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EdCamp Still Rules

  Looking Back at 10 years of EdCamps Oh how the time flies, EdCamp Madison is turning 10 this year!  It will be held Saturday, February 3rd at Sun Prairie West High School. Which can be found at 2850 Ironwood Drive in Sun Prairie Wisconsin from 8:30 am - 3:00 pm.  Get more information and register here: https://sites.google.com/sunprairieschools.org/edcampmadwi/home   I will always remember sitting in my first EdCamp opening session at the very first EdCamp Madison and having no clue what I was in for. So, I’d like to take this space to go over some of the basic rules of EdCamp. No One Will Pitch It for You EdCamps are unconferences. By this I mean that they have a blank slate of sessions for the day. There may be a few predetermined sessions, but ultimately the session topics are determined by attendees during the pitch & plan session that opens the day. If an idea gets pitched there will be a session on it. If a topic doesn’t get pitched, there won’t be a session on it. So, it i

Personalized Learning is Visible Learning



During a discussion on Personalizing Learning lead by Dr. James Rickabaugh, he recommended Visible Learning by John Hattie as good source for the research that went into some of the practice behind the personal learning framework.  I was able to read Visible Learning for Teachers by John Hattie over the weekend and was able to see how the data backed up many of the practices behind the personalized learning framework.  At the heart of it all though is that students take control of their own learning to greater degree.

I attempt to summarize my learning, I created the diagram below.  I want to use it as a guide for design and implementation of learning in my classroom.  I made it in a couple of hours so this is really just a first draft.  Any feedback would be appreciated!






Here's a more dynamic view of the Google Drawing:




What sticks out to me is that the student is identifying gaps, planning how to close those gaps, and monitoring progress towards meeting that goal.

The teacher is communicating outcomes and providing a variety of strategies to students to meet those outcomes.  Also, providing quality and relevant feedback about progress.  Also, the teacher uses assessment not to simply judge student progress, but to adapt the instruction.

As I move through the summer and redesign and improve my course design, I will be using this template to help guide my efforts.

But the data in John Hattie's book tells the story. Looking at the elements that have high effect are central to the personalized learning model.






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