We want to remind everyone that the asynchronous sessions are where you create that full lesson, tutorial, DIY, simulation or have your learners engage in course content at a time that they control. Many people find that using the asynchronous before the synchronous session is a great way to use blended learning or flipped classroom format so you need to decide what you would like to do. If you think about what we asked you to do prior to our first meeting you will note that we pointed you to the asynchronous resources in the Getting started module. We want you to explore and experiment and take this opportunity to explore how to build learning resources that your learner can use at a time and place of their choosing.
If you are using your synchronous communication time with your students to deliver content please STOP. There is a better way to use this valuable time. When you meet with your learners online in real-time, which is what synchronous communication is, you should be using this time to build your learning community NOT deliver content. This applies to face2face synchronous settings like a classroom or workshop and is even more important in the online setting which you will see from the examples below. Yes, you will be sharing information but you can do so in a positive way that will be engaging and will foster collaboration. Once again, I need to reiterate that this works in a face2face setting or online. Because of amazing technologies like Zoom, MS Teams, Skype, WebEx, Collaborate, Blue Jeans and so many more, you can get close to the level of engagement that you can have in your face2face sessions. At least you can if you use something like the BOPPPS model.
Rather than try to explain the BOPPPS model I will show you what it is and how it works with an actual recording of a Synchronous Collaboration session followed by a breakdown of how we used BOPPPS model components to keep our session participants engaged.
Power Video Synchronous Collaboration Session
This video does not include the feedback session following the Mini-Lesson.
Please note in order to not violate copyright we cut the audio on the How to Fold a Shirt in 2 Seconds video which you can view in the section below.
The bridge-in is partly for capturing a learner’s attention.
Lao Tzu said, “You can no more teach without a willing learner than a merchant can sell without a willing buyer.”
Aside from simply gaining attention, a bridge-in should ideally get students to want to learn.
Bridge-in (B) Techniques
Tell a personal story
Bring in a relevant newspaper article, website, video, device…
State an interesting statistic
Create doubt
Create curiosity
State a current problem
In the session main keynote slide the Can a Picture Say More than a Thousand Words? image and then the folding the shirt were all part of the Bridge In for my session. I used images, story and a problem followed up by a video to create an effective and powerful bridge. Just consider how you felt when you watch this folding the shirt video.
Learning Outcome (O)
It is always important to state or paraphrase the learning outcome – Use new media resources like video, audio, and images to enhance the learning environment.
Pre-Assessment (P)
This step is intended to find out what your students already know. Why do this?
What can you do with students who know a lot of the content?
The questions you ask can be the same as you would do for the bridge-in. If so, what can you do?
Use open-ended rather than close-ended questions in this step. Why?
Brainstorming can also work.
I asked the following question as part of my Pre-Assessment:
What is the most popular search engine for North American’s 18 years and younger?
The answer was surprising for most participants because most people do not think of Youtube as a search engine and yet that is how it is used by most people. The answer to:
What is the second most popular search engine in North American?
should have been less of a surprise but most participants still thought about traditional search engines.
The key with the Pre-Assessment stage of BOPPPS to get a sense of where your audience is at and just how far you need to take them.
Participatory (P)
Active or participatory learning leads to “deep” learning; learning that lasts.“Surface” learning tends not to last.
Personal interaction with the content leads to personal/deep meaning.
Interaction can be between you and students or between students.
What are some activities you can do within a lesson so that you do NOT have a traditional “talk-only” lecture?
The participatory section started with a discussion about how powerful combining video with graphics and text to create and effective:
A series of slides were presented that led to additional discussions which are key to the participatory process.
The focus on the Participatory section is to get to the outcome which is:
Using new media resources like video, audio, and images to enhance the learning environment.
To ensure that the outcome was realized a short Post-Assessment participation section is facilitated and used to ensure that the key elements of the outcome have been addressed.
Post-Assessment (P)
Assess whether your students achieved the outcome.
Be sure you assess the outcome at the right level.
If you teach with media and/or real objects, you probably have to test with them.
What are some ways you can conduct a post-assessment? For example, ask for“muddiest” point.
Give time to answer your question(s).
One of the best ways to stimulate effective discussion is to ask open-ended questions like:
Your Thoughts…?
What are the advantages of using video & media?
How do video and media enhance learning?
Summary (S)
The summary concludes or wraps up the learning experience.
A powerful teaching moment that is often omitted.
It can help students reflect on and integrate the learning – leading to deep learning.
What things can you do in a summary?
Summary (S) Techniques
Content review by you or learners
Helpful phrase to ensure it is useful: “The key points to remember are …”
Weak: Today you learned about …”
Students write a one-minute paper
Recognition for effort/achievement
Application – how to use this later
Link to a subsequent lesson
I trust you now see that the BOPPPS Model can work just as well online as it does face2face. Now you have the opportunity to use the BOPPPS model in your Synchronous Collaboration session. The same face2face lesson planning tool that is used throughout the PID Program. Lesson Plan Template
When you listen to Sir Ken Robinson talk about starting a learning revolution and listen to many other educational reform speakers all encouraging teachers to improve our educational system the excitement will only last as long as you can then address the question of how. Educational researcher John Hattie who is also the Director of the Melbourne Educational Research Institute at the University of Melbourne has conducted a synthesis of more than 50,000 studies covering more than 80 million students to determine what factors contribute to most to improving student achievement. The results of this research and the answer to the how question are found in Hattie’s book Visible learning: A synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses relating to achievement.
Hattie points out in his Visible Learning books and in many of his talks that just as long as you aren’t doing anything to physically or mentally harm your students almost anything that you do will contribute to student achievement (2008, 2012). The key is to do the things the impact student achievement the most. What are those things?
In the following video Hattie addresses what the most important factors a teacher can address to improve student achievement:
Hattie argues examining, thinking and talking with other teachers about the learning environments that we have created and are creating and the impact that we can have on learners is the most important thing we can do to improve our learners achievement. I have always argued that if I can get educators to talk to other educators and consider what they are doing in their learning environment then the learner wins. Hattie and I are in good company with our recommendations that teachers start collaborating on how to improve the learning environment.
Theodore Sizer, the former Harvard Graduate School of Education Dean and Educational Reformer, argues in his book, The Red Pencil, that little has changed in education since his experiences in the information and test based classroom he endured in 1946. Sizer argues that teachers embrace a code of silence because they are continually subjected to the demands of politicians, administrators, academia, and parents who all claim to have the answer to education reform. Sizer explains that because everyone is a proclaimed expert and is telling teachers what to do when teachers go to their classroom they close the door and they do what they can and what they need to do in order to help students learn. Unfortunately, when they close the door they also agree to not add to the noise and enter into a code of silence where they won’t question or tell their teaching colleagues what to do as long as their colleagues won’t question or won’t tell them what to do. Sizer suggests that this code of silence is one of the main factors that explains why little has changed.
In addition to teachers working together to evaluate their impact as one of most significant factors in improving student achievement Hattie points to these other factors:
Moving from what students know towards explicit success criteria.
Errors an trust are welcomed as opportunities to learn.
Maximize feedback to teachers about their impact.
Getting the proportions of surface to deep correct.
The Goldilocks principle of challenge, and deliberate practice to attain these challenges.
By breaking the code of silence educators can start to work together to evaluate their impact and consider how the learning environments they create can improve their learners achievement.
References
Hattie, J. (2008). Visible learning: A synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses relating to achievement. Routledge.
Hattie, J. (2012). Visible learning for teachers: Maximizing impact on learning. Routledge.
Hattie, J. (2013) Why are so many of our teachers and schools so successful? (John Hattie at TEDxNorrkoping). Retrieved from https://youtu.be/rzwJXUieD0U
Sizer, T. R. (2005). The red pencil: Convictions from experience in education. Yale University Press.
If Millennials and Generation X can’t live without their phones then shouldn’t we be using this as one of the primary tools for learning. I have two Millennial sons and it only takes a few minutes to see how useful their mobile phones are. There are very few aspects of their lives where they don’t rely on their phones. My boys are athletes and log their riding, nutrition and mosts aspects of their training. They both use Google forms to input their riding logs and depending on who is driving back from a training session one of the boys is using their mobile phones to update their riding logs. They do realize that it is more efficient to use their laptops or even their tablets for touch typing but he advantage of using the phone is that you don’t have to wait and can get the log out of way immediately.
Immediacy plays a very important role in their lives so relying on their mobile device helps them to deal with most issues as they come up. The notion of waiting to get back to their laptops isn’t something they are willing to do so when they are considering recording or writing anything their first thought is to use the phone. If they don’t have a good app to help then they search one out.
Even though I fit into the Baby Boomer category my device preferences are more in line with Millennials and Generation X so I can appreciate Millennials and Generation X reliance on their devices. However, when I design learning environments I have to admit that I am assuming that my students will be using a laptop or tablet to access the digital aspects of the course.
But is this a safe assumption? The more time I spend with people who truly appreciate the power of mobile devices the more I realize just how much can be done with a tablet or even a mobile phone. I used to think that other than writing a novel you can do most forms of digital creation on your mobile device. However, when I see just how much my son types into his riding log I am starting to realize that a mobile phone can also be used as writing device.
This forces me to ask… Are we really being reasonable when we ban the use of mobile devices in our classrooms? The knee jerk reaction is to point to the fact that students will use the device to text each other and engage in all forms of communication. Once again if you watch a group of Millennials you will see that while they are constantly texting each other they are also finding youtube videos, images and even articles that will add to the conversation. In addition to texting each other, it is not uncommon for these collaborators to pass their phone onto their neighbours so that they can share in the information. They aren’t isolating themselves, they using their mobile devices to enhance their collaboration and their learning.
Isn’t this what we want 21st Century or Digital Learners to do… to use technology to enhance their learning. Let’s think long and hard the next time we are inclined to ask our students to turn off their devices. In doing so we may be asking them to turn off their learning.
