Authentic Learning viaTechnology

Marge Maxwell, Ph.D.Rebecca Stobaugh, Ph.D.Janet Tassell, Ph.D.Western Kentucky University

• When a student learns from,

• Interacts with, and

• Has an impact on the actual real world,

• It is defined as real world

or authentic learning

Not all truly involve

engagement, connection, or immersion in

the real world

A fifth grade classroom has a door to the outside and a hive of honeybees took up residence at the doorway The class decided that they wanted to capture the bees and start a beehive. One team worked with the PTA to raise money to purchase a beehive. Another team called a local beekeeper to help the students capture the bees and put them in the beehive. Another team researched how to maintain the bees and keep other students at the school safe. Another team research about how to extract honey from the hive, process it, and sell it. This opened another opportunity for the class as an entrepreneur!

• Multifaceted and interdisciplinary

• Challenging and messy problems

• Open to multiple interpretations

• Cannot be easily solved by applying an existing algorithm

• Sustained investigation

• Locate their own resources

• Usually culminates in the creation of a whole product

In the course of solving an authentic problem,

students will learn skills and curriculum in multiple subjects

to augment the real world application

of those skills.

• May not always work,

• May not always please everyone, and

• May have consequences beyond the problem or discipline

• Creating products• Critical to making decisions• Solving problems

Collaboration between the teacher and students is essential to design

the content, tasks or projects, and assessment.

• Relevant - students can relate, connect, or apply the content to something they know about

• Real means - continuous perceived connection between what they are learning and their ability to use that learning to do something useful or impact the real world. (Prensky, 2010)

Traditional Learning

Relevant Learning

Real Learning

Teacher: Read this article about “Going Green” and write a report about what it means to go green.

Teacher: “We have been studying about how a city can “go green”. How “green” is our city? Assume the role of a politician who is promoting “green” activities for his city. Create a Voki to give your campaign speech promoting a “green” city.

After studying about ways to go green and save green, students brainstorm activities. One team decides to investigate how the city can save water. They visit the city’s water treatment facility and work with the director to design posters with Glogster.com or Kerpoof.com to encourage citizens to save water. The mayor and water treatment director judge the posters and select one to duplicate and display around the city.

• Jerome Buner (1960) discussed constructivism

• Dewey (1938) believed that learning is a social and interactive process

• Apprenticeships - a primary method of learning a trade for thousands of years

• Virginia still has a Law Reader Program (Virginia Board

of Law Examiners, 2006)

• Judgment to distinguish reliable from unreliable information,

• Patience to follow longer arguments and assignments,

• Synthetic ability to recognize relevant patterns in unfamiliar contexts, and

• Flexibility to work across disciplinary and cultural boundaries to generate innovative solutions (Jenkins et al., 2006).

Persevere as long as the project embodies what really counts to them—a social structure they enjoy, topics and activities of personal interest, and a feeling that what they are doing is important and valued. (Herrington, Oliver and Reeves, 2003; Prensky, 2010)

• Facilitator or coach

• Design appropriate comprehension checks and feedback loops

• Collaborate with

students

• Final assessment

• Not merely summative

• Woven into the tasks, products, and teamwork

• Multiple forms of evidence: student engagement; each student’s online blog journal; collaboration with the team, teacher, and outside experts; artifacts produced in the process of completing tasks; and the final product

• Student Self-Assessment

• Students should know what it feels like for actual stakeholders or experts beyond the classroom to give feedback. even hold them accountable for their work products. (Lombardi, 2007)

• True collaboration with experts in the workplace is invaluable to student knowledge, skills and dispositions in the discipline, work ethic, and collaboration proficiencies.

CReaTE Levels Re a l World Examples

Level 1 

Knowing

Non-relevant problems using textbook/ worksheets

Multiplication facts on a worksheet 

CReaTE Levels

Re a l World Examples

Level 2Practicing

Provide some application to real world using real objects or topics

Compare each of the following ocean-related terms and tell how they are related: continental slope, currents, tides, ocean floor, coast, waves, swells and salinity. Use http://creately.com/Draw-Venn-Diagrams-Online to create Venn Diagrams online. 

CReaTE Levels

Re a l World Examples

Level 3Investigating

Learning simulates the real-world (such as a class store or assuming the role of a political commentator)

Is it easier to swim or float in salt water or in fresh water? Give the students two large glasses, salt, water, two eggs. Instruct students to use the scientific method to experiment and discover in which water the egg will float and how much salt it takes. Have students write each step of the scientific method during their experiment to answer the question. 

CReaTE Levels

Re a l World Examples

Level 4Integrating

Learning emphasizes and impacts the classroom, school, or community AND

Learning is integrated across subject areas

Since your school is only one half mile from the ocean and you and your classmates have been concerned about saving sea turtles on the beach in your town, design and implement a campaign to preserve part of your beach to save the turtles. How will you present your finding to and persuade the city officials?

CReaTE Levels

Re a l World Examples

Level 5Specializing

Learning has a positive impact on a national or global issue or problem AND

Collaborates with experts in a field or discipline

Many dead fish have washed up on the beach in your town. Upon investigating the cause of their death, a veterinarian tells your class that they ingested a toxic chemical. How can your class work with a national or international organization to help stop chemical dumping in the ocean?

In the integration of 21st century skills in real world settings, students learn autonomy in their own learning, self-directed mastery, a personal purpose, and the value of choice and other people’s opinions. Students learn that reflecting and metacognition can affect their decisions and mature thinking.

Teachers and students can begin real world learning on a scale that they are

comfortable with. All benefit from learning in the real world!

It’s a WIN-WIN!

Bruner, J. (1960). The process of education. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Briggs, C. L. & Keyek-Franssen, D. (2010). Clickers and CATs: Using learner response systems for formative assessments in the classroom. Educause Quarterly.

Common Cents New York, Inc. (2013). About the penny harvest. Retrieved from http://www.commoncents.org/go/penny-harvest

Cronin, J. F. (1993). Four misconceptions about authentic learning. Authentic Learning. 50(7), 78-80.

Dewey, J. (1938). Experience and education. New York: Collier Books.

Herrington, J., Oliver, R., & Reeves., T. C. (2003). Patterns of engagement in authentic online learning environments. Australian Journal of Educational Technology, 19(1), 59-71.

Jenkins, H., Clinton K., Purushotma, R., Robinson, A.J., & Weigel, M. (2006). Confronting the challenges of participatory culture: Media education for the 21st century. Chicago, IL: The MacArthur Foundation.

Let’s Get Real, Inc. (2008). What’s new in let’s get real? Retrieved from http://www.lgreal.org

Reeves, T. C. (2006). How do you know they are learning?: The importance of alignment in higher education. International Journal of Learning Technology. 2(4), 302-304.

Virginia Board of Bar Examiners. (2006). Law Reader Memorandum: A memorandum on the concept of reading law under an attorney’s supervision. Retrieved from http://www.vbbe.state.va.us/reader/readermemo.html

Wood, D. (2003). ABC of learning and teaching in medicine: Problem based learning. British Medical Journal. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj.326.7384.328

Questions?