Darren Carpenter

This blog/vlog discusses the role technology and the educational connections that are created when it comes to the development of large scale infrastructure projects. As is the case for most if not all Career Programs driven initiatives, constructivist and experiential theory heavily influences the guiding philosophy behind the development of such projects. Specifically for this post, we will take a deep dive into the FLESS Farm Initiative — how we got here, where we are going, and what impacts it will have for learners, the community and the region.

As you may have gleaned from the vlog, constructivists learning theory predominates the conversation when it comes to the active role of learners in building their own understanding. 

A quick ‘Microsoft Co-Pilot” recap of the key points about constructivism:

1. Active Learning: Learners actively engage with the material, often through hands-on activities and real-world problem-solving
2. Prior Knowledge: New learning is built upon the foundation of prior knowledge and experiences
3. Social Interaction: Learning is often a social activity, where interaction with others helps to construct knowledge
4. Personal Meaning: Learners construct their own meaning based on their experiences and interactions

FLESS Farm Initiative

FLESS Farm Initiative

Educational Links: Growing and Students

Its official, the failure of the constructivist, discovery, problem-based, experiential and inquiry based teaching model has been proclaimed. Well, at least from the likes of Paul, John, and Clark the three horseman of the ‘no fun’ school of thought………….smiling face emoji.

An obvious overstep, however, the reading/analysis of these fine gentleman flies pretty much 180 degrees away from the guiding philosophy of Darren’s’ education approach vis a vie career programs. Essentially, make it real and relevant and make it fun and the learning occurs all on its own – that is pretty much the entire game when it comes to career education from my perch. How does one achieve these two metrics? – well, every career awareness events, initiative or programs, no matter the grade, are designed and delivered in such a fashion to provide experiential (hands-on) and inquiry based (explore) opportunities for its many and varied participants. Students indirectly or directly discover a broad swath of insights and knowledge via their participation.

And yes, it is done with a fair bit of problem solving occurring in tandem as well. The whole premise of career education is to afford students these real world exposures not otherwise available via the traditional classroom delivery model. These experiences play a significant role in evolving and shaping paths and/or decisions for students as they navigate their way through high school. Nothing is locked in stone in terms of direction, however, at the very least a sense of general direction is developed.

The old adage of, you can lead a horse to water but you cannot make it drink perfectly sums up career education. If you drink, great, if not, that great as well at the very least you now know where the water is and you know the process to find more it in the future.

https://www.bu.edu/ctl/ctl_resource/experiential-learning/

https://www.kings.uwo.ca/current-students/experiential-learning/

Educators are for the most part largely underequipped, in my opinion, to provide proper and effective digital literacy competencies for students. The combination of varied personal skillsets, variety school resources and varied professional development are the primary impediments. Educators, no different than the students they engage, arrive each day to school with a range of skills – some of these skills are stronger in certain areas and some of these skills are weaker in certain areas. The result – a patchwork of educators striving to develop students digital literacy footprint.

Fair = No = Reality

What do Educators Need?

Resources, time, resources, time, professional development, time and funding — a lot of funding. This going to occur any day soon…………not likely. Internal supports (fellow educators sharing or taking on the role of digital literacy provider), professional learning communities and individual skill development are doing what it can on the margins. However, the funding supports required to address skillset deficiencies and varied/lack of school based digital resources is not just a one and one silver bullet. Sure, extra funding

funding + time = results = sort of/maybe

Sure, extra funding will have impacts that provide results, however, it will be a never ending road. Educators come and go and technology is advancing at such a rate that simply keeping abreast to be even ‘moderately’ digital literate can be viewed a winning. Treading water to say the least…

What is Digital Literacy?

There is certainly no lack of content out there explaining what digital literacy is and its importance/role it plays for educators and students today and into the future.

It just comes down to time and once again…..funding.

It will be always changing and always evolving to the ebbs and flows of a broad array of internal/external pressures.

Cultural, societal, economic, and technological (plus at least 43 others no doubt) change all have role to play — they were a factor in the past, they are a factor now and will be no doubt a factor in the future. The standard “modality” search came up with the oldies such as visual, auditory, and tactile modalities that influence how students learn and absorb information – the captain obvious observation, thanks Darren!!

Based on this preamble, what do I think the Future holds? I see a further meshing and blending of the three modalities mentioned above. As technology continues to rapidly advance (see below) and the means to further draw the learner into the learning experience accelerates, we may see modalities of learning not experienced or even contemplated several years ago. We are talking SCIFI level immersion that will make current VR platforms look like the first telephone in terms of tech comparison.

In the context of educational technology and its impact on learning in the future will the ‘modality’ be practicable, productive, accessible and/or affordable for the end user? At current rates of tech advancement — it seems every time the “limit” is reached it is passed with corresponding drops in price.. So ….. ‘yes’ on one level with a big caveat of “who the hell knows.”

This post coming to you from Orlando

So……………..After experiencing!!!

Universal Studios Orlando & Disney World Hollywood

You know who has figured out Constructivism?

That’s right – those two companies with the links above

Constructivist Learning Theory

Constructivist Learning Theory: emphasizes that people are active participants in their own learning process

Constructivist Learning Theory: understanding is built on the combination of existing knowledge and new information

Time for another Carpenters in Cars Getting Coffee Production…

I’m going to once again lean towards constructivist learning theory and how I have applied it in my everyday approach to teaching. Upon reflection, constructivism has pretty much summed up my entire approach to education.

These Video Productions Take Time!!!

Sometimes, I think just typing out the responses would be easier and quicker, however, the time spent commenting, editing, and trying to add some polish to the VLOGS is turning out to be actually somewhat relaxing. Like to share a little clip of some raw unfiltered consciousness — Had a thought, lost it, thought I got it back……lost it again!!

You gotta have some fun and be able to laugh at yourself!!!

What is only possible when face-to-face and what is only possible when online? What are the shared elements from both a face-to-face and online learning experience that create meaningful learning? Discuss with examples from your own experience learning in face-to-face and online contexts.

In my experience the delivery of educational content in an on-line format has been more negative then positive. This is not to say online learning is a powerful and rich medium for educators and students alike. My experience, perhaps similar to other educators, was more the absence of professional development to develop some skillset prior to course delivery. It was the proverbial thrown into the deep end of the pool and swim……………..or not!!

Now, that was my experience as an instructor.. on the other hand, my experience working with teachers to facilitate their on-liner learning experience has been radically different. The capacity of teaching staff to utilize platforms such as TEAMS or ZOOM increased immensely over the past several years ………….wondering what may have been the catalyst?

This has opened the doors immensely on my end to support staff with a variety of supports. Virtual guests speakers, workshops, and remote science activities:

Geologist in the Classroom

Liveit Earth

This likely came down to the skillset of the the instructor and the course content itself. Having said that, I am well aware of many instructors who are absolutely fantastic and thrive using on-line delivery – see below:

It more times then not comes down to time and energy absorbing the content and developing the skills. The development of personal connections are a shared commonality between face-to-face and online learning, certainly more so with continued development of platforms such as TEAMS or ZOOM.

Lets Hear From Darren!!!

Carpenters in Cars Getting Coffee – A No Budget Rip Off!!

No Seinfeld, No Fancy Cars, No Celebrities, Bad Jokes, Marginal Story Telling

A two part conversation, as I drive to a meeting from Vanderhoof to Fort St. James (CNC) A little bit of who I am, how I got here, the ins and outs of my position and some straight shooting on learning design.

Structured CHAOS — How Darren tackled, approached and explained to History 12 students the edge of your seat overreaching concept and goals of “The Schlieffen Plan” — the what now? You know, The Schlieffen Plan — Count Alfred von Schlieffen’s plan for the invasion of France and corresponding knockout punch largely via innocent and neutral Belgium. The vaunted right hook modified slightly and some would argue fatally by General von Moltke.

As a history nerd; hence the degree in History, this is riveting stuff, to a class of History 12 students the concepts of maneuver warfare, flanking operations, logistics, mobilization rates, esprit de corps, morale, meeting engagements, etc, etc., …………………………………………………a wee but less so.

The TASK – Turn THIS

Into something that students would hopefully understand and absorb

Follow Along It was Quite the Experience!

What was the Schlieffen Plan – Open University

Was Germany Doomed by the Schlieffen Plan – History.com

Online – Step by Step – The S Plan

Moving Forward —

The opportunity to interact and hear from colleagues in the educational setting of the MEd Program was a little akin to getting on rusty bike. However, once I got into the flow of things it has become a very pleasant journey — No steep curves, no sudden drops and no scary surprises around the bend.

The group presentations certainly provided new knowledge and insights in regard to the topics shared. Seeing the different presentation styles and formats did offer the chance to emulate best practice. Observing and then using interactive tools such as Jamboard was a new experience on my end — of course, it also opened the doors to the vast array of interactive tools that additionally exist:

Competitors and Alternatives to Jamboard

• Miro.
• Lucidchart.
• Whiteboard.
• FigJam.
• Zoom Whiteboard.
• Mural.
• Klaxoon Board.
• Sketchboard.

Canva

Plans for the Future:

Looking forward to the next series of courses. A couple ideas are bouncing around in terms of ‘big project’ — however, if honest, nothing has really crystallized yet and this I anticipate will harden a bit more as the journey continues. Feeling this post running a bit light on deep reflection or concrete steps moving forward.

However, I really enjoyed the VLOG format used in my prior posts and I look to continue using this medium where possible in the coming weeks/months.

A Beginners Guide to Vlogging

I’ve been reaching out to my network of graphic design teacher experts throughout our school district to add some additional flair to the content.

A good mix of bells and whistles with proper intended audience content……… my job in a nutshell….lol!!!

Old School versus New School – This is How I am Organizing & Engaging w/EDtech

For the first couple sessions, I fell back on what got me through CNC, SFU and UNBC — Print out the docs into hard copy form, place into three ringed binder then by the tried and true method of highlighting proceed to churn through the material. Luddite?

Thankfully, the old school method died a quick and painless death.

Why?

Well the new school came a walking by and lo and behold things have become way easier and time efficient. The introduction to Zotero for the compiling of source material and citations was a huge eye opener. The work around efficiently organizing the material is a work in progress, however, the tips and tricks session with Michael provided some much needed direction.

The next Wunder tool was the inherent power of AI tools such as

chatGPT and Microsoft Co-Pilot

I found these tools very useful for the quick summation of the many types and forms of technology literature. In tandem with Zotero I found the ability to engage with the amount of educational research a manageable endevour.

Old habits do die hard, so it has become a blended model of a little bit of old school (say 20%) and new school (80%.) However, the streamlined process of engaging research via relatively quick search and summations (AI assist), then some digital cataloging (Zotero) followed by a deeper dive to find interesting citations is (Zotero) is the obvious winds of change path moving forward.

Came across these to help in the Journey

Using AI-powered tools effectively for academic research