edtech fact or fiction
DESCRIPTION
Every math educator has seen first-hand evidence that student understanding of mathematics is far from where we’d like it to be. And in the world of EdTech, educators have seen the term “adaptive learning” become increasingly popular as companies try to support student learning in mathematics with new technologies. In this kickoff webinar to launch the new Adaptive Math Learning community on edWeb.net, Dr. Tim Hudson, Senior Director of Curriculum Design of DreamBox Learning provided an overview of learning, mathematics, and adaptive technologies — and ways to separate hype from reality. To join the Adaptive Math Learning community, all you need is a passion for ensuring the success of all students, an interest in understanding more about learning technologies, and a healthy dose of skepticism. Ultimately, the quality of digital learning is just as important as the quality of classroom learning. Both need to be adaptive. Tim explored what his hopes and aspirations are for the successful learning and math education of all students in the 21st century (or any century). He also discussed how to distinguish between hype, hope, and reality when considering the strengths and limitations of educational technologies and adaptive math technologies. View the webinar and learn what you can expect to gain from this new Adaptive Math Learning community.TRANSCRIPT
Separating EdTech Fact from Fiction
Adaptive Math Learning Community
Launch
Tim Hudson, PhDSenior Director of Curriculum Design
DreamBox Learning@DocHudsonMath
May 28, 2014
Introduction• Senior Director of Curriculum Design for
DreamBox Learning• Over 10 years in public education
o High School math teachero K-12 Math Curriculum Coordinatoro Strategic Planning Facilitator
• Degrees in Math, Math Education, and Educational Leadership
• Consult and work with Authentic Education & Grant Wiggins
• Co-authored a chapter with Cathy Fosnot Classrooms Where Children Learn in an NCTM book Math Intervention Models: Reweaving the Tapestry (I get no royalties)
Overview
Learning Principles &
Learning Mathematics
Mental Models of
“Adaptive” & Learning
Perspectives for
Separating EdTech Fact from Fiction
Tech & Learning Survey Definition
“Adaptive learning systems are software-based technologies that
automatically customize curriculum to the knowledge level of the learner. The algorithms actively track and access
student performance to provide feedback to the teacher and student about the student’s progress on an
ongoing basis.”
2013 survey conducted by Tech & Learning (www.techlearning.com) and commissioned by DreamBox Learning
Why Adaptive?Why Differentiated?Why Individualized?Why Personalized?
Plan Curriculum Backwards
1. Identify desired results
2. Determine acceptable evidence
3. Plan learning experiences and instruction
Understanding by Design, Wiggins & McTighe, ©2005
WHAT should this student be learning, doing, and thinking about tomorrow?
Learning Requires Adaptivity
“…pay close attention to the individual progress of each student and devise tasks that are appropriate…” (p. 24)
Bransford, J.D., Brown, A.L., & Cocking, R.R. (Eds.). (2000). How people learn: Brain, mind, experience, and school (2nd ed.). Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.
Differentiation Defined• Educators’ Purpose…
• All students must master important content.• Make specific and continually evolving plans to
connect each learner with key content.• Expect differences in the nature of scaffolding.
• Therefore we Ask…• What does this student need at this moment in
order to be able to progress with this key content, and what do I need to do to make that happen?”
Leading and Managing a Differentiated Classroom by C.A. Tomlinson & M.B. Imbeau, ASCD, © 2010, pp. 13-14
Logistical Classroom Reality
March 1:Long
Division
March 1:Long
Division
March 1:Long
Division
March 1:Long
Division
March 1:Long
Division
March 1:Long
Division
March 1:Long
Division
March 1:Long
Division
March 1:Long
Division
March 1:Long
Division
March 1:Long
Division
March 1:Long
Division
March 1:Long
Division
March 1:Long
Division
March 1:Long
Division
March 1:Long
Division
March 1:Long
Division
March 1:Long
Division
March 1:Long
Division
If teachers could work 1-1 with ALL…
Decimal Long
Division
Long Division
with Significant Scaffolding
Partial Quotients
Fraction Division
Requires More:• Assessments• Time for Testing• Time for Scoring• Data• Content Knowledge• Resources
Basic Multiplicatio
n
Rethinking DifferentiationTypical mental models of learning often cause educators to differentiate in two wrong ways:
1. around knowledge, skills, and procedures rather than around ideas, understanding, and complex performance
2. in response to student knowledge AFTER being shown a skill instead of in response to student thinking when solving an unfamiliar problem or when forming initial conceptions.
Common Core Standards for Mathematical Practice
Opportunity:What can only be
done when we have a diverse
range of learners in a single classroom?
WHAT could this student be learning, doing, and thinking about tomorrow?
Collaborative Projects,
Group Inquiry,
Community Building
Independent Projects, Mentoring, Interactive Software or
Apps
Whole Class or Small Group
Lecture, Online or In
Person
Explanation, Tutoring, Online
Videos from the Teacher
or Other Source
IndividualGroup
Learning Experience
Instruction
Menu of Great Learning Options
Student Observatio
n, Input
Classroom Assessmen
t
Other Assessment
Data
Embedded Formative Assessment Three key elements:1. elicit evidence about learning to close
the gap between current and desired performance,
2. adjust the learning experience to close the performance gap with useful feedback
3. involve students in the assessment and learning process
Adapted from Margaret Heritage, 2008
Personalized Schooling
Personalized Learning
Industrial Schooling
Industrial Learning
Personalized (Relational)
Impersonal (Industrial)
LearningPedagogy
withStudents
SchoolingStructures
fromAdults
WHAT is her
birthdate?
Impersonal Industrial Schooling First Asks:
First Grade: Week 1
© DreamBox Learning
WHAT is she interested in?
WHAT does she know?
WHERE could she be
learning?
Personalized
Relational Schooling First Asks:
School Policies & Structures are Designed for Students as
Unique Individuals.
Strategic & Varied Schedule,
Location, Path, Pace
Empowering Learning
Experiences, Critical Thinking,
Creativity, Exploration.
Students “Think & Do” using Their Own Intuitive
Ideas
School Policies & Structures are Designed for
Efficiency, Economy & Scale.Fixed Schedule, Location, Path,
Pace
Traditional Lesson Paradigm of Mass
InstructionTeach, Practice,
TestStudents “Sit &
Get” the Teacher’s Ideas
Personalized (Relational)
Impersonal (Industrial)
LearningPedagogy
withStudents
SchoolingStructures
fromAdults
School Policies & Structures are Designed for Students as
Unique Individuals.
Strategic & Varied Schedule,
Location, Path, Pace
Empowering Learning
Experiences, Critical Thinking,
Creativity, Exploration.
Students “Think & Do” using Their Own Intuitive
Ideas
School Policies & Structures are Designed for
Efficiency, Economy & Scale.Fixed Schedule, Location, Path,
Pace
Traditional Lesson Paradigm of Mass
InstructionTeach, Practice,
TestStudents “Sit &
Get” the Teacher’s Ideas
Personalized (Relational)
Impersonal (Industrial)
LearningPedagogy
withStudents
SchoolingStructures
fromAdults
Blended
Blended
Is there
an app for
this?
Is there
an app for
this?
Is there
an app for
this?
Is there
an app for
this?
Plan Schooling Backwards
“Contemporary school reform efforts… typically focus too much on various means: structures, schedules, programs, PD, curriculum, and instructional practices (like cooperative learning)”
[or personalized learning][or blended learning][or flipped classrooms][or iPads®, hardware][or adaptive learning]
p. 234-235, Wiggins & McTighe, © 2007
Plan Schooling Backwards
“Certainly such reforms serve as the fuel for the school improvement engine, but they must not be mistaken as the destination…[which is] improved learning.”
p. 234-235, Wiggins & McTighe, © 2007
AdaptiveLearningPlatform or
Program
AdaptiveLearningPlatform or
Program
From a 5th grade teacher in NY:“I had a lot of good people teaching me math when I was a student – earnest and funny and caring. But the math they taught me wasn’t good math. Every
class was the same for eight years:
‘Get out your homework, go over the homework, here’s the new set
of exercises, here’s how to do them. Now get started. I’ll be around.’
p. 55, Teaching What Matters Most, Strong, Silver, & Perini, ©2001
Experience or Instruction?
Design Limitation“They were so concerned with
making sure we knew how to do every single procedure we never
learned how to think mathematically. I did well in math but I never understood what I was doing. I remember hundreds of procedures but not one single
mathematical idea.”
p. 55, Teaching What Matters Most, Strong, Silver, & Perini, ©2001
Common Teaching Cycle
Whole Class or Small Group
Instruction
Independent Practice
Whole Class
Assessment
Use Data Formatively to Plan
Use Data Summativel
y
Content Delivery
Whole Class or Small Group
Instruction
Independent Practice
Whole Class
Assessment
Use Data Formatively to Plan
Use Data Summativel
y
Let Me Show You How To
DoX
Now You Go Do
X
Can You Independentl
y DoX?
Maybe You Need
to Be Shown X
Again
You KnowX
Instruction
Let Me Show You How To
DoX
Now You Go Do
X
Can You Independentl
y DoX?
Maybe You Need
to Be Shown X
Again
You KnowX
Who is doing the thinking?
Ineffective adaptivity
Impersonal Learning
“Presentation of an explanation, no matter how brilliantly worded,
will not connect ideas unless students have had ample
opportunities to wrestle with examples.”
Best Practices, 3rd Ed., by Zemelman, Daniels, and Hyde, ©2005Understanding by Design, Wiggins & McTighe, ©2005
“If I cover it clearly, they will ‘get it.’”
blog.mrmeyer.com
Let Me Show You How To
DoX
Now You Go Do
X
Can You Independentl
y DoX?
Maybe You Need
to Be Shown X
Again
You KnowX
Who is doing the thinking?
aka “Neil Diamond”
School & Home Work
At School:Here’s how
to doX
At Home:Practice
X
Whole Class
Assessment
Maybe you need to be shown X
again
Use Data Summativel
y
Flipped Classroom?
At Home:Watch a video about how to
doX
At School:Practice
X
Whole Class
Assessment
Maybe You Need to
Watch the Video Again
Use Data Summativel
y
Learning Principle
“Understandings cannot be given; they have to be engineered so that learners see for themselves the power of an idea for making sense of things.”
p. 113, Schooling by Design, Wiggins & McTighe, ©2007
Understanding vs. Knowing
Don’t Start by Telling
“Providing students with opportunities to first grapple with specific
information relevant to a topic has been shown to create a ‘time for telling’ that enables them to learn
much more from an organizing lecture.”
How People Learn, p. 58
This student doesn’t know
anything about
fractions.
How could she start
grappling?
Learning Experience: Field Trip Problem
Field Trips and Fund-Raisers: Introducing Fractions, C.T. Fosnot, Heinemann © 2007, used with permission
3
4
4
5
7
8
3
5
Dewey, 1916
Democracy & Education
Chapter 12: Thinking in Education
“…thinking is the method of an educative experience. The
essentials of method are therefore identical with the essentials of
reflection.”
Democracy and Education: an Introduction to the Philosophy of Education, J. Dewey, 1916
Dewey, 1916
“First that the pupil have a genuine situation of experience—that there be a continuous activity in which he is interested for its own sake.”
Democracy and Education: an Introduction to the Philosophy of Education, J. Dewey, 1916
Field trip + Lunch = Interest
Dewey, 1916
“Secondly, that a genuine problem develop within this situation as a stimulus to thought.”
Democracy and Education: an Introduction to the Philosophy of Education, J. Dewey, 1916
Is it fair?
Dewey, 1916
“Third, that he possess the information and make the observations needed to deal with it.”
Democracy and Education: an Introduction to the Philosophy of Education, J. Dewey, 1916
Time for sense-making, modeling, manipulatives, conversation, and
argumentation
Dewey, 1916“Fourth, that suggested solutions occur to him which he shall be responsible for developing in an orderly way.”
Democracy and Education: an Introduction to the Philosophy of Education, J. Dewey, 1916
How do we know when something “occurs” to a student?
5th grader in intervention: “So it looks like a half of a fifth is a tenth.
That’s easy!”
Dewey, 1916“Fifth, that he have opportunity and occasion to test his ideas by application, to make their meaning clear and to discover for himself their validity.”
Democracy and Education: an Introduction to the Philosophy of Education, J. Dewey, 1916
Convince yourself through inquiry, exploration, feedback
Learning is not accomplished by putting thoughts into a mind, but rather by empowering a
mind to generate thoughts.
This student doesn’t know
anything about angles or measuring
angles.
How should she start
grappling?
Angle Measurement – Common Core
4.MD.6Measure angles in whole-number degrees using a protractor. Sketch angles of specified measure.
4.MD.7Recognize angle measure as additive. When an angle is decomposed into non-overlapping parts, the angle measure of the whole is the sum of the angle measures of the parts. Solve addition and subtraction problems to find unknown angles on a diagram in real world and mathematical problems, e.g., by using an equation with a symbol for the unknown angle measure.
Digital Instruction?
When an angle is decomposed into non-
overlapping parts, the angle measure of the whole is the sum of the angle measures
of the parts.
Angle Measurement – Common Core
4.MD.5aAn angle is measured with reference to a circle with its center at the common endpoint of the rays, by considering the fraction of the circular arc between the points where the two rays intersect the circle. An angle that turns through 1/360 of a circle is called a “one-degree angle,” and can be used to measure angles.
4.MD.5bAn angle that turns through n one-degree angles is said to have an angle measure of n degrees.
Angle Measurement – Common Core
4.MD.5aAn angle is measured with reference to a circle with its center at the common endpoint of the rays, by considering the fraction of the circular arc between the points where the two rays intersect the circle. An angle that turns through 1/360 of a circle is called a “one-degree angle,” and can be used to measure angles.
4.MD.5bAn angle that turns through n one-degree angles is said to have an angle measure of n degrees.
Dewey, 19161. Genuine Interesting Situation & Experience
Democracy and Education: an Introduction to the Philosophy of Education, J. Dewey, 1916 Screen image ©DreamBox Learning
Help the spider build a web.
Dewey, 19162. Genuine Problem Stimulates Thought
Democracy and Education: an Introduction to the Philosophy of Education, J. Dewey, 1916 Screen image ©DreamBox Learning
Dewey, 19163. Have Information & Make Observations
Democracy and Education: an Introduction to the Philosophy of Education, J. Dewey, 1916 Screen image ©DreamBox Learning
Dewey, 19164. Solutions Occur to Her, She Develops Them
Democracy and Education: an Introduction to the Philosophy of Education, J. Dewey, 1916 Screen image ©DreamBox Learning
“The child doesn’t have to be told by a teacher whether he’s right or wrong. He can see for himself whether it works. That’s what science and knowledge is about.”
– Seymour Papert
Dewey, 19165. Test Her Own Ideas, Make Meaning, Discover Validity
Democracy and Education: an Introduction to the Philosophy of Education, J. Dewey, 1916 Screen image ©DreamBox Learning
Dewey, 19165. Test Her Own Ideas, Make Meaning, Discover Validity
Democracy and Education: an Introduction to the Philosophy of Education, J. Dewey, 1916 Screen image ©DreamBox Learning
DreamBox Approach to Adaptive
Engage with & Make
Sense of a Situation
or Context
Student’s Own
Ideas & Intuition
Specific, Instant, Custom
Feedback
Engine Adapts & Differentiate
s
Student Independently Transfers
“Offline,” Too
Student Independently Transfers
“Offline,” Too
Engineered for Realizations
Engage with & Make
Sense of a Situation
or Context
Student’s Own
Ideas & Intuition
Specific, Instant, Custom
Feedback
Engine Adapts & Differentiate
s
Student Independently Transfers
“Offline,” Too
Truly Adaptive Learning Technology requires dynamic content be
built from the ground up to invite, analyze and respond to initial
conceptions.
