Tag – You’re It
November 21st, 2008Description
My lesson was to teach educators to manage and recall Internet resources through the use of Delicious, the online social bookmarking tool. I created a Google site and Jing based Flash tutorials to extend and supplement face to face instruction. The site address is: http://sites.google.com/site/deliciousineducation/
Narrative
I taught a one hour Delicious workshop to a group of four Calhoun ISD social worker consultants at a Battle Creek Middle School. One of the consultants attended a Delicious workshop I did earlier and requested a similar workshop for her colleagues. I start with a discussion of the two most significant reasons for learning to use Delicious: to be able to save sites via the Internet for the ability to call them up from any computer; and the value of using tags to identify and easily retrieve saved Internet resources. The learners in this workshop were happy about what they learned and their evaluations were very positive. I’d say the lesson went well.
Reflection
What is being learned? What were the underlying assumptions? The social workers learned to use http://delicious.com to save and return to websites using identifying words called tags. They learn about the social aspect of social bookmarking. There is an explicit underlying assumption that the learners had the knowledge to use a computer and mouse to open a web browser and type in a web address. There was an implicit assumption that the learners wanted to use this tool. There is also an implicit assumption that the learners needed to recall Internet resources while away from their computer.
What are the affordances for how knowledge/information is being represented? Information was communicated and represented using Google Sites and Flash based tutorials provide by the Jing Project. These different learning options supported different learning styles. The constraint was the need for a computer to install the Delicious buttons, and rights to install this software. Headphones were helpful as was a computer with the needed plug-ins installed.
How does learning take place? What elements of constructivism/behaviorism did you observe? Following guided hands-on instruction, the consultants had time to practice what they learn. This was a constructivist based activity. They constructed their own understanding as they decide on their own set of tags to use when they saved a website. They also gained a deeper understanding as they learned about the social aspect of the Delicious community. The behaviorism aspect of this workshop was the reinforcement of saving, tagging, and recalling what they saved. The success reinforced the behavior. This was learning will be doing, which is very constructivist.
Was your lesson intended to supplement or supplant existing curriculum? This workshop was a supplement to the technology skills for the social worker consultants. It was designed to help them learn something new; something they wanted to learn and felt was worth their time in learning. This type of skill is part of the national technology standards for teachers (ISTE NETS) under the Model Digital-Age Work and Learning standard. This standard includes: demonstrate fluency in technology systems, collaborate with other using digital tools, communicate information and ideas, and model technology use of digital tools to locate, and use information resources.How are important differences among learners taken into account? Almost every learning style was addressed in this lesson. Some students learn best by reading step by step instructions. These were provided. Some learn best by watching tutorials and then trying it themselves. Flash based tutorials were also provided. Some students learn best by seeing an overview of the entire program, then trying it themselves. Links to overview vodcasts was provided. Some learn best by doing, and we did the work. One of the consultants was hearing impaired and the 8 minute vodcast from Salt Lake City’s Jordon School District was very useful for this learner as the volume could be adjusted.
What do teachers and learners need to know in order for your lesson to be a success? What demands are placed on teachers and other “users”? What knowledge is assumed? I needed an understanding of Delicious and how to use Google Sites and Jing. The social worker consultants needed to understand how to use a computer, surf the Internet and ideally a few websites they wanted to save to Delicious.
How did you assess what students were doing and what they were learning from this activity? How did you hold them accountable for the work they did? The consultants demonstrated their accountability when they used Delicious to tag a site onto their Delicious account and then recall that website from another consultant’s computer. They also were accountable by successfully installing the Delicious buttons onto Internet Explorer. They also demonstrated success by searching the Delicious community to locate sites others have saved.
What role does technology play in your lesson? What advantages or disadvantages does the technology hold for this role? What unique contribution does the technology make in facilitating learning? This workshop could have been taught without technology; however it would have been much less effective. This workshop was designed to be a hands-on constructivist learning activity and it was. The benefit of the video and flash based tutorials and printed handouts were they supported different learning styles. The only disadvantage of using technology would be if the technology didn’t work. In this workshop – everything worked as needed.
What did you expect your students to make of their use of technology in your lesson? How did they react when using the technologies? What questions did students have, and how did you respond to them?
The consultants used the website with the tutorials for reviewing the skills I taught them about creating and using Delicious. I expected them to be able to navigate and browse the Internet and they were successful. The consultants found value in learning about this tool. This group is often overlooked when it comes to professional development and they often have to learn technology skills on their own. They were happy to have been included and they found the workshop contents valuable and the instructional methods appropriate to their learning styles. They especially liked the website and tutorials which they could return to following the workshop for review. The only questions they seemed to have been technical such as about how to do something or if something didn’t work, and I was able to quickly answer them. My technique is to “keep my hands in my pockets” when I do any form of workshop involving technology. So often when users have a technical problem, the first thing they do when you approach is to take their hands off the keyboard or mouse so you can take over. While I’ve done this on occasion, such as when I need to quickly catch someone up to the group, I try to talk users through the process with the user “driving.”The consultants made good sense of their learning. It helped for them to understand the value of these skills right from the beginning, before we did anything on the computer. They also were able to construct their own understanding as they decide the tags to use when they saved websites to their Delicious account. They also liked learning from others in regards to the social aspect of the Delicious community.
How would you describe how students were making sense of the content with the technology?
