Teaching and learning with the brain in mind.

I recently listened to an Educause podcast from their 2008 annual conference.  The presentation was by Dr. V.S. Ramachandran who is the Professor and Director of the Centre for Brain and Cognition at the University of California.  This speech offered an insight into brain function using what we consider abnormal function as the stimulus.

In one section of his speech, Dr. Ramachandran speaks of patients who experience a phenomenon called synesthesia.  This is a condition where there is a cross linking of the senses.  I encourage you to download this podcast and listen.  What had made this significant for me, follows on from my blogpost about Amanda Baggs.  In this post I mentioned an old friend who has inspired my practice.  This speech on synethesia reaffirmed the concept that not everyone thinks the same way.  But even more significant, is that not everyone interprets the same stimulus the same way.

If I apply this to my classes, I know there are a variety of thinking strategies and learning behaviours existent.  I am aware of a variety of teaching strategies I employ to ensure I am providing a productive learning experiences to as many students as possible.  Dr. Ramachandran's speech however, pointed out to me that the specific stimulus can be interpreted many ways.  How often has this resulted in a misunderstanding of what I required in an assessment task?  How often has this resulted in a misunderstanding in regards to behaviour?  How often have I confused my students and others?

It would be ridiculous to expect that I could tap into the brains of each and every person I interact with in order to understand the best way to present information to them.  Yet this speech has pointed out to me that when I deal with learning in groups, the stimulus (learning) material may be interpreted in different ways.  This has me thinking about my interactions in class and noticing (more) the body language and hearing (more) the verbal language of my students as I attempt to interpret understanding as I intend it.

Moving

Unfortunately I've had to end my relationship with blogger.  Simply because the site is blocked through my organizational filters.  From this point on the blog will continue at My Journey with Digital Pedagogy - http://shanetechteach.edublogs.org

Inspiration

There are rare occasions where I stumble across something that is so inspiring and emotional to me as a teacher.  Amanda Baggs video "In my language", and subsequently her blog, is one of those moments.  Looking at the dates on the video, this is not a recent web addition, however its recent in my experience, hence the seemingly belated blogpost.  The video is eight (8) minutes, but well worth it in my humble opinion.

A close friend who worked with what we call 'special needs' students (RIP Robyn Durrginton) taught me the most significant thing that has informed my teaching and relationships with people in one clear statement - "Its difficult to find the good in someone when you don't look for it."  These words live with me to this day.  Amanda's story has reinforced this significantly.  This will be a video I show my students, as I endeavour to learn with them about tolerance and diversity in modern society.

A new gadget, iPod Touch.

Toys, toys, toys. I'm unashamedly like a kid at Christmas when I buy a new gadget and look at ways it can further enhance learning in my classes. Latest acquisition – iPod Touch. And I'll assume you'll ask the same question most others do, why not an iPhone? Quite simply, this was a purchase with funds allocated to me through various grants and activities but needs to be used on educational gadgets. An iPhone was a possibility but then I would have needed to pay the monthly subscription, and that wasn't necessary in my current situation.

As I explore all that the iPod Touch can do, I don't think I'm missing much by not having an iPhone. Sure I'm reliant on wireless networks I have access to, but the 2 main places I'll use this have them. So for now the big exploration is how to sync all my existing services to the iPod Touch. As I learn, I'll record it here.

Some inspirational teachers I'm looking to learn quite a bit off include Jonathan Nalder and Toni Twiss. See their blogs for a range of great ideas in mobile learning.

Linux learning.

Its been an eventful week for my development in all things ICT. Steep learning curves abound with adventures in linux, iPod Touch and other wonders.

I've often thought of learning linux, as my only OS experience is in Windows. To this extent I had even downloaded a couple of live CDs, but hadn't played with them yet. This all changed early in the week when a student brought her laptop into me complaining it wouldn't start. I don't have a computer repair business but do a lot of repair work for friends. This laptop was by far the most difficult problem I had worked on. Despite having worked on a few computers, I'd never had to deal with a bluescreen of death. Well, this is where the fun began.

Some research into the stop error resulted in a couple of suggestions that required deletion of a hidden file. However this was no ordinary hidden file that could be accessed through normal interfaces. It needed command line work. Now this was exciting. Not since the days of running around in DOS 6 have I done any command line work. And never had I done it in linux. So I tried my live CDs (Knoppix and Ubuntu) and explored the OS while I had the chance. However neither of these systems would find the required file, and at times had difficulty mounting the drive volume.

Some further research saw me download the System Rescue CD, and at this moment I don't even know what linux distro it is!! However, this allowed the drive volume to be mounted and found the offending file. End result – Shane played a lot with simple command line work in linux, and flash looking laptop works again!

This has me inspired. I will soon receive a laptop as part of Queensland's Computer for Teachers program, so I might return control of my EeePC back to linux. Its something I'd love to show students, so they can experience it and understand there are more than 2 OS options out there.

Concept maps.

As mentioned in an earlier post, I am exploring the world of concept maps. Currently my software of choice is CMaps. Its simple to use, and if I can get the server component running, it has a discussion thread. Now that could be really useful in class.

So how am I using them. At the moment, I'm building concept maps as a planning stage for my units of work. I'd like them to be clear enough to be presented to students in conjunction with the unit outline, but I fear my use at the moment is not as sophisticated as it should be. The key bonus, is that concept maps will more clearly represent the complex inter-relationships that are common fodder for study in Health Education.

There are many other concept map programs out there. My school site has Inspiration installed locally, and of course there are many web versions. CMaps is the first one I've trialled and for now is all I need. Plus it runs as a portable app, which as you know is important to me.

What is notetaking for today's student?

I've recently read a blogpost about the importance of note taking as a skill for independent learners. You can read the original here. This got me thinking, what is note taking for today's learner. To respond to this I've reflected on my own approach to independent learning and practices I attempt to develop in my classes.

There are many note taking applications available - OneNote, Evernote, Google Notebook to name a couple. Each of these provides a way of taking notes and linking to information on the web. Personally I use Evernote, however encourage my students to use Google notebook. Why, I want students to access their notes regardless of equipment and I need to take notes when offline.

But, think beyond physically typing or writing notes. There are other processes I believe could be considered part of note taking. Tagging and bookmarking, if done productively, can be a powerful method to organise your information. There are social sites that allow you to learn from others in this regard. Some sites take it beyond simple tagging and allow a level of interaction with the information. With my Diigo account, I can highlight and comment on web information, and other Diigo users can view and respond to my highlighting and commenting. This provides a powerful way to engage learners with research and notetaking.

Stephen Downes refers to the use of images for note taking. This could be as simple as photographing the whiteboard / learning in class (something I do regularly), or storing pics of objects that relate to a concept or thought process. Extend the concept of photographing the whiteboard, and use an electronic version (interactive or online) and save the whiteboard as an image. This can be stored and tagged.

Concept maps are also a method of representing information. I am only now beginning to realise the potential of a concept map / mind map.

I believe note taking has moved well past the traditional thought of one place to store typed / written text. What needs to catch up is a teacher's concept of notes to allow this multiple faceted approach. When we say a student can bring notes into the exam room, what do we physically allow them to bring?