Challenge Based Learning: a collaborative learning experience in which teachers and students work together to learn about compelling issues, propose solutions to real problems, and take action. The approach asks students to reflect on their learning and the impact of their actions, and publish their solutions to a worldwide audience. (Wikipedia). This workshop will immerse the attendees in the basics of Challenge Based Learning using digital media.
[Attended by Irfan]:
This was one of the LONG session that lasted 3 hours for the second half of the day of Day 2 of the seminar, but boy was it TOO SHORT! Yes, Marco indeed has this thing about being able to really capture your interests with his work, tips and ideas, and he is very open and willing to share all of it with the participants.
Amongst some of the tools that he mentioned would be of use in the classroom is the software tool called Inspiration. It is similar to a Mindmapping tool, in fact it IS a mindmapping tool...and more. In the session, he demonstrated how the software, through the use of a simple example on what goes on in a hamburger, can be used by teachers to demonstrate to students on how information can be organised! He also related his own experience of using the software to teach non-native English-speaking students in his school how paragraphs in essays should be organised. It was one of those Aha! moments that I thought is useful to share here! And one of the best thing about the software tool is the fact that it is THE tool of choice for a lot of scriptwriters and movie directors over in the US, as the tool is powerful and good enough for them to be able to organise their thoughts and ideas. I just wish that perhaps we could purchase a license or 2 for us 'to play around' with! :D
Using collaboration as a tool for teaching and learning:
Another example that he showed was on how collaboration here is not only something that the students should be doing, but also the teachers. He showed an example, from one of his lessons, of how he had challenged his students to reach out to as many students as they can, and to gather as many pictures of leaves, for their classroom homework assignment. And boy, can I really see the power of networking here taking place. He got online with his network of other teachers from all over the world, and put forth a request before he goes to bed. Waking up hours later, he managed to gather almost 70 responses (I think!) and a similar number of pictures of leaves from all over the world. From leaves that are usually seen in a tropical climate, to one that is half in size to the picture of the girl that is taking it, to the one response from a teacher in Alaska that mentioned that his students dug for almost 2 hours in the permafrost outside the classroom, but was still UNABLE to find a single leaf! Such is the power of collaboration and networking, and it was really one of those things that really made me think, about how we in SST could really use and leverage on our learning platforms and environment over here to really deepen our students' learning experiences.
Classroom setup for the breakout session that I attended
Marco Torrest (standing - apologies for the blur picture) giving his presentation to an almost capacity crowd!
A slide detailing the process of how to make a movie
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