Research While Researching?

Last Friday, I watched a student taking notes onto notecards from a database article he had printed out. He also had the internet up and was googling people and information from the article on which he was taking notes. I watched him for a few moments, thinking that this is best of both worlds - students researching from database resources and using the internet to further research or understand the information he was reading. Fantastic! I will probably explicitly teach this as a strategy on our next paper. Here's the new issue, though: As I watched him, I noticed that he began to take notes from the Internet source right off the screen, but writing the notes into the note cards that were linked by a code to the database article he was reading. I told him that taking notes from the internet source was fine (after he evaluated it), but that he would need to link that notecard to a bibliography source of the web site from which he was taking the notes. So, while it was inspiring to watch a student further educate himself, I am finding another level of instruction about this proces is needed.

Podcasting and Vodcasting

As part of our action research project and our site and ASU work, Fran and I have been focusing on reading strategies in the research process, digital literacy, and the research process itself. I have mentioned my frustration with students' neediness and inability to think through content and process for themselves (remember, the ARE seniors). I feel compelled to explore other means for breaking down and communicating some of the steps. When I read in Richardson's book about video and podcasting, I came up with the idea of creating short mini-lessons that students can watch including video of setting up the research paper literally with Word with an instructional voice over. In addition, I might add a podcast for the students for "the final checklist" prior to turning the paper in. Finally, I am very interested in what would happen if I offered teacher feedback on the papers in the form of a podcast narrative. This is unteneable to take on with all my students, but I will try it with two smaller classes or a subset of students. As I work through my thoughts on this, I am refining my action reserach to the question: What will happen if I introduce instructional materials and teacher feedback through vodcast and podcast format to the students? Will it improve their process? Will the feedback mean more? Will students retain and transfer the feedback as they apply it to the next research project in the winter?

Magazine Awareness

During the current research project, I noticed that many of our students are unaware of the weekly news magazines such as Time, Newsweek, and U.S. News and World Report. When I used Time magazine in a written example, some students thought I meant "the time" in the bib format, which they found confusing. This lack of awareness stunned me, but it did given me a good idea for the next research paper in the winter. I am going to display a bundle of these magazines in hard copy in the room and create an assignment in which the students work in small groups or pairs to deconstruct the organization of these magazines. After I discussed this with Fran, she found a good link from Harvard about differentiating general magazines from journals which I will use next times as well. As long as I have been doing this, I find I need to re-examine my assumptions about existing knowledge - especially about print!

Research Paper Process Blues

I have confronted some real obstacles with the research process this month. While some interesting findings have come from the research Fran and I are doing and discussing the survey data itself could keep us going for awhile, I am frustrated with the lack of reading and thinking skills my students have come to me with this year. The first two steps of the process -- pre-search and information gathering and now note taking - have taken at least four more class periods than they usually do! I am hoping that spending this extra time will result in a better result for the end product, and we do see evidence that some students are grasping the "method in the madness."

Fran and I did an interesting experiment to kick the unit off - we let students surf the internet to do some preliminary reading the way they would if we turned them out on their own with no instruction. We asked them to track the web sites they visited on a tracking sheet. For many students this worked well, but many of the students didn't know the difference between a search engine and a web site. Even two weeks in as I grade bib cards, several students put the name of the web sites they were citing as "Google" - when we move to the major research paper later this year, I know we will want to more explicitly teach the distinction. In my period 7 section, the students didn't do a very good job writing down the web sites they were visiting, but this is the group that would rather talk about what they are doing versus recording what they are doing! (In the Career Ladder Action Research group we are participating in, several members had good ideas: have students copy and past the URL's into a Word document.) Watching the students complete this activity told us that the students are not very discriminating or advanced seekers. We made photocopies of the students' sheets which should provide more useful data. (Later in this unit, Fran and I plan to do a web evaluation lesson to address the need to increase our students' internet search skills and information selection skills.) Unfortunately, we have not been able to analyze the data we are gathering in a comprehensive or organized fashion yet because of the massive amount of time spend this week grading bib cards and schedules that keep Fran and I being in the same place at the same time. Another issue we are facing is student motivation - they just don't want to do the work, any work, regardless. In addition, behaviorally, they are young for their age, requiring constant attention and monitoring. I want to figure out some ways to structure research groups that make students accountable for keeping each other accountable!

After learning a little bit about podcasting, I am thinking of using podcasts as a way to respond to student research papers. Offering students a narrative review/critique of their work . . . I am working on the logistics of this.

Neuroscience - the iBrain

This month's Scientific American Mind issue contains an (Oct./Nov. 2008) article by Gary Small (dir. UCLA Memory & Aging Research Center) and Gigi Vorgan (also Small's wife) "Your iBrain: How Technology Alters Your Mind" offers some interesting research about how your brain processes conventional reading differently than internet surfing (information gathering). Essentially, the experienced ("computer-savvy") Google searchers showed activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (left front part of brain) while the "computer naive" subjects did not. When the "computer-naive subjects" were exposed to five one hour Google sessions over five days (remember, these subjects are in an MRI tube!), these subjects quickly developed the same neural activity in that left frontal area that the computer-savvy users had at the baseline. According to researchers, this suggests that "the neural circuit training occurs relatively early and then remains stable." (p. 46) The authors also say the the dorsolateral PFC "is involved in our ability to make decisions and integrate complex information" and is "thought to control our mental process of inegrating sensations and thoughts, as well as working memory, which is our ability to keep information in mind for a very short time - just long enough to manage an internet-searching task . . ." (p. 42) Obvioulsy, I will need to read Small's full book iBrain to learn more about this interesting research. I can see educational applications of this research in that, as Fran and I work to create an information literacy (research) model for our "21st century" students, we will want to consider that this internet surfing is a different process than reading hard copy text. I don't know what this means, exactly, but I think this may be significant in building our approach to teaching students pre-research reading strategies - strategies that build a schema for selecting and de-selecting information.

I am also reading Marc Iacoboni's Mirroring People about mirror neurons that guide our social relationships. One of the key researchers whom Iacoboni references is Giacomo Rizzolatti, a member of the Italian reserach team that shook up the world of neuroscience with its "discovery" of mirror neurons, completely upturning views of how neurons can operate. Rizzolatti has published his own book, Mirrors in the Brain, which I will have to read as well. I think this research could have important implications for teaching and learning - especially as we integrate more social networking and live group work into our instruction. As I read more about mirror neurons, I will post any hypotheses and strategies I develop based on those hypotheses. I would be interested to know if any education researchers are working in this area of neuroscience as it applies to learning and teaching.

Students Respond to Survey

Prior to teaching the mini-research paper process to my senior English students and as a precursor to our Social Psychology unit in AP Psychology, I surveyed them on their use of technology, what technology means to them, web sites they use, what they thought about adult monitoring of online activity, technology access and other related information. The questions were developed by group participants in the ASU course I am taking (Eng 598) "Media Matters." In addition, I added access questions to inform me as Fran and I work through our action research project, "reading strategies in the research process" into which we will integrate information literacy skills and the use of technology. Back to the ASU group mini-research, our group responsibility is to interview 3 students about their technology use each and post their responses so that our group may share the data. Fortunately, one group member is going to compile the results from two sections, and I will figure out how to compile the other classes' data. I will report on this findings as they unfold.

When I administered the surveys in my classes last week, I took two approaches. In my AP Psych class, I asked the students (grouped in dyads) to interview each other and fill out the surveys that way; then I group the students in groups of four to process their responses, looking for commonalities or trends they noticed. My only regret is that I did not have a recorder going in all the discussions - they were rich and interesting and could offer further data. While they were occasionally off-task (usually relating some incident somewhat connected to the questions), their overall behavior was engaged and interested. I had explained the purposes of the data and also discussed with them creating a class wiki for Social Psychology, which they were genuinely excited about. (Sidebar: in this class, all students have access from home and are frequent users of the web; in addition, all the students in this group are strong students.)What I found interesting in talking to them and getting their feedback about the class wiki project, all of them use Wikipedia, but only a few of them really understand what a wiki is! Because this class is small and generally responsible, it is a good place for me to experiment with integrating web 2.0 technologies into my instruction.

In terms of the administering the survey to my three "regular" senior English classes, I had them respond to the questions individually on paper, then I grouped them. The activity went well and generated some good group discussion in my morning sections, but in my afternoon section, the activity didn't go as well as the social relationships among the students are weak (with some active aversion to working with others at all) and a greater number of generally unmotivated students are in the class. Just watching the difference between how this last section of the day processed the activity versus the morning session taught me more about teaching this socially and academically challenged group.

Stepping into it: a Blog for My AP Psych Class

This week I introduced a blog I created for my AP Psych class to my students. When I unveiled the site to them, they were excited! First, I think they liked the idea that I would post information related to our class that they sent me to the blog and that they could participate by posting comments themselves; second, they liked the idea that I would provide online psych links that would facilitate their quarterly "Psych in the News" assignments and that would enrich their psychology knowledge beyond the classroom. I also talked with them about creating a class "wiki" or something similar as a class assignment when we study Social Psychology after our upcoming fall break, and as they would say, they were all over that!. I can sense that this foray into web 2.0 is going to change my teaching and may motivate students to pursue the content matter beyond school hours.

I'm a Blogging Ingenue

The response I sent to David Warlick's blog this morning is the first time I have sent a repy into a fully open forum. Kiefer's Digital Literacy Blog is the first I have created. Like an ingenue, I am excited by all the excitement "big city" has to offer and the unknown adventures ahead. With inspiration (and, let's face it, hand-holding!) from Will Richardson's book Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and an ASU class I am taking (Dr. Laura Turchi's "Information/Media Matters"), I am forging ahead. I think I will create a blog for my AP Psychology class today. I'll report on how it goes . . .

What is technology integration in eduation all about?

In response to Web English teacher creator Carla Beard's comments on this topic on her own blog (and in English Journal this month), David Warlick asked his readers if it is not about the technology "What is it about?"

This is my response to Warlick's query (and Beard) which I also posted as a reply to his blog:

In my role as a teacher, technology is about inquiry, engagement, cognitive and social development, and practicing in a particular discipline. (The latter is the classic difference between learning *about* “doing English” and actually “doing English.”) When I design instruction for my English (and Psychology) classes, I want my students to experience different access points to the learning and to think about that learning critically. Some of these methodologies are traditional - mostly to create a cognitive schema/baseline for the learning - including note-taking, reading, discussion, and lecturing, while others are intended for collaborative learning that builds on those schemas. However, lately I have found that my own use of technology has completely shifted the way I think about collaborative learning. I no longer want to use the term “group work” because it is inadequate to describe the way my students interact and construct knowledge. The availability and use of the web for productivity, communication, and research as well as the shift from designing all classwork for students to “do on their own” to collaborative learning activities is a major paradigm (sorry, I can’t think of a better word!) shift. While I do consider the technology hardware, software, and connectivity available to me when designing instruction, I find myself leaning more and more toward a collaborative pedagogy that is introduced earlier in the lesson/unit and that can be facilitated with our without the actual technology. Finally, while “Digital literacy” did not exist as a term when I started teaching 20+ years ago, it is essential to integrate those critical skills and concepts beyond the research paper into the curriculum beyond our research and persuasion units - and in fact, across the disciplines, much as we have done with reading and writing. Integrating the use of technology into our curriculum and our methodological strategies is one way for teachers to provide opportunities for students to develop critical thinking and social literacy skills that are necessary in our digital world.

An introduction

My purpose with this blog is to have a place where I not only learn, gather, and synthesize resources, but to reflect upon and share my teaching practices as they evolve with my focus on digital literacy and learning with the technology and digital tools available to me. In the district where I teach English and psychology, our high schools lagging seriously behind in classroom technologies, so this presents a challenge I must work around, but I think this is a common challenge across the nation. I look forward to learning from my students, other teachers, and technology gurus in this process.

Currently, I am participating in a professional learning community of three senior English teachers and a teacher librarian with this goal: Students will become more critical and responsible users of digital content (through the research process). In addition, I am working on an action research project with my most excellent colleague, Fran Prather (the teacher librarian referenced above) in which we introduce reading strategies into the research process with the goal of increasing student comprehension and generating stronger information literacy skills. Finally, to help me with these goals, I am also taking two courses at ASU, one online and one classroom in the area of technology integration and media literacy.