Achieving Technical and Pedagogical Congruence through Interoperability Standards

Inferring the Technical Requirements of aCollege and Career Preparation Instructional Philosophy

College and Career Competency Types

• CCPS are expressed as contextual competencies but assume academic competence

Academic – individual competence in the formulae, procedures and factual recall within a specific discipline

Contextual – collaborative competence to infer and apply an appropriate range of interdisciplinary formulae, procedures and facts to solve problems or express and defend a position

• A high fidelity CCPS instructional approach incorporates both competencies.

• College and Career readiness require both competencies. See:Common Core and ACT College Readiness and ACT Course Standards 8-12 Alignment at : http://www.act.org/commoncore/pdf/CommonCoreAlignment.pdf

Common Core and SAT/College Board Standards 8,10-12 Alignment at:http://media.collegeboard.com/digitalServices/pdf/research/10b_2901_Comm_Core_Report_Complete_WEB_101117.pdf

• SBAC, PARCC, ACT, SAT assessment items address both competencies.

Predominant CCPS Learning Theory

A constructivist learning environment is generally accepted as an essential component of a high fidelity delivery of the College and Career Competency Standards (CCPS).

A constructivist learning environment enables student mastery and application of academic skills to solve problems and resolve issues. The student is required to assume an active learning posture to acquire and test new knowledge.

Discovery, hands-on, experiential, collaborative, project-based, interdisciplinary, research and tasked-based learning are concrete examples of the application of constructivist learning theory.

Adoption and Acceptance off a Constructivist Learning Environment

• Although the instructional approach associated with a high fidelity implementation of a CCPS/constructivist learning environment is quite different from the “behaviorist” instructional tendencies employed by many if not most K12 teachers (“direct" or "teacher-centered" lectures or drills in skills and information taken out of context and broken into small units), acceptance of constructivist pedagogical theory and methods among Florida teachers is attainable.

• In fact, behaviorist instructional methods cannot be abandoned in constructivist learning environments. They are an essential component for preparing students to engage effectively in the contextual activities that require and make practical use of academic

• Additionally, the work of constructivist theorists and advocates falls well within the spectrum of credible K12 pedagogy and professional literature. Individuals considered to be in the constructivist ranks include Seymour Papert, Robert Marzano, Charlotte Danielson, Maria Montessori, Jean Piaget, John Dewey, and Lev Vygotsky.

Adoption and Acceptance off a Constructivist Learning Environment

• Most teachers will have encountered the work of these and other individuals that embrace a constructivist learning approach through College of Education methods classes and reading assignments. In fact, Charlotte Danielson’s Framework for Teaching Evaluation Instrument is used in the teacher appraisal process in numerous Florida districts.

• Research and presentations regarding: the alignment between CCPS and Constructivist learning theory, the instructional methods implications of constructivist learning environments; and the contextual nature of the tasks contained in CCPS assessment instruments should be integral components of Florida's curriculum reform effort.

• Curriculum reform efforts should assert the responsibility of all District personnel and stakeholders to become aware of the professional challenges facing teachers when creating and sustaining a high fidelity CCPS learning environment.

Adoption and Acceptance off a Constructivist Learning Environment

• All stakeholders should have at least a basic understanding of the differences between the currently dominant and largely ineffective “behaviorist” instructional approach and the newly adopted and more pragmatic “constructivist” approach.

• It is imperative that K12 IT and Curriculum personnel engage in a CCPS deployment dialog driven by the basic premise that the CCPS technology requirements are a manifestation of the pedagogical and cognitive/social components in a constructivist learning environment (RTTT educational ecosystem specification anticipates the majority of these constructivist learning environment requirements).

• Observance of industry interoperability standards when constructing SEA and LEA K12 CCPS ecosystems is imperative if these systems are to be operationally and fiscally sustainable.

• The range and sophistication of the requirements and the disruptive nature of the transition associated with a constructivist learning environment are such that the support of all stakeholders will be necessary if students are to be effectively prepared for college and career.

Sustained Context for Mastery of Targeted CCPS, Use of Primary Source, Public Domain, Video, and highly contextualized Academic Learning Objects

Use of standards-based district ecosystem components: SIS, LMS, learning objects, assessment items, and assessment/analytics engines to transform closed loop or individualized learning into personalized learning, carefully chosen themes relevant to student population demographic profiles create a personalized learning environment for practical application and mastery of the targeted CCPS

Standards-Based Educational Ecosystem

Facilitating Interoperability Standards

LTI – Single sign-on access to all learning tools and resources through LMS/IMS LIS – Maintenance of users and user outcomesQTI - Exchange and delivery of assessment items and results across systems APIP - Makes test items accessible for students with a variety of disabilities LODE - discovery and retrieval of learning content stored in repositories (Learning Registry model)SIF - enables diverse educational systems to interact and share dataHTML - displays system web pages and other user information in a web browser

Instructional Imperative for CCPS Ecosystems

The ability and/or inclination to respond to an exclusively behaviorist or competency-based approach to instruction is markedly different among demographic sub-groups.

More socially fluent and self directed subgroups equipped with a requisite appreciation of the value of education and a positive learning ethos are more suited to autodidactic expectations of a virtualized and competency-based instructional approach emphasizing academic competencies (those subgroups can to some degree infer the assessed contextual competencies even if instruction in those areas is minimal). These are not characteristics of disenfranchised and traditionally low performing sub-groups.

Traditionally low performing subgroups could actually experience decreases in measured academic mastery in a learning environment devoid of context, since a CCPS pedagogy (and other state developed curricula emphasizing experiential learning) requires instruction and assessment of contextual and academic competencies. Low performing subgroups could be placed in double jeopardy. A blended social approach is optimal for all subgroups.

http://fcit.usf.edu/matrix/lessons/collaborative_transformation_science.php

Active learning posture required to prepare students for a technical, social

and informational workplace/post secondary learning environment

Passive learning posture used to prepare students for isolated

and repetitive workplace/post secondary tasks

Beyond constructivism: Exploring future learning paradigmsArticle by: Dr Tom H Brown, University of Pretoria, South Africa

http://fcit.usf.edu/matrix/lessons/authentic_transformation_science.php

Critical Constructivist Learning Environment Components

1) Metacognition Cooperative discussion and individual contemplation regarding what information or topics should be considered, understood or researched before beginning to plan an approach to solving a problem and/or taking a position on an issue

2) Self Actualization Individual reflection and realization regarding the enhancement of problem solving abilities and changes in self-concept as a result of newly acquired knowledge and experiences

Critical Constructivist Learning Environment Components

3) Knowledge Construction and Deconstruction Enhancement of problem solving and self expression abilities realized through newly acquired knowledge and experiences resulting in displacement or re-categorizing of prior knowledge and experiences

4) Engagement of Intrinsically Relevant IssuesAddress and provide creative outlet for students’ innate curiosity and concern regarding issues of personal import and well-being

Critical Constructivist Learning Environment Components

5) Autonomy and ChoiceExercise of cooperative and individual choice, based on personal relevance or interests, regarding which problems or issues will be addressed among a range of available problems to solve or issues to consider within the learning environment

The thematic/social/career topic of an instructional unit is extremely important in establishing personal relevance for disenfranchised and traditionally low performing subgroups and in fostering their intrinsically motivated participation in formative and individualized remedial instruction.

IMS Global Learning Consortiumhttp://www.imsglobal.org/

Federated Search WorkgroupDeveloping a Metadata Vocabulary for Learning Object Tagging, Harvesting,

Searching, Retrieving and Launching

White Paper on this topic at:http://www.imsglobal.org/articles/APB2-022013.pdf

Also see:IMS Interoperability Standards Conformance, Workgroup and I3LC Pages

Licenses/ Publisher

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General Reference

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Educational Value

conformsTolearningStylelearningResourceTypeinstructionalMethodeducationalAlignmenteducationalLevelaudience

AdministrationData accessRightsaccrualMethodaccrualPeriodicityaccrualPolicyavailable

ResourceDetails

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isPartOfisReferencedbyisRequiredbyisVersionOfreplacesrequiresspatialtemporalvalid

Categories of Metadata

http://www.thegateway.org/

GEM Consortium and GEM Metadata Elements and Controlled Vocabularies

 The Partnership for 21st Century SkillsThe Gateway to Educational MaterialsThe Achievement Standards Network • In 2005, JES & Co. took over the administration of the Gateway to Educational Materials (GEM). GEM was formed in the mid-90s and was originally funded solely by the US Department of Education.

• With JES & Co.'s leadership, GEM was transformed into The Gateway to 21st Century Skills and has a consortium member base of over 700 organizations and universities with close to 50,000 21st century teaching and learning resources.

• Now sponsored by the National Education Association (NEA), the Gateway serves NEA's 3.2 million teachers nationwide and remains free to all of its users.

GEM Consortium and GEM Metadata Elements and Controlled Vocabularies

• In GEM Consortium has developed a series of controlled vocabularies that it recommends be used for a number of elements in the GEM element set. While use of these vocabularies is recommended, use of other non-GEM controlled vocabularies is encouraged where needed to serve the needs of a specific metadata collection.

• The Gateway Interface for teachers is at http://www.thegateway.org/. The GEM Metadata Elements and Controlled Vocabularies are used primarily to tag public sector resources for storage and retrieval in the Gateway environment/repository (GEM also houses a limited number/percentage of fee-based and OER resources, but does not facilitate LTI or Common Cartridge ingestion of GEM resources).

GEM Consortium and GEM Metadata Elements and Controlled Vocabularies

The goal of The GEM Exchange is to further develop and promote the use of GEM vocabularies and cataloging tools. GEM continues to be the internationally accepted standard for describing learning resources in a way that enabled them to be discovered and shared using terms meaningful to educators. The National Science Foundation granted funds for JES & Co. to take the GEM vocabularies one step further with the creation the Achievement Standards Networks (ASN). Unclear if the GEM Controlled Vocabularies are technically positioned/available for machine-readable reference/use in tagging of resources of all origins (public, commercial, OER, etc.) or conducting federated searches against all repositories (OAI-PMH/Restful queries of public, commercial, OER, Learning Registry, inBloom index, etc.).

GEM Metadata Elements and Controlled Vocabularies

file://localhost/Users/dmanderson/Documents/IMS/IMS%20Federated%20Search/FAEDSIMSPreso2013/Audience%20and%20Instructional%20Grouping%20Research.htm

Overview of CCPS pedagogy and Instructional/Classroom Implications At a very practical and concrete level the more salient CCPS classroom tasks can be iterated (as inferred from the constructivist CCPS pedagogy). Further, these tasks should be understood by teachers and by support and administrative personnel as a common instructional approach/goal. More salient CCPS classroom tasks include: 

1) Sustain a continuous and relevant learning context Construction, delivery and continuous refinement of sustained thematic/social/career learning environments with obvious personal and practical relevance for students that offer choices regarding which thematic problems or issues students will address through mastery and application of the theme's targeted academic skills (themes are chosen considering the demographic and academic profile of the students, explained to the students as a preface to commencement of formative instruction in the themes targeted CCPS and are sustained over a grading period offering continuous opportunities for practical mastery of the CCPS, not brief and unrelated periods of practical relevance for mastery of each academic standard covered in a grading period) 

2) Deliver formative instruction Location and implementation of the digital resources required for formative individual and group instruction in the academic skills germane to successful student engagement of the problems and issues contained in a sustained thematic/social/career learning environment (heavy emphasis on rubric driven feedback to students) 

3) Monitor and vet automated remediation Monitoring the progress and vetting the individually assigned resources involved in students' remedial/enrichment instruction as they work to attain mastery of the academic skills germane to successful engagement of the problems and issues contained in a sustained thematic/social/career learning environment (not locating and assigning those remedial/enrichment resources on an individual student basis, this process can and should be automated through use of formative assessment data, Learning Management System analytics and federated search functions) 

4) Devise and deliver transparent formative assessment Creating frequent formative assessment opportunities that are transparently embedded in the instructional process throughout a grading period (in a manner that does not require frequent halts to instruction and that informs the automated remedial/enrichment process as referenced above) 4.1) Cooperative group planning activities requiring individual student digital entry of strategies for applying academic skills to address problems and issues posed within the thematic topic (this is the range of academic skills targeted for mastery within the sustained thematic/social/career learning environment), responses should include descriptions of how a group used a new skill or concept to solve a problem or understand an issue, this formative data requires manual scrutiny by the teacher and it should inform teacher vetting of the automatically prescribed remedial resources resulting from automated analysis of quantifiable formative data 4.2) Practice in applying targeted academic skills in digitally delivered assessment items expressed as problems similar to those being addressed in the current thematic instructional environment, also acts as a proof of concept to students of the applicability of those skills to the thematic problems and issues they are addressing 4.3) Individual responses gathered through use of individual response systems or other means of digital entry that feed the automated remediation process during whole group instruction, cooperative activities, journal entries, etc. 

5) Devise and deliver cognitively complex instructional activities requiring practical application of CCPS Creating cognitively complex opportunities for individuals and cooperative groups to create and present academic skills-based solutions and researched positions regarding problems and issues posed within the sustained thematic/social/career learning environment and facilitating thoughtful peer feedback to presented solutions and positions (research and feedback should be comprised of properly corroborated academic content and formula, primary source information, and other verified and credited information), these activities should prepare students for the thematic unit’s culminating activity or project 

Don MandersonIMS Global Consultant

I3LC Moderator and Federated Search Workgroup Co-Chairdmanderson@imsglobal.org

donalde.manderson@gmail.com