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Effective Learning Strategies You Can Use Right Now

by Miguel Guhlin November 19, 2024

written by Miguel Guhlin

What effective learning strategies can you enhance with AI tools? Leverage AI to make you a more effective and efficient learner! Let’s take a look at how you learn. Then we’ll try to answer the question, “How can I use AI chatbots to improve my application of those effective learning strategies?”

Effective Learning Strategies

As an educator (and faithful reader of TCEA TechNotes blog!) you are likely aware of John Hattie’s work. Hattie highlights effective strategies that enjoy a high-effect size. You can see a collection by effect size via the Visible Learning MetaX database. While there are various strategies usable in the classroom, which can your students use on their own?

View full-size | Get a copy via Canva

To answer that question, let’s take a look at a few strategies below. You can leverage these on your own, by yourself, and make your own learning more effective. I’ve condensed these strategies into several groups to help you sift through them. Definitions for each are quoted from the Visible Learning MetaX database and linked, and the effect sizes are current as of September, 2024.

Group #1: Gathering New Learning

Strategy to Integrate with Prior Knowledge (0.93). Connecting new info to what you already know. This helps build better mental maps of ideas.
Self-directed learning (0.67). You take charge of your own learning. You find info and solve problems with little help from teachers.
Concept mapping (0.62). Making visual diagrams of ideas. Show how different pieces of info relate to each other.

Group #2: Thinking About Content

Critical thinking (0.84). Use skills like analysis and reasoning. Helps you decide what to believe and why.
Metacognition (0.52). Thinking about your own thinking. Includes methods to help you understand how they learn.
Questioning (0.49). Asking yourself questions during learning.

Group #3: Maintaining Your Learning

Spaced vs massed practice (0.59). Spreading out study over time vs cramming. Spaced practice involves shorter sessions over a longer period.
Interleaved practice (0.46). Mixing different types of problems or topics in one study session. Opposite of studying one topic fully before moving to the next.
Practice testing (0.49). Also called retrieval practice. Improve long-term memory by practicing recalling information.

Now, imagine if you could use AI chatbots to assist you with implementing these? Let’s put together a plan to use AI chatbots and tools.

Let’s ask ourselves, “What is something I want to learn more about?” Often, topics relevant to our work or activities is the best place to start. For example, I want to learn more about Zaretta Hammond’s Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain. How could I go about doing that?

Group #1: Gathering New Learning

My first step is to ask myself, “What do I already know about this topic?” And make a list. Then provide that list to an AI chatbot to see what questions it could come up with. These questions can help guide my own learning, and identify areas of study.

You can use chatbots in the following three ways to gather new learning ideas and connect ideas to your prior knowledge. That’s important because without a prior knowledge connection, any new ideas won’t stick.

Use chatbots to generate questions that connect new topics to your existing knowledge
Ask chatbots to create personalized learning plans based on your interests and goals
Have chatbots help you create concept maps by suggesting connections between ideas

Here’s what my prompt looks like:

I am interested in learning more about Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain. I am basing a lot of my new knowledge on Zaretta Hammond’s book, Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain. Here’s what I already know about this topic:

Culturally responsive teaching (CRT) is a research-based approach to teaching.

CRT connects students’ cultures, languages, and life experiences with what they learn in school.

Understanding where students are coming from can help me build better relationships with them

Building better relationships with students makes them more receptive to learning new things from me.

Could you generate questions that connect Zaretta’s book to what I already know, and create a personalized learning plan based on my interests? Could you also make a mermaid diagram that I can add to over time connecting ideas?

See an example of an AI chatbot results for this prompt.

Group #2: Thinking About Content

Now that you’ve gathered new learning ideas, it’s time to dig deeper into the content. This group of strategies focuses on challenging your assumptions, promoting critical thinking, and encouraging metacognition.

By engaging with chatbots in these ways, you’ll develop a more nuanced understanding of the material. This can assist you as you work to improve your ability to analyze and reflect on complex topics.

Ask chatbots to play “devil’s advocate” to challenge your thinking on a topic
Use chatbots to explain your learning process back to you, prompting reflection
Have chatbots generate thought-provoking questions about the material you’re studying

Sample Prompt

Consider the following as a prompt you can use to think more deeply about content:

You are a critical thinking coach. Analyze my perspective on [topic], then play devil’s advocate to challenge my assumptions. Generate thought-provoking questions that prompt deeper reflection. Finally, explain my thought process back to me, highlighting areas for metacognitive improvement. Let me know when you are ready to question my assumptions in an interactive manner.

Want to see how this plays out in regards to Culturally Responsive Teaching? See results in this Google Doc.

Group #3: Maintaining Your Learning

Learning doesn’t stop once you’ve acquired new knowledge. As you know, it’s an ongoing process. It requires consistent review and practice. Mike Bell (The Fundamentals of Teaching) writes:

We form memories when some of the pathways become strengthened by repeated usage. Repeated stimulation leads to pathways becoming permanently open, known as “long-term potentiation.” It takes about a day for pathways to close.
When we first learn something, our recall can initially be near 100%. Over the next few hours, recall starts to fade. Without repetition, memory strength returns to zero. Repeating the same pathways slows the forgetting process so that after several repetitions, we have good long-term memory.

Getting organized to repeat the same pathways to slow the forgetting process can be a bit of a pain. AI can help with that. This group of strategies leverages chatbots to help you reinforce your learning, improve retention, and integrate knowledge across different subjects.

By implementing these techniques, you’ll create a sustainable learning system that ensures long-term mastery of the material. Please find the three actions below:

Use chatbots to create spaced repetition schedules for reviewing material
Ask chatbots to generate practice problems that mix different topics you’ve studied
Have chatbots quiz you on past material to test your recall and retention

With that in mind, here’s a prompt (see results) you can use to assist you.

Sample Prompt

Here’s a prompt to assist you in maintaining your learning:

You are a personalized learning assistant. Create a spaced repetition schedule for my study topics. Generate practice problems that interleave different subjects I’ve learned. Regularly quiz me on past material to test my recall. Adjust the schedule and problem difficulty based on my performance.

One Final Takeaway

The key is using the AI tools to support and enhance your learning strategies, not replace your own thinking and effort. Chatbots can help make the strategies more engaging and personalized.

November 19, 2024 0 comment

Leadership

K-12 Leadership Roadblocks and Detours to Success

by Miguel Guhlin November 12, 2024

written by Miguel Guhlin

While working as a campus and district administrator, I often encountered roadblocks to new initiatives. Getting a project to completion can feel like driving an obstacle course. If that’s your experience, you’re not alone. Let’s learn to navigate those tricky K-12 leadership roadblocks and detours together!

The Obstacle Course of K-12 Leadership

Imagine you’re a superintendent, director, principal, or a person tasked with a job. You have some autonomy to do amazing work, but roadblocks often appear. A few roadblocks aren’t that big a deal, but others drain your energy. How can you avoid hitting every pothole on the road to success while navigating K-12 leadership roadblocks and detours?

One way is to be aware of the challenges before or as they happen and have an exit strategy. Before we talk about detours, let’s revisit some common roadblocks.

Identify Roadblocks to Success

Here’s what that bumpy journey often looks like:

Constant Churn: New programs pop up faster than you can say “professional development.” Unfortunately, old initiatives, often unfinished and draining resources, get interrupted or diverted. Maybe, you need to consider how to de-implement initiatives (see diagram at end of this blog entry).
Remote Work Prohibited: Paperwork piles up, leaving little time for actual leadership. Some work requires our physical presence. Yet, remote work has proven itself as effective. Are you driving in simply to say “Present” at meetings?
Effort on Unverifiable ROI: Initiatives that sound great but don’t move the needle on organizational outcomes (e.g. student achievement). Watch out for leaders or managers that want you to do something but lack a clear vision on the bottom line value a new project will bring.
Rearranging Programs: The educational equivalent of rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. Everyone ends up with programs that get juggled. Stop juggling, de-implement.
Bumps Ahead: Urgent meetings and last-minute fires to put out. Is your boss calling you in for urgent meetings and get-togethers? These are sure to knock you off course, if not send you off on a wild goose chase.
Obsolete Tech: Working with computers older than your students. An organization that doesn’t provide or plan for the best tech its people need has already failed it. Make sure your equipment replacement plans are up to date, and you are budgeting appropriately.
Outcome: Stagnant or declining student achievement, a stack of failed initiatives or programs, or worse, initiatives that were implemented in a poor manner. Ouch.

Whether you are an employee or employer, avoid these roadblocks as best you can. Employers, put these roadblocks in place at your peril. You will ensure complaints and staff exits.

Now that you’ve seen the roadblocks and potholes, what’s the alternative look like?

Detours to Success: A New Roadmap

While there’s no guarantee of a smoother ride every trip, let’s “stop doing” those programs that get in the way. One way is to use Hamilton, Hattie, and Wiliam’s Making Room for Impact de-implementation options (shown below).

Let’s swap those roadblocks for some strategic detours:

1. Data-Driven Decision Depot

Before you plan something new, do the work. The work, in many cases, involves data and trend analysis. That way, you can make choices based on facts, not fads. Identify key metrics and stick to them over time. Then, review that data with your team and see what it tells you. These kinds of analysis sessions (great for PLC meetings) are guided by key concepts such as:

Dump less effective practices
Use less expensive interventions
Streamline over-engineered, complicated processes
Do something with less frequency
Choose who delivers or receives benefits
Remove initiatives or “Stop Doing” them altogether

If you are launching a new initiative, and you haven’t stopped or re-engineered another for efficiency and effectiveness, you’re wasting money, time, and effort. Do you really want to do that?

2. Flexible Causeway

Bring teachers or staff together to create adaptable plans. These plans pivot based on the needs identified in the data. Develop modular units that can be mixed and matched to solve problems. Some time ago, I did this for my professional development sessions, making it easy to come up with new workshops by mixing-n-matching. Consider using a Goals, Action, Plan framework (get a copy) to support your thinking.

3. EdTech Integration Interchange

Avoid buying bargain-basement technology, one size fits all. That plan may work, but you first need to identify what technology needs of staff and students are. Then, plan how it will make things better. For example, in my own work, I do a lot of writing and video work. If you bought me a Chromebook or low-end computer, I would only get half my work done.

Learn more about How to Plan for Technology Equipment Replacement

Make sure to train your team members thoroughly and provide ongoing support. In this way, you make sure the technology amplifies staff effort, not wrecks it.

4. Community Engagement Circle

This can be tough one. Host “town hall” type meetings, advisory meetings, and focus groups. These can provide feedback and input on upcoming decisions, whether to add, cut, change initiatives. Use tools like first, second order change planners like the one (get a copy) below to scaffold discussion.

5. Measurable Metrics

Develop clear, measurable goals for student achievement. Regularly assess progress and be willing to adjust strategies if you’re not seeing the desired results.

6. Monitor, Adjust, and Maintain

Work anywhere long enough, you will encounter zombie initiatives that are still around. They exist because no one dispatched them when they expired. To ensure your initiatives stay vibrant and alive, make sure to keep a close eye on them. Make adjustments to them, and put in the work to maintain them. If you don’t, you doom them to a moribund existence that will result in failure.

Team, Adapt, Launch

As a leader, map a way forward that facilitates collaboration. In that way, you can adapt and overcome any roadblocks you encounter, together. When the time comes, you can launch any project or initiative and achieve success. Steer clear of old roadblocks and map a way forward together.

Infographic: Cycle of De-Implementation

November 12, 2024 0 comment

ELAR English Language Arts ESL/ELL

SIOP Model and Digital Tools

by Miguel Guhlin October 23, 2024

written by Miguel Guhlin

How do you integrate language and content instruction? One established approach is the Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP) model. Let’s see how SIOP phases align with different learning intentions and instructional strategies and discover digital tools to support your teaching.

A Quick Overview of the SIOP Model

Let’s take a moment to review key areas of the SIOP model. The authors (Echevarria, Vogt, Short) designed it to support English language learners (ELLs). The SIOP model has eight inter-related components. Those components include the following:

Lesson preparation. Teachers create lessons that include content and language objectives.
Building background. This involves connecting new concepts to students’ personal experiences and prior knowledge.
Comprehensible input. Teachers use a variety of techniques to make content easy to understand for learners. These can include speaking in a clear way, using visuals, and hands-on activities.
Strategies. These strategies include teaching and modeling learning strategies to help students process and retain information.
Interaction. This involves giving students opportunities to practice language skills in a safe, supportive environment.

Below is a diagram I made to capture my understanding of the SIOP model (view full-size | get a copy):

Benefits of the SIOP Model

Many benefits have been ascribed to the SIOP model. You can find a round-up of them online at Jana Echevarria’s website. Here are a few:

Gains in academic achievement (source)
Development of personal and academic language skills (source)
Active participation and increased engagement
Differentiation aligned to students’ diverse needs and proficiency levels

What’s more, the SIOP model is often a go-to approach for supporting language learners. Echevarria makes the following point on her website linked above:

…SIOP instruction is making a positive learning difference for multilingual learners and other students who are in the classrooms. Teachers can learn to implement the model to a high degree with ongoing PD and support. No one is disadvantaged by SIOP instruction; rather, the focus on academic literacy and scaffolded instruction helps all students learn academic English and grade-level, content curricula better (source).

Now that you have a clear understanding of the phases of the SIOP model, let’s explore how it aligns to learning intentions. I’m curious to connect it to Hattie’s Visible Learning as well as Mike Bell’s The Fundamentals of Teaching.

Understanding SIOP Phases and Learning Intentions

As you may recall, learning intentions refer to what your intent is for students to learn. Having an awareness of your learning intensions, as well as what phase of learning students are in, can be useful. It’s useful because it enables you and students to choose specific high-effect instructional strategies. These strategies are often grouped according to three phases of learning:

Surface learning
Deep learning
Transfer learning

John Hattie points out the following when choosing what strategy works best to impact learning:

“What and when are equally important when it comes to instruction that has an impact on learning. Approaches that facilitate students’ surface-level learning do not work equally well for deep learning, and vice versa. Matching the right approach with the appropriate phase of learning is the critical lesson to be learned.”

With this in mind, it’s important to match high-effect size instructional strategies to the appropriate phase of learning students are in. To determine what phase of learning students are in, you will want to take advantage of formative assessments. What’s more, being aware of what your learning intention is for students can inform your next steps. Let’s briefly explore these points aligned to the SIOP model.

Lesson Preparation: Building the Foundation

“I use Quizlet to create interactive flashcards for key terms. It’s a game-changer for vocabulary retention!” says Mrs. Johnson, a 5th-grade teacher. In this initial phase, focus on surface learning through direct instruction and vocabulary programs. Both direct instruction and vocabulary programs are appropriate to use in this phase of learning (Surface Learning).

Surface learning is important because it is a critical step towards transfer learning:

…the process of developing sufficient surface knowledge to then move to deeper understanding such that one can appropriately transfer this learning to new tasks and situations. (Source: Hattie, Fisher, Frey in Visible Learning for Literacy)

To assist students in connecting the dots, it’s important to consider students’ prior knowledge. As Mike Bell, The Fundamentals of Teaching, puts it, “No one can learn anything if they cannot link it to something they already know.” On his website, Bell quotes psychologist David Ausubel:

If I had to reduce all of educational psychology to just one principle, I would say this: The most important single factor influencing learning is what the learner already knows. Ascertain this and teach him accordingly.

David Ausubel as cited

Our theory of the world, also known as our “schema,” is what makes up our prior knowledge. It is so important that Mike Bell enshrines it as the first step in his five step teaching approach. He encourages teachers to assess prior knowledge, as well as fill in missing knowledge.

Did You Know?
You can watch a TCEA Lunch and Learn on Prior Knowledge via the TCEA Community. Follow this link, then enter your login credentials to access. Not a TCEA member yet? Join.

A part of presenting new material (step two in his five-step process) involves linking new information to prior knowledge, using advance organizers, and connecting the abstract to the concrete. To put it simply, it involves connecting the dots.

Building Background: Connecting the Dots

“I love using Mindmeister for collaborative mind mapping,” says Mr. Rodriguez, a high school history teacher. “It helps students visualize connections between new concepts and what they already know.” In Mike Bell’s book, The Fundamentals of Teaching, memory is explained as a link to component parts of that memory. The component parts include our emotions, colors, shapes, tactile feelings. The network of links is the schema.

If some of the new concepts are held in long-term memory, “it takes less space in working memory.” You can see how someone can liken the responsibilities of a president to that of a parental guardian.

Mnemonics and integrating prior knowledge are crucial here. A key component is connecting the dots through graphical organizers, modelled and worked examples, as well as meta-cognitive tasks. Students can use graphic organizers and modeled examples to better understand and retain new information. They do this when they link new concepts to what they already know. This approach also enhances metacognitive skills. It helps them become more aware of their thinking.

As you can imagine, the SIOP model seeks to encompass this cognitive work. It covers critical steps of learning, such as:

Activating and assessing prior knowledge
Presenting new knowledge
Setting challenging tasks that involve collaboration, thinking, and examples
Providing feedback to learners for improvement, as well as questioning
Spaced repetition and deliberate practice

Connecting the dots takes advantage of several strategies that encouraging making connections. Those connections happen between prior and new knowledge, which lays the groundwork for deep learning phase of learning.

SIOP Phase with Learning Intention

Take a look at this chart and how it matches SIOP model phases with learning intentions, strategies, and digital tools.

SIOP Phase	Learning Intention	Instructional Strategies	Digital Tools	Example
Lesson Preparation	Surface Learning	Direct Instruction (.56), Vocabulary Programs (.62)	Quizlet, Kahoot	Using Quizlet to create flashcards for key vocabulary terms
Building Background	Surface Learning	Mnemonics (.65), Integrate with Prior Knowledge (.93)	Padlet, yED Live, Cmap Tools	Creating a mind map on yEd Live to connect new concepts with prior knowledge
Comprehensible Input	Surface Learning	Repeated Reading Programs (.80), Questioning (.49)	Newsela, Edpuzzle	Using Edpuzzle to embed comprehension questions in a video lesson
Strategies	Deep Learning	Metacognition Strategies (.52), Critical Thinking (.84)	Padlet Video Recording, Socrative	Students using video to explain their problem-solving process
Interaction	Deep Learning	Classroom Discussion (.82), Reciprocal Teaching (.74)	Zoom breakout rooms, Canva Whiteboard, Miro	Facilitating small group discussions in Zoom breakout rooms using a collaborative whiteboard
Practice & Application	Transfer Learning	Problem-Solving Teaching (.68), Transfer Strategies (.86)	Scratch, Minecraft Education, Minetest	Students applying coding concepts learned in class to create a game in Scratch or virtual world in Minetest
Lesson Delivery	Deep Learning	Elaboration and organization (.75), Concept Mapping (.62)	Pear Deck, Nearpod	Using Pear Deck to create interactive presentations with embedded formative assessments
Review & Assessment	Transfer Learning	Self-Reported Grades (1.33), Self-Judgement and Reflection (.81)	Google Forms, Seesaw	Students reflecting on their learning progress using a digital portfolio in Seesaw

Comprehensible Input: Ensuring Understanding

Repeated reading programs and strategic questioning enhance comprehension. Consider using Edpuzzle to embed questions in video lessons, promoting active engagement with content. Comprehensible input is a concept first suggested by Stephen Krashen. It exposes students to linguistic input slightly above their current language level (i+1). The reason for this is that i+1 allows learners to understand the new input. Strategic questioning can scaffold this process.

Use strategic questioning to do the following:

Get responses from students at their current level and slightly beyond. For example, a current level question might be, “What is the main character’s name?” An i+1 example might be “How might the main character’s actions influence the story’s outcome?”
Tailor questions to target specific language structures or vocabulary. For teaching past tense, an example might be “What did the protagonist do after he discovered the secret door?”
Ensure that question complexity is adjusted to ensure input remains at the optimal i+1 level. To adjust a question’s complexity, go from simple to complex. For example, shift from “Can you describe the setting of the story?” to “How does the setting contribute to the overall mood of the narrative?”

Both strategies (repeated reading and strategic questioning) can be useful in ensuring understanding.

Diving Deeper: Strategies and Interaction

Fostering Critical Thinking

Metacognitive strategies and critical thinking activities are key for deep learning. “I use Padlet Video to have students explain their problem-solving process. It’s amazing to see their metacognition in action!” says middle school science teacher, Ms. Lee. To encourage metacognition, consider using check-ins to enhance learning. According to Schraw (1998 as cited), checking in stimulates learners’ self-reflection on their own understanding. This, of course, leads to increased metacognitive awareness (source).

Promoting Meaningful Interaction

Classroom discussions and reciprocal teaching strategies encourage student engagement. You can use Zoom breakout rooms for small group discussions and collaborative whiteboards for idea sharing.

Applying Knowledge: Practice and Transfer

In applying knowledge phase, students are expected to apply what they have learned to new situations. In transfer learning, students apply what has been learned to novel situations. This may involve metacognition, collaboration, and problem-solving. This can be done in a variety of ways, including:

“Building virtual worlds has been fantastic for my students to apply coding concepts in a creative way,” notes Mr. Thompson, a technology integration specialist. One example could involve using virtual world building through Minetest or Minecraft. Other activities like story bins can also work well.

Stages of the Engineering Design Process

Public View Link | Template Link

Delivering Lessons and Assessing Progress

Facilitating lesson delivery often involves a dash of direct instruction, hands-on activities, classroom discussion. Through it all, the teacher is working to assess the level of understanding students have in the midst of a conversation.

Effective Lesson Delivery

Use elaboration, organization, and concept mapping to deepen understanding. Try Pear Deck for interactive presentations with embedded formative assessments. For example, when teaching photosynthesis, you can compare it to a factory taking in raw materials and outputting products:

Photosynthesis

Photosynthesis as a process can be a model for making widgets in a factory:

As you can see, concept maps can assist students in connect new information in such a way as to facilitate deeper comprehension. The visual structure can make it easier for students to see relationships. Tools like Pear Deck can integrate concept maps into interactive presentations. When students make their own diagrams, the diagrams reveal gaps in understanding. Teachers can look at what’s missing from the students’ view of a concept. Then, they can work to provide experiences that enable the student to learn.

Review and Self-Assessment

“I use Seesaw for digital portfolios. It’s an excellent tool for students to track and reflect on their progress over time,” suggests one elementary school teacher. When considering review and self-assessment, other strategies are also helpful. Two include self-reported grades and reflection for transfer learning.

Let’s consider some guided activities and see how they connect to the SIOP model phases.

SIOP Model Activity Examples

Here are some activity examples that match a particular SIOP model phase.

Activity	Description	SIOP Phase
Vocabulary Bingo	Create digital bingo cards with key terms	Lesson Preparation
Concept Connection	Use mind mapping tools to link new and prior knowledge	Building Background
Video Quiz Creation	Embed questions in educational videos	Comprehensible Input
Think-Aloud Recordings	Have students record their problem-solving process	Strategies
Virtual Jigsaw	Assign topics to groups for research and presentation	Interaction
Real-World Application Project	Design projects applying learned concepts to real scenarios	Practice & Application
Interactive Lecture	Create engaging presentations with built-in assessments	Lesson Delivery
Learning Journal	Implement digital portfolios for ongoing reflection	Review & Assessment

Additional Resources

SIOP Model Overview: A comprehensive guide to the SIOP model (K-12, Higher Education)
Edutopia’s Technology Integration Guide: Strategies for effective tech integration in classrooms (K-12)
TCEA Courses on Digital Learning: Professional development opportunities for educators (K-12, Higher Education)

October 23, 2024 0 comment

Back to School Good Teaching

Checking In for Back to School

by Lori Gracey August 14, 2024

written by Lori Gracey

Check-ins are a great way to get people, adults or students, talking to each other, especially at the start of a new school year. They can learn more about the ones they’ll be working and learning with, as well as themselves. Here’s why you should utilize check-ins as a way to break the ice this back to school season!

What Does the Research Say About Using Check-Ins?

Research supports the use of check-in questions with both students and adults as a valuable tool for enhancing learning. Here’s a concise overview of the key findings:

Formative assessment: Check-in questions serve as a form of formative assessment, allowing instructors to gauge understanding and adjust instruction accordingly. (Black, P., & Wiliam, D. (1998). Assessment and Classroom Learning. Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice, 5(1), 7-74)
Active recall: They promote active recall, which strengthens memory and improves long-term retention of information. (Roediger, H. L., & Karpicke, J. D. (2006). Test-Enhanced Learning: Taking Memory Tests Improves Long-Term Retention. Psychological Science, 17(3), 249-255)
Metacognition: Checking in encourages learners to reflect on their own understanding, fostering metacognitive skills. (Schraw, G. (1998). Promoting general metacognitive awareness. Instructional Science, 26(1-2), 113-125)
Engagement: They can increase engagement and participation in the learning process. (Dallimore, E. J., Hertenstein, J. H., & Platt, M. B. (2013). Impact of Cold-Calling on Student Voluntary Participation. Journal of Management Education, 37(3), 305-341)
Identifying gaps: Regular check-ins help identify knowledge gaps early, allowing for timely intervention. (Hattie, J. (2009). Visible Learning: A Synthesis of Over 800 Meta-Analyses Relating to Achievement. Routledge)
Spaced repetition: When used systematically, checking in can implement spaced repetition, a proven technique for enhancing long-term memory. (Carpenter, S. K., Cepeda, N. J., Rohrer, D., Kang, S. H. K., & Pashler, H. (2012). Using Spacing to Enhance Diverse Forms of Learning: Review of Recent Research and Implications for Instruction. Educational Psychology Review, 24(3), 369-378)
Feedback loop: Setting aside time to check in creates a feedback loop between instructor and learners, improving communication and tailoring instruction.
Confidence building: Successful responses to check-in questions can boost learner confidence.
Adult learning principles: For adults, check-ins align with principles of andragogy, respecting their experience and promoting self-directed learning. (Knowles, M. S., Holton III, E. F., & Swanson, R. A. (2015). The Adult Learner: The Definitive Classic in Adult Education and Human Resource Development (8th ed.))

Some Free Check-In Tools

Here are a couple of great check-in resources with tons of questions to use.

Check-In Generator – You can filter these questions by four different approaches: caring, daring, laid back, or work focused.
Check-in Questions – Perfect for adults
14 Editable SEL Check-In Templates – Great blog with downloadable templates from TCEA
Daily Check-In Ideas for Remote Learning – It may say for remote learning, but these work face to face, too.
130 Ideas for Check-In Questions During Remote Learning – Again, these work for F2F learning, too.
66 Unexpected Getting-to-Know-You Questions for Students

Try out a few of these and let me know how they work by responding in the Comments section below. Have a great school year!

August 14, 2024 0 comment

Created by author, adapted from Mike Bell (2021) The Six Steps.

Artificial Intelligence Educational Research English Language Arts History Math Mathematics Reading Science Social Studies

The LEARNS Cycle: Putting AI in Instruction, Part 1

by Miguel Guhlin June 13, 2024

written by Miguel Guhlin

“There are a bucket-full of AI tools, apps, and suggestions, but how does any of this fit within the learning cycle? How does it align to evidence-driven, research-based instructional strategies?” Those are two questions that have been going around in my mind recently. It doesn’t matter if AI is the latest thing since sliced bread. How does it fit into teaching and learning?

To answer the question, I turned to the work of Mike Bell, author of The Fundamentals of Teaching. This blog entry makes an explicit connection between each step with AI tools available now to educators. Come along and see how AI fits what you already know works in the classroom. This is the first of a multi-part blog series that digs into this.

Finding Reliable Research and Strategies

Mike Bell’s work is genius in that it aligns the research of several different sources of evidence. In analyzing reliable sources of evidence, he overcomes several problems:

Confirmation bias taints our perception of evidence since people pick out evidence which supports their preconceptions.
Research can be contradictory, so it is necessary to combine results from different sources.
It’s hard to figure out the level of quality for research since not all research is of the same quality.

Since reliable evidence is hard to come up with on our own, all of us are tempted to listen to popular assertions. Bell suggests you do the following when someone (e.g. AI or an ed tech consultant or vendor) says, “The research says it’s effective:”

Ask for the effect size.
Gauge how much work is required to implement the suggestion.
Pause if the effect size is low and a lot of work is required to implement the suggestion.

A Quick Reminder about Effect Size

To that end, Bell offers an overview of effect size on learning, which readers of TCEA TechNotes will be familiar with:

0: No effect
0.2: Small effect
0.4: Average effect (what John Hattie calls the “hinge point”)
0.6: Good effect
0.8 And above, high effect

Now that these key concepts are out of the way, let’s take a look at Bell’s Five Steps plus a post-assessment stage. These steps identify key strategies that are supported from several research sources. Those five major research studies include: EEF, Dean, Hattie, IAE, and IES. Explore these and other evidence-based research sources via this blog entry, Brain-Based Strategies That Work.

The Stages of the LEARNS Cycle

The five steps are detailed on Mike Bell’s website and include five big steps plus a post-assessment. The diagram below adapts the first five steps as The LEARNS Cycle. My goal was to place AI tool usage in the context of evidence-based teaching and see what might happen. Could AI tools be relied upon to assist with supporting classroom teaching and learning on a foundation of research-driven steps?

Here’s an overview of the LEARNS cycle:

LEARNS: Locate, Explore, Apply, Review, Nurture, Shine

Locate (Know what you know): Identify your current knowledge and skills related to the topic or learning objective.
Explore (Learn New Stuff): Discover and engage with new information, concepts, and resources to expand your knowledge and skills.
Apply (Challenge Yourself): Put your newly acquired knowledge and skills into practice by tackling challenging activities or real-world problems.
Review (Get feedback): Seek feedback from peers, mentors, or self-assessment to review your progress, identify strengths and weaknesses, and gather insights for improvement.
Nurture (Practice, Repeat, and Reflect): Continuously refine your knowledge and skills through repeated practice, reflection, and incorporation of feedback.
Shine (Re-assess, Progress Check, and Master): Re-assess your performance to track progress, ensure a high level of understanding, and achieve mastery of the subject matter.

What might putting Bell’s steps in our own words, and then connecting them to existing AI tools, look like? Let’s take a closer look at each of the stages in the recursive, iterative cycle. Remember, this is the first of a multi-part blog series.

1-Locate

In stage, you are activating prior knowledge. This involves knowing what you know, or what students know.

Locate (Know What You Know) Prior Knowledge

Instructional Strategy	AI Tool	Description
Graphic Organizers	Creately	Creately offers templates and drag-and-drop tools for Venn diagrams, concept maps, and flow charts, helping students organize information visually.
Structured Note-Taking	Notion AI	Notion AI helps organize notes using methods like the Cornell method or mind mapping, making students’ notes clear and structured.
K-W-L Charts	Padlet	Padlet is a collaborative tool where students create and share K-W-L charts, activating prior knowledge and tracking learning progress.
Anticipation Guides	Google Forms	Google Forms creates anticipation guides where students record initial thoughts and revisit them post-lesson to reflect on learning.
Case Studies	Nearpod	Nearpod presents case studies and engages students in decision-making activities based on prior knowledge with the ability to revisit and adjust responses.

Here’s the infographic version:

A copy of the infographic will be available in the final blog entry in the series, so be sure to check back for the next part.

LEARNS Cycle: Sample Prompts

Another way to approach this is to generate prompts that supplement each strategy. These prompts would be usable in any AI chatbot, free or paid. This can be helpful if you do NOT have access to a paid solution, like MagicSolution.ai or the others I will mention in future blog entries.

Here are some sample prompts for the Locate stage. Note that the AI Tool Suggestions are tools you could use, but you could also just drop these prompts into a free chatbot.

Instructional Strategy	AI Tool Suggestions	Sample Prompt
Graphic Organizers	Creately, MindMeister, Lucidchart	“Create a concept map to visually represent the key ideas and relationships in [topic].”
Structured Note-Taking	Notion AI, Roam Research, Obsidian	“Develop a structured note-taking system using the Cornell method to organize your understanding of [topic].”
K-W-L Charts	Padlet, Jamboard, Miro	“Collaborate with your classmates to create a K-W-L chart for [topic], documenting what you already know, want to know, and have learned.”
Anticipation Guides	Google Forms, Microsoft Forms, SurveyMonkey	“Complete this anticipation guide by indicating your initial thoughts on statements related to [topic] before we begin the lesson.”
Case Studies	Nearpod, Pear Deck, Explain Everything	“Analyze this case study on [real-world scenario] and make decisions based on your prior knowledge of [topic].”

This is what the K-W-L Chart prompt from above generates in assorted chatbots:

Author generated animated GIF composed of KWL charts generated by ChatGPT, Perplexity, MagicSchool, and Claude — *Author generated animated GIF composed of KWL charts generated by ChatGPT, Perplexity, MagicSchool’s Raina, and Claude*

Wait, There’s More AI Magic Available!

If you use school-focused AI tools, you may notice that there are none mentioned specifically in the chart for Locate stage in the cycle. You can find many of the activities for instructional strategies in these multi-purpose school AI tools.

AI Solution Providers: At the risk of incurring the ire of solution providers, here are what these look like in only one of the tools, MagicSchool.ai. In future blog entries in this series, I will introduce others.

Using MagicSchool.ai’s Raina, you can easily generate many of the items in this step. Let’s take a look at some sample prompts.

Screenshot of MagicSchool's Raina by author — *Screenshot of MagicSchool’s Raina by author*

Sample Prompts

Here are some example prompts (see 60+ prompt suggestions) that you can feed into any chatbot. These are meant to reflect actual tasks for the LOCATE stage of the LEARNS Cycle.

Graphic Organizers (Science): “Create a graphic organizer for the seventh grade science unit on ecosystems. Use a concept map to show the relationships between producers, consumers, and decomposers, and how energy flows through a food web.”
Structured Note-Taking (Social Studies): “For eighth grade social studies, organize notes on the American Revolution. Use the Cornell method to outline the causes, key figures, and major battles. Create a mind map to connect the outcomes of the war to the formation of the U.S. government.”
K-W-L Charts (Science): “In sixth grade science, create a K-W-L chart for the unit on the water cycle. Begin by listing what students already know about evaporation, condensation, and precipitation. Include what they want to learn, and update the chart with new information as the unit progresses.”
Anticipation Guides (Social Studies): “Design an anticipation guide for a fifth grade social studies lesson on the Civil War. Have students record their initial thoughts on the causes and key events of the war. After the lesson, revisit these thoughts and reflect on what they have learned and how their understanding has changed.”
Case Studies (Science): “Present a case study for eighth grade science on the impact of human activities on climate change. Engage students in analyzing data on carbon emissions and their effects on global temperatures. Allow students to revisit their initial conclusions and adjust their responses as they learn more about the science behind climate change.”

ChatGPT Plus generated those sample prompts. Of course, you can write your own and then feed them into MagicSchool.ai’s Raina.

Getting Raina’s Help with LEARNS Cycle

In the screenshot above, you can see that Raina has taken the fifth grade social studies lesson prompt for an anticipation guide. The result is as follows:

Anticipation Guide for 5th Grade Social Studies Lesson on the Civil War

Before the Lesson:

Causes of the Civil War

I believe the Civil War was primarily about __.
I think the issue of states' rights played a significant role in starting the war. (True/False)
Slavery was a major cause of the Civil War. (True/False)
Key Events of the Civil War

The first battle of the Civil War was fought at __.
Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in the year __.
The Civil War ended at the Appomattox Court House in the year __.

After the Lesson:

Causes of the Civil War

My initial thoughts on the causes of the Civil War were __.
After learning more, I now understand that __ was a significant cause of the war.
My thoughts on the importance of states' rights in the Civil War have changed because __.

Key Events of the Civil War

Reflect on how your understanding of the first battle of the Civil War has evolved.
How did learning about the Emancipation Proclamation change your view of the Civil War?
Discuss how your perception of the end of the Civil War at the Appomattox Court House has shifted.
This anticipation guide will help students engage with the lesson content, reflect on their initial thoughts, and track their learning progression throughout the study of the Civil War.

Tying AI tools to proven effective instructional strategies is a non-brainer and will ensure that student learning is the focus.

June 13, 2024 0 comment

Five steps to data-informed student grouping in the classroom

Assessment Educational Research Good Teaching

How to Make Flexible, Data-Informed Student Groups

by Miguel Guhlin April 15, 2024

written by Miguel Guhlin

Would you believe that, according to teachers, behavior is the most important factor when it comes to grouping students? There are several reasons to group students, and, recent research suggests that there are benefits to creating student groups. The teacher can tailor them to optimize learning and use grouping students to address varied:

learning needs
abilities
interests

What does the research say?

Unfortunately, student grouping strategies focusing on grouping by ability have poor results. For example, ability grouping for gifted students has a low effect size (d=0.21). An alternative is flexible, data-informed grouping strategies. Let’s take a quick look at the research from Gest and Rodkin’s 2011 study. Teachers in that study reported that they grouped students for several reasons. Here are the top five reasons from most important to least important:

Behavioral Problems
Heterogeneous Ability Grouping
Homogeneous Ability Grouping
New Friendship
Existing Friendship

If behavior was the most important reason for student groups, what was the least important reason for grouping? That would be grouping students by similar ability levels or to reinforce friendships.

Flexible, Data-Informed Student Groups

In this approach, data informs the composition of student groups. This involves assessing, grouping, and regrouping students based on ongoing assessment data. This results in grouping students not by ability or prior achievement but rather by fresh, new data about the phase of learning they are in. This can have a certain appeal, no?

In this approach, you group students to meet the following needs:

Needs and performance. This ensures lessons are relevant and meet students where they are.
Current understanding and skills. Your informed insight enables you to personalize learning across subjects or topics based on their knowledge.
Include students of different abilities. With data in hand, you can more easily mix students of different abilities and backgrounds together.
Customize activities. Since you can use data to grasp where students are in their groups, you can create more tailored engagement activities.

While you could rely on digital grouping tools for the classroom, there is another way.

Five Steps for Flexible, Data-Informed Groups

To group your students, consider following the steps below. Note that you can use a variety of digital tools to facilitate each step.

Step 1: Conduct assessment. In this step, use low-stakes, just-in-time assessments to evaluate students and identify their current level of understanding and skill. Recognize that you will be reusing your assessments to track both individual and group progress.

Step 2: Form groups. Once you have processed the latest assessment data, create student groups that align with students’ learning needs.

Step 3: Consider SEL and class culture. Recognize students’ social and emotional needs. Building peer-to-peer relationships is critical. Support classroom culture with a keen awareness of culturally responsive teaching and brain-based learning approaches.

Step 4: Create custom learning activities. Align your instructional strategy (e.g. surface learning, deep learning, transfer learning) to the needs of the group and its members.

Step 5: Provide feedback for self-regulated learners. In dynamic groups, it’s important to provide useful feedback that empowers self-regulated learning.

Using Data to Group Students by Phase of Learning

Mermaid code graph generated by Claude.ai at the direction of the author

One of the challenges you may encounter with flexible grouping is not grouping students by ability. When you rely on flexible grouping that’s informed via assessment data, you are actually organizing students by the phase of learning they are in. These phases of learning include Surface Learning, Deep Learning, and Transfer Learning. To get a better grasp of where students are at in their learning using assessment data, identify their phase of learning with the SOLO Taxonomy. Here’s a quick overview of The SOLO Taxonomy:

Stage	SOLO Taxonomy	Hattie’s Term	Learning Phase?	What It Means	HES Instructional Strategies
1	*Pre-structural*	No Idea	May or may not have Prior Knowledge	Lack of understanding or knowledge of the concept	Build and/or activate prior knowledge
2	*Uni-structural*	One Idea	Surface Learning	Has limited understanding, but doesn’t know how to apply it or how it connects to other ideas	Three-Step Jigsaw Method, Summarization, Vocabulary Programs
3	*Multi-structural*	Many Ideas	Surface Learning	Has a basic understanding, but isn’t sure how to fit ideas together	Direct Instruction, Flipped Classroom, Note-Taking
4	*Relational*	Relate	Deep Learning	Understands how ideas fit together and the relationship between them; still needs scaffolding and instruction to be successful	Concept Mapping, Metacognition, Self-Judgement, Reflection
5	*Extended Abstract*	Extend	Transfer Learning	Can take what has been learned and make something new; directions are not needed	Problem-Based Teaching, Transfer Strategies

Source: Get a Clue: The SOLO Taxonomy

The SOLO Taxonomy descriptors make it easier to identify students’ grasp of ideas or concepts. What’s more, there is a rich group of highly effective strategies you can use depending on the phase of learning students are in.

The SOLO Taxonomy gives you a way to gauge the assessment data and put students in the correct group. The grouping is important because it allows you to match the most effective instructional strategy to the student’s need. For example, students in a surface learning phase may range from lacking any background knowledge to having a basic understanding. However, that basic understanding still lacks a conceptual understanding of how ideas fit together.

Here’s a quick chart you can use to guide you :

Examples of flexible groups that are create based on students' phase of learning. — **View full size** | **Get a copy**

Some Parting Thoughts

Grouping students by behavior isn’t the most effective method. Instead, try using fresh data to assist you in creating groups that support learning. Ensure every student receives exactly what they need to thrive. The role you play is crucial. Remember that grouping strategies are about meeting students where they are and using informed insight (e.g. The SOLO Taxonomy) and strategies (e.g. Surface/Deep/Transfer Learning strategies) to guide them to success.

April 15, 2024 0 comment

Five Stages of EdTech Adoption blog header

Digital Literacy

Five Stages of K-12 Ed Tech Adoption: Part 1

by Miguel Guhlin March 15, 2024

written by Miguel Guhlin

Feeling tired and burned out by all the ed tech and AI-based news finding its way into your life? Take a moment to step back from all the chaos and reflect on the big picture. The Five Stages of K-12 Ed Tech Adoption will give you some context for understanding what you are going through. You will also get practical tips to help you harness the power of technology to create an engaging, effective student learning environment. Let’s take a look at:

The five stages of ed tech adoption and how to navigate them with success
Actionable strategies to integrate technology into your daily routine
The latest trends in educational technology and how you can use them

Ready? Let’s review each of the stages.

Stage #1: Exploration and Awareness

Whether you are a new teacher, or someone new to using digital tools in the classroom, it’s easy to adopt a spirit of openness when it comes to ed tech. As a classroom teacher, curiosity and eagerness to see how technology can improve teaching and learning are your focus. This first stage may be described in the following way:

People first learn about new technology. They explore it. Maybe they're curious. Maybe their friends or leaders told them to try it. They're open to learning. They start to see how it could help them teach.

It’s a time for exploration. Digital tools such as virtual reality, gamification, and artificial intelligence start to paint a picture of a more engaging, personalized, and efficient approach to education. Here are some ways you can get started with ed tech in your classroom:

Build yourself a choice board of learning. Explore workshops and resources that focus on improving reading comprehension, using project-based learning, or effective classroom instructional strategies.
Showcase your learning. Use tools like Blogger, WordPress, Google Sites, and/or Wakelet to create free portfolios of your learning. Showcase your teaching philosophy, resume, lesson plans, and videos of mini-lessons. Take the time to reflect on what you’re learning as you’re learning it.
Conduct a self-assessment. Assess your teaching and learning environment, reflecting on classroom arrangement, media tools available, instructional strategies, and your comfort level with digital tools.
Engage in knowledge sharing. Take field trips to meet with other educators to learn how they are using technology, and/or share how you are using it to impact teaching and learning. This can help build a strong sense of respect among you and your colleagues as well as a community of lifelong learners.
Walk and talk. Encourage your colleagues at work to allow Walk and Talks to pair up and discuss topics relevant to blending technology into the classroom.

Remember that TCEA can assist you with all of this. TCEA’s Annual Convention & Exposition and focused events are an invaluable resource. These events offer a plethora of learning opportunities. You get to see other educators present on the latest educational technologies and walk the exhibit hall floor where new products are showcased. What’s more, the TCEA TechNotes blog offers practical tips, teaching strategies, and resources that align ed tech with high-effect size instructional strategies and technologies.

Stage #2: Adoption and Experimentation

Characterized by teachers starting to use new ed tech to teach, there is experimentation and trying to see how tools work. Some reject the idea that teachers should experiment in the classroom, but where else should they attempt this work? Every lesson is an experiment. Digital tools involve a hands-on approach where both teachers and students become co-learners. They try out different technologies, learn how they work, and then assess their effectiveness in facilitating learning. This suggests that students have agency, choice, and the ability to self-regulate their own learning.

An example of levels of spoken feedback when it comes to ed tech. — Adapted from David Perkins’s (2003) **The Ladder of Feedback** and John Hattie’s (2014) **The Power of Feedback.** | **Get Your Own Copy in Google Slides format**

Some ed tech tools and technologies that are often considered for experimentation in the classroom include:

Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR). VR can shift time and place for students when viewing historical sites or simulating scientific experiments to deepen their grasp of difficult subject matter. Digital technologies “can positively contribute to the digital transformation of schools.”
Collaborative Online Platforms. Many educators use tools like Canvas, Google Classroom, Schoology, Microsoft Teams, OneNote, and Seesaw in their classrooms. Each of these tools offers new, different ways of interacting with students than before. How do you use these collaboration tools to facilitate teaching and learning? Doing so requires hands-on approaches that engage students in interactive feedback.

Assess ed tech tools in the context of back-and-forth conversations with students. Consider the suggestions in the “Assess K-12 Classroom Technology Usage” infographic as you work to implement new tools in your classroom.

Stage #3: Integration and Application

In this stage, technology is used routinely in the classroom. You may describe this stage in this way:

Technology is part of the classroom. Teachers and students use it daily. It supports learning goals. It fosters student feedback. It helps with everyday tasks. What’s more, it gives students choices in how they learn. It promotes student discussion and collaboration. It's a tool for success.

At this stage, ed tech is a core element of the classroom. It scaffolds learning, encourages feedback, and makes teamwork at a distance possible. It makes tasks for teachers and students alike easier to complete. What’s more, it blends into lessons and activities and provides students with a variety of ways to interact with curricular materials to show what they know. It also provides the timely feedback students need to gauge their distance from target learning objectives.

Some examples in addition to those mentioned above include:

Productivity Tools. My favorite category! Canva for Educator, Google Workspace for Education, and Microsoft 365 are a few tools to consider. Choose any one of these and you are well supplied with tools and digital forms for data gathering and analysis in the classroom.
Teaching AI Assistants. Tools like Brisk Teaching, CuriPod, Diffit, Eduaide, MagicSchool.ai, SchoolAI, and many more can be very valuable. You might also consider ChatGPT for Educators and other AI tools that can be adapted for instructional use.
Online quiz games and activity helpers. This includes digital tools like AhaSlides, Sembl, Quizizz, and UpSchool, as well as others too numerous to list.

More to Come

You may have figured out that only three out of the five stages were addressed! Stay tuned for more content in part two. In the meantime, here’s an infographic of the Five Stages of Ed Tech Adoption in K-12:

Five Stages of EdTech Adoption - https://www.canva.com/design/DAF-7iMpYnk/hKcjLpsU_yBlKkmCE-gicg/view?utm_content=DAF-7iMpYnk&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link&utm_source=editor — Five Stages of EdTech Adoption – View the Five Stages of Classroom Ed Tech Adoption in K-12

March 15, 2024 1 comment

Author created derivative critical thinking processes

AI/VR Artificial Intelligence

AI Megaprompts for Coaching and Critical Thinking

by Miguel Guhlin February 12, 2024

written by Miguel Guhlin

“Are you there?” I first typed that into an Apple //e computer. The answer was “Syntax error.” I wanted to find the voice in the machine, some consciousness that would talk to me, tell me things, and answer questions. Now, making conversation with technology is possible through AI prompts and megaprompts. I will share my journey of learning to craft these prompts to converse with AI.

What is a megaprompt?

Like many, I had no idea what a megaprompt was. Megaprompts are long prompts that provide structured instructions or questions. These allow the AI to give complete responses when asked a question or given an instruction. Harry Pickens (ChatGPT for Educators) describes the process in this way:

Crafting a megaprompt for ChatGPT involves creating a detailed and structured set of instructions or questions that guide the AI to generate comprehensive and contextually relevant responses.

I summarize Pickens’ instructions below:

Provide a clear goal.
Give context or background information.
Divide the goal into specific steps.
Be precise and detailed.
Use examples that clarify directions.
Say what you want to see.
Ask for AI’s response in stages.
See what works, then refine the prompt.

When I wrote my first megaprompt, I started with Picken’s megaprompt for ChatGPT. Then, I adapted it to my own use.

Why make megaprompts?

Long prompts, megaprompts, enable more of a conversation to happen with your AI chatbot. Moreover, you can rely on the AI’s vast expanse of information access. For example, for my critical thinking megaprompts, I wanted the AI to do something I could not. That is, keep track of ALL the logical inconsistencies that might pop up in my writing and thinking. Logical fallacies are “common errors in reasoning.” Getting an AI to identify those can be a time-saver, no? Plus, with megaprompts, you can provide the AI with exactly the lens through which you want it to respond.

The Anatomy of a MegaPrompt

I’ve identified the following anatomy for long prompts:

Role. Set the role of the AI. Don’t be afraid to juxtapose two different roles. For example, the AI can be a critical-thinking advisor and a jolly professor.
Goal. Explain the goal that the AI chatbot should adopt.
Context. Provide background information. Include information, questions, and examples.
Interaction Guidelines. Explain how you want the AI to interact with the user. For example, ask it to solicit user consent and readiness, provide step-by-step guidance, etc.
Interaction Structure. Detail how you want AI to begin, assess user knowledge, dialogue, and how you’d like it to conclude.
Task(s). Define the task(s) that you want the AI to perform. Clarify step-by-step guidance, the need for dialogue, and action steps for each task.

Let’s craft a long prompt together that offers suggestions on teaching and learning. For example, combine the work and insights of several authors, as shown in the Amazing Lesson Design Outline (ALDO). Would that not be amazing to have at your disposal as a new teacher or a veteran wondering how to implement John Hattie’s high-effect size instructional strategies or brain-based learning?

MegaPrompt: ALDO Coach

“What is the best strategy to use in a particular instructional situation?” This is an important question to ask. Trained coaches are invaluable assets in helping educators choose relevant strategies for varied instructional situations. Using tools like ALDO in professional development can be a valuable tool in supporting teachers in lesson development. But can AI be trained to use ALDO to brainstorm with teachers? Teachers who might be unfamiliar with John Hattie’s “Visible Learning” might like this kind of tool and guidance. It would simplify their lives. It could also work as a simple instructional strategies coach.

This megaprompt incorporates the information I shared in the Amazing Lesson Design Outline (ALDO):

Rather than break down each component of the megaprompt (you can see it here), let’s see it in action below:

Long prompts like this can be a lot of fun. Let’s take a look at a few others.

MegaPrompt: Critical Thinking

Critical thinking can be a tough area for human beings. It has an effect size of .84, according to the Visible Learning MetaX database. The reason why it’s tough, albeit important to learn, is that there is so much to be an expert at. You have to know quite a bit about a field of knowledge. You also have to understand how to apply critical thinking processes, and you have to do this while avoiding logical fallacies.

That’s where AI can help. I had a lot of fun with this megaprompt and really appreciate the work of Thinking Is Power‘s advocate of scientific literacy, Melanie Trecek-King. Using her ideas, as well as those of Wayne R. Bartz, I worked with Claude.ai to make the following (try not to laugh too much):

View Full Size | Get a copy via Canva

As a person who recognizes his own struggles with critical thinking, I wanted help. I thought that an AI might be able to do the following more easily than I am able to:

Check my reasoning, if necessary.
Help me avoid logical fallacies and inconsistencies.
Analyze articles and media reports objectively.
Avoid appeals to my emotions and my cultural background that might compromise my thinking.
Apply a critical thinking model or process on my behalf.

What a brain-saver, right? Some of the critical thinking processes I decided to apply include:

Wayne R. Bartz’ CRITIC >> View megaprompt.
Melanie Trecek-King’s (Thinking IS Power) FLOATER >> View megaprompt.
George Polya’s 4-Step Problem Solving. >>View megaprompt.

Both Bartz’s and Trecek-King’s approaches are ways to evaluate claims. These are claims that people might make in conversation or in the media. Some of the places I’ve tried the megaprompts include:

ChatGPT 3.5/Plus
Claude (including the Pro version)
Microsoft CoPilot

MegaPrompt Takeaway

What’s the big takeaway from megaprompts? Long prompts enable rich dialogue with AI, and each AI handles megaprompts differently but effectively. This can enhance learning, creativity, and critical thinking. Will you give megaprompting a try?

February 12, 2024 0 comment

Assessment Educational Research

UNESCO’s 2023 GEM Report: TCEA’s Solution to the PD Problem

by Miguel Guhlin January 19, 2024

written by Miguel Guhlin

Have you seen UNESCO’s eye-opening 2023 Global Education Monitoring Report? It makes some startling claims about technology, education, and environmental impact. Let’s explore each of these claims in turn and reflect on solutions. Plus, I’ll make a few claims about ed tech of my own!

Highlighting Problems

The report highlights some problems with how countries and school systems approach technology use. Here’s a quick list of three points made in the report:

Little impartial, robust evidence about ed tech’s value in education is available.
Evidence-based research seldom (11%) factors in when school systems adopt ed tech in schools.
Professional learning fails to address teaching with technology.

Since this 420+ page report is global in scope, it’s important to take away relevant lessons. Let’s look at how to best address the three points above. Of course, there’s more to the report worthy of consideration, but that moves beyond the scope of this article.

Point #1: Little Impartial Evidence

Under what conditions can technology impact teaching and learning? When educational technology is the engine for learning, it fails. The failure is expensive and a waste of time for teachers and learners. “Pedagogy is the driver, technology is the accelerator,” says Michael Fullan.

In fact, this has been long known. But ed tech spending continues unabated:

The vast preponderance of studies on the use of media and/or technology do not show significant gains in student achievement, at least in regards to what the assessments are assessing. (source)

It may be that educators have worked under “no significant difference” for so long with ed tech that it doesn’t matter. That said, there is a way to ensure that ed tech supports teaching and learning. It requires analysis of effective strategies and a leap of faith.

Don’t believe me? Read this excerpt from The Distance Learning Playbook (Dr. Douglas Fisher, Dr. Nancy Frey, and John Hattie, 2021), written in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic:

“…only a few of the research studies collected for any of the meta-analyses were done from afar. In this case, we’ll have to take a leap of faith and identify the essential components of a [strategy] and determine how it can be used online.”

If a leap of faith works for them, why not educators? At this point, it may be worthwhile to remember the words of a critical-thinking guru. Melanie Trecek-King writes on why we shouldn’t do “our own research:”

1. That’s not what research is.

Research is a systematic process of investigation. Scientists collect evidence and evaluate it in an unbiased manner. Those methods have to be available to other scientists for replication.

2. Science is a process.

It is an attempt to understand reality, and recognize how biased and flawed the human brain is. Real research is about trying to prove yourself wrong, NOT right.

3. You’re not as smart as you think you are.

Consider the Dunning-Krueger Effect. When those who are least competent at a task overestimate their abilities. If you’re incompetent, you can’t recognize how incompetent you are.

For those bringing ed tech in to solve an education problem, it may be that they don’t know enough. That is, they are overestimating ed tech’s value to solve an education problem.

Point #2: Consider the Research

Only 11% of surveyed teachers and administrators requested peer-reviewed evidence before adopting ed tech. That’s a sobering statistic included in the UNESCO report. Today, what happens in classrooms shouldn’t rely on pop research or anecdotes. Unless anecdotes represent the evidence, we should avoid using them to explain.

Technology may not even be the best or only solution to consider. People are often attracted by new education technology (UNESCO, 2022a), and purchasing for the sake of technology rather than for pedagogical reasons is a common mistake….

The UNESCO report (p. 135) suggests two types of assessments of ed tech should happen. These assessments should take place before the technology appears in the classroom. The two tests include:

Does the technology have a proven impact on teaching and learning?
Does evidence exist showing that the implementation of an ed tech intervention has worked?

For many users of ed tech, a “leap of faith” is all that is possible. According to Fisher et al., the only alternative is an analysis of an instructional strategy’s components. That may be all that remains. Wishes and unproven anecdotes. Even the What Works Clearinghouse is suspect, as cited in UNESCO’s report:

An incisive summary of the evidence contained in the Clearinghouse pointed out that only 188 of 10,654 studies showed that products had ‘strong or moderate evidence of effectiveness’ (Garcia Mathewson and Butrymowicz, 2020)

There are other sources of evidence-based research. We do know that there is ample research on traditional interventions or high-effect size instructional strategies.

Did You Know?

TCEA offers several online courses that are focused on evidence-based strategies. Sign up for TCEA’s Evidence-Based Teaching online, self-paced course now.

Point #3: No PD? Expect Teacher Failure

“If we are to better educate our kids, we need to better educate their educators,” says Tom Whitby. A longtime educator and contributor in the ed tech world, Whitby’s point echoes what many believe: You aren’t going to get powerful results with innovation without teacher training. This is particularly true for educational technology.

A recurring question from Texas educators is, “How do we assess technology applications?” This is a reference to Technology Applications Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TA-TEKS). What some districts have forgotten is that TA-TEKS are best blended into all instruction. But how thoroughly have the TA-TEKS been analyzed? Do schools want to produce critical thinkers or tech-savvy children? Also, how thoroughly have educators been trained in integrating the TA-TEKS successfully into instruction?

How to Train Staff to Amplify Learning with Technology

Students learn best when technology amplifies the effect of evidence-based instructional strategies. But how do you use technology to boost these strategies? And how does this get reflected in professional development? Consider these ways school systems can address professional development on technology integration:

Provide specific professional learning on high-effect size instructional strategies
Model how digital media (videos/podcasts) supports teaching and learning
Engage learners with hands-on experiences that match the students’ phase of learning
Scaffold team building and rapid prototyping
Pose real-world problems in the context of Problem-Solving Teaching or Engineering Design Process

Align PD to TCEA’s Online, Self-Paced Learning

Want to prepare your teachers? Consider these linked online, self-paced courses TCEA provides for just $39. Not only will teachers learn evidence-based strategies, but they’ll also learn how to use them with technology. These are flexible learning opportunities that:

Provide specific professional learning on high-effect size instructional strategies:

Model how digital media (videos/podcasts) supports teaching and learning:

Engage learners with hands-on experiences that match students’ phase of learning and scaffold team building:

Pose real-world problems in the context of Problem-Solving Teaching or Engineering Design Process:

Schools may also want to audit their existing technology tools and programming to identify areas of growth and create strategic plans. After all, do you need all those ed tech solutions? Or only the ones that align with research? Maybe your staff just needs some training on aligning instructional strategies and technology tools.

Leverage technology when it facilitates problem-solving at a distance and rapid prototyping. Use it to collaborate at a distance, for information processing, and management. Rely on technology to improve productivity and learning. But don’t use it for drill-n-practice as a way to engage learners in razzle-dazzle displays.

Technology, for technology’s sake, is often a waste of time and money. In most cases, learning can happen without technology. You can achieve long-term information retention (the aim of much teaching) without it. But combine ed tech with evidence-based strategies that work, and you’ll deepen learning and boost outcomes.

January 19, 2024 0 comment

Explaining the difference between "hypothesis" and "theory" - Created with Supermeme.ai

AI/VR English Language Arts History Math Mathematics Science Social Studies Social Studies Writing

AI Meme Generators and Classroom Activities

by Miguel Guhlin September 28, 2023

written by Miguel Guhlin

Did you know that students make sense of visuals faster than text? That is, when processing image and text data at the same time, visuals get processed sixty thousand times faster (source). Student-created digital media results in greater gains. That means that student-generated visuals can impact learning and achievement. You already know how powerful infographics and graphs are. Today, AI tools can create even more engaging images with text. One way to do that? Memes. Let’s take a closer look at meme creation tools and activities using memes in the classroom.

Memes generated by the author using Simplified.com.

What does the research say?

“Images evoke and enrich complex meanings. These meanings are otherwise linguistically inexpressible,” says the Visible Learning Meta X database. This is a rich database of effective instructional strategies based on the research of John Hattie. Visuals are rated as having an effect size of 0.55. If .40 is an average year’s growth, images have the potential to speed up learning.

What are memes?

Memes can represent ideas, values, or behaviors that are contagious. Pair quotes with pop culture images and you get a shareable meme. Meme quote generators help students engage in language play, deepen their experiences with interpretation, reasoning, and inferential thinking.

How to Create Memes

The old-fashioned way of creating memes includes using meme generator tools. These work great for students, allowing them to combine quotes with existing images. Some tools I’ve relied on to create memes include:

But, there are now new tools that make meme creation easier using AI. These meme-generation tools focus students on the text rather than the image. Let’s explore some AI meme generators.

AI Meme Generators

Some AI meme generators you can use for free include the following. But, some will require you to create an account using Google or an email address.

Now that you have some AI meme generators, let’s jump to a few activities. I invite you to add your own ideas in the comments!

Classroom Activities with Memes

Activity #1: Classroom Debates

Meme illustrating how memes can be used for debate in class.

Debates about tough topics offer rich opportunities for developing student content knowledge, literacy, and civility. For example, “Should I risk my sanity by giving my 12-year-old a cell phone?” is current and relevant. What’s more, it allows students to apply critical thinking approaches when considering the merits of smartphones for minors. Students also get to explore legal issues, social media, and more. All are topics that can be tied into math, science, and social studies.

Debating is an often under-utilized approach in the classroom. At least, debating in a civil manner.

Classroom debates help students learn through friendly competition, examine controversial topics and “strengthen skills in the areas of leadership, interpersonal influence, teambuilding, group problem solving, and oral presentation” (Leuser, n.d., para. 1 as cited by source).

You could have students do any of the following:

Articulate the rules of debate
Organize their points as a series of memes representing their perspective
Create memes that are opposite to a competing perspective

Students could then organize debates as a series of images addressing key topics. The topics would have been identified prior to the debate. Students could also assess the efficacy of memes generated in convincing (or not) the audience.

Activity #2: Vocabulary Development

Clarifying terms and vocabulary in a new lesson can be difficult. That’s true no matter whether you are a language learner, math, or science student. How do you capture the essence of a vocabulary term in such a way as to make it easier to understand? One way is to create a meme that represents that word.

Meme with a bear illustrating a classroom activity on vocabulary

You can combine memes with Frayer Models, as well as concept sorts, to define and organize terms. In fact, in science, drawing a picture of what a word means could be the first step in better defining it.

Activity #3: Conveying a PBL Stakeholder Perspective

When starting a problem-based learning unit, one of the first steps involves identifying stakeholders. These are the perspectives that vie for attention and resources in a real-life problem. In a community where a landfill is being built, you could have a variety of stakeholders. Those could include:

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
The Public
Community Residents and Businesses near the landfill
Landfill operator
Landowner
City
Media
Government Department

How would you represent the perspective of each in a single sentence or meme? How might students take recycling into account in the local community?

Meme will seagulls illustrating how memes can be used in science class to express difference views on recycling.

The Power of AI Meme Generators

Memes empower learners to create content that looks amazing with minimal, mechanical expenditure. That is, instead of spending time surfing the web trying to find images, AI meme generators make it easy to combine picture and student-generated text in memorable ways. Have other ideas for ways to use memes in the classroom? Please share them with us in the comments!

September 28, 2023 0 comment

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