not cover what you set out to cover as a teacher, but what more doors of opportunities have you opened for your students to dig deeper and to learn more?

 References

 

Campbell, L., Flageolle, P., Griffith, S., Wojcik, C. (2014). Resource-based learning. Retireved from http://epltt.coe.uga.edu/index.php?title=Resource-Based_Learning

Macdonald, J., & Mason, R. (1999). Refining Assessment for Resource Based Learning. Assessment & Evaluation In Higher Education, 24(3), 345.

Mullan, A. (1995). The effective implementation of resource-based learning. British Educational Research Journal, 21(3), 387.

TED. (2010). Sir Ken Robinson: Bring on the learning revolution!. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9LelXa3U_I

Tsai, C. (2015). If students designed their own schools. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RElUmGI5gLc

RSA #2: Project Based Learning

Additional Online Resources:
http://edupln.com/video/project-based-learning
http://howtovideos.hightechhigh.org/video/265/What+Project+Based+Learning+Isn't

"Project Based Learning is becoming increasingly popular as teachers look for a way to make lessons stick in the minds of their students" (Dauphin, 2013).  The question then is what makes it so special that more teachers are turning to it?  Dauphin simply puts it as students tackling and solving real world problems (2013).  The Buck Institute for Education more succinctly puts it as a teaching method where students learn from "…working for an extended period of time to investigate and respond to a complex question, problem, or challenge" (2015).  It is a process that involves them in cooperative problem solving and critical thinking as demonstrated by the Auburn Early Education Center in their Edutopia video (2010).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eyucHMifto
Video 1:  Edutopia Video

 Prairie South School Division (of Canada) teachers that have taken on the task of implementing the Project Based Learning (PBL) method have shared their experience through this video (Whitby, 2010).

http://edupln.com/video/project-based-learning
Video 2:  Prairie South School Division Video

They share that the traditional class time was not enough to implement PBL.  And with support of their administrators, they were able to carve out a three hour class period where they could integrate the studies of history, literature, and technology into projects to engage their students and cause deeper learning.  With that extra time the teachers were able to have student blend their ideas, witness deeper learning, and provide quality feedback to their students from both the teacher and working collaboratively with other students.  They used Technology as a tool to bring their content to life and to communicate their ideas.  Students started to take ownership of their projects and were proud of their work.

Jeff Robin decided to share about what Project Based Learning was not in his video.  (2011)

http://howtovideos.hightechhigh.org/video/265/What+Project+Based+Learning+Isn't

He shared that it was definitely not a teacher talking in front of a class, but more specifically it was project oriented learning.  In Projected Oriented Learning students first study the subject and then have a project oriented to the subject.  For example, students would learn about the United States Bicentennial and then make a model of the Liberty Bell.  Project Oriented Learning is more for the teachers rather than the students.  Projects did not run the semester as PBL's would have it, but the semester ran and the  projects were done at the end.  In fact Project Oriented Learning is the opposite of PBL's.

Comparing the sources introducing Project Based Learning, all of them share similar themes about PBL. 

• It is student centered. 
• Student are working collaboratively on real world problems.
• Students are challenged to problem solve and use critical thinking
• They communicate to critique and share information about their projects.
• Students take ownership of their work

In addition to these themes, it was interesting to find that PBL works really well integrating subjects together as in the case of the Prairie South School Division. (Whitby, 2010).  It was also helpful to see what PBL was not.  As some teachers may think they are using PBL when in fact they are just orienting a project to fit topics they cover in class as explained by Jeff Robin (2011).  The difference is that instead of students learning everything that is covered in the course syllabus and then working on a project, PBL makes students take ownership of their learning as the real world problems are left up to them to solve and left for them to present their findings.  The information they need is not given to them, they need to actively search it out themselves.

The Prairie South School Division video (Whitby, 2010) provided an excellent example of how a PBL would work in an educational setting that can be followed.  Most teachers have their students for at least one to two hours a day, which does not seem like much time for Project Based Learning and working through a multi-day Project based learning process may seem daunting.  However, one could still use the PBL themes to create a scaled down version of PBL to even introduce students, and teachers, to  how it works.  For example, a teacher can pose the scenario "The Superintendent wants to know how much salt is needed to make sure our school's sidewalks are dry after a blizzard.  Your job is to provide a report to the school board and the community about how much salt they need to purchase for winter next year."     The teacher then can provide a guided web hunt were groups of students can work collaboratively to search for, investigate, and interpreted the appropriate data they need.  After finding the data they need, they can begin to work on a presentation to the school board that the teacher has structured and given the student a choice of an oral presentation or video advertisement that are then peer reviewed and critiqued.  Finally, the students get a chance to present their findings at a School Board meeting. 

As you can see this scenario is structured for the students and still hold the themes of PBL found above.  This lesson is student centered, students are working collaboratively to solve a real school problem,  The guided web hung leaves the students to think critically about what information is needed and what may not be needed.  They critique and share information with each during the peer review and ultimately the must take ownership of their work as they present it to the School Board and the community.

References 

Buck Institute for Education. (2015). What is Project Based Learning (PBL)?. Retrieved from  http://bie.org/about/what_pbl

Dauphin, S.  (2013).  12 timeless project-based learning resources.   

Retrieved from http://www.teachthought.com/learning/project-based-learning/13-timeless-project-based-learning-resources/

Edutopia. (2010). Five-Year-Olds Pilot Their Own Project Learning [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eyucHMifto

Robin, J. (2011, March 02). What Project Based Learning Isn't. [Video file]. Retrieved from http://howtovideos.hightechhigh.org/video/265/What+Project+Based+Learning+Isn't

Whitby, T. (2010, August 22). Project Based Learning [Video file]. Retrieved from http://edupln.com/video/project-based-learning

RSA1: Online Professional Learning Community

 What is a Professional Learning Community?  The Delsea Regional High School district states it as a way to collaborate on the right issues to impact children and adult learning (2009).  The main keystones are to create a culture of collaboration, ensuring that students are learning, and with a focus on results (Dufour, 2004).  It answers the questions, "What is it we expect students to learn?" and "How will we respond when they don't learn?" (Strauss, 2007)

Others have noted similar sentiments in their own districts.  Mink comments that a Professional Learning Community (PLC) never stops and it spans in both different courses and grade levels (2014).   "All educators in a PLC understand the importance of collaboration and take responsibility for sharing and working together for the common good of the student, the school, and the community at large" (Mink, 2014).  She states that PLC's are not a cure all, but an opportunity for small success, which eventually lead to larger ones.  Gorsuch and Obermeyer also share how collaboration is important for student success, but through an administrative point of view.  The focus of their article is on how administrators and teachers worked together to implement the PLC process (2014).  They discuss how at the Valley Center-Pauma USD both the administrators and teachers committed to be a true PLC rather than doing a PLC.  The administrators spearheaded their commitment by providing teachers with consultants and training so that teachers would have the resources to create assessments and learn new teaching strategies.  The PLC's worked so well for them that they were able to work the district off t=hird party support (ie. consultants and trainings) and start the transition to Common Core by themselves using their own PLC teams to research common core instructional practices and create model lesson plans for the district.

Looking at all the sources related to PLC's it is clear that collaboration is a key component.  Dufour counts it as a main keystone (2004).  Each article and resource also emphasizes that student learning is the ultimate goal centered on the following four questions (Mink, 2014):

1.       What do we want our student to learn?

2.       How will we know they have learned it?

3.       How will we respond when learning has not occurred?

4.       How will we respond when learning has already occurred?

When discussing about PLC's, teachers' thoughts naturally tend to flow towards how they can work collaboratively toward student learning in their own subject area and how their departments could work together to achieve their goals.  Gorsuch and Obermeyer, however, bring in the perspective that PLC's are not just teacher driven but a whole school endeavor where there is collaboration at all levels to stay the course of district goals by creating structured systems of student support through trust, honesty and transparency (2014).  PLC's are a never ending process as "It changes from year to year to meet changing student needs and differences in data analysis" (Mink, 2014).

Time.  Time is the one thing that teachers never seem to have enough of.  There is never enough time to create the best possible lesson for their students or never enough time to keep up with their emails.  Between their responsibilities in and outside of school, teachers have barely enough time to do anything.  They find themselves often surviving alone rather than thriving together.  Professional Learning Communities offer a way to combat this.  With the Defour's PLC keystones of collaboration, student learning, and a focus on results in place (2004), it is obvious that the never ending process of evaluating student learning and student outcomes from data analysis  that Mink (2014) describes needs time.  Administrative support is crucial, as set forth by the Gorsuch and Obermeyer example (2014), time can be carved out from the academic school year to first provide support for teachers in training and professional development with the goal to ultimately lead to competent teachers working together to plan lessons together, work through understanding new standards, and achieving district goals.  Collaboration is just not with fellow teachers, but with everyone in the district.  In the classroom of one teacher, that teacher will struggle to create their own lesson, give their own tests, view their own results, and make their own learner specific modifications.  But in a classroom involved with a PLC, the whole school and district are involved.  Administrators give time for teachers to meet and discuss student shortcomings.  Together they come up with a plan to implement involving counselors, academic coaches, and third part resources.  The teachers then execute the plan in their own classrooms, "understanding that among team members that lesson can be taught according to an individual teacher's style and still end with the desired outcome" (Mink, 2014).  They then come together to share their results, analyze data they collected, and celebrate if their goals were reached or reevaluate to start the process again.  With given time teachers of PLC classroom thrive together to improve student learning.

References

Delsea Regional High School. (2009). Building a Professional Learning Community [PowerPoint Slides]. Retrieved from http://www.powershow.com/view/3bd6e3-ZDU1N/BUILDING_A_PROFESSIONAL_LEARNING_COMMUNITY_powerpoint_ppt_presentation

DuFour, R. (2004).  What is a "professional learning community?"  Educational Leadership, 61(8), 6-11.

Gorsuch, M., & Obermeyer, L. (2014). FULL SPEED AHEAD: the road to success. Leadership, 43(4), 18-20.

Mink, P. L. (2014). Seeing the Light-Together. Education Digest, 80(1), 19-22.

Strauss, B. (2007). Four Blocks of a Professional Learning Community [PowerPoint Slides]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_KukVC2gXs