Minecraft, Art, and ADHD

I was recently asked about my experience with students with ADHD. I am always careful talking about disorders. Most of the time such discussions are framed generally but the person asking has a real person in mind, an individual I have not personally met. I find myself asking more questions than providing answers keenly aware of the great variations that are typical in attention-disorders.

As a teacher, researcher, and later as an academic I have worked with students with disabilities and attention disorders for about twenty years. In fact in many ways I myself function often in ways that are similar to those with ADHD- patterns that I seem to have picked up from my students.

When I answer questions about attention disorders we invariably end up discussing the intersection of my two worlds of expertise: education and  technology. Sometimes instead of technology it is art. It almost always goes like this. I am not sure s/he has an attention disorder because when s/he are creating art or interacting with a device, they are entirely focused for extended periods of time. With that focus, they are able to handle frustrations a bit better and persist in their chosen task.

It is not, of course, a sign that the attention deficit (with or without hyperactivity) is gone. Instead, it is the nature of the task itself. Playing Minecraft or drawing supply a rich set of feedback cues that keep attention. Trying to create while regulating the result and making the small adjustments needed to improve seems to draw those with attention problems in and flood them with enough overlapping input that satisfies the need for stimulation. It may very well be that the rich activity helps block irrelevant information that student with attention problems find hard to block when their senses are just marginally engaged (for example during lecture).

If that is true, what is our next step? Gamification may offer part of the answer, art the other. Can we engage all learners and especially those with attention problems with rich, focused overlapping inputs? I believe that rich applications like Minecraft can do it, so can pottery or playing an instrument. These environments have to be carefully thought out, though. For example teaching geometry through painting is the wrong approach because we are trying to achieve a secondary goal through a primary activity. The power of the activity is the overlapping foci. As we disperse the focus, the impact will be significantly reduced.

For such experiences to be effective we need to design immersive experiences carefully, so the focus remains, and we achieve the goals we set for ourselves.

Two ways we can use wearable in ed and 3 reasons we are far from 1:1

In recent months, I have noticed an upsurge in posts and conference sessions about wearables in the classroom. This trend follows a similar one a few years ago following the release of Google Glass. I love new technologies and try to champion their contribution to learning, BUT I do think that we are still far from being able to use wearables in the classroom effectively. I see three major points:

1. Cost. Most (if not all) wearables are still dependent on a primary device to connect them to the internet. As a result, the cost for a wearable combines the cost for a primary device (usually a smart phone) and the cost for the wearable. Since wearable costs are similar to the primary device, this essentially doubles the cost for the consumer or school system. Some school districts that I work with are starting to think about a two devices per student approach. In that scenario, most are discussing a laptop and a mobile device. A third device would be a luxury that is still far from what we can do now.

2. Real estate and attention. Screen real estate is critical in education. The capacity to show large images and text is paramount in reducing cognitive load and increasing student focus. Having a small distracting device will not add to learning.

3. Privacy. Most school-related devices are bigger and require a decision to carry them around with you at all times. Wearables, on the other hand, are designed to be on (the person) at all times. When they belong to the school, it raises serious questions about privacy.

Despite that I can see two main uses for wearables in the classroom that could make a difference.

1. As a teacher device. Teachers can use a small wearable (perhaps most notably a Google Glass type device). To manage their classroom on the go and access information during teaching, workshops and meetings. It is a stretch, would require some specialized software and would have very limited impact on education (it is a teaching not learning device).

2. Special education. A watch type device can be significant in helping students in special education learn to monitor themselves nd provide timely feedback and measurement without the need for constant supervision from teachers. This ould increase learning for special education students and reduce the load on teachers.

I think wearables are still a long way from being 1:1, but I can see targeted use coming in the next few years.

Tim Gunn, Premiere League, Grammarly, and Metacognition

Photo from www.lukeford.net
[CC BY-SA 2.5]
via Wikimedia Commons

1. As part of my summer reading, I have been reading Tim Gunn's book The Natty Professor. I have been introduced to Tim Gunn by watching Project Runway, a favorite of my significant other. In one section of the book, Gunn describes listening in on museum visits. He reflects on open-ended questions and being purposeful about presenting ideas and artists. He is essentially calling on teachers to make conscious choices about invoking ideas and creating authentic learning events that focus on things that matter not esoterics like shapes in the picture or dates in history (I am not saying they are not important I am just saying they are not the key ideas).

2. In a recent blog post by Mr Parkinson (in the UK), he suggests bringing the Premiere League into the classroom as a way of creating fun and different learning events. In the short post, he describes how teachers can create a fantasy league in a way that provides learning opportunities in reading and math. It is a way to discuss budgeting, making economic choices, and discussing statistics.

3. Grammarly is my new favorite tool for writing. Since I do a lot of writing a tool that helps correct the small and larger errors is welcome. I have found Grammarly to be incredibly useful (though not perfect) as I write. There are critical voices out there about Grammarly e.g. this post but the my point here is not really about the tool. I fell in love with Grammarly, not because it is an excellent tool to correct your writing (it does help). I fell in love because it gives clear explanations of why it marks what it presumes is less than optimal writing, allowing me to make decisions about what I want to change and what I do not. Further, over time it decreases my errors since I have learned the reasoning behind the correction and avoid common errors.
See more about Grammarly here.

All of these disparate thoughts connect to one central point. The value of using authentic learning experiences is in the kind of metacognition it can produce. Going to the museum is great, but the real benefit comes from the explicit thinking about process and observation that is scaffolded by a knowledgeable and capable teacher. Bringing a sports fantasy league (or a mock stock portfolio) into your classroom can be fun. Again, the real value comes from discussing the decisions people make and the learning from real world results. Without the metacognitive discussion, it becomes a competition for points where learners may be winning but still missing the central point. It is the same using a tool like Grammarly; it pays dividends when you read the explanation and think through writing patterns.

The bottom line is that learning always benefits the learners much more when they understand the why and how of learning leading them to more general understanding and a growing capacity to direct and own their learning.

The Value of Shared Experience

My sister has been visiting with her daughter (8). All three young kids start each morning on their iPads. My sister became frustrated with extended periods of side by side playing and watching. Finally, she suggested they watch a movie together instead. I agreed, and after thinking a few minutes asked: "how is watching a movie together better than individual iPad use?" My sister said nothing apparently thinking about my question.

Later that day she said: "I watched them as they watched the movie. They laugh together, chat about the movie and have fun together." In essence, she was pointing to shared experiences that can then be a basis for communication and reminiscing. This can happen with devices as well if kids play together in a shared digital space such as Minecraft.

Curiously, this coincided with a video I watched by Dan Ariely on Big Think. In the video, Dan discusses the fact that the vacation experience has three phases, anticipation, execution, and reminiscing. All phases have emotions attached and a very different "half life". I would argue the same can be said for learning experiences (and vacations, at least good ones, are learning experiences). We create anticipation, a learning event and then opportunities for recall. We hope that the reminiscing phase is long and carries with it relevant lessons.

The shared experience becomes important across all phases. First, it heightens the anticipation. We have all seen learners getting each other excited about a coming learning experience. During the event, learners share key moments with oral comments, back channel comments, or even non-verbal comments (e.g. laughter). Finally, and maybe most importantly, learners can remind each other of the shared experience. In this way, they keep enhancing the memory trace and increase the half life of the learning event.

I would argue that the value of shared experiences is linked to the uniqueness of the learning experience itself. If students are busy practicing and gaining fluency (essentially performing at the lower range of their Zone of Proximal Development) then shared experiences are much less important and might actually get in the way. When creating we also seem to need some time without interaction with others to let our ideas grow. But, when we use meaningful and challenging learning events the value of the shared experiences increases.

Individualizing instruction to fit student personal needs must be balanced with shared learning experiences!

The 8 Apps I use in Teaching Now

I often talk about apps (not just iOS) and at any time point I have over 400 of them on my devices. This time, however, I would like to talk about the apps thatI use when I teach.

Like everyone else teaching with technology I have a set of go to apps, the ones I trust and rely on. I also try out a few new ones every semester but only a few are added to the repertoire.

1. Google drive/ docs. I use Google for almost all student papers. It allows for easy peer and instructor feedback, resubmission and tracking. A bonus is that it maintains ownership on the work.

2. LMS Blackboard. I think that every instructir needs a source platform usually called Learning Management System. Not everything happens on it but it serves as the point of origin and repository of links dics etc. Mine is Blackboard as an institutional not a personal decision.

3. Socrative. I have tried other formative assessments apps (e.g. kahoot quizizz) but I always come back to Socrative. It is the most flexible, simple, abd device agnostic option. I use it for quizzes, back channel, polls, and exit tickets.

4. Padlet. This collaborative space for creating and sharing is a staple for group work. At times I use it as a backchannel.

5. iMovie. I create movies on the go for online and face to face classes. I usually edit very little and I find that iMovie is perfect for this kind of work.

6. YouTube. I use many movies in teaching. Almost all of them consumed outside of class time. I share my own movies (see 5) as well as those created by ithers and shared through Edutopia and other top sites.

7. Twitter. I actually do not use it enough. I use it mainly as prrofessional development and to find resources for teaching.

8. Presentation- I have almost completely stopped using power point and their clones in class. I have old ones that I provide my students for structure but use
very infrequently in class. I am agnostic and I use google slides, powerpoint, keynote and prezi almost interchangeably.

My/Your Digital Generation

Summer, we are at the pool, relaxing. My son Asaf (19) looks around the pool eyeing many of adults on their smartphones. Not only adults but many. And yes, it did include me.

He says, "everybody complains about my generation, the way we focus on all things digital. Your generation is worse."

"You adapted every new technology quickly and thoroughly. You are the ones that afforded the first iPhones, tablets, and every little thing that comes out. You are the real YouTube generation because you had a choice, and you chose this!"

I love it when my kids have insights like this. And yes for a long time I have felt this way as well. I hear many adults calling for less use of technology in schools and at home. They reject the role technology can play at school feeling that it is just games, fun and not serious enough. They are afraid that our children will not move, not be creative. I admit that as adults, we have the obligation to protect our children even from the things we are doing/ have done. But at the same time we must remember that personal example is very influential. And so for me two questions remain as we educate the next generation:

1. If we lead by example, then we lead by showing appropriate and balanced uses of devices not lack of use. We must first look at ourselves and our practices. Do they mirror what we want our kids to learn or are we around the pool checking our smartphones?

2. We must ask ourselves what we are protecting our children/ students from? The old data about screen time is out of sync with digital realities and in many ways we still don't know much about the impact of new practices. Some like the American Academy of Pediatrics publishes concerns and limitations. They take the defensive approach if we don't know, let's not do it. This method works well for medicine, not so much for everyday well-being. The two questions that must follow are: what will kids be doing with this time? And what will they be missing if they do not have digital lives? Will they be ready to be citizens of the 21st century?

3. We must ask ourselves if when making an argument about screentime at school we are in fact making a class based argument. It may be that we are saying: "My middle class, son of a professional, student is getting enough digital exoerience and guideline at home therefore he and all other students do not need to spend time on it in school.

My son Asaf looked at me and added: "Yes, it's your generation, but it is especially you." I smiled: "I am ok with that." Later that evening, he was using three screens: A Netflix movie on the TV, a video game on his laptop, and the BBC news on his phone.

I wonder what his kids will do.

Are we herding cats or a climbing team?

I have been thinking this summer about the work we do together with teachers, wondering what metaphor we can adequately use to describe it.

Recently, I have written about the boot camp metaphor. Another metaphor I have repeatedly heard through the years is one about herding cats usually accompanied by this video. I've always been uncomfortable with this metaphor. It essentially communicated a rivalry, one person the lone cowboy/cowgirl trying to herd a group of individualistic animals that do not want to go. The herding cats metaphor must go because it does not recognize the expertise and capacity of teachers. Instead of herding we should be leading, guiding and showing the way.

In searching for a metaphor, I reached mountain climbing teams. It is a metaphor that works for me to describe what we do as educators and what we do in TechEDGE. Just to be clear, I am not a mountain climbing fanatic. In fact, I am quite wary of heights. What I've read and watched led me to a perception of what mountain climbing might be, and it is this perception that guides this post.

When I work with teachers we go on a journey together. This journey is much like climbing mountains:

Goals: Each journey has a goal, a peak. But once a team reaches the peak there are many others that suddenly look possible.

Teams: Each team has its personality. We work together to define goals and divide the tasks. We get to know each other well, creating a friendship stemming from shared experiences. We support each other since we are all tethered. There are pitfalls and many moments we just want to get off the mountain. Only when we work together, supporting and motivating each other can we make it to the top.

Leadership: I serve as a guide, I know this and other mountains more than many so I can support the climb. I sometimes lead but many other times I just sit back and let others lead, gain confidence until some of them go ahead and lead their own expeditions.

Work ethic: Climb one mountain at a time. It is arduous at times, exhilarating at others. The important lesson is to reach the goal and look down on the path you took. It makes a lot more sense than mountain hopping, where each school year you start on a new mountain before you finished climbing the last one.

Emotions: Every mountain inspires fear and excitement. Those are not mutually exclusive but instead both useful. Excitement motivates while fear keeps us from attempting things we should not. At the same time, those two must be in balance. Too much fear and we never attempt the climb, too much excitement, and we all tumble down.


It is important to remember to document the path and the achievement. Most of all it is important to celebrate once we reach the top. Not because we are done, because we have accomplished something significant.