Design+Studio

=**Design Studio & the New Literacies Inquiry Project **=

"Only the curious will learn and only the resolute will overcome the obstacles to learning. The quest quotient has always excited me more than the intelligence quotient." -- Eugene S. Wilson

__Background__
The philosophy of the **New Literacies Teacher Leader Institute** is based on the time-honored approach of “learning by doing.” As Wilson implies, inquiry is the path to education. Through a project-based inquiry process, your team will create an innovative instructional plan to be used in the classroom that incorporate interdisciplinary content and new literacies prompted by emerging technologies. With an emphasis on collaboration and design, you will explore several emerging technologies in the context of relevant and interesting content, and then critically consider their potential for enhancing instruction. In addition, you will choose specific examples of technology to incorporate into a dynamic instructional plan aimed at teaching specific content.

The aim of the project-based inquiry approach is to provide the opportunity for you to engage in what Newman, Bryck, and Nagaoka (2001) describe as authentic intellectual work. They describe the distinctive characteristics of authentic intellectual work as the “construction of knowledge through disciplined inquiry in order to produce products that have value beyond school” (p. 14). Through a focus on authentic intellectual work, we aim to engage you in learning opportunities that connect to your world. Likewise, elements of project-based inquiry possess what John Dewey referred to as //productive inquiry//, which is "that aspect of any activity where we are deliberately (although not always consciously) seeking what we need in order to do what we want to do” (Cook and Brown, 2005, p. 62). Our aims are to engage you in intellectual work that has depth, duration, and complexity, and to challenge and motivate you toward knowledge creation that relates to your educational context.

Authentic intellectual work also requires that learners make use of a range of literacy skills as they interpret, analyze, synthesize, evaluate, and otherwise work with materials and information. Authentic intellectual work involves:


 * //Construction of knowledge:// learning through analysis, evaluation, and other active high-level tasks.
 * //Disciplined inquiry:// in-depth learning on focused topics.
 * //Value beyond the inquiry activity:// the production of usable knowledge that has “personal, aesthetic, or social” significance outside of school or professional development.

Your work in this authentic intellectual inquiry will also be framed by the emerging theory of Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK). The TPACK theory suggests that concurrent considerations of technology, content, and pedagogy are central to the meaningful use of technology education. Deep and authentic uses of technology emerge when teachers utilize technologies given pedagogical and content understandings. Mishra and Koehler (2006) describe the processes for teachers developing TPACK as necessitating transaction among technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge so that “a change in any one of the factors has to be ‘compensated’ by changes in the other two” (p. 1030). Ultimately, these transactions should result in creative and innovative uses of technology. Engaging in TPACK does not just mean that you are thinking about the consequences of using a technology or trying to determine the procedural steps that might be involved in the process. Instead, TPACK should open the door to new uses of technology that are situated in real-world and meaningful contexts. As teachers, we want technology to enhance and enrich our instructional ideas. Such work will be a primary focus in your inquiry.

==__Description of the Inquiry Process & Resulting Products of Learning__==

Your inquiry work will be driven by questions that you generate given your intellectual interests and professional experiences in conjunction with a focus on new literacies. Working in teams during the week of the Institute, you will collaborate to generate a motivating question and complete an inquiry project. Your inquiry may be content or pedagogy focused or some combination of the two. For example, your team might be interested in language concepts and the potential that off-the-shelf video has for teaching language-related content. The inquiry process could involve exploring the potential remixing video has for teaching content. More specifically, your work might involve remixing or mashing up existing historical video to communicate how to use alliteration. An inquiry question related to this topic might be: "How can students use historical video to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of language concepts?"

To facilitate the inquiry process, we will take a Design Studio approach represented in the diagram below.

__Developing a question__: What questions do you and your partner have that might serve as the focus for your inquiry? What shared interests and / or motivating discontents do you and your partner have about some aspect of the content and curriculum you teach? How might you frame your ideas into a compelling question that would communicate your intent to others?

__With a question in place__, your team will continue through the steps of the inquiry process outlined in our diagram above and examine technology tools, content, and pedagogical strategies related to your topic. Your primary goal is to create two products of learning that you will share on Friday in the Design Studio Showcase. The **Two Products of Learning** include:
 * An **innovative instructional plan** reflecting your knowledge of technology, content and pedagogy (TPACK) that will be posted to your institute wiki. As a first step in your instructional plan, you will create a short digital video narrative overview conceptualizing your ideas for instruction.
 * A sophisticated **technology product** that you would use either **//(a)//** to facilitate and enhance the teaching of the instructional plan, or **//(b)//** to provide an example of what students might create during the lesson to represent their content learning. If your team create a product of learning that is an example for your students, the project should be developed at a level of sophistication and complexity reflective of your own knowledge and skills rather than attempting to represent student work.

__Inquiry Process Benchmarks__
Use the following **Inquiry Process Benchmarks** to help your team stay focused on the process and the products of learning that you will share on Friday in the Design Studio Showcase.

Tuesday Benchmarks
 * Do have you an inquiry partner?
 * Have you and your partner agreed on a compelling question for your Project Based Inquiry (PBI) process?
 * Have you targeted several new tools to incorporate into your PBI?
 * Have you considered how to make global connections through your lesson?
 * Have you started writing your project on your Participant Project wiki page?
 * Have you posted your PBI introduction video?
 * Is your IMPACT V Team making progress on goals and action steps for implementing IMPACT V at your school?

Wednesday Benchmarks
 * Are you going through the PBI process with intention?
 * Are you gathering and analyzing information to inform your instructional plan?
 * Are you creatively synthesizing your content and technology into an innovative instructional plan?
 * How will you assess student learning (formative and summative)?
 * Are you ensuring innovative and creative use(s) of technology to support your instructional plan?
 * Are you pushing beyond your comfort levels with technology use?
 * Is your IMPACT V Team making progress on goals and action steps for implementing IMPACT V at your school?

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> Thursday Benchmarks
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Have you critically evaluated and revised your instructional plan? Is it aligned with Common Core/Essential Standards?
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Have you incorporated ways for students to publish and share their work?
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Do you have a completed instructional plan posted on your wiki?
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Do you have a technology product that supports your instructional plan or an example/model of what it is you want students to create?
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Have you leveraged your evolving TPACK in your instructional plan?
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Have you been intentional about building in ample time for students to be creative and work at the higher levels of Bloom's Taxonomy?
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Are you being intentional about ways that you will be a teacher leader at your school and beyond?
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Is your IMPACT V Team making progress on goals and action steps for implementing IMPACT V at your school?

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> Friday Benchmarks
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Have you shared your instructional plan and related technology product with the group?
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Have you reflected on your learning experiences for the week? Can you articulate your take-away ideas?
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Have you developed an action plan to share your experience and expertise (as a teacher leader) with your colleagues?
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Will you go forth, make it so, and stay connected with your New Literacies Teacher Leader colleagues?
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Does your IMPACT V Team have a clear plan for implementing IMPACT V at your school?


 * __References__**

[|Julie Coiro's website addressing Instructional Strategies for Critically Evaluating Online Sources]

Cook, S. & Brown, J.S. (2005). Bridging epistemologies: The generational knowledge between organizational knowledge and organizational knowing. In S.E. Little & T. Ray, (Eds.). Managing knowledge: An essential reader (2nd ed.). (pp.51-84). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.

Dewey, J. (1927). The public and its problems. Athens, OH: Shallow Press.

Mishra, P., & Koehler, M. J. (2006). Technological pedagogical content knowledge: A framework for teacher knowledge. Teachers College Record, 108(6), 1017–1054.

Newman, F., Bryk, A. & Nagaoka, J. (2001). Authentic intellectual work and standardized tests: Conflict or coexistence? Chicago, IL: Consortium on Chicago School Research.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Spires, H., Hervey, L., & Watson, T. (in press). <span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">[|Scaffolding the TPACK framework with literacy teachers: New literacies, new minds] <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">. In S. Kajder's and C.A. Young (Eds.). Research on English language arts and technology. Greenwich, CN: Information Age Press.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Spires, H., Hervey, L., Morris, G., & Stelpflug, C. (2012). <span class="wiki_link_ext">Energizing project-based inquiry: Middle grade students read, write, and create videos. //Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literac// //y, 55//(6), 483-493. doi: []

Image source: http://tucsoncitizen.com/godblogging/2010/06/02/common-core-standards-or-are-we-there-yet/ http://www.usi.edu/distance/bdt.htJm