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Re-forming Summative Assessments

Re-forming Summative Assessments: Blurring the line between learning and testing

What if we could make that timeless question ‘Will this be on the test’ irrelevant? In today’s mainstream educational system we clearly differentiate between assessment and learning. Even when it comes to assessment meant to inform learning (formative assessment) we tend to distinguish between learning and showing that we learned new content and skills. What if we could bring the two much closer… so close that you can’t distinguish one from the other? In this show we will explore research and development efforts and products that move us closer to this seamless learning environment. We will examine what impact this has on products in development today and how this might change the way you think about your offering in the future.

We will explore the following questions:

  • What does a learning environment look like where learning and assessment are seamlessly integrated?
  • What are the benefits and issues with this approach?
  • Does this require technology or are there strategies that transcend the use of technology?
  • How does this integration fit in a world of high stakes assessment?
  • How can a content developer take advantage of this strategy to improve their existing and new products?

Guests at the table:

  1. Elizabeth Greninger, Ph.D.,  Managing Associate and Teacher Quality Specialist at edCount, LLC
  2. Stuart Kahl, Founding Principal and former CEO of Measured Progress
  3. Shawn Morgan, District Data Coordinator at CNY Regional Information Center

Moving from STEM to STEAM

Where Art Thou?:
Moving from STEM to STEAM

Ed Table Talk will be broadcasting LIVE Tuesday, December 16th, 2014

STEM is all the rage and rightly so. The skills our children need to learn regardless of their profession incorporate the skills that are taught in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics classes. With the emphasis on these studies one has to wonder what has become of a well-rounded liberal arts education. Schools in many cases have squeezed out fine and performing arts in order to make time for all STEM requirements. In the last five years however, many have come to understand, that arts incorporate complimentary processes to those addressed in STEM curricula. Things have started to heat up in moving from STEM to add the arts and move to STEAM. 

In this show, we will explore how the arts are integrated into a STEM centered curriculum and provide a vision of how arts can be better integrated to provide learning opportunities for all students. 

Join Host Michael Jay and ETT Guests ponder the following:

  1. What are some examples of the process of moving from STEM to STEAM?
  2. What benefits and trade offs are made in the process of incorporating arts into a STEM curriculum?
  3. How prepared are educators to engage learners in learning activities that incorporate the arts?
  4. What can publishers and curriculum developers do to incorporate more STEM into their arts curricula and/or more arts into their STEM curricula?

Guests at the table:

1. Michelle Cheng – Professional Development Manager at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

2. Bob Barboza – Founder & CEO of Super School K12 International University

3. Daniel Barstow – Senior Science Educator at TERC


On the Make

WATCH: On the Make: Moving to Active Learning through Design and Creation

Ed Table Talk broadcasted from Follett’s New Worldwide Headquarters!

8:00am PT/11:00am ET Tues. Sept. 16th.

Active learning is hard to leave in the classroom… if compelling, learners recount and rethink what they learned long after the lesson ends. The Maker movement embraces a “hands on, minds on” approach that links the tactile nature of learning with building and knowledge. This episode of Ed Table Talk explores the structure of the maker movement and asks the pivotal question: What is the importance of providing realistic context for students to apply their knowledge and become better learners?

The Maker movement has a long history in how we teach and students learn. The movement helps to change the perception about how best to teach students and how we prepare educators to manage a rich learning environment. Anybody who used pipe cleaners and Popsicle sticks was a member of the Maker movement, so why is it that we often forego this teaching strategy as students get older?

Research shows that kids who apply what they learn create more extensive knowledge that they can then apply in a variety of contexts outside of the classroom. This especially rings true for students who tend to be more visual learners. We will discuss ways that this strategy can be applied in your offerings and how it makes students better learners in their other academic pursuits — writing, math, science, social science, and the arts.

Host Michael Jay and guests discuss the popular Maker movement and its implications for preK-12 teaching and learning.

Guests at the table:

1. Jeff Branson, Educational Outreach at SparkFun

2. Sylvia Martinez, Author and Independent Education Consultant

3. Gary Stager, Publisher and CMFO at Constructing Modern Knowledge Press

 


Big Publishers

June 2014 — Big Publishers:

Can the Spanish Armada transform into the British Fleet?

Can big publishers change enough to address how today’s students learn, educators teach, and shifting business models associated with both? In the US textbook market we have three very large players. Big publishers have process, coordination, and business accountability issues which are far less of a hindrance to smaller organizations. The result is that larger organizations can’t change quickly. While all publishers are concerned with making quarterly numbers and hitting academic deadlines, a large corporate infrastructure, while necessary for a large organization, limits the ability of that organization to adapt to market demands. How does the move from print to digital look different for large publishers versus smaller organizations? Schools continue to adopt instructional resources and either ask that the electronic version be included with the print, ask for a class set of print and a digital version for all students, or only want the digital version… sometimes only a few chapters! We will discuss how publishers, small and large, can make it through this morass and emerge successfully in a digital first world. We’ll touch on tools and technical standards that can ease this transition. Take a seat at the table as guests take a bite out of questions like:

  1. What role are big publishers playing in the future?
  2. What opportunities does this leave for smaller organizations?
  3. Is it sustainable to provide both print and digital assets?
  4. Is it the job of the publisher to lead innovation or to reflect innovation and change?

Indulge your appetite with host, Michael Jay, and our guests at The Table! Guests at The Table:

  • Jaume Barceló, Director, Vicens Vive
  • Dick Casabonne, CEO, Casabonne Associates Inc.
  • Dan Caton, President, Wittel/Morris Strategic Consulting

Listen: Big Publishers Watch:


Privacy, Anonymity, and Instruction

May 2014 — Privacy, Anonymity, and Instruction

Privacy today looks very different than it did 20 years ago… and the drive toward more personalized instruction from students, parents, and educators challenges privacy even further. Is it possible to build barriers to thwart data thieves and support general anonymity while providing educators with access to assessment and more nuanced qualitative information?  The ability to balancing these demands is essential if we are to realize the benefits that personalized learning can offer.

Communities are trying to address the challenge of providing the infrastructure to support quality education, while still adhering to socially acceptable policies around data security and anonymity. With instruction, it’s not simply about assessment but providing substantial feedback that allows students to become masters of their own learning. In order to be effective, educators and educational environments need to know who the learner is, balance the trade offs between complete anonymity and provide access to information that informs instruction.

Join Michael Jay and guests as they take a bite out of the hard questions like:

  1. How is technology outside of education progressing and how can we leverage it to improve our systems?
  2. How can we educate decision makers about the trade offs around privacy/anonymity and also set expectations with parents and the larger community?

Guests at the Table:

  1. Tim Discipio, Founder, ePals
  2. Jeff Patterson, Founder and CEO, Gaggle, Inc.
  3. Francesca Venning, Learning Technology Consultant, Venning and Associates

 

Resource

May’s rumor from You Can’t Handle the Truth can be found, here.

Listen: http://youtu.be/hHds38C7yqQ


Putting the ‘Person’ in Personalized

March 2014 — Putting the ‘Person’ in Personalized

Our education system is a one size fits some environment. What happens as we move towards personalized learning and what opportunities are available for educators, administrators, students and parents? Personalized learning has been constructed around our traditional beliefs of what it means to educate. Often times people think of it as a process that that we do to someone. What does a successful implementation of personalized learning look like? Does the learner take more responsibility for their learning? Inherently, as the role of the student changes, so does that of the teacher. What is the role of technology in mediating and moderating that process, as well as handling issues of accountability, resource identification and communication?

Everyone’s buzzing about personalized learning, but how can we put the person in personalized learning? Join Michael Jay and guests as they discuss what personalized learning means for education and what steps we need to take today to support this idea for educating our youth.

Guests at The Table:

  1. Shawn Bay, Founder, eScholar
  2. Barbara Bray, Creative Learning Strategist, Co-Founder of Personalize Learning
  3. Steve Nordmark, Chief Academic Officer, Knovation

Listen:



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