The Digital Playground Project:
Re-Imagining Learning in the 21st Century
Overview
In the last twenty years the Internet was created. As a result, there has been a seismic shift and explosion of new and disruptive technologies. We are in the midst of revolutionary changes in all facets of life from the way we govern; we consume media; we create content; we organize politically and socially; we work; and how and when and where we learn. Every major sector in society has experienced a decentralization of authority and power. From the decline of newspapers to cable TV to the music industry to bookstores, the world is more connected and our problems are significantly more complex. Our schools will not be immune to these fundamental changes. Central questions we are considering (1) How are we adapting as an institution? (2) How will we remain relevant?
We are building this project upon the ideas that learning should be student-centered and authentic. Our belief is that the ultimate manifestation of learning happens when students move from consumers of content to creators of content. We have found great success in designing learning, with the help of students, which allow for real world applications. History is often seen as static, fixed and in books. In reality, it is all around us. Often students see themselves as passive learners of history, and they fail to see themselves as part of the ongoing development of the human story. Yet, our students have a story to tell about themselves and their community. We want our students to have a sense of agency and personal responsibility in their learning and a stake in society.
Our mission as teachers is to re-imagine learning in the 21st Century by teaching about local history through project-based or problem-based learning (PBL). PBLs are interdisciplinary, collaborative, and feature embedded content and technology. We designed the driving question: “How do digital natives tell the story of their community?"
Our goal is for our students to design and create a "digital playground" that bridges the real world with the virtual world. We are looking at creating five end products which explore the community while fostering learning and encouraging collaboration. Currently, we are designing and prototyping five different projects:
Student creation of the Digital Playground will be an act of civic engagement to their community.
We are building this project upon the ideas that learning should be student-centered and authentic. Our belief is that the ultimate manifestation of learning happens when students move from consumers of content to creators of content. We have found great success in designing learning, with the help of students, which allow for real world applications. History is often seen as static, fixed and in books. In reality, it is all around us. Often students see themselves as passive learners of history, and they fail to see themselves as part of the ongoing development of the human story. Yet, our students have a story to tell about themselves and their community. We want our students to have a sense of agency and personal responsibility in their learning and a stake in society.
Our mission as teachers is to re-imagine learning in the 21st Century by teaching about local history through project-based or problem-based learning (PBL). PBLs are interdisciplinary, collaborative, and feature embedded content and technology. We designed the driving question: “How do digital natives tell the story of their community?"
Our goal is for our students to design and create a "digital playground" that bridges the real world with the virtual world. We are looking at creating five end products which explore the community while fostering learning and encouraging collaboration. Currently, we are designing and prototyping five different projects:
- GigaPan Digital Photography
- Build a Mobile Game with Scvngr
- Create a QR-Coded Community Tour
- Student Voice via Hear-Me.net, Saturday Light Brigade, and Dear Photograph
- Memory Medallion: What Does a Society Value?
Student creation of the Digital Playground will be an act of civic engagement to their community.
What makes this project innovative?
How will it enhance the curriculum?
Herb Simon said that “Design is the systematic attempt to change the future.” The project incorporates Design Thinking as a process for problem solving. This rigorous approach involves a five stage process: discovery, interpretation, ideation, experimentation, and evolution. This process is used to frame problems, ask thought-provoking questions, and generate more ideas. The emphasis is on the journey and not on finding the right or wrong answer. In a world that is constantly changing and evolving skills needed to be successful, we need new strategies. Hence, we are embracing play and failure as critical to learning. In addition, we envision a new learning ecosystem. We want to embrace this model by seeking to collaborate within the District by setting up regular video conferencing between the two schools. Moreover, we are seeking new collaborators, i.e., museums, libraries, businesses, universities. Learning would extend beyond the classroom in service to the community. Our goal is for this local history project to represent the kind of real world learning that should occur in the 21st century. Most importantly, we want to showcase how our schools can evolve into incubators of innovation and creativity.
Currently, we are collaborating with and designing ways to collaborate further with:
Our Social Studies Department Supervisor
Our Middle School Administrators
Our two middle school classrooms
Staff members across curricular specialties and age levels
Mt. Lebanon Historical Society
Mt. Lebanon Preservation Society
Mt. Lebanon Public Library
Carnegie Mellon CreateLab’s GigaPan Project
Carnegie Mellon CreateLab’s Hear-Me Project
Saturday Light Brigade
Mellon PTA
John Conti, Mt. Lebanon Historian/Geographer
Curator, Children's Museum of Pittsburgh
Currently, we are collaborating with and designing ways to collaborate further with:
Our Social Studies Department Supervisor
Our Middle School Administrators
Our two middle school classrooms
Staff members across curricular specialties and age levels
Mt. Lebanon Historical Society
Mt. Lebanon Preservation Society
Mt. Lebanon Public Library
Carnegie Mellon CreateLab’s GigaPan Project
Carnegie Mellon CreateLab’s Hear-Me Project
Saturday Light Brigade
Mellon PTA
John Conti, Mt. Lebanon Historian/Geographer
Curator, Children's Museum of Pittsburgh
How is this project of an
"advanced academic nature"?
From the Partnership for 21st Century Skills
Our overall project is in line with DCED’s mission to help communities to succeed and thrive in a global economy. We feel the project is of an advanced academic nature in that it seeks to prepare students for their future workplace, one that does not currently exist, by meeting students in the technology-driven world they currently navigate. Learning will not stop at the bell, nor will it be limited by physical boundaries.
Learning and innovation skills increasingly are being recognized as those that separate students who are prepared for more and more complex life and work environments in the 21st Century, and those who are not.
People in the 21st Century live in a technology and media-suffused environment, marked by various characteristics, including: 1) access to an abundance of information, 2) rapid change in technology tools, and 3) the ability to collaborate and make individual contributions on an unprecedented scale. To be effective in the 21st Century, citizens and workers must be able to exhibit a range of functional and critical thinking skills related to information, media, and technology.
Today’s life and work environments require far more than thinking skills and content knowledge. The ability to navigate the complex life and work environments in the globally competitive information age requires students to pay rigorous attention to developing adequate life and career skills.
Learning and innovation skills increasingly are being recognized as those that separate students who are prepared for more and more complex life and work environments in the 21st Century, and those who are not.
People in the 21st Century live in a technology and media-suffused environment, marked by various characteristics, including: 1) access to an abundance of information, 2) rapid change in technology tools, and 3) the ability to collaborate and make individual contributions on an unprecedented scale. To be effective in the 21st Century, citizens and workers must be able to exhibit a range of functional and critical thinking skills related to information, media, and technology.
Today’s life and work environments require far more than thinking skills and content knowledge. The ability to navigate the complex life and work environments in the globally competitive information age requires students to pay rigorous attention to developing adequate life and career skills.
Describe the student population targeted by this project. Might this project be repeated with new students in future years?
Over two hundred students will participate in the Re-imagining Learning in the 21st Century Project as two grade level teams, from separate buildings. We will find connections between their past and the community they live in today. PBLs and collaborative learning address the needs of our particular student population. Our students come from a variety of economic backgrounds and a wide range of academic successes. Those experiences, interests, attitudes, and beliefs can be used to motivate and engage students in finding themselves in the subject matter. In addition, our students are a part of families and larger social groups that can be added to our learning ecosystem.
Our students are creative, supported, digital natives, and it is these very qualities that will make this project enriching, motivating, and suitable to the needs of our learners. Our 21st century project appropriately challenges students at all levels of ability. It gives all students a voice in the classroom by allowing each individual to use their strengths in order to help the group succeed. By offering various end products, students are given choices in the topic of study, method of presentation, and demonstration of knowledge/competency. Students will be provided with a variety of resources, activities, and assessments that match an individual’s ways and level of learning. Learning is differentiated; creativity is encouraged, multiple modalities are addressed, and accommodations are made for students with exceptional needs. The most challenging aspect of this project is the collaboration of teachers, students, and organizations who do not share physical spaces; yet, this outside of the box thinking is critical for our student population.
A fundamental part of the project’s design is its ability to continually evolve from year to year. The basic setup and central premise of the local history project can be incorporated permanently into the curriculum. However, as students’ interests and needs change, as new technologies become available, and/or as new audiences are deemed appropriate, our end products can be adapted or replaced. In fact, we fully expect the types of end products will change because we are focused on more the process and not the digital tools. The one constant is that students have a story to tell about themselves within their community.
Our students are creative, supported, digital natives, and it is these very qualities that will make this project enriching, motivating, and suitable to the needs of our learners. Our 21st century project appropriately challenges students at all levels of ability. It gives all students a voice in the classroom by allowing each individual to use their strengths in order to help the group succeed. By offering various end products, students are given choices in the topic of study, method of presentation, and demonstration of knowledge/competency. Students will be provided with a variety of resources, activities, and assessments that match an individual’s ways and level of learning. Learning is differentiated; creativity is encouraged, multiple modalities are addressed, and accommodations are made for students with exceptional needs. The most challenging aspect of this project is the collaboration of teachers, students, and organizations who do not share physical spaces; yet, this outside of the box thinking is critical for our student population.
A fundamental part of the project’s design is its ability to continually evolve from year to year. The basic setup and central premise of the local history project can be incorporated permanently into the curriculum. However, as students’ interests and needs change, as new technologies become available, and/or as new audiences are deemed appropriate, our end products can be adapted or replaced. In fact, we fully expect the types of end products will change because we are focused on more the process and not the digital tools. The one constant is that students have a story to tell about themselves within their community.
What objectives or learning outcomes do you hope to achieve through this project?
A teacher’s role as a designer of student learning is critical in clarifying learning goals, devising revealing assessments, and crafting effective and engaging learning activities. Modeling the out-of-the-box thinking we are expecting from students, we used the Design Thinking process to begin “building up” ideas to define, research, ideate, and prototype this project. After this initial discovery stage, our first task was to identify specific desired student outcomes. We then created our five end products by asking ourselves: “How can students demonstrate these acquired skills and/or knowledge?” (We’re allowing for the possibility that we still might end up with the unexpected, and that is a valid part of the creation process.). Continuing to work backwards, we then developed the driving question and designed the learning activities that will get students thinking about history in a larger way with critical thinking skills, embedded content and technology, creativity, and collaboration.
Underlying all of the procedures and activities of this project are specific skills and outcomes that students will be asked to demonstrate. As professionals, we initially turned to recent research and expert opinion on content-specific skills and synthesized that information to best fit the needs of our students. At the broadest level, the project will focus on in-depth understanding and reinforcement of some of the overarching “Big Ideas” in our history course. In terms of content-specific skills, we have incorporated specific ideas from three sources that have inspired our professional practice and shaped our approach to designing learning tasks: Habits of the Mind: Guidelines for Teaching History in Schools (figure 1), National Board for Professional Teaching Standards – Social Studies/History (figure 2), and Pennsylvania State Standards in History and Civics.
In addition to content-specific skills, our project is designed to help students acquire the 21st Century Student Outcomes as defined by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills (figures 3 and 4). Students will explore much broader topics, such as creativity and innovation, critical thinking, copyright and privacy issues, problem-solving and safe and wise internet conduct. By providing students a safe environment to take risks, they will practice adaptability, self-direction, accountability, leadership and responsibility. In the end, we would like to see our students prepared to succeed in their future education, workplace, and community environments.
We looked to address district initiatives as well. This project aligns with components of the 2010 Student Learning Targets as defined in Mt. Lebanon School District’s Strategic Plan. While this project touches upon several of the Section 1 Targets on student achievement, it will most accurately help students “demonstrate the ability to work cooperatively with diverse groups of students on assigned schoolwork, resolve conflicts, and respect other cultures and beliefs (Target 1.3)” and “show responsibility for their own learning and demonstrate the discipline necessary to do quality work (Target 1.6)”.
In summary, the skills and content discussed above can be introduced, practiced, refined, and measured by using the Project-Based Learning model (figure 5). In our project, students are confronted with a driving question. In collaborative teams, they define the problem and locate appropriate resources. Using 21st Century Skills, they develop a publicly presented product addressed to a specific audience. Student voice is present in both the process and the product. Formative assessment and reflective pieces help to shape student learning and summative assessment, in the form of rubrics, measures the acquisition of skills and knowledge. From inception to conclusion, there is an acknowledgement as professionals that student creativity and innovation may take us to unexpected places.
Underlying all of the procedures and activities of this project are specific skills and outcomes that students will be asked to demonstrate. As professionals, we initially turned to recent research and expert opinion on content-specific skills and synthesized that information to best fit the needs of our students. At the broadest level, the project will focus on in-depth understanding and reinforcement of some of the overarching “Big Ideas” in our history course. In terms of content-specific skills, we have incorporated specific ideas from three sources that have inspired our professional practice and shaped our approach to designing learning tasks: Habits of the Mind: Guidelines for Teaching History in Schools (figure 1), National Board for Professional Teaching Standards – Social Studies/History (figure 2), and Pennsylvania State Standards in History and Civics.
In addition to content-specific skills, our project is designed to help students acquire the 21st Century Student Outcomes as defined by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills (figures 3 and 4). Students will explore much broader topics, such as creativity and innovation, critical thinking, copyright and privacy issues, problem-solving and safe and wise internet conduct. By providing students a safe environment to take risks, they will practice adaptability, self-direction, accountability, leadership and responsibility. In the end, we would like to see our students prepared to succeed in their future education, workplace, and community environments.
We looked to address district initiatives as well. This project aligns with components of the 2010 Student Learning Targets as defined in Mt. Lebanon School District’s Strategic Plan. While this project touches upon several of the Section 1 Targets on student achievement, it will most accurately help students “demonstrate the ability to work cooperatively with diverse groups of students on assigned schoolwork, resolve conflicts, and respect other cultures and beliefs (Target 1.3)” and “show responsibility for their own learning and demonstrate the discipline necessary to do quality work (Target 1.6)”.
In summary, the skills and content discussed above can be introduced, practiced, refined, and measured by using the Project-Based Learning model (figure 5). In our project, students are confronted with a driving question. In collaborative teams, they define the problem and locate appropriate resources. Using 21st Century Skills, they develop a publicly presented product addressed to a specific audience. Student voice is present in both the process and the product. Formative assessment and reflective pieces help to shape student learning and summative assessment, in the form of rubrics, measures the acquisition of skills and knowledge. From inception to conclusion, there is an acknowledgement as professionals that student creativity and innovation may take us to unexpected places.
How will this project be evaluated?
What data, criteria, assessments, surveys, statistics or other measures will be used to assess its impact?
We would take a multi-pronged approach to evaluating the success and impact of the project. Website statistical measures would offer insight into who is using the site and how often. Anecdotal and observational evidence would reveal student engagement in the learning process. The project would continuously evolve to meet the needs of our students based on their feedback. Success would also be measured by the fact that the beginnings of an infrastructure would be put in place so that creativity and content are front and center. Ultimately, our best measure of the project’s success would be the submission of higher quality work by students.
Other ideas include:
· Project-based planning sheets (both individual and group)
· Formal and Informal Assessments (both teacher and student)
· Rubrics generated for:
· individual and group presentations (communication)
· collaboration
· end products
· Online surveys
· Technology (wikis, websites, etc) will allow us to view the process over time
· Anecdotal and observational evidence (The project would continuously evolve to meet the needs of our students and inform teaching practices)
· Reflective pieces (both teacher and student)
· ePortfolio containing evidence of 21st Century Skills
Other ideas include:
· Project-based planning sheets (both individual and group)
· Formal and Informal Assessments (both teacher and student)
· Rubrics generated for:
· individual and group presentations (communication)
· collaboration
· end products
· Online surveys
· Technology (wikis, websites, etc) will allow us to view the process over time
· Anecdotal and observational evidence (The project would continuously evolve to meet the needs of our students and inform teaching practices)
· Reflective pieces (both teacher and student)
· ePortfolio containing evidence of 21st Century Skills
Items Specific to MLFE
How will the Foundation be recognized in the implementation of your project (i.e., plaque, footer on printed material, articles in newsletters, etc.)?
All creations developed by the Re-imagining Learning in the 21st Century Project would feature a “sponsored by the Mount Lebanon Foundation for Education” icon, as well as a link to the MLFE.org site. “This project made possible by contributions from the MLFE” message would be incorporated into student-created video or audio productions. At the end of each year, we would create a video summary highlighting our work. This project could be used by the MLFE to promote awareness of its mission and generate support from the community and alumni. It would also make current students aware of the role of the MLFE, which could have a profound effect on alumni contributions in future years.
All creations developed by the Re-imagining Learning in the 21st Century Project would feature a “sponsored by the Mount Lebanon Foundation for Education” icon, as well as a link to the MLFE.org site. “This project made possible by contributions from the MLFE” message would be incorporated into student-created video or audio productions. At the end of each year, we would create a video summary highlighting our work. This project could be used by the MLFE to promote awareness of its mission and generate support from the community and alumni. It would also make current students aware of the role of the MLFE, which could have a profound effect on alumni contributions in future years.
Budget
- GigaPan EPIC (2)
- Camera (2)
- Tripod (2)
- GigaPan Shoulder Bag (2)
- 8GB Memory Card (4)
- Memory Card Reader (2)
- Battery Charger (2)
- Rechargeable Batteries (36)
- Apple iPad Camera Connection Kit (2)
- iTunes gift cards (2)
- Blue Microphones (2)
- Office supplies
- Printing/Publishing Costs