Teaching Chat

From Engagement to Empowerment: How 21st Century Tools Put Students in Charge of Their Learning

Darren Kuropatwa, veteran educator and founder of the K-12 Online Conference, joined us for this chat about the ways 21st century technology tools, such as "scribe blogs," can shift the focus and responsibility for learning onto students.

From Engagement to Empowerment: How 21st Century Tools Put Students in Charge of Their Learning

Sponsored by:

Wednesday, Jan. 26, 2 p.m. Eastern time
Click here for more information about this chat.

Note: No special equipment other than Internet access is needed to participate in any of our text-based chats.

From Engagement to Empowerment: How 21st Century Tools Put Students in Charge of Their Lea(01/25/2011)

Close

3:49
edweekcraig:
Good afternoon folks. We are opening the chat today earlier than usual to give you a greater opportunity to submit questions.

Tuesday January 25, 2011 3:49 edweekcraig

3:51
edweekcraig:
Submit questions now, and then join us tomorrow at 2pm eastern for a discussion with Darren Kuropatwa, founder of the K-12 Online Conference http://k12onlineconference.org.

Tuesday January 25, 2011 3:51 edweekcraig

3:53
edweekcraig:
Here also is some reading material related to our chat.
How Do You Define 21st-Century Learning?
http://www.edweek.org/tsb/articles/2010/10/12/01panel.h04.html

Tuesday January 25, 2011 3:53 edweekcraig

3:54
edweekcraig:
Cheers. Speak with you all tomorrow.

Tuesday January 25, 2011 3:54 edweekcraig

9:03
edweekcraig:
Thanks for all of the questions so far. Keep them coming. We’ll begin today at 2pm sharp.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 9:03 edweekcraig

1:54
edweekcraig:
Good afternoon folks. We’ll be getting underway in about 5 mins. Cheers.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 1:54 edweekcraig

1:56

dkuropatwa:
I see we’ve got about 5 min before we start. I thought I might drop this 5 min vid of a talk I gave a while back. It’ll give you a sense of my perspective on things ...

Wednesday January 26, 2011 1:56 dkuropatwa

2:02
LianaHeitin:
Hello everyone and thanks for joining us. These days, there’s so much classroom-friendly technology available that many teachers have a tough time figuring out what to implement first. Our guest today, Darren Kuropatwa, veteran educator and founder of the K-12 Online Conference, will answer questions about how to use student-centered tech tools effectively. He’ll explain how 21st century technology can shift the responsibility for learning off of the teacher, and onto the learners.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:02 LianaHeitin

2:02
LianaHeitin:
Darren, would you mind telling us a little more about yourself?

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:02 LianaHeitin

2:02
dkuropatwa:
SUre, thanks Liana!

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:02 dkuropatwa

2:02
dkuropatwa:
I’ve been teaching for about 20 years now. My first love is math although I also have a degree in philosophy. While I’ve always had an interest in using technology in my teaching it was near the end of 2004 that I discovered what’s come to be called Web 2.0; specifically blogging in education. I learned more about teaching and learning in my 1st 10 months blogging than I had in my entire life up to that point. I started blogging with my math classes in 2005 and started incorporating a host of other web based tools into my daily practice. Some folks started calling me the Blogfather of Mathematics. ;-) Anyway, it wasn’t long after that I had a Skype conversation with Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach and Will Richardson from which K12 Online was born a few months later. Will quickly became preoccupied with other demands in his life, Wes Fryer joined the team, then Lani Ritter-Hall. I’ve stepped aside from my role as convener and the team has evolved since to include many brilliant educators who step up each year to make a beautiful thing. If you’ve never visited http://k12onlineconference.org or http://k12online.ning.com I think you’ll find it well worth the visit. ;-)

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:02 dkuropatwa

2:04
LianaHeitin:
Great, Darren. Thanks so much. Let’s dive in. Here’s a question from a science teacher.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:04 LianaHeitin

2:04
[Comment From GuestGuest: ]
Can you give me good technology learning tools for low level science high school kids?

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:04 Guest

2:04
dkuropatwa:
I don’t think I’d choose different “tools” per se with low achieving students over high achieving students.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:04 dkuropatwa

2:04
dkuropatwa:
The specific teaching tools I’d use are more dependent on the material I want my students to learn.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:04 dkuropatwa

2:05
dkuropatwa:
With that said, it’s hard for me to suggest a specific “tool” to you without knowing the specific content you plan to teach in a given lesson.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:05 dkuropatwa

2:05
dkuropatwa:
My choices about technology, while they may be influenced by the interests of the students in the class tend to follow on what I’m teaching.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:05 dkuropatwa

2:05
dkuropatwa:
i.e. I try to design learning experiences for my students where the technology serves the pedagogy and content I’m teaching rather than the other way around.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:05 dkuropatwa

2:05
dkuropatwa:
Mind you, if what you’re looking for are ways to motivate struggling learners, you might want to look at starting off your science class with one of the videos from http://symphonyofscience.com My favourite is “We Are All Connected”.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:05 dkuropatwa

2:07
LianaHeitin:
Excellent. Here’s a timely question, considering the state of the economy.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:07 LianaHeitin

2:07
[Comment From ChrisChris: ]
How can cash strapped districts get access to professional development and equipment to empower students?

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:07 Chris

2:07
dkuropatwa:
There’s a lot you can do with a computer and an internet connection.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:07 dkuropatwa

2:07
dkuropatwa:
If you’re having trouble getting computers for your students to use you might want to look at a presentation from the 2006 K12 Online Conference:

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:07 dkuropatwa

2:08
dkuropatwa:
Trash to Treasures: Creating Your Own Computer Lab http://k12onlineconference.org/?p=71

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:08 dkuropatwa

2:08
dkuropatwa:
PD is free online.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:08 dkuropatwa

2:08
dkuropatwa:
Like this chat or on twitter(you can get connected here: http://twitter4teachers.pbworks.com/ )

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:08 dkuropatwa

2:08
dkuropatwa:
and you might want to check out the K12 Online Conference http://k12onlineconference.com ;-)

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:08 dkuropatwa

2:09
LianaHeitin:
Here’s one concerning online spaces.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:09 LianaHeitin

2:09
[Comment From Mark GillinghamMark Gillingham: ]
Is there a perfect online environment for discussion of a text (or other finite idea)?

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:09 Mark Gillingham

2:09
dkuropatwa:
No.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:09 dkuropatwa

2:09
dkuropatwa:
I think these sort of decisions (what tool is best for a generic teaching/learning activity) have to flow from your instructional goals.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:09 dkuropatwa

2:10
dkuropatwa:
And there’s likely not to be any one best tool; you’ll have to be creative and hack the tools a bit;

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:10 dkuropatwa

2:10
dkuropatwa:
teachers tend not to suffer from functional fixity:

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:10 dkuropatwa

2:10
dkuropatwa:
Look at all the ways people have begun to use Google Docs or VoiceThread, or Glogster or DIIGO in Education.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:10 dkuropatwa

2:10
dkuropatwa:
With that said you might want to use Google Docs to collaboratively share and annotate text.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:10 dkuropatwa

2:11
dkuropatwa:
Or publish a piece of student writing in a Google Doc;

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:11 dkuropatwa

2:11
dkuropatwa:
once it’s a web page you can use DIIGO’s highlighting and commenting tools to

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:11 dkuropatwa

2:11
dkuropatwa:
digitally mark up the page and have conversations with your class or other invited guests from far away.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:11 dkuropatwa

2:12
edweekcraig:
here’s a link to the DIIGO site: http://www.diigo.com/

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:12 edweekcraig

2:13
dkuropatwa:
Thanks Craig. ;-)

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:13 dkuropatwa

2:13
LianaHeitin:
Great stuff. I know a lot of teachers are using Google Docs these days for collaborative writing projects. But DIIGO could be new for many of them. Here’s one about elearning.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:13 LianaHeitin

2:13
[Comment From Dave KellerDave Keller: ]
With all of the history content I teach on-line - why do students need to come to class? They come to class for answers to questions they might have; so that their individual thinking and logic can be challenged; to learn with their peers. How have these three goals been supported in a manageable way by teachers using technology?

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:13 Dave Keller

2:13
dkuropatwa:
I think you’ve really hit the nail on the head here!

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:13 dkuropatwa

2:14
dkuropatwa:
Nothing can replace the interaction between student and teacher in the learning process.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:14 dkuropatwa

2:14
dkuropatwa:
But in order for us to help our students grow their understanding of the content we teach we have to be able to “see” their thinking in some way.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:14 dkuropatwa

2:14
dkuropatwa:
Technology, like blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other affordances, enable us to do just that because

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:14 dkuropatwa

2:15
dkuropatwa:
all voices speak at the same volume online and

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:15 dkuropatwa

2:15
dkuropatwa:
often kids who might not say anything in class have a lot to say when they say it online in a blog post.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:15 dkuropatwa

2:15
dkuropatwa:
A big part of how I see technology helping students learn is by making their thinking transparent;

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:15 dkuropatwa

2:15
dkuropatwa:
to me and perhaps even more importantly to each other.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:15 dkuropatwa

2:15
dkuropatwa:
I think it’s also important for student to see how their teachers think and things like,

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:15 dkuropatwa

2:16
dkuropatwa:
blogs allow teachers to make their thinking transparent to their students to …

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:16 dkuropatwa

2:16
dkuropatwa:
modeling is really important. ;-)

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:16 dkuropatwa

2:16
LianaHeitin:
While we’re on this topic, can you tell us about your “scribe blogs?”

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:16 LianaHeitin

2:17
dkuropatwa:
Sure.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:17 dkuropatwa

2:17
dkuropatwa:
The assignment is simple.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:17 dkuropatwa

2:17
dkuropatwa:
Each day a different student is responsible to summarize what they learned in class that day ...

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:17 dkuropatwa

2:18
dkuropatwa:
well enough so that any student who missed class because they were sick or for any other reason can keep up.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:18 dkuropatwa

2:18
dkuropatwa:
They end their scribe posts by randomly choosing another students from the class

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:18 dkuropatwa

2:18
dkuropatwa:
who continues the process the next day.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:18 dkuropatwa

2:19
dkuropatwa:
Over time, these scribe posts grow into a student textbook authoured by students for students.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:19 dkuropatwa

2:19
dkuropatwa:
My responsibility is

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:19 dkuropatwa

2:20
dkuropatwa:
to keep track of whose has already had a turn and once we’ve gone through the whole class we

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:20 dkuropatwa

2:20
dkuropatwa:
start over again and keep cycling through until the end of the course.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:20 dkuropatwa

2:20
dkuropatwa:
I teach in a semestered system so

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:20 dkuropatwa

2:21
dkuropatwa:
this means that each student, in a class of about 25-30, will write 3 scribe posts. Some of them will write 4.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:21 dkuropatwa

2:21
dkuropatwa:
Does that make sense?

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:21 dkuropatwa

2:22
LianaHeitin:
It does. The best way to learn something is to teach it. And you ask your students to teach each other through the blog.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:22 LianaHeitin

2:22
dkuropatwa:
You said it: “The best way to learn something is to teach it.”

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:22 dkuropatwa

2:23
dkuropatwa:
I have found in my own teaching it to be true that I

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:23 dkuropatwa

2:23
dkuropatwa:
have learned things most deeply when I have had to teach them. I figure my students deserve the same sort of powerful learning themselves. ;-)

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:23 dkuropatwa

2:23
LianaHeitin:
Here’s a question about buy-in.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:23 LianaHeitin

2:24
[Comment From PatPat: ]
What would you suggest to convince those teachers intimidated by technology that these tools benefit student learning?

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:24 Pat

2:24
dkuropatwa:
Well, I think we can all agree that when students arrive in our classrooms they are not blank slates ...

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:24 dkuropatwa

2:25
dkuropatwa:
they have certain beliefs and understandings about the way the world works.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:25 dkuropatwa

2:25
dkuropatwa:
When we teach something that is new to a particular students we have to begin with what that student brings to the table.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:25 dkuropatwa

2:26
dkuropatwa:
SOme of the basic skills students are bringing to the table stretch beyond paper and pencil. For example:

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:26 dkuropatwa

2:26
dkuropatwa:
my 2 year old daughter loves to play with my iPod Touch.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:26 dkuropatwa

2:26
dkuropatwa:
SHe knows how to navigate screens

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:26 dkuropatwa

2:26
dkuropatwa:
select the app she wants to play with

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:26 dkuropatwa

2:27
dkuropatwa:
and interact with the app, her favourite is DoodleBuddy, a drawing app.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:27 dkuropatwa

2:27
dkuropatwa:
So, she picks up this hand held device, plays her games, and sometime uses it to talk to grandma on skype.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:27 dkuropatwa

2:28
dkuropatwa:
I look at her and wonder about the assumptions she’ll make when she gets to school about how she’s supposed to be able to interact with computers.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:28 dkuropatwa

2:28
dkuropatwa:
She certainly doesn;t think in terms of mice and keyboards.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:28 dkuropatwa

2:28
dkuropatwa:
Neither did we many years ago

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:28 dkuropatwa

2:28
dkuropatwa:
but we do now.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:28 dkuropatwa

2:29
dkuropatwa:
Isn’t the same true of all our students in all our classes?

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:29 dkuropatwa

2:29
dkuropatwa:
Don;t we owe it them to offer them access to the affordances of their day to communicate their understandings of the world in a way that resonates with them?

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:29 dkuropatwa

2:30
dkuropatwa:
And if that means we needs to learn new stuff, well, should we be their best models of life long learners while we’re teaching them?

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:30 dkuropatwa

2:30
dkuropatwa:
What do you think?

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:30 dkuropatwa

2:30
LianaHeitin:
That’s powerful stuff. I think it’s a good perspective to offer hesitant teachers.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:30 LianaHeitin

2:31
LianaHeitin:
Here’s a question about ownership.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:31 LianaHeitin

2:31
[Comment From BKnollmanBKnollman: ]
What tools and techniques work best for transferring “ownership” of learning to students at the secondary level -- when not all have immediate access (or at best uneven access to) computer workstations?

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:31 BKnollman

2:32
dkuropatwa:
In my work I’ve tried to take a Distributed approach to this problem ...

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:32 dkuropatwa

2:32
dkuropatwa:
each day only one student has to write the scribe post.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:32 dkuropatwa

2:33
dkuropatwa:
Each semester I’ve had between 1-3 students who do not have access to computers at home.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:33 dkuropatwa

2:33
dkuropatwa:
I’ve let them use my classroom computer at breaks, before or after school, or even

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:33 dkuropatwa

2:33
dkuropatwa:
if they have a spare and I’m teaching they can come in and use my computer while I’m teaching.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:33 dkuropatwa

2:34
dkuropatwa:
Occasionally, I have asked all students in the class to make contributions to the blog, such as

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:34 dkuropatwa

2:34
dkuropatwa:
before each unit test they post their “personal muddiest point’ as a reflection in a blog post (it’s worth 1 mark on the test)

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:34 dkuropatwa

2:35
dkuropatwa:
but I give them several days heads up before a test and they can easily all get to a computer in school to post their reflection well before the test.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:35 dkuropatwa

2:35
dkuropatwa:
I use those reflections to direct my teaching in class during the days leading up to the test so that the student who write them

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:35 dkuropatwa

2:36
dkuropatwa:
get much more than one mark because, hopefully, I’ve cleared up a number of other misunderstanding they’ve had.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:36 dkuropatwa

2:36
dkuropatwa:
Do you think that approach might work in your context?

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:36 dkuropatwa

2:37
LianaHeitin:
People are definitely trying to answer that--I’m getting lots of questions here about the blogs. Here’s one.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:37 LianaHeitin

2:37
[Comment From AudreyAudrey: ]
Do people have to login to post or comment in you classblog?

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:37 Audrey

2:37
dkuropatwa:
No.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:37 dkuropatwa

2:38
[Comment From ShirleyShirley: ]
Are students able to “correct” or add to the post, like in a wiki? Not all students are good writers, right. There memory of the learning for the day may be very weak.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:38 Shirley

2:38
dkuropatwa:
My blogs are open to anyone who cares to leave a comment. I get copies of them in my eamil account

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:38 dkuropatwa

2:38
dkuropatwa:
and can moderate if need be.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:38 dkuropatwa

2:39
dkuropatwa:
Yes. Students can edit their own work but not that of others. (Like you said that would be a wiki assignment, which we can talk about too if you like. ;-))

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:39 dkuropatwa

2:39
dkuropatwa:
I remember one time .

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:39 dkuropatwa

2:39
dkuropatwa:
a student wrote a scribe post, we discuss each scribe post at teh beginning of each class where I

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:39 dkuropatwa

2:39
dkuropatwa:
comment using a “star and a wish” (I like this, wish you had done more of that)

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:39 dkuropatwa

2:40
dkuropatwa:
Anyway, I wne back the this particular scribe post while I was sharing it with other teachers in a workshop one day ..

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:40 dkuropatwa

2:40
dkuropatwa:
and it wasn;t there ..

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:40 dkuropatwa

2:40
dkuropatwa:
well, it was, but it was different

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:40 dkuropatwa

2:40
dkuropatwa:
the student had taken all my comments to heart and had really ramped up his work.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:40 dkuropatwa

2:41
dkuropatwa:
what was particularly gratifying for me was the fact that

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:41 dkuropatwa

2:41
dkuropatwa:
English wasn;t his first language. ;-)

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:41 dkuropatwa

2:41
LianaHeitin:
So you use the blogs as a “Do Now” or intro class activity?

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:41 LianaHeitin

2:41
dkuropatwa:
I was exceedingly proud of what he had done. I told him so. ;-)

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:41 dkuropatwa

2:42
dkuropatwa:
No, I don’t use blogs as a “do now”

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:42 dkuropatwa

2:42
dkuropatwa:
I think, from the way I think of blogs:

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:42 dkuropatwa

2:43
dkuropatwa:
as reflective tools, tools to reveal students thoughts --

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:43 dkuropatwa

2:43
dkuropatwa:
that wouldn’t give students the time they need for us all to learn for them sharing their thinking. I didn’t much like Gladwell’s book Blink although

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:43 dkuropatwa

2:43
dkuropatwa:
I loved The Tipping Point. ;-)

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:43 dkuropatwa

2:44
LianaHeitin:
More questions on the blog:

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:44 LianaHeitin

2:44
[Comment From CherylCheryl: ]
where do i find a good site for setting up a blog such as yours?

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:44 Cheryl

2:44
dkuropatwa:
HI Cheryl! Well, I use blogger ...

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:44 dkuropatwa

2:44

Have you ever had your class/students do any blogging?
Yes
( 47% )

No
( 16% )

No, But I Will Now!
( 37% )

Not Interested
( 0% )

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:44

2:45
dkuropatwa:
I think it’s important to use a tool that will be easy for your students to use because

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:45 dkuropatwa

2:45
dkuropatwa:
that’s where the juice is ... in the students ideas and writings.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:45 dkuropatwa

2:45
dkuropatwa:
One i haven;t used but have heard great things about from k-6 teachers is http://kidblogs.org

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:45 dkuropatwa

2:46
dkuropatwa:
there’s also David Warlick’s Blogmeister platform you might want to look at.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:46 dkuropatwa

2:47
LianaHeitin:
And from Shirley.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:47 LianaHeitin

2:47
[Comment From ShirleyShirley: ]
Sure, how do you use wiki?

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:47 Shirley

2:48
edweekcraig:
here’s a link to the Blogmeister platform: http://classblogmeister.com/index.php

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:48 edweekcraig

2:48
dkuropatwa:
HI Shirley! Here’s one of my class wikis: http://apcalc2008.pbworks.com

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:48 dkuropatwa

2:48
dkuropatwa:
I use it to build on the way wikis are designed to work. That is:

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:48 dkuropatwa

2:48
dkuropatwa:
a wiki does exactly 2 things:

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:48 dkuropatwa

2:49
dkuropatwa:
Thing 1: you can make an original content contribution. Put something on a blank page

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:49 dkuropatwa

2:49
dkuropatwa:
click save.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:49 dkuropatwa

2:49
dkuropatwa:
Next, someone else comes along, looks at your stuff, and makes it better.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:49 dkuropatwa

2:50
dkuropatwa:
That built wikipedia.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:50 dkuropatwa

2:50
dkuropatwa:
So, the assignment, 2 weeks before the final exam, is

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:50 dkuropatwa

2:50
dkuropatwa:
I seed the wiki with a number of exam level problems (usually 1 or 2 more than the number of students in the class). 1 per page.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:50 dkuropatwa

2:51
dkuropatwa:
Each student has one week to pick a problem, solve it completely, and “annotate their solution well enough for an interested learner to learn from them.”

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:51 dkuropatwa

2:51
dkuropatwa:
(They typically each pick the easiest problem they think they can solve.)

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:51 dkuropatwa

2:51
dkuropatwa:
Week two is the real work.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:51 dkuropatwa

2:52
dkuropatwa:
Each student returns to the wiki and reads through all the problems and solutions looking for errors.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:52 dkuropatwa

2:52
dkuropatwa:
Then, they must edit someone else’s work, not their own, and make it better.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:52 dkuropatwa

2:52
dkuropatwa:
I’m open to them making it better in a number of different ways.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:52 dkuropatwa

2:53
dkuropatwa:
This is all described on the front page of the link I had dropped into the chat just above. ;-)

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:53 dkuropatwa

2:53
dkuropatwa:
Does that make sense?

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:53 dkuropatwa

2:53
LianaHeitin:
Lots of people are telling me it does. :)

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:53 LianaHeitin

2:54
LianaHeitin:
Here’s one about red tape.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:54 LianaHeitin

2:54
[Comment From MeredithMeredith: ]
Have you met resistance when using online tools from your administration?

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:54 Meredith

2:54
dkuropatwa:
BTW, with all these questions about my class blogs, I though some of you might like to look at this 12 min slidecast where I talk about this stuff:

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:54 dkuropatwa

2:54

dkuropatwa:
I’ve Got 5 Minutes
View more webinars from Darren Kuropatwa.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:54 dkuropatwa

2:54
dkuropatwa:
You might want to come back after the chat is over to llok at that. ;-)

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:54 dkuropatwa

2:55
dkuropatwa:
HI Meredith! Not really.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:55 dkuropatwa

2:55
dkuropatwa:
when I started

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:55 dkuropatwa

2:55
dkuropatwa:
no one was really doing any of this stuff so they really didn;t understand what was happening.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:55 dkuropatwa

2:55
dkuropatwa:
All they knew was that my kids were learning and lovin it!

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:55 dkuropatwa

2:56
dkuropatwa:
By the time “word got out” the feedback was so overwhelmingly positive from students and parents that it really wasn’t something they wanted to shut down.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:56 dkuropatwa

2:56
dkuropatwa:
They wanted to encourage other teachers to follow suit. (Which was sometime awkward and sometime a good thing. ;-))

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:56 dkuropatwa

2:56
LianaHeitin:
A couple of people here are asking about blocked sites.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:56 LianaHeitin

2:57
[Comment From GuestGuest: ]
How do districts get around the frustrations of constantly running into blocked sites?

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:57 Guest

2:57
dkuropatwa:
Well, to be flip, ask one of your students. ;-)

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:57 dkuropatwa

2:57
dkuropatwa:
But I can tell you waht we’ve done in my district.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:57 dkuropatwa

2:57
LianaHeitin:
:)

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:57 LianaHeitin

2:57
dkuropatwa:
We have two proxy servers. One for everyone and one only the teachers can access.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:57 dkuropatwa

2:58

Would you like to see more chats on edweek.org with guests & topics like todays?
Yes
( 100% )

No
( 0% )

Don’t Have Time
( 0% )

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:58

2:58
dkuropatwa:
The teachers server has very little stuff blocked.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:58 dkuropatwa

2:58
dkuropatwa:
And only we can access it. Do you think that might work in your district?

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:58 dkuropatwa

2:59
LianaHeitin:
Hopefully!

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:59 LianaHeitin

2:59
[Comment From KarenKaren: ]
I am a teacher educator and am interested in learning how to utilize smart phones in methods courses where I teach pre- service teachers... any ideas and/or advice?

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:59 Karen

2:59
dkuropatwa:
Lots of ‘em!

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:59 dkuropatwa

2:59
LianaHeitin:
(Several people asking about smartphone use in the classroom.)

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:59 LianaHeitin

2:59
dkuropatwa:
Start by learning from Howard rheingold about Radars Filters and Dashboards.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 2:59 dkuropatwa

3:00
dkuropatwa:
I’ll get the vid link in a sec.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 3:00 dkuropatwa

3:00
dkuropatwa:
then set up a dashboard for yourself around the topic of Moblie Learning.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 3:00 dkuropatwa

3:01
dkuropatwa:
I’ve done a number of presentations on that topic. A particularly popular one focused on how teachers could set up a system to weave mobile technology into project based learning. BRB w the link. ;-)

Wednesday January 26, 2011 3:01 dkuropatwa

3:02
LianaHeitin:
Thank you Darren! We’re a few minutes over but that’s OK.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 3:02 LianaHeitin

3:02
dkuropatwa:
Here’s one of my Mbile Learning SLide Decks:

Wednesday January 26, 2011 3:02 dkuropatwa

3:02

dkuropatwa:

Ya Mean It’s A Phone TOO!?! (mobile learning v4)
View more presentations from Darren Kuropatwa.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 3:02 dkuropatwa

3:02
LianaHeitin:
In the meantime, here’s a link to Darren’s blog: http://adifference.blogspot.com

Wednesday January 26, 2011 3:02 LianaHeitin

3:03
LianaHeitin:
Lots of great resources on there.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 3:03 LianaHeitin

3:04
LianaHeitin:
Darren, I want to give you a minute to talk about the K-12 Online Learning Conference as well. Can you explain briefly what it does and how it came about?

Wednesday January 26, 2011 3:04 LianaHeitin

3:04
dkuropatwa:
Here’s the link to my blog post about Howard Rheingold’s approach to Infotention: http://adifference.blogspot.com/2010/02/infotention-or-scraping-cream-off-top.html

Wednesday January 26, 2011 3:04 dkuropatwa

3:05
dkuropatwa:
I touched on how the K12 Online Conference came about in my intro but basically, it’s a conference by teachers for teachers from all over the world.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 3:05 dkuropatwa

3:06
dkuropatwa:
Teachers share how they are eefectively useing technology to support learning in their classrooms, how to use various sorts of online tools, and addresses issues around educational leadership as well.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 3:06 dkuropatwa

3:06
dkuropatwa:
I stepped down a couple of years back as a convener.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 3:06 dkuropatwa

3:07
LianaHeitin:
Free PD by and for teachers. Hard to pass up. :) http://k12onlineconference.org/

Wednesday January 26, 2011 3:07 LianaHeitin

3:07
dkuropatwa:
This year I was invited back as a keynote speaker for the Kicking It Up A Notch strand of the conf where teacher share how theyre trying to take things to then next level in thir teaching.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 3:07 dkuropatwa

3:07
dkuropatwa:
I can dop a link to my video presentation here if you like?

Wednesday January 26, 2011 3:07 dkuropatwa

3:08
LianaHeitin:
I got it. http://www.youtube.com/user/dtkuropatwa

Wednesday January 26, 2011 3:08 LianaHeitin

3:08
dkuropatwa:
Higher quality video her
e: ;-)

Wednesday January 26, 2011 3:08 dkuropatwa

3:09
dkuropatwa:
Thanks Liana!

Wednesday January 26, 2011 3:09 dkuropatwa

3:09
LianaHeitin:
Perfect. Unfortunately, folks, we’re out of time. Thanks to everyone for attending and asking such great questions. And a special thanks to Darren for spending this time with us and providing our audience with such important (and fun) classroom resources.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 3:09 LianaHeitin

3:09

edweekcraig:
A huge virtual round of applause to you both for an excellent chat. Tons of resources and lots of great information. I will have a transcript posted by COB today.

And thanks to you out there for taking part. We got some terrific questions. We could not do it without you.

Cheers all.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 3:09 edweekcraig

3:10
dkuropatwa:
Thanks folks! Esp Liana and Craig! ;-)

Wednesday January 26, 2011 3:10 dkuropatwa

3:10
dkuropatwa:
Cheers!

Wednesday January 26, 2011 3:10 dkuropatwa

3:10
edweekcraig:
Toodleoo everyone.

Wednesday January 26, 2011 3:10 edweekcraig

3:13


From Engagement to Empowerment: How 21st Century Tools Put Students in Charge of Their Learning

Wednesday, Jan. 26, 2 p.m. Eastern time

Sponsored by:

Chat With Darren Kuropatwa
More than just spurring interest, 21st century technology can actually shift the focus and the responsibility for learning from the teacher onto the learners. However, many teachers struggle with finding the most effective ways to leverage these new technologies. In this live chat, Darren Kuropatwa, veteran educator and founder of the K-12 Online Conference, will answer questions about how to use “scribe blogs” and other student-centered tech tools to empower students and enhance the day-to-day classroom experience.

Guests:
Darren Kuropatwa, veteran educator and founder of the K-12 Online Conference.
Liana Heitin, Associate Editor, Education Week Teacher, will moderate this chat.

Related Story:

Related Tags:
Student Motivation & Engagement Instruction