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TLDR 27

Too Long; Didn't Read Issue 27

Published: 2016-01-08 • 📧 Newsletter

Hi all, welcome to a new year!!! Hopefully you had some time to relax, reflect, and celebrate what's important in your worlds.

In TL;DR I'm sharing things that happened during the week in literacy, technology, & education that I think you should know. Please feel free to share with others you believe would benefit. If you like what you see here, I recommend subscribing to get it hand-delivered to your inbox.

Over the past two weeks I accomplished the following:

The final piece I shared this week was titled Work with cool people on stuff that you love. This was really an open letter to some of my colleagues as we start the new year and new initiatives. It's also a call to inspire all of you and promote innovation.

You can contact me for this...or any other request at wiobyrne@gmail.com or reach out on Twitter. To review past issues please click here.

🔖 Key Takeaways

📺 Watch

Full Ted-Ed lesson

This video comes from a Ted-Ed lesson available at the link above. I recommend subscribing to the Ted-Ed YouTube Channel. I appreciate videos like this as supplemental content for students in hybrid learning spaces.

The video and teaching materials are suitable for a secondary classroom. The science and vocabulary in the clip may require some extra scaffolding for students. For more support, check out this post from Richard Byrne.

📚 Read

A post from the Books section of the NY Times sharing collections of digitized, open source content made available by the NY Public Library. Their new Public Domain Collection series just went live, and it offers an incredible collection of resources.

The challenge with projects like this is that they sometimes come off as "data dumps" and the average person is drowned by the vast amount of images, videos, and digital content. The link above to the NY Times post...and the new portal from the NYPL hope to help you make sense of it all.

A new report from the Pew research Center. This research examines the beliefs and habits we've had about parents monitoring the social media habits of their children (age 13 - 17).

The takeaways solidify steps that we suspected/hoped parents were taking with their children in terms of online and social media. Parents are monitoring students use of online and social media. They're also (thankfully) not using tracking software to control/restrict/track their children.

The most interesting elements in my opinion were about parents discussing social norms and acceptable behaviors for online interactions with their children. I want to dig into those elements a bit more to see what and when they're sharing this guidance.

In my work I'm often asked about purchase/use of iPads/tablets and the need for keyboards. I usually advise educators to purchase Chromebooks as opposed to iPads for a variety of reasons. One of these reasons involves the questions I have about students and their ability to adequately or effectively work without a keyboard.

This post was "provided and funded by Microsoft" and hides a Surface ad in between statements about research and pedagogy.

I'm still trying to figure out the best options for students as they use computers in learning settings. I think the proper kit might include a Chromebook and a small tablet. A stylus might be helpful as well as a bluetooth mouse to help students navigate content. Having a package like this would enable learners to choose what works best for them and how they like to engage with digital content.

The overall report details seven trends in education and then provides further description and links out to give a better understanding of each.

The seven trends include:

Thanks to Stephen Downes for the link.

Fascinating essay in which Dr. Barbara Oakley, an engineering professor at Oakland University defends the use of online educational technologies. She collaborated to create a MOOC on the general art of learning. This course was identified as one of the most popular online courses available. The course is available on Coursera and had 1,192,697 students enrolled the last time it was offered by the University of California.

In the essay she maintains that the rise in MOOCs is fueled by young professionals that are interested in self-directed, life-long learning. The post is a rallying cry for online learning experiences...and a motivating force for those of us trying to build and share them.

As you read this essay, I recommend checking out this piece about the role of video lectures in online courses.

Pupil Size: A measure of trust?

Intriguing piece of research and discussion about eye contact and "pupil size" and human interactions.

The research appeared in Psychological Science and it suggests that participants trusted partners with dilating pupils and withheld trust from participants that had constricting pupils. They also suggest an element of mimicry in terms of pupil dilation when we're meeting with people that we trust, or have a bond with.

I'm fascinated by the role of eye contact, and judgments made about eye contact as we pick up visual cues from others. I'm conscious of this as I teach and establish eye contact with students. I'm also conscious of this as I have one-to-one discussions with colleagues and students. I often find my eyes wandering around as I carry on discussions and try to make points.

🔨 Do

Video creation, editing, and production can be a powerful learning activity in our classrooms at any level. Part of the challenge is that educators often don't know the first place to start. Additionally, there is the question about what makes quality video content after you have completed the work.

This series from Wistia is for small business owners, but can easily be used as a resource for the classroom. I recommend saving this and linking out from your classroom website for later use.

🤔 Consider

"If you paint a wild horse, you might not see the horse...but surely you'll see the wildness!" — Pablo Picasso

Hi all, welcome to a new year. Hopefully you had some time to relax, reflect, and celebrate what's important in your worlds. The opening greeting sets intention. Reflection matters. Celebration matters. What's important in your worlds—plural, acknowledging we inhabit multiple spaces simultaneously.

Over the past two weeks I accomplished six pieces of work. Social Scholars examining WalkMyWorld Project participants from two years ago, highlighting challenges as educators create and curate online brand. Computational Participation JAAL column published this week examining possibilities to embed "computational thinking and participation" in classroom as opposed to just focus on coding/programming. We'll hold interviews over coming weeks...so let me know if you want to be involved, or have someone I should chat with. The invitation is genuine. The collaboration is real.

A New Hope column submitted to JAAL this week. We're trying to tackle digital storytelling and transmedia narratives in literacy classroom. Please feel free to leave comments on the Google Doc we share in the post. We'll fold in your comments as we go to press. Participatory writing. Collective scholarship. Comments become part of the work.

Privacy, Identity, & Protecting Yourself (and your students) online shared on AdvocatED Medium pub. I identify possibilities to educate, empower, and advocate for others in online spaces. Slack and Trello organizing podcasting series about literacy education and research. The final piece titled Work with cool people on stuff that you love. This was really an open letter to some of my colleagues as we start the new year and new initiatives. It's also a call to inspire all of you and promote innovation. The exhortation is personal and universal.

Ted-Ed video on dinosaur color science, supplemental content for students in hybrid learning spaces. NYPL public domain collection just went live offering incredible resources. The challenge with projects like this is that they sometimes come off as "data dumps" and the average person is drowned by the vast amount of images, videos, and digital content. The portal hopes to help you make sense of it all. Curation as rescue from abundance.

Pew research on parents, teens, and digital monitoring. Parents are monitoring students use of online and social media. They're also (thankfully) not using tracking software to control/restrict/track their children. The most interesting elements in my opinion were about parents discussing social norms and acceptable behaviors for online interactions with their children. I want to dig into those elements a bit more to see what and when they're sharing this guidance. The curiosity is methodological. The interest is pedagogical.

In my work I'm often asked about purchase/use of iPads/tablets and the need for keyboards. I usually advise educators to purchase Chromebooks as opposed to iPads for a variety of reasons. This post was "provided and funded by Microsoft" and hides a Surface ad in between statements about research and pedagogy. The skepticism is warranted. I'm still trying to figure out the best options for students as they use computers in learning settings. I think the proper kit might include a Chromebook and a small tablet. A stylus might be helpful as well as a bluetooth mouse to help students navigate content. Having a package like this would enable learners to choose what works best for them and how they like to engage with digital content. Agency requires options. Options require resources.

New pedagogy emerging—seven trends including blended learning, collaborative approaches to construction of knowledge, multimedia and open ed resources, increased learner control, anywhere anytime learning, new forms of assessment, self-directed and non-formal online learning. Thanks to Stephen Downes for the link.

Barbara Oakley defending use of online educational technologies. She collaborated to create MOOC on general art of learning—one of the most popular online courses available. 1,192,697 students enrolled last time offered by University of California. In the essay she maintains that rise in MOOCs is fueled by young professionals interested in self-directed, life-long learning. The post is a rallying cry for online learning experiences...and a motivating force for those of us trying to build and share them. The scale is staggering. The motivation is personal.

Pupil size and trust research appeared in Psychological Science. Participants trusted partners with dilating pupils, withheld trust from participants with constricting pupils. They also suggest element of mimicry in terms of pupil dilation when meeting with people we trust or have bond with. I'm fascinated by the role of eye contact, and judgments made about eye contact as we pick up visual cues from others. I'm conscious of this as I teach and establish eye contact with students. I'm also conscious of this as I have one-to-one discussions with colleagues and students. I often find my eyes wandering around as I carry on discussions and try to make points. The confession is honest. The wandering is human.

Video creation, editing, and production can be powerful learning activity in our classrooms at any level. Part of the challenge is that educators often don't know the first place to start. Wistia series for small business owners can easily be used as resource for classroom. I recommend saving this and linking out from your classroom website for later use.

Picasso: If you paint a wild horse, you might not see the horse...but surely you'll see the wildness. Data dumps drowning people. Surface ads hidden in pedagogy. Eyes wandering during discussions. Chromebooks and tablets and styluses. MOOCs as rallying cry. Pupil dilation as trust indicator. All forms of wildness. The question remains: what will we build together in 2016?

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