Final Project - Maker Movement

Interview

For my interview regarding the maker movement, I chose to interview a teacher that began her maker movement journey at the beginning of the year. Her building and job title is comparable to mine, so learning from her would make implementing more feasible for me. Here is our conversation regarding what she has learned the past year.

Movie Maker

As a culminating project, I created a movie using Movie Maker regarding the Maker Movement and specifically Maker Spaces. To complete my project, I researched information regarding the Maker Movement, curated these resources in Flipboard, and summarized my findings in a movie. Below are the references for my content as well as images. After viewing my movie, I hope you have a better understanding of the Maker Movement and it's positive impacts on students. Though I focused mainly on MakerSpaces, this information can be applied to the Maker Movement as a whole.

Below are the 2 magazines I created to curate the information for my project.

  View my Flipboard Magazine. View my Flipboard Magazine. 

References:

DeWitt, P. (2017, March 22). Makerspaces: A Tool That Can Transform Learning. Retrieved April 21, 2017, from http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/finding_common_ground/2017/03/what_are_makerspaces_a_tool_that_can_transform_learning.html?cmp=soc-edit-tw

Jairio, H. (2015).  [Online image]. Retrieved from https://pixabay.com/en/time-tiempo-count-day-future-699965/

Jarrett, K. (2012). Engineering design process. [Online image]. Retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/photos/kjarrett/8223940390

Jena, Passut. (2016, March 28). Q&A with Makerspaces Innovator Laura Fleming on the Best     Creative Spaces in K–12. Retrieved April 21, 2017, from http://www.edtechmagazine.com/k12/article/2016/03/qa-makerspaces-innovator-laura-fleming

Makerspace in the main library. (2014). Retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/photos/5chw4r7z/16375687852

Makerspaces: the Challenges. (2015, December 12). Retrieved April 18, 2017, from https://curiositycommons.wordpress.com/makerspaces-the-challenges/

Provenzano, N. (2015, July 15). Fostering Creativity With Makerspaces. Retrieved April 21, 2017, from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/fostering-creativity-with-makerspaces-nicholas-provenzano

Reid, J. [Online Image]. (2006, October, 4). Hand. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Stop-hand-caution.png

Rendina, D. (2016, April 13). Defining Makerspaces: What the Research Says. Retrieved April 19, 2017, from http://renovatedlearning.com/2015/04/02/defining-makerspaces-part-1/

Santana, L. (2011). Creativity. [Online image]. Retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/photos/llowrain/5523800294

Tierney, J. (2015, April 20). The Dilemmas of Maker Culture. Retrieved April 20, 2017, from https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/04/the-dilemmas-of-maker-culture/390891/

Gamification in Education

What if there was a way to instill persistence, problem solving and agency in students all while learning in an educationally sound yet fun environment? Proponents of gamification in education believe bringing games into the classroom will instill these attributes in students.

Students Learn...

When a student partakes in gamification, they are given the opportunity to not only learn the content, but also:

• participate in gaming which they may already find entertaining and engaging
• work at their own pace
• earn points or badges for their hard work
• learn without having the pressure of knowing everything the first time
• engage in a social environment where all students support each other
• experience immediate feedback related to their learning

With gamification comes badging - where students can earn badges or points each time a level is completed. This first time I heard of badging was at a 2013 conference where Todd Nesloney (Tech Ninja Todd) spoke about how he successfully used badging to teach students the elements of Google Education Apps. Each time a student completed a unit successfully, they moved on to the next unit and also earned a badge for their work. The badging, I believe, aid students in understanding what they have already mastered, have yet to master, and provides motivation to continue.

Test Driving a Game

To test out gamification in education, I worked through levels in GameStar Mechanic. The reason why I chose this one is because I know of a Gifted and Talented teacher that uses GameStar Mechanic as an avenue for students to learn game design. Even though she touts how her students are extremely interested in the game and learn along the way, I had not yet had a chance to see what GameStar Mechanic had to offer, until today.

What caught my interest immediately was the fact that students had the opportunity to just play games through the first few levels. Though it felt like these levels were just there for fun, the user is actually learning how games work by playing one! Once the player is accustomed to how games are made, they are moved onto levels which provide them opportunities to build their own games, using what was seen and learned in the first part of GameStar Mechanic.

After playing levels, I have come to conclusions about gamification in general. Since gaming is something my students are already extremely immersed in and have experience with, it makes since to bring games to education. When reading about gamification, various students came to mind; those who really love video games and want to be gamers when they grow up, students who are not motivated by typical lessons, and competitive students. I do believe all these students would be served extremely well with gamified education. Gamification can be extrinsically motivating to the students due to the earning of badges and competition between classmates. However, intrinsic motivation is provided as well in the form of engagement and excitement created by the games. I believe a good game must have a balance between intrinsic and extrinsic to keep students motivated. When playing GameStar Mechanic, I was thinking about my English Language Learners and low readers in relation to the hurdles they would face reading the back story at the beginning of the game. The game itself was frustrating at times; there was one level I just couldn't seem to get passed and no help was provided by the game. This is where intrinsic motivators may fail but there still is extrinsic motivation for the user to cling to.

Explore Like a Pirate

One of the people I follow on Twitter is Michael Matera (@mrmatera) who is the author of Explore Like a Pirate. I've always really enjoyed his tweets and even take time to explore what he posts. This education game-changer has his students learning their content through games. He even sells badges on his personal website. In a blog post, he calls learning involving games "purpose driven learning". At the beginning of the year he talks about this kind of learning and discusses their learning using the words enthusiasm, effort, confidence, focus, resilience, dependability, initiative, creativity, curiosity and empathy. What an exciting yet focused way to begin a gamification unit. Right away, the students are understanding they aren't just playing a game, but instead instilling various abilities in themselves.

References
Chou, A. Y. (2017, February 26). Gamification in Education: Top 10 Gamification Case Studies that will Change our Future. Retrieved April 12, 2017, from http://yukaichou.com/gamification-examples/top-10-education-gamification-examples/

Gamification of Education. (n.d.). Retrieved April 12, 2017, from http://ed.ted.com/on/uk36wtoI

Matera, M. (2016, December 05). Building Inner Strength Through Purpose Driven Learning…. Retrieved April 12, 2017, from http://explorelikeapirate.com/building-inner-strength-through-purpose-driven-learning/

Flipping A Classroom

Flippin' A Class
How do you spend time with your students during your classes? Are you able to provide individual attention or do you spend your precious time trying to reach everyone all at once? Proponents for Flipped Classrooms believe their pedagogy allows teachers to utilize classroom minutes to reach all students on an individual level. By providing instruction via online videos for students to watch at night, teachers allegedly have more time to work individually with students. When students enter the door of a flipped classroom, they should already be possessing knowledge on a specific topic from viewing videos (created by the teacher) the night before.

The idea for a flipped classroom sounds intriguing. I have listened to teachers present at conferences about how their students thrive in a flipped classroom. There is no doubt in my mind the students in these particular classrooms are learning at intense rates. The positives of flipping a classroom seem fairly obvious: students can watch and re-watch videos as necessary, being absent has less effect on your learning, and applying your knowledge happens in the classroom instead of at home on the kitchen table doing homework. With all that being said, in my position I do not believe the complete flipped classroom model would be beneficial to my students because:

• I teach 6 classes a day to various students in K-5 (read: that's a ton of videos)
• Most of my students do not own their own devices
• The families in my community do not have internet access, unless it's through a phone
• Seeing my students every 4 days is not optimal for carrying over learning

But of course, I am not like every classroom. If I was back teaching in my 5th grade, Catholic school building I would give flipping a classroom a try! Two students who were extremely high in math come to mind. I can imagine the possibilities of flipping math for their benefit!

Giving It A Go

For my video, I used Educreations instead of screen casting. Though Educreations is not new to me, it's been a while since I've used it, unlike the screen casting I do numerous times a year. The topic is digital footprint geared toward my 4th graders. Before you view my video, here is what I learned from my experience:

1. Educreations has simple tools, which for me, made life harder. Why can't there just be an undo button instead of erasing everything?
2. The video took me 2 tries, the first time my Flash decided it was too late in the night to work.
3. I have horrible handwriting and it is intensified using a drawing tool.
4. I realized student comments and conversations tend to drive my instruction. Impromptu conversations that arise when discussing digital footprint is something I miss.
5. Saving halfway through and trying to view your work is NOT possible (I learned the hard way).
6. I can add pictures? Wahoo!
7. My 4 minute video took me an hour to create.
8. Creating a video for my students to watch instead of giving the same directions over and over would be helpful! For instance, if I hear How is it again that I log onto Google Classroom?" I can point them to a video.

References for pictures in video:

Free Image on Pixabay - Brush, Paint, Art, Colorful. (n.d.). Retrieved April 06, 2017, from https://pixabay.com/p-1318350/?no_redirect

Garcia, D. (2016, January 06). Found an old, chubby Sharpie in the mix. Aficionados will know the difference. #sharpie. Retrieved April 06, 2017, from  https://www.flickr.com/photos/gypsyroguescholar/23578214663

(n.d.). Retrieved April 06, 2017, from https://pixabay.com/en/road-start-beginning-intention-368719/

R. (2006, February 14). Retrieved April 06, 2017, from https://www.flickr.com/photos/rufino_uribe/99768345