Online Tools for Independent Studies

Eric CalvertLearning|Connective

OAGC Teacher AcademyMarch, 2010

Expand curricular offerings Differentiate curriculum Develop learner autonomy, positive habits

of mind Accelerate and/or enrich learning

Why Use Independent Study?

Gifted students prefer self-generated projects to teacher-assigned projects (Feldhusen, Moon & Dillon)

Independent study has greatest effect when combined with curriculum compacting/acceleration (Rogers)

High cognitive ability, content knowledge does not guarantee success in independent study. Self-directed learning is a learned skill.

Independent Study and Gifted Students

Quality of curriculum Maintaining student motivation Time management (student AND teacher) Providing guidance and formative feedback Evaluation and grading

Challenges

Leverage student content interests Provide choice in learning modality Clear expectations Social elements Scaffolds for planning, time

management (especially for students new to independent study)

Ongoing support and feedback (“independent” ≠ “alone”)

Keys to Success

What often works with gifted students:

What often does NOT work:

Independent investigations into student-generated research questions

Project-based learning related to developing solutions to real-world problems

Creative projects leading to publication, performance, or exhibition for “authentic” audiences

Structured mentorship/internship experiences with outside experts

For some, PBL with an element of friendly competition

Independent studies of highly prescribed content and activities (unless short and flexibly paced)

Using independent study for remediation w/o expert support

Using independent study as a punishment (social isolation strategy)

Using independent study rather than addressing problems in traditional learning environment (e.g. bullying, negative peer pressure, etc.)

Intro to Online Tools

In what ways are traditional texts and library books inherently limited?

A Question:

“What we know” is not limited to “what’s in our brains”

Being a 21st century thinker means being able to combine internal and external cognitive resources

Students should own learning resources◦ Keep◦ Customize◦ Carry

Key Thoughts

Curriculum

Repositories

Curriculum

Repositories Teac

hers

Teac

hers

Audiences

Audiences

CompetitorsCompetitors

Research Tools

Research ToolsReflection Tools

Reflection Tools

Collaborators

Collaborators

Planning

ToolsPlanning

Tools

Personal Learning Network

Personal Le

arning Environment

Portfolio

Portfolio M

entors

MentorsAuth

orin

g

ToolsAuth

orin

g

Tools

Communication Tools

Wikis Online Curriculum Repositories (OCRs) Blogs

Online Tools

What’s a Wiki?◦From “Wiki wiki”◦Community web publishing tool◦All editing in standard web browser

Public examples:◦Wikipedia.org◦Onlineedops.pbworks.com◦Tech4OAGC

Wikis

How are wikis useful?◦Organize information (syllabi, learning

contracts, etc.)◦Collaborative content development◦Embed other resources (documents, videos,

etc.)◦Automatically logs activity, tracks changes◦Access controlled environment◦May be used as a learning portfolio platform

90% of features of a LMS, but easier to set up and use

Examples: PBWorks, Wikispaces

Wikis

What is a curriculum repository?◦Online collection of lesson plans, readings,

recordings, videos, simulations, and educational games.

How does it help?◦Provides large libraries of standards-based

content designed for education◦Allows teachers to provide many choices

w/o creating everything from scratch Examples: Connexions, Curriki, ORC,

Thinkfinity, iTunes U, Ohio iTunes U, MIT Open Courseware

Curriculum Repositories

What is a blog? How does it help?

◦Adds a social element to independent study◦Provides opportunity for authentic

audiences◦Supports publication of multimedia products

(writing, still images, audio, video)◦Encourages reflection◦Easy to monitor for teachers (publication

approval, RSS)◦May be used as a learning portfolio platform

Examples: Edublogs, Blogger

Blogs

Choose tools that allow customizable access controls

Consider controlling access to blogs by younger or less Web savvy students Limit to teachers, peers, mentors

Expand access as students learn/mature to expand access to real world communities

Provide and encourage lots of feedback Save time by “subscribing” to RSS feeds.

Let the content come to you.

Blogs

Experiment/play with online tools yourself Introduce one or a few tools at a time Talk with students about safety, school policy,

and ethical uses of others’ content Be sensitive to technology availability outside

of school Give preference to free and open source tools

that let students keep their content Be an advocate for student technology access Be open to learning from students

Final Tips