Angela Novoa
Hello Everyone, Following you can see my Elevator and Venture Pitch. Angela’s Elevator Pitch [kaltura-widget uiconfid=”534″ entryid=”1_8ied23pq” width=”400″ height=”330″ addpermission=”” editpermission=”” /] You can access to my Venture Pitch here
Continue reading Angela’s A3 Posted in: Week 13: Venture Forum How can we use learning analytics to foster more effective design practices? In my opinion, learning analytics are useful for getting feedback, reflecting about methodologies, designing, learning spaces, etc. The latter allow educators to make better decisions, improve practices, see if there is something that needs to be modified and offer a space that best […]
Continue reading Day 2 Posted in: Week 12: Social Analytics
Thanks for your post, Angela, and for helping us kick off social analytics week!
Do you find yourself using learning analytics? When we were first assigned social analytics as a topic, I had a hard time wrapping my head around it, but then realized that I’ve long used the ‘tracking’ feature on Vista to gauge individual student engagement in a course; sometimes I take particularly exemplary – or paltry – engagement in the participation grades I assign.
Hi Allie,
Actually I haven’t use learning analytics and I haven’t heard about it before, but, after reading the information presented on your site, and accessing to the presentation you linked for this activity, I realized how relevant it could be for evaluating how our job is being done and how our students are learning. Indeed Vista example is the most close experience that I have had. I had use it before, but I wasn’t conscious about the purposes of it.
Angela.
Hi Angela,
I think there is a huge potential in catching the participation of the learners. I have never seen a whole lot of value in participation marks, but there is a huge social value in the participation of learners. Thanks for the thoughts…
Kristopher
What one change would you require to adopt m-learning for your own teaching and learning? I think that for adopting m-learning in my practice I would need some changes in the Curriculum. Today’s Chilean curriculum does not provide enough opportunities/spaces for designing and implementing activities that involve collaborative learning and knowledge building. The tests for […]
Continue reading Day 4 Posted in: Week 11: Mobiles
Angela,
Great that you are implementing these annual projects despite the challenges. How have the results been from these projects? Do you intend to get others on board soon?
Everton
Thanks Everton! The results of implementing these projects always have been great. After each project I have a session for evaluating it with my students. Their own reflections about how they learn by building knowledge collaboratively keeps me wanting to do more. About intending to get others on board, during October I offered a Workshop to teachers about the integration of Web 2.0 tools in instruction at a Chilean University (Universidad de Chile). On december I will coach my colleagues at the school I work.
Angela.
Great comment!
This is a huge issue… when you are supposed to “cover” a long list of items in a curriculum, how do you get time to try new things?
How much of the curriculum is testable knowledge… and how much is skills? Can skills be taught and practised and reinforced better with authentic learning out in the world… using what has been taught out in the world to solve real problems?
At a recent convention, I heard from a number of profs who brought in real world charities who needed work done… and the students did that work as part of their classes, developing relationships, solving problems, doing presentations, all the while knowing what they were learning would be used in the real world. What other opportunities are out there for our students?
Sometimes we have to teach topics that are not so motivating for students. One of these topics in Social Studies is EconomICS. We have to study this field on grade 9. Considering that all of my students of grade 9 have a cell phone, I was thinking on asking them to create a story where […]
Continue reading Sometimes we have to teach topics that a… Posted in: Week 11: Mobiles
Hi Angela,
I think your plan is wonderful.
Yesterday, I was showing the diagram I want to create. Someone gave me the hard copy last semester. I told the class that I still need to find a way to scan it (about 3-4 bond papers put together). The students smiled and brought out their iPhone… They borrowed the diagram and took a picture. I was amazed … the picture preserved the details with clarity.
I forgot … these students have the latest devices.
cheers
Stephen
Nice idea
One of the great things about economics is its relevance in the broader world… making money, borrowing money, profits, debits, businesses…
How might you use the same affordances you mention for mobiles to collect information about economics in the real world (during hours outside of class) and bring it back to share with the class?
I think that we could ask them for researching the relevance of economics in the broader world through the web browsers that their cell phones have, or the news apps. I could ask them to form groups and ask each group to be in charge of one of the following items: making money, profits, debits, businesses, etc.
Angela.
I have an iPhone 3. I think that this device has great apps that can foster learning activities but I am not sure if learners (at least my learners: grade 5, 7, and 9) are able o focus on thinking tasks without distraction, because of the large number of apps for entertainment that the device […]
Continue reading Day 2: Activity 1. Posted in: Week 11: Mobiles
Thanks for your post.
If you could “lock down” an iPhone to use certain apps and nothing more… how might you use iPhones with your students to do the kinds of learning you list in your post?
As a side note, what do you think of “scaffolding” attention management in order to help kids build their abilities to stay on task? I read a journal article in the Winter about a classroom where the teacher circulated through the students to keep them on task while they used technology to accomplish set goals.
Hi David, scaffolding would be a good idea. I think that on Social Studies (my subject) we could use the apps for recording (either video, photo or voice) to make stories about a previous research or a fictional story about the characteristics of a period or a place. They could also record stories related to civic education. Yesterday I found on a website that iPhone will release a game-app (created by two chilean engineers) about Mapuche ( an indigenous culture of Chile). Learning about indigenous cultures or any other topic related to Social Studies through gaming would be awesome.
Angela.
Angela,
They are really easily distracted and it will take a lot of discipline for them to concentrate. It’s almost impossible for me to get some of my students to focus in class. They are overwhelmed by the various apps at their disposal. The saddest thing is that many of them only use their phones for social networking and are clueless about the educational benefits.
Everton
Distraction is a symptom of high anxiety and in psychological parlance would fit into “avoidance”. Anxiety reduces availability of working memory, reduces the effectiveness of the brain’s ability to maintain focus (“inhibition”) or to switch focus based on what task is most important (“shifting”). One approach is to focus on reducing anxiety first to provide students with the working memory they need and to enhance the function of their inhibition and shifting abilities to stay on track.
Studies show that a combination of anxiety management and scaffolding anxiety management through exposure help learners manage their anxiety and improve their performance. There is also an area called “implementation intentions” where learners create if-then scripts where they plan ahead of time for what may distract them and how they will deal with it… apparently those scripts work very well for test anxiety. Worth looking into!
Currently I use mobile devices for checking my email (answering students doubts, coordinating meetings, planning activities and assessments, etc.), for searching for information through Internet browser, watching videos, reading news, playing games, recording thoughts and songs I compose, and social networking. A few years ago I mainly used cell phones for talking, but now I […]
Continue reading What, when, where and how are you doing m-learning now? Posted in: Week 11: Mobiles
Thanks for your post.
Your usage patterns seem to fit the statistics I’ve been reading on smartphone use. Actual voice calls are rare. Does it make sense to use cellphones in classrooms when they are a mobile device? What about having students use them outside of class, both to work with each other collaboratively, and to bring back documentation of their work in the field?
Maybe I did not express my self well. If using cell phones with my students, I would prefer using them outside of class, on projects where they would need to record, audio, photos or videos and work collaboratively. I think that it would bring real learning opportunities.
Angela.
I probably misunderstood. How could you incorporate those outside-class experiences into your classes? How would it affect the way you teach and assess your students? Consider how mobile plugs into product-based learning…
Hi Angela,
Thank you for your post. What I take away from your post is that you use mobile technology to extend learning. Is there something that you would wish you could do with your mobile pone that is not currently happening for you as far as education is concerned?
Ifeoma
I wish I could have more time for bringing these devices (that are so familiar for our students) into the learning space. During this year I have been integrating Web 2.0 tools on grades 7 and 9. But I could not integrate more technologies because of curriculum requirements and time. I think that the kind of learning in which we integrate technologies in education fit really well with PBA pedagogy. However, we are in a school evaluation system characterized by other kinds of evaluations (such as tests, and quizzes). I would use mobile devices for projects that include recording audio, video and images. Somewhere I read about a project based on mobile devices about a videogame that fostered collaborative learning and learning about math. I think that we could do very interesting things.
Angela.
Hi Angela,
You seem to be using your phone in an innovative way. More of us need to use our phones in an effective way to reduce time consumption in order to carry out our daily functions. I support your point that “the use of cell phones have changed from communicating through talks and messages to communicating through emails and social networking”. The technology advancements have provided us with a wider range of features on our phones. These have caused a reduction in communication cost such as BB service on the blackberry.
(I am posting this earlier because I am travelling tonight) From The PBA future emerging market tools listed on the “Future Ventures” page I have used the followings: Blogs. Wikis. Cloud Computing. I would like to see more of services that offer the PBA pedagogy to the world. One of the major issues in Chilean […]
Continue reading Final Post-Week 10 Posted in: Week 10: Product-Based Assessments
Angela,
Thanks for your thoughts and input, and I think I can speak for our entire group when I say that I’m pleased that you found this week’s presentation to be useful.
I think you touch on a very important aspect of PBA and professional development: these things take time and educators need resources (perhaps time more than anything) in order to properly implement assessment systems, of which PBA is one style or theory.
Your post also makes me think of a connection between PBA and PLNs (personal learning networks). I have no doubt that in the next few years we will see a proliferation of social network PLN development, and the flexibility of asynchronous communication could possibly enhance our ability to discuss and improve PBA and assessment pedagogy in general. So there is is a lot of hope for the Chilean Education System I think. Not only can PBA be successful but with connectors, mavens and salespeople, there surely are many venture opportunities for PBA products and services.
cheers
Doug
Hey Angie,
You hit a critical note when you mentioned collaboration and knowledge-building. All of us in the MET program can attest to that. This is the first time I am actually building knowledge in such a way where I can collaborate with my classmates to explore various topics. PBA has really changed the learning game.
Everton
What is your impression of PBA based on your experiences in MET? My experiences in MET has shown me the relevance of PBA for learners as I have been able to: Engage with learning. Learn through collaboration (I have always feel that we are a learning online community), problem solving and construction of knowledge. Own […]
Continue reading Activity #1 – Intro Discussion Posted in: Week 10: Product-Based Assessments
Hi Angela,
I agree with you the MET program has shed some light on the benefits of PBA. Thus it allows us to clearly see the effectiveness of implementing of PBA in the courses or subject we teach at our respective educational institutions.
I think the use of PBA in educational institutions across our globe will definitely foster critically among students and will create a better society. In accordance with your view that” PBA also allows to think critically about content and develop an own perspective about learning”, I think it should be implemented in all educational institutions across our globe.
Hi Conroy,
Thanks for your comments. Particularly I agree with your statement “I think the use of PBA in educational institutions across our globe will definitely foster critically among students and will create a better society”.
Cheers,
Angela.
Hi Angela,
You mentioned that PBA encourages us to own our learning– you are completely right! Inevitably we apply and build our projects around what is meaningful to us and I think that in addition to building engagement in the assignments, it also helps us to create a sense of ownership in that this is OUR work that is on topics that I am the master of. I like that addition to the benefits of PBA.
Thanks Kristopher. I liked the term that you used: master. It resumes it very clear.
Cheers,
Angela.
Angela,
I really like the succinctness of your answer. May I borrow? 🙂
The part that I like the best is the “own my learning process”. I think that sometimes we too often forget that students must have some sort of impetus on their own parts. Isn’t that one of the main rules of learning? In the constraints of curriculum and the mandate of provincial exams, i think sometimes that the focus of learning becomes the test results. And of course, there’s always the Fraser Report on the state of learning in the education system.
Just adding my two cents, Thanks.
Of course you can borrow! The idea of sharing our opinions through MET courses is exactly “sharing”. Thanks for your comments 🙂
Angela.
Hello everyone, The members of the team for week 9 would like to thank you all for your participation. The goal for this week was to critically examine and evaluate the potentials of iPad as an educational tool. The discussions for this week showed the advantages and disadvantages of integrating iPads in education. These are […]
Continue reading Culminating week 9 Posted in: Week 09: iPad Apps
Thank you, Week 9 team, for your great work.
I truly enjoyed the discussions. You’ve provided great tips for me as I’m planning to purchase an iPad in the near future.
Deb
Currently I am taking my 9th and 10th MET courses. Through MET I have learned amazingly how to deliver and store information in the Web. Currently I am using: GoogleDocs, GoogleSites, Prezi, Animoto, Glogster, Youtube, Gmail, UBC blogs, Edublogs and Wikispaces. With my students I am currently using Glogster. One of the issues I try […]
Continue reading The Cloud Posted in: Week 08: Files in the Cloud
Yes, student safety and security is so important. It is sometimes so easy to ignore these issues in the bright light of Web 2.0… There seems to be just so much to offer teachers and students there… but there are very real dangers, especially in light of the Patriot Law in the USA that allows government agencies full access to your personal information and data on any server physically located within its borders… Most of the Web 2.0 tools we enjoy in Canada, and in the world, are running on servers located in the USA.
on a practical hand, it’s for this reason that UBC no longer allows faculty to communicate with students via (faculty) gmail accounts. on a more theoretical hand, that law quite interestingly entangles the virtual and actual worlds – and demonstrates that there is a geography and a geopolitics to that which we are led to believe is off of the ground (the “cloud.”)
Angela,
I agree with you that we educators should “recommend [our students] not to expose themselves in the content they are publishing and in the way they interact with others”. I like how most of these cloud-based apps allow us to select whether we want to make the contents private or public. I realize that most of my students don’t take these issues seriously when they post up their work. They also don’t realize how much they are exposed to public. Educating our students about security and privacy issues is also very important.
Deb
Before you publish your posting, please make sure that you select a category (eg. Introductions) as well as assign some meaningful tags (keywords).
Juliana 9:29 pm on November 28, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Angela,
You beat me to it! I had an idea like this previously, but I didn’t take the time to develop it. You did a great job and I think there is a good market for this. Even here I think teachers can benefit from services such as these, but I think the barriers will be who will pay for the services. That was something I wasn’t clear on in your presentation…who will be expected to be paying for the services? Is it the teachers themselves or the administrators above them?
There were also a few sections of the presentation where the slide transitions were off making it difficult to follow, but you make up for it in your elevator pitch, which was great! I really enjoyed the elevator pitch in that it was catchy and drew my interest.
Juliana.
Angela Novoa 1:09 pm on November 29, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Juliana! Thanks for your comments! About some things that wren’t clear, you are right, and I did not realize it before. I expect that school administrators pay for these courses. That is how I work in the coaching services that I had offered (the school pays me for training their teachers).
Angela.
Juliana 5:55 pm on December 1, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
That is such a great service! I don’t think we have anything similar to that here in BC. I think many teachers would love such assistance.
Juliana.
jenaca 2:02 am on November 29, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Angela,
Great pitch and idea! I agree with Juliana and definitely think there is a market for this product. I am also a little confused about who will be paying for these services, I am assuming the administrators?
Also, I think the music was a little distracting for me. However, I think you have a really great idea and definitely had me engaged!
Jenaca
Angela Novoa 1:11 pm on November 29, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Jenaca,
Thanks for the feedback. It is really useful as I wish to create this venture in the future. About your doubts, please refer to the response I provided to Juliana.
Cheers,
Angela.
Deb Giesbrecht 5:19 pm on November 29, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Angela,
Loved your elevator pitch! Excellent graphics, great music and a strategic concept for a venture. It looked like it was professionally done and made me go right into your venture pitch. I think you have identified a significant gap in the market and some valuable solutions to accompany it. Time and planning are in such short supply now – for everyone – so the market is quite realistic and expanse. Excellent job!
Angela Novoa 5:38 pm on November 29, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Thanks for your comments Deb! Much appreciated.
Angela.
bcourey 5:46 pm on November 29, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Angela,
I agree with the others – this was well done, and thanks for describing the experience faced by teachers in Chile – I didn’t know about the competency requirement for IT – wish we had that in Ontario!! You have done a great deal of planning – your details are clear, except as other have said, who is the buyer of your service…but I see by your reply what you intended. Your price point is very reasonable as well – the competency requirement is a great motivator for teachers to take advantage of your service.
Brenda
hall 5:59 pm on November 29, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Angela,
I concur with the others that your elevator pitch was professionally done. The graphics selection and sequencing slides were good. I really like it. In addition I think that this product is a good market venture and has the potential to attract a lot of users. I know that Jamaica’s educators would definitely like a product of this nature. Well done.
Conroy
schiong 11:07 pm on November 29, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Angela,
I like the presentation.
Is my understanding correct … that what you are offering is a service ?
Assuming that your team is offering services, how do you protect your market?
Is there something only your team can provide ?
does your team get monthly salary or is it commission basis? I would like to have an idea of your operational costs.
If a company invests, say $1M, how and when would they get their return of investment?
cheers,
Stephen
Angela Novoa 11:11 am on November 30, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Stephen… thanks for your comments. About your queries…mmm…rough questions… but I will try to answer them:
About the first and second: I am offering a service and what differentiates my service from other competitors is that I offer coaching services both in technological innovation and application of theory in instruction (PBA pedagogy and Social Constructivism). Maybe I did not stated clearly this (even I thought I did). Today that would protect my service, because in Chile there are few people specialized in both fields and all of them are working with me.
About your third question: As this is still a venture that we are thinking on we have not defined if it will be monthly salary or commission based. I have seen from other coaching companies in Chile that they usually base in a low monthly salary and a commission, depending on the number of projects they reach per year.
If the venture succeeds and reaches a fair amount of schools to train, I think that the investors would get their return of investment after the first year of running.
Hope to have answered your queries.
Angela.
carmen 1:58 pm on November 30, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Angela,
Your venture is a great idea, as teacher training is one of the biggest hurdles to tech integration in schools. We believe that technology can help us do more with less.. but we first have to learn to use it first! I wonder if your target market is the individual schools (K12 and higher education?) or the public school districts. For public schools, there are “Professional Development” days, which happens a few times a year in our district, where teachers share their knowledge through workshops. However, we are rarely given collaboration time throughout the year to help each other out. Having a tech-mentor would be awesome! 🙂
carmen
Angela Novoa 11:24 am on December 1, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Carmen,
Thanks for your comments! I intentionally did not explain this because Chilean education system is different from the system of North America. So the “public schools districts” criteria would not apply. But I am targeting to public and private educational institutions. The timing of implementing the projects takes place during the academic year and last about 1-2 months. Trainers are able to visit the classroom and think on designing an activity that meets the needs of that classroom. When the trainer come up with an idea, he/she will assist the teacher and students in the management of the technology that will be applied. So, everything happens in the classroom and in the hours devoted for non teaching curricular activities. The innovative thing of this service is that the teacher is assisted both in technology and theory by an expert in both fields. The teacher is being accompanied by a mentor during the time-frame of implementation of the project. As here in Chile we are few who have been preparing in the field of technology and education, we have to start with few costumers. But I think that by having 9 costumers (1 per month) by year we could be receiving incomes and try to expand.
Cheers,
Angela.
Keisha Edwards-Hamilton 8:23 pm on November 30, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Angela
I like your value proposition. You have done a great job with the presentation. Your pitch highlighted the pain point and solution clearly. Competitors were identified which is good. You also mentioned a differentiation strategy where you would offer pedagogical support, but you did not state “how”. I think this would make the venture more appealing since this is a factor that would make me invest in your venture over another. I would also love to hear some more about how the concept work. I was not quite sure of the target market. I think this needs to be clearly identified. Based on the cost, it seems that this venture is poised for success, however I would need some ideas in terms of timeline for returns on investment if I decide to invest. Again, your venture preposition is good and is worth pursuing.
Keisha
Angela Novoa 11:29 am on December 1, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Keisha, thanks for your great feedback! Much appreciated.
About your queries I think that the response is on the answer I gave to Carmen (please refer to the message above).
Cheers,
Angela.
themusicwoman 9:48 pm on December 3, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Dear Angela,
I am really impressed with your elevator pitch. Well done. Catchy. To the point. 🙂
I will not reiterate all the comments that have been previously made but I will say that I agree in that this is a great service . . . and one that would find a niche not just in the Chilean school system. Hats off to you for a great presentation.
Michelle
Angela Novoa 3:17 am on December 5, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Thanks for your comments Michelle! 🙂 Much apprecieated.
Cheers,
Angela.