November Learning: Expanding the Boundaries of Learning

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Years ago, when farms dominated our landscape, children were responsible for performing meaningful jobs that were vital to each family’s success. Depending on their age, children would care for animals, repair farm equipment, prepare food to sell at local markets and more. Children were essential to the very survival of the family. At the same time, these jobs taught children the value of hard work, leading them to become more productive citizens within their communities as adults.

As mechanized tools and other advances developed, the work of children was replaced. To prepare for the industrial economy, students were required to attend school where teachers became central figures and where children took on more passive roles within their communities. The contributions made by children to their community shifted to the responsibility of completing schoolwork. This continuing trend contradicts a fundamental human need that draws us to make contributions to our communities.

We have come full circle as globalization quickly becomes the norm, and it may now be essential for our students to compete with peers from around the world. Today, we can restore the dignity and integrity of the child as a contributor. Across the country, pioneering teachers are providing students with new roles that have students making contributions to their learning communities. We have powerful, easy-to-use tools such as screencasting and podcasting that give students opportunities to contribute content to the class. At the same time we can also provide them with rigorous and more motivating assignments and better prepare them to become more productive in our new global economy. It’s an exciting time.

The six jobs described below outline creative ways that your students can make valuable contributions to their learning community. While these jobs can be successfully implemented individually, it is bringing them together in harmony where we can create a more balanced vision of teaching and learning.

Tutorial Designers
Students from Lincoln Middle School in Santa Monica, California have energized their school through the use of screencasted tutorials. Started through the leadership of their teacher, Eric Marcos, these kids have begun documenting their learning by recording themselves solving problems based on material discussed in class.

Eric has been using Camtasia (http://www.techsmith.com) with his class to allow students to record the actions being performed on their computer screens while also recording their explanations about how to solve each problem. When completed, these movies are uploaded and become part of an online database that Mr. Marcos’ students as well as anyone else around the world can access at any time. Another option by TechSmith that is free and equally as powerful is Jing (http://www.jingproject.com). With this software, and a single click of the mouse, students can begin recording their work easily and at any time.

Mr. Marcos has found this task to be so motivating that he has worked to build a new YouTube like Web site (http://www.mathtrain.tv) that he and the rest of his school’s math department uses to share the growing number of screencasts that students are creating. He has found that allowing students to create material for this site increases engagement and provides struggling students with more opportunities for reviewing troubling concepts.

Official Scribes
Do all of your students take excellent notes everyday? What if there were online collaboration tools that would give your class the opportunity to collaboratively build one set of perfect notes? Using a shared blog, wiki or another collaborative writing tool like Google Docs (http://docs.google.com) students can share this responsibility and create a detailed set of notes that can be used by the entire class.

Darren Kuropatwa, a high-school calculus teacher, has transformed his classroom from individual students working on “their stuff” to a collaborative learning community. His “scribe of the day” program (http://tinyurl.com/68djoz) has been a great success. Each day, a new student is responsible for taking notes and collecting diagrams that become part of his class’ online calculus textbook.

Darren has found success with this program as students who never took notes in the past are now doing so knowing that peers are dependant on what is published on the class blog. At the same time, students who struggle to take good notes are getting better as they see constant high-quality models being posted from others.

Researchers
Many classrooms have one computer sitting in the back that gets very little use. What if that computer became the official research station where one student each day was responsible for finding answers to all the questions in class – including the teacher’s?

This might not sound imaginative, but doing this can be very effective. Each day, assign a different student to sit by that computer. When questions come up during class, it is that student’s responsibility to search out the correct answer. Once sites are found that give details about the questions being asked, you might consider adding it to your own search engine built using Google’s Custom Search Engine creator (http://www.google.com/coop/cse/). This search engine can be designed to meet standards, coordinate with your curriculum and consist of sites from reputable resources. Imagine creating a Global Warming Search Engine that cuts through the hype on both sides of the issue and only accesses factual information from NASA, NOAA and other scientific research organizations.

Don’t expect this to work easily right from the beginning. Most educators know that there is a great amount of misinformation online and also acknowledge that students don’t always use the most effective search techniques. Understanding this makes this student job that much more important. We should be providing students with guided opportunities and teachable moments that allow them to practice and hone their research skills.

Collaboration Coordinators
It wasn’t that long ago when it was cost prohibitive to have your class connect with other classes and subject experts around the world. That time is gone! In an ever-shrinking world, we now have free access to make these very connections.

Using Skype (http://www.skype.com), a collaboration team could be responsible for establishing and maintaining working relationships via the Internet with classrooms around the world. How can you leverage that power? Prior to a discussion of the American Revolution, charge your collaboration team with the responsibility of finding a class of British students who would be willing to interact with theirs concerning the issues that led to the start of the War. How many eyes do you think would be opened by the differing views that occur during the debate?

Connections can also be established with experts who might be willing to talk to your students regarding other meaningful topics. For example, middle school students from one Chicago suburb were learning about the effects of globalization. Their teacher, Andrea Trudeau, could have only provided students with a short passage from a textbook or a few magazine articles. Instead, she facilitated a project that had her students creating interview questions for an American factory owner who felt he had to outsource his production to China as well as a businessman in China (http://dps109.wikispaces.com/Skype) who was managing a factory for the American market. The questions the students developed became a part of a series of interviews that were recorded and provided students with a learning experience that went far beyond any textbook or article. This project attracted a global audience, including a teacher in the UK who repurposed this material with his class as they were discussing similar issues.

There are hundreds of other opportunities like this waiting for any adventurous group of students looking for opportunities to bring the world into the classroom.

Contributing to Society
It’s almost impossible to watch TV or listen to the radio today without hearing about issues concerning various countries from around the world. While they do seem distant, these issues are important, and we can use them to teach students about social justice and empathy.

Kiva (http://www.kiva.org) is one of today’s most important social responsibility Web sites. This site opens the doors of learning and gives students the opportunity to make a small but meaningful difference in the lives of others. Through this site, your class can join others in making small loans to entrepreneurs in developing countries who are trying to make better lives for themselves and their families. These loans are repaid over time as students are kept up to date on the successes and struggles of those whom they have invested contributions.

You might consider pulling together a team who searches out investments the class finds important and relates to their current studies. They might organize snack sales or penny drives while educating other classes about their mission. This team then works with the research team to investigate what is happening in these other parts of the world. They might work with the collaboration coordinators to find experts whom they can talk to about how loans work. The learning cycle can go on and on as loans are repaid and reinvested. Your students can be tracking the results of their micro-investments long after the school year has ended.

Curriculum Reviewers
As the resources above come together, the curriculum review team jumps into action to create material that can be used for continuous review. This team combines visual and audio components into podcasts that can be posted online for individuals to download into their mp3 players.

Bob Sprankle and his class, from Wells Elementary School, are quite well known for doing exactly this. Their Room 208 Podcast burst onto the scene several years ago and provided classes with a fantastic model that can be duplicated by others. Weekly, during their snack time, Mr. Sprankle’s students organized, recorded and edited their podcasts before publishing them to a global audience (http://www.bobsprankle.com/podcasts/0506/rm208vodcast.mov).

If you plan to attempt this, you may want to get your school to purchase a few generic mp3 players that can be used by students who might not have their own. These devices can be loaded up at school with podcasts that cover multiple courses, and the material on these players can be accessed anywhere, at any time.

Conclusion
In some ways, the idea of the digital farm and the jobs outlined above is counter to the current policies of many schools where community tools are routinely blocked on the network. The opportunity before us is much too valuable for this to continue. If our children are to grow up to make important contributions to our society, it is essential that we provide them with powerful tools and experiences across the curriculum. This will require a new culture of teaching and learning that engages students as contributors. Our students have already chosen tools such as My Space and Facebook for their own communications and social interaction. Now is the time to take elements of these tools and provide students with the appropriate role models of how to use them to make important and rigorous contributions to their own school and beyond. If we do not teach students social responsibility and ethics, then our worst fears of children abusing these tools will come true.

45 Responses to “Students as Contributors: The Digital Learning Farm”

  1. Alan November | Technology at CVU Says:
    March 9th, 2009 at 1:31 pm

    [...] Here’s his article on this. [...]

  2. Powerful Learning, Technology & Mathematics | Powerful Learning: It's a Digital Thing Says:
    March 11th, 2009 at 6:56 pm

    [...] Reference: http://novemberlearning.com/resources/archive-of-articles/digital-learning-farm/ [...]

  3. Myths and Opportunities: Technology in the Classroom | November Learning Says:
    March 27th, 2009 at 1:56 pm

    [...] Alan challenges us to think about the emerging role of “student as contributor” and to globalize our curriculum by linking students with authentic audiences from around the world. (For more on this topic read Alan’s article, Students as Contributors: The Digital Learning Farm. [...]

  4. New Jobs for Students: Curriculum Reviewers | Says:
    September 18th, 2009 at 7:21 pm

    [...] the beginning of the year, my students and I have been experimenting with performing the 6 classroom jobs for students that Alan November talks about in his workshops and on his web site. This week I had [...]

  5. Myths and Opportunities: Technology in the Classroom by Alan November « lissenden.co.uk Says:
    September 27th, 2009 at 6:21 pm

    [...] the world. (For more, read Alan’s article, Students as Contributors: The Digital Learning Farm. novemberlearning.com/resources/archive-of-articles/digital-learning-farm/.) September 28th, 2009 | Category: [...]

  6. Education and the Future of Learning | Rob the Geek Says:
    October 1st, 2009 at 3:01 pm

    [...] approach many educators are taking to using the Internet as a resource. The presenter has written a supporting article (PDF) where he explains the different roles students can take to build engagement, and to [...]

  7. Alan November | what ever is happening Says:
    October 2nd, 2009 at 11:34 am

    [...] I like his ideas about the technonlgy. If you want you can see  some of his videos at this link novemberlearning.com/resources/archive-of-articles/digital-learning-farm/. no comments yet.« Animoto Create a free edublog to get your own comment avatar (and [...]

  8. Myths & Opportunities: Technology in the Classroom « changED Says:
    October 18th, 2009 at 4:28 pm

    [...] Students as Contributors: The Digital Learning Farm Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)Tour the World…for Free!The Networked StudentFlickrIntegrating technologies into educational ecosystems Categories: inspiration Tags: ANovember, videos Comments (0) Trackbacks (0) Leave a comment Trackback [...]

  9. Taking IT to the Next Level… « changED Says:
    October 18th, 2009 at 5:21 pm

    [...] Students as Contributors: The Digital Learning Farm [...]

  10. Ovenell-Carter – New Jobs for Students: Curriculum Reviewers Says:
    November 16th, 2009 at 8:17 pm

    [...] the beginning of the year, my students and I have been experimenting with performing the 6 classroom jobs for students that Alan November talks about in his workshops and on his web site. This week I had [...]

  11. Langwitches Blog » Information Literacy…Authentic Conversation..Globalize Curriculum… Says:
    November 28th, 2009 at 9:29 am

    [...] In this video presented by Mobile Learning Institute: Alan November tours his hometown of Marblehead, MA and comments on the historical global vision of his community. Alan challenges us to think about the emerging role of “student as contributor” and to globalize our curriculum by linking students with authentic audiences from around the world. (For more, read Alan’s article, Students as Contributors: The Digital Learning Farm. http://novemberlearning.com/resources/archive-of-articles/digital-learning-farm/.) [...]

  12. Ovenell-Carter – Teach Meet 09 Says:
    December 6th, 2009 at 4:58 am

    [...] to Alan November’s 6 jobs for students. « Teachers as Trust Agents: Time to Re-Assess [...]

  13. Teach Meet 09 | Stick in the Sand Says:
    February 19th, 2010 at 11:54 am

    [...] Link to Alan November’s 6 jobs for students. [...]

  14. Ed Tech in Review | Stick in the Sand Says:
    February 19th, 2010 at 11:54 am

    [...] I’d like to see more back and forth comments on the blogs, which are run through our Ning, but it has indeed proved difficult to set up and maintain contacts with other schools. I had a philosophy Ning going with some great teachers and students at the Calgary Science School but that group had to move on to other work. I hadn’t anticipated how timetables get in the way of collaborative work. The trick to expanding blogging and to setting up meaningful dialogues between schools will be to get students involved in building the connections as collaboration coordinators. [...]

  15. The iPad is the iDeal Classroom Tool | Stick in the Sand Says:
    February 19th, 2010 at 11:55 am

    [...] research, production, publication, discussion and time and task management. I also try to use Alan November’s six jobs for students as much as possible, although as we’re not yet 1:1, this is a comes off more haphazardly than [...]

  16. intrinsicallymotivated | helping people to think for themselves Says:
    March 28th, 2010 at 9:11 pm

    [...] The Wiki as a product of the community. The responsibility placed upon the students who have been charged with taking notes for that day has a positive effect as the students feel the eyes of the rest of the class on them. They know that the other class members are relying on them and realise that they will let down more than just themselves if they lose focus. I would like to take this further by allocating more specific tasks as in Alan November’s digital farm idea. [...]

  17. More on the iPad as the iDeal Classroom Tool | Stick in the Sand Says:
    April 2nd, 2010 at 10:10 am

    [...] it has built-in sharing over e-mail and Bluetooth/WiFi, it will let students do those important 6 collaborative classroom jobs out of the [...]

  18. Students as Contributors: The Digital Learning Farm | November Learning | Room With A View Says:
    April 9th, 2010 at 3:53 am

    [...] his article Students as Contributors: The Digital Learning Farm Alan November makes the case that all classrooms should have the following jobs assigned to [...]

  19. Langwitches Blog » Students as Meaningful Contributors Says:
    April 10th, 2010 at 9:08 pm

    [...] can read Alan November describe his thoughts about Students as Contributors: The Digital Learning Farm or in Chapter “Power Down or Power Up?” in Hayes Jacobs’ book Curriculum 21 [...]

  20. Recipe for Time » Blog Archive » Day Six Deals — April 15, 2010 Says:
    April 16th, 2010 at 10:46 am

    [...] Alan November’s Explanation of Student Contribution: Read this very short article about why it is important for kids to own the task, and six ways that you can make it happen in your classroom. Want to use technology to do some of this? Great! Let’s get together and do something! [...]

  21. 21st Century Skills | LuKey ReSources Says:
    May 24th, 2010 at 9:35 pm

    [...] 21st Century Skills Posted on May 25, 2010 by sfmardon Alan November challenges us to think about the emerging role of “student as contributor” and to globalize our curriculum by linking students with authentic audiences from around the world. (For more on this topic read Alan’s article, Students as Contributors: The Digital Learning Farm. [...]

  22. Students as Contributors: A Podcast with Silvia Tolisano | November Learning Says:
    January 7th, 2011 at 12:20 pm

    [...] In this podcast, Alan interviews Silvia Tolisano, 21st Century Learning Specialist, along with other administrators, teachers and students at Martin J. Gottlieb School. Here, students are being encouraged to take more of a leadership role in their learning as they take part in a variety of jobs inspired by Alan November’s article, Students as Contributors: The Digital Learning Farm. [...]

  23. Langwitches Blog » November Learning podcast- Students as Contributors: A Podcast with Silvia Tolisano Says:
    January 9th, 2011 at 11:38 am

    [...] Take a listen to the November Podcast Episode: Students as Contributors: In this podcast, Alan interviews Silvia Tolisano, 21st Century Learning Specialist, along with other administrators, teachers and students at Martin J. Gottlieb School. Here, students are being encouraged to take more of a leadership role in their learning as they take part in a variety of jobs inspired by Alan November’s article, Students as Contributors: The Digital Learning Farm. [...]

  24. Langwitches Blog » Backchanneling…Movie Watching… Note Taking…Information Scribes Says:
    January 9th, 2011 at 12:17 pm

    [...] Today’s Meet, is a great way to give your students the role of “Official Scribe”. The official scribe is one of the six roles Alan November advocates to empower learners. Alan furthermore says that Do [...]

  25. Langwitches Blog » Digital Learning Farm in Action Says:
    March 4th, 2011 at 11:28 am

    [...] November’s article Students as Contributors: The Digital Learning Farm has inspired me in my professional world beyond words and guided many of my actions in the [...]

  26. Langwitches Blog » Becoming Good Tutorial Designers Says:
    March 9th, 2011 at 6:39 pm

    [...] We are intensifying the quest to empower our learners by allowing the students to become contributors to their classroom learning community. Our model is Alan November’s six roles he outlines in The Digital Learning Farm. [...]

  27. Langwitches Blog » Student Jobs~Responsibilities & Contributions Says:
    March 9th, 2011 at 7:19 pm

    [...] own learning, their learning community and society at large. Alan November and his thoughts on Digital Learning Farm: Students as Contributors, the six roles to empower learners and Heidi Hayes Jacobs’ book Curriculum21: Essential [...]

  28. Langwitches Blog » The Official Scribe: It’s All About Learning Styles & Collaboration Says:
    April 10th, 2011 at 9:22 pm

    [...] is another post in the series of showing Alan November’s Digital Learning Farm: Students as Contributors in [...]

  29. Going Global: One Classroom’s Journey – Learn. Teach. Engage. Says:
    May 15th, 2011 at 2:36 pm

    [...] Alan November and the other by Vicki Davis and Julie Lindsay. Alan talked about the idea of “Digital Learning Farms.” This concept involves turning your classroom into a place where students are constantly [...]

  30. IdeaJam Videos Posted – Moderated by Alan November | November Learning Says:
    June 2nd, 2011 at 4:24 pm

    [...] viewing the videos above, you might also be interested in these additional resources. Alan November’s Article – The Digital Learning Farm Talking Student Tutorials (Part 1): A Podcast with Eric [...]

  31. New Jobs for Students: Curriculum Reviewers | Stick in the Sand Says:
    July 3rd, 2011 at 7:27 pm

    [...] the beginning of the year, my students and I have been experimenting with performing the 6 classroom jobs for students that Alan November talks about in his workshops and on his web site. This week I had [...]

  32. What do these four people have in common? : SSAT Says:
    July 8th, 2011 at 6:23 am

    [...] of co-construction, and Alan November will provide practical examples of this.  Alan’s paper – Digital Learning Farm see – provides ways that ‘we can restore the dignity and integrity of the child as a [...]

  33. What’s new in technology for the classroom « Math Guru's Blog Says:
    July 27th, 2011 at 12:43 am

    [...] a key to survival. Check out some classroom ideas that are shaping the future from Alan November Students as Contributors: The Digital Learning Farm Eco World Content From Across The Internet. Featured on EcoPressed Electric car maker Think [...]

  34. Day 8: It’s all about the kids | Educating the Digital Generation Says:
    November 6th, 2011 at 7:11 am

    [...] Ideas in the World’ and Alan November talking about the idea of students participating in a Digital Learning Farm. I was particularly impressed with the way that Alan threw away his prepared speech to allow a [...]

  35. Technology Tidbits | Day #9: Global Connections Says:
    December 19th, 2011 at 11:23 am

    [...] the full article:  Students as Contributors:  The Digital Learning Farm.  Mr. November goes on to explain six types of jobs or activities that help students develop [...]

  36. The EarthShaker Project: Behind the Scenes | Educating the Digital Generation Says:
    December 29th, 2011 at 7:00 pm

    [...] It’s called the EarthShaker Project and is inspired by Alan November’s concept of a digital learning farm. Alan’s work really resonated with me. I see it as the perfect way to integrate values [...]

  37. Sowing and Reaping | 21st Century Skills Says:
    January 24th, 2012 at 4:25 pm

    [...] Alan November, an educational leader, outlines what this could look like using the metaphor of a Digital Learning Farm where students are contributors to learning. Silvia Rosenthal Tolisano has created a helpful flyer [...]

  38. Digital Learning Farm | Weaver sTem U Says:
    February 9th, 2012 at 10:47 pm

    [...] November writes about the concept of a digital learning farm as a way to describe a learning environment that provides creative ways for students to contribute [...]

  39. Chromebooks and BYOT | Pearltrees Says:
    March 1st, 2012 at 9:48 pm

    [...] Do all of your students take excellent notes everyday? What if there were online collaboration tools that would give your class the opportunity to collaboratively build one set of perfect notes? Using a shared blog, wiki or another collaborative writing tool like Google Docs ( http://docs.google.com ) students can share this responsibility and create a detailed set of notes that can be used by the entire class. Darren Kuropatwa, a high-school calculus teacher, has transformed his classroom from individual students working on “their stuff” to a collaborative learning community. His “scribe of the day” program ( http://tinyurl.com/68djoz ) has been a great success. Students as Contributors: The Digital Learning Farm | November Learning [...]

  40. PETE&C 2012 (weekly) | Adventures with Technology Says:
    March 4th, 2012 at 4:34 am

    [...] Students as Contributors: The Digital Learning Farm | November Learning [...]

  41. Daily dose of the web… 04/04/2012 « Ed Tech Muse Says:
    April 3rd, 2012 at 9:12 pm

    [...] Students as Contributors: The Digital Learning Farm | November Learning [...]

  42. April 18 Meetings | 21st Century Skills Says:
    April 20th, 2012 at 2:16 pm

    [...] idea of a Digital Learning Farm show six key ways students can contribute to their learning. An example of this is MathTrain where [...]

  43. lClass Projects: How to Effectively Reach .0000004% of the Worlde (optional) « Sean's Desk Says:
    April 30th, 2012 at 9:05 am

    [...] his article, “Students as Contributors: The Digital Learning Farm”, Alan November suggests meaningful learning roles that foster [...]

  44. Class Projects:… « Sean's Desk Says:
    April 30th, 2012 at 9:11 am

    [...] his article, “Students as Contributors: The Digital Learning Farm”, Alan November suggests meaningful learning roles that foster [...]

  45. Class Projects: How to Reach .0000004% of the World « Sean's Desk Says:
    April 30th, 2012 at 9:34 am

    [...] his article, “Students as Contributors: The Digital Learning Farm”, Alan November suggests meaningful learning roles that foster [...]

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