Fostering Digital Literacy Through Passion-Based Learning

Patrick Woessner

ISACS Annual Conference 2011

http://bitly.com/isacs2011

Session Goals

Identify key elements of Digital Literacy Recognize the importance of passion in learning Empower students to identify their passion Design learning experiences that leverage passion to

foster Digital Literacy Enable students to share their passion with the world

Session Goals

What is Digital Literacy? “A person’s ability to perform tasks effectively in a

digital environment... Literacy includes the ability to read and interpret media, to reproduce data and images through digital manipulation, and to evaluate and apply new knowledge gained from digital environments.”1

What is your definition of digital literacy? My definition: “Digital Literacy is participatory

culture.” 2

Why Digital Literacy Matters

What is Passion? “ A strong inclination toward an activity that people

like, find important, and in which they invest time and energy.”4

What is your definition of passion? My definition: “Passion is motivation in action.”

Why Passion Matters

Factors that Influence LearningSchool-Level Factors:

• A Guaranteed and Viable Curriculum

• Challenging Goals and Effective Feedback

• Parent and Community Involvement

• Safe and Orderly Environment

• Collegiality and Professionalism

Factors that Influence LearningTeacher-Level Factors:

• Instructional strategies

• Classroom management

• Classroom curriculum design

Factors that Influence LearningStudent-Level Factors:

• Home Environment

• Learned Intelligence and Background Knowledge

• Student Motivation

What Motivates Students?

What Motivates Students? “Students respond positively to tasks that they perceive as challenging but

“do-able” and that have relevance (value) to them. Also, creative tasks, which provide the student a degree of freedom in their resolution (e.g., creating artworks that use design principles and functions to solve specific visual art problems embodied in the standards; composing a musical composition) can be a source of personal pride and intrinsic motivation.

To maximize motivation, then, teachers should develop tasks that are authentic, appropriately challenging, relevant, and creative.”7

Passion Motivates Students!

Digital Literacy Framework: UbDStages of Backwards Design1.Identify desired results.2.Determine acceptable evidence.3.Plan learning experiences and instruction.

Establish Curricular PrioritiesWorth being familiar withImportant to know and doEnduring understanding

Digital Literacy: Essential Questions

Over the course of this semester, you will work toward answering two essential questions:

How does technology affect and reflect who you are as a person and learner?

How does your passion affect and reflect who you are as a person and learner?

Digital Literacy: Enduring UnderstandingsTo answer these important questions, you must come to understand that:

learning can be informal, social, and networked.

information serves as the basis for understanding our world.

content creators have rights; content consumers have responsibilities.

learning and expression styles affect how we acquire/process knowledge and demonstrate understanding.

Digital Literacy: Evidence/OutcomesBy the end of the course, you will be able to:identify your personal interests/passion(s).communicate and collaborate in an online environment.locate, evaluate, utilize, and cite information.identify your personal learning and expression styles.create and share a product that answers the essential questions.

Digital Literacy: Course Outline Learning Styles Passion-Based Learning Networking Social Bookmarking Effective Search Strategies Website Evaluation Copyright, Fair Use, and Creative

Commons Expression Styles Final Product Presentation

Digital Literacy: Course Outline Learning Styles Passion-Based Learning Networking Social Bookmarking Effective Search Strategies Website Evaluation Copyright, Fair Use, and Creative

Commons Expression Styles Final Product Presentation

Digital Literacy: Student WorkflowCourse Materials

Schoology (Learning Network)

Student Work

Wikispaces (Research Project Pages)

Private to Course Public to School

Lesson: Learning StylesLearning styles address how students acquire understanding and are frequently divided into three main types: visual, auditory, and kinesthetic. The C.I.T.E Instrument9 organizes and refines these styles into nine major categories as they relate to information gathering, work conditions, and expressiveness.

Learning Styles

Student Learning Styles: Class of 2017

Lesson: Passion-Based LearningPassion-Based Learning is an experience that empowers students to Discover and Consume, Communicate and Connect, and Create and Produce based on their deep-seated interests.

The primary purpose of the Interest-A-Lyzer10 is to identify students’ interest areas is to stimulate thought and discussion. Students not only come to know themselves better, but also get a chance to share their discoveries with both teachers and peers.

Interest-A-Lyzer Sample Questions You are a photographer and you have one picture left to take on your roll of

film. What will it be of? Why?

Teenagers in your community have been asked to prepare individual time capsules for future generations. You are allowed to include 10 personal possessions that are representative of you. What would you include in your capsule?

You have written your first book which you are ready to submit for publication. What is the title? What is the book about?

Lesson: NetworkingInformation sharing (networking) will prove to be more than a passing fad for Generation Y as the habit has grown to become an integral part of how burgeoning and young adults find information, seek help, sustain and nurture friendships and remain engaged with their communities.11

Digital Literacy Learning Network Profile The first step in learning to network

is to create a profile.

Schoology provides a safe, “walled garden” approach to networking.

Students can view their classmates’ profiles and begin making social connections based on mutual interests

schoology

Why Build a Network?

Digital Literacy: Topic Outline Learning Styles Passion-Based Learning Networking Social Bookmarking Effective Search Strategies Website Evaluation Copyright, Fair Use, and

Creative Commons Expression Styles Final Product Presentation

Digital Literacy: Research Project Learning Styles Passion-Based Learning Networking Social Bookmarking Effective Search Strategies Website Evaluation Copyright, Fair Use, and

Creative Commons Expression Styles Final Product Presentation

Digital Literacy: Research Project

Managing the Research Process Wiki permissions can/should be

managed to afford students privacy

The History, Discussion, and Notify Me tabs make it easy to monitor and comment on student work

Supporting the Research Process Each student completed a Google Form on which she identified her passion.

Affinity groups were created for each topic within Schoology.

Students joined the affinity group relevant to them. This space became a source of student-led support and inspiration.

Lesson: Expression StylesUnlike learning styles, which focus on how students acquire and process information, Expression Styles reflect the types of products students prefer to create to demonstrate their understanding.

The My Way…An Expression Style Instrument, developed by Karen Kettle, Joseph Renzulli, and Mary Rizza, identifies 10 broad categories of products/forms of expression.13

Expression Styles

Student Expression Styles: Class of 2016

Technology to Support Expression Styles

Shared Document for Technology That Supports Expression Styles

Final Project Requirements Your research project will culminate in a final product that will be shared with

your advisory. Although you have a great deal of flexibility, your final project must:

Reflect your preferred expression style (e.g. if Written Expression is your preference, your final product should take a written form) and have been created (at least in part) by technology (e.g. no dioramas).

Address/answer (directly or indirectly) all six driving questions

1. What is your passion and why is it more than a mere interest for you?2. Who or what got you interested/involved in your passion?3. What aspect(s) of your passion would you like to learn more about?4. What would other people need to know about your passion in order to understand it?5. How has your passion influenced/affected the St. Louis area?6. How does your passion affect and reflect you as a person and as a learner?

Be uploaded/embedded/linked/displayed on your personal Digital Literacy wiki page and include a description of the project (i.e. what the project is all about).

Final Project Assessment All final projects, regardless of topic or form, were presented in advisory and

graded using a common rubric.

Providing a rubric helps ensure that (1) students clearly understand the requirements/expectations and (2) all topics/products are valued equally.

Assessment Categories

Final Project Assessment

Final Project ExamplesExpression Style: Artistic

Passion: AnimationTechnology Tool: Pencil

Final Project ExamplesExpression Style: Audio/Visual

Passion: DanceTechnology Tool: Prezi

Final Project ExamplesExpression Style: WrittenPassion: Creative Writing

Technology Tool: Myebook

What Did the Students REALLY Think? Several months after the course ended last year, a brief,

anonymous survey was sent to all students:

How important was the role of passion in your learning?

Did you notice a different level of commitment or engagement during this passion-based project compared to past project work?

How many other times in your schooling have you had a chance to formally explore and share your passion with others?

Student Survey Results: How important was the role of passion in your learning?

My passion moves me along and keeps me happy and helps me to learn. I can think in terms of my passion to understand something better and that helps me learn.

Very important. Passion is everything. Learning my passion was important to me because I got to

learn how I learn and more about my self that I didn't realize before.

It was very helpful for extending my learning in other subjects It was very important because the fact that it was about me

made me more motivated to research and participate.

Student Survey Results: Did you notice a different level of commitment or engagement?

Yes, because your passion is something that interests you and sometimes school projects do not.

It encouraged me to make it good since it was about something I loved.

Yes, because it was on a more personal level, instead of "homework". Also, it was fun to do because it was about things we like to do.

Yes, I learned more because I actually cared about the topic I was researching and making a final project for.

No. I say this because I give a full amount of effort and commitment to ALL of my work.

Student Survey Results: How many other times in school have you explored/shared your passion? None. I haven’t had any chances to do that at all so far in my

learning life.

Not any other ones, it was only this project.

None other times besides people asking "oh what do you like to do?" or "what are some of your favorite things?" and stuff like that.

Not a lot, if at all.

This is the first time, and I really enjoyed it!

Rarely ever. The only times 'passions' come up are with conversations with friends, and they are usually labeled as fun activities

Lessons Learned Students come to us with incredible knowledge and skills that we may

never see because we never ask.

If we expect students to explore and understand our passions they must first come to explore and understand theirs.

The content/skills acquired in a passion-based learning experience are mastered more deeply and thus can be more easily applied/transferred.

Students understand that learning is social; they don’t understand how it translates to school.

Utilizing different learning styles can help students learn but they do not help them demonstrate what they know.

Making it Work for You

Focus on student passion Connect like-minded learners Share their passions with others

Questions and Contact Info Presentation Resources: http://bitly.com/isacs2011 Blog: http://pwoessner.com/ Email: pwoessner@micds.org Twitter: http://twitter.com/pcwoessner Skype: pwoessner Office: 314-995-7375

Works Cited1. Barbara R. Jones-Kavalier and Suzanne L. Flannigan: Connecting the Digital Dots: Literacy of the 21st Century; http://

connect.educause.edu/Library/EDUCAUSE+Quarterly/ConnectingtheDigitalDotsL/39969

2. Jenkins, Henry, Puroshotma, Ravi, Clinton, Katherine, Weigel, Margaret, & Robison, Alice J. (2005). Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century, available at http://www.newmedialiteracies.org/files/working/NMLWhitePaper.pdf.

3. Jenkins, Henry. “The New Media Literacies.” Video. 11 Nov. 2008. YouTube. 14 Oct. 2011. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEHcGAsnBZ

4. Vallerand, R. et al (2003). Les passions de l’aˆ me: on obsessive and harmonious passion. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85(56), 756-767. Retrieved from http://www.psych.rochester.edu/SDT/documents/2003_VallerandBlanchardMageauKoesterRatelleLeonardGagne_JPSP.pdf

5. Motivation Problems Scene from Office Space Movie (1999) | MOVIECLIPS. Dir. Mike Judge. Perf. Ron Livingston. MOVIECLIPS: Movie Trailers, Previews, Clips of Old, New & Upcoming Films. MovieClips.com. Web. 14 Oct. 2011. http://movieclips.com/2pyJo-office-space-movie-motivation-problems

6. "Motivation Demotivator® - The Original Demotivational Posters." Despair, Inc. - Creators of Demotivators® Posters, Calendar, Coffee Mugs, Apparel and More. Web. 17 Oct. 2011. http://www.despair.com/motivation.html

7. Source: Kellaghan, Thomas, and George F. Madaus. The Use of External Examinations to Improve Student Motivation. Washington: American Educational Research Association, 1997. Print.

8. Wiggins, Grant P., and Jay McTighe. Understanding by Design. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, 2006. Print.

9. Babich, Burdine, Albright, & Randol (1976). C.I.T.E. Learning Styles Instrument. WVABE Instructor Handbook, Section 3, 2003-04. Retrieved October 17, 2011 from http://wvabe.org/CITE/cite.pdf

Works Cited10. Source: Renzulli, Joseph S., Mary Rizza, Thomas P. Hebert, Michelle F. Sorenson, Vidabeth Bensen, and Ann McGreevy.

Interest-a-lyzer Family of Instruments. Mansfield Center, CT: Creative Learning, 1997. Print. Available online from: http://www.gifted.uconn.edu/siegle/CurriculumCompacting/SEC-IMAG/ialsecon.pdf

11. "'Millennials' Leading the Way on Social Media | Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project." Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project. Web. 18 Oct. 2011. http://www.pewinternet.org/Media-Mentions/2010/Millennials-leading-the-way-on-social-media.aspx

12. Hill, Karhmir. "How To Teach Kids 'Digital Literacy'? Build A Private Social Network Playground For Them. - Forbes." Information for the World's Business Leaders - Forbes.com. Forbes, 13 Oct. 2011. Web. 28 Oct. 2011. <http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2011/10/13/how-to-teach-kids-digital-literacy-build-a-private-social-network-playground-for-them/>

13. Kettle, Karen E., Joseph S. Renzulli, and Mary G. Rizza. "Exploring Student Preferences For Product Development." Neag Center for Gifted Education and Talent Development. University of Connecticut. Web. 20 Oct. 2011. http://www.gifted.uconn.edu/sem/exprstyl.html

14. "Motivation Demotivator® - The Original Demotivational Posters." Despair, Inc. - Creators of Demotivators® Posters, Calendar, Coffee Mugs, Apparel and More. Web. 17 Oct. 2011. http://www.despair.com/recognition.html