FocusOn Learning 2017 Top 3 Takeaways

Attending my first eLearning Guild FocusOn Learn Conference highlighting mobile, games, and video was fulfilling. I look forward to implementing and sharing the many new skills I have learned.

Ma ka hana ka ʻike.
In working one learns. [#2088]

The ʻōlelo noʻeau above describes my experience. One key quote that stuck with me from a session was to budget in "5+ minutes of playtime daily." [Take away #1] In order to stay innovative and engaged, we need to cognizantly build in playtime, especially when we have such busy lives. Since returning home, although I have not been able to integrate daily play time, I have increased my time to explore new apps or ideas that come up. I explored the Word Swag app an tweeted for my first play time since the conference ended.


My take away #2 was not something new, but a good reminder that the field of instructional design continues to evolve. Although mobile, games, video, virtual reality (VR) are key trends at the moment, it truly comes down to quality instructional design strategies and strategically mixing the use of apps and software to achieve your end product, a quality learning experience for your users.

Throughout the conference, I especially enjoyed the BYOL (Bring Your Own Laptop) sessions, in which I could explore and try new skills. The power of Articulate 360 and other tools such as Animoto, Go Animate, etc. to develop for multiple mobile device formats has truly allowed instructional designers to focus more on designing the learning experience vs. the technical aspects of coding and programming animations [Take away #3]. Reference my conference notes for screen shots and technical tips.


Lastly, of course I can't miss posting the new apps I've integrated since learning about them at the conference.

• 53 (sketch & notes app)
• Word Swag (text on image professional look in seconds)
• Top Hat (create interactive lecture experience)
• Adobe Capture (turns photos into production ready assets using mobile camera)
• Office Lens (automatically modifies photos taken from an angle)
• Bubb.li (create photos and stitch together to create VR hotspots & links)

2015 DevLearn 2015 Top 3 Highlights

I thoroughly enjoyed attending DevLearn 2015, a conference specifically focused on educational technology. I have never seen so many instructional designers gathered together at one particular conference. It was great to be able to network and hear about the work others did in the same field. Reflecting on the conference notes, my three main take-aways and items I plan to focus on implementing include:

Agile Project Management: This full day workshop covered the basics of agile project management to practical application examples that could be applied to any eLearning project. I plan to:

1. Share agile project management concepts with my team, in particular this infographic:
   
   “Agile is as much an attitude as it is a project management method.”
2. Discuss collaboratively to determine what would further enhance and streamline our DL development process; In the discussions, I also plan to incorporate discussions related to Carnegie's Plan Do Study Act (PDSA) cycle, profiling personas, etc.
3. Document new DL development processes
4. Implement, pilot & form new norms for development of online resources

Games, Badges & Tools to Support Learning: These topics seemed to be trending topics at the conference. Many presenters shared gaming concepts and how the application of these concepts could enhance learning. I enjoyed my session where various tools to support learning were shared, from games to iBeacons (devices where you receive extra information if you’re in physical proximity to something). I plan to:

1. Play the Knack game that was suggested to assist with profiling, etc.
2. Determine whether or not specific tools to support learning would work well for our team

Innovation: All conference keynotes touched upon the need for innovation within our field (e.g. looking at dots that others don't see) and learning to fail and keep pushing ourselves to innovate. At the conference, I bought a set of story cubes for myself as I thought it was a great introductory activity when brainstorming or building pilina.

1. The two keynotes mentioned the Importance of storytelling (mo`olelo). I saw a lot of tie into to connections of culture & the importance of using stories to not only look into our past, but also looking ahead of what future stories we might want to tell others (innovations).
2. I plan to integrate the use of story cubes into an upcoming team activity to increase building pilina as well as encouraging moʻolelo and inspirations for future innovations.

Bonus: The very last session I attended at DevLearn is something I hope to be able to find some time to dive into practicing, advanced animations using PowerPoint. Here is a sample of what can be done with PPT animations. I hope to:

1. Increase my PPT technical & ID skills (play around)
2. Determine what to pilot PPT with.
3. Pilot & continue increasing skills.

2014 Hawaiʻi Education Leadership Summit Top 3 Highlights

Attending my first Hawaiʻi Education Leadership Summit was an engaging and meaningful experience for me. Having time with my leadership team to discuss tactical next steps to move distance learning forward at Kamehameha Schools (KS) was productive. Here are my top 3 highlights:

1. Agreeing on desired outcomes and next steps for distance learning at KS.
   
   Commitment to...publicly showcasing KS distance learners' work (hō`ike + pilina + `ike) [showcasing authentic learning + building relationships + share & continually seek knowledge]. 
2. Reflecting on where we are in distance learning, but also KS as an organization based upon Steven Edwards' suggested educational models. These models affirmed that we're headed in the right direction.
   
   
3. Quotes that struck a chord for me.
• "Move at the pace of the fastest." Steven Edwards
• "To do disruptive innovation, you have to be willing to be misunderstood for a very long time." Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com: Innovation, Turning ON innovation in your culture, teams & organizations, Terry Jones 2012

My next steps:

Just do it...I look forward to implementing our agreed upon committment from our time together.

Kamehameha Schools (KS) Teacher Leadership Academy 2013 Top 3 Highlights

Participating in the inaugural KS Teacher Leadership Academy with our facilitator Joeleen Killion and numerous KS teacher leaders was a great experience for me this past July.  My top 3 highlights for our three days together included:

1. Teacher leader roles and attributes are numerous, yet essential.  
1. Roles range from data coach, classroom supporter, school leader, resource provider, mentor, learning facilitator, instructional specialist, curriculum specialist, catalyst for change, and continuous learner.  
• Attributes of teacher leaders: their knowledge to understand information, theories & research; beliefs about the value of specific information and/or strategies; skills they possess to apply their knowledge; aspirations and desire to engage in a particular practices; and behaviors to consistently apply knowledge and skills.
• We summed up our thoughts of a teacher leader through a visual reflection image (posted here).
2. Teacher leader standards provide a framework for meaningful discussions on the knowledge, skills, and competencies expected of teacher leaders.

• Domain I: Fostering a collaborative culture to support educator development and student learning
• Domain II: Accessing and using research to improve practice and student learning
• Domain III: Promoting professional learning for continuous improvement
• Domain IV: Facilitating improvements in instruction and student learning
• Domain V: Promoting the use of assessments and data for school and district improvement
• Domain VI: Improving outreach and collaboration with families and community
• Domain VII: Advocating for student learning and the profession
3. Facilitation and communication strategies for teacher leaders are tools that will assist a teacher leader.  I've listed several examples utilized below.

• Our facilitator, Joellen, modeled various facilitation strategies well.  I particularly liked her learning buddies clock strategy in which she had us identify 12 individuals in the room we don't usually work with and paired us up to complete various activities throughout the 3 days.  Good strategy to mix individuals throughout the event.
• We also reflected consistently using images and/or several key words to capture our thoughts. We then paired up with a buddy to combine our words into a "phrase."
• During an activity in which we watched a model school staff meeting with teacher leaders video, each table was asked to focus on a specific topic to report out on.  This strategy sustained a large group of individuals' attention, but also placed responsibility (kuleana) on each group to process and share out allowing everyone to easily reflect on concepts afterwards. 

How will I apply what I have learned?

1. We completed a 30 & 60 day plan, in which I plan to discuss and integrate teacher leader roles with my team and various project teams I participate in.  
2. I also plan to self-reflect as a teacher leader and how I can continue to improve in my current role at KS, including applying facilitation strategies modeled by Joellen.
3. To date, I have already worked with Claire to integrate teacher leader roles into the Charter Schools blended and online support project we're kick starting as well as had discussion with our Tri-Campus blended ad online project team discussions as we discuss next steps on how we could better support teacher leaders at KS interested in blended and online learning.

International Society for Technology for Education (ISTE) 2013 Conference Top 3 Highlights

What a blessing it was to have the opportunity to attend the ISTE June 2013 conference in Texas, San Antonio alongside 20,000+ attendees.  This was by far the largest conference I have attended to date. Imagine having to stand in Disneyland-type lines to enter the keynote presentation hall that could accommodate thousands and thousands of people.  Not having attended an ISTE conference since 2005, it was such a refreshing, inspirational, reflective, and enjoyable experience for me.

My top 3 highlights of the conference included:

1. Adam Bellow's closing keynote titled "You're Invited to Change the World" (begins approximately at 23 minutes): His keynote was my favorite at the conference.  Not only were his slide deck an exemplar model of instructional design practices, his method of delivery appealed to diverse learning styles and inspired all types of audiences to change the world through educational technology. I especially enjoyed how he started his keynote with his experience at ISTE through his Google Glass and his sharing of numerous relevant personal stories throughout his keynote that showcased innovative and practical application of educating today's learners.  This archived keynote is definitely worth your time.
   
2. Game-Based Learning: I attended many sessions surrounding the topic of game-based learning trying to wrap my head around what the most current trends are along with samples within a K-12 environment.  Minecraft and Angry Birds seemed to be fairly popular games in secondary education. One of Harvard's grant custom created virtual environments for middle school students revolving around ecosystems was an interesting project, http://ecomuve.gse.harvard.edu/. Another session provided this game analysis checklist resource by Andrew Miller, which I felt was a helpful guide for those diving into creating game-based learning.  
3. Mobile Learning & Augmenting in the Classroom: QR codes were everywhere, especially as you visited the poster sessions.  As I sat in various mobile learning sessions, there were many ideas and working samples provided by presenters (various uses of QR code activities in the classroom, creating vocabulary word walls for various topics, student presentation visuals created and placed around the room with embedded videos that students could provide peer to peer feedback, creating museum and other living history tours, interactive yearbook with interviews, etc.).  These ideas inspired me to create an activity for our team upon my return from the conference so I  could inspire them to integrate meaningful experiences for our blended and online learners.  Aurasma seemed to be the most popular app of choice at the moment followed by QR code readers.
   
   
   

How will I apply what I have learned?
There were so many ideas spinning in my head, even 2 months after attending the conference.  After reviewing all my session notes and various archived session recordings, I zoned in on the following next steps to implement what I have learned through this valuable professional development experience.

1. Mobile learning - During development of new projects by our team, I will be encouraging everyone to keep mobile learning at the forefront of their minds, not only simply providing mobile accessibility to the cultural content we develop, but also brainstorming meaningful instructional strategies in which we could implement relevant and impactful experiences for our Hawaiian learners.
2. Augmented learning - I will develop a culture-based augmented learning activity to integrate into our team meeting that will both model and encourage them to think of innovative solutions to engage our online learners.
3. Game-based learning - I will be sharing what I have learned related to game-based learning and brainstorm how beneficial this could be if/when integrated strategicallinto our online programs and support services projects.  One of our Tri-Campus teachers indicated interest in moving in this area and I look forward to supporting that.
4. I will continue to keep student learning outcomes and experiences as the forefront driver of the projects we work on, especially with so many new technologies emerging in the educational technology market...testing a wide range of technologies, but only selecting those that will integrate seamlessly and truly enhance student learning in blended and online environments.

Punahou Brain Symposium - June 2012

The theme for the Punahou Brain Symposium 2012 Conference...create a bridge between brain science and the classroom intrigured me.  I've always been interested in brain development and how it relates to education.  Overall, I enjoyed these past two days of neuroscience research immersion with the focus on how we could apply it to education and learning. 

1. Brain Rules key note session - Dr. John Medina (Part 1)
• Language verbal acqusition rates are highest between the ages of 6 months to 5 years old (research by Patricia Kuhl) and the American education system teaches foreign language in middle and high school = learning gap.
• "We are natural explorers...The human brain is designed to solve problems related to surviving in natural settings during unstable outdoor environments in constant motion."  How does that relate to how we design an learning environment?   
• Cognitive functions increase with long term aerobic exercise (minimum 3 years) - 150 minutes of moderate activity over a 7 day period. - Aerobic workout changes the brain chemistry.  Why would we cut out P.E. in education?
• Would exercising twice a day with students in gym clothes create smater, more productive students? 
• How do you push information from declarative --> immediate --> working memory --> long term memory?  "90% is gone if you don't repeat the information within the first 60-90 minutes"  How would we structure school? 
• "It takes 10 years for the brain to consolidate information...We should give kids immune booster shots in learning, giving them the information repetitively." 
• My reflective thoughts: For online learning, I wonder what type of activities could be seamlessly incorporated into the curriculum to encourage aerobic exercise to increase cognitive function?  To increase repetitive information scaffolded throughout multiple curriculum?
2. From Cradle to Graduation: Movement Makes Body/Mind Connections for Optimal Learning - Dr. Paul Zientarski 
• Direct correlation between physical fitness and academic scores (studies in CA, TX).
• "Consistent exercise, and certain typse of specific exercises, can both temporarily and permanently affect the way your brain is able to focus, its ability to deal with stress and anxiety, and its ability to learn..." - Dr. John Ratey, Harvard Brain Researcher
• Brain Delivered Neurotrophic Faceotr (BDNF) - regardless of age, aerobic workout generates new brain cells.  Brain cells need to be stressed (new learning) to increase problem solving.  High sugar, high fat diet significantly decreases BDNF.
• Google will not hold a meeting longer than 20 minutes. 
• Neuroscientists believe students learn 10% more when they are standing as opposed to sitting.
• Brain breaks: David Sladkey, Scott Miller
• My reflective thoughts: I enjoyed the "brain break" activities.  I think it would be a good idea for me to incorporate these types of activities into our team meetings, which normally lasts longer than 20 minutes. 
3. Brain Rules keynote session - Dr. John Media (Part 2)
• "People don't pay attention (arousal states) to boring things."
• Only 4 years ago, we knew why we need to sleep (not for energy restoration).  Time of day and quality of sleep impact the "whole brain" attentional state.
• During the "nap zone," (1:30 - 3:30 p.m.) you have decreased attentional state, memory and ability to problem solve.  Simply nap for 26 minutes that time to re-energize. 
• "What other management strategy will improve people's performance in just 26 minutes?" - Mark Rosekind.
• People have genetic sleep patterns (late or early productivity).  Could we have schools open 24 hours?
• Mike Posner: study indicating that the brain cannot multitask.
• It will take twice as long to complete tasks if you multitask(brain interruptions) with 50% more errors.
• Neuroplasticity: every brain is wired differently and we all learn differently based upon that wiring. 
• My reflective thoughts:  Classrooms of the future can address individual sleep and attention span needs by providing online learning opportunities for students and teachers. 
4. Sensory-Cognitive Functions for Language Processing -
• Students need to picture things before they can learn it.
• 3 sensory-cognitive functions: phonemic awareness (auditorily perceive the identity, numer and sequence of sounds within words, symbol imagery (visually image sounds in words), concept imagery (create an image as a whole from oral or written language).
• My reflective thoughts: What type of activities could we incorporate into our A'o Makua program that would increase these skills for parents to share with their keiki (children)?
5. How to Support All Learners with Universal Design for Learning (UDL) - Kimble McCann
• "Technology does not make the teacher...focus on strategies, tactics & skills"
• Universal design not only benefits those with disabilities, but everyone.
• "UDL is a framework for making our curriculum more inclusive."
• Universal Design for Learning Guidelines:  Provide multiple means of representation, action and expression, and engagement.
• My reflective thoughts: The hands-on group activity provided me with the opportunity to immediately incorporate UDL guidelines into a product.  This session reminded me of the importance of online accessibility and ensuring we are able to design and provide learning opportunities for all.

After attending the conference, I immediately shared what I learned with my colleagues.  During our KSDL Online Instructor gathering the day after the conference, I incorporated "brain exercises" that I learned into our agenda and everyone seemed to enjoy these activities very much and were excited about how it could be applied in teaching.  I'm looking forward to attending next year's conference and also getting a hand on Dr. Medina's book, Brain Rules.

KS Ed Tech Conference 2012

When the KS Ed Tech Conference was offered again this year, I was looking forward to participate.  In prep for the conference, I downloaded the mobile Event Board App to select my sessions.  The oli and hula opening by our KS Middle school hālau  was beautiful,which was followed by two full days of keynote and sessions.  Overall, I enjoyed my experience.  It was nice having the opportunity to reconnect with others, network with new individuals and get inspired by what others are doing.  Here are selected highlighted sessions that I attended.  For additional conference conversations, tap into the Twitter hashtag #ksedtech.

1.  Learning in a Networked World - Will Richardson
   • Introduced to a new back channel tool, http://todaysmeet.com/ksbe.  I tried creating a back channel immediately afterwards and it was very easy. :)
   • "How does giving multiple choice tests prepare students for a world with multiple networks?"
   • "How you teach and run classrooms with scarce content (before technology) is very different from classrooms with an abundance of content (now)?"
   • "What is our (educators) value in a world of abundance?" - Knewton (personalized learning system), Motuto (onine tutor), Slader (answers to math & science problems), FoldIt (solving puzzles for science)
   •  Seymore Sarason - "Productive learning is the learning process which engenders and reinforces wanting to learn more."
   • "If we don't find ways to measure what we value, we will value what we measure" - Do we assess creativity, social learning, etc.?
   • "Learning is personal (not personalized)" - personalized is something we do to kids and personal is something kids choose.
2. Mobile Devices and Digital Content: The Impact on Learning and Student Achievement - Dan McCormack
• Hands-on showcase of various apps for educational use...
• Cell and Cell Structure (science interactive app focused on cells), Brain Pro (learn about the brain), Tree Hut (loved this one...word pronounciation, ability to record, paint, etc.), Motion Math (learning fractions through movement of the iPad), Flow Math, Nine Gaps (learning the multiplication table)
• There are so many unlimited possibilities with the variety of apps that are available now for downloading.  
• I downloaded the Tree Hut app and had my 3-year old test it out.  She enjoyed it and was engaged for 15-20 minutes.
3. The End of Wonder in the Age of Whatever - Dr. Michael Wesch
• "Who are we?  What are we going to do?  Are we going to make it?"
• "How can we inspire our students to be in a state of wonder?  From knowledgeable to wonder."
• "If you leave burning questions with your students (spark passion), it will propel them where they want to go."
• "We live in the world of the vicious cycle of the age of whatever.  This is what we make of it."
• A Vision of Students Today - YouTube video,  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGCJ46vyR9o
• "Embrace vulnerability and allow students to fail."
• How can we create space where students can embrace vulnerability to wonder learn?
4. The 21st Century Learning Environment: A Case Study - Douglas Kiang
• Course based on challenge-based learning,  https://www.challengebasedlearning.org/ with flipped model, lecture podcast, 1:1 iPads for a programming class that had students custom creating an app.  
• He was ok with not being the expert in the course, truly shifting from teacher-centered learning to student-centered learning.  I wonder how many teachers would be comfortable with this type of learning.
• "What would your course look like if it were a start up?" - would we educate differently?
• Photo Booth app used to capture reflection points of where students were stuck...30 seconds.   

For this conference, I also co-presented with Nick for our presentation titled "Driving Online Learning from Concept to Process."  Our presentation didn't have too many attendees (12-15), but was attended by those interested in online learning and was well received.  Nick and I were approached by two Punahou teachers following our presentation for engaged conversations related to our presentation topic.  For our presentation, technology-wise, we decided to explore the new software, Articulate Storyline, which added to our prep time, but was a worthwhile experience providing me with the opportunity to play with new technologies.

So how will I apply what I learned to my work? I definetly had lots of ideas floating in my head throughout the conference.  I thoroughly enjoyed Michale Wesh's keynote and hope to be able to apply his concept of creating environments in blended and online learning that will encourage students to "wonder" while providing opportunities for them to embrace vulnerability and be able to fail to learn and succeed.  Easier said than done. ;)  Many of my colleagues were in attendance at the conference and our lunch discussions were enriched with ideas that would impact our online programs as well as projects I'm currently involved with (Tri-Campus blended and online learning).  I plan to continually champion transformation of education for 21st century learning with the many ideas that were shared at this conference.