Wicked Problem Project-PART A: Description of Need or Opportunity

Introduction: 

I teach at Ann Arbor Learning Community which is located in Ann Arbor, Michigan. We are a K-8 public charter school with multiage classrooms that support a variety of learning styles and believe that students require multiple opportunities to demonstrate their mastery of concepts. We promote participatory learning that is experiential, student-centered, developmentally based, and individualized to our student’s particular learning styles and strengths. Instead of relying on a textbook-based curriculum, teachers develop their own lesson plans, based on the Michigan Content Standards, to guide students through real life situations, thus providing them with powerful and meaningful learning experiences. Knowing that not every student demonstrates their knowledge of material best through paper and pencil tests and quizzes, we rely more on the use of qualitative reporting tools as a means of assessing a student’s progress and understanding of content. With more emphasis being placed on teacher accountability, finding enough variety in the types of tangible assessment tools that display true measurements of my students’ knowledge can often be a challenge for me. 

The Educational Issue or Need:

Because I have some students who are shy and others who may not be motivated to join in on whole class discussions, it can often be difficult to check for students' understanding of the material covered in a lesson. Cut and paste activities can become redundant while also difficult for some of my second and third grade students who are still developing fine motor skills. And while we're working to improve our writing skills, written explanations to questions are often completed with the fewest words possible and are not very motivating to my students. I would like to find another tool to put into my teacher toolbox that would provide me with another means in which my students can demonstrate their knowledge of the content material and meets with the following criteria:

1. A tangible representation of student learning for portfolios
2. Fun and motivating so students don't realize they're developing their problem-solving skills
3. Activity-based and provides for differentiation
4. Will tap into their creativity
5. Has a written element included into it
6. Easy set-up with readily available supplies/equipment

Technology Plan to Address This Issue:

Our school is just getting started with the basics in technology. This fall we will have a cart of 20 wireless laptops which will be shared between 14 classrooms. We also have a couple of digital projectors within the school for shared use. Working within these technology parameters, taking into consideration that some of my students have no knowledge about using a computer, and thinking about the criteria I wanted to meet for this solution, my research has led me to the idea of using online posters to solve the educational issue I am addressing. While there are several online poster tools available, I have decided on using the free version of Glogster EDU for its ease of use and the safe learning environment it provides for students to demonstrate their knowledge of material. The overall response to this web 2.0 tool from teachers, students, and individuals in the field of educational technology has been very high. Teachers report that their students have a higher level of engagement when working with Glogster EDU and become so focused in the process of creating their online posters that there rarely are any incidents of a student being off task to report of. In fact, students begin teaching each other! As one student discovers something intriguing about using Glogster EDU, the other students would inquire and quickly know how to do the same thing as the information filtered through the classroom. This type of experiential learning and community building fits perfectly with the philosophy of our school. Glogster EDU is very versatile in its use and teachers can have students creating projects on any subject matter across the curriculum. Several of my resources discuss a few minor difficulties they've run across when students are creating Glogs but by being aware of these difficulties ahead of time along with careful planning and scaffolding the students' learning of this tool, the difficulties can be minimized. 

Scope:

There are many things to take into consideration when implementing this intriguing web 2.0 tool with my second and third grade students. Because Glogster EDU is new to me, I will first need to teach myself how to use it using several tutorial videos available on YouTube. Because my students are so young and new to technology use, I would like to gradually expose them to Glogs and their many uses several times before they actually make anything of their own. I will do this, first, by using Glogster EDU to create an "All About Me" poster which I will use on the first day of school to introduce myself to my new students. Then I will use a Glog to create a Stand Alone Instructional Resource (StAIR) for a social studies lesson which we will access and do as an interactive whole-class activity using our Mimio Interactive System and the digital projector. The third exposure students will have to Glogster EDU will be another whole-class activity where we create a Glog together to review the things we've learned during a science lesson on plants. This will give me an opportunity to show them how to navigate through the tool with them and talk about design layout and other tips to keep in mind. 

At this point students should be extremely motivated to begin learning how to use this tool to make something on their own. With each student equipped with their own laptop, I will take them through the process of signing in, selecting backgrounds and text, how to select and add images, and how to save their work. Because I want students to have the opportunity to explore and experiment with the many selections of text, backgrounds, images, and layout possibilities, I plan on conducting several technology workshops in order to get all the basics in place. Several parent volunteers will be available during these workshops to assist students if necessary to avoid frustrations and meltdowns. Only after students are feeling comfortable working within the Glogster EDU platform will they be given their first project which they will work on as partners. Information from one of my resources suggests that younger students pre-plan on paper what information they intend to provide on their posters so they stay focused on the ideas they wish to convey and not get sidetracked by all the options they have to choose from on the site. A checklist of items that must be included in their posters will be provided to them. They will also be instructed that their pre-planning page must be checked by the teacher before they can get on the computer to begin their Glog. 

Before any teaching about Glogster EDU can even occur, however, my students will first need to learn the basics of using the new laptops and being assessed on their basic use of the computer.

Relevant Research and Resources:   

http://www.learnnc.org/lp/pages/6542?ref=search

This article was written by Kevin Hedgson, a technology liaison with the Western Massachusetts Writing Project, teacher, and co-editor of the book collection Teaching the New Writing: Technology, Change and Assessment in the 21st Century Classroom. He discusses best practices for assigning digital poster-making projects to students and provides great insight into the ups and downs of Glogster EDU and strategies for using it with students.

http://jamiethelibrarian.com/2011/05/13/three-benefits-of-using-glogster-a-21st-century-multimedia-tool-in-k-12-classrooms/

Jamie Renton cites how using Glogster in the classroom meets Common Core Standards and how it incorporates the three Universal Design Principles of engagement, representation, and expression.

http://innovativeimpact.blogspot.com/2010/06/scaffolding-success-growing-with.html

Second grade teacher, Jamie Griffith, tells about how her class became Glogster EDU Ambassadors and gives helpful advice on how she found success in using Glogster EDU in her classroom through the scaffolding process.

http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/columnists/dyck/dyck037.shtml

Brenda Dyck is a columnist for EducationWorld and a sessional instructor at the University of Alberta and provides a brief overview of Glogster EDU. She also states that this web 2.0 tool "introduces students to 3-D communication skills, requiring them to merge the left and right sides of the brain as they seek to communicate and evaluate both information and meaning" and "...has the potential to support the visual literacy skills that are becoming essential skill sets for 21st century learners." 

http://edu.glogster.com/

This is the home page to Glogster EDU which provides links to lots of useful information about the tool, examples of actual projects, directions on how to sign up for the free version or the premium version, and tutorials to get started. 

http://coe.winthrop.edu/jonesmg/LTI/2010Fwhitepapers/MONICA_WELLS.pdf

A white paper written by Monica R. Wells, a graduate student at Winthrop University, that provides the benefits and drawbacks of using Glogster EDU, how it meets National Educational Technology Standards (NETS), a visual walk-through of how to make a Glog, and a list of helpful online tutorials.

http://cnx.org/content/m32202/latest/

In a module found on the Connexions website, Rachel Warrick provides more information about using Glogster EDU in the classroom and how to get started.

Implementation Plan:

During the remaining weeks of this course, I plan to get signed up and become acquainted with how to create online posters using Glogster EDU. While doing this, I will complete the "All About Me" poster that I plan to use on the first day of school to introduce myself. I will also select a social studies lesson and do the pre-planning stage of my second Glogster EDU poster by completing the lesson outline and doing a pencil and paper layout of the Stand Alone Instructional Resource (StAIR) poster which will be used during an interactive whole-class lesson. I envision this poster as consisting of several different posters with links to other resources and inclusive of a short video or two. 

The rest of the implementation of this project will take place once school begins and the laptop cart schedule has been developed. At that point my students will begin learning how to use the laptops and Internet safety. My hope is that students will be ready to be taught how to make online posters using Glogster EDU by Thanksgiving and will have their first project completed before winter break in December. The topic and specifics of that project will depend on when students are comfortable working with Glogster independently and in pairs and seeing where we are in the curriculum. My hope with this time schedule is that it will allow us to use the second half of the school year for refining our Glogging skills and begin creating posters independently for the purpose of demonstrating student knowledge on material and concepts covered in their learning.

Indicators of a Successful Project:

Indications for me that the project has been successfully implemented would be:

• Students have learned to independently create online posters and we have several examples of work to put into each student's portfolio by the end of the 2011-2012 school year.
• The level of engagement during lessons increases as a result of the students' understanding that they are going to be required to demonstrate their knowledge with the use of technology. By them knowing that they will not be able to use this technology tool unless they can first show me evidence of learning with the use of the paper and pencil pre-planning page.
• Students are excited about using this tool and ask to use it again and again.

I am excited for students to be able to use this web 2.0 tool and hope that its use can motivate and inspire my students to put more effort into their educational learning. However, we will proceed with each new step of the implementation plan based solely on the readiness of the children.