The Next Step: Amplification… Amplify…

A few months ago, I wrote a blog post titled: “Enhancement-Automating-Transforming-Informating“, where I fused two models, the SARM model by Ruben Puentedura and Alan November’s Automating vs Informating model.

It made sense to me that Puentedura’s Substitution and Augmentation stage was part of November’s Automating phase and that the Modification and Redefinition belonged to the Informating phase.

But, I feel that there is a third phase beyond the Transformative phase, that I am calling “Amplification”. Now, one can argue that the opportunity to “amplify is part of the “Redefinition” stage, since as it is defined by Puentedura (…to be able to create a task, that was not possible before, without technology), but I am arguing that goes further and deserves to be it’s own phase.

The Free Dictionary defines the verb “amplify” as:

1. To make larger or more powerful; increase.

2. To add to, as by illustrations; make complete.

3. To exaggerate.

4. To produce amplification of…

Let’s take the example of a book report, that students have been asked to produce around the world in most school systems, at many different grade levels.

The classical book report/review  (before technology) asked students to read the book and then write a review, a factual summary, interpretation or recommendation about that book. Traditionally, students used a pencil, pen or fountain pen (as I did growing up in Germany) and handed it in to the teacher, who would read it, mark mistakes (spelling/grammar), point out possible omissions, grade it and then hand it back.

Let’s enter the Substitution Stage (part of the Automating phase):

Instead of having to handwrite the report, teachers are “allowing” the report to be typed up and printed out before “handing” in the assignment. The teacher will then read it, mark mistakes (spelling/grammar), point out possible omissions, grade it and then hand it back to the students.

Using the computer to type substituted (automated) the task of writing the report by hand. There was no functional change (as Puentedura defines the stage).  Students went through the same cognitive process as they were producing the report.

Moving on to the Augmentation Stage (still part of the Automating phase), when technology substitutes a traditional task, but adds functional improvement.

The student types the assigned book report and instead of printing it out and handing it in to the teacher the following school day, the student uses Google Docs to “share” the file with her teacher. The teacher then makes suggestions via comments on the file. The student goes over teacher’s suggestions and edits the same document before a given deadline, when teacher looks at the final edit before grading the report.

In this scenario, the process of thinking as the student was producing the book report did not change. Technology allowed to share the assignment vs. handing it it, which added functionality to the process.

Now we are heading into the Informating phase by entering the Modification stage. During the Modification stage, the task itself gets redesigned. By “elevating” a task to the Informating phase, according to Alan November, we need to “think about information systems, whole systems of the flow of information and communication”.

The teacher modifies the original task of writing about a book to go beyond paraphrasing and expanding the summary of the book sleeve. She asks her students to include for example research about the author, historic events during the authors writing of the book, timelines, connections to other author’s of the same genre or same topic. The teacher encourages students to go beyond the traditional “research” sources, such as other books, newspaper articles or journals and venture into sources such as Twitter, YouTube, Delicious, blogs, Shelfari, etc. Students create a book report comparing and contrasting multiple points of view of the book.

This example shows how the task evolved from purely automating to informating. From using technology to purely doing the same thing that was previously done with a paper and a pen. The teacher is teaching her students to take advantage of the tools in the information age, helping and guiding them to develop skills and information literacy.

The next stage, Redefintion,  is also part of the Informating phase. During the Redefinition phase, technology allows for the creation of a new task, previously inconceivable.

The teacher decides that students should not be confined to produce a book report/review in one media (text) only. She chooses to give students the freedom to use different media to create a summary of their chosen book, express their own interpretation and possibly add a recommendation why or why not to read the book for a specific audience (ex. classmates).  Students could create PowerPoints, podcasts, video trailers, multimedia posters, etc. Students prepare their “report” by researching, storyboarding and searching for or producing their own media to create the final product.

In the above scenario, students are learning to express themselves and to communicate through different media. The task of thinking about a book and writing (in text) about the author, setting, characters, plot, etc., has been redesigned to include different media with its different forms of expressions and different audiences. Without the use of technology, this task wold not have been possible.

This brings us to the Amplification stage.

The book report has been created, it is in some shape or form in a digital format. So far the audience for the student’s work is an audience of one (the teacher), possibly the audience grows after the completion of the assignment to include the student’s parents or if the teacher chooses to have students present their report in front of the class.

What if the teacher specifically chooses to amplify her students work even further?  What are the implication of this choice? Last year, I wrote a post about  A Wordwide Audience for  Six Year Olds?, contemplating these questions. Does an audience for their work matter to students? How can a teacher deliberately integrate “amplification” into her teaching? Also, take a look at one of my previous posts “Framing a Skype Learning Experience“or “CSI-Twitter” where an amplification played a significant role in the learning outcome for students.

I believe that there are different degrees of amplification and that ALL teachers can amplify in some shape or form. It does not need to be on a massive scale, nor global scale… (yet…).  Teachers need to be aware that through technology it is possible though to amplify their students’ work and learning experience and create learning opportunities that without these amplifications would not have been possible before.

Amplification Degrees:

1. Share student work with the entire class
2. Connect and share your student work with other classes in your grade level/building/school
3. Place your student work on a classroom website (not password protected)
4. Tweet the link to your students’ work out to your PLN to increase traffic to thee site
5. Connect to peers, experts and eye witnesses from around the world
6. Become a curator by organizing, tagging, categorizing your students’ work to share online

As we are amplifying our students’ work, we are exposing to and modeling for our students new literacies, such as network and global literacy. They are learning and creating (highest level of Bloom’s Taxonomy’s Thinking) with an authentic, global audience in mind.

As you look at the various Amplification Degrees above, what could you add/insert/delete? Help me amplify my learning, by adding your thoughts, resources, and experiences to my own work.

Job Opportunities: 21st Century Curriculum & Learning

I wanted to pass the following job opportunities along to my readers. Please contact the individual school directly.

Job Opportunity #1- Holy Trinity Episcopal, Melbourne, Florida

POSITION TITLE: 21st Century Learning Specialist

POSITION PURPOSE: To develop and facilitate the acquisition of 21st century digital literacy skills among faculty and students based on the ISTE NETS standards. We are looking for a forward-thinking, innovative educator who is passionate about technology, digital literacy, 21st century learning, and facilitating teacher growth.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS: Bachelor’s degree with a minimum of 3 years of teaching experience. Must be enthusiastic and knowledgeable about Web 2.0 and other digital tools and technologies. Must have excellent verbal and written communication skills; be self-directed, motivated, and a life-long learner. Eager to help teachers and students become independent learners and models of the ISTE NETS standards. Operates under the general supervision of the Director of Information Technology; works closely with Director of Studies and Administrative Team.

REPORTS TO: Director of Information Technology POSITION STATUS:    Exempt, FT, 10 1/2 Month

EXPECTATION: Serve as a positive role model who supports the mission, vision and core values of the school.

MAJOR DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES:
GENERAL:

1. Work with all major departments and divisions to achieve strategic initiatives.
2. Must maintain professionalism in dress, speech and manner.
3. Must have the ability to get along with, communicate and deal effectively with all school personnel, school parents and community.
4. Willingness to perform in a manner that reflects positively on the school.
5. As a member of the HTEA team, perform all duties as requested by the Headmaster.

LEARNING SPECIALIST:

1. Collaborate with teachers and administrators to develop curriculum materials and specific lesson
   plans based on the ISTE NETS standards.
2. Model the integration of technology and the ISTE NETS standards in all curriculum areas.
3. Collaborate with faculty, technology staff, and students to evaluate and select appropriate digital
   tools.
4. Assist teachers with integrating school iPads into the curriculum.
5. Provide individualized and group professional development for teachers and administrators.
6. Actively seek out opportunities for professional growth. Online personal learning networks
   encouraged. Sharing of experiences and educational resources via blogging and other social
   media is encouraged and supported.
7. Promote partnerships that support the academic success, career readiness, and general well-being
   of all children.
8. Evaluate on an ongoing basis the effectiveness of ISTE NETS standards implementation.
9. Adhere to and communicate copyright as well as other laws and guidelines pertaining to the
   distribution and ethical use of resources.
10. Maintain professionalism in all relationships, responsibility, confidentiality, corporate loyalty, dress, speech and manners. Promote and model digital citizenship, etiquette, and responsibility.
11. Perform other duties as requested.

Job Opportunity #2 Margolin Hebrew Academy, Memphis, Tennessee

A Timeline: Tool Set – Skill Set – Mind Set

In my previous post titled Enhancement-Automating-Transforming-Informating, I described the fusion (in my mind) of the SAMR model with Alan November’s concept of Automating vs. Informating to transform teaching and learning.

Since then, my colleague Andrea Hernandez and I have set down to create a visual using the above model to include concrete examples from our school to illustrate to our teachers what tasks are considered in the substitution/augmentation/modification/redefinition stages. We want to be transparent in showing our expectations of basic tasks being led autonomously by the classroom teachers to teach and support students without the necessity of tech support to be present. At the same time, we wanted to emphasize the progression and show what transformational teaching and learning looks like.

As we were populating the chart, it became clear to me that the stages were part of a time line, a process that an individual and an entire school cultures had to go through in order to transform and leap from “preparing students for 1970s, 1980′s 1990′s to preparing them for 2020′s and beyond” (Heidi Hayes Jacobs). Once I saw the imaginary time line, I also felt that that the stages coincided with how (21st century) teaching and learning was seen. We used to see it as a:

Tools Set:

• we taught keyboarding classes
• we had classes that taught a specific version of a office program (Word, Excel, PowerPoint)
• we emphasized file management
• we supported teachers when they did not know which button to click for printing
• we gave instructions, such as “click in the upper left corner for the drop down menu and save”, we gave new instructions when the software package, platform or version changed
• we gave tech support to upload, download and resize images

Then we started to understand that it was never about the tools, but about the skills teachers and students would acquire when using these tools.

Skill Set:

• we blog to teach and learn about writing, communication, networking, presentation, publishing, commenting, reflection, organization and collaboration skills. Blogging is about Digital Citizenship, Media Literacy, Information Literacy and Global Awareness.
• we use wikis to understand about copyright, evaluation and analysis of Information, collective knowledge and new writing genres.
• we skype in order to expose and connect teachers and students locally and globally to peers, experts, eye witnesses. We become more fluent in networking and and information literacies, speaking, listening and presentation skills are honed.
• we teach bookmarking skills to help teachers and students cope with the exponentially increasing information available. Finding, evaluating, analyzing, tagging, categorizing, organizing, connecting and remixing of information are just some of the skills necessary for that
• we podcast (audio and video)  to allow students to express themselves and their knowledge in more than the written form. We incorporate storytelling in order to give students multimedia skills as well as expose them to visual literacy and information literacy.

Now, it seems that teaching and learning will not necessarily move from the “enhancement” to the “transformation” stage with a tool set and the necessary skills alone. In order for teaching and learning to become transformative there also needs to be a

Mind Set:

• Our world has flattened and is interconnected
• Information is just going to continue to grow exponentially
• Students of today and tomorrow learn differently than we did
• We are life long learners
• We are self-directed learners
• “How we connect with each other is how learning occurs” (Stephen Wilmarth)
• “The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read or write, but the ones who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn” (Alvin Toffler)
• “Collaboration and sharing knowledge are highly prized skills” (Alan November)

Take a look at the following graphic and keep a time line in mind, as well as the stages mentioned above to move from substitution to redefinition. Does this make sense to you? What would you add?