Edina Digital Age Learning

Students in Kim Caster's French Culture course at Edina High School have been studying French Romantic Comedies, including the movie, Amelie . These senior students have been learning about the use of style, location and comparing French cinema with American films. As an assessment, Caster asked the students to create a product that demonstrated: a)       An understanding of romantic comedies and how they are different from American Romantic Comedies.   b)       An understanding of JP Jeunet’s unique and different filmmaking style.   c)        An understanding of the use of interesting, romantic, and popular sites in Paris and various secondary and tertiary side characters become a part of the major part of Jeunet’s films. d)       An understanding of the use stereotypical roles of men and women in film in order to maintain the formula or break the formula...

Over the past few months, we surveyed our parents, staff and students to get their perceptions of our eLearning2 Initiative . I've put together 3 infographics that share the results of the feedback we received. See the results below, and a reflection on my experience using PiktoChart to create them! To learn more about eLearning2 and our proposal for next year, click here . Parents Staff   Students Piktochart I used Piktochart to create the graphics above, utilizing the free version. There are several other choices to choose from. Here is a nice comparison . I had access to 7 themes, and was able to customize one with colors to fit. I found it to be fairly easy to use, either with the old or new editing tools. There were several choices for pre-made graphics, and it allowed you to insert your own data to create a chart or graph or import your own. I think Piktochart could be a great tool for students in virtually any subject to communicate ideas and information. I ...

Today, I'm changing the title of this blog from "Edina Tech Integration," to "Edina Digital Age Learning." This shift reflects a philosophical evolution that the work that I do, isn't as much about integrating technology as it is about learning in a digital age. (In fact, my colleague Molly Schroeder and I are looking to change our titles to "Digital Age Learning Specialist," to reflect this shift.) For the last few weeks, I've been developing and tweaking the framework below. The framework defines some philosophies around digital age learning combining work from Ruben Puentedura's work on SAMR, Susan Oxnevad's SAMR Ladder , and Carl Hooker's SAMR pool . Carl's thoughts more closely resemble my own regarding digital age learning, in that I don't believe that every lesson lends itself to redefinition. It's not a ladder to climb, as much as it is a pool to swim in! Click on the icons below to see what it might look l...

Yesterday I had a chance to participate in a Google+ Hangout on Air on the topic of How Do We Shift Teacher & Leader Practice with  Outcome-Based  Badges?   Ben Wilkoff did a great job convening a panel of thoughtful educators and leading a lively discussion! For some time now, I have been looking at ways we can honor the professional learning that teachers get through non-traditional means, such as Twitter-chats, Webinars, and other informal learning. I see badges as providing incentive and opportunities for staff as we move forward. Some of the key points mentioned in this session that resonated with me were: Teachers value choice "Badging is a celebration of diversified learning!" Badges can have different levels ( Low, medium and high example from Khan Academy .) Reflection and sharing take this learning from a "low level" badge to high Round Rock Model moved to a business mindset where teachers/administrators in need of professional learning ar...