Webcams are cool. I have watched an eagle nest and a watering hole in Africa. This one is a little different and even more unique. You can watch Iceland’s recent active volcano live (the image above is a screen capture from the site). According to the website, the camera was moved and is now on Fagradalsfjall, facing Geldingadalur. I admit I had to copy that phrase – no way I would get the spelling correct.
Hypothes.is was the first layering app I used in a class and the app that got me started organizing and explaining examples allowing the annotation of online content. Hypothes.is allows the highlighting and annotation of web pages in a way that be shared publicly or with designated others. The service is free.
In supporting social annotation, I have most relied on my background in study behavior and generative learning not being able to offer research specific to the tools I was showcasing. This lack of research with social annotation may be changing as Hypothes.is has announced that Indiana University, a stalwart of the instructional design community, will be investigating the potential benefits of Hypothes.is in multiple classes. The description of the research questions may be helpful to those interested in the potential benefits of layering applications.
We just purchased an Echo Show and I wanted to offer some initial comments. This is the third generation of the show and it is a great device for the price. The device might appear as an iPad married to a speaker and this is pretty much what it is. The screen is sharp and music played through the speaker has great range.
One of the interesting characteristics of this generation of the Show is that will follow you. It turns toward sound after receiving the word that activates the device. So, Cindy and I can sit on either side of the Show and it will turn toward which of us wants to issue a command. If you give it the “follow” command, the device will turn to follow you as you move. This was the characteristic that most interested us when we purchased the device. We have kids who work in telemedicine and education and wondered what they could do if they could generate video while moving about. The flaw in our reasoning was the 60 second record time. You can record a video that is stored in Amazon photos, but the limit is 60 seconds. Good enough for some demonstrations, but still not as flexible as I would like. You can make video calls to other Echo Shows.
Amazon is selling the Echo Show for $250. If you purchase two, you get $100 off. Cindy initially preordered four devices (one for us and one for each of the three families of our kids). We received the devices as soon as they became available. As a promotion when the devices were first available for immediate shipment, Amazon offered $100 off when purchasing two. They would not extend this promotion price to us. They would, however, allow us to send the devices we had received back (we had not opened the boxes) and reorder. They would just not issue a refund. We sent the four devices back and each of us ordered two as soon as the unopened boxes were in the return mail. We ended up saving $200. Despite Cindy’s best effort to talk to different managers the return and reorder process was required which ended up costing Amazon quite a bit in transportation costs. Go figure.
I have been interested in what I know as mastery learning for many years and published my first research on mastery methods based on a large lecture introductory biology class some 45 years ago (see citation at end of post). The research on mastery methods has always been relatively positive, but the logistics have always been a problem. The management of students at many different levels of understanding/skill and differences in rate of learning challenged educators for instruction that was practical. An important insight is that these challenges exist whether mastery methods are applied or not. This was the point I always tried to make with educators – what happens when students don’t understand and don’t know and it is time for the rest of the class to move on? Understanding the logic of mastery methods seemed to be waiting for implementation ideas to catch up. Tutoring works well, but again has practical limits. Technology has seemed to me to be a reasonable way to allow implementation of core ideas.
I am not the only individual who has latched on to technology as a way to implement mastery concepts. In his book One World Schoolhouse, Salman Kahn offers a chapter on mastery concepts as the basis for his method of online individualization.
Here is another recent description of mastery concepts described as mastery grading. I would not emphasize grading as justification for mastery methods preferring achievement as a better term to emphasize factors that extend beyond grades (e.g., motivation). The article itself offers a nice summary of mastery concepts and you will see that my own writing offers many of the same citations. I don’t see the author of this recent post emphasizing the role of technology. Mastery implementations don’t require technology, but I would argue technology offer great efficiencies in management and the presentation of learning experiences. It is important to think through how teacher time will best be spent in interacting with students most in need to direct assistance.
Latta, R. M., Dolphin, W. D., & Grabe, M. (1978). Individual differences model applied to instruction and evaluation of large college classes. Journal of Educational Psychology, 70(6), 960.
P.S. This post was based on post from the Modern Classroom Project my Google Alerts set to search for mastery learning picked up. After listening to several podcasts from this group, I have found that they do include a significant role for technology in their model. They describe a model based on hybrid learning, self-paced instruction, and mastery assessment. Technology can be a part of the way the hybrid model of instruction.
The FCC will soon offer up to $50 a month toward broadband expenses for households that qualify. This will include the families with children that qualify for reduced income meals.
Households whose children get free or low-cost school meals will also be eligible for the monthly discount of up to $50, as will people who have lost their jobs or had their income reduced in the past year. Low-income college students who receive student aid in the form of federal Pell grants qualify as well.
Those responsible for children need to be informed. I received this information through my AARP source. Old folks need to good wifi too.
As COVID is now hopefully being slowed down, schools are gradually reopening. Decisions on this matter differ by locations and parents and teachers are making personal decisions from place to place. Here are a couple of sources that may be helpful.
The Burbio (a tech company used by some schools) offers a tracker following school opening by location.
NEA maintains a tracker of COVID cases in schools (NPR description). The NEA site builds on the work initiated by teacher Alisha Morris.
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