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Best 10 Free Screencasting Tools for Teachers

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Best 10 Free Screencasting Tools for Teachers

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I've been looking at this and thinking about ways of creating video material to flip the learning.

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Capture and edit important tutorial videos for teachers at one time.

Numerous cursor and annotation effects

Easy drag-and-drop usage

Upload recordings to YouTube with just one click

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Best Free Screencasting Tools for Teachers

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There're many free screencasting tools on the market to make teaching cost-effective, and meets both your needs and that of your students. But keep in mind that free tools often come with limitations

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Summary of three types of load

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How can we plan learning and pitch it appropriately? We must strike a balance between sufficient and excessive challenge; we need some way to decide which objectives and activities to use.

Cognitive load theory offers a powerful way to view learning, select activities and plan objectives. This post describes the theory and suggests how it could be applied to planning lessons. The terms used are subject to heated debate, so if anything is unclear, or you have suggestions as to how this could be improved, please don't hesitate to let me know.

What is cognitive load theory?

Cognitive load theory theory focuses on learning as the creation of schemas: organised structures of knowledge in long-term memory. Ideas reach long-term memory having been held in working memory: what we are conscious of at a given moment. Working memory can only cope with a limited cognitive load: we can retain a handful of isolated facts (a few numbers, for example), or process two or three ideas (Sweller, van Merriënboer and Paas, 1998; Cowan, 1999). Therefore, the load placed upon working memory - what students are thinking about - is crucial for learning.

An early study divided students into two groups; they approached the same trigonometry problems with different goals:

Group A were given a specific goal (find the length of a particular line)

Group B were not given a specific goal (find the length of any lines you can)

They were solving identical problems, but students in Group A endured greater cognitive load, because they had to keep in mind what they were trying to find, what they had already found and what they needed to find next. Students in Group B remembered more about the problems - they learned more; whereas for students in Group A:

The cognitive-processing capacity needed to handle this information may be of such a magnitude as to leave little for schema acquisition, even if the problem is solved (Sweller, 1988: p.261)."

Students can concentrate on solving problems, they can concentrate on tasks which contribute to their long-term memory, but if the task is challenging for them, they are unlikely to manage both. Working memory limitations restrict how much of an experience reaches long-term memory: designing teaching "which flouts or merely ignores working memory limitations inevitably is deficient (Sweller, van Merriënboer and Paas, 1998, p.253)."

Three forms of cognitive load were proposed by Sweller, van Merriënboer and Paas (1998); they offer a helpful frame for planning:

Intrinsic cognitive load

Intrinsic cognitive load is the challenge of learning complicated ideas. Individual facts can be learned in isolation, so have low intrinsic cognitive load:

Students can learn the meaning of 'Je' without knowing the word 'aime' in French.

They can learn that Fe is iron without having to remember that Cu is Copper.

Some learning has high intrinsic cognitive load however:

Students must consider the relationship between each word in a sentence to ensure it is grammatically correct.

Explaining a chemical reaction requires understanding the interaction between different elements.

Whether learning has high intrinsic cognitive load reflects a student's existing knowledge, not an absolute standard: a competent French speaker may face low intrinsic cognitive load when considering the words in a simple sentence, but need to think more carefully when using the subjunctive tense.
It is possible to break down content with high intrinsic cognitive load (van Merriënboer and Sweller, 2005), but our priority is selecting the intrinsic cognitive load on which the lesson will focus carefully.
Extraneous cognitive load

Extraneous cognitive load is the distraction caused by tasks which occupy working memory but do not contribute to the formation of long-term memories. This includes:

Splitting attention: asking students to refer to two sources of information simultaneously: we can avoid this by ensuring information, such as labels, is where it will be needed.

Redundancy: information which adds nothing detracts from learning: we can avoid this by removing irrelevant and distracting labels and text.

Expertise reversal: support which helps novices, like model answers, can hinder experts; we can monitor students' success closely and reduce support as students become more skilled.

We can also also use the modality effect: describing an image verbally, for example, talking through a diagram, effectively increases students' working memory.
Germane cognitive load
Germane cognitive load is additional cognitive load which contributes to the formation of long-term memories. It can be created by tasks which depress student performance initially but help retention, including spacing learning over time (Pashler et al., 2007) and varying practice (for example, varying the types of mathematical questions students are answering in a lesson (Soderstrom and Bjork, 2015)). (For a fuller discussion, see this post).

The limits of cognitive load theory

There are limits to what cognitive load theory offers. The research findings have been tested in a handful of topics, subjects and lessons. While they seem robust, and work to extend them is ongoing, there are limited examples which have been tested in classrooms, so we need to apply the ideas carefully. Varying practice will work in a grammar lesson, but in a lesson on literature it may prove unhelpfully confusing: instead, we may simply add a retrieval question to our exit tickets to space learning (Pashler et al., 2007). Approaches which support learning, like varying practice, can prove disorienting and hence unpopular with students (Brown, Roediger and McDaniel, 2014, p.54): we may wish to explain the rationale for our choices to students and perhaps even occasionally choose less efficient ways of teaching to maintain student enthusiasm. Cognitive load theory offers useful ideas, not perfect answers: using it requires tailoring the principles to our students and lessons: cognitive load theory.
We can plan for cognitive load by:

Choosing intrinsic cognitive load carefully

Cutting extraneous cognitive load: remove unproductive distractions

Increasing germane cognitive load judiciously: adding variation

And recognising the limits of the existing research, as well as its promise.
What should I read next?

The importance of knowledge: some initial thoughts on constructing schemas

More on distinguishing between learning and performance (and what this means for formative assessment).

A checklist for lesson planning: bit dated but maybe still useful.

References
Brown, P., Roediger, H. and McDaniel, M. (2014). Make it stick. 1st ed. Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
Cowan, N. (1999). An embedded-processes model of working memory. In Miyake, A. and Shah, P. eds. Models of working memory: Mechanisms of active maintenance and executive control New York, NY, US: Cambridge University Press, pp. 62-101.
Pashler, H., Bain, P., Bottge, B., Graesser, A., Koedinger, K., McDaniel, M., and Metcalfe, J. (2007) Organizing Instruction and Study to Improve Student Learning (NCER 2007-2004). Washington, DC: National Center for Education Research, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. Soderstrom, N., Bjork, R. (2015) Learning Versus Performance: An Integrative Review. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 10(2) 176-199. Sweller, J (1988) Cognitive load during problem solving: Effects on learning. Cognitive Science, 12, 257-285. Sweller, J., van Merriënboer J. J., Paas F. G. (1998). Cognitive architecture and instructional design. Educational Psychology Review, 10, 251-296. van Merriënboer, J. and Sweller, J. (2005). Cognitive Load Theory and Complex Learning: Recent Developments and Future Directions. Educational Psychology Review, 17(2), pp.147-177.

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Planning lessons using cognitive load theory

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How can we plan learning and pitch it appropriately? We must strike a balance between sufficient and excessive challenge; we need some way to decide which objectives and activities to use. Cognitive load theory offers a powerful way to view learning, select activities and plan objectives.

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Cognitive Load Theory and what it means for classroom teachers

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We are very proud to take a role in supporting a school-led system as part of a dynamic network across the region and the country.

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Break down subject content when introducing new topics and pause regularly to check understanding.

Present instructions clearly without using too many sources of information at the same time.

Be wary of reducing cognitive load too much – the learning process should be manageable, but not overly fragmented.

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Cognitive Load Theory (Cognitive Load Theory - the idea that working memory is limi... ) has recently become 'The Next Big Thing' in teaching. Dylan Wiliam tweeted on 26 January 2017 that he had 'come to the conclusion Sweller's Cognitive Load Theory Abbreviated to CLT, the idea that working memory is limited ... is the single most important thing for teachers to know.' This is an emphatic statement and it is important to consider the implications. As teachers, there are huge demands on our time, so when considering a new strategy it is essential to evaluate the evidence.

CLT, first researched by Sweller (Sweller, 1998) towards in the late 1980s, is based around the idea that our working memory - the part of our mind that processes what we are currently doing - can only deal with a limited amount of information at one time. Reif's (Reif, 2010) description of cognitive load is extremely useful: 'The cognitive load involved in a task is the cognitive effort (or amount of information processing) required by a person to perform this task.' There are a number of excellent resources freely available online that explain CLT (see Paas et al. (Paas et al., 2003) for a useful overview), so we will only touch on the foundations of the theory here that will be useful for the rest of the article.

The theory identifies three different forms of cognitive load:

Intrinsic cognitive load: the inherent difficulty of the material itself, which can be influenced by prior knowledge of the topic

Extraneous cognitive load: the load generated by the way the material is presented and which does not aid learning

Germane cognitive load: the elements that aid information processing and contribute to the development of 'schemas'.

CLT suggests that if the cognitive load exceeds our processing capacity, we will struggle to complete the activity successfully. In summarising CLT, De Jong (De Jong, 2010) states that 'cognitive load theory asserts that learning is hampered when working memory capacity is exceeded in a learning task'.

Working memory should be seen as short term and finite, whereas long-term memory can be seen as infinite. The aim should be to move knowledge to long-term memory because when a student is exposed to new material, they can draw on this previous knowledge and the cognitive load is reduced. However, if subject knowledge is incomplete, the student is unable to fall back on the long-term memory and the working memory becomes overloaded, leading to working memory failures. According to Gathercole and Alloway (Gathercole and Alloway, 2007), indications of working memory failures include:

incomplete recall

failing to follow instructions

place-keeping errors

task abandonment.

Of course, there are many other reasons for these that are not related to CLT; however, if teachers understand how this theory applies to their classroom, they can plan their lessons in a way that takes into account cognitive load.

Reducing cognitive load

Intrinsic cognitive load can be reduced by breaking down the subject content, sequencing the delivery so that sub-tasks are taught individually before being explained together as a whole. The idea is to not overwhelm a student too early on in the introduction of new work.

Extraneous cognitive load can be reduced by the way in which instructions are presented. We make sense of new material by referencing schema or mental models of pre-existing knowledge. Lack of clarity in instruction puts too high a load on the working memory, and so too much time is spent problem-solving the instructions as opposed to new schema formation. For example, lessons that use PowerPoint with excessive writing and the teacher talking at the same time, can inadvertently generate excessive cognitive load and lead to working memory failures. Chandler and Sweller (Chandler and Sweller, 1991) write that 'Cognitive Load Theory suggests that effective instructional material facilitates learning by directing cognitive resources towards activities that are relevant to learning.'

Van Merriënboer et al. (Van Merriënboer et al., 2003) recommend using simple-to-complex sequencing to try to reduce cognitive load. They advise starting with worked-out examples (where a full solution is shown, which students then have to apply to a new question), then moving into completion assignments (where a partial solution is given and they have to complete it themselves), and then moving to conventional tasks, where they are simply given the question. This acts as a form of scaffolding Progressively introducing students to new concepts to suppor... , which helps students to learn independently, without necessarily needing the help of their teacher for each stage.

Renkl and Atkinson (Renkl and Atkinson, 2003)further investigated this fading form of scaffolding. They suggestedthat moving through activities sequentially could reduce intrinsic load, as learners will have already mastered some of the knowledge they need to work out a solution in an earlier skill stage. Therefore, their research recommends beginning with a model (a complete example), gradually removing completed steps, which the learner will have to complete independently, and finally leaving just the to-be-solved problem.

These principles can be readily applied in the classroom by beginning with a model answer, then providing a writing frame/structure with a lot of information, followed by a writing frame/structure with less information, then finally a question that learners must complete independently without a writing frame. It is worth, though, being aware of the 'expertise reversal effect' suggested by Kalyuga et al. (Kalyuga et al., 2003), whereby if you continue to provide worked-out examples for experts, their usefulness is significantly reduced. Cognitive load theorists suggest this is because worked-out examples contain information that an expert could work out for themselves, making it redundant and therefore extraneous cognitive load rather than useful germane cognitive load.

Presenting information to minimise cognitive load

Chandler and Sweller (Chandler and Sweller, 1992) found evidence of the split-attention effect. This occurs when different sources of information discussing the same topic are separated by time or space, such as a diagram with a key that corresponds to separate text next to it. When information is presented in this way, it is left to the learner to attempt to amalgamate it, which generates extraneous cognitive load. Therefore, it is recommended that if one of the sources adds nothing new, it should be eliminated. However, if it is essential to include both sources, they should ideally be physically integrated (e.g. texts and diagrams combined). This way, extraneous cognitive load is reduced and working memory capacity can be used for intrinsic and germane cognitive load instead.

A word of caution

There are, of course, issues with CLT. Reif (Reif, 2010) writes that if cognitive load is reduced too much, 'the entire learning process would consist of too many small steps - and would thus become unduly fragmented and long'. There are also issues to do with the hypothesis being unfalsifiable. Doug Holton (Holton, 2009) points out that it is difficult to measure cognitive load, and therefore difficult to generate evidence to prove the theory.

An important question, though, is whether it is useful in the classroom. Ashman (Ashman, 2017) has explained that an understanding of CLT changed his maths teaching, and offers the following four examples:

1. I don't read out my slides - avoid simultaneous oral and text presentation

2. Break it down, further - pause for practice between individual problem types (this leads directly into number 3)

3. Example-problem pairs - give a worked example alongside an almost identical question

4. Stop after five minutes - advise students never to spend more than five minutes trying to solve a homework problem

So is CLT the single most important thing for a teacher to know? Perhaps not - it is a bold claim. But, if used correctly, it can improve teacher instruction, which is an important variable in the complex classroom environment.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Break down subject content when introducing new topics and pause regularly to check understanding.

Present instructions clearly without using too many sources of information at the same time.

Be wary of reducing cognitive load too much - the learning process should be manageable, but not overly fragmented.

Dominic Shibli is Senior Lecturer in the School of Education at the University of Hertfordshire. Prior to that he was Head of Science and SLE for the North Herts Teaching Alliance.

Rachel West has a BSc in psychology and has been teaching psychology for three years. She is interested in raising awareness of the ways in which psychological theory can be applied to teaching practice.

References

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Cognitive Load Theory and its application in the classroom

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Cognitive Load Theory (CLT) has recently become 'The Next Big Thing' in teaching. Dylan Wiliam tweeted on 26 January 2017 that he had 'come to the conclusion Sweller's Cognitive Load Theory is the single most important thing for teachers to know.' This is an emphatic statement and it is important to consider the implications.

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As a sister blog to Andy Tharby's Cognitive Load Theory post on the Durrington Research School website, this piece will focus on practical applications for classroom teachers.

In order to dovetail with the Research School blog, these strategies will be arranged and preceded by information from research published by the Department for Education in New South Wales, Australia: Cognitive load theory in practice: Examples for the classroom.

Strategy 1: Tailor lessons according to students' existing knowledge and skill
One of the most important implications of cognitive load theory for teaching practice is the need to optimise students' cognitive load, by striking the right balance between too much and too little load. To do this effectively, teachers need to have a strong understanding of where students already sit in their learning.

Introduce new, and in particular complex, information in short chunks. After each chunk use questioning or comprehension activities to check understanding.

Before asking students to apply a technique or concept you have previously taught, precede this by recapping the technique or concept. Use a familiar example to do this before asking students to apply it to something unfamiliar.

Strategy 2: Use lots of worked examples to teach students new content and skills
A 'worked example' is a problem that has already been solved for the student, with every step fully explained and clearly shown. Research consistently demonstrates that students who are given lots of worked examples learn new content more effectively than students who are required to solve the same problem themselves.

When asking students to complete a task, have a completed version of the same task alongside it for reference. This reduces extraneous cognitive load as students will not be required to attend to the instructions for how to complete the task as well as the task itself.

Provide annotations on pieces of complex extended writing (i.e. Shakespeare) for which comprehension would make the intrinsic cognitive load of the task too high for students to make effective inferences.

Strategy 3: Gradually increase independent problem-solving as students become more proficient
While fully guided instruction is very effective for teaching students new material, it becomes less effective as students become more expert at a particular skill. Eventually, fully guided instruction becomes redundant or even counter-productive and students benefit more from independent problem-solving. As students become more skilled at solving a particular type of problem, they should gradually be given more opportunities for independent problem-solving.

Omit some steps from a worked example.

Gradually give students fewer worked examples.

Strategy 4: Cut out inessential information
We sometimes assume that providing students with extra information is helpful, or at the very least harmless. However, presenting students with inessential information can hinder learning. Inessential information can be information that students already know, additional information that is not directly relevant to the lesson, or the same information presented in multiple forms.

Pare down your PowerPoints to only the most essential text and a few key images.

Never talk over students while they are reading.

Avoid overly busy classroom displays around your whiteboard.

Once students are familiar with a particular task, do not give them instructions on how to complete it.

Strategy 5: Present all essential information together
Cognitive overload can occur when students have to split their attention between two or more sources of information that have been presented separately, but can only be understood in reference to each other.

If you wish to provide a labelled diagram or map, ensure the labels are written directly on to it rather than being on a different sheet or even alongside. Having to go back and forth will have a negative effect on cognitive load.

Have instructions incorporated into the task, rather than on a separate sheet. So if students are filling in a spreadsheet, have the blank version contain the instructions on what to do.

Strategy 6: Simplify complex information by presenting it both orally and visually
When there are two or more sources of information that can only be understood in reference to each other, cognitive load can be managed by presenting information both orally and visually. This strategy increases the capacity of students' working memories, creating more mental space for learning.

When producing mindmaps on the board use a combination of both words and pictures with the visuals used to represent the overall topics and the words for the more precise details.

When explaining a new concept use a PowerPoint containing only images. Simply explain the concept verbally while making reference to each image.

Strategy 7: Encourage students to imagine concepts and procedures that they have learnt
Encouraging students to visualise what they have learnt helps them to better understand and recall the information. Once students have a good grasp of the content, the mental process of visualising helps students to store the information more effectively in their long-term memories. This strategy should only be used once students are familiar with the content, as visualising imposes quite a heavy cognitive load.

In practical subjects, ask students to visualise the procedure you taught them in the previous lesson at the start of the next one. Ask them to do this several times and then write down all the steps.

Ask students to visualise a concrete example that helps explain an abstract concept. So if you were explaining the idea of scarcity, ask them to imagine a cinema with all the seats slowly filling up.

Posted by Chris Runeckles

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As a sister blog to Andy Tharby's Cognitive Load Theory post on the Durrington Research School website, this piece will focus on practical applications for classroom teachers. In order to dovetail with the Research School blog, these strategies will be arranged and preceded by information from research published by the Department for Education in New South Wales, Australia:...

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expectations

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To help shape students’ behaviours and mindsets, teachers should look to develop a consistent culture of high expectations and quality feedback.

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There is a wealth of psychology research that can help teachers to improve how they work with students, but academic studies of this kind aren't always easy to access or translate into the realities of classroom practice. This series seeks to redress that by taking a selection of studies and making sense of the important information for teachers, as we all seek to answer the question: how can we help our students do better at school? This time, we consider growth mindset.

Growth mindset - the idea that intelligence can be developed rather than it being set in stone - is arguably the most popular psychological theory in education at the moment. It was launched into mainstream consciousness after a seminal growth mindset study almost 20 years ago and has since spawned many assemblies and form tutor-time activities. But what were the findings of this influential study?

The problem with praise such as ​​'you're so clever​' is that it doesn't tell students what they need to do next time

Writing in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology in 1998, Claudia Mueller and Carol Dweck from Columbia University, New York, explored the consequences of how different types of praise affected students. The research paper is actually a combination of six separate studies.

In each, students aged nine to 12 years old completed a problem-solving game. They were then told they'd got 80% of the questions right and were praised for either their natural intelligence or how hard they worked on the task. The researchers reported on how the students felt, thought and behaved in subsequent tasks.

Children who were praised for their intelligence were more likely to choose future tasks that they thought would make them look smart. Children who had been praised for their effort tended to choose tasks that would help them learn new things.

Children praised for their intelligence said they enjoyed the task less when compared to the children who had been praised for their effort.

Children praised for their intelligence were less likely to persist on tasks than the children who had been praised for their effort.

Children who had been praised for their intelligence performed worse in future tasks. The children who had been praised for their effort performed better in future tasks.

The majority (86%) of children praised for their intelligence asked for information about how their peers did on the same task. Only 23% of children who had been praised for effort asked for this type of feedback - most of them asked for feedback about how they could do better.

A significant proportion (38%) of children praised for their ability lied about the number of problems they solved in the task. Only 13% of the children praised for effort did the same.

What are the main findings?

In the intervening years, the impact of growth mindset has been studied by many different researchers around the world. The overwhelming majority of these have found that having a growth mindset is associated with getting better grades. Some of these studies included a very large sample size, of more than 100,000 students. However, two recent studies paint a slightly more cloudy picture.

In England, researchers found that improvements in English and maths [pdf] attributed to growth mindset interventions (on average, students made two months' additional progress) could have been down to chance. The other study, involving 222 students in China, found no relationship between student mindset and their academic performance.

But beyond improved attainment, research suggests having a growth mindset has other advantages, including coping better with transition, higher self-regulation, grit and pro-social behaviours. There is also evidence suggesting mental health benefits - those with a growth mindset have been found to be less aggressive, with higher self-esteem and fewer symptoms associated with depression and anxiety.

What does this mean for the classroom?

This study highlights the complexities and importance of how we deliver feedback. The problem with praise such as "you're so clever" or "you must be so talented" is that it doesn't tell students what they need to do next time.

By praising their effort and the strategies they used, we give students a template of behaviour to follow. As the authors of the study noted: "Children exposed to this intelligence feedback were likely to respond negatively when they faced achievement setbacks ... children given effort feedback, who valued learning over performance, were less likely to fall apart when they experienced an isolated low performance." Studies like this must therefore make us consider the merit of calling certain students "gifted and talented".

It's also worth being aware of the ways in which the idea of growth mindset is sometimes misunderstood. In the rush to embrace it as a method, the message has sometimes been diluted to "growth mindset is all about effort" or morphed into "anyone can do anything" - neither of which is accurate or helpful. Having a growth mindset is about the belief that someone can learn and improve. To help shape students' behaviours and mindsets, teachers should look to develop a consistent culture of high expectations and quality feedback.
Follow us on Twitter via @GuardianTeach, like us on Facebook, and join the Guardian Teacher Network the latest articles direct to your inbox Looking for a teaching job? Or perhaps you need to recruit school staff? Take a look at Guardian Jobs, the education specialist.
Bradley Busch is a registered psychologist, director at InnerDrive and author of Release Your Inner Drive. Follow @Inner_Drive on Twitter, and get advice on improving memory and a visual summary of this research on his website.

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Research every teacher should know: growth mindset

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In his series of articles on how psychology research can inform teaching, Bradley Busch picks an academic study and makes sense of it for the classroom. This time: an influential research project on growth mindset

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Some interesting things on here about Google Classroom and instructional videos  but also strategies for ensuring that students  feel like they’re part of the classroom community.

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Whether students do the advance work at home or in class, these tools help teachers track their work and assess their understanding.

©Shutterstock/Monkey Business Images

Flipped classroom, flipped learning-you've probably heard these phrases in recent years, and you may be wondering how this strategy works.

Flipped lessons replace teacher lectures with instructional material-often a video-that students watch and interact with at home. They apply what they learned in class the next day through a variety of activities or assignments that could once have been homework, with the teacher working as a coach or guide.

The benefits include allowing students to work at their own pace, to determine for themselves the material they need to review, and to apply concepts in different contexts in class to ensure that they thoroughly understand of the content.

But this model can be unsuccessful if students don't do the advance work-if they don't have access to reliable internet outside of school, for example. Students who are unable to complete the advance work the evening before find themselves either unable or ill-prepared to participate in class activities the following day.

One solution is to keep the advance work in the classroom-students can reap the benefits of flipped instruction while doing everything in class. In this model, teachers give their students time to watch the video or read a text in class; students then do the follow-up work, with the teacher providing help and guidance as needed. This is extremely helpful for students who need help with the content they're learning in the video.

The teacher still moves from being the "sage on the stage" to the "guide on the side" by providing individualized help for each student. While some teachers may prefer to avoid whole-class direct instruction, others may find it helpful for their students when reviewing content or demonstrating or revisiting a concept. Part of the beauty of the in-class flipped model is that it provides a great deal of flexibility for teachers based on their students' needs.

Structure of a Flipped Lesson

Flipped lessons can take a variety of forms. Some flipped lessons stand alone, meaning that students learn the content presented in an instructional video or text and demonstrate their understanding through an assessment, project, etc., before moving on to the next concept. Other lessons may take the form of a unit HyperDoc that requires students to progress through a series of lesson components designed to encourage them to engage with and explore content, apply what they've learned, and extend their knowledge.

Google Classroom: Teachers use Google Classroom in a variety of ways-to deliver assignments to students and to provide effective and efficient feedback, for example-and it can be a great landing page for students as they navigate assignments. At the beginning of a lesson, teachers can direct students to assignment goals, objectives, and instructions in Classroom. Classroom can also be used to distribute a lesson's digital texts and other resources.

In flipped environments where students take notes on instructional videos digitally, Classroom can be used to assign a unit Google Doc to students for that purpose. Teachers can establish this procedure as a norm at the beginning of the school year so students know that they should begin each class period by going to Google Classroom.

Edpuzzle: Instructional videos are an important component of the flipped classroom. While there are many schools of thought concerning teacher presence and action in these videos and how long they should be, most teachers would agree that students should be held accountable for the video content and that teachers should have a way to monitor student progress and provide timely feedback.

Edpuzzle allows teachers to do just that, and it provides teachers with the ability to embed a variety of formative assessments into videos they create or use from other sources. Students can access Edpuzzle videos from any browser or through iOS or Android apps, so it's very convenient.

Padlet: After students have viewed an instructional video, it's a good idea to provide them with an opportunity to reflect on the content. Padlet provides teachers with a way to have students not only review and reflect on content, but also collaborate with their peers.

Teachers can create a new Padlet wall for each video or unit and encourage students to ask questions and answer their peers' questions about content as a review for unit assessments. Using an extension such as Screencastify, teachers can create screencasts of the Padlet wall for their students to use as a study aid.

Quizizz: Formative assessment is extremely important in any classroom, and flipped classrooms are no exception. The flipped strategy puts more responsibility for viewing and interacting with content on the students, and formative assessment is therefore needed after every video.

Teachers can create gamified formative assessment activities for their students using Quizizz and assign these activities as homework, which allows the students to play the games individually. Quizizz activities can also be used as a whole-class formative assessment-students enjoy Quizizz because of the gamified component of the activity and the memes that greet them when they respond to each question.

With the help of these tools, teachers can implement a flipped classroom approach-with students working on their own either at home or in the classroom-and provide a more individualized learning experience for all of their students.

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Whether students do the advance work at home or in class, these tools help teachers track their work and assess their understanding.

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Following the Teachmeet this morning, I've knocked together an activity for my GCSE class, looking at growth and fixed statements for learning. I'll let you know how it goes.

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I saw a target on a student's ProMonitor today:

"Get above a C in philosophy and psychology by revising more"

That may sound like a good idea, but its not true growth mindset, and its certainly not SMART.

I know the student, and he got an A in his mock - I asked him to focus on what he did differently to last time (where he got an E) rather than bask in the glory of his grade...

"How did I do that?" rather than "I'm gonna smash this!"

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Traditional Rotation model
I am wondering if there are variants on this we could explore.

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We're starting small and trying different team building activities with 5 groups between us. These range from setting up houses within the class, Dragon's Den group activities to the balloon couch challenge and archery.  We'll keep you posted on our progress.

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What is happening in here....?

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'This is the way...step inside...'

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Four class groups have attempted the balloon couch challenge and most have successfully sat on their final couch without popping it. The task had varying degrees of success in terms of teamwork, with some students contributing very little to the team,  but it did show  their students' resilience and communication skills. It's definitely an activity that I would like to try at the start of the academic year rather than midway through.

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Subscription put into place for SnapRevise. Now need to look at how it can be integrated into the SOW to provide a useful resource for flipped learning.

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i have identified group of first year student who need support, and students who would be good mentors and printed off their timetables , i have met with students and discussed mentoring / buddying programme and set time to give a quick introduction and pair students up

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i am going to research evaluation tools and develop a tool for evaluating students progress and effcet of programme on students learning, development and study skills.

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Just heard students talking:

"I hated my teachers at school because if they didn't know something they'd get angry and tell me off!"
"Or they'd make something up, but you knew it wasn't true!"
"At least here they admit it, and you can then find out together."
"My teachers just got angry."
"When they show they don't know everything, it helps you see that they're - not perfect. Not complete. That you keep on learning."
"And getting things wrong!"
"Yeah! But that's alright..."

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Only a small sample size for the survey, but an interesting insight into students' ideas/opinions on team building.

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Time is now precious in order to prepare students for their final exams, so we are going to concentrate on planning for the next academic year. We are aiming to:
1. Arrange a team building day at Wrest Park for the GCSE teaching team in July (thanks NAK!), with a view to run the activity with the new cohort of students in September.
2. Create a collection of team building activities and resources. Ask for ideas at the next team meeting.
3. Plan an activity each half term into the SoW. These will not be compulsory.

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I often get students to find out about a theory before we cover it and ask them to bring in an A3 sheet of notes or mind map that they can discuss and apply to a film. The problem is, I haven't shown them how to do this well. I could make a video 'a how to...' to go alongside other resources for some flipped learning.

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Thoughts from today's meeting:

Students creating videos (flip the teacher!)

Screencasting (or similar) – the teacher videoing an approach to something/modelling

Making an interactive video

Apps – so students can have easy access to the flipped content it on their phone

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https://www.khanacademy.org/partner-content/learnstorm-growth-mindset-activities-us

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How to reduce cognitive load in a classroom

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How to reduce cognitive load in a classroom

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This is a good read, as some of the examples in this article, we use within our classroom already, for example: How to guides we use within the ICT team.

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In a complex world, it's easy to get overwhelmed by a deluge of complex information. This shouldn't be surprising, as working memory (our mental work space), has a limited capacity for processing information.

If the demands placed on working memory, known as cognitive load, are too high, learners may give up in frustration or fail to comprehend. According to cognitive load theory, some inherent cognitive load must occur during the process of learning. In fact, learners can benefit from friction, difficulties and challenge.

What is not a benefit is excessive or extraneous cognitive load, which is under the control of the learning experience designer or facilitator. Extraneous cognitive load does not contribute to the learning process. By reducing the extra mental effort required to learn new information, we can assure greater learner success. Here are some ways to reduce that wasteful cognitive load.

1. Maximize the Signal to Noise Ratio

With this strategy, think of the signal as the message you want to communicate and the noise as the extraneous information that detracts from learning. By removing unnecessary complexity and distraction, you will remove some of the extraneous cognitive load.

What elements become noise during learning? Anything that inadvertently complicates learning, such as poor instructions (see Writing Microcopy), a confusing user interface or a visually cluttered layout. Essentially, anything extraneous to the learning task should be transparent to the learner so that it does not use up limited cognitive resources.

In their often quoted article, Nine Ways to Reduce Cognitive Load in Multimedia Learning, Mayer and Moreno (2003) call this approach weeding. It involves eliminating all extraneous content that embellishes the learning, even when it is interesting. The goal is to avoid promoting incidental processing that is not relevant to the learning task.

2. Promote Generative Strategies

Generative strategies place more of the responsibility for learning on the individual. There are several types of generative strategies you can use, one being elaboration, in which learners use their own words and ideas to expand on a concept in a way that relates to their experience and understanding (Jonassen, 1988).

How can you do this in eLearning? Using a technique known as the query method, include a prompt to "stop and think" about the concepts that were just presented. Instruct learners to generate one sentence from a list of key concepts or vocabulary presented in the training and to submit this sentence online.

In one study, embedding low level elaboration queries into online training resulted in "improved organization, integration, and application of task-relevant knowledge and higher instructional efficiency" (Cuevas & Fiore, 2014).

3. Write Concisely

Although it takes more effort to write with fewer words than with many words, concise writing is a straightforward way to reduce cognitive load. Long-winded explanations, obtuse instructions and irrelevant content make unnecessary demands on cognitive resources. A general guideline is to use only the words that are needed to explain or define a concept or principle.

One study asked participants to read passages of different lengths about a weather process. Subjects learned the least from the passage with 500 hundred words not accompanied by a brief summary. Retention and transfer were greatest for those who read passages that had very short summaries (Mayer, Bove, Bryman, Mars, & Tapangco, 1996).

4. Provide Scaffolding (Supplantive Strategies)

Another way to reduce cognitive load is to provide assistance during the learning task, then eventually withdraw the assistance when the learner can perform the task independently. Educators use the metaphor of scaffolding (a temporary support) to refer to this strategy.

In adult learning, scaffolding makes sense for learning how to perform complex tasks, such as solving difficult problems. One way to accomplish this in online instruction is to identify the parts of a task that cause the most difficulty. Then embed appropriate assistance into the lesson that users can select if they need help. One weaning technique could be to apply hints rather than explicit help.

Another interesting approach comes from a study that created a computer-based matching service for students studying computer science. The service connected the right type of expert to scaffold a particular student's learning. Upon finding the appropriate person, the tutor and student would interact online (Greer et al. 1998, 2000). A similar approach could be devised in large international organizations that have a workforce with diverse expertise.

5. Create Opportunities for Collaborative Learning

According to cognitive load theory, as the difficulty of the content increases, individual learning becomes less efficient when compared to learning with a group. The idea is that under certain conditions, group learning divides the cognitive processing across several individuals. Even though the information needs to be re-integrated and the learning coordinated, collaborative learning is considered to be more efficient under conditions that cause high cognitive load (Kirschner, Paas, & Kirschner 2009).

Recommendations for this strategy usually include providing a team assignment to a group of two to five people. Types of assignments might include solving a difficult problem, generating a plan or developing a checklist. The assignment must include input from every individual and should involve interactions that promote discussion, challenging and defense of ideas and reflection on the learning task. Researchers theorize that under conditions of high cognitive load, this richer collaborative learning environment leads to deeper processing and more meaningful learning than individual learning. In an online environment, you can accomplish this through synchronous video conferencing or asynchronous platforms, such as forums.

6. Provide Cognitive Aids

A cognitive aid is any tool or set of materials that can offload some of the demands on working memory. This can be anything from using paper and pencil as a scratchpad to a mobile app that calculates complex measurements. In the workplace, you may use performance support tools as external memory aids. But what about during a learning intervention? To reduce cognitive load while a person is in the process of learning, you can provide external memory supports such as:

checklists for completing complex instructional tasks,

worked problems as examples,

a quick-reference glossary for new terminology (example: Instructional Design Guru), and

concept maps that diagram concept relationships.

Reducing Cognitive Load Conclusion

According to cognitive load theory, extraneous load consists of the demands on working memory that do not contribute to learning. It is the aspect of instructional interventions that learning experience designers can control. Hopefully, these six strategies are reminders of valuable approaches that can reduce cognitive load in your designs.
References:

Clark, R., Nguyen, F., and J. Sweller (2005). Efficiency in Learning: Evidence-Based Guidelines to Manage Cognitive Load.

Cuevas & Fiore (2014). Enhancing learning outcomes in computer-based training via self-generated elaboration. Instructional Science; Vol. 42 Issue 6, p839-859.

Greer, McCalla, Cooke, Collins, Kumar, Bishop, & Vassileva, (2000). Integrating cognitive tools for peer help: The intelligent intraNet peer help-desk project. In S.P. Lajoie, eds, Computers as Cognitive Tools (Vol.2): No More Walls, Vol. 5, pp. 69-96. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Jonassen (1988). Learning strategies in courseware. In David H. Jonassen (Ed.), Instructional designs for microcomputer courseware, (pp. 151-181). Hillsdale:NJ. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers.

Kirschner, F., Paas, F., & Kirschner, P (2009). A Cognitive Load Approach to Collaborative Learning: United Brains for Complex Tasks. Educational Psychology Review, Volume 21, Issue 1, pp 31-42.

Mayer, Bove, Bryman, Mars, and Tapangco (1996). When Less Is More: Meaningful Learning From Visual and Verbal Summaries of Science Textbook Lessons. Journal of Educational Psychology, 1996, Vol. 88, No. 1,64-73.

Mayer & Moreno (2003). Nine Ways to Reduce Cognitive Load in Multimedia Learning. Educational Psychologist, 38(1), 43-52.

Find success with online learning with articles, tips and resources delivered to your Inbox once a month.

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Six Strategies You May Not Be Using To Reduce Cognitive Load

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In a complex world, it's easy to get overwhelmed by a deluge of complex information. This shouldn't be surprising, as working memory (our mental work space), has a limited capacity for processing information. If the demands placed on working memory, known as cognitive load, are too high, learners may give up in frustration or fail to comprehend.

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Tried this in the SS workroom just to get an idea of where staff were at the moment. Most came back with very positive scores .

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Will explore Padlet as a revision tool for one second year group.
Will set up a youtube channel with another second year group who will video their presentations on Issues and Debates.

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Looking at the Padlet App and its use by different types of users (age, IT experience, etc)

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Will investgate PowToon for our next meeting

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Will investigate Explain Everything

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Physical spaces need looking at to see how a message of "learning" can be made obvious. These include the front of the College, study centres, Westside, areas for private study (individual & small group) and classrooms.
Technology is another area of interest, as is the timetable.
One proposal we may be making is around how to join up the excellent Elevate lectures on study skills from the beginning of the first year, with flipped learning and other types of individual study, so that students feel themselves part of a "community" of learners, with a requirement to use their time in a focussed way.

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Looking at Padlet use off my mobile. Just set a page up easily and added videos and pictures from my device which would make it easier for students to use. Time will tell.....

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Six Strategies you can use in the classroom to reduce cognitive load.

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Six Strategies you can use in the classroom to reduce cognitive load.

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I found this article useful as it deals with simple strategies we can use in the classroom to enhance teaching and learning as well as reducing cognitive load for our students. Attached is the link.

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In a complex world, it's easy to get overwhelmed by a deluge of complex information. This shouldn't be surprising, as working memory (our mental work space), has a limited capacity for processing information.

If the demands placed on working memory, known as cognitive load, are too high, learners may give up in frustration or fail to comprehend. According to cognitive load theory, some inherent cognitive load must occur during the process of learning. In fact, learners can benefit from friction, difficulties and challenge.

What is not a benefit is excessive or extraneous cognitive load, which is under the control of the learning experience designer or facilitator. Extraneous cognitive load does not contribute to the learning process. By reducing the extra mental effort required to learn new information, we can assure greater learner success. Here are some ways to reduce that wasteful cognitive load.

1. Maximize the Signal to Noise Ratio

With this strategy, think of the signal as the message you want to communicate and the noise as the extraneous information that detracts from learning. By removing unnecessary complexity and distraction, you will remove some of the extraneous cognitive load.

What elements become noise during learning? Anything that inadvertently complicates learning, such as poor instructions (see Writing Microcopy), a confusing user interface or a visually cluttered layout. Essentially, anything extraneous to the learning task should be transparent to the learner so that it does not use up limited cognitive resources.

In their often quoted article, Nine Ways to Reduce Cognitive Load in Multimedia Learning, Mayer and Moreno (2003) call this approach weeding. It involves eliminating all extraneous content that embellishes the learning, even when it is interesting. The goal is to avoid promoting incidental processing that is not relevant to the learning task.

2. Promote Generative Strategies

Generative strategies place more of the responsibility for learning on the individual. There are several types of generative strategies you can use, one being elaboration, in which learners use their own words and ideas to expand on a concept in a way that relates to their experience and understanding (Jonassen, 1988).

How can you do this in eLearning? Using a technique known as the query method, include a prompt to "stop and think" about the concepts that were just presented. Instruct learners to generate one sentence from a list of key concepts or vocabulary presented in the training and to submit this sentence online.

In one study, embedding low level elaboration queries into online training resulted in "improved organization, integration, and application of task-relevant knowledge and higher instructional efficiency" (Cuevas & Fiore, 2014).

3. Write Concisely

Although it takes more effort to write with fewer words than with many words, concise writing is a straightforward way to reduce cognitive load. Long-winded explanations, obtuse instructions and irrelevant content make unnecessary demands on cognitive resources. A general guideline is to use only the words that are needed to explain or define a concept or principle.

One study asked participants to read passages of different lengths about a weather process. Subjects learned the least from the passage with 500 hundred words not accompanied by a brief summary. Retention and transfer were greatest for those who read passages that had very short summaries (Mayer, Bove, Bryman, Mars, & Tapangco, 1996).

4. Provide Scaffolding (Supplantive Strategies)

Another way to reduce cognitive load is to provide assistance during the learning task, then eventually withdraw the assistance when the learner can perform the task independently. Educators use the metaphor of scaffolding (a temporary support) to refer to this strategy.

In adult learning, scaffolding makes sense for learning how to perform complex tasks, such as solving difficult problems. One way to accomplish this in online instruction is to identify the parts of a task that cause the most difficulty. Then embed appropriate assistance into the lesson that users can select if they need help. One weaning technique could be to apply hints rather than explicit help.

Another interesting approach comes from a study that created a computer-based matching service for students studying computer science. The service connected the right type of expert to scaffold a particular student's learning. Upon finding the appropriate person, the tutor and student would interact online (Greer et al. 1998, 2000). A similar approach could be devised in large international organizations that have a workforce with diverse expertise.

5. Create Opportunities for Collaborative Learning

According to cognitive load theory, as the difficulty of the content increases, individual learning becomes less efficient when compared to learning with a group. The idea is that under certain conditions, group learning divides the cognitive processing across several individuals. Even though the information needs to be re-integrated and the learning coordinated, collaborative learning is considered to be more efficient under conditions that cause high cognitive load (Kirschner, Paas, & Kirschner 2009).

Recommendations for this strategy usually include providing a team assignment to a group of two to five people. Types of assignments might include solving a difficult problem, generating a plan or developing a checklist. The assignment must include input from every individual and should involve interactions that promote discussion, challenging and defense of ideas and reflection on the learning task. Researchers theorize that under conditions of high cognitive load, this richer collaborative learning environment leads to deeper processing and more meaningful learning than individual learning. In an online environment, you can accomplish this through synchronous video conferencing or asynchronous platforms, such as forums.

6. Provide Cognitive Aids

A cognitive aid is any tool or set of materials that can offload some of the demands on working memory. This can be anything from using paper and pencil as a scratchpad to a mobile app that calculates complex measurements. In the workplace, you may use performance support tools as external memory aids. But what about during a learning intervention? To reduce cognitive load while a person is in the process of learning, you can provide external memory supports such as:

checklists for completing complex instructional tasks,

worked problems as examples,

a quick-reference glossary for new terminology (example: Instructional Design Guru), and

concept maps that diagram concept relationships.

Reducing Cognitive Load Conclusion

According to cognitive load theory, extraneous load consists of the demands on working memory that do not contribute to learning. It is the aspect of instructional interventions that learning experience designers can control. Hopefully, these six strategies are reminders of valuable approaches that can reduce cognitive load in your designs.
References:

Clark, R., Nguyen, F., and J. Sweller (2005). Efficiency in Learning: Evidence-Based Guidelines to Manage Cognitive Load.

Cuevas & Fiore (2014). Enhancing learning outcomes in computer-based training via self-generated elaboration. Instructional Science; Vol. 42 Issue 6, p839-859.

Greer, McCalla, Cooke, Collins, Kumar, Bishop, & Vassileva, (2000). Integrating cognitive tools for peer help: The intelligent intraNet peer help-desk project. In S.P. Lajoie, eds, Computers as Cognitive Tools (Vol.2): No More Walls, Vol. 5, pp. 69-96. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Jonassen (1988). Learning strategies in courseware. In David H. Jonassen (Ed.), Instructional designs for microcomputer courseware, (pp. 151-181). Hillsdale:NJ. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers.

Kirschner, F., Paas, F., & Kirschner, P (2009). A Cognitive Load Approach to Collaborative Learning: United Brains for Complex Tasks. Educational Psychology Review, Volume 21, Issue 1, pp 31-42.

Mayer, Bove, Bryman, Mars, and Tapangco (1996). When Less Is More: Meaningful Learning From Visual and Verbal Summaries of Science Textbook Lessons. Journal of Educational Psychology, 1996, Vol. 88, No. 1,64-73.

Mayer & Moreno (2003). Nine Ways to Reduce Cognitive Load in Multimedia Learning. Educational Psychologist, 38(1), 43-52.

Find success with online learning with articles, tips and resources delivered to your Inbox once a month.

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Six Strategies You May Not Be Using To Reduce Cognitive Load

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In a complex world, it's easy to get overwhelmed by a deluge of complex information. This shouldn't be surprising, as working memory (our mental work space), has a limited capacity for processing information. If the demands placed on working memory, known as cognitive load, are too high, learners may give up in frustration or fail to comprehend.

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Sam and the Johns walked and identified some targets for shaping.
Tochi (AIM) has also walked...
We received feedback from Angie, Debra and Lynda student teachers in English and Humanities.

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We are still looking and walking...in the direction of some proposals!
Many of the Teach Meets projects are likely to make a significant contribution to Shaping a Learning Community.

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Had a go at Powtoon. It has potential.

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a teacherMeetMAVISlike you, she'sMAVISAnd like you,???the amount of CONTENT on the course ?struggles withBECAUSE:And it frustrates her at workThe scheme of work is so tight!AShe has to re-explain everythingStudents are running out of steam BCOhno!MAVISThat is, before.........FLIPPED LEARNINGFLIPPED LEARNINGSOLVESproblemsfor MAVISall thoseFREEDOMAMore SPACE in the scheme of workAPPLICATIONThey can PRACTISE in the lessonsBFUNCOLLABORATION has really improved CSoMAVISgets startedRIGHT AWAY!for agoes tothe internet to find some resources she can useMAVISgoes toLook howMAVIS ishappywow

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I have asked Psychology students questions related to growth mindset characteristics. I will ask them again after the complete a lesson that they have researched and will teach to the class...

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A survey designed to see how far a class has a "growth mindset" by questioning them on Dweck's key characteristics of the growth mindset learner.

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Making an instructional video for flipped learning 

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Making an instructional video for flipped learning 

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Had a go at this. Students have used it for homework....

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Growth mindset has been a journey and will continue to do so next year......Here is my project presentation-shah