Applications+of+Learning

Applications of Learning

**What Are Applications of Learning?**

“Through Applications of Learning, students demonstrate and deepen their understanding of basic knowledge and skills. These applied learning skills cross academic disciplines and reinforce the important learning of the disciplines. The ability to use these skills will greatly influence students' success in school, in the workplace and in the community.” Illinois State Board of Education




 * How Does Web 2.0 Make Applications to Learning Easier to Incorporate Into the Classroom? **

Students use Web 2.0 tools to create portfolios and use WebQuests to creatively demonstrate their understanding.

**Portfolios** Students apply the information that they learn by creating a portfolio that demonstrates their understanding of the material presented. The portfolio allows for a format where the student can organize and link to information to support their learning. Portfolios allow students to teach other students what they have learned and this is a good instructional method (Blair et al., 2010). > When student learning is the focus of a portfolio implementation and students are enlisted in the process of assessing their own learning, the resulting assessment data is richer and more illustrative of how learning takes place. When students are encouraged to reflect upon their learning and integrate it across and beyond the curriculum, they own that learning and are able to plan for the progression of learning throughout their lives. When students share their learning and seek feedback from peers, parents, mentors, and future employers, they become more aware of how others see them and how they see themselves (Janice, 2010).

When students seek feedback and critically assess what they have learned they are demonstrating and deepening their knowledge by applying their knowledge and having it assessed. Portfolios can be used in any subject, as long as the process is directing students to reflect on their learning. “Although there is no single correct way to develop portfolio programs, in all of them students are expected to collect, select, and reflect”(Sweet, 1993). When students apply their knowledge they gain a new level of understanding of the material. “In these generically organized portfolios, students presented an overall reflection about the course, described artifacts individually without context, and summed up in a conclusion”( D’Angelo, 2009).

Student portfolios directly apply learning. A portfolio is different than a typical assessment of learning in a few ways:
 * 1) The students learning can be assessed over time to gauge students' progress.
 * 2) Portfolios are unlike tests where a student must memorize material. A portfolio allows a student to develop ideas over time.
 * 3) Portfolios allow a student demonstrate their understanding of a subject in a manner that is particular to their learning style.

Students not only need to apply the knowledge that they learned on a subject but also have to apply knowledge of what makes a good knowledge source and how to develop a credible portfolio. “Portfolios can provide structure for involving students in developing and understanding criteria for good efforts, in coming to see the criteria as their own, and in applying the criteria to their own and other students' work.”(Sweet, David, 1993)

** WebQuests ** WebQuest is a term coined by Bernie Dodge from San Diego State University as "an inquiry-oriented activity in which some or all of the information that learners interact with comes from resources on the Internet” (The Practice of Learning, 2007). WebQuests allow students to apply their knowledge in a more active environment which is different from the more reflective environment of a portfolio. Students actively learn how to navigate web sites. This navigation of web sites allows students to pursue their own interests within a topic. The choice of which links to pursue next are based on a student immediately interpreting the information they are reading and deciding what other information they need to understand a topic. “…students can actively participate in group discussion when exploring an issue. They can develop search skills and critical thinking skills when finding information from resources on the Internet. They also have a chance to actually use the target language in the form of reading web pages, writing presentations, listening to peers’ opinions, and discussing ideas on critical issues” (Wood, 2001).

An activity that can be related to the WebQuest is to have students create their own WebQuest. This activity is similar to a portfolio, but here the student is actively trying to get another person to understand their perspective by using supporting web pages. “Teachers offer scaffolding for students to construct and explore their own knowledge. It is like a journey of exploration as well as construction” (Barrett, 2010). Students are not only applying their knowledge of a topic but also applying their knowledge to construct a sound logical presentation of information.


 * Examples **

If explanations of Web 2.0 tools are needed, please visit the Web 2.0 Tools page. On this page are specific Web 2.0 tool examples relating to the Applications of Learning standard.


 * EPortfolio: ||  ||   ||
 * || Elementary School: ||  ||
 * ||  || @http://kids-learn.org/owlprowl/silverman.htm ||
 * ||  || @http://kids-learn.org/owlprowl/florin.htm ||
 * || High School: ||  ||
 * ||  || @http://www.mtabe.k12.vt.us/Portfolios/alea/alea%20homepage.htm ||
 * ||  || @http://www.mtabe.k12.vt.us/Portfolios/laferrari/index.htm ||
 * WebQuests: ||  ||   ||
 * || Teacher Generated: ||  ||
 * ||  || @http://questgarden.com/11/54/9/051201211938/process.htm ||
 * ||  || @http://questgarden.com/105/96/7/100630114508/ ||
 * || Student Generated: ||  ||
 * ||  || @http://www.ftl.pinecrest.edu/ms/WebQuests/Krista/Krista_web.htm ||
 * ||  || @http://www.ftl.pinecrest.edu/ms/WebQuests/Yale/Napster.htm ||
 * ||  || @http://www.ftl.pinecrest.edu/ms/WebQuests/Krista/Krista_web.htm ||
 * ||  || @http://www.ftl.pinecrest.edu/ms/WebQuests/Yale/Napster.htm ||

WebQuests help students apply learning in a few general ways:
 * 1) Students learn how to search for information on the internet.
 * 2) Students learn how to validate the information that is found on the internet.
 * 3) Students are able to direct their own learning, by finding resources on the internet.


 * What Does This Mean for Education? **

The incorporation of Web 2.0 tools in the classroom brings along a number of changes required of the school, the administration, the technology coordinator, the teacher, and the student. Web 2.0 tools require web access, student accounts, monitoring and filtering software, education for everyone and administration support.

Focusing just on the classroom, the teacher needs to change teaching methods and assessments. Teachers need to present knowledge and facilitate learning. The teacher needs to learn about Web 2.0 tools and modify the curriculum to accommodate these tools. The teacher needs to change the way they assess students to allow students to demonstrate their knowledge. The teacher needs to add the Web 2.0 tools to incorporate constructivist learning while still ensuring that all students meet all state standards. “In moving so quickly from traditional teacher-centered instruction to this kind of self-directed and Web-based course design, I discovered that some adjustments were necessary for meeting the instructional goals I had set for the course” (Wood, 2001). Teachers that incorporate the Web 2.0 tools into their curriculum aid their students in applying their learning. The teachers move away from a test based assessment methodology to one that ensures mastery of understanding. The changes to teachers' methods is a big paradigm shift. It also means teaching more that just the curriculum; teachers must also teach students how to use the internet in a productive and accurate way.

**Assessment Changes** Assessment practices that are used with Portfolios and WebQuests are designed to help the student as they learn rather than checking for understanding after the lesson has been taught. Portfolios and WebQuests both support this method of assessment by allowing the teacher to give feedback as the project is in process. This allows students to learn as they go and make corrections before the project is due. Students get immediate feedback from the teacher and their peers as their projects are developed on the internet and accessible by others. Assessment for learning differs from assessment of learning the table below helps demonstrate some of the differences.


 * **Portfolios used for Assessment __of__ Learning** || **Portfolios that support Assessment __for__ Learning** ||
 * Purpose of portfolio prescribed by institution || Purpose of portfolio agreed upon with ||
 * Artifacts mandated by institution to determine outcomes of instruction || Artifacts selected by learner to tell the story of their learning ||
 * Portfolio usually developed at the end of a class, term or program - time limited || Portfolio maintained on an ongoing basis throughout the class, term or program - time flexible ||
 * Portfolio and/or artifacts usually "scored" based on a rubric and quantitative data is collected for external audiences || Portfolio and artifacts reviewed with learner and used to provide feedback to improve learning ||
 * Portfolio is usually structured around a set of outcomes, goals or standards || Portfolio organization is determined by learner or negotiated with mentor/advisor/teacher ||
 * Sometimes used to make high stakes decisions || Rarely used for high stakes decisions ||
 * Summative - what has been learned to date? (Past to present) || Formative - what are the learning needs in the future? (Present to future) ||
 * Requires Extrinsic motivation || Fosters Intrinsic motivation - engages the learner ||
 * Audience: external - little choice || Audience: learner, family, friends - learner can choose ||

“Assessment for Learning is the process of seeking and interpreting evidence for use by learners and their teachers to decide where the learners are in their learning, where they need to go and how best to get there” (Barrett, n.d.).

**Instructional Methods** This excerpt from Helen C. Barrett, Ph.D. lays out many of the changes to instructional methods: > Underlying Philosophy > Four perspectives have influenced my use of student portfolios. First, the concept of scaffolding, where a more knowledgeable individual holds up or scaffolds the performance of a less knowledgeable individual (Bruner, 1983), thus raising the performance of the less knowledgeable one (not the "sage on the stage" but rather, the "guide on the side"), has greatly affected how I structure portfolio assignments. Another philosophy that has affected student portfolio use in my classroom is the notion that students who select their own content area to research and are allowed to solve problems and discuss issues in an interdisciplinary collaborative learning group are more motivated to learn than they would be if topics were assigned, if they worked in isolation, or if they did not focus on solving problems. A third concept that as informed my use of portfolios is that of student metacognition - that is, helping them acquire an understanding of what they know and what they do not yet know about the process of learning. Finally, the philosophy of authentic assessment has been important in my development of portfolio assignments and corresponding assessments”(n.d.).

Teaching will become more student-centric and teachers will be guiding learning as well as introducing new ideas. This can be a significant change for some teachers.The teacher will need to find ways to spend time one-on-one with every student while still guiding the class as a whole to gain an understanding of the goals of the curriculum. Web 2.0 tools will help facilitate the one-on-one interactions and change the way we think of those interactions. They may no longer be kneeling down next to a student's desk to help them out, but rather commenting on their projects as they work on them in a textual format or through a chat session. The teacher will need to learn to multi-task their giving of individual attention using Web 2.0 tools. They will need to guide and monitor from a central computer and communicate individually with multiple students at once.

**References**

Barrett, Helen. "Digital Stories of Deep Learning." //Dr. Helen Barrett's Electronic Portfolios//. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 July 2010. @http://electronicportfolios.org/digistory/epstory.html.

Blair, Kristen, Daniel Schwartz, Gautam Biswas, and Krittaya Leelawong. "Pedagogical Agents for Learning by Teaching: Teachable Agents." //Educational Technolog//: n. pag. //Stanford University//. Web. 15 July 2010.

D’Angelo, Barbara. "Using Portfolio Assessment to Discover Student Learning." //Proceedings of the 74th Annual Convention of the Association for Business Communication// ? (0): n. pag. //Proceedings of the 74th Annual Convention of the Association for Business Communication//. Web. 7 Nov. 2009.

Janice. "Portfolios, Used Well, Are Transformational | Three Canoes." //Mission | Three Canoes//. Janice's Blog, n.d. Web. 27 July 2010. @http://threecanoes.com/blogs/janice/portfolios-used-well-are-transformational.

Lorenzo, George, and John Ittelson. "http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI3001.pdf." //EduCause Learning Initiative//. EduCause Learning Initiative, n.d. Web. 10 July 2010. .

"The Practice of Learning Theories/Using WebQuests in English as a Second Language Contexts." WikiBooks. N.p., 20 Nov. 2007. Web. 20 July 2010. .

Sweet, David. "Archived: STUDENT PORTFOLIOS: CLASSROOM USES." U.S. Department of Education. Version Eigth. Education Research CONSUMER GUIDE, 8 Nov. 1993. Web. 27 July 2010. <@http://www2.ed.gov/pubs/OR/ConsumerGuides/classuse.html

Wood, Donna G.. "The Technology Source Archives - WebQuests: Pathways for Teaching to Learn, Learning to Teach." //The Technology Source Archives//. N.p., 1 Nov. 2001. Web. 27 July 2010. @http://technologysource.org/article/webquests/.