Here are some graphics, Thinglinks, and the slideshow I created for my Mindset of the Maker Educator Workshop:
https://www.thinglink.com/scene/575147870160683008
http://www.thinglink.com/scene/529031635128025090
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he study of historical cities provides deep insights into the evolution of urban form, planning practices, and design principles. Long before modern planning theories emerged, ancient civilizations developed highly organized settlements based on functionality, culture, governance, defense, and environmental adaptation. These cities were not random agglomerations but reflected clear planning principles, many of which continue to influence contemporary urban planning.
This essay explores major historical cities across civilizations and the underlying planning principles that shaped them.
6
One of the earliest examples of planned cities is found in the Indus Valley Civilization (2500โ1900 BCE), particularly in cities like Mohenjo-daro, Harappa, and Dholavira.
These cities demonstrate that urban planning has roots in engineering, hygiene, and governance.
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Ancient Egyptian settlements developed along the Nile River, with examples like Amarna.
5
Greek cities introduced rational planning concepts, especially through the work of Hippodamus of Miletus.
Greek planning emphasized the social and political role of cities.
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Roman cities built upon Greek ideas but introduced advanced infrastructure and administrative efficiency. A classic example is Pompeii.
Roman planning strongly influenced modern urban infrastructure systems.
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Medieval cities in Europe and India evolved organically due to socio-political and defensive needs.
In India, cities like Jaipur later introduced planned elements even during medieval times.
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The Renaissance period reintroduced order, symmetry, and aesthetics in urban design.
Cities like Paris reflect these principles.
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Indian cities show a blend of organic growth and planned principles, often guided by texts like Vastu Shastra.
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Colonial cities introduced Western planning concepts in Asia and Africa.
Across different civilizations, several universal planning principles emerge:
Historical planning principles continue to influence modern urban planning:
In the context of modern cities (especially Delhi and TOD areas), these principles help improve:
Historical cities across civilizationsโfrom the Indus Valley to Roman and Indian citiesโdemonstrate that urban planning is deeply rooted in human history. These cities were shaped by a combination of environmental conditions, socio-political systems, cultural values, and technological capabilities.
Their planning principlesโsuch as order, functionality, infrastructure integration, and environmental adaptationโremain highly relevant today. As modern cities face challenges of rapid urbanization, climate change, and sustainability, revisiting these historical lessons can provide valuable guidance for creating resilient, inclusive, and well-structured urban environments.
Thus, the study of historical cities is not merely academic; it is a foundation for shaping the future of urban planning.
I am ending this year of 2013 with a blog post about having a voice for social change; for social good. Social media has given us all a voice as well a potential audience. We are living in unprecedented times. At no time in history has there been this opportunity to reach so many people with our own unique voices using social media.
How we use that voice is up to each individual. Social media users can choose to tweet about what they had for dinner or post selfies of their party life. Since I have this mission-vision of making a difference especially in the field of education, I choose to use social media to disseminate my own ideas for a better educational system via this blog; using Twitter daily to tweet out ideas for educational reform and to share educational resources shared by the many great educators using Twitter. I am finishing 2013 with close to 15,000 Twitter followers and almost 435,000 views of my blog with close to a quarter of a million in 2013. The reason that I mention these statistics is that they provide at least a little evidence that my voice, my ideas have an audience . . . and I am very grateful for this audience.
I also am a bit biased and opinionated in that I believe educators, counselors, social workers, and other service oriented folks should use social media to help create change in their respective and related fields. I am guided by some powerful commentary that I heard during a Gloria Steinem keynote at a mental health conference. She discussed that when those in the service field (I include educators in this) just work with individuals to resolve their specific problems, they are not treating the larger systemic issues. She compared it to doctors only treating individuals in the case of a pandemic rather than trying to figure out and cure the larger epidemic. We are living in a pandemic of bad, often toxic practices in public education where scripted curriculum, tests, and overwhelming accountability practices have taken over classrooms; where teachers and students are losing their โselvesโ as standardization is norm and creativity, uniqueness, and innovation are not rewarded; and being in the classroom has become painful for many teachers and way too many learners.
Many educators I know feel as though there are way too many initiatives, practices, curriculum, and assessments forced onto them that are contrary to their own beliefs, philosophies, and practices. Some try to use their own voice and practices within their own schools and classrooms. Others just go along for the ride because, according to them, teaching through someone elseโs lens and world is better than not teaching at all . . . and still others have given up and left teaching completely (e.g, Teacherโs resignation letter: โMy profession โฆ no longer existsโ). None of these actions results in changing the system; of helping to cure the pandemic of bad practices in education.
So in this end of year blog, I am putting out this call to action. If you, as an educator or a supporter of a โgoodโ education, believe that the educational systems could better meet the desires and needs of educators, administrators, learnersโ families and most of all the learners, themselves, then use your voice to express your concerns and your proposed solutions for a better system. This (educational) revolution can be Tweeted! This comment is in reference about the political movements that use social media as a voice against oppression and injustice.
The internet has opened a new arena, perhaps the purest democracy in the world. It is building bridges across continents, connecting causes, creating relationships, and raising consciousness to the point that the traditional role of the state in this area (of education) and many others is being slowly renegotiated and not on its terms. On ours. (The Revolution Will Be Tweeted)
Keeping silent might (emphasis on might) help a teacher keep his or her job, but at what cost? What are the costs to the education professional, to oneself, to oneโs own and future learners of keeping silent?
Having a voice for educational reform also connects to teachers regaining their agency as I discuss in Teacher Agency: Educators Moving from a Fixed to a Growth Mindset โ with a short except here:
The bottom line, is that teachers need to reclaim their perceived and real teacher agency, voice, and empowerment. They need to develop a growth mindset that they can and do have agency in their profession.
With all that is happening in the education profession today, it is important to remember that teacherโs have power to change the system. This power for change can be called โAgencyโ which is defined as the capacity of teachers to shape critically their responses to educational processes and practices (Biesta and Teddler, 2006). With all the external push from various sectors, ultimately teachers are the ones that can cut through all of the cross-purposed mandates and transform their own process and practices to ensure the best educational experiences for their students. Teacher Agency and Todayโs Teachers
. . . and as a parting shot, from Vicki Davis, CoolCatTeacher . . .
Recently I revised my A More Perfect World curriculum unit. I reformatted it to a Weebly website for ease of access and update the links and web tools.
http://moreperfectfuture.weebly.com/
This unit is driven by several of my core beliefs regarding effective instructional practices:
In the midst of the implementation of common core state standards and no relief in sight from all the standardized testing, thereโs been a breadth of fresh air in the form of maker education entering into many classrooms. The Maker Movement is not easily defined nor placed neatly into a nice little box. It can be high tech or low tech; hacking what is or creating from scratch; it can be creating from building and arts materials or creating on the computer. We have entered into a convergence of several factors that are igniting the maker education movement.
The rise of maker culture has been slowly bubbling out of sheds, science labs, tech workshops, in schools and learning spaces. But, suddenly it is very present. The Imagination Foundation that has emerged out of energy and excitement of Caineโs Arcade is raising funds and investing in projects that support maker activities in education. The New Maker Education Initiative, backed by a range of organizations including Intel and Pixar, has just launched its first project called Maker Corps. There are initiatives like the Make2Learn which aims to โleverage DIY culture, digital practices, and educational research to advocate for placing making, creating, and designing at the core of educational practiceโ. Makers and Teachers Unite!
Some maker-related educational movements that gained traction in 2013 and will most likely gain more momentum in 2014 include:
At a time when many people are asking how we can get more students interested in STEM fields, we are hearing from teachers who have found making to be a great way to get students excited and engaged in their classrooms. We are seeing making occurring in subject classes such as math or science โ in classes specifically listed as maker classes โ and in a variety of less formal settings such as clubs and study halls. Many of these projects incorporate a variety of STEM topics. (Engaging Students in the STEM Classroom Through โMakingโ)
New open-source microcontrollers, sensors, and interfaces connect the physical and digital worlds in ways never before possible. Plug-and-play devices that connect small microprocessors to the Internet, to each other, or to any number of sensors mean that low-cost, easy-to-make computational devices can test, monitor, and control your world. They offer much more than just โhands-onโ craftingโthese tools bring electronics, programming, and computational mathematics together in meaningful, powerful ways. We must reimagine school science and math not as a way to prepare students for the next academic challenge, or a future career, but as a place where students are inventors, scientists, and mathematicians today. (How the Maker Movement is Transforming Education)
Think of the Maker Movement as DIY for technology. Itโs not just a passing fad โ web tools like KidsRuby, Gamemaker, Scratch, Storify and Mozilla Webmaker make it possible for people of all ages to learn to code, build games, and re-mix media. For libraries and schools, the Maker Movement means new opportunities for promoting digital, media, visual, and critical literacies (21st century literacies). (Inanimate Alice and the Maker Movement)
Making is a way of bringing creativity, authentic design thinking, and engineering to learners. Tinkering is the process of design, the way real scientists and engineers invent new things. Such concrete experiences provide a meaningful context for understanding abstract science and math concepts while often incorporating esthetic components. Creating opportunities for students to solve real problems, combined with imaginative new materials and technology, makes learning come alive and cements understandings that are difficult when only studied in the abstract. (Why weโre excited about the Maker Movement, maybe you should be too!)
3D Printing is one of the most disruptive technologies around. These printers are affordable, personal fabrication tools, compact enough to sit on any desktop, and allow anyone at any skill level to become producers, inventors and artists. Students participate in project-based learning that is experiential in nature and has real-world applications. 3D printing projects engage students in the world around them, kindles a curiosity about how machines work, how objects fit together, and how the designers, architects, and inventors who build the products, spaces and technology in their lives have found solutions to a variety of design problems. (Makerbot Curriculum)
The goals of Imagination Foundation, who sponsors, the Cardboard Challenge is in line with many Maker Education Initiatives:
1. Instill Creative Thinking as a Core Skill and Social Value
Give kids the tools to develop as creative thinkers who can take on the jobs of the future, seek innovative and resourceful solutions, tackle social issues and find happiness.2. Give Kids Opportunities to Create and Learn Based on their Passions
Help children find and develop their passions through play, hands-on learning and supportive communities. Design scalable Project-Based Learning programs that can be used by a wide range of communities.3. Foster a Community of Creative Makers
Develop an engaged community (local and global) of young makers, parents, storytellers and educators who can share with, learn from, and inspire one another. (Goals of the Imagination Foundation)
Common Core and the new Next Generation Science Standards emphasize critical thinking, creativity, and 21st century skills. To achieve these goals requires taking a hard look at both what we teach and how we teach it. The Maker Movement offers lessons, tools, and technology to steer a new course to more relevant, engaging learning experiences for all students. (Lessons from the Maker Movement for K-12 Educators)
Technology and the related movements as discussed above have amplified the human desire to create, innovate, share, learn from one another, and have an authentic audience. What was once reserved for those with special skills and often lots of money is now accessible to the masses. Maker education stems from developments related to Web 3.0 and the evovling Education 3.0 โ which is characterized by learners being creators, contributors, connectors, and constructivists. This is the type of education many of this generation are embracing often, sadly, in their โbeyond schoolโ learning.
These movements, initiatives, technological advancements show no signs of slowing down in the future and hopefully, will change education to better meet the needs, desires, interests, and passions of both educators and learners. Maker education has become a grassroots movement of informal learning as so many are craving and embracing this type of learning. Just maybe, with educators and learners taking the initiative, these developments will work their way into more formal educational settings.
The maker movement has the opportunity to transform education by inviting students to be something other than consumers of education. They can become makers and creators of their own educational lives, moving from being directed to do something to becoming self-directed and independent learners. Increasingly, they can take advantage of new tools for creative expression and for exploring the real world around them. They can be active participants in constructing a new kind of education for the 21st-century, which will promote the creativity and critical thinking we say we value in people like Steve Jobs. Learning by Making: American kids should be building rockets and robots, not taking standardized tests by Dale Dougherty, founder, President & CEO of Maker Media, Inc.
Other posts on the Maker Movement:
I love end of year โbest ofโ lists. My own list is what I found to be the most powerful education related videos of 2013. They all, in some way, address the mind, heart, and spirit of education. Each touched me in some way to help illuminate the purpose and core of education. They are in no particular order expect for the first one which is my number one choice and one that I believe all educators should be required to watch.
Rita Pierson: Every kid needs a champion
Favorite Quote:
Every child deserves a champion โ an adult who will never give up on them, who understands the power of connection, and insists that they become the best that they can possibly be.
Ken Robinson: How to escape educationโs death valley
Favorite Quote:
Governments decide they know best and theyโre going to tell you what to do. The trouble is that education doesnโt go on in the committee rooms of our legislative buildings. It happens in classrooms and schools, and the people who do it are the teachers and the students. And if you remove their discretion, it stops working.
Sugata Mitra: Build a School in the Cloud
Favorite Quote:
We need a curriculum of big questions, examinations where children can talk, share and use the Internet, and new, peer assessment systems. We need children from a range of economic and geographic backgrounds and an army of visionary educators. We need a pedagogy free from fear and focused on the magic of childrenโs innate quest for information and understanding.
Malala Yousafzai United Nations Speech 2013
Favorite Quote:
Dear brothers and sisters, we want schools and education for every childโs bright future. We will continue our journey to our destination of peace and education for everyone. No one can stop us. We will speak for our rights and we will bring change through our voice. We must believe in the power and the strength of our words. Our words can change the world. Because we are all together, united for the cause of education. And if we want to achieve our goal, then let us empower ourselves with the weapon of knowledge and let us shield ourselves with unity and togetherness.
Hackschooling makes me happy
Favorite Quote:
We donโt seem to make how to be healthy and happy a priority in our schools; itโs separate from schools, and for some kids it doesnโt exist at all, but what if we didnโt make it separate? What if we based our education on the practice of being happy and healthy because thatโs what it is: a practice, and a simple practice at that. โฆ Education is important, but why is being happy and healthy not considered education? I just donโt get it.
If students designed their own schoolsโฆ
Favorite Quote:
Itโs crazy that in a system that is meant to teach and help the youth there is no voice from the youth at all.
I think the more options we have in our schools, the more students we will help develop into the kind of citizens that we need and that itโs okay for you to need a little bit of a different approach from mine.
โTo This Dayโ โฆ for the bullied and beautiful
Favorite Quote:
Why else would we still be here?
we grew up learning to cheer on the underdog
because we see ourselves in them
we stem from a root planted in the belief
that we are not what we were called we are not abandoned cars stalled out and sitting empty on a highway
and if in some way we are
donโt worry
we only got out to walk and get gas
we are graduating members from the class of
fโk off we made it
not the faded echoes of voices crying out
names will never hurt me
TN Student Speaks Out About Common Core, Teacher Evaluations, and Educational Data
Quote:
I stand before you because I care about education, but also because I want to support my teachers, and just as they fought for my academic achievement, so I want to fight for their ability to teach. This relationship is at the heart of instruction, yet there will never be a system by which it is accurately measured.
Middle school football players execute life-changing play
Favorite Quote:
I kind of went from being somebody who mostly cared about myself and my friends to caring about everyone and trying to make everyoneโs day and everyoneโs life.
I Will Not Let An Exam Result Decide My Fate
So this one is for my generation. The ones that found what they were looking for on Google, the ones who followed their dreams on Twitter, pictured their future on Instagram, accepted destiny on Facebook.This ones for my โfailuresโ and โdropoutsโ For my unemployed graduates. My shop assistants, cleaners and cashiers with bigger dreams!! My world changers and dream chasers!!
Because purpose of โWhy I hate school, but love educationโ was not to initiate a world wide debate, but to let them know that whether 72 or 88, 44 or 68. We will not let an exam results decide our fate. Peace.
My Last Days: Meet Zach Sobiech
Favorite Quote:
You donโt have to find out youโre dying to start livingโฆ You can either sit in your basement and wait, or you can get out there and do some crazy stuffโฆ Life is just a bunch of beautiful moments, one right after the otherโฆ
A Pep Talk from Kid President to You
Favorite Quote:
This is your time. This is my time. Itโs our time, if we can make everyday better for each other, if weโre all in the same team lets start acting like it. We got work to do. We can cry about it or dance about it. We were made to be awesome. Lets get out there.
Landfill Harmonic Amazing and Inspirational
I have discussed and promoted the need for educators to reflect deeply on their beliefs, processes, and practices in several of my posts: Where is Reflection in the Learning Process and Teacher Agency: Coming from a Strong Foundation. As another strategy for engaging in this type of self-reflection, I developed these questions to have educators assess their pedagogical principles and instructional preferences:
This title of this post states โsimple but not easyโ because to answer the questions is simple. I know that every good teacher would answer these questions in the direction of student-centric education; one that is in the best interests of the student. But implementation is another thing. To implement the non-maintstream alternative is not easy given the accountability systems, oneโs own training and background, and mandated school initiatives. It takes a strong, self-directed and courageous educator to do so.
My past few blog posts have been dedicated to teacher agency:
This post focuses on the foundation needed to have authentic, strong, and purpose-driven teacher agency. To have a voice, to gain agency, it is important to have a strong philosophical foundation and be able to clearly articulate oneโs ideals, values, mission, and vision as an educator.
As part of teaching pre-service teachers, I ask them to spend a lot of time exploring why they are becoming teachers, their values related to being one, philosophical orientations, and desired instructional practices. This builds a good foundation for their lives as teachers but what I find interesting is that educators are rarely asked to re-visit these core and foundational areas once they become teachers, once they have the experience of being a teacher. I fear that many, once they get caught up with the mandates, accountability systems, requirements of being a teacher, they lose sight the why they became teachers.
The recommendation, then, is for educators to periodically revisit why they became teachers along with the exploring and possibly revising their value system and related teaching philosophies. This could be done as an individual endeavor but it is more powerful done within a professional learning community. Some exercises to assist with this process follow.
Characteristics of Effective Teachers and Letter to an Ineffective Teacher
Brainstorm characteristics of effective teachers. The recommended number is about 10 to 15. As a follow up, a letter could be written to an ineffective teacher, explaining what made him/her ineffective and what could make make him or her more effective. Example:
Developing a Teaching Mission Statement
Grant Wiggins believes educators should be able to address and answer the question, Why do you teach?, in the form of a teaching mission statement.
Having taught, what should they have learned? What do you aim to accomplish as a teacher? What is your goal for the year, for all the years? What kind of a difference in their thinking and acting are you committed to? Why You Teach: Developing A Teacher Mission Statement
Some resources for assisting with this process:
Specifying Beliefs as an Educator
This is an expansion of the developing a mission statement. It is a list of guiding beliefs or principles for teaching. Examples:
Promises to Our Students
Create a list of promises to your students. Post them in your classroom so both you and they can view them.
http://firstgradewow.blogspot.com/2012/09/my-promise-to-my-students.html
Create a Purpose Statement of Education from a Futuristic Perspective
Pretend it is the year 2100. So almost a hundred years have passed from the current day. What has been the purpose of education in the 21st century based on your beliefs on what is the best education for our students?
This is a great paper written by an alternative teaching licensure student:
Conclusion
As this is part of my mission to encourage educators to demand their own agency, it is important for educators to take these exercises to the next level. They need to live out and put into practice their beliefs and values. They need to demand of themselves, their students, their administrators, and their communities that they are given the opportunity to do what they know in their hearts and minds what is in the best interests of the students.
Why on earth would a rational person give money to charityโparticularly a charity that supports strangers? What do they get?
A story.
In fact, every time someone donates to a good cause, theyโre buying a story, a story thatโs worth more than the amount they donated.
It might be the story of doing the right thing, or fitting in, or pleasing a friend or honoring a memory, but the story has value. It might be the story that you, and you alone are able to make this difference, or perhaps itโs the story of using leverage to change the world. For many, itโs the story of what it means to be part of a community. Seth Godin http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2013/11/what-do-we-get-when-we-give-to-a-good-cause.html
This Seth Godin quote provides a solid rationale why adults give to charities. Kids and young people donโt have nor do many of them think about charity in terms of dollars and cents. A precursor to giving both time as a volunteer and money as an adult, I believe, is creating a culture of kindness and giving in kidsโ home and school lives.
We need to create a โculture of kindness,โ encouraging a spirit of generosity and love where differences are accepted and celebrated, rather than targeted. In a culture of kindness, students stand up for and next to one another, all for one and one for all. A dedicated effort to teach, advocate, and model kindness will work much better than efforts to punish meanness. Michael Josephson http://whatwillmatter.com/2012/04/commentary-establishing-a-culture-of-kindness/
One of the best ways to create a culture of kindness is to model and live one. Last year, in response to the Sandy Hook travesty, Ann Curry propose 26 acts of kindness to honor the 26 children and teachers killed at the elementary school. My post of last yearโs acts, Living a Life of Kindness: #26acts. I plan on making this a yearly occurrence and posting about it โ hopefully to inspire others to add a little more kindness into their own and their kidsโ/studentsโ lives. (Note: I actually have been doing acts of kindness for years especially around the holidays when I get a break from my college teaching. I never told anyone of these acts as they are personal and I donโt do them for any need of acknowledgement. But as Iโve stated, I hope telling this story inspires others to be proactive in their acts of kindness.)
Below are the beginning of my 2013 list as a response to Black Friday โ they are my stories of giving kindness. They begin with acts that were not financial based and then with acts of giving money to charities.
#1 โ Clerk with Autism
I went to the local Hastings to buy my brother some books for the holidays. I asked for a specific genre โ WWII โ because this topic is a passion for my brother, who has Aspergers. I explained this to her. She said that she has Aspergerโs, too. I told her that she was doing well as a clerk and she said sometimes it is hard for her. That night there was a special event at the mall. The center of the mall was set up to host live bands and some of the local restaurants were giving away free appetizers. I explained this to the clerk who did not know of the event. I asked her if she had a break to go check out the event. She said she did not as she was only on 5 hour shifts. At the same time, two of the young Hastings clerks, early twenties possibly, were going on break and headed towards this event. The clerk asked them as they were leaving, โCan you get me some food?โ They totally ignored her. As soon as I finish paying for the books, I headed to the event, grabbed several appetizers, went back to Hastings, and handed her the food.
#2 โ Birthday Party for Kim
Kim is a very sweet and dedicated spin bike instructor. She is giving is time, energy, and resources . . . goes way beyond what one expects or gets from a fitness instructor. She told us a birthday was coming up. I got party decorations and a decadent chocolate cake and set up the spin room prior to class. She celebrated through three of her classes.
#3 โ An Unexpected Hug
I take a pottery class at the local community college. There about 15 in the class including an older woman from Germany. She is abrupt in her comments and thoughts; and lacks the humor that most of the rest of us have in the class. She is not well-liked due to this. I have somewhat befriended her talking to her about her pots. We had a long break coming due to Thanksgiving. She was leaving and wished me a Happy Thanksgiving. I asked her for a hug before she left expecting a little, slight embrace. The opposite occurred. She gave me a strong, long, caring hug โ such an unexpected treat.
#4 โ Donated to Save the Children disaster relief efforts for Typhoon Haiyan right after the typhoon.
#5 โ Supported the amazing Black Girls Rock by Tweeting about their sheros show and purchasing a t-shirt.
#6, 7, 8, 9, 10 โ Donated special gifts through Save the Children โ 2 goats, school clinic, clean water clinic, community book bank, 14 week supply of ready to use food
#11 โ Selected a Donors Choose program for a local classroom teacher to buy books, The Fault in Our Stars and Thirteen Reasons Why, for her teen students.
#12 โ Another donation to help with those in the Philippines affected by the typhon
#14 โ Donation to help in Haitiโs Beyond the Borders to help end childhood slavery there.
#15 โ Donated to Indiegogo project โ Afrimakers: Empower makers in Africa to develop sustainable projects and use making to solve local challenges and create an exchange of best practices between locals.
#16 โ Gave a Hug & a Chocolate Treat
I have a fitness instructor who is amazing in fitness but lacking in social skills. She often runs her group fitness classes like a drill sergeant โ making everyone be there on time and yelling about form the whole time. Many donโt take her class due to this. But I like her routine, so I put up with her โmeannessโ. That day someone in class mentioned it was her birthday. After class, I took a deep breath and went up to her to give her a hug. During her barely touching me hug, I said that I appreciated her classes and was happy I got to take them. That day I went to the local bakery and bought her chocolate brownies and gave them to her as a birthday/Christmas present a few days later. She seemed genuinely appreciative.
#17 โ Donated to Be K.I.N.D. to a Girl in Malawi. Provide a School Scholarship.
#18 โ Ceramic Sponges to My Pottery Buds
Bought and gave out specialized ceramic sponges to my pottery buddies.
#19 โ Toys for Tots Zumbathon
Attended a Zumbathon where the entrance fee was a toy for tots.
FYI โ I bought the Black and Decker kidsโ toolkit seen in the front. It supports my belief that kidsโ toys and play should involve creating, making, innovating.
#20 โ Holiday Treats for My Brother and His Family
I have been disconnected with my youngest brother and his family for about three years โ no calls, presents, or cards. It was not precipitated by anything. It just happened. I bought and am sending his family a basket of baked treats for a local bakery for Christmas.
#21 โ Donated and Supported (through Tweets) to Project for Awesome
Donated to get a t-shirt and a signed copy of John Greenโs The Fault in Our Stars (score! in many ways).
#22 โ Donated to Pencils of Promise to Help Build a School
#23 โ Helped 80-something Betsy learn how to shape a pottery bowl
I rented some studio space at Santa Fe Clay for the month of December because the college where I do pottery is closed for the winter break. Studio space costs some $$$ โ it has as such become a place where retired and a bit wealthy patrons make pots. I have been going in a few hours several days a week. I tend to just focus on my work. I did notice a woman probably in her mid or late 80s working on some bowls and asked her about it. She told me that she made pots in her 20s and wanted to get back into it. She explained that it was NOT like riding a bike and that she was struggling a bit. I have a great handmade wooden tool, called a rib, thatโs great for shaping bowls. As she was working on a bowl, I asked her if I could shape her bowl to show her how. She watched intently and asked some questions. I told her to try the rib on her next bowl. When she got to the point of shaping with my rib, I went over and talked her through using it. Her bowl looked good โ much better than the bowls she made earlier โ and showed me as such. She thanked me and said it was probably the best tip sheโs gotten since going back to pottery. A little bit of my time made a difference for her AND for me as the gift in giving is priceless.
#24 โ Donated to Unicef USA as an end of year matched donation
#25 โ Donated to Save the Children
#26 โ Donated to International Rescues
Parting shot . . .
โI canโt wait for and am so excited for the three day โsit and gitโ professional development in-service at our schoolโ said no teacher possibly ever.
โLetโs face it: Professional development, as we have known it for years now, has yielded little or no positive effects on student learning.โ Thus complain the many weary professionals who flinch at the mere mention of the word โworkshop.โ In the collective imagination, the term โprofessional development dayโ conjures only images of coffee breaks, consultants in elegant outfits, and schools barren of kids. http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/104021/chapters/Professional-Development-Today.aspx
I recently discussed teacher agency in Teacher Agency: Educators Moving from a Fixed to a Growth Mindset.
Teacher agency is typically viewed as a quality within educators, a matter of personal capacity to act (Priestly et al., 2012) usually in response to stimuli within their pedagogical environment. It describes an educator who has both the ability and opportunity to act upon a set of circumstances that presents itself within that individualโs leadership, curricular or instructional roles. The educator described would then draw from acquired knowledge and experience to intercede appropriately and effectively. Teacher Agency in America and Finland By Roger Wilson, GVSU Faculty
Teacher agency can be applied to teacher professional development. What follows is a model of professional development driven by teacher agency.
The Teacherโs Choice Framework
Gabriel Diaz-Maggioli in her ASCD book, Teacher-Centered Professional Development, proposes a teacherโs choice framework which are characterized by:
http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/104021/chapters/Professional-Development-Today.aspx
Teacher Empowered Model of Professional Development
Develop a vision and a mission of an ideal classroom and optimal student achievement.
As part of their teacher education, students are often asked to develop their teaching philosophy. This is a good initial exercise but several problems exist with it. First, this happens during pre-service teaching and often prior to any extensive time spent teaching in an actual classroom. Second, it does reflect the continuous and evolving nature of education. Finally, it does not reflect ideas and teaching practices shaped and learned while one is a teacher.
Weโre all learning and growing all the time โ we canโt not learn. The difference that creates success is deciding and directing your learning direction. If you donโt know what you want your work to look like in 1 or 2 years from now, youโll be likely to have your career direction determined by other people or circumstances, rather than your personal values and desires, so get clear on the picture of work youโre aiming for. How To Drive Your Professional Development With A Self-Directed Learning Program
Part of an educatorโs continuous growth and development process practices should be, on a regular basis, identifying an area of current interest, studying the current best practices of that interest, and creating a vision of a classroom and student achievement based on those best practices. For example an educator, a group of educators, and an entire school could decide to study one of the following areas of 21st century education to explore best practices in that classroom-instructional practice:
Based on this focused study, the educator develops a vision of an ideal classroom and instructional practices.
Identify gaps between what is and the ideal.
The educator then compares current practices to that of the ideal to identify gaps. From these gaps, professional development goals are established. This process provides a foundation of โneedโ, focus, and relevancy for the educatorโs professional development. Professional development then becomes โjust-in-time learningโ rather than โjust-in-case it is neededโ.
The following visual metaphor is a model of this process.
http://www.visualthinkingmagic.com/visual-metaphor-bridge-gap
Identify Current Reality: On the left cliff, list of keywords that define your current reality. Youโre basically outlining where you are right now in your classroom teaching process. Sketches and symbols can also be used to describe your current reality.
Identify Desired Reality: On the right cliff write down a list of keywords that define your desired classroom environment and practices based on your vision of the ideal. Youโre essentially defining the type of classroom that you would like to create by the date you specified. Represent these keywords (your desired reality) using a series of sketches, symbols or both. Completing these sketches will help you to create more meaningful associations.
Identify Obstacles: Within the gap between the two cliffs, write down all the obstacles that are standing between your current reality and your desired reality. Write down keywords. Alternatively, you can represent these words in a visual way, as described above.
Identify Key Resources; On the tree branches outline five key resources and training opportunities that you have at your disposal that you could use to help you overcome the obstacles that are standing between you and your desired reality. (Identifying resources will be further expanded upon in the next section.)
Bridge the Gap: Now that you are clear about where you are, where you want to be, the obstacles standing in your way, and the resources you have at your disposal, itโs now time to build a bridge that will take you over the cliff towards your desired reality. This bridge is going to be built using a series of steps that you will take over a certain period of time that will get you to where you want to go.
Establish and/or identify self-driven and directed professional development activities to close the gap.
Design a self-directed learning plan for yourself by deciding what sources youโll learn from, what programs or classes you might wish to sign up for, who youโd like to be mentored by, and what other sources of social support and accountability youโll build into your learning program, in order to achieve your learning goals. How To Drive Your Professional Development With A Self-Directed Learning Program
During this phase, educators engage in self-directed professional learning opportunities to learn how to close the gap from the current state to the ideal one. The opportunities for educators to engage in self-directed professional development is basically limitless in this era of teaching and learning. As the British Columbia Teacher Federation notes, there are Many Ways to Grow Professionally
Four specific types are discussed in more detail: Teacher In-Services, EdCamps, Connected Education, and Professional Learning Communities.
Teacher In-Services or Professional Development Choice Days
As stated in the beginning passages a one size fits all type of professional development still offered by many school districts in the form of in-services is a thing of the past and creates high levels of dread among teachers. In-services do have the value in that educators are given the time and space to participate in professional development and are able to engage in face-to-face discourse with colleagues.
To adapt in-service workshops from a one size fits all to one that is personalized for the participating educators requires that the in-service designers take into account the needs of educators, find workshop leaders with both expertise in those areas and in teaching adults using andragogical principles, and offer a number of workshop choices within each time slot including a choice to โunconference.โ
An example of this is the Techtoberfest in Idaho. It is a two-day conference for the teachers of that district and teachers from surrounding districts are invited to attend. The conference designers explore the needs of the teachers of that district, locate experts to bring in to run workshops, and provide the teachers with about a dozen workshop options per time slot. See https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B_ZlE-JbwhcRN1JTbXlKcnJHZ3M/edit?usp=drive_web for the Techtoberfest 2012 agenda.
EdCamp
An edcamp is a user-generated conference โ commonly referred to as an โunconferenceโ. Edcamps are designed to provide participant-driven professional development for K-12 educators. Edcamps are free participant-driven conferences. Sessions are not planned until the day of the event, when participants can volunteer to facilitate a conversation on a topic of their choice. Edcamps operate โwithout keynote speakers or vendor booths, encourage participants to find or lead a conversation that meet their needs and interests. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EdCamp
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It makes sense. If you have teachers together face-to-face, why not let them talk about what works? Why not let them ask questions of one another? Why not use the best medium available, the human voice, to learn from one another? It has me thinking that our weekly professional development ought to work in an edcamp model. By this, I mean offer multiple choices, keep the groups small and then lead a discussion. It could be a book study or a week-by-week discussion on a topic. It could be a new set of topics each week, depending upon the desires of the teacher. An edcamp model would empower teachers to share their expertise democratically. Ultimately, the value of edcamp is in the sharing of ideas and in the validation of oneโs professional identity. Too often, thatโs not happening at the weekly professional development that teachers attend. Yet, in a more democratic model, teachers begin to see that what they believe and what they know actually matters. Why Professional Development Should Be More Like Edcamp
Connected Education
The Internet and social networks provide an infinite number of ways to engage in self-directed professional development including, but not limited, to attending online webinars and virtual conferences, participating in Twitter and Tweet Chats, and reading, writing, and responding to blogs.
I teach a course entitled, Social Networked Learning, in which in-service educators learn how to use social networks for their own professional development. See Educator as a Social Networked Learner for more about this.
Professional Learning Communities
In professional learning communities model, teachers in either grade-level or content-area teams meet several times a week to collaborate on teaching strategies and solve problems. In the most sophisticated examples, teachers set common instructional goals, teach lessons in their individual classrooms, administer informal assessments to determine levels of student mastery, and then regroup as a team to analyze the data together. Then, they pinpoint areas of success, identify areas for improvement, and set goals for future teaching (Honawar, 2008). http://www.edweek.org/ew/issues/professional-development/
For more on Professional Learning Communities, see
Develop plans of action for implementation, then implement.
If a primary goal of professional development is to affect what teachers believe, understand, and do on a daily basis, then offering โpresentationsโ or โtrainingโ without intensive and sustained small-group dialogue, in-classroom coaching, and just-in-time problem solving is educational malpractice. Put another way, โhead learningโ abstracted from practice without abundant opportunities for supportive on-the-job feedback and trouble shooting wastes the organizationโs resources and squanders teachersโ good will. Why professional development without substantial follow-up is malpractice.
This is the โdo itโ phase. Based on the educatorโs self-directed professional development, he or she decides what changes, modifications, and adaptations will be implemented into oneโs teaching environment. Some guiding questions to assist with this process are:
This phase will only be effective if the educator is given the time, support, and resources to implement ideas gained through their professional development experiences.
Engage in an accountability system.
The world of work asks the educator to show evidence of learning; to quantify it; provide evidence of professional development in some way. An accountability system needs to be set up that โrequiresโ, acknowledges, and rewards educators for engaging in their own self-directed professional development.
You could qualify it by hours spent (yuck), content curated (a little better), total resources shared (a tad bit better still), PD presented in person (not bad), alignment between content found and school and district needs (decent), impact on learning performance (nice), or some basic formula of several of these and more. Then turn that process over to themโcrowdsource the recording-keeping with the only expectation being that itโs visible to everyone and simple to update. Personalizing Teacher Training Through Social Media-Based Improvement
Some ways to make the professional learning visible include teaching portfolios and digital badges.
Teaching Portfolios
Teaching portfolios, often known as dossiers, are compilation of teaching materials and related documents that teachers employ during teaching and learning processes. Portfolios serve as tools for reflection, a way to thoughtfully document teaching practices and progress toward goals. Portfolio entries can inform professional growth plans. As actual artifacts of teaching, portfolios help teachers to systematically ponder over their practice, reflect on the problems they face, and learn from their experience. They provide direct evidence of what teachers have accomplished. Self-Directed Professional Development: Success Mantra or a Myth?
Digital Badges
Eric Sheninger, the principal of New Milford High School, is experimenting with Integration of Digital Badges to Acknowledge Professional Learning
I am proud to announce Worlds of Learning @ New Milford High School, a digital badge professional learning platform. The idea behind this platform is to provide professional learning with a pinch of gamification. โฏDigital badges can be used to guide, motivate, document and validate formal and informal learning. โฏWorlds of Learning @ New Milford High School provides a framework to allow our teachers to earn digital badges through learning about a range of technology tools and applications. I hope that New Milford High School teachers will be able to benefit greatly from this sustained initiative because of the professional learning flexibility an online platform provides as well as it being a means to document and showcase the skills they have gained and โฏputting their learnings into practice in the classroom.
Conclusions
In summary, regardless of the type of professional development selected by the educational institutions and the teachers, themselves, it needs to have the following characteristics for effective implementation and sustainability in the classroom:
It is a myth that we operate under a set of oppressive bureaucratic constraints. In reality, teachers have a great deal of autonomy in the work they chose to do in their classrooms. In most cases it is our culture that provides the constraints. For individual teachers, trying out new practices and pedagogy is risky business and both our culture, and our reliance on hierarchy, provide the ideal barriers for change not to occur. As Pogo pointed out long ago, โwe have met the enemy and it is us.โ http://www.cea-ace.ca/blog/brian-harrison/2013/09/5/stop-asking-permission-change
Educational psychology has focused on the concepts of learned helplessness and more currently growth-fixed mindsets as a way to explain how and why students give up in the classroom setting. These ideas can also be applied to educators in this day of forced standardization, testing, scripted curriculum, and school initiatives.
Many educators feel forced into a paradigm of teaching where they feel subjected to teaching practices outside of their control. Then when they are asked to engage in a process of continued growth and development, many profess: โI donโt have enough time.โ, โI donโt have enough resources.โ, โI need more training.โ, โI need to teach using the textbook.โ ,โI need to teach to the test.โ, โI might lose control of the class.โ, โI have always successful taught this way.โ
But these are external obstacles whereby the educator places blame for resisting change or engaging in a growth mindset outside of oneโs own responsibility. The result is a fixed mindset of learned helplessness, โI cannot change because the system wonโt let me change.โ Sometimes educators are creating some obstacles for themselves that in reality donโt exist.
A mental shift occurs when a fixed mindset which often leads to learned helplessness is changed to a growth and positive mindset, believing that there are options; that one can grow, change, and be significant.
How you interpret challenges, setbacks, and criticism is your choice. You can interpret them in a fixed mindset as signs that your fixed talents or abilities are lacking. Or you can interpret them in a growth mindset as signs that you need to ramp up your strategies and effort, stretch yourself, and expand your abilities. Itโs up to you. http://mindsetonline.com/changeyourmindset/firststeps/
It becomes focusing on what can work rather than what is not working. This is not to devalue the obstacles that teachers face. It becomes about noting where change is possible and making some small changes in teaching. Small changes often result in larger, more systemic change.
Teacher Agency
The deeper issue related to a fixed versus a growth mindset in education is one of teacher agency.
Teacher agency is typically viewed as a quality within educators, a matter of personal capacity to act (Priestly et al., 2012) usually in response to stimuli within their pedagogical environment. It describes an educator who has both the ability and opportunity to act upon a set of circumstances that presents itself within that individualโs leadership, curricular or instructional roles. The educator described would then draw from acquired knowledge and experience to intercede appropriately and effectively. Agency is increasingly rare in the educational world of prescriptive improvement, and the term is too โoften utilized as a slogan to support school-based reformโ (Priestley, Biesta & Robinson, 2012, p. 3). Teacher Agency in America and Finland By Roger Wilson, GVSU Faculty
But most educators would probably agree that out of all of the professions, they feel that their voices have the least amount of power; are the ones least heard of any profession when voicing desires, needs, innovative ideas. Samuel A. Culbert, a professor in the Anderson School of Management at the University of California, Los Angeles, noted in the New York Times opinion piece: How to Raise the Status of Teachers: Allow More Autonomy:
The way to make stars out of teachers is to let teachers be stars, to let them be as innovative as they can be, to let them find the path that works best for them and their students. If they are allowed to search for the best answers, theyโll find them. Instead, weโre doing the opposite: weโre telling them that if they want to keep their jobs, they have to do what people who know so much less than they do about education tell them to do. They have to dance to some constantly changing, politically created tune that is guaranteed to leave them demoralized and their students floundering.
The bottom line, is that teachers need to reclaim their perceived and real teacher agency, voice, and empowerment. They need to develop a growth mindset that they can and do have agency in their profession.
With all that is happening in the education profession today, it is important to remember that teacherโs have power to change the system. This power for change can be called โAgencyโ which is defined as the capacity of teachers to shape critically their responses to educational processes and practices (Biesta and Teddler, 2006). With all the external push from various sectors, ultimately teachers are the ones that can cut through all of the cross-purposed mandates and transform their own process and practices to ensure the best educational experiences for their students. Teacher Agency and Todayโs Teachers
Some concrete strategies educators can do for gaining and increasing their agency include:
In conclusion, teacher voice, empowerment, and agency is needed for the educational reform that so many desire . . .
More than ever we โ teachers โ must be a vital part of this national conversation. As teachers, we have a responsibility to our students and communities to share our collective wisdom in an effort to facilitate quality reform. To get this reform effort right, teachers must be seated at the table demanding the type of change that will be in the best interest of our children, our fellow teachers, and our country.
Reforming our great profession is a necessary step in the development of our nation in general. We have a unique opportunity to share our stories, the good and the bad, in an effort to equip our colleagues to more adequately prepare their students for the future that awaits us all. Teacher Voices Must Be Heard
The Census is one of the most important sources of demographic, social, and economic data for any country. In India, the decennial Census conducted by the Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner of India provides comprehensive data that forms the backbone of planning and policy-making. For urban and regional planners, census data is indispensable for understanding population characteristics, settlement patterns, infrastructure needs, and future growth trends.
This essay explains the classification and definitions used in census, followed by the applications of census data in planning.
A census is the complete enumeration of population at a specific point in time. It collects data on:
In India, census is conducted every 10 years (decennial), ensuring updated and reliable data for planning purposes.
The Census of India classifies settlements primarily into rural and urban areas, based on specific criteria.
All areas that do not meet the criteria for urban classification are treated as rural. These are typically:
Rural areas are administered by Gram Panchayats and are characterized by low population density and primary economic activities.
Urban areas are classified into two major categories:
These are areas that have been declared urban by law and have:
They are governed by urban local bodies.
These are areas that satisfy the following three criteria:
Even if not legally declared urban, such areas are treated as urban for census purposes.
An Urban Agglomeration is a continuous urban spread consisting of:
Examples include large metropolitan regions.
These are areas outside statutory limits but with urban characteristics, such as:
They are included in urban agglomerations.
Urban areas are further classified based on population size:
| Class | Population Range |
|---|---|
| Class I | 100,000 and above |
| Class II | 50,000 โ 99,999 |
| Class III | 20,000 โ 49,999 |
| Class IV | 10,000 โ 19,999 |
| Class V | 5,000 โ 9,999 |
| Class VI | Less than 5,000 |
Cities with population above 1 million are termed Million-plus cities, and those above 10 million are Megacities.
Understanding census terminology is essential for planners:
A group of persons living together and sharing a common kitchen.
A person aged 7 years and above who can read and write with understanding in any language.
Percentage of workers in the total population.
Number of females per 1000 males.
Number of persons per square kilometer.
Percentage of population living in urban areas.
Movement of people from one place to another, categorized as:
Census data is a critical input in planning at all levelsโlocal, regional, and national.
6
This is highly relevant in Transit-Oriented Development (TOD).
While highly useful, census data has certain limitations:
Hence, planners often supplement census data with surveys, GIS data, and remote sensing.
Modern planning integrates census data with:
Census classification and definitions provide a standardized framework for understanding population and settlement characteristics. The distinction between rural and urban areas, along with detailed demographic and socio-economic indicators, enables planners to analyze spatial patterns and development needs effectively.
For planners, census data is not just statistical informationโit is a foundation for evidence-based planning. It supports decision-making in land use planning, infrastructure development, transport systems, housing, and social services. Despite its limitations, when combined with modern analytical tools, census data remains one of the most powerful instruments for achieving sustainable, inclusive, and well-planned development.
Planning is a systematic and organized approach to guiding the development of human settlements and regions in order to improve the quality of life for people. With rapid urbanization, population growth, and increasing economic activities, cities and regions face complex challenges such as congestion, environmental degradation, housing shortages, and unequal access to resources. Planning helps address these issues by providing a structured framework for managing land use, infrastructure, transportation systems, environmental resources, and socio-economic development.
Planning is not limited to designing physical spaces; it also involves understanding social needs, economic development, environmental sustainability, and governance mechanisms. Because of this broad scope, planning has developed into a distinct academic and professional discipline that integrates knowledge from multiple fields.
Planning as a discipline refers to the systematic process of analyzing present conditions, predicting future needs, and preparing strategies or policies to guide the development and management of land, infrastructure, and resources for the welfare of society.
Urban and regional planning focuses on organizing the physical environment in a way that supports economic growth, social equity, and environmental sustainability. It involves the preparation of development plans, policies, and projects that guide the orderly growth of cities, towns, and regions.
Several scholars and institutions have defined planning in different ways:
Thus, planning as a discipline involves technical analysis, spatial design, policy formulation, and community engagement.
Planning is inherently multidisciplinary because cities and regions function as complex systems influenced by multiple factors such as population growth, economic activities, environmental conditions, transportation systems, and governance structures. To address these complex interactions, planners must integrate knowledge from several disciplines.
Geography helps planners understand spatial patterns of land use, population distribution, climate, and natural resources. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are widely used for spatial analysis and mapping.
Economic principles help planners analyze development trends, employment opportunities, investment patterns, and the financial feasibility of projects.
Sociology provides insights into social structures, cultural practices, community needs, and demographic characteristics. Understanding social dynamics helps planners design inclusive and equitable communities.
Environmental science is essential for sustainable planning. It helps planners address issues such as pollution control, climate change, biodiversity conservation, and natural resource management.
Transportation engineering helps planners design efficient mobility systems including roads, public transport networks, pedestrian pathways, and cycling infrastructure.
Architecture and urban design contribute to the physical form and aesthetics of cities, including building design, public spaces, and street layouts.
Planning policies are implemented through government institutions and legal frameworks. Knowledge of governance systems and administrative processes is therefore essential for effective planning.
Because of these diverse influences, planning acts as a bridge between technical sciences, social sciences, and design disciplines.
A planner plays an important role in shaping the development of cities and regions. The planner acts as an analyst, strategist, coordinator, and facilitator in the planning process.
Planners begin by collecting and analyzing information about population, land use, infrastructure, environment, and economic activities. This data helps identify existing problems and opportunities.
Planners develop long-term visions and strategies for urban and regional development. They prepare master plans, development plans, regional plans, and policy frameworks that guide future growth.
One of the key responsibilities of planners is organizing land use in a city or region. This involves allocating land for residential, commercial, industrial, recreational, and institutional purposes.
Planners ensure that essential infrastructure such as roads, water supply, sewage systems, electricity, and public transport systems are developed efficiently.
Modern planners must address environmental concerns by promoting sustainable development, protecting natural resources, and reducing pollution.
Planning increasingly involves participation from local communities and stakeholders. Planners engage with residents, organizations, and government agencies to incorporate public input into planning decisions.
Planners help governments formulate policies related to housing, transportation, land use, and environmental protection. They also monitor the implementation of development plans.
To perform these roles effectively, planners require a combination of technical and interpersonal skills.
Important skills include:
These skills enable planners to manage complex urban systems and coordinate development activities.
Planning is essential for managing urban growth and improving living conditions. Without proper planning, cities may face problems such as overcrowding, traffic congestion, environmental degradation, and inadequate infrastructure.
Effective planning helps achieve:
Planning therefore plays a crucial role in creating cities that are livable, sustainable, and resilient.
Planning is a dynamic and multidisciplinary discipline that integrates knowledge from various fields to guide the development of cities and regions. It involves analyzing existing conditions, forecasting future needs, and preparing strategies that promote sustainable and equitable development.
The multidisciplinary nature of planning allows planners to address complex urban challenges by combining insights from geography, economics, sociology, environmental science, transportation engineering, architecture, and governance. The role of a planner extends beyond technical analysis to include visioning, coordination, policy formulation, and community engagement.
As urban populations continue to grow and environmental challenges increase, the importance of planning will continue to expand. Effective planning ensures that urban development is organized, efficient, and beneficial for society as a whole.
I have lived most of my life in a state of existential anxiety . . .
Existential anxiety arises when people deeply contemplate their existence. This contemplation leads to thoughts and feelings of freedom and responsibility, which burden the individual to find a purpose in lifeโand to live genuinely according to this purpose. http://www.livestrong.com/article/138049-what-is-existential-anxiety/#ixzz2GYDr8LNC
Starting in middle school, I developed this intense desire to have a significant impact on changing the world. I want the world to be a more fair, equitable, and enjoyable place for all, in part, due to actions I have taken. I have worked with at risk youth, with adjudicated youth, with kids and adults in a psychiatric hospital, with pre-service and in-service teachers. I always try to plant a seed of significance โ that they have the personal power to change themselves and the world. My passion for doing so has not diminished but a few years ago I entered into a state of existential depression, believing what I was doing didnโt matter. Ironically, even though I โpreachโ a message of personal power to change the world, I had/have doubts that I could do so.
Then came social media. I often express that social media gives everyone the opportunity to have a voice and an audience to listen to that voices. As for myself, I blog, tweet, and Facebook hoping to create some sense of significance.
Several events converged during the past few weeks to intensify my perpetual state of existential angst:
I cannot say anything good is going to come from the Sandy Hook massacre โ it has not meaning. It just reinforces the need to live and love fully and totally for today as we cannot be assured of a tomorrow. Some folks seemed to take this thought to heart and joined Ann Curryโs movement to participate in #26acts of kindness. In order to honor the victims and to attempt to do something, anything to make change, I did my #26acts and blogged about them in Living a Life of Kindness: #26acts to challenge others to do so.
This week marked the 200,000 view of my blog and I am closing in on 10,000 followers on Twitter.
Yesterday I posted a Facebook status that stated, โAm thinking that I should be a poster child for existential angst โ have spent my life in an ongoing search for meaning and significance.โ One of my friends, Janet Nay Zadina responded, โI am so happy that I have work that is meaningful to me. You, also, have that. Your posting of Acts of Kindness has significantly affected me and many others.โ
Maybe I do have a voice. I still donโt know if I am making a difference, but hope my blog entries and tweets spark something for those viewing them. I have more hope I am making a difference than I had prior to social networking.
As I noted, viewing Viktor Franklโs talk was also one of the events that had impact on me this week. I started thinking that maybe a purpose I have in life is to encourage educators to assist their students in finding their own meaning and significance.
As Viktor Frankl noted in his talk, young people have a need for finding meaning in life. In our role of as educators, Dr. Frankl made several comments that have application to working with students:
If we take (hu)mans as are they really are, we make them worse, but if we overestimate/overrate them, we promote them to what they really can be.
If you donโt recognize young (hu)mansโ will to meaning, search for meaning, you make them worse, you make them dull, you make them frustrated. Letโs presuppose a spark for meaning. Then you will elicit it from them and you will make them become what they are capable of becoming.
I believe that a responsibility of all educators is to provide their students with the knowledge, skills, resources, and time to find their own meaning. Social media and networking amplifies and enhances their potential to do so. In these days of social media and networking, kids, on their own, are changing the world:
Can you imagine how a world would look if the educational curriculum promoted kid-driven initiatives like these?
I teach a Boise State University EdTech graduate course in Social Networking Learning. I wrote about this course in Educators as Social Networked Learners.
I decided to write a separate post about their final assignment, creating a Social-Networked Mini-Curricular Unit. The assignment description, some of the group units produced, the peer assessment, and some student reflections about the project follow:
Assignment Description
For your final project (the final module is peer reviews of this assignment), youโll be formulating, outlining, proposing your very own social networked mini-curricular unit. Creating your own mini-curricular unit for your final project will provide you with the opportunity to synthesize and apply the social networking skills and strategies you learned throughout the course.
Example Group Projects
Despite a passion for creative writing, many people refuse to identify themselves as writers. There are a number of misconceptions about writing including the idea that a true writer is one who is published by a publishing house. This course seeks to change that narrow view of writers. The writer is a person who finds joy or purpose in writing and endeavors to write often.
The hallmark of any writer is that they write and write often. Students will write often and collaborate with other writers in class to develop a 15 -20 page story that will be published online at the end of the course. This course will use social media and other technologies to help writers create a useful archive of resources and create a network of similar-minded writers. Students will leave the course with a story they publish to an online website and skills to continue writing. http://sswrite.weebly.com/index.html
Of special note, Andrea, Alyssa, Darla, and Christinaโs unit included the following:
https://sites.google.com/site/spacemooc/
Of special note, Jon and Fabioโs course included the following:
Some good Skymap apps are listed below:
After your group stargazing, please visit our Facebook Group Page and reflect on the experience. Your reflection should include your perceptions before and after learning about constellations. Also, please respond to at least two group members posts.
Peer Reviews of the Social Networked Curricular Units
Assignment Overview: You are being asked to provide feedback for one of the other groupโs units via an audio-visual screencast. There are a number of Web-based tools that can be used to do this. Screencasts increase the social networking level of the teaching-learning process and helps to insure that the feedback is rich and that thorough critiques are provided. Here are some example screencasts from the course:
Final Course Reflections
The final task for the course was a reflection on the course, what worked, what didnโt work, what was learned, what will be used in the future. A few students discussed this assignment as being a significant component of the course.
From Christina:
I believe that my favorite (while frustrating) assignment was the final project. While I always hope for the most detailed outlines and instructions for assignments, the freedom to create a social media and networking course on our own was challenging and exciting. I have always enjoyed how the final projects in our EdTech courses serve as a means to solidify our learning. The project was able to help me see how the previous assignments from the semester could be integrated and applied in a meaningful application of social networking. Our project on Healthy Living integrates a variety of social networking components that I am always afraid to try with my students. But now that I have had the practice of applying these tools in a practice setting, I am more likely to attempt to use them with my โreal-lifeโ students. http://cmoore23.wordpress.com/2012/12/11/hello-my-name-is-christina-and-i-was-a-lurker/
From Fabio:
Now for the best part of this course and what I enjoyed the most โ the MOOC. I didnโt know that these existed. I love this idea. Iโm a lifelong learner. I learn to learn and I donโt care what it is as long as it interests me and stimulates my brain. MOOCs are awesome and I canโt wait to delve more into this fascinating area and possible even conduct a few. We can create communities of student centered self guided learning in which a teacher may not even necessarily be needed in the traditional sense. In this model the entire group would teach and learn from each other. Iโd really love to take part in the one that I designed and others that I saw my peers start and design. I may not make an entire course into a MOOC, but I definitely will add aspects of MOOCs into my courses. http://edtech.cominotti.net/llog/2012/12/10/social-network-learning-course-reflection/
Tens of thousands of people answered Anne Curryโs call and thus began the 26 Acts of Kindness campaign to honor the 20 children and six teachers lost in the shooting at Sandy Hook, according to NBC. A Facebook page has been set up to promote the 26 Acts of Kindness campaign. It already has almost 83,000 โlikes.โ
Here is an example of the 22 acts of kindness a 22 year old did to celebrate his birthday, not part of this project but a great example how one person took the initiative to do some of his own acts of kindness.
If I was still a classroom teacher, I would have my students do this as a year long project and record their acts of kindness via a photo essay or video. I believe that this era of education should include learning about social good and global stewardship. Students should be encouraged to be change makers in the world. This is why this post is included in my series on user-generated education.
Some teachers have started acts of kindness campaigns with their students:
What follows are my #21 acts for Holiday, 2012 (five more are forthcoming). I try to live a life of acts of kindness, trying to give charity to others all year long through my actions (e.g., helping a senior citizen) or making contributions during catastrophes. During Christmas time, I make my big contributions and try to do some volunteer work โ helping deliver meals to homebound, packing Christmas treats at the Salvation Army, etc. I never tell anyone about my acts as they are personal and I do not do so to get any pats on the back from anyone else. I am sharing this yearโs acts due to the #26acts movement, and to inspire, motivate, and challenge others to do so.
#1 โ Lifted Spirits at the Post Office
I was in the post office to mail some Xmas presents. As expected, the line was extremely long. We took our numbered tickets upon entering the PO and found our places for the inevitable waiting. I have very little patience for lines and based on the reactions, attitudes, and comments so did the other people waiting. I took a deep breadth and dove into my iPhone. An older lady (she looked about 80) a few people away from me kind of joked about being #67 as they had just called out #17. I realized I had picked up a lower number #33 from the counter leaving me with both #33 and #41. I handed her #41 saying it is a good time to engage in acts of kindness. She yelped with joy and asked me for a hug. A man then stated loudly that he forgot to get a ticket. The older lady handed him her #67. We had started a game of pass it forward. A majority of the 30+ folks in the Post Office started laughing and commenting โ a potentially miserable time at the PO became joyful and fun. I left the PO smiling โ the first smiles I had since hearing about Sandy Hook. A very small act of kindness changed the entire climate of a โgrouchyโ situation into one that touched my heart.
#2 โ Gave Homeless Man My Lunch
I went grocery shopping. In the roasted chicken section was a roasted turkey breast. I bought it for my lunch today โ nothing like hot roasted turkey. It cost $9. At the stop sign off of the highway, on the drive home, was a homeless man (I assume) with a cardboard sign that said, โAnything would help.โ He was an older man with very long grey hair and beard. I stopped to consider giving him a few dollars. I asked him if he smoked. I donโt give the guys with signs money for fear that they would spend it on cigarettes. He said he did and I told him that I didnโt want to give him money for cigarettes. With very said eyes, he asked, โDo you have anything to eat?โ I grabbed the roasted turkey and handed it to him. He stared in disbelief and could only say โOh my goodnessโ a few times. I yelled Merry Christmas and drove off.
#3 โ Bought an iTunes Gift Card and Made a List of Recommended Apps for My Brother with Aspergerโs. He is getting an iPad for Christmas.
#4 โ Donated to John Greenโs (Fault of Our Stars) amazing Youtube fundraiser, Project Awesome 2012
#5 โ Promoted Sandy Hook Snowflake Project on my social networks.
#6 โ Donated $26 dollars to the Sandy Hook PTA for their Snowflake Project.
#7 โ Donated to Beyond Borders because we should not forget about Haiti, Beyond Borders is an international nonprofit working to end child slavery, guarantee universal access to education, end violence against women and girls and promote dignified and life sustaining work that recognizes and reinforce Haitiโs strengths.
#8 โ Bought Merchandise to Support and โAdvertiseโ Pencils of Promise
#9 โ Bought a MiiR Water Bottle โ $1 of every MiiR bottle purchased provides one person with clean water for one year, one4one.
#10 & #11 โ Donated a Year of School for Two Girls through International Rescue
#12 โ Donated a New Classroom through International Rescue
#13 โ Donated a Pair of Goats through International Rescue
#14 โ Donated A Womenโs Health and Wellness Kit through International Rescue
#15, #16, #17, #18 โ Contributed to four classroom projects through Donors Choose for classrooms affected by Hurricane Sandy
#19 โ Provided Kiva loan to the agriculture Mahinga Group in Kenya as I believe we are all global stewards.
#20 โ As I do every year, I donated a substantial amount of $$ to Save the Children.
#21 โ Planned a Surprise Birthday Cake-Card for Fellow Potter Who Turned 70. During our holiday pottery show, I gave Mimi, who was turning 70, a chocolate cake and a card signed by the group members. Her son and grandchildren came to the show so I gave it to her when they were there. She told me that it had been years and years since she had a birthday cake.
#22 โ Paid $20 of a Senior Citizenโs Grocery Bill. She was really grateful and asked me for a little kiss.
These are my acts for the 20 children and for Sandy Hook Principal, Dawn Hochsprung, and teacher, Vicki Soto. The other four acts will occur when an act of kindness is needed and I can provide such an act.
I do not live a life of trying to give acts of kindness as a ticket to get into an afterlife. I live it because it feels good. It is the right thing to do.
I developed a mission statement as an educator several decades ago. It is simply, โTo provide students with the knowledge, skills, and passion to become lifelong learners.โ I have never swayed from that mission, but as I say in my Twitter profile, โI donโt do education for a living, I live education as my doing . . . and technology has amplified my passion for doing so.โ Technology makes possible 24/7, interested-driven learning. I teach online so I get the opportunity to learn everyday all day long due to the Internet and social networks. Students of all ages and settings should also be given the skills, tools, and time to engage in this type of self-directed, passion-based learning.
Higher education and high school teachers have stubbornly kept lectures as the primary mode of instruction. Most students in these venues report boredom as a result. I discuss this more in Who Would Choose a Lecture as Their Primary Mode of Learning. An opposing state of being passionate is being bored, a contradiction to my mission statement . . . and I believe that most educators would report that do not wish to elicit a state of boredom in their students. This is why I am confused that in these amazing times of the abundance of information, mobile devices, and free technologies, educators are not leveraging them in the classroom.
Where, when, how, and even what we are learning is changing. Teachers need to consider how to engage learners with content by connecting to their current interests as well as their technological habits and dependencies. http://learningthroughdigitalmedia.net/introduction-learning-through-digital-media
Reports continue to be disseminated about how young people are using technology. These devices, tools, and strategies can be integrated into existing lessons to enhance the learning activities and create more engagement, excitement, and possibly some passion among the students.
What follows are the results of some recent research and surveys about how young people are using technology along with suggestions how educators can
Pew Researchโs Photos and Videos as Social Currency Online
A nationally representative phone survey of 1,005 adults (ages 18+) was taken August 2-5, 2012. The sample contained 799 internet users, who were asked questions about their online activities. Based on the results of the survey, recommendations are made how these online activities can be leveraged in the classroom.
Have Students Show Their Learning Visually with Photos and/or Videos
Taking photos and videos are commonplace for many young people. Students can demonstrate their learning through some form of visual media. Using visual media in the classroom is congruent with brain research about the power of vision in learning (as per neuroscientist, John Medina) and supports research that visuals enhance learning.
Resources:
Have Students Curate
As instructors, we are all information curators. How do you collect and share currently relevant content with your students? How do your students research and share information that they find with the rest of class? What tools do you use to manage or facilitate presentation of resources? Is it public? Can students access it at other times? In groups? Modern web tools make it easy for both students and instructors to contribute online discoveries to class conversations. Using free online content curation software, we can easily integrate new content in a variety of ways. http://iteachu.uaf.edu/grow-skills/filelink-management/content-curation-tools/
. . . and as Bill Ferriter notes:
While there are a ton of essential skills that todayโs students need in order to succeed in tomorrowโs world, learning to efficiently manage โ and to evaluate the reliability of โ the information that they stumble across online HAS to land somewhere near the top of the โMuy Importanteโ list. http://teacherleaders.typepad.com/the_tempered_radical/2012/12/curating-a-content-collection-activity.html
Resources:
Have Students Connect to Other Students, Teachers, and Experts Via Their Social Networks
By utilizing a technological channel that is popular with users, professors are increasing participation among students and seeing the results. Due to the real-time format of these outlets, students can contact peers, faculty and other authorities anywhere in the world, and usually elicit a prompt response. Despite its reputation, social media platforms allow professors to approach curricula in ways that are more creative and engaging to students. The College Bound Network has said of social learning, โDespite what you may have thought, technology doesnโt hinder learningโit fuels it.โ http://www.business2community.com/trends-news/the-modern-student-the-rise-of-online-schools-social-media-and-institutionalized-understanding-0356321#tosmQAvUcXUAKmbU.99
Resources:
Have Students Use Their Own Devices During Class Time
Two reports/infographics support this strategy:
There are limitless ways to use student devices during class time. I recommend to educators to take what they are already doing well in the classroom and brainstorm how these learning activities can be enhanced using their mobile devices.
For several semesters, I taught an undergraduate course on interpersonal relations. It was at a vocational-driven local college with most of the students being between the ages of 17 to 22 (some high school students) and a handful of students in their thirties and forties. I took learning activities I had developed and taught in the past and enhanced them with technology. Reflections about these activities can be read at:
Pockets of institutions, administrators, and educators are successfully integrating the tools and strategies discussed above into their setting. More blog posts, case studies, journal articles, and news pieces about these initiatives can give permission and suggestions to those who are willing but scared or a bit reluctant.
For several years I was the director of a program that went into the local public schools to lead grief and loss counseling groups. There were about 10 facilitators running about 33 groups in elementary, middle, and high schools. The kids in the groups had experienced some form of loss. For example, I ran a group for middle school students who were in a bus crash on the way home from a ski trip. Two of their friends and one chaperone were killed in the crash. Another group I led was composed of elementary students who lost a parent due to some form of violence.
Through running these groups I learned the following:
As a teacher educator and former classroom teacher, I believe that world events should be addressed in the classroom. Students know what has happened, and as with us, as educators, these events often weigh heavily on them. Learning activities can help students cope with their thoughts and emotions.
Our students are likely feeling the collective weight of these troubling events. We understand the enormity of the task facing teachers who are already juggling numerous responsibilities and are yet again charged with helping young people make sense of devastating events in the world around us. It is easy to feel disheartened, but we believe that making the classroom a community where students can learn, reflect, and respond to the world around them together is an essential part of taking care of our young people. (http://facingtoday.facinghistory.org/help-your-students-reflect-on-the-tragic-las-vegas-shooting)
The activities to address events such as Sandy Hook depend on the age of the students (not for younger kids), the climate of the school, the make-up and temperament of the particular class, and parental attitudes (parent permission forms may be in order). They should also be offered to students whereby any student or even the entire class can choose to pass from doing the activity. Students who choose to pass can be given alternative work to do.
Here are some possible activities:
Doing these activities can be a scary and risky proposition. I understand that. If an educator chooses to do these type of activities, s/he needs to stay grounded and calm, and have the ability to cope and deal with what may come up from the students.
A student may react strongly from a given activity. I believe this student had all those feelings stored up already and that this may be an opportunity to provide some needed help. A school counselor or psychologist can help in this situation.
If education is about preparing students to be active and contributing citizens, then world events shouldnโt be shut out and ignored. As horrible as they are, they become teachable moments for students to feel that they count and can make a difference. Activities such as the ones described can help students heal and give students the opportunity to help heal the world.
Earlier this week, I tweeted,
If we focus on preparing students for their futures in college and the workforce, we often miss the joy, passion, enjoyment and flow of what is occurring in the present.
This was posted prior to the Sandy Hook tragedy. This tragedy reinforced how important it is to be in and grab onto every moment with our students. As a young adult, I embraced the existential philosophy and the tenet that knowledge and acceptance of our death assists us to live in the present.
Knowledge of our own mortality is the greatest gift ever given to us because unless you know the clock is ticking, it is so easy to waste our days, our lives. Anna Quindlen
I have taken this awareness or knowledge into my teaching. My teaching experiences include elementary gifted and PE, and teacher education courses. Some classes last an hour, some a full day (gifted kids and weekend intensives for pre- and in-service teachers). I bring this philosophy into the classroom in all my teaching โ regardless of the age or content. The learners are giving me their time, literally pieces of their lives. It becomes my responsibility to provide them with experiences worthy of their time. In most of my teaching situations, I would see them again for the next class โ but one never knows. I have had a handful of students who suddenly went missing-in-action due to family conflicts, emergencies, etc.
In terms of what this means in my teaching practices, I strive to bring magic and joy into my classroom. I want students to shiver with positive anticipation and energy when they enter class that day โ not knowing exactly what to expect, but knowing it will be something exciting.
I reflect upon and assess my performance after each class session using the following questions to guide me:
I need you to know that I love you all very much. I thought that was the last thing that they would ever hear. I thought we were all going to die. I donโt know if that was okay because, you know, teachers, but I wanted them to know someone loved them. I wanted that to be one of the l http://youtu.be/X4RzAQuH81Q
I was so proud of Kaitlin but it broke my heart that she thought it was not okay to tell her students that she loved them. I donโt use the word โloveโ easily but do tell my students I love them. I do give them hugs (even with all the admonishments about touching students.) I โpreachโ to my pre-service teachers that if you donโt love them, then find a different professional field.
I work towards and have a desire for every student to leave each class session qualitatively different than when he or she came to class that day. This is a lofty goal but really adds to the creativity, engagement, and joy I attempt to infuse into each class session. I want each student to leave my classroom each day saying, โI was happy to be in class today.โ
I want to loudly reinforce to my students of all time, โI love you.โ
As I read through the social media networks, the concept of information overload is continually being discussed.
Information overload is a term popularized by Alvin Toffler in his bestselling 1970 book Future Shock. It refers to the difficulty a person can have understanding an issue and making decisions that can be caused by the presence of too much information. Information overload occurs when the amount of input to a system exceeds its processing capacity. Decision makers have fairly limited cognitive processing capacity. Consequently, when information overload occurs, it is likely that a reduction in decision quality will occur.
As the world moves into a new era of globalization, an increasing number of people are connecting to the Internet to conduct their own researchand are given the ability to produce as well as consume the data accessed on an increasing number of websites. Users are now classified as active users because more people in society are participating in the Digital and Information Age. This flow has created a new life where we are now in danger of becoming dependent on this method of access to information. Therefore we see an information overload from the access to so much information, almost instantaneously, without knowing the validity of the content and the risk of misinformation. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_overload
I have re-framed information overload from being discussed as a cautionary consequence of the technology age to us living in a time of information abundance. I think we are living in one of the most exciting times in the history of humankind. We are living in a world of information abundance, surplus, and access. The result is synergy whereby the human mind plus our current technologies far exceed the sum of these individual parts. By this I mean we have technologies to access any type of information and to create products that match the pictures and voices in our minds; and we can use technology to get the assistance and feedback from folks around the globe.
I am not alone in my enthusiasm for this age of information at our fingertips. In a study conducted from Northwestern University, Overwhelmed by instant access to news and information? Most Americans like it, researchers concluded โThereโs definitely some frustration with the quality of some of the information available, but these frustrations were accompanied by enthusiasm and excitement on a more general level about overall media choices.โ
Weinberger, author of Too Big to Know, believes we have entered a new golden age, one in which technology has finally caught up with humansโ endless curiosity, and one that has the potential to revolutionize a wide swath of occupations and research fields.โ
Implications for Education
As educators, we have this gift of information abundance. It should be leveraged and strategically used for our own and our studentsโ learning. When educators do not acknowledge, incorporate, and integrate the many types and uses of our real world technologies, they are failing their students.
Our rapid transformation into a technology driven, information society has dramatically altered the k-16 teaching and learning landscape. And, as a result, the sustainability of our current economic foundation, strengthening our national security, even maintaining the very essence of our democratic way of life depends more and more on producing learners who not only know how to think, but know how to problem solve within a diversified information and communication technology universe.
From science and culture to sports and politics, ideas and capital are crossing borders and spanning the world. The globalization of business, the advances in technology, and the acceleration of migration increasingly require the ability to work on a global scale. As a result of this new connectivity, our high school graduates will need to be far more knowledgeable about world regions and global issues, and able to communicate across cultures and languages. Our students must emerge from schools college-ready and globally competent, prepared to compete, connect, and cooperate with their generation around the world (The Global Classroom).
A student personal learning network is, therefore, a rich and ever-growing series of connections with people, resources, and communities around the worldโฆconnections that allow us to grow in knowledge, skill, ability and perspective. What if we spent more time thinking about the networks that students are building as they go through their schooling years? What if we made the building of such a network a central part of the curriculum, inviting students to keep a log or journal of their growing network, and how this network is empowering them to learn, how it is expanding their knowledge and perspective? How are they building a meaningful network? Students can interview people around the world, tutor and be tutored, take part in formal and informal learning communities, take part in Twitter chats and Hangouts, learn from and engage in the blogosphere, experience the power of working on a meaningful project in a distributed/virtual team, participate in a massive open online course (or design and teach one), share resources through social bookmarking and other technologies, host and take part in webinars, and build new online and blended learning communities around topics of personal value, need, and interest. Over time, the students may not only build a personal learning network, but also venture into starting their own personal teaching networks, being agents of change and positive influence in the digital world and beyond (Helping Students Develop Personal Learning Networks).
Guest Post by Jennifer Fargo
The following is a paper written by one of my graduate students at American InterContinental University. Jennifer Fargo is a middle school teacher. Due to her passion for educational technology, I am encouraging her to start blogging and join social networks like Twitter. Because this is such a good paper I am (1) posting it as a guest post on my blog, and (2) hoping this will motivate Jennifer to begin her own blog.
Emerging technologies have the potential to transform learning in the middle school classroom across the curriculum. When properly applied in a student-centered classroom, mobile apps, tablet computing, game-based learning, personal learning environments, and natural user interfaces can improve instruction and learning, especially for students who need better motivation in school.
Rationale
Some older, more traditional educational researchers like professor emeritus of Stanford University Larry Cuban do not see evidence that technology in the classroom improves instruction. He would rather invest in teacher training than in devices in the classroom (Hu, 2011). What these educators do not realize is that the very nature of student interaction with their world has changed drastically and permanently. The information shift is as drastic as the move from handwritten texts to books from the printing press (Rankin, 2010). Information and knowledge are no longer held by the few in select repositories waiting to be disseminated to the masses by a master teacher. Information, both accurate and inaccurate, is free and available for use instantly over the Internet.
Just as the studentsโ relationship to information has changed, the relationship of the teacher to the student must change. With the advent of the printing press, education changed. Mass access to information in printed books changed the roll of the teacher from facilitating individualized hand-written texts and informational storage for a few wealthy students to standardized classification of data and facts for masses of students who could read (Rankin, 2010). In this digital age, the role of the teacher is no longer to disseminate facts and data to students because students cannot get that information easily anywhere else. Because students can easily retrieve information, the role of the teacher becomes as a guide to the learner to take readily available information to evaluate and use it, to see the interconnectedness of information and provide context. Students construct their own understanding of the world and they do so using technology. The average middle school student has direct access to this information on a daily basis and interacts with others around the world using interactive video games, social media, and mobile technology. Technologies that students use daily at home can become the tools that educators use to guide students in constructing knowledge in the 21st century and beyond.
Emerging Technologies: The Next Five Years
The New Media Consortium, or NMC, is a professional organization of educators dedicated to the study and application of technology in the classroom. The NMCโs mission is to promote a โโฆcollective understanding of emerging technologies and their applications for teaching, learning, and creative inquiryโ (Johnson, Adams, & Cummins, 2012, preface). The NMCโs annual Horizon Project describes in detail six emerging technologies and their probable impact over the next five years in several learning environments. The K-12 edition describes the possible applications of these technologies in elementary and secondary classrooms. Several seem particularly applicable to a learner-centered, middle school classroom.
Mobile Apps
As mobile devices have become more accessible to middle school students, so has their potential to be resources in the classroom. Mobile devices are small, portable computing devices that usually contain WI-FI, Bluetooth technology, and GPS capabilities. They can be cell phones, smartphones, portable game consoles, tablets, or small computers. These computing devices can use apps for various functions. The mobile device most often talked about for possible classroom use is the cell phone or smartphone. As of 2010, 75% of 12-17 year olds own a cell phone according to a Pew Research Center study (cited in Koebler, 2011). With so many students daily engaged in the use of mobile devices, the creation of apps for sale and use on these devices aimed at this demographic has skyrocketed (Johnson et al., 2012). These apps can be used in the classroom with appropriate supervision and have many benefits. Mobile devices like cell phones are always capable of connecting to the Internet using 3G or 4G wireless networks. Mobile apps can be used both inside and outside of the classroom making them easy conduits for communication between students and teachers as well as facilitating collaborative learning with peers. This connectivity and portability also has the potential to create global connections through instruction making the world the classroom (Mangukiya, 2012). All of these benefits are facilitated by technology already familiar to students in daily life.
Because most students already own a cell phone or other mobile device, some educators are suggesting a program for instruction where students bring their own devices for use at school, called BYOD programs. Some of the obstacles to a BYOD program include not all students having the same device, some students not being able to afford the necessary devices, and devices as possible distractions when not in use for instruction (Nielsen, 2011). Some of these obstacles are overcome by the tenacity of teachers who see how engaged students become when using them and the innovation of the new booming mobile app industry. With these changes some schools are adopting a BYOD program as a cost effective way to integrate this prevalent technology into the classroom.
Tablet Computing
Tablets, like cell phones, are mobile computing devices. However, tablets have larger screens with sharper displays for using more powerful and educationally specific apps. In fact, tablets can run apps similar to software for computers making them a cheaper and more portable option for school based one-to-one programs. Tablet touch screens make them easy to use, and the portability of the mobile device makes them easy to share in a school environment. Tablets can also connect to the Internet to expand instruction.
In addition, tablets can be used as digital reading devices. Tablets provide a much more interactive experience than a traditional textbook (Watters, 2012). With options like a built-in dictionary, digital annotation, or read-aloud capabilities, reading with a tablet is more active than reading a traditional textbook. Although not all books and textbooks are available digitally, publishers are expanding their digital libraries.
Game-Based Learning
Video games are pervasive in the United States, especially among adolescents. According to Robert Torres (2011) of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, 97% of Americans between the ages of 8 and 18 play video games. For middle school students, video games are a way of life. Torres (2011) posited that video games are so important to students because they offer a sense of relevance and context, are active, provide social interaction, and offer emotional engagement. With student-centered instruction, teachers seek to incorporate these elements into instruction as well to fully engage the student and allow each to construct knowledge by ensuring relevant, active, and collaborative learning. Game-based learning can facilitate such instruction in a format that highly motivates students to learn.
Game-based learning can be approached in many ways. It can be as simple as a single player app for a mobile device or as complicated as a global multi-player virtual world accessed through the Internet. Many games require collaboration with peers and facilitate problem- solving skills with real-world applications.
Personal Learning Environments
Personal learning environments, or PLEโs, are a digital method of individualizing instruction. Each PLE is unique to each student. For educators who believe that a learner-centered approach is the best way to reach every student, PLEโs provide a platform for success. For some educators, this kind of transformational technology signals a change in teaching. โBy marrying the principles of personalized learning with the tools of technology, some educators believe that they have a chance to create the kind of customized learning environment that can finally break schools out of the industrial-age model of education to bring about true 21st century school reformโ (Demski, 2012). PLEโs can be in the form of wiki pages, personal blogs, e-portfolios of work, or websites that teachers or students can create themselves. PLEโs facilitate learner-centered instruction, which can be closely monitored by the instructor but is controlled by the student through a digital space. PLEโs can also promote collaboration when they are shared with others. For example, a wiki page or other shared document can facilitate group work. The wiki or document would be dedicated to that assignment and accessed by all members. PLEโs require a device to connect students to their constructed environment, which can be a computer, tablet, or mobile device.
Natural User Interfaces
Many educators believe that a more immersive teaching style leads to more fully engaged students and therefore better learning. Natural user interfaces provide a teaching tool that engages all the senses and promotes active learning in the classroom, meeting the instructional needs of all types of learners (Center for Digital Education, 2012). Natural user interfaces change the way that students interact with technology devices. The traditional keyboard and mouse are replaced by sensors that detect voice commands, gestures, and touches by the user to manipulate the given technology device. โNatural user interfaces allow users to engage in virtual activities with movements similar to what they would use in the real world, manipulating content intuitivelyโ (Johnson et al., 2012, p. 32). Although already used with special needs students who have difficulty manipulating traditional interfaces, natural user interfaces have not translated generally to the regular classroom. Examples of natural user interfaces are the touch screen and surfaces, used on smartphones, tablets, and interactive whiteboards; gesture-based sensors, used with devices like the Xbox Kinect and Wii; and voice activated technology, used with the iPhoneโs Siri virtual assistant and Nuanceโs Dragon speech recognition software.
Applications Across the Curriculum
All of the technologies discussed have applications in a middle school classroom. However, it is not the technological tool that is important, but the instructional approach. According to Dr. Brenner, a school superintendent from Long Island, New York, โItโs not about a cool applicationโฆWe are talking about changing the way we do business in the classroomโ (cited in Hu, 2012). Technologies in the classroom are tools to engage students and are no substitute for quality teachers or instructional approaches. However, a change in instructional techniques must change as our students change. If properly used by excellent teachers, these technologies offer new ways to motivate and fully engage middle school students for life-long learning applied across the curriculum.
Some of these emerging technologies are appropriate for any content area. For example, any teacher can use a wiki to create a PLE for their class or for specific assignments. Students can then post work to the wiki while collaborating with the instructor and peers. Additionally, an instructor can use iTunes U to gather materials all in one digital location and distribute them to students. Students can access audio, video, or other materials for a class with a mobile app (Mangukiya, 2012). Another example of a mobile app that any teacher can use is called Poll Everywhere. This app allows teachers to poll up to 40 students using the texting-enabled cell phones for instant formative assessment (Koebler, 2011).
Another goal for many schools across the curriculum is to become paperless. Using tablets, students can use cloud computing to store and turn in work to create a paperless learning environment. Cloud computing also allows students to continue working at home with an Internet connection without lost papers or forgotten work. Digital textbooks also help schools become paperless and can be augmented by digital portfolios (Hu, 2011). In addition, students can take more interactive, annotated notes in class using mobile apps while interactive whiteboards facilitate classwork to be posted online as pdfโs. Although some applications of these technologies can be for almost any teacher, some benefits of these technologies are content specific.
Language Arts
These emerging technologies can be directly applied to language arts. Most universally applicable is e-books. E-book readers, like the Kindle or the iBooks mobile app for iPod, iPhone, and iPad, allow literary texts to become interactive. Interactive features improve reading skills like digital dictionaries for unknown vocabulary words, connections to supplementary online content to increase comprehension, digital annotation to increase depth of reading, and read-aloud capabilities for auditory learners. E-books also motivate reluctant readers (Watters, 2012). This is especially difficult with struggling readers in middle school. Students can even create and e-publish their own e-book for iBooks using Appleโs Pages word processing software. Although not every title is available digitally, digital publishing is becoming more common as mobile reading apps become more prevalent.
Literature also comes alive with mobile apps. For example, an app for iPad and computers is Shakespeare in Bits. This app provides an animated and interactive text of some of Shakespeareโs plays. Students can click on archaic vocabulary for definitions and watch animated performances of each scene for context. In addition to reading, writing skills can also be improved by the proper integration of emerging technologies. Practical, authentic writing experiences where work is shared with peers promotes improvement with middle school writers. PLEโs like journal writing in blogs or creating e-portfolios of written work can facilitate such writing experiences (Johnson et al., 2012).
Another highly motivating reading and writing experience is facilitated by game-based learning platforms emphasizing literacy, including a writing component and critical problem solving in collaboration with peers, called Quest Atlantis and Atlantis Remixed, or ARX. According to the websiteโs homepage, ARX uses 3D, multi-user, virtual environments to immerse students in educational tasks. ARX combines elements of video games with lessons from educational research on learning and motivation. Students take on the persona of an investigator, exploring different virtual environments. When enough information is gathered, each student writes an assignment based on his or her research within the game. The games are also customizable for different subjects and instructional objectives, promoting writing across the curriculum. This encourages students to write for different purposes and for different audiences, one of the common core standards for middle school language arts students. Their work is shared with peers around the world, motivating each student to write their best work. Even reluctant writers are motivated to craft their writing with thoughtfulness and clarity and reluctant readers build reading skills because they enjoy the video game elements.
Science
Middle school science students can benefit from science based personal learning environments. One such PLE is called Scitable. Scitable is a free science library and personal learning tool focusing on genetics and cell biology. Students can join in scientific discussions, talk to experts in the field, and ask questions about science careers (Johnson et al., 2012). Teachers and students create their own virtual learning environment for scientific inquiry on the website.
In addition, schools in Virginia have begun replacing science textbooks with iPad interactive textbooks (Hu, 2011). The interactive textbooks can provide students with the means of manipulating data into charts, graphs, or other visuals; connecting to the Internet for more information about specific subjects based on student interest; connect students to practicing scientists, experts in their fields of study; and conduct virtual dissections or experiments. Along the same lines, interactive mobile apps for tablets or smartphones allow science students to learn by manipulating information or doing virtual labs. These kinds of apps permit students to learn the periodic table by viewing and rotating images in 3D or dissect frogs virtually (Johnson et al., 2012). Middle school students are independent enough in their thinking to accept more control over their scientific experimentation, with appropriate supervision, that tablet technology provides.
Mathematics
Middle school students in mathematics classes begin to study more complex mathematical constructions like percentages, ratios, and equations. Integrating technology into mathematics instruction can facilitate not only an understanding of the procedures of the math they are learning but also how to apply and synthesize it in the world around them. Mobile devices can help students visualize content. Students can graph equations using their smartphones. They can not only play math games using tablet technology but also view or create for themselves animations of complex math problems. In fact, California recently launched an iPad only algebra course in conjunction with Houghton Mifflin Harcort (Hu, 2011).
Gesture-based learning can also prompt students to apply mathematical concepts in new ways. According to the Center for Digital Education (2012), Johnny Kissco, a math teacher from Texas uses the Xbox Kinect in his classroom. โWhen I used Kinect in my algebra class, students began asking questions that went far beyond the curriculum requirements. This was a huge success, as it got students thinking about applying the content in a real-world contextโ (p. 1). Although most people use mathematics in daily life, middle school students are constantly asking about the practical application of the math they are learning. Students who use these devices to learn mathematics no longer wonder how they will use the assigned content; they see the practical applications through the instruction itself.
Arts and Physical Education
Many mobile apps for tablets encourage students to create their artistic visions digitally. Other mobile apps allow art students to view masterworks of art from museums around the world, such as the free apps from the Van Gogh museum and the Louvre. Students can interact with visuals and content about the artist. Music students can create their own digital music using apps like GarageBand for iPad. Such interactive apps can engage many reluctant music makers (Mangukiya, 2012). These creations can then be published and shared. Gesture-based learning can provide new learning experiences in physical education. Learning the rules or motions involved in a sport can be accomplished digitally where progress can be tracked through formative assessments collected by the device.
Conclusion
Middle school students are motivated and encouraged to use higher level thinking skills when instruction includes these emerging technologies. In the hands of an excellent teacher in a student-centered classroom, these technologies can transform instruction providing authentic, real-world learning experiences to the benefit of students of all learning styles and intelligences. This is the future of education.
References
Center for Digital Education. (2012). Learning through motion. Retrieved through Microsoft website: http://www.microsoft.com/education/en-us/products/Pages/kinect.aspx
Demski, J. (2012, January 4). This time itโs personal. Transforming Education Through Technology Journal. Retrieved from http://thejournal.com/articles/2012/01/04/personalized-learning.aspx
Hu, W. (2011, January 4). Math that moves: Schools embrace the iPad. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/05/education/05tablets.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
Johnson, L., Adams, S., and Cummins, M. (2012). NMC Horizon Report: 2012 K-12 Edition. Austin, Texas: The New Media Consortium. Retrieved from http://www.nmc.org/pdf/2012-horizon-report-K12.pdf
Mangukiya, P. (2012, February 3). How mobile apps are changing classrooms and education. Huffington Post. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/piyush-mangukiya/mobile-apps-education_b_1250582.html
Nielsen, L. (2011, November 9). 7 myths about BYOD debunked. Transforming Education Through Technology Journal. Retrieved from http://thejournal.com/articles/2011/11/09/7-byod-myths.aspx
Rankin, B. (2010, August 24). Dr. Bill Rankin: Next-wave mobility and the three ages of information [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8yhPQrMfAk
Torres, R. (2011, November 9). TEDxGotham 2011โRobert Torres [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ahYeJ5LmnXI#!
Watters, A. (2012, February 1). The truth about tablets: Educators are getting iPads and e-readers into studentsโ handsโbut it is not easy. School Library Journal. Retrieved from http://thedigitalshift.com/2012/02/ebooks/the-truth-about-tablets-educators-are-getting- ipads-and-ereaders-into-students-hands-but-its-not-easy/
This the first post I have ever written about females in technology. A few recent incidents got me thinking about this issue. First, I attended/presented at an educational technology conference that had the mission of giving women voices as keynote presenters, yet the major presenters (who were given more time and press) were males. Second, I am spending the day watching TedxWomen and there are male presenters.
These incidents reminded of a powerful experience that happened to me as a college teacher in a face-to-face undergraduate course on Psychology of Adjustment . . .
There were about 150 students in the lecture hall where I taught Psychology of Adjustment. The topic of this week was communication and power differences between genders. My goal for all of my classes was to involve the students in the course topics through experiential, interactive activities. On this particular day, I planned a panel discussion. I asked for five females volunteers and five male volunteers from the student audience. The males were asked to take a seat in the five chairs set up in a row, the women stood in a line facing them. My rationale for this physical set-up was to give the women power โoverโ. Typically men are larger and taller than women, so just their physical presence gives power over.
Next, I asked to the women to tell the men those things that they believe infers with communication between the two genders. The males were instructed to just listen and that the only verbal communications that they could give were questions for clarification. My purpose for this part of the exercise was to give women a forum/venue to have a voice, to get the opportunity to have the males really listen to them.
The exercise was powerful. The women expressed their concerns, mostly about not being heard. The males sat listening, really listening, in a non-defensive poster, to what the women had to say, asking a few questions for clarification. Both sides of the panel did great.
I indicated that it was the end of the exercise . The women emphatically stated that it was now time to give the males the opportunity to tell them what interferes with communication with females. I again stated, โNo, this is the end of this exercise.โ Two of the women, older in their 40s and 50s, got visibly upset and agitated stating that the males need to have their turn, their say. I asked the males if they were okay ending the exercise as is and they said that they were. The two women were not okay with this and remained very agitated. I saw in their actions a strong need to give back the power to the males.
I thought, โWow, these women are seeking to give the male back their voices and power; and donโt even realize it.โ I did not anticipate nor expect this strong of a reaction from the women. (Note: It was noted in the comments that maybe this was just the two womenโs need for fair play. It is difficult to convey observations via words. First, as I stated I did not anticipate nor expect this reaction. I was actually shocked at its intensity. Second, these two women were fairly โtraditionalโ in that they were mothers and wives, returning to school. Third, their visibly being shaken up even after the guys stated they were fine demonstrated that it went much deeper than fair play.)
I realized these beliefs were so ingrained and unconscious that even if I had brought it to the womenโs attention, they could not/would not be able to own them. I made the connection between this experience and internalized oppression.
What this experience reinforced is that we live in world where power differentials exist on many levels. I am a strong supporter of affirmative action. I believe that when power differentials exist, proactive and what appears to some to be extreme, โunfairโ actions need to be taken.
As I examine who are the keynote speakers at technology conferences, who are making online games, the educational technology individuals who are being followed and retweeted on Twitter, the balance of power appears to be in favor of males. Others have noticed and discussed this . . .
This post, in essence, is a call to action for both genders to invite in and provide opportunities for females to become fully engaged, have equal opportunities. and have voices in the field of technology/educational technology. There are some powerful initiatives to get girls and women involved in this field:
One of the common teacher rituals when beginning the school year is the set up of the classrooms. Teachers, driven by best intentions, set up their classrooms in ways they believe will promote learning. But, inadvertently, the message given to students is that this is my (the teacherโs) classroom not yours. The classroom becomes the teacherโs narrative, not the studentsโ individual narratives. Even when the teacher puts up student samples, it is often the teacher who selects the samples and the spaces where the samples are displayed.
In Learning Spaces (School?) as Narrative Architecture, I discuss the importance of creating learning spaces where learners can develop and share their own unique voices, develop their own personal narratives of learning.
One of the tenets of Narrative Architecture is meaning making is not exclusively in the morphological properties of space themselves, nor in the cultural processes of its formation and interpretation, but in the dynamic network of spatial, social, intellectual and professional practices that embody and produce different kinds of social knowledge. (http://sitemaker.umich.edu/spsarra/book__architecture_and_narrative_)
The essential question becomes, How can the educator create the learning spaces to elicit the positive power of narrative architecture? This would be a space where learners feel as though they can tell their stories as the producers of their own learning.
Learners working in collaborative learning spaces will interpret and form the learning space to have personal, and ultimately collective, meaning. They do so in all learning spaces. Does the learning space create stories of boredom . . . fear . . . isolation? Or does it create stories of engaged and passionate learning experiences? Because I fully believe that since time spent in any learning space becomes a narrative architecture for the learners, educators should approach that space with intention, knowing that learners will draw from and create meaning in and about that space.
Henry Jenkins used the concept of Narrative Architecture in his ideas regarding interactive gaming. โThe game space becomes a memory palace whose contents must be deciphered as the player tries to reconstruct the plot and in the case of emergent narratives, game spaces are designed to be rich with narrative potential, enabling the story-constructing activity of players.โ This statement can be translated to โ have meaning for learning spaces: โThe learning space becomes a memory palace whose contents must be deciphered as the learner tries to reconstruct what he or she is attempting to learn. Learning spaces should be designed to be rich with narrative potential, enabling the story-constructing and sense-making activity of learners.โ
The how-to of creating this Narrative Architecture becomes having the educators and learners co-create this space together โ all being equal participants in the process. The space then becomes part of the learning process โ increasing the opportunity and potential for deep and indelible understanding of the learning process and content.
Related Resources
Note: At 4 minutes she discusses how they asked the high school kids to design their cafeteria.
he classification of settlements is a fundamental concept in urban and regional planning. It helps planners, geographers, and policymakers understand the diversity, organization, and functional characteristics of human habitations. Settlements can be classified on multiple bases such as size, function, pattern, morphology, density, and administrative status. Each classification provides a different perspective on how settlements evolve and operate.
This is the most common and widely used classification.
6
Types:
6
Types:
A typical hierarchy:
This hierarchy reflects increasing complexity, services, and economic functions.
Settlement pattern refers to how buildings and houses are arranged in space.
8
7
5
5
This classification is based on the dominant economic activity.
7
6
7
6
With urbanization and globalization, new forms of settlements have emerged:
These reflect changing economic structures, mobility patterns, and technological advancements.
The classification of settlements provides a structured way to understand the diversity and complexity of human habitation. Whether based on size, pattern, function, or morphology, each classification reveals unique characteristics and planning needs.
In contemporary planning practice, especially in rapidly urbanizing countries like India, such classifications are essential for:
A comprehensive understanding of settlement classification enables planners to design interventions that are context-specific, efficient, and aligned with the broader goals of sustainability and inclusiveness.
Urban planning as a discipline has evolved through the ideas and contributions of several influential thinkers, planners, and architects. These individuals played a significant role in shaping modern planning principles by proposing innovative concepts, planning models, and urban design strategies. Their ideas emerged in response to the social, economic, and environmental challenges of their times, particularly during periods of rapid urbanization and industrialization.
The contributions of leading planning masters laid the foundation for modern urban and regional planning. Their work addressed issues such as urban congestion, housing shortages, transportation systems, environmental quality, and social welfare. Many of their ideas, such as the Garden City concept, regional planning, neighborhood planning, and urban design principles, continue to influence contemporary planning practices.
Ebenezer Howard is one of the most influential figures in the history of urban planning. He is best known for introducing the Garden City concept, which aimed to combine the advantages of both urban and rural living.
Howardโs ideas led to the development of Letchworth and Welwyn Garden City in England and influenced the planning of new towns and suburban developments around the world.
Patrick Geddes was a Scottish biologist, sociologist, and town planner who emphasized the relationship between people, environment, and economic activities.
Geddesโ ideas greatly influenced modern urban planning and regional planning. His approach emphasized comprehensive analysis of social, economic, and environmental conditions before preparing development plans.
Le Corbusier was a Swiss-French architect and urban planner who proposed radical ideas for modern city planning.
Le Corbusierโs ideas influenced modernist urban planning and the design of several cities. He also played an important role in the planning of Chandigarh in India, which became an example of modern planned cities.
Clarence Perry was an American planner who introduced the concept of the Neighborhood Unit, which became an important model for residential planning.
The Neighborhood Unit concept influenced the planning of residential areas in many cities and is still used as a guiding principle in neighborhood design.
Daniel Burnham was a prominent American architect and planner associated with the City Beautiful movement.
Burnhamโs work helped establish the importance of urban design and aesthetics in city planning and influenced many urban improvement projects.
Arturo Soria y Mata was a Spanish urban planner known for proposing the Linear City concept.
Although fully linear cities were rarely developed, the concept influenced modern urban planning ideas related to transport corridors and linear development patterns.
Lewis Mumford was an American historian, sociologist, and urban critic who contributed significantly to planning theory.
Mumfordโs writings influenced modern urban planning philosophy and emphasized the importance of social and environmental considerations.
Patrick Abercrombie was a British planner known for his work in regional planning and urban reconstruction after World War II.
His planning ideas influenced modern metropolitan planning and regional development strategies.
Kevin Lynch was an American urban planner and author known for his work on urban design and city perception.
Lynchโs work greatly influenced urban design and the understanding of how people interact with cities.
India has also seen contributions from several planners who shaped urban development.
The contributions of these planning masters have shaped the development of modern planning theory and practice.
Their ideas helped introduce:
These principles continue to influence contemporary urban planning and development policies.
The development of urban planning as a discipline owes much to the ideas and innovations of leading thinkers and planners. Individuals such as Ebenezer Howard, Patrick Geddes, Le Corbusier, Clarence Perry, Daniel Burnham, and others introduced influential planning concepts that addressed the challenges of urban growth and industrialization.
Their contributions established important planning principles including garden cities, regional planning, neighborhood units, modernist city design, and aesthetic urban planning. These ideas continue to guide contemporary planning practices and inspire planners to create sustainable, functional, and livable urban environments.
By studying the work of these planning masters, planners can gain valuable insights into the evolution of planning thought and apply these lessons to address modern urban challenges.
The best advice I was ever given in my counselor education was to approach each counseling session with every client as if it were the last one. The rationale is that you never know if the client might decide not to show up again.
I have taken this advice into my teaching. My teaching experiences include elementary gifted and PE, and teacher education courses. Some classes last an hour, some a full day (gifted kids and weekend intensives for pre- and in-service teachers). I bring this philosophy into the classroom in all my teaching โ no matter the age or content. The learners are giving me their time, literally pieces of their lives. It becomes my responsibility to provide them with experiences worthy of their time. In most of my teaching situations, I would see them again for the next class โ but one never knows. I have had a handful of students who suddenly went missing-in-action due to family conflicts, emergencies, etc.
In terms of what this means in my teaching practices, I strive to bring magic and joy into my classroom. I want students to shiver with positive anticipation and energy when they enter class that day โ not knowing exactly what to expect, but knowing it will be something exciting.
I work towards having my students experience one or more of the following:
I work towards and have a desire for every student to leave each class qualitatively different than when he or she came to class that day. This is a lofty goal but really adds to the creativity, engagement, and joy I attempt to infuse into each class session.
Preface
As is true for many of us using educational technology in the classroom, we are experimenting with how technology can enhance the learning experiences of our students. Sometimes we have failures, often times we have successes. Yet, in this age of evidenced-based education, educators, administrators, and other decision-makers are depending on and using the data gleamed from large studies often completed by companies with vested interests, e.g. Gates Foundation, book publishers, and testing companies.
Educators can easily conduct action research about the practices they are using in their own classrooms especially given the ease of creating online surveys and data collection methods. Yet, it seems that it is rarely done.
For example, I introduced Quest Atlantis into my gifted classes a few years ago and asked these 3rd through 5th graders to complete a survey to assess its efficacy from the student perspective. The results I received were rich and informative. The kids offered great feedback, ideas, and suggestions. See Beyond the Game: Quest Atlantis as an Online Learning Experience for Gifted Elementary Students.
So if educators want to influence what occurs in not only their own classrooms, but in the classrooms of their co-teachers, then they need to invest the time and energy to demonstrate best practices. In a related blog, I discuss Every Educator Has a Story . . . Just Tell It.
End-of-Course Survey
The Interpersonal Relations course was offered during Fall, 2011. There were 12 students in the course โ five were male, 7 were female; ten of the students were 18 to 20 years old, one was 25 years old, and the oldest student was a female in her 50s.
The first section of the survey listed all of the class activities that used the studentsโ cell phones. I blogged about the individual activities. The archive of these blog posts can be found at User-Generated Education tagged with mobile learning.
Obviously the sample size is small, but I was excited to find that most of the students found most of the activities of some value and that only one student found one of the activities a waste of time.
I also asked a series of open ended questions . . .
Favorite and Least Favorite Activities?
These were all over the map with no general consensus.
What was the greatest advantage of using studentsโ mobile phones to get to know one another and build a sense of community in the class?
The responses centered around being able to use the devices they used outside of the class,
It was something that we use everyday so it related back to us.
It was something they were familar with.
The students use their phones on a regular basis.
. . . and that their devices helped to create an environment of sharing, friendliness
It provided us with a common ground on which to get to know each other.
We got to talk to each other outside of class, not just when we were in class.
We were able to communicate outside of class and create friendships.
You got to know the people better though them.
To get a better experience from the class and enjoy coming to class.
What was the biggest problems in using studentsโ mobile devices during class time?
As was expected, most of the student responses centered around them being a distraction.
People would abuse it and text friends and do other things that the activity wasnโt for.
The students were tempted to use the phones for personal use.
Sometimes people werenโt always doing what they were supposed to be doing.
Students had more of a chance to get distracted.
Some people texted when they should have been participating.
(Note: I had to implement a device away strategy, when I had to ask students, often several times, to put their devices away when we werenโt using them for class activities.)
A few mentioned service problems.
Some didnโt work.
The service was bad because i would send a text and it would show up ten minuets later.
What recommendations would you make to improve the use of studentsโ mobile devices for class activities and community-building?
Most of the students stated, โNone.โ
There are none everything is A Okay.
Interestingly, two mentioned having laptops available for all students.
Change the moblie devices into personal laptops provided by the school.
Have computers for each student.
Next week, I begin this course again with a new group of students. I will continue to test out the mobile learning activities and get student feedback about them.
Thanks Fall, 2011, students!
As of the writing of this post, there are approximately a million apps available. On my daily Twitter feeds, I see list after list of apps for educational use.
Yesterday, I saw a post from TechCrunch The Top 20 iPhone and iPad Games Of 2011. I downloaded and have been playing Cut the Rope for two days now. It has been giving me hours of joy. See Cut the Rope: Experiments Review. If I was still teaching my 3rd through 5th grade gifted students, I would definitely introduce them to this game.
I have been critical of the use of educational apps and games in the classroom in that many of them have been developed by adults in business ventures. They are more like worksheets on steroids rather than games and apps for higher-order thinking. I also wonder as I read through the lists of recommended apps if the kids, themselves, would find them educational and interesting . . . worth their personal time in using and playing with them.
As such, I test out technology tools and games from the standpoint of a user rather than an educator . . . asking if Iโd like to use it if I were one of todayโs young students. Based on my own experiences as a gamer, educator and kid at heart (one of my 4th grade students gave me the compliment, โYou havenโt forgotten what it is like to be a kid.โ), I developed my own criteria for evaluating the potential of apps for educational use and engagement:
As I said, I am currently spending my time playing Cut the Rope (physics and geometry). Past personal addictions have included Scrabble (language arts) and building in Second Life (geometry and spatial reasoning). Friendsโ and colleaguesโ game and app passions have included World of Warcraft (economics, social bargaining/cooperation) and Angry Birds (physics).
Excluded from the list is a question about educational value. A good educator can extract learnings from any app that meets most of the criteria discussed above. If educational value can be extracted from Angry Birds, then it is possible with almost any app ๐
It is important to note that one personโs app and game joys may not be another personโs, but most offer educational opportunities. An educator can leverage what students are using and playing in their own lives and explore ways they can be integrated into the curriculum to learn different content area concepts. The role of the educator is this era of learning of that of facilitator. What a great way to facilitate learning โ to leverage what the learners are using in their own lives to teach broader content-related concepts.
The bottom line becomes focusing on quality rather than quantity โ to find those apps and games that have potential for long term use and engagement. Following a constructivist model of education, an effective educator can assist students to extract their own meanings from an app of personal interest, helping them make larger world connections (which includes addressing those ever present content-related standards).
Given the infusion of technology in almost every aspect of our lives, the education sector is struggling on how to integrate it into the classroom. We have seen current trends and attempts for the use of educational technology with the Flipped Classroom ala Khan Academy, Interactive Whiteboards in every classroom, and lots of discussion about what are the 21st century skills and literacies.
Most educators would agree that a major purpose of education is to assist learners in gaining the skills, attitudes, and knowledge for having a better quality of life now and in their futures. So any discussion about technology integration should include this purpose.
Qualitative evidence points to the ease by which kids pick up their computer devices and use them as if they were brain-wired to do so.
But even as some parents and educators express unease about studentsโ digital diets, they are intensifying efforts to use technology in the classroom, seeing it as a way to connect with students and give them essential skills. Across the country, schools are equipping themselves with computers, Internet access and mobile devices so they can teach on the studentsโ technological territory.
โIf it werenโt for the Internet, Iโd focus more on school and be doing better academically,โ says one youth. But thanks to the Internet, he says, he has discovered and pursued his passion: filmmaking. Without the Internet, โI also wouldnโt know what I want to do with my life.โ Growing Up Digital, Wired for Distraction
Hmm. So in the big picture, do we want students to do better academically or find and pursue their passions? I do understand that many educators would argue for both. The current educational climate is so centered on academic achievement and standards-based curriculum, I believe we need to make proactive, concentrated attempts to get the pendulum to swing towards semi-structured, open-ended, process-oriented and student-driven learning environments.
Two recent and interconnected discussions have implications about how technology can be used in the classroom to ignite passion, innovation, and creativity . . . technological imagination and tinkering/maker education.
Technological Imagination
Anne Balsamo, author of the Designing Culture: The Technological Imagination at Work, defines technological imagination as . . .
a character of mind and creative practice of those who use, analyze, design and develop technologies. It is a quality of mind that grasps the doubled-nature of technology: as determining and determined, as both autonomous of and subservient to human intentions. This imagination embraces the fact that all technologies have multiple and contradictory effects. This is the quity of mind that enables people to think with technology, to transform what is known into a set of possibilities, and to evaluate the consequences of possibilities from multiple perspectives (http://dmlcentral.net/node/5109).
A course being offered at the University of Washington provides this description of technological imagination.
Humans have always been technical beings. We live in and through our technology: from stone tools and woven baskets to combustion engines and computers, our society is continually altered by the existence of these technical objects. Living in a highly industrialized, networked society such as ours, one need only try to imagine life (let alone college life) without computer or Internet technologies, or any number of everyday information technologies which seamlessly mediate our daily routines; yet this is precisely what it is so difficult to do: to โthinkโ technology, and to see its peculiar agency in our individual experiences and in our social world. For us, this situation seems magnified by globalization and the intricate layering and interconnectedness of technical systems, complex industrial machines, and vast networks. Our needs go beyond an immediate understanding of a given technology to the development of a more reflective technological imagination in which we consider the ways technologies enable us, and shape and reshape our experience and social realities. โDeveloping the Technological Imaginationโ (Winter 2011)
Tinkering and Making
In order for technological imagination to develop, tinkering needs to be encouraged within educational settings. In his discussion about Learning for the Digital Age, John Seely Brown presented the following slides about tinkering.
If we want more young people to choose a profession in one of the group of crucial fields known as STEM โ science, technology, engineering and math โ we ought to start cultivating these interests and skills early. But the way to do so may not be the kind of highly structured and directed instruction that we usually associate with these subjects. Time: In Praise of Tinkering
In a discussion with Howard Rheinhold, Mitch Resnick stated the following about tinkering.
One thing weโve seen is that the best learning experiences come when people are actively engaged in designing things, creating things, and inventing things โ expressing themselves. Itโs not just a matter of giving people opportunities to interact with technologies or using technologies, but if we want people to really be fluent with new technologies and learn through their activities, it requires people to get involved as makers โ to create things.
A lot of the best experiences come when you are making use of the materials in the world around you, tinkering with the things around you, and coming up with a prototype, getting feedback, and iteratively changing it, and making new ideas, over and over, and adapting to the current situation and the new situations that arise.
I think there are lessons for schools from the ways that kids learn outside of schools, and we want to be able to support that type of learning both inside and outside of schools. Over time, I do think we need to rethink educational institutions as a place that embraces playful experimentation. Mitch Resnick: The Role of Making, Tinkering, Remixing in Next-Generation Learning
The full interview can be viewed . . .
[embedded content]
As Iโve stated before, I believe that the educator is now โthe tour guide of learning possibilitiesโ. Educators should expose learners to the potential types and uses of technologies and then get out of the way so that the learners can tinker and develop their own technological imaginations . . . ones not driven by state standards, competencies, outcomes, nor products.
Each educator needs to decide how to implement tinkering into his or her educational setting. When I taught gifted elementary students, the last 45 minutes at the end of the school day was dedicated to tinkering. Iโd introduce the learners to Web 2.0 tools and hands-on technology kits like WeDo and PicoCricket. Iโd then get out of the way so they could play, tinker, experiment while sharing their findings with me and their peers.
This lesson was done with undergraduates, ages 18-20. As you can see by the lesson, the driving pedagogical tenets are:
The Goals:
Define Conflict
Students are given the following directions:
Write the word conflict in the center of a blank piece of paper and draw a circle around it. Quickly jot down all the words and phrases you associate with the word conflict by arranging them around your circle.
Review your list of associations and categorize them as positive, negative, or neutral. Count the total number of positive, negative, and neutral associations, and calculate the percentages that are positive, negative, and neutral. Did you have more than 90% positive? Did you have more than 90% negative?
What do your associations with the word conflict indicate about your views about conflict and your approach to conflict?
Following a discussion of the positive and negative aspects, students are asked to complete the following tasks:
Escalating and Deescalating Conflict Situations
Students are presented with the following scenarios and compose two responses for each, one that would escalate the conflict, and two, another that would deescalate the conflict.
They are invited to use their own laptops to compose their responses. They find partners, who reads and finds the comments composed by their partner to share with the rest of the class.
Conflict Resolution Techniques
Through a brief Powerpoint presentation, students are introduced to the following conflict resolution techniques:
To practice using these strategies, students write a Dear Abby letter that describes a conflict they are currently or have experienced in their lives. These are composed on Primary Pad. Their individual links are emailed to the teacher. These links are shared with the entire class one at a time so the other students can make recommendations for resolving the conflict based on the strategies above.
Win As Much As You Can Negotiation Strategies
A separate blog post describes this activity โ Win As Much As You Can Mobile Edition
Personal Goal Development โ Motivational Posters
Finally, students make goals for improving their conflict resolution skills by creating a motivational poster using the Big Hub Motivational Posters. These are uploaded to a Google Presentation to create a class aggregate of motivation posters.โ
Win As Much As You Can is a popular negotiation game based on the Prisonerโs Dilemma problem (Axelrod 2006). In one version players are grouped into four teams and asked to play an X or Y over a series of rounds. The object is to score as many points as possible. If everyone in the group chooses X, then everyone loses points. If all choose Y, everyone scores points. If there is a mixture of Xโs and Yโs, those that played X get more points and those that played Y get fewer points. Discussion is not allowed except during three bonus rounds, when players may discuss how they will play the next round.
Many assumptions are embedded in this deceptively simple and powerful game, developed to illustrate economic principles from game theory. The most obvious is the use of a โgameโ to introduce many of the fundamental themes and concepts of negotiation theory. These include the tension between creating and claiming value, individual versus joint gain, trust, concessions, attributions, ethics, and multi-round negotiations.
The sports or game metaphor and the โgame,โ with its title commanding the player to โwin as much as you canโ reflect the values of self-interest and personal aggrandizement. The title, score-sheet and rules of the game also suggest a โfixed pie,โ leading to the assumption that there is no room for integrative bargaining. The game, however, is more complex than that, as players discover that single-minded pursuit of self-interest can backfire, and that a relationship between personal gain and joint welfare exists, particularly when there will be a continuing relationship. The title and rules suggest that conflict may lie ahead [and almost always does result]. Cultural Baggage When You โWin As Much As You Canโ Julia Ann Gold
Mobile Edition
The mobile edition is appropriate for upper level High School students and college students. In the mobile edition, students form in four subgroups as in the original game. One member from each group becomes the designated voter using his or her mobile device to post his or her teamโs response. Votes are made through texting into Celly (a free group texting service) their X or Y vote along with the round number using a hashtag to denote the round. The results of each round are projected to the entire group so they can view all teamsโ votes.
The individual groups make their selections and votes with no communications with the other groups except in three of the rounds. Three different forms of inter-group communications are permitted during rounds 3, 5, and 6 with payoff results increased during those rounds.
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Reflection of Win As Much As You Can occurs through a VoiceThread set up for that purpose, and through group discussion.
This is one of my favorite cartoons ever.
The โpunchโ line is that every person on the planet has a story to tell. I also know that every teacher has a story to tell.
Educators are doing amazing things with their learners in spite (i.e., to show spite toward) of the standards-based and accountability-driven movements. Iโve learned about so many exciting learning activities from educators who are publicizing their great projects via Twitter, Facebook, and Blogs. Iโve read about global collaborations, interesting ways technology is being integrated into the classroom, kids making a difference in their communities, and great project-based learning.
This is my own call to action for educators to tell their stories of those rich and amazing things they are doing in their classrooms.
For example, I am incorporating studentsโ mobile devices into an undergraduate course on Interpersonal Relationships. I take photos during each class and that day write a blog entry about mobile learning. These entries take about an hour.
I now have a record/reflection about the class. I get to share it with others via Facebook and Twitter.
If all educators publicized the accomplishments they had in their classrooms using technology, hands-on activities, global collaborations, project-based learning; then an informal qualitative research project would result. When educators are asked to provide evidence of efficacy to administrators, parents, other educators, funding sources, they could share these success stories. This aggregate would become the collective narrative โ story of education of our times in the beginnings of the 21st century.
The flipped classroom, as it is currently being described and publicized, is simply recording the didactic content information via videos, having students view these as homework, and then using class time to further discuss these ideas.
Harvard Professor Chris Dede stated in his Global Education 2011 keynote in response to a question directed about the flipped classroom . . .
I think that the flipped classroom is an interesting idea if you want to do learning that is largely based on presentation. You use presentation outside of the classroom. Then you do your understanding of the presentation and further steps from the presentation inside the classroom. I think it is a step forward. It is still, in my mind, the old person. Itโs still starting with presentational learning and then trying to sprinkle some learning-by-doing on top of it. I am interested more in moving beyond the flipped classroom to learning by doing at the center than a kind of the intermediate step that still centers on largely on tacit assimilation.
As I describe in The Flipped Classroom: The Full Picture, I believe, as Chris Dede does, that the problem with the flipped classroom is that the major focus is on the didactic presentation of information, that it is still at the center of the learning experience. The flipped classroom, given that is currently getting so much press, provides an opportunity to change the paradigm of learning, whereby learningโby-doing, the experiences along with the understanding and application of those experiences become core to the learning process.
The following lesson describes a type of flipped classroom. This lesson did not center around the content media, in this case the Slideshare, but on the studentsโ personal experiences, interactions with other students, and acquisition of tangible life skills.
Interpersonal Communications: Listening Skills
Experiential Engagement: The Activity
The cycle often begins with an experiential exercise. This is an authentic, often hands-on learning activity that fully engages the student. It is a concrete experience that calls for attention by most, if not all, the senses. They become hooked through personal connection to the experience and desire to create meaning for and about that experience (ala constructivist learning).
For this lesson, the learners started off with the Lighthouse activity, where in partner teams, the sited person led his or her blindfolded partner through a series of obstacles. The goal of this part of the lesson was to provide an experience that overtly demonstrated the importance of listening โ especially when the sense of sight is taken away.
Conceptual Connections: The What
Learners are exposed to and learn concepts touched upon during Experiential Engagement. They explore what the experts have to say about the topic. Information is presented via video lecture, content-rich websites and simulations like PHET and/or online text/readings. In the case of the flipped classroom as it is being currently discussed, this is the time in the learning cycle when the learners view content-rich videos. The videos support the experiential learning rather than being at the center of the learning experience.
In this lesson, the learners were asked to view and review the following slideshare via their own computer terminals.
For this lesson, the learners made a personal connection with the content as they were asked to identify the 10 listening skills they believed they needed to further develop. This also became a technology-enhanced lesson. Learners made a mind map of their identified 10 skills that included: (1) the skill, (2) normal and current behaviors associated with the skill, and (3) goals and steps for improvement.
Demonstration and Application: The Now What
During this phase, learners get to demonstrate what they learned and apply the material in a way that makes sense to them. This goes beyond reflection and personal understanding in that learners have to create something that is individualized and extends beyond the lesson with applicability to the learnersโ everyday lives. This is in line with the highest level of learning within Bloomโs Revised Taxonomy of Learning โ Creating โ whereby the learner creates a new product or point of view. In essence, they become the storytellers of their learning (See Narratives in the 21st Century: Narratives in Search of Contexts). A list of technology-enhanced ideas/options for the celebration of learning can be found at: https://usergeneratededucation.wordpress.com/2010/09/09/a-technology-enhanced-celebration-of-learning/
Part One
The learners practiced their active listening skills during class time. Feedback was provided to the listener via their mobile devices using Celly. See the full description at Studentsโ Own Mobile Devices and Celly Provide Peer Feedback.
Part Two
The learners located a professional in their area of study to interview. Their interview questions focused on the communication skills expected of those in that profession. Their homework was driven by real-life experiences going out to speak with a professional in their communities. The professional was asked to complete an evaluation of the studentโs performance during the interview. Homework was designed to further promote the applicability, transferability, and relevancy of this lesson.
This is part of my continuing series of blogs where I am reporting how I am integrating studentsโ own mobile devices into the classroom activities.
Using Celly
Celly was used for the learning activity that is described later in this blog.
Celly creates mini social networks called cells that connect you with people and topics. A cell can contain anybody with a cellphone. We let you define filters based on hashtags, location, time, and user identity. Celly lets you instantly group people and topics into cells. Cells function as chatrooms where people communicate instantly via text-based messaging. Cells can also include messages from the web or other social networks to capture your interests.
Learn It in 5 provides the following tutorial about how to set up and use Celly.
Ways to use Celly at school can be found here.
Peer Feedback in an Interview Activity
Students in my undergraduate course on Interpersonal Relationships were asked to practice their active listening skills. They conducted interviews with each pair of interviewers-interviewees being observed by their classmates. Feedback to the interviewer was provided via Celly.
First they were provided with the following information to join the class cell.
The format for texting in their feedback was @interpersonal (cell) โThe Feedbackโ #(personโs first name).
During the interviews, students texted their observations of the interviewer behaviors to Celly.
After each interview, the feedback was projected on the whiteboard. This way students could view personal feedback, get ideas of appropriate interview behaviors, and analyze the quality of effective feedback.
This is part of a continued series of blogs in which I reporting about and describing how I am adapting more tradition team building, communications, and problem-solving to include learnersโ own mobile devices.
Part 1
This activity is an adaptation of the Back-to-Back Communications Exercise. Students found a partner. One volunteered to give the directions, the other to be the drawer. They exchanged phone numbers and the drawers went to another room. The direction givers were provided with the following drawing and told to text in words (one student asked if he could send a picture) the description of the drawing. The goal was for the drawer to reproduce the drawing to scale.
Part 2
Students then met face-to-face to complete the exercise again using a second picture.
Reflection
After the two exercises, a discussion was facilitated that centered around two questions:
For the first question, the results were split with about half saying the texting produced the best results and the other half stating it was the face-to-face directions. Those who selected texting described the ability to read through the directions several times to insure correctness. Those who believed face-to-face produced better results described the use of body gestures to assist with the results.
For the second question, all but one student preferred the face-to-face . . . and all but one student is of the texting generation (18-20 years old).
The development of human settlementsโwhether rural villages or large metropolitan citiesโis shaped by a wide range of interrelated factors. These factors determine where settlements emerge, how they grow, their spatial form, and their functional characteristics. Broadly, they can be classified into physical, economic, social, cultural, technological, and political factors. Understanding these determinants is essential for planners, as they explain both historical evolution and contemporary urban dynamics.
Physical factors form the foundation of settlement development, especially in the early stages of human civilization.
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5
7
Economic considerations are among the most powerful drivers of settlement development, especially in modern times.
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6
Social aspects influence both the formation and organization of settlements.
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7
No single factor determines settlement development. Instead, settlements evolve through the interaction of multiple factors:
For example, a city may originate due to a river (physical factor), grow due to industry (economic factor), and expand due to transport infrastructure (technological factor).
In modern planning, especially in the context of sustainable development and TOD, these factors are integrated to:
Understanding these factors helps planners design settlements that are resilient, inclusive, and efficient.
The development of settlements is a complex process influenced by a wide range of natural and human factors. From the early dependence on physical conditions such as water and climate to the modern dominance of economic and technological drivers, settlements have continuously evolved in response to changing needs and opportunities.
For planners and policymakers, recognizing these influencing factors is essential for guiding future development. A balanced approach that integrates economic growth, social equity, environmental sustainability, and technological innovation is necessary to create well-planned and livable human settlements in the 21st century.
Education scientist Sugata Mitra tackles one of the greatest problems of education โ the best teachers and schools donโt exist where theyโre needed most. In a series of real-life experiments from New Delhi to South Africa to Italy, he gave kids self-supervised access to the web and saw results that could revolutionize how we think about teaching (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tedtalks/sugata-mitra-the-child-dr_b_708043.html).
โIf the world belongs to our children then why donโt we just give it to themโ was the title of Sugata Mitraโs talk at the Big Ideas Fest during the opening of the conference.
According to Dr. Mitra, Of the 1 billion children on Earth.
To this Dr. Mitra added, โThere are places in every country where, good schools cannot be built and good teachers cannot or do not want to go.โ His solution was to install computers with internet access to those places where schools cannot be built and/or teachers do not want to go. It started with a Hole in the Wall in New Dehli. โWhere in the slum do you put a computer? Make a DIY ATM! Computer in a wall.โ
What he discovered was that, โGroups of children can learn to use computer and the internet irrespective of who or where they are.โ Dr. Mitra noted that these kids had no teacher to provide the pedagogy. Can the learners-kids to invent their own pedagogy? Yes, they had done it. โGroups of children can navigate the internet to achieve educational objectives on their own. The bars that children set for themselves can be higher than those we have set for them.โ
Dr. Mitra continued to explore what would happen to student learning given the following formula:
Along with this formula came his teaching style, โI have no idea. And now I am going to go.โ He stressed that,
You can drive children with questions. You donโt have to give them the answers. They can find the answers. If the kids/students didnโt get the โrightโ answer, then teacher didnโt ask the right question. The teacher needs to change question.
The research questions he proposed in his next study, the Kalikuppam Experiment, included:
The results to this rearch, Limits to self-organising systems of learningโthe
Kalikuppam experiment , were published by the British Journal of Educational Technology.
What are the limits that children can learn in self-organizing systems? Dr. Mitra would like to find out . . .
More about Sugata Mitra and his work can be found at http://sugatam.wikispaces.com/.
The learning expedition for the 5th and 6th grade this year is civil rights. The teachers in the three classes started this expedition by having the students study literature and view media (Little Rock Nine) related to civil rights. During these initial activating events, students identified vocabulary related to civil rights. The teachers requested that their students create covers for their binders during their technology class. They asked for Word Clouds of their vocabulary words and a related quote to be included within this cover.
Content Standards Addressed (Idaho)
Technology:
Language Arts:
Process
A Google Presentation was set up with sharing permission set for anyone to edit (plans to change to view only once their pages are complete). This permitted all the students in the class to work within the document without the need of an email to log in. This would not only result in student binder covers, but also in an embeddable presentation of all student work for that class. A template was developed that included a block for the Word Cloud image and text box for the quote. The individual student names were included on the slides so the student could find and work on his or her individual slide.
Students came to their technology class with lists of their civil rights words. Two types of Word Clouds were introduced to the students: ABCya Word Cloud and Tagxedo. I introduced Tagxedo during the first group but didnโt realize that Tagxedo needed Microsoft Silverlight to operate. Due to the block on the system, any additional software needs to be downloaded by the network administrator. ABCya Word Cloud became the back up tool. But the third group (another day), got the opportunity to test out Tagxedo. The students loved producing the word cloud into a shape of their choice.
To find a relevant quote, the students were directed to go to Thinkexist: more than 300,000 quotations by over 20,000 Authors. When students located their quotes, these were copy and pasted into their slide.
So with this few hour exercise, the students learned how to
Rationale
The Junior High Technology project was developed using the following rationale:
Idaho Content Standards Addressed
Technology
Basic Operations and Concepts
Social, Ethical, and Human Issues
Technology Productivity Tools
Technology Communications Tools
Technology Research Tools
Humanities: Visual Arts
Goal 3.1: Demonstrate skills essential to the visual arts.
Objective(s): By the end of Grade 8, the student will be able to:
Goal 3.2: Communicate through the visual arts, applying artistic concepts, knowledge, and skills.
Objective(s): By the end of Grade 8, the student will be able to:
Goal 3.3: Communicate through the visual arts with creative expression.
Objective(s): By the end of Grade 8, the student will be able to:
The Junior High Technology Project
General Goal:
This is a semester long project. The goal of this project is for students to use a technology creation tool to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of one of the following content areas:
Progression of Learning Activities
For five consecutive technology classes, students will be introduced to different Web 2.0 project creation tools โ one per class:
Students will be provided with an overview, during these introductory classes, of the expectations of their assignment.
Safe and responsible internet use will be demonstrated throughout these lessons:
Beginning with the sixth technology class, students will work on their technology projects. They will provide the teacher with the topic and the technology tool they will use for their project. As part of this contract, students will also specify possible extra credit projects. The expectation is that students will work on their extra credit projects in the case that they finish their project by the end of the semester.
At the time that the students select their project topic and technology tool, they will be provided with a rubric of the assignment criteria. At the end of each class, they will be asked to write a reflective statement at the bottom of the rubric specifying progress and challenges related to the project.
I posed the following philosophical question on Twitter yesterday:
Why do folks spend time criticizing what is rather than pondering-actualizing what could be?
Three themes emerged from the Twitter stream of responses:
Is Pondering Just for the Privileged?
Bill, via his tweets, believes that pondering that (1) is for the privileged and (2) it does not lead to sustaining change. Pondering is defined as: to weigh in the mind; to think about, reflect on; to think or consider especially quietly, soberly, and deeply. I disagreed with Bill in that pondering is for the privileged. I believe that all change begins with pondering. A follow-up question, for me, then becomes, โCan we afford to not ponder what education should and can be?โ
Our Junior High students area reading-studying William Kamkwambaโs Boy Who Harnessed the Wind. He pondered how a windmill could change his village in Malawi. More about him can be found at Real Life Education ala William Kamkwamba.โ
I also included in my original question a double proposition with the first part being pondering and the second one being actualizing (to realize in act and not merely potential). These two parts equal a more unified whole in terms of possible sustainable results. Pondering without actualizing leads to stagnation. Actualizing without pondering leads to shabby and non-sustainable results.
Finally, Bill expressed his concern that his pondering does not lead to change outside of the classroom. The resiliency research demonstrates that change can occur given a caring adult, often a teacher . . . but that the results may donโt show up for years. I experienced such a story with Mark http://jackiegerstein.weebly.com/peak-experiences.html
Is it Critical vs. Criticism?
The next theme that came up was the need for critical analysis or criticism for change to occur.
As you can see by Candaceโs and Melanieโs tweet, there is a belief that change is driven by criticism. This prompted me to respond with a difference between viewing problems with a critical (involving skillful judgment as to truth, merit) versus with criticism (the act of passing severe judgment; censure; faultfinding). Approaching problems without a critical and discerning eye often leads to haphazard and trial-error problem solving. Approaching problems with criticism often leads to tunnel vision in terms of possible solutions.
Is it action for change or pseudo-action to appease the masses?
The final theme to emerge was related efforts to change.
Candice believes that lots of efforts have been made for educational change. I agree that there have been efforts. When I look at them, I think they are more of the same โ standards and test driven reform. I believe this to be pseudo-reform that is often politically driven. These are efforts to maintain the status quo with only cosmetic change. Historically, few efforts (e.g. John Dewey and Progressivism) have attempted reform from the ground up. Given the reform efforts of the past few decades, I tend to side with Alvin Tofflerโs position that โWe donโt need to reform the system; we need to replace the system.โ
It would be hypocritical of me if I just criticized the criticizers. It might be easier to say and do nothing โ especially on my emotions and psyche as swimming up the metaphorical stream takes energy, but in the long run, I would suffer from the incongruence. between my core beliefs and my real world practices. I had a boss once who said that if we were to come to him with a problem, then we also need to bring along our solution. I attempt to live education reform in my own local settings โpracticing think globally act locally.
This I know to be the problem
What I Do โLocallyโ to promote educational reform
Finally, these are these are the questions I believe educators, as change agents, โshouldโ be asking themselves:
One of my hobbies and frankly, passions, is finding free, exciting, and engaging resources to enhance the curriculum at my K-8 school. Here are my finds for this week:
Language Arts
Got Brainy โ Got Brainy features user-generated visual-based vocabulary definitions. These include Brainypics (photo/image definitions) and Brainyflix (video definitions). Students can create and submit their own Brainpics/Brainflix for their own vocabulary words. If there is enough school-wide interest in this project, we can create our own site of student visual definitions.
International Childrenโs Digital Library has a digital library of outstanding childrenโs books from around the world. The search engine for these online books include categories based on age level, genre, types of characters (kids, imaginary, animals), length, and picture-chapter books.
Tools for Educators offers free word search generators, word search makers, worksheets and programs for preschool, kindergarten teachers, elementary school teachers and language teachers to make word search puzzles to print, games for lessons, lesson plans and K-6 printable materials for classes.
Zooburst is a digital storytelling tool that lets anyone easily create his or her own 3D pop-up books. I tried it and what I liked is that I can upload my own images into the 3D book. I think the students are going to love it.
Science
PBS Kids: Sid the Science Guy is a science web site appropriate for our K-2 students. It includes three discovery zones: the Super Fab Lab at Sidโs school, the playground and Sidโs family kitchen.
National Geographic Creature Features allows kids to search through photographs and videos of all kinds of animals. The photographs are stunning. This was used with 1st and 2nd graders this past week, all easily staying occupied for their 45 minute technology course.
Golems is a 3D recreational physics simulator. Some of the older students, Junior High, have expressed an interest in 3D rendering. I plan to offer this as a choice project later in the year as the Junior High students will be asked to identify technology projects they would like to produce.
Production Tools
Google Apps in the Classroom is a Google site I created that contains an aggregate of Google Presentations on Google Docs, Calendars, Sites, and Maps/Earth. We have Google Apps for Education for our school. These resources will, hopefully, get more teachers to utilize these resources.
Stupeflix Studio is a video creator similar to Animoto. Pictures, video, titles, and music are mixed together to create a video. They are planning a version for educators. Animoto has become a very popular tool for the teachers and students at our school. It will be nice to offer them another option for video mash-ups.
Technology integration continues at the K-8 Charter School. To refresh your memory, I took a position as a part-time technology instructor at this school starting in September. The previous technology instructors were volunteer parents whose primary focus was on keyboarding skills and using the Microsoft suite. Part of my self-imposed role is assisting teachers in integrating technology into their learning activities and supporting classroom learning during the studentsโ technology time. A subgoal is to demonstrate how technology integration can be achieved with computers and internet connection and no other costs.
Here is the summary, an overview of technology integration for the different age groups that occurred during September.
Junior High โ 7th and 8th Graders
PBWorks for African Learning Expedition
The learning expedition for the Junior High this year is studying Africa, past to present. Students have been assigned a specific African country to research, to become an โexpertโ about that country. A PBWorks was set up for students to post their research. At this point, the students are posting general facts they are finding about their countries. These facts will be used to create Glogs, Animoto videos, and Dipity Timelines.
Glogs About Their Countries
This past week during their technology class, the students were introduced to Glogster. They spent most of their time learning how it works. A few began creating their Glogs about their African countries.
Part of their instruction included how to use Google Image advanced search to find images for their Glogs using strict filtering and usage rights โlabeled as reuse with modificationโ.
Shelfari for Book Discussions
The Junior High language arts teachers asked all of the students to set up Shelfari accounts. This was initiated by one of the teachers after she saw me demonstrate it during my interview last Spring. What follows is part of the permission letter she sent home to parents for permission or students to sign up for Shelfari:
As students discover wonderful books, they will share their reviews and recommendations with each other. Over the summer a few Anser students piloted an online site for discussing books. Students found Shelfari.com to be a fun and interactive way to share their excitement about books. On Shelfari, students can create a virtual bookshelf, rate the books they have read, write and read book reviews, discuss books with readers from around the planet, create a reading wish list, and much, much more. Our class will also have a private group where we can safely discuss books we are reading together. Only group members can see our discussions and reply to our questions.
Participating students will have a profile (bookshelf and friend list) on the Shelfari.com site. In order to create a Shelfari account, students need parental permission. Shelfari registration requires an email account; however, for the safety of the student, I recommend that you use a parent email to register.
A Group Shelf of books was established for the class.
They are asked to participate in monthly discussions on Shelfari where they post their own questions and respond to questions posted by other students:
Middle and Upper Childhood โ 3rd, 4th, 5th, & 6th Graders
Where Iโm From PicLits
One of the beginning of the year projects for the 5th and 6th graders was composing lengthy poems. Where Iโm From. The teachers asked how technology could assist with the expression of these poems in an artistic and visual format. PicLits was the tool I believed could best support this project.
The studentsโ PicLits were all posted on a single page: http://anserupperchildhood.pbworks.com/Where-I-Am-From-PicLits
Word Clouds for the River Expedition
I showed the teachers Wordle at the beginning of the year and it immediately sparked the interest of the teachers for the students in these grades. They have requested the creation of word clouds during technology time to support classroom activities. I started with Wordle but wanted a tool that can easily saved as images to the desktop. Wordle does not have this characteristic. After exploring other options, I decided to use ABCya Word Cloud. The Upper Childhood students practiced using it by inserting autobiographical words. The Middle Childhood students created word clouds based on their river expedition. They included words that they associate with rivers. They will create another similar one after they finish their river study. The two word clouds will serve as a pre-post assessment of terminology gained from their river learning expedition.
Thinkquest for Networking and Posting Work
I learn about many of the technology tools I use through Twitter and blogs. Thinkquest was demonstrated to me a few years ago at ISTEโs National Education Computing Conference. I love this site and so do my students. I used it when I was a gifted teacher a few years ago. The students at my โnewโ school are having the same excited reaction.
I donโt understand why I never hear it mentioned in any of my social networks. It is a safe place where students can create an online identify, communicate with other students from their own school and from schools from around the world, post questions and polls, and participate in online projects (way too many benefits to describe in this blog entry).
Internet Safety with Professor Garfiled
Along with the production tools the students are learning, they have been studying Internet Safety with Professor Garfield. We watch the video together and then the students work through the Try and Apply components at their own computers.
Kindergarten and Early Childhood โ 1st & 2nd Graders
Given the variance in the literacy levels of this age group, especially the 1st and 2nd grade group, the challenge has become how to differentiate to meet the needs of all children in the class. I believe that technology provides a great venue for differentiation and it has proved to be the case for this age group.
ABCya provides educational games for grades Kindergarten through Fifth with an assortment of games for each grade. From their website:
ABCya! is the leader in free educational kids computer games and activities for elementary students to learn educational computer games and activities were created or approved by certified teachers. ABCya! educational games are free and are modeled from primary grade lessons and enhanced to provide an interactive way for children to learn. ABCya! games and activities incorporate content areas such as math and reading while introducing basic computer skills. Many of the kindergarten and first grade games are equipped with sound to enhance understanding. on the web.
This site provides options for self-differentiation as students pick their games based on their grade level and interests.
Literacy Development
For the first half of the Early Childhood classes, I focus on literacy development. Kidblogs were established for those students who have basic writing skills. The kids, at first, werenโt that thrilled about writing the blogs. But once they realized they could comment on each otherโs blogs, their excitement rose dramatically. One student asked if it was like Facebook for kids. Even at age 7, they understand and are attracted to social networking.
While the students are writing their blogs, the other students, emerging readers and writers, listen to and interact with online books such as Pinky Dinky Do.
Online Drawing Tools
The kids love to draw and paint with online tools. Along with the ABCya games, students have been given the opportunity to draw during the second half of their technology classes. Tux Paint was downloaded on all of the computers in the technology lab. (Note: even the Junior High students like it!).
Up Next โ Technology Integration by the Teachers: The First Month
I have several lists of online project-product creators for my K-8 technology students. I cover a new tool every week or so. But being kids, they like to explore the other tools from these lists. The ones that overwhelmingly get noticed and the ones the students get most excited about are the comics and animation creators. There were several tweets over the weekend that inspired me add to my knowledge, tools, and personal excitement for using comics and animations in the classrooms. I have aggregated and compiled the following resources for my students.
Here is what covered S. Hendy in her slideshow plus some additions of my own:
Online Comic Creators
Animations
The following amazing animation, shared via Twitter, was completely made using the open source 3D software, Blender:
contains minor violence but the story is excellent (and sad)
Animation Creation Tools
Using Comics and Animation in the Classroom
My ultimate goal for using technology in education is having students love learning and creating. The tools are the means to do so. As such, they can be connected to a number of content-based assignments:
As part of my Pedagogy of Learning and Psychology of Learning courses for pre- and in-service educators, I included a final project for the course was a Celebration of Learning. They were asked to synthesize and reflect on their course learning using their own creativity, passions, and personal interests. The description of this project was:
To demonstrate overall knowledge and integration of the material studied in class and from the texts, students are to do one of the following and demonstrate/report results to their classmates:
You will present your project to the class on the last day. You have up to 15 minutes for your presentation. The grading criteria for this project includes:
When students have multiple choices in ways to demonstrate their knowledge, the evidence of their learning is more accurate. We wanted the students to actually become the experts through the learning process. This assessment isnโt just a fancy term for a presentation at the end of a unit. To actually engage in an authentic celebration is to witness a true display of student understanding. Learning Celebrations are Authentic Assessments of Student Understanding
Multiple Means of Expression Giving students a choice of how they want to demonstrate what they learned supports the Universal Design for Learning Principle II: Provide students with multiple means of expression:
What if a student can best show you what they learned through art form? Does it make sense to eliminate this option all together? As educators, it is essential to be attuned to the fact that there is not one form of expression that is optimal for all students. Catering to the natural diversity of expression when designing a course can serve to broaden the impact of your teaching: some ways to do this are through text, verbal presentations, design, film video, multimedia, 3D Models, music/art, recordings, or graphic organizers. Technology plays a big role in facilitating these implementations. The CAST website has a full definition. (http://www.uvm.edu/~cdci/universaldesign/?Page=about-udl/guidelines-principles.php&SM=about-udl/submenu.html)
Technology-Enhanced Celebration of Learning
The concept of celebration of learning, honoring studentsโ learning preferences, and reinforcing the classroom learning can be enhanced in this age of technology. Technology provides additional ways and opportunities to differentiate instruction based on content, interest, and ability. Choice menus give learners the opportunity to self-select activities that are best suited to their interests and ability. The result is engaged and motivated learners with resultant products that when shared in the classroom have often made me cry due to the personalized and passionate characteristics of these products.
Options that can be offered that are technology-enhanced include:
Create a Series of Word Clouds
Write and Illustrate an eBook
Draw or Paint a Picture
Make Comic Strip
Do an Animation
Create a Data Visualization
Create an Infographic
Create a โMediaโ Presentation (must include at two different types of media โ photo, images, audio)
Keep a Blog
Make a Game
Make a Timeline
Make a Google Earth Trip
Make an Online Quiz
Compose a Musical Composition
Make an Audio-Media Message
Make a Book Trailer
Create a Stop Motion Animation
Build a Project in a 3D Virtual Environment
Student Examples This past term, two students in my undergraduate course on Interpersonal Relations selected technology-enhanced projects. TJ loves Minecraft, so his final project included a review of the course concepts using his Minecraft Skills.
Another student, Nicole, created a series of Wordles for each topic covered during the course.
In addition, one student loved the Wordles were created in class so much, she did her own handmade versions for her project.
This was my first full week at the K-8 Charter School as the new technology instructor. Technology has been used minimally by the teachers at the school during the ten plus year history of the charter school. As stated in an earlier blog, Integrating Technology: Technology Tools to Develop a Collaborative, Participatory School Community Learning Space, the principal got excited about the potential of technology integration across the curriculum during and after my interview, wants it, but also knows it needs to be a process driven my the teachers.
I explained to the teachers that I want to support classroom learning expeditions when the learners come to me for their computer class. I also told them that I am willing to show them technology-based tools they can use to enhance their classroom activities. I know many of the Web 2.0 tools and their potential for instructional applications (as a wear as a badge of honor for my addiction to social networking, online webinars and conferences, and hanging out in places like Second Life). Based on conversations with the school principal and my own experiences/intuition, I understand that that technology integration needs to made as an offering to the teachers. They need to decide if and how these tools can be incorporated and integrated into their own classrooms.
So this first week was one of preparation as the students start after Labor Day (first weekend of September for the United States) . . . and to my pleasant surprise, several โincidentsโ of technology integration occurred.
During this pre-school week, I assisted teachers with technology integration . . .
This was a good first week! Lesson learned: Technology integration needs to be approached as differentiated instruction for the teachers. They are the users in this case and need to generate their own education. They should be presented with a choice menu and then given the support to develop the tools and technologies that address their abilities, interests, and teaching styles.
I love how the messages of our times are digital. Folks from the future who look back to study this time will view these digital messages as primary source documents that tell the stories of us.
The following are some of my favorite videos of this past year. They tell the story of what needs to and should drive education โ in this era of social media and educational networking.
These two videos tell the story of what is occurring in the real world -businesses know this, journalists knows this, the kids on their own time know this . . .
New Brunswick Department of Education โgets itโ:
This video was produced by the New Brunswick Department of Education to stimulate discussion among educators and other stakeholders in public education in the province of New Brunswick. The 21st Century presents unique challenges for education worldwide. In order to keep pace with global change we must focus on 21st Century Skills and public education must adapt to keep students engaged. Rigor and relevance are key,
This principal does not. But note that InnovativeEduโs editorial re-mix is part of this video:
Yet, it is being implemented within educational projects such as the Flat Classroom Project and Rock Our World:
Hopefully, WHEN (yes โ I am hopeful) schools adopt social media as standard operating practice, the results will help lead to enlightenment in the 21st century.
The distribution of human population and settlements across the Earth is highly uneven, shaped by a complex interaction of physical, economic, historical, and technological factors. While some regions are densely populated and heavily urbanized, others remain sparsely inhabited or even uninhabited. Understanding this global distribution is fundamental in urban and regional planning, as it reveals patterns of development, inequality, resource use, and sustainability challenges.
Population distribution refers to the spatial arrangement of people across the Earthโs surface, while settlement distribution refers to the location and spread of human habitationsโfrom small villages to megacities.
The Earthโs population is concentrated in certain regions due to favorable living conditions, while large areas remain sparsely populated due to harsh environmental conditions.
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Globally, population is concentrated in four major clusters:
Together, these regions account for the majority of the worldโs population.
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Large parts of the world have very low population densities:
These areas are constrained by extreme climates, poor accessibility, and limited economic opportunities.
Settlement distribution closely follows population distribution but is also influenced by accessibility, resources, and economic activities.
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A large proportion of the worldโs population lives near coastlines.
Reasons:
Examples include major coastal cities like Mumbai, Shanghai, and New York.
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Settlements have historically developed along rivers due to:
Major river-based settlement regions:
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Urbanization has led to the growth of large cities and megacities (population >10 million).
Examples:
These cities are economic hubs but face challenges like congestion, pollution, and housing shortages.
The global population distribution is rapidly changing due to urbanization:
Urban corridors and metropolitan regions are becoming dominant spatial forms.
Population and settlements are unevenly distributed not only globally but also within countries:
These inequalities create challenges in:
Understanding global distribution is essential for:
Efficient allocation of land, water, and energy resources.
Managing urban growth, especially in rapidly growing cities.
Designing efficient mobility systems based on population density and distribution.
Reducing ecological footprints and managing climate risks.
Planning settlements in safe and resilient locations.
The global distribution of population and settlements is a product of both natural conditions and human interventions. While favorable regions such as river valleys, coastal areas, and fertile plains attract dense populations, extreme environments remain sparsely populated. Over time, technological advancements and economic development have reshaped these patterns, leading to rapid urbanization and the emergence of megacities.
However, this uneven distribution poses significant challenges in terms of sustainability, equity, and resource management. For planners and policymakers, understanding these spatial patterns is crucial for designing inclusive, resilient, and sustainable human settlements that can accommodate future population growth while preserving environmental balance.
Hi, All,
I am using WordPress as a new blogging platform. My goal for 2010 is to Blog more often. I named the Blog User-Generated Education because I believe all of the new technologies are making it ripe for a learner-centric, learner-driven, constructivist education. I am looking forward to exploring this via this Blog.
The evolution of human settlements is a reflection of the dynamic relationship between humans, nature, technology, and socio-economic systems. From primitive shelters to complex metropolitan regions, settlements have transformed in terms of size, spatial pattern, and internal structure. This transformation is not random but guided by factors such as geography, economic activities, transport systems, governance, and cultural practices.
Understanding the evolution of settlements is essential in urban and regional planning because it helps explain present urban forms and provides insights for sustainable future development.
A settlement refers to a place where people establish a community. It includes not only dwellings but also infrastructure, economic activities, and social institutions. Settlements can be broadly classified into:
The evolution of settlements can be analyzed through three key dimensions:
Settlement size refers to the population and spatial extent of a settlement. Over time, settlements have evolved from small, isolated units to large, interconnected urban regions.
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Early human settlements were small and temporary, primarily consisting of hunting and gathering communities. With the advent of agriculture (Neolithic Revolution), permanent settlements emerged near fertile land and water sources.
Characteristics:
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During the medieval period, settlements grew in size due to trade, administrative functions, and security considerations. Many towns were fortified with walls.
Characteristics:
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The Industrial Revolution marked a turning point in settlement growth. Rapid industrialization led to massive rural-to-urban migration.
Characteristics:
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Today, settlements have evolved into megacities, metropolitan regions, and urban corridors.
Characteristics:
Settlement size also determines hierarchy:
This hierarchy reflects increasing complexity, services, and economic functions.
Settlement pattern refers to the spatial arrangement of buildings, streets, and open spaces.
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Settlement structure refers to the internal organization of land uses and activities within a settlement.
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Proposed by Ernest Burgess, this model suggests that cities grow outward in concentric rings:
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Proposed by Homer Hoyt, it suggests growth occurs in sectors along transport corridors.
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Proposed by Chauncy Harris and Edward Ullman, this model suggests cities develop multiple centers (nuclei).
Modern cities show complex structures influenced by globalization, technology, and mobility:
These structures reflect changing travel behavior, land values, and economic activities.
The transformation of settlements is influenced by multiple factors:
Understanding settlement evolution is crucial for:
In the context of Transit-Oriented Development (TOD), settlement structure plays a key role in influencing:
The evolution of settlements from small agrarian communities to complex metropolitan systems reflects the continuous interaction between human needs, economic forces, and technological advancements. Changes in size demonstrate increasing population and spatial expansion, while shifts in patterns highlight the transition from organic to planned forms. The transformation of structure reveals the growing complexity of urban systems, from monocentric to polycentric models.
In the contemporary era, the challenge is not just to understand this evolution but to guide it toward sustainability. Planners must integrate lessons from past settlement patterns and structures with modern approaches such as TOD, smart growth, and sustainable development to create cities that are efficient, inclusive, and resilient.
A Development Plan is a statutory, long-term planning document that provides a framework for the spatial, economic, social, and environmental development of a city or region. In the Indian planning system, the term is often used interchangeably with the Master Plan, especially under Town and Country Planning legislation. However, conceptually, a development plan is broader in scope, integrating land use planning with infrastructure, governance, and sustainability considerations.
It acts as a guiding instrument to regulate growth, ensure orderly development, optimize land use, and improve the quality of life of citizens. Given the rapid pace of urbanization, particularly in developing countries, development plans play a crucial role in balancing growth with sustainability.
The purpose of a development plan extends beyond physical planning. It aims to create a structured and sustainable pathway for urban and regional growth. The major objectives are as follows:
One of the primary purposes is to ensure that urban growth occurs in a planned and systematic manner rather than haphazardly. Without planning, cities tend to experience unregulated expansion, leading to congestion, slums, and inefficient land use.
A development plan allocates land for different usesโresidential, commercial, industrial, institutional, recreational, and transportation. This ensures compatibility of land uses and prevents conflicts such as industrial activities in residential areas.
The plan identifies current and future infrastructure needs, including:
It ensures that infrastructure development keeps pace with population growth.
Development plans promote economic activities by:
This aligns with broader economic planning goals.
A key purpose is to ensure equitable access to resources and services. This includes:
Modern development plans emphasize reducing socio-economic disparities.
Development plans incorporate environmental considerations such as:
This aligns with the principles of sustainable development.
The plan provides legal backing for regulating development through:
This helps in controlling unauthorized construction and ensuring compliance.
Development plans act as a roadmap for future growth by:
The preparation of a development plan is a systematic, multi-stage process involving technical analysis, stakeholder participation, and statutory procedures. While the exact process may vary across states in India, the general steps are as follows:
The first step is to define the planning area, which may include:
This ensures that future growth areas are included within the planning framework.
Planners collect extensive data related to:
Field surveys, household surveys, traffic counts, and GIS mapping are conducted to understand ground realities.
This stage involves analyzing the collected data to assess:
Techniques such as SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis are often used.
Future growth is estimated through:
These projections form the basis for planning future infrastructure and land use.
A long-term vision statement is developed, reflecting the aspirations of the city. This is often done through stakeholder consultations involving:
Objectives are then defined to achieve this vision.
Planners may prepare multiple development scenarios, such as:
Each scenario is evaluated based on feasibility, sustainability, and impact.
This is the most critical stage where detailed proposals are prepared, including:
Allocation of land for various uses based on projected demand.
Road networks, public transport systems, and non-motorized transport infrastructure.
Water supply, sewerage, drainage, solid waste management, and energy systems.
Schools, hospitals, community centers, and recreational spaces.
Green belts, conservation areas, and environmental safeguards.
Zoning rules, building regulations, FAR, density norms.
The draft plan is made available to the public for feedback. This stage includes:
Public participation enhances transparency and ensures that the plan reflects community needs.
Based on feedback, necessary modifications are made to the draft plan. This ensures:
The finalized plan is submitted to the relevant authority (state government or planning authority) for approval. Once approved, it becomes a statutory document.
Implementation involves:
Projects are executed by various agencies over the plan period.
A development plan is not static. It requires:
Despite its structured process, several challenges affect the effectiveness of development plans:
Modern development planning is evolving to address these challenges by incorporating:
There is also a shift from rigid master plans to more flexible and dynamic planning frameworks.
A development plan is a vital instrument for guiding the growth and transformation of cities and regions. Its purpose is not only to regulate land use but also to ensure economic vitality, social equity, and environmental sustainability. The preparation process is comprehensive and participatory, involving data analysis, forecasting, visioning, and stakeholder engagement.
However, the success of a development plan ultimately depends on effective implementation, institutional capacity, and adaptability to changing conditions. In the context of sustainable development and rapid urbanization, development plans must evolve into more integrated, flexible, and people-centric toolsโensuring that cities grow in a manner that is inclusive, resilient, and sustainable.
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