Self-Directed Learning Systems for Teachers and Kids

Bernie DodgeSan Diego State University

Overview

• Important definitions• Information overload• Big parts and little parts, loosely joined• How to roll your own

What Does Your School Do to Cultivate Lifelong Learning?

Cactus in Connecticut

http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifestyle/15-steps-to-cultivate-lifelong-learning.html

15 Steps to Cultivate Lifelong Learning

1. Always have a book2. Keep a to-learn list3. Get better friends4. Guide your thinking5. Put it into practice6. Teach others7. Clean your input8. Learn in groups

9. Unlearn assumptions10. Find a better job11. Start a project12. Follow your intuition13. The morning 1514. Reap the rewards15. Make it a priority

http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifestyle/15-steps-to-cultivate-lifelong-learning.html

LIFELONG LEARNING IS SELF-DIRECTED LEARNING

We’re not going to be teaching them forever

Personal Learning Network

Personal Learning Network

A personal learning network is an informal learning network that consists of the people a learner interacts with and derives knowledge from in a personal learning environment. In a PLN, a person makes a connection with another person with the specific intent that some type of learning will occur because of that connection.

Personal Learning Environments

Relating PLNs and PLEs

Personal Learning

Environments

Personal Learning Networks

Tim Hand’s PLE

http://thand.wordpress.com/2007/05/28/ple-2/

Sarah Stewart’s PLE

Alec Couros’s Networked Teacher

D’Arcy Norman’s PLE

PLEs for Future Teachers

http://edweb.sdsu.edu/Courses/EDTEC470/fall12/resources/pls.htm

The Web = Small Pieces Loosely Joined

David Weinberger - 2002

Info Scarcity – Still Within Memory

Information Overload

Information Overload

Information Overload

Information Overload

Information Overload

Information Overload ≠ Learning

MOST OF WHAT WE CALL PERSONAL LEARNING NETWORKS ARE REALLY PERSONAL INFORMATION NETWORKS

Reading ≠ Learning

Reading ≠ Learning

SO TO CREATE OUR OWN PERSONAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENT, WE NEED TO GO BEYOND JUST READING

But what?

A PLE Needs

• A Focus• A curated set of Inputs• A place to refine, distill & Synthesize• A method to Practice and reinforce• A Structure to hold it all together

Focus

CC Credit: Flickr user Soelin

Focus

• Pick something to learn• Size matters• Intermediate mastery in a reasonable time

My Personal PLE Focus

• Game Design• More specifically, learning how to make

educational games more educational without sacrificing fun

Inputs

• Using the focus, choose sources of information

• Can be individuals or media

• Be selective!PLE

Tweeps

Blogs

Book lists

My Personal PLE Inputs

• Lists of specific twitter users

• Playlists in YouTube• Amazon book

search• LinkedIn groups• Specific RSS feeds• And more…

PLE

Tweeps

Blogs

Book lists

Twitter Lists

Twitter Lists

Twitter Lists

Every Twitter list has its own URL. In this case:

https://twitter.com/berniedodge/game-design

Twitter Lists

RSS Feeds

• Every RSS Feed has a URL• Every folder of RSS feeds you have in Google

Reader also has a URL• It looks like this:

http://www.google.com/reader/view/#stream/user%2F05084904569903170225%2Flabel%2F%20Game%20Design

RSS Feeds

YouTube Channels & Playlists

• A channel is a set of videos originated from one account

• A playlist is a list of videos chosen by you• Each has a unique URL that can be added to

your PLE• Like this: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?

list=PLCB114282ACDFE703

YouTube Channels & Playlists

LinkedIn Groups

• Linked In has recently become a great place to go for higher-level information sharing

• There are groups on many topics• Here’s one one Board Game Design

• http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=1159637

LinkedIn Groups

Delicious Tags

• Being smart about how you tag things in Delicious makes it possible to find subsets of the things that matter to you.

• Choosing tags that make sense to others will also allow you to benefit from the things they find.

• Here’s a URL based on a tag I use:

http://www.delicious.com/bdodge/gamedesign

Delicious Tags

Book Searches

• Do a search for a particular topic• Save the URL of the result page• Revisit it to see what’s new

• Here’s my Amazon search for ‘game design’

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_nr_i_0?rh=k%3Agame+design%2Ci%3Astripbooks&keywords=game+design&ie=UTF8&qid=1351237322

Book Searches

Mendeley for Articles

http://mendeley.com

Mendeley for Articles

Notes from Evernote

• Great way to capture information from real life

• Conference notes• Conversations with people• Images, sounds• Each notebook has its own URL

Notes from Evernote

A PLE Needs

• A Focus• A curated set of Inputs• A place to refine, distill & Synthesize• A method to Practice and reinforce• A Structure to hold it all together

Where Do You Synthesize?

• Google Docs• Linoit• Blogger

Google Docs

Linoit

• A place to rearrange ideas and add to them• Patterned after a corkboard with stickies• Each canvas has a unique URL

Linoit Canvas

A PLE Needs

• A Focus• A curated set of Inputs• A place to refine, distill & Synthesize• A method to Practice and reinforce• A Structure to hold it all together

A Structure to Hold it Together

http://symbaloo.com

My Game Design PLE

http://www.symbaloo.com/mix/ple-gamedesign

Self-Directed Learning Systems for Teachers and Kids

Bernie DodgeSan Diego State University