The resources in this guide describe how technologies can be used to support meaningful learning from a constructivist perspective.This page provides some general suggestions.

The tabs across the top of the page will take you to sub pages that  explore selected topics/techniques in some depth.

A talk show based environment is another natural medium where learners can gather to discuss meaningful ideas. Host interviewing is such a common format on television, learners naturally assume the roles of both interviewer and interviewee. Since it is based on conversation, learners are to engage in the learning process through a collaborative environment. What makes this exercise challenging is the conjecture and speculation that the learners must make about how their characters might respond to different issues.

Video press conferences offer a medium for learners to portray prominent people associated with a controversial or current event topic. This is one way to make learners responsible for understanding the discoveries, findings, or beliefs of the people they are portraying. They need to learn enough about the person to be able to discuss the situation effectively. Therefore, they need to construct a mental model of the issue at hand. Videotaping a press conference makes it seem more real and provides an opportunity for feedback on the accuracy of the presentation.

Online Journals

• A Professor's Tips for Using Twitter in the Classroom (Chronicle)
• Professor Encourages Students to Pass Notes During Class - via Twitter (Chronicle)
• Twitter Goes to College - (US News)

Blog Posts

• How Twitter in the Classroom is Boosting Student Engagement (Mashable Blog)
• Twitter for Academia (AcademicHack)
• 50 Ways to use Twitter in the Classroom (Online Colleges)
• 100 Ways to Teach with Twitter (Emerging EdTech)

Building web pages is among the most constructivist activities that learners can engage in, primarily because of the ownership that learners feel about their products and the publishing effect. In constructing web sites, learners are developing multimedia views of intentional learning. Hypermedia construction allows learners to reflect on their designs to make sure that they are desirable and interesting to other learners. The concept of "meaning making" is very applicable in this exercise. In addition to the artwork and writing, many decisions have to be made: What should be included? What gets linked to what? Who will do what, and by when?

In 1956, Benjamin Bloom defined three domains of learning: Affective, Psychomotor, and Cognitive. The goal of the domains, termed Bloom's Taxonomy, was to create a more holistic approach to designing learning. Anderson & Krathwohl revised Bloom's original in 2001 to make it more relevant to newer educational theories by combining both the cognitive process and knowledge dimensions. Chuches' Digital Taxonomy took the revision a step further in 2008 by adding multimedia technologies to the taxonomy and the associated learning opportunities that emerge from the integration of Web 2.0 technologies into the learning environment. Today, as we move towards Web 3.0 technologies, we need to reflect on some of the pitfalls of Web 2.0 technologies and explore some of the promises that Web 3.0 holds for education.

In this section of the guide we are going to look at some emerging technologies, new ways to use a few existing tools in teaching and learning. Please view the Teaching 2.0 - Doing More With Less" video for the  "50,000 foot view" of Web 3.0 possibilities.

Because of learners' familiarity with video (TV/VCR), applying video technology in an online environment will easily allow learners to create their own understanding of the video learning environment. Learners are familiar with the syntax and semantics of TV, and the way that ideas are conceived, organized, and presented. Video can be used to convey an interesting problem that learners need to solve. The Cognition and Technology Group at Vanderbilt University created and tested video-based instruction that is designed to help learners to reason, think, and solve problems. In solving the problems presented in the video, learners need to write persuasive essays based on factual research. All of the information needed to solve the problem is embedded in the video. The learners need to search the video in order to find the needed information after they have determined what they need to know. Learners who work on meaningful tasks in complex problem-based learning context better understand and transfer what they learn to new situations. Therefore, they apply new learning to their previous experiences.

Techniques

The following suggested techniques can engage students in higher order thinking skills through video.

Activity 1: First level stimulus exercise

Play a short newsreel clip without sound (it doesn't have to be current). Have the students consider the following questions while watching the clip:

1. Where is it taking place?
2. Where might it have occurred?
3. Who is involved?
4. What is happening?

Then have small group discussions on the question set. Then play the clip again without sound to check impressions.

Next have students report out then play the clip with audio.

Activity 2: 10 frame exercise

Any type of video can be used for this activity. 

• Have students select 10 frames from a video to support one of four hypothesis provided by you for a given question.
  
  
• Then have the students support the hypothesis by working in groups.
  
  
• Then have them defend their selections by:

1.  
   1. Choosing 10 images that support the hypothesis
   2. Upload the images to a tool like voicethread
   3. Have a group discussion around the hypothesis and supporting images

Activity 3: Predict, Observe & Evaluate (POE)

• Provide a video clip then ask the students to predict what is happening in the clip.
  • Example 1: Predict how you would demolish a building without causing serious damage to the surrounding buildings.
    
    
  • Example 2: Predict which of these 6 prototype helicopters would actually fly -- provide students with 6 short clips edited together and have them make a decision.
     
• After students have discussed the clips provide them with the remainder of the clip that meets the correct solution.
  

Activity 4: Inquiry and Problem Solving

• What is happening here ans how could we find out?
  • Example: Provide a short video of a plane crash that doesn't show the actual crash happening and doesn't provide a clear indication of where the plane is, then ask the question "where dd this plane crash and when?"
     
  • Have the students determine how they would find the answer to the question that you posed.

For this activity it would be best to give students some type of clip that is rather generic ans then have the students think about is deeply and conduct research to locate the answer.

Tools & Resources

• BBC Video Nation - Filming Skills
  
  
• Digital Artifacts for Learner Engagement
  
  
• Digital Video for Problem Solving/Decision Making - site maintained by Georgia Movie Academy
  
  
• Teaching and Learning with Digital Resources

This is one method of supporting social co-construction of knowledge through collaborative communication. For example learners can read a novel that doesn't have a complete ending, then write a final chapter, and post their submissions to a class blog for others to read and respond. Collaborating with other learners (authors) enhances their reading experience. This simple activity will help learners to think deeply about the book and about writing. It will also encourage them to write with a purpose, to think critically about what they write, to read what others have produced, and to compare their own work with the work of others. It is worth noting that having learners post their work on the Web inspires many of them to take their work more seriously by reflecting on what they are about to let many individuals read. (Jonassen, 1999)

Related articles

• Blackboard Blogging Tool - guidelines for setting up and managing blogs in Blackboard.
  
  
• Blogs - site maintained by Glenn Wiebe at Education Services and Staff Development Association of Central Kansas
  
  
• Teaching Tips: Using Online Journals and Blogs - site maintained by eMINTS and the University of Missouri
  
  
• Using Blogs to Integrate Technology in the Classroom - page maintained by Glenco/McGraw-Hill
  
  
• Wikis - guidelines for integrating Blackboard wikis into the curriculum.

Integrating Oral Materials into Online Environments

• Apple Podcasting in Education Video Series - http://www.apple.com/education/resources/podcastingvideos/
  
  
• Educator's Tips for podcasting - RECAP provides a series of "educator's tips" covering a range of podcasting topics that are presented in a very concise way. The items are updated regularly and, where appropriate, they have included links to other web sites with further advice and information.
  
  
• Room 208 - Click on the Bit by Bit icon on the left-hand-side of the screen to listen to Bob Sprankle's series of podcasts on how to podcast.
  
  
• Who’s Using Podcasting in Education and How – site maintained by Fordham University Center for Professional Development. http://www.podcastforteachers.org/Who'sUsingPodcastingInEducationAndHow.htm

Sources of Ready Made Podcasts

Here is a list of directories to educational podcasts. Educational podcasts range from university classes, to elementary school news, and from pay-per-download ebooks to free DIY (do it yourself) tutorials. All of these are worth checking out.

• Learn Out Loud - Includes a lot of pay-per-download audio books mixed in with the free stuff -- made it somewhat confusing to me; Designed for general public interest.
  
  
• Podcast Directory for Educators, Schools and Colleges - More educator and school-oriented (all levels) than the those above, though also includes professional training and learning about podcasting.
  
  
• The Education Podcast Network - Podcasts are listed by academic discipline so they can be used in classrooms and for home schooling. This one is the most school-oriented of these four directories.
  
  
• Open Culture: University Podcast Collection - A listing of links to university websites where podcasts can be found, with some comments on what is available.

• Educate - podcast directory for educators, schools, and colleges.
  
  
• Educational Feeds Directory
  
  
• Spoken Word - place to find and share audio and video recordings of spoken-word events and programs. SpokenWord.org is a directory and search engine of programs published elsewhere on the Web and submitted to our database by site users.

This method engages learners in experiences that challenge hypotheses and encourage discussion. Interactive tools also allow learners to engage multiple learning styles in the completion of individual or group activities. Some examples of interactive online tools are:

• Construct an Aqueduct (Java or Shockwave version) http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/lostempires/roman/aqueduct.html
• Build a Bridge http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/bridge/build.html
• Play a Virtual Market http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/stockmarket/virtual.html

If you'd prefer, you can visit the main site from which the above activities originated and select one or more activities, at: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/buildingbig

This technique generally requires the production of two-to-five-minute personal essays or memoirs narrated by the writer, the writing in these narratives can be incredibly powerful. They may be composed in a movie editor such as iMovie, or in presentation software such as Power Point using still photos or artwork for visuals. In Hawaii, the Department of Education has, for last three years, sponsored a digital-storytelling contest in which learners demonstrate creative writing and content knowledge (Hayes, 2005).

Resources and samples:

• Digitales – digital storytelling resource site - http://www.digitales.us/

• Digital Clubhouse Network – community based story telling project that is looking for individuals from all age groups and walks of life to share their stories. They offer all of the tools for free to those who what to participate in the community. http://www.digiclub.org/

• Telling their stories: Oral history archives project – site contains a collection of digital interviews conducted by high school students. http://www.tellingstories.org/

Tools:

• AjaxWrite - Web based word processing program. http://www.ajaxwrite.com/

• Photostory by microsoft – easy to use free software download from Microsoft. Works on PCs only. http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/digitalphotography/photostory/default.mspx

• Voicethread – “A VoiceThread is an online media album that can hold essentially any type of media (images, documents and videos) and allows people to make comments in 5 different ways - using voice (with a microphone or telephone), text, audio file, or video (with a webcam) - and share them with anyone they wish. They can even be exported to an Archival Movie for offline use on a DVD or video-enabled MP3 player. A VoiceThread allows group conversations to be collected and shared in one place, from anywhere in the world.” The company provides a limited free version and fee based professional version (~$60.00 a year) – read the pricing page for details. http://voicethread.com/#home

Open-ended learner-directed research projects are an excellent way for the learners to access the Internet's vast information in order to produce original work using their new knowledge. Open-ended means the learner is in control of what they learn instead of simply finding answers to specific questions. learner-directed means learners are in charge of their search strategies, choosing which sites are most relevant, and so on. Based on the right project, learners will be constructive because they are required to articulate the nature of the problem and then reflect on their importance.

Resources:

• Blue Web'n
• Ozline - developed and maintained by Tom March