Pre assinment 6: Bill Rankin's Mobile Learning presentation

 Next Wave Mobility and the 3 Ages of Information

By Dr William Ranking

The presentation about the “Next-Wave Mobility and the 3 Ages of Information"  clearly presents the big steps in history basically regarding the access to information and the role of teachers in time. When watching the video my mind traveled automatically to my college years, when accessing information was a real challenge. I felt reflected in the Ranking`s explanation of the “Aha” moments when finally you reached a book in the library after a long process and then you realized the book was useless to your purposes…  And talking about “ages” I perceive my life as a college student more connected to the  first two ages of information than the third one. We were lectured, we had trouble accessing information, we spent “decades” to find a book, traveling to a historical archive to look for information, filling forms, copy-pasting by hand… But, my teachers were great, because despite the waste of time looking for information we had great discussions, they made us think, they taught us in how to make connections, in how to rely in the sources.

 This takes my to the second question and really makes me reflect on how the use of mobile devices can help our actual teaching. Mobile devices are a very powerful tool, a tool that  by sure will make a change in the way we perceive the world, a change of culture as Dr. Ranking presents. But technology is finally a tool. Having that immediate access to information represents a challenge for me it makes my reinforce my idea that I am not in front of a classroom to provide information to students, but to be their mentor, to help them make connections, have meaningful discussions, look for information between the lines. Today we can be more powerful teachers than the ones in the past because we can save time accessing information so that gives us more time for actually teaching our fellow student to better prepare them for their  challenging  future, to be more responsible, better thinkers and also good digital citizens. 

Teachers were very useful in the begging of times, they were useful in medieval times and they are and will be a priority in the years to come as long as we see ourselves not as providers of knowledge or as the truth holders, but as guides and mentors, and of course as trained and good digital citizens, always. As Dr. Ranking said, “…we need to teach not information, but informational models, so when information changes, people (students) still know how to apply the model”

Educational TED Talk

We Can Recycle Plastic, and Educational TED Talk

1. What is the purpose of this media/information resource?

The purpose of this video is to educate the general population of the possibility of recycling discarded plastic from land fills and garbage dumps into plastic pellets to be able to produce new plastic products. Resulting in a 80 - 90% in reduction of energy use, as well as, reduction in cost.

2. How is this produced?

It is a live conference by the Mike Billings that was recorded in Austria. He used a power point to support his points

3. Who created it?

Mike Biddle, “the plastic man” Created the presentation, but TED recorded the talk and and shares it with viewers through their website..

4. Who is the intended audience? How do you know?

European World at large, specifically the European market where there is electronic waste regulation exists, where as in the United Stated it doesn’t not. This regulation allows his company to access a stream of materials to exploit.

We know this because of his commentary directly related to this point in his actual talk (“here in Europe...not in place in the U.S”. Additionally, looking at Mike’s biography which is included on the TED website, this is also clarified - Mike has plants in Austria and India, with plans to build more in Europe due to wast regulations already in place in Europe that support this project.

5. What is the main message?

Plastic can be wisely recycled with increased savings, lower energy use and decreased negative effect on human health. Biddle’s intention is to let Americans and Europeans (really, the world) know that plastic is even more valuable than metal can be, and that is possible to recycle it instead of down-cycling, which only leads to more waste (not a real solution). He wants to change the way people perceive plastic and how we can consume it wisely in their daily lives

6. Who benefits and what do they gain?

Ideally, everyone would benefit because it would reduce the amount of chemicals released into the air that increases global warming and affects the human health. It reduces the use of energy, which is energy savings for the world and its economically viable.

7. What would have been my information needs that would have led me to this video?

I am concerned about the overuse for plastic consumtion and our throw away attitude with our students who don’t understand the negative effects on the environment of plastic in our dumps and landfills. We want to show them there is a solution a and they can be a “part of it.”

8. How would I understand, organize and assess the information found?

We trust the source, TED is a “non-profit educational devoted to ideas worth spreading.” “There mission is to spread ideas that will change peoples attitudes and ideas. They offer free knowledge from inspired thinkers and people who have created positive change in the world.” (Ted.com) Speakers on TED are recognized industry and world-issue leaders providing solutions and insight on their specialty.

9. Identify and explain the Big6 steps you're applying in this activity.

a). Task Definition.- Taking a look on opening the Ted Site and understanding what we are supposed to do. Realizing we are providing a final product by way of a Google doc with appropriate and insightful answers to questions provided.
b). Information Seeking Strategies.- Browsing in ted.com and identifying some video that resonated with our interests
c). Location and Access.- We watched the review of three Ted videos and decided on the one that looked better and more suitable for us.
d).Use of Information.- Hear the video and watch it carefully. Maybe even watching it twice.
e). Synthesis.- This information can be shown to ASF students in relation to our own plastic recycling efforts and to show them that there are leading who are looking for solutions to problems, like the problem of recycling plastic. This also shows them that they can be part of the solution of plastic recycling in their own country.
f). Evaluation.- How we processed the information and did we do a good job. Did we find something relevant to our teaching? Yes, we found something that is relevant to our teaching and to our school. We were excited to find this video and learn of Mike Biddle’s success with this patented process that solves the plastic problem that is burying our world. We are so excited to share this with our students!

Adapting a Unit Plan

I adapted a unit plan that I have use for two consecutive years. I though my plan was pretty well rounded and done, but after revising it through the eyes of the "Computer skills for Information Problem Solving" and the "Revised Bloom's Taxonomy" I found out that there was a lot to improve in it.

What I found great is that there is no extra work load for students, almost no more extra load for me, but it is a lot more extra learning experience for my students.

The biggest gap in my lesson plan was in analyzing and evaluating the learning process. Just by adding this two essential steps I can predict the students outcome will be much greater than it was on previous years!!

Webquest - QR Code Rally

Fun! Working in teams! Having the same goal! Competition! Challenge!

I learned some many things out of this activity and as it usually happens to me, I want to apply them as soon as I can with my own students:

It was great to work with an other different team, and not always with the ones that I know and I feel confident working with. You learn to see the strengths and abilities of each individual and you also learn to see their fun side. That was great!

Also, the time keeping and the challenge of finishing first was an incredible motivation. I would love to apply this in my own teaching, but of course, thinking in teenagers where they can be mean with each other, I'll need to be careful.

Next, and maybe the most important, is that learning can be fun. Wouldn't it be so nice to have fun while learning all times? Maybe it is not possible, but at least we can try!

Finally: reflecting after finishing an activity it is very useful to sit for a while and reflect, that way you can internalize your learning, make them really yours!

Thanks for this activity!!!

Now I would love to lean on how to do the QR codes, wouldn't it be great to use them in our daily teaching???

Google vs. MS Database

After comparing and contrasting the Middle School databases and Google, we can conclude that the definition of the task is important.
We started by using exactly the same key words either in the MS database (Grolier) and in Google, and examining only the first top five that appeared in both sources we concluded that in this specific topic about students with learning disabilities Grolier database was not the best path to look for this information. However, we believe it would be very different if the topic under History or Geography. On the other hand, Google showed us a couple of interesting articles from very reliable sources such as Scholastic.com and a magazine from the University of North Carolina. The design on both sites were equally attractive. The technical elements found in both were the same, both had image links. Credibility was seen as valid in both databases, however, one could find much more information that is valid under Google because it offers many more sources from important universities and researchers. Based on the fact that our students continuously use Google, we really need to encourage teaching and learning information literacy skills such as using the proper database from our libraries and teach students how to find and discern valid information from Google. We cannot pretend they will stop using Google nor we cannot assume that they know how to identify valid and credible information.

Mind map on Information Literacy

My mind map on Information Literacy

Information Literacy and Media Literacy

Media literacy (ML) and information literacy (IL) practically look the same, it is not easy to observe the difference. For from what I’ve learn during these days and based on the UNESCO reading, IL is the ability of the individual to seek, evaluate and make ethical use of the information, is an acquired capacity to understand different sources that could include ML. In the other hand ML in the way the individual is immerse in a continuous exposure of information, but if “processed” under the umbrella of IL the individual can as well evaluate and make ethical use of it.

IL is an objective view and ML is the way the individual process it through it different sources, is more focused in the self-expression and the personal engagement to it so it would be more subjective. ML must consider and discern the information based on the source it comes from. IL is broader, is kind of an approach to information regardless the impact or relationship of the source to the individual.

Ultimately both of them are based and focused in the whole process of looking for, processes and communication information and the ethical use if it is also common for both of them.