Learning in the iGeneration


Learning in the iGeneration

 

Direct Link to This Page:  http://bit.ly/unioncounty2012 

 

In January of 2012, Bill Ferriter will be teaching several lessons on learning efficiently in the 21st Century to eighth grade students in Union County, North Carolina.  This wiki page will house the materials for those lessons. 

 

 


 

 

 

Quick Survey: How Do YOU Use Technology?

 

Take a quick minute to share the different things that you do with technology -- cell phones, game systems, computers, the Internet -- when you're not at school.  You can respond by visiting this link.  Our results will automatically appear on this web widget.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Slides for Today's Lessons

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spotting Websites You Just Can't Trust

 

Let's be honest: When you're searching for information on the Internet, how consistent are YOU about determining whether or not the sites that you are looking at are sharing reliable information?  The truth is that the majority of students NEVER check the reliability of a website before taking information from it -- and that's not good.  

 

In this lesson, we will use the Spotting Websites You Just Can’t Trust handout to learn more about the kinds of things that you should be looking for when evaluating the reliability of websites.  Specifically, we'll be looking at the  Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus and Dog Island hoax websites.

 

 

Quick Survey: How Often Do YOU Judge the Reliability of Websites?

 

Take a quick minute to share how often you take formal steps to judge the reliability of the websites that you are exploring.  You can respond by visiting this link.  Our results will automatically appear on this web widget.

 

 

 

 

Additional Resources

 

Anatomy of a Hoax Website -- Post from Mr. Ferriter's blog showing how he was almost taken by a hoax website. 

 

Harpseals.org , Sea Shepard -- Two great sites to use with high schoolers when studying the reliability and bias of online sources.

 

Coal is Clean -- This site is really interesting and can be used to talk about the reliability of online sources.  At first, it appears to be a site that supports clean coal technology.  In reality, however, it is an anti-coal site that is sponsored by environmental groups like Greenpeace. 

 

Queen of the Extreme -- An example of the kinds of smear websites that often appear during political elections.  Students need to learn to recognize the inherent bias in sites like this so they can determine if they agree with the positions shared. 

 

 

 

 

Collaborative Versus Competitive Dialogue

 

Another skill that students must learn to be more efficient and effective learners in today's world is the difference between collaborative and competitive dialogue.  While competitive dialogue -- debates, advertisements, arguments -- have a place in our world, collaborative dialogue is far more productive for learning.  People engaged in collaborative dialogue see one another as learning partners -- members of the same team who can build new understandings together even when they disagree.  

 

In this activity, we'll look at the differences between collaborative and competitive dialogue by studying an interaction between presidential candidates in a 2011 debate.  

 

Click here to download the handout for this activity

 

Video to Explore:

 

 

 

 

Three Characteristics of Effective Persuasion

 

Even though participants in the best VoiceThreads see each other as intellectual equals that are worth learning from, persuasion -- trying to convince others to change their minds about the topic of study -- will inevitably make its way into most collaborative conversations.  Effective persuasion, Don Rothman argues, is not the kind of persuasion that students see modeled in most conversations.  Instead, effective persuasion is built on three key behaviors:

 

Respecting the views of others:  Truly changing someone's minds depends on finding connections between their core beliefs and the new directions you want them to consider.  That means the most persuasive individuals work to truly understand what other people are thinking.

 

Respectfully describing sources of disagreement: Changing minds also depends on being able to identify -- and then rationally explain -- the misguided arguments that people on issues.  When we understand the positions of others well enough that we can articulate them clearly and respectfully, we stand a better chance of pointing out flaws that need to be reconsidered.   

 

Sustaining conversations: The most persuasive individuals also collect as much information as they can about an issue before finalizing their own positions.  Doing so leads to a stronger final stance.  Collecting information depends on sustaining conversations with -- rather than silencing -- others.  As contradictory as it may seem, to be persuasive depends on careful listening. 

 

 

 

Characteristics of Convincing Evidence

 

One of the defining characteristics of life in today's world is that we are CONSTANTLY surrounded by people who are trying to change our minds.  Computer companies want to convince you that their tablets and laptops are "cooler" than their competitors.  Clothing companies want to convince you that their threads are the ticket to popularity and style.  Gaming companies want to convince you that you'll have more fun playing their systems than you could have ever imagined. 

 

And if you're going to be influential in tomorrow's world, YOU are going to need to learn how to change minds, too.   In this activity, we will look at three types of convincing evidence – stories, statistics, and star statements. 

 

Click here to download the lesson handout

 

Salem Middle School Kiva Club Video

 

 

 

 

Quick Survey: What Impressed YOU?

 

Take a quick minute to reflect on the Salem Middle School Kiva Club video.  Did it impress you?  Why?  Did it make you feel a certain way about poverty in the world?  How?  Did it convince you to think differently about our world?  How?  You can respond by visiting this link.  Our results will automatically appear on this web widget.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Additional Videos to Explore

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Creating Your Own Influential Visual

 

Let me ask you a quick question:  Are you more likely to be persuaded to take action on an issue by a visual -- whether it is an interesting video or a sweet picture -- or an essay?  If you're like most of your peers, you probably picked the interesting visual, didn't you?  That's another important lesson to learn about being influential in today's world.  While writing skills will ALWAYS be important, we also need to learn to create image-based content if we are ever going to get REALLY good at changing people's minds. 

 

In this activity, we'll look at the characteristics of influential images.  Then, you'll get the chance to create your own influential image that is designed to make teachers think differently about learning in today's world.  

 

 

 

Step 1: Examining the Characteristics of Influential Visuals

Handout_MemorableMessages.pdf

 

All of the videos and images below are designed to help viewers think through the characteristics of influential visuals.  This lesson draws from the ideas about stickiness layed out by Chip and Dan Heath in the book Made to Stick

 

 

Video 1: Pouring on the Pounds

 

 

 

 

Video 2: Blender Meets iPhone

 

 

 

 

 

Quick Survey: What Makes Messages Memorable?

 

Take a quick minute to reflect on what exactly makes the two videos that you just watched easy to remember.  You can share your thinking by visiting this link.  Our results will automatically appear on this web widget.

 

 

 

 

PowerPoint Image 1

ZombieCreedPPT

 

Original Image: Freemont Zombie Walk 2009 by Kelly Bailey, licensed Creative Commons Attribution on January 1, 2012

 

 

PowerPoint Image 2

PovertySlideBest

 

Original Image:  Homeless in Sugamo 1 by Jim Fischer, licensed Creative Commons Attribution. 

 

 

 

PowerPoint Image 3

PovertySlide_Poor.ppt

 

Original Image:  Save Our Children by rachdian, licensed Creative Commons Attribution.

 

 

 

 

Step 2: Understanding the Creative Commons

 

Quick question: How many time have you gone straight to Google to grab images for school presentation?  Did you know that most of the content you find in Google Image searches is actually protected by copyright?  That means using it without asking permission is a lot like plagiarizing written text -- or like stealing music from file sharing services. 

 

If you want to be a responsible user of digital images, you need to start choosing files that are licensed under the Creative Commons.  Creative Commons is a new form of copyright that the creators of content—music, images, text—are using to license their images.  Creative Commons licenses are designed to encourage others to use content freely in new creations.  Watch the video embedded below to learn more about the logic behind Creative Commons licensing and content.

 

 

 

Then check out Flickr Creative Commons -- one of the best sources for finding really cool images that you can use in presentations fairly!

 

 

 

Step 3: Creating an Influential Visual

 

Now that you've explored the characteristics of influential visuals, use the resources below to create a memorable PowerPoint slide that is designed to convince teachers to think differently about what learning should look like in schools.  

 

 

Technology Quotes Handout:  This document contains a collection of statistics and interesting quotes about teaching and learning in the 21st Century that can serve as content for your PowerPoint slide.  

 

Checklist for Creating Influential Images : Creating influential visual images requires careful attention to the key elements of memorable ideas. Use this checklist to help think through the visual image that you are creating.

 

Assembling a Technology PowerPoint Slide:  This document will help you with the technical skills necessary for assembling a memorable slide in PowerPoint.

 

Scoring Your PowerPoint Slide:  This document can be used to rate the quality of your final PowerPoint slide. 

 

 

Digital Kit for Visual Persuasion Project

 

While you are more than welcome to search for images for your final product in popular Creative Commons warehouses like Flickr Creative Commons, Google Advanced Image Search or Morguefile, Mr. Ferriter has also assembled a digital kit containing 60 interesting PowerPoint slides that you can pull from as well.  Using the images from the digital kit will (1). save you search time and (2). save you formatting time.  To access this digital kit, click here---or use the download link found in the embedded Slideshare widget found below.

 

(Note:  Original image credits can be found in the notes section of each slide or by downloading this file.)

 

Visual Persuasion Digital Kit
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