Designing Principles and Considerations for Technology-based Learning Experiences

Valeria Paladino - Designing Principles and Considerations for Technology-based Learning Experiences

Who... where... what...

Valeria says in Italy there's only one word for challenges - Problem... callin' it like it is.

When creating great online experiences, it's important to know that the focus must be on the pedagogy first, because ultimately, you must know who you're talking to, because if you know process and audience you'll be in much better shape than if you have the fanciest software in the world.

The other conversation is reliant on agreements with the kids regarding their commitment to their online participation. Wikis, Blogs and Google groups if they are used, have to be accessible from school and home. Some tips:

• Cultural neutrality is important.
• Create collaboratively
• Create with the expectation that it's a mess to begin with
• Get feedback from your audiences
• Know your tools
• New content is obvious
• Breadcrumbs help students guide their work
• the complexity of teaching language can add a complexity about the learning objects you need

Designs of grouped activities have to enable choice. Students should be able to move from easy to difficult or directly to difficult as they are prepared.

What I learned at ADETA

I learned

1. Kids don't like school, but they like learning
2. Dr. Alec Couros, Dr. Norm Vaughan and Mr. George Siemens have some real insight into Social Networking tools in learning. Using collaborative tools like Facebook, MySpace, Google Docs, Wikis, Delicious.com, and Blogger.com, kids are creating shared knowledge and making a difference. There's a bit of an evangelical purposity towards using these tools in learning. Lurking mode might be the starting point - create some accounts and see.
3. If you don’t like change, you’re going to like irrelevance even less…
4. For the most part, kids understand when they are distracted...
5. Reflective thought - what is the society that we are preparing our students for?? Is it the society that we live in or the one that is being created and where does the responsibility lie? or at least how much of it lies in education?
6. Students are public by default and private when necessary.
7. Teachers need to be aware and make good decisions about how they use them and how their students use them. Since teachers are not an instant banking machine of dialog (are you up at 4 am??) kids should know through coversation what's reasonable.