field notes.edu

I recently viewed a Slideshare presentation by Brian Kuhn from SD43 about documenting learning in the early years with technology. I was prompted to reflect about our own learning journey in this area…

This year at our school, we are continuing to embed eportfolios as learning, reflection, and self-awareness tools. Part of that process is to collect evidence of learning: assignments, projects, videos, reflections, scans, notes, and more. We’ve encouraged our students to use their handheld digital devices to capture the moment (or capture the moment for a friend who may not have one yet), but sometimes they forget…

In my InfoTech 9 class, students are doing great things. They are engaged in working on individual and team choice projects in the domains of: photography, videography, and game design. We are working on competencies such as: creativity, independent learning, and problem solving. Much of my time is spent coaching using the following questions to move learning forward:

“How did you learn that?”
“What do you want to explore about that?”
“How would you do that differently next time?”
“Can you share your learning with a classmate?”

I take the time to document their learning with my iphone when I ask these questions. I first ask if they don’t mind if I take a photo or video, then I “shoot and share” with them via email. If it’s a video, and they have a youtube account, I remind them about privacy settings. Then, they are welcome to add the evidence to their eportfolios or learning blogs. It works well.

The other day, I had a conversation with a colleague who used handheld devices in another way—he used student devices to record foreign/second language readings right into their devices so they could use them during class to practice their pronunciation. Students without devices used the class ipod. It worked. “Having the device right there, in the moment, is critical,” he says.

Another colleague uses her iPad to video students as they are doing their Science experiments or Biology labs so she can replay decisions the team made, and to ask them to reflect on their thinking during the process. It works well. “It’s so easy to just take a snapshot or a quick video,” she says. And the evidence of learning is there, at the fingertips.