Sean CordesAssistant ProfessorWestern Illinois University

Multimodal Fluency: From the Classroom to the Cloud

The State of Things

“It is radical conditions which have changed,” he wrote, “and only a radical change in education suffices… Knowledge is no longer an immobile solid; it has been liquefied.”

Dewey, J. (1980). The School and Society. Carbondale, IL: Southern

Illinois University Press.

The Classroom

Only with a clear sense of the theoretical foundations that underpin assumptions about learning and cognition, can an efficient online learning environment be appropriately designed. 

Failure to address questions regarding learning theories, pedagogical approaches and explicit learning outcomes, results in the Everest Syndrome - using technology just because it is there (Nunes & McPherson, p. 8). 

The Cloud

"Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)" - clients buy resources as a fully outsourced servers, software, data center space or network equipment.

"Platform as a Service (PaaS)" - facilitates deployment of applications without the cost and complexity of buying and managing the underlying hardware and software layers.

“Software as a service (SaaS)” a provider licenses an application to customers for use as a service on demand. vendors host the application on their own web servers or upload the application to the consumer device, disabling it after use or after the on-demand contract expires.

Cloud Computing-Larry Ellisonhttp://bit.ly/13T3OZ

Learning and the Modern Learner

Information will be pervasive Informational computing will be an

extension of the self Those with access and ability to

information and technologies will have the edge over those who do not

Educators will be on the trailing edge in some cases, the leading edge in others.

Learning and the Modern Learner

The Partnership for 21st Century Skillshttp://www.21stcenturyskills.org

Standards & Assessments

Curriculum & Instruction

Professional Development

Learning Environments

Life & Career Skills

Learning & Innovation Skills

Core Subjects & 21C Themes

Information, Media, &Technology Skills

The Scope

Students understand the nature and scope of information problems

The question The information needed Where to look How to look How to present it

The Means

Students use efficient means to get the information needed to solve problems.

Databases Internet Community

Evaluating information

Type Quality Quantity Availability Suitability

Ethical Use

Piracy Plagiarism Cyber Bullying

Skill Sets for Survival

Information Literacy Skills Management Skills Digital Literacy Skills Inter-Personal Skills

What Gains?

What gives?

Brace Yourself Learning curve for students and instructors

Look for balance between the learning experience and experience needed

Can be costlyInvestigate free and low cost options

Potential issues with compatibility and accessibilityTest the tools on a variety of platforms browsers and environments, contact vendors and site owners

Can require outside supportWork with your computing “experts” – in house & online

Operates in an open ended and somewhat ambiguous arenaTry things out yourself first, provide alternates options, get to know student skill level, have a back up plan

Engage and Advance

Do you need it?-Avoid Tech for Tech sake, match tools to tasks

Try It-Be prepared to do the assignment yourself, see what the experience is, and what can happen

Topics-Give them choices, let them choose

Provide context-Show how the tool can help with your class, other classes, work & life

Explain the essence- Nothing usually goes as planned, be prepared for set backs, plan ahead

Modern Literacies

Visual literacy is the ability to analyze, create, and use, images and video using technology and media to enable critical thinking

Multicultural literacy is the ability to acknowledge, compare, contrast, and appreciate commonalities and differences in culture

Media literacy is the process of accessing, analyzing, evaluating and creating messages in a wide variety of media modes

Digital Literacy is the ability to apply technology to access and use resources in multiple modes and forms.

Information now?

Information-Maya Designhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WytNkw1xOIc&feature=player_embedded#

Web 2 “0 My”

Visual Literacy-The Frightening

Visual Literacy-To the Familiar

Visual Literacy-The Normal

Visual Literacy-To the Novel

http://www.psykopaint.com/

Media Literacy- Animoto Videos

http://animoto.com/education http://bit.ly/bF6crv

http://bit.ly/8Yc8C5

Media Literacy-Myxer.com

http://www.myxer.com/

Upload image and music files to create wallpapers

and ringtones for your phone. It's Easy!

Have students upload music files to create ringtones for

their phones and teach them about fair use and audio

media. It's Easy!

Multi-Cultural Literacy-The Whole is Greater than the Sum

Establishing personal relationships paves the way for more cooperative negotiation dynamics. Parties develop a sense that the other group's beliefs and values are similar to their own, and more likely to frame issues as mutual problems, refrain from personal attacks and build on the other side's ideas.

Multiculturalism in Context

Face Transformer http://morph.cs.st-andrews.ac.uk//Transformer/ Face Photos http://wiu.edu/users/csc115/faces/

1. Go to Face Transformer2. Download photos from directory3. Upload photo and process the transformation

Teaching Strategies

IBL Teaching Strategies

Inquiry-based learning-Learning should be based around student's questions. Requires students to work together to solve problems rather than receiving direct instructions

The teacher's job in an inquiry learning environment is to help students along the process of discovering knowledge themselves.

IBM’s Many Eyeshttp://manyeyes.alphaworks.ibm.com/manyeyes/

Many Eyes is a bet on the power of human visual intelligence to find patterns. Our goal is to "democratize" visualization and to enable a new social kind of data analysis.

IBL-Many Eyes

IBL-MindMeister

As a group create a mind map on the topic of Instructional Resources

Group leader(s) sets up account on www.mindemeister.com

Members contribute ideas for group branches on collaborative map

Group leader(s) inputs content to map.

GoogleAppshttp://blog.mindmeister.com/2010/03/10/mindmeister-now-available-at-the-new-google-apps-marketplace/

IBL-Mind Maps

http://www.mindmeister.com/

What We Learn

Turn information into useful knowledge.

Stresses skill development and nurtures the development of good habits of mind.

Provides useful context, and application for information

Develops connections between activities within a particular subject.

Teaching Strategies

Problem-based learning-is a student-centered instructional strategy in which students collaboratively solve problems and reflect on their experiences. Characteristics of PBL are:

Learning is driven by challenging, open-ended problems.

Students work in small collaborative groups.

Teachers take on the role as "facilitators" of learning.

Problem Based Learning Example

Use the tools to transfer content and combine it into a single object

Flickr Photo Site

Animoto Video Site

WordPress Class Blog Site

To create meaningful information objects by combining media types including language and objects

To understand the process of trial, error, and consequence relating to technology use

To understand the relationship of rules, tools, labor, and community relating to information systems

What we learn

Teaching Strategies

Contstructivism assumes that learners construct their own knowledge on the basis of interaction with their environment.

Knowledge is physically constructed by learners who are involved in active learning

Knowledge is symbolically constructed by learners who are making their own representations of action

Knowledge is socially constructed by learners who convey their meaning making to others;

Knowledge is theoretically constructed by learners who try to explain things they don't completely understand

Example-Google Sitehttp://sites.google.com/site/lib201site/

Constructivist Learning Example

Web Site

Develop a research question and develop a presentation web site using multiple content types and tools.

http://sites.google.com/site/lib201site/

What we learn

To see information parts as a whole To analyze media for messages To relate the experience of others to

ourselves To understand how information

transforms us, and how we transform information

Assesment

Outcome Based Assessment

Skills Based Real Life Context Access and Use Cognitive Skills Digital Skills Management Communication

Google Forms

Poll Everywhere

Poll Everywhere is a simple text message voting application that works well for live audiences.

People vote by sending text messages (or using Twitter) to options displayed on-screen.

The poll that is embedded within the presentation or web page will update in real time.

http://www.polleverywhere.com/

Thank You!cs-cordes@wiu.edu

http://bit.ly/cZZf4J

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