PQ & CQ in Education and Final CEP 812 Reflection

In the final week of CEP812, we read an article by Thomas L. Friedman, published by the New York Times titled “It’s P.Q. and C.Q. as Much as I.Q.” In the article, Friedman discusses the great influence of technology on our society and discusses how in the last 10 years we have become “Hyperconnected”. He talks about the great potential of technology, but also the great problems that it has created. Friedman discusses the stress this technology revolution has had on the workforce and connected the unemployment issues with the growing need for technology skills.

 The technology skills Friedman talks about however is a more complex understanding of technology. In the article, Friedman references Craig Mundie, one of Microsoft’s top technologists, description about the problem. Due to the quickly changing and improvements to technology “the skill required for every decent job is rising as is the necessity of lifelong learning” (paragraph 5). Just understanding technology will not cut it for 21^st century workers. Friedman goes on to explain the qualities of a productive worker: “you will need to develop skills that are complementary to technology rather than ones that can be easily replaced by it” (paragraph 8). Finally, Friedman explains that successful and productive citizens need to be passionate and curious. “The winners won’t just be those with more I.Q. It will also be those with more P.Q. (passion quotient) and C.Q. (curiosity quotient) to leverage all the new digital tools to not just find a job, but to invent one or reinvent one, and to not just learn but to relearn for a lifetime” (paragraph 8).

This is exactly what TPACK Educational Framework intends to do. Teaching students to not only be problem solvers, but also problem finders. Giving students the power to innovate, critically think, and create provides students with some of these skills. Equipping students with the technological skills they need to connect, collaborate, and share their creations will allow students to become more active and engaged citizens.

For my final project, I have made an info-graphic, using Piktochart, to display how I demonstrate P.Q. (Passion Quotient) and C.Q. (Curiosity Quotient) in my profession and how I use technology to inspire students to be passionate, curious, and lifelong learners. Here is my INFOGRAPHIC.

In case you are a visual learner…

           

Curiosity Quotient (C.Q.)                              Passion Quotient (P.Q.)

 

As I reflect on the work I have done and the knowledge I have learned from CEP812 I think about solving complex & wicked problems by collaborating with my colleagues, limitations we face in finding solutions, and utilizing the “best” technological tools to improve education and meet the needs of all learners. In this course, I have probably done more educational and technological research than in CEP 810 and CEP 811. This process was important in helping me develop a better understanding of TPACK framework and how technological tools can help supplement learning of all students. Understanding the value in a participatory society and the necessity to teach students the importance of collaboration was laid out eloquently by James Paul Gee in The Anti-Education Era. In reading Gee’s work, I have developed a better understanding of “why people are stupid” and “the limitations we face in solving complex problems”. This information has helped me grow immensely as an educator and my understanding of how people interact and learn. I really enjoyed CEP 812 (Summer 2014) at MSU. I learned a lot and the time flew by. I really enjoyed collaborating with my peers our Wicked Problems Project and it was a great experience growing and learning with my group. I’m really proud of our final project and our F.U.S.E. Blended Learning Model of Education. 

 

REFERENCES

Friedman, Thomas (2013). It’s p.q. and c.q. as much as i.q. the new york times. Retrieved June 22 2014, from, http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/30/opinion/friedman-its-pq-and-cq-as-much-as-iq.html?_r=0.

Gee, J.P.  (2013). The anti-education era: creating smarter students through learning digital learning.  New York, New York:  Palgrave Macmillan

Wicked Problem Project – Rethink Teaching: The F.U.S.E. Learning Model

            Throughout the past six weeks in my Masters of Arts in Educational Technology (MAET) class, CEP 812, I have been considering “wicked problems” of practice in terms of “Rethinking Teaching”. A Wicked problem is one that is so complex that it involves many variables and does not have one correct answer. Large-scale problems such as this  “require the search for new tools and new uses of old ones. And they require knowing when to stop asking one question and start asking a better one” (Gee, 2013, p. 144).  With a group of three of my peers in my class, we have collaborated our thoughts, issues, concerns, and solutions to “Rethink Teaching” in the 21^st century.

Our Wicked Problem is finding a way to limit direct instructional time to allow for more focus on student-centered learning.

In order to solve our Wicked Problem, we studied blended learning models, which incorporate face-to-face teaching with technology-based learning, to formulate our solution. We used our experiences in teaching, our understanding of Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK) Framework, influences of James Paul Gee’s book The Anti-Education Era, and research based studies on blended learning effectiveness to form our solution to the Wicked Problem. We focused on three blended learning models and merged them to find an effective solution to our problem.

My group loved the idea of utilizing technology to rethink teaching and change the role of the teacher and the student in traditional classrooms. Traditional classroom models that fall short in a few areas and leave some learners unchallenged or too challenged. Our approach was to get a more student-centered approach where the teacher facilitated active learning. Our group liked principles of blended learning, but felt that each model tended to lack solutions to basic problems that we saw arising in educating 21^st century learners.

Our team hybridized elements of the Flex, Rotation, and Flipped Models to create a new model that lends itself to efficiency in the classroom: the F.U.S.E. Learning Model.  The F.U.S.E. Learning Model is Facilitated Unrestricted self-paced blended learning models in a Student-centered learning Environment.

Throughout this six-week process we met using Google Hangouts, collaborated using Google Docs, and used a multimedia approach to collaboration. We submitted a draft to our class last week and were paired with a peer from a different group to provide constructive feedback. Here is the feedback in a googledoc that I was provided with. It was very helpful and the suggestions of my peer review and my team members peer review were extremely valuable.

Here is a look at our final project in Blendspace. We curated our Google Document Essay, Infographic, and multimedia video to show our collaborative efforts and solution to our problem in one place. Please share, comment, and enjoy!

 

 

REFERENCES:

Gee, J.P.  (2013).  The Anti-Education Era: Creating Smarter Students through Digital Learning. New York, New York:  Palgrave Macmillan.

 

Koehler, M. J., & Mishra, P. (2009). What is technological pedagogical content knowledge?  Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education, 9(1), 60-70. Retrieved June 19, 2014 from http://tpack.org/

Limitations in Solving Complex Problems

This week in CEP 812 we read James Paul Gee’s book, “The Anti-Education Era” to find out reasons that hold humans back from solving complex problems. This is valuable information for educators to know and think about when approaching teaching. Gee explains that we must use educational technology and critical thinking skills to teach students to solve extremely complex problems. Gee describes many schools that are merely involved with standardization and grades. He is very critical of this model of educating and does not think this will create life-long learners capable of succeeding in our ever-changing world. 

In my essay, I explain the limitations that prevent us from solving big, complex problems smartly. I focus primarily on chapter 7, “Pitfalls along Our Search for Status and Solidarity”, professional experience relating to this concept, and teaching solutions applicable to creating 21^st century learners based on my understanding of this limitation. I will explain a key problem with solving problems is our inability to value empirical fact and truth over our value of fitting in with social structures. I will explain this further in my essay. 

CLICK HERE TO READ MY ESSAY

Enjoy and feel free to respond!

 

REFERENCES:

Gee, J. P. (2013). The anti-education era: Creating smarter students through digital learning.  NewYork, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.

Solving Educational Problems with “Poll Everywhere”

This week in my CEP 812 class, we looked at three problems in education: well-structured, ill-structured, and wicked problems. Well-structured problems are problems that are well defined and have one correct answer. Ill-structured problems are complex problems that involve many variables and are often “open-ended”. These problems can be seen in writing, reading, creating artwork, and in projects. The last types of problems are wicked problems. These problems do not have a clear right or wrong answer and are often times unsolvable.

This week, we were asked to think of well-structured and ill-structured problems that we experience in our teaching profession. We were then tasked with finding a technological tool to help solve these problems. The tool I chose to use was Poll Everywhere. “Poll Everywhere” helps address well-structured problems for students. Students may answer true/false and multiple-choice questions. Students may also answer “open-ended” (free response) questions using “Poll Everywhere”. The software works with any cell phone, tablet, computer, or Twitter.

This solves an ill-structured problem for teachers of formatively checking for student knowledge. This is an ill-structured problem because there is not one correct way to check for understanding. It can depend on the type of course, subject, previous lesson, and student age. It also can depend on teacher preference.

I have found that this solves the formative check and participation issue I sometimes experience in the classroom. It allows the teacher to see if all students comprehend the lesson and if they are retaining knowledge from previous lessons. It allows for instant feedback during the lesson and gives students an opportunity to participate who might normally be too shy. Another great feature is that students may only answer one time and the responses are anonymous so no one will be embarrassed if they get an answer wrong. And finally, the best feature…it is completely FREE!

Here is my SCREENCAST explaining this problem and solution further.

 

And here is a demonstration of Poll Everywhere.