Narrative on the Creation of the Final Project

Framing the Project

                When I decided to untertake a Master’s degree in Second Language Teaching at the Univeristy of Calgary, I did so because I wanted to learn more about how to be a better teacher.  So many times over the course of the past few years, I have found myself thinking that I was so fortunate to be able to further my studies and wishing that  other teachers could be privy to some of the amazing learning experiences that I have encountered here at the University of Calgary.  A week prior to coming out to Calgary to begin this course, I happened to have a conversation with a school administrator who inquired about how I had been spending my time lately. When I told her of my studies, she excitedly gave me her card and four days later, I had a job at her school teaching EAL for the fall. One of my primary responsibilities in this position will be to offer professional development for content-area teachers in the school who encounter EAL students in their classes.  As the school has not typically been home to many English language learners until just recently, this is new territory for many of the experienced teachers who work there and I will be given a fair amount of agency to conduct this PD as I see fit.  So, in essence,  my wish has come true; I have been handed an opportunity to share my knowledge with my colleagues. In the interest of helping to make their jobs easier and to enrich the learning experience of the EAL students in this school.  It seems fitting, therefore, that my final project in my MEd is one that will take me into the start of my new life outside of graduate studies. 

Digital Habitat: Heidi’s EAL Corner

                To house this project (and hopefully many more like it), I have created a wikispace. In another course I took this summer, I learned how to turn a wikispace into a simple learning management system that can operate at a level of privacy determined by the moderator,  that is free of charge and is not cluttered with unsolicited and annoying advertisements.  I felt the wiki was a better option than a blog because it allowed a separate space for discussions that could be threaded- unlike comments on a blog post.  Although this space is fairly sparse at this point, I hope that it will grow to be a rich bank of resources for the teachers who will have access to it.  In my job, I will be expected to offer an ‘EAL tip of the week’. Since I only work afternoons and since nobody really knows me yet, at first, I wasn’t sure how I would approach this part of my job description.  I want to be accessible to teachers and at the same time, bring them the information and insight into serving the needs of EAL learners that I gained in my courses at the U of C. It occurred to me that while some teachers may want to read scholarly articles on different issues that concern their practice, other teachers may not be interested in this sort of professional development.  After taking this course and exploring the power of video, I was inspired to turn some of the content  of research-based articles into videos in the hope that this might be a creative way to disseminate this information in an engaging way and to spark discussion on the issues at hand.   

The Content of the Video

                The topic of my video concerns the challenging task of error correction in written assignments of EAL students.  Teachers of content-area courses are not necessarily trained as language teachers, but they often find themselves in this position when EAL students take their courses.  Correcting and providing feedback on written assignments can be one of the most daunting tasks a teacher can face and the consequences of such feedback can really range. Too much feedback with the wrong focus can totally diminish a student’s motivation and confidence, while not enough feedback is equally undesirable because students want and need to improve their writing skills.  The research on this topic is somewhat heavy to read, but I also attached a few good articles that do not require access through an institution (like the U of C library) to my wikispace.  I thought that a video narrative would be the perfect solution to making this research come alve, while at the same time, giving a voice to the primary stakeholders in this issue.  Because this issue is strongly connected to psycho-affective factors that impact both the student and the teacher, I felt that using images of real people and paraphrases of the results of inquiries presented as quotations from these individuals would lend a more personal effect to the narrative and to help the viewers connect that the ideas presented in the video actually have an impact on real people.  I chose the ‘red pen’ as the central theme because it symbolizes error correction for many teachers and students.

Challenges

                One of the biggest challenges I had in this project was the time frame in which I had to complete it.  I took this course over a three-week period in the summertime and I was really only afforded one week in which to complete this project.  Because of the season and the time constraint, I was not able to access ‘real’ EAL students to give voice to my studies. If this course had taken place over the school year, I would have been able to use video footage from authentic EAL students and also incorporate their personal perspectives and voices to the inquiry.  One of the things I learned in this course, however, is that one has to’ make use of the tools in one’s own backpack’, and so, for the purpose of this assignment, I had to resort to still shots from clipart galleries, my own voice to narrate,  research from journal articles and my skills to create wordle and concept map images.  I used MS Photostory 3 to produce the video because I had success with it previously and it was more flexible in terms of recording the narration than Movie Maker.  

Production Considerations

                A significant amount of care and planning went in to the production of this video.  Because I used still shots, I had to locateand use a large number of photos to keep the story moving.  It also took a lot of time to find the images that exemplified both the idea and the tone that I wanted to come through as the story unfolds.  I hope the audience will be able to identify with the teachers’ perspectives in the video, as well as to see how EAL students may be reacting to their feedback.  In creating the script, I tried to be sensitive to the fact that many experienced teachers are uncertain how to approach this task and are daunted by it, but at the same time, to allow the needs of the student to shine through.  As well, I wanted to offer a few concrete suggestions, without coming across as though ‘I have all the answers’.  Given the potential of error feedback to evoke negative feelings on the part of both the teacher and the students, I was nervous that the video would take on an overly pessimistic tone.  To combat this, I tried to be honest, but to offer a lot of postive images and optimistic suggestions and to not linger on the negative longer than necessary.  I added the piano concerto to lend a calm and ‘scholarly’ feel to the video, as its purpose was to be a tutorial, rather than to entertain.

Conclusion

                This course has confirmed to me that we can use digital media in a variety of ways to teach and to learn.  In particular, we can use digital media to tell stories which can help us to understand each other and the world around us.  Sometimes a story will help to make a lesson more meaningful. As our instructor insightfully reminded us, “our species thinks in metaphors and learns through stories (Bateson, 1994, p. 11, as cited by Stuewe, 2011).  As an EAL teacher, I will work as a bridge between my students and their content-area teachers.  For many teachers, working with EAL students in their classroom is a new and somewhat mysterious phenomenon.  For some teachers, the presence of these students may represent just one more way that they will be expected to differentiate their teaching.  My hope is that taking research and representing it as stories of the stakeholders in this relationship, the lessons within will be more engaging and memorable to those who take the time to listen.

                I chose to house my video in a wikispace primarily because this venue offers a forum for discussion.  Although I am not a ‘researcher’ per se, I access research and I bring research to others. The teachers themselves conduct informal action research on a daily basis- trying out new approaches in the interest of improving their practice.  I feel strongly that providing these teachers with an opportunity to present their perspectives on these issues is a really important part of the process of professional development. It is my hope that many teachers will participate in these forums and that we can engage in honest and open discussion that seeks to ameliorate the service we provide to these students. The quote from Angrosino (2008, as cited by Stuewe, 2011) inspired this aspect of my digital habitat; “dialogue in this sense does not literally mean a conversation between two parties; in practice it often consists of multiple, even contradictory, voices” (p.164).  I feel very humbled by my new position, as I will be coming in with relatively little teaching experience in comparison to those whom I am supposed to be ‘teaching’. It is my hope that these teachers will be open to sharing their many voices and that they won’t be afraid to debate and challenge me. It is also my hope that I will learn from their perspectives and add new layers to my own insight.
            To close, I never dreamed that I would ever become so connected and tech-savvy. I have been out of classroom teaching for nearly seven years and in that time, the world of learning has changed considerably.  Thomas and Seely Brown (2011, as cited by Stuewe, 2011) characterize this change; “a growing digital, networked infrastructure is amplifying our ability to access and use unlimited resources and incredible instruments while connecting with one another at the same time”(pp. 17-18).  In taking this course, it was my desire to gain confidence in my position in this new milieu and to help others who may be reluctant to join to become active players in this learning network.  I feel ready to re-enter the workforce, armed with a sense of belonging as a resident in my digital habitat. It is my hope that I can continue in the spirit of this course to use digital content and narrative to learn and to inspire others.

References

Angrosino, M. V. (2008). Recontextualizing observation: Ethnography, pedagogy, and the prospects for a progressive political agenda. Collecting and interpreting qualitative materials (3rd ed.). Los Angeles, London, New Helhi, Singapore: Sage Publications.

Bateson, M. C. (1994). Peripheral visions: Learning along the way. New York, NY,: HarperCollins.

Thomas, D., & Seely Brown, J. (2011). A new culture of learning: Cultivating the imagination for a world of constant change. United States: Createspace.

A link to the home of my final project

For my final project, I decided to take advantage of the opportunity to begin my work for the upcoming school year. Part of my job will be to provide PD for content-area teachers who are looking for ways to better serve the needs of the EAL learners in their classroom. Because teachers are very busy and I am only in the school building part time, I thought that perhaps a digital workshop might be an appropriate venue for my tutorials and for discussion with other teachers. Consequently, I have created a wikispace that will house my resources, the first of which is the video I created for this course.  I chose this topic because it was an issue that sparked a lot of discussion in a course I took this spring.  Please take a moment to visit my wiki. It's somewhat underdeveloped at this point, because I am just starting, but my hope is that by the end of my term, the teachers at my school will have access to bank of resources that will hopefully make their jobs easier and improve the learning experience for the EAL students in their classes.
 (NOTE: The video is embedded on a youtube link on the home page under the heading 'week 1'.)

Enjoy!

http://ealcorner.wikispaces.com/

Final blog post-thoughts on pioneering a new landscape...

On Saturday I drove home from Calgary to Winnipeg. For those who have never had the pleasure of doing this trip, I can tell you that it can feel like a very long 14 hours!  This drive is often said to be quite boring, because the land is so flat and there isn't much to look at along the way. Given that I was alone in the car, I had lots of time to contemplate all that I had learned over the last two weeks. Interestingly, I found myself insipired by the metaphor the prairie landscape offered as a way to make sense of our 'inquiry into digital content' course.

Whenever I cross the prairie, I can't help but be amazed by the vastness of the land- the endless horizons- the countless miles of fertile soil...  I found myself wondering about the pioneers who arrived here at the time when North America was becoming settled by Europeans.  What must have it been like for these adventurous people to come to this country and to have to figure out what their life meant in this new space? Surely they must have stopped and looked around in awe of all that was around them- the wild and untamed wilderness that held so much potential.
This thought reminded me a little of the Carl Sagan poem  we viewed in class about us being 'but a speck in the universe'; one feels very small indeed in the middle of the Canadian prairie.

In a way, this course has made me feel like one of those pioneers. It has given me a chance to actually pause and ponder the new landscape in which we now find ourselves as educators. In our context, the Web 2.0 and 3.0  technology has caused us to be like pioneers in this digital habitat in which we teach.  Just as the early settlers must have stood in awe of the amazing resources that this new world had to offer, I too sometimes have difficulty grasping all the potential that technology holds for teaching and learning.

Building a new civilization creates interesting challenges in terms of communication. In this context, the newcomers must learn to relate to the natives. As teachers, our students have grown up in the digital age and their ways of doing things and the codes they use to understand one another may be quite foreign to us. In order to communicate effectively with these young people, however, we need to learn their language.  Moreover, learning to live and thrive in any new habitat takes time. Some will completely embrace the newness while others will reluctantly join in, holding on to their former ways of getting things done as long as possible. This phenomenon can arguably be seen in any immigrant population. Some newcomers might be unsure of how to control their new environment and how to control themselves within this new context, hanging on for dear life to their traditional ways, despite the struggle to fit in to the new context.   Still, many are excited at the prospect of innovation and enthusiastically try to get others to take a risk and learn something new. As teachers, we see this happening in our schools with regards to technology. Some teachers have moved into the digital habitat and never looked back- while others are slow or reluctant to make the shift. Navigating such changes demands sensitivity and patience.

Regardless of how quickly and completely we all integrate into this new world, the one commonality is that we all something valuable to contribute to our new habitat.  Back in the day when the settlers arrived, they quickly realized that they needed each other and that together, they could accomplish much more than they could alone.  By networking with one another, we can all contribute to a bigger picture.  I look at my home city of Winnipeg as an example. What was once a small  First Nations trading post on the fork of two rivers that snake through the untamed prairie,  is now a modern, thriving, multi-cultural city with three quarters of a million inhabitants.  This didn't happen overnight or as a result of one individual's effort; rather, it was a gradual, continual, and  collective effort. Our digital landscape has also encouraged that same spirit of sharing and collaboration through on which our ancestors relied.  The shift in education towards constructivism, constructionism and social-constructivism mirrors this- the technology just makes it easier.

I imagine that life for the pioneers was not easy. Learning to content with the harsh realities of the new environment and learning to negotiate the norms of a brand new society- otherwise unwritten until this point- was no simple task. In the same way, we have become part of a new world in which we must redefine the rules of engagement and for which, there is no 'instruction manual'. The discussions we have had in class attest to some of the ethical and logistical dilemmas we digital pioneers face as we make sense of our new habitat. For example, how much do we share of ourselves- just because we can?   How do we protect the vulnerable individuals in this new milieu? As teachers, how do we successfully leave behind our former role of 'sage on the stage' to become an effective and inspiring 'guide on the side' ?

Teaching in today's digital context is arguably more complex that it was in the one room schoolhouses of the pioneer days. While life in general might have been harder back then, the business of teaching and learning has become a lot more complicated today because the way we regard knowledge has changed.  There are so many ways to access and present information. Knowledge has become much more elusive and fluid than it used to be- yet it remains as powerful as ever before.

In the same spirit as the settlers who came many, many years ago, this course has taught me to embrace our new digital landscape with courage and a sense of adventure. It has been seven years since I taught in a classroom and much has changed in this time, but in the fall, I will go back to work and start over in a new position. This time, I have more resources at my disposal- more confience in using them and more tools to help my students tell their stories and make sense of the world around them. I look forward to this challenge and feel prepared to take it on.

A few words on ethics in a digital context...

In today's discussion, one issue that arose was the ethics of relating narrative in a digital context.   Thanks to technology, we have the ability to share oursleves and stories with the world.  Once we put ourselves 'out there' we have little control where it goes and/or how we are perceived. Digital communication has re-defined Descartes' idea of reality ('je pense donc je suis') to now encompass  the notion of perception as part of that reality ("I am perceived, therefore I am"- (MacKinnon, 1998, as cited in Markham, 2008).  Navigating the ethics of presenting another person in a digital context- and particularly online- is a delicate issue- but also a very important one- particularly because of the ease and elusiveness of the dissemination of information on the Web. In my opinion, the heart of this issue is trust and consideration. This applies both to a research and to a teaching context.

Markham (2008) notes the importance in research of upholding this right to privacy, even if this means a loss in terms of what the research's potential to benefit the greater community. As researchers, the participants in our studies must know that they can trust us to do everything possible to portray their contributions (and thus, the participants themselves) as accurately as possible- while at the same time, ensuring that we keep our word as to where and how these portrayals will be shared.  Although the intellectual property we create from our inquiries may belong to us (the researchers), the identity of the individuals in our studies still belong to them, the participants. We must take care to protect that relationship.  If not, the future of research is endangered because this relationship hinges on the willingess of the participant to give and the accountability of the researcher to take and to share, but also to protect.

In the same token, the relationship between teacher and student in this context is somewhat similar. There are amazing tools on the web that can be manipulated for creative and collaborative student use, however not all of them adhere to FOIP (or FIPPA as we call it in MB) standards. Teachers have a responsibility to uphold these standards because there is a relationship of trust and accountability that has been established to protect that child's identity. We cannot afford to be reckless for the sake of a 'neat lesson plan' that uses questionable technology that might endanger the privacy of the child in our care.

As I shared in class, blogs and other social media have enabled people to tell their own stories. Not everyone takes into consideration that sometimes in telling their stories, they are also sharing about others who may not have given consent for their identity to be put 'out there' on the web. I gave the example of the adoptive mother who blogged about sensitive details of her adopted child's social history and the intimate details of her and her husband's challenges in conceiving a child. This example to me is case in point. The woman blogs because she feels the need to share her voice and perhaps to reach out to those who have also gone through such challenging experiences. She may also share her story with the intent of offering hope to others who are interested in adopting or struggling with infertility. Although her husband may have given consent to her sharing their personal life online, the child is a different story. By publicly sharing the story of her child, however, she has suddenly opened that child's identity to the entire online world (whatever that means) - and that child had no say in the matter. Well intended perhaps, but reckless. We can't afford to be too careful in such matters. It's hard to 'take things back' once they are published on the web. Many people have unfortunately had to learn this lesson the hard way.

Markham, A. N. (2008). The methods, politics and ethics of representation in online ethnography. Collecting and interpreting qualitative materials (3rd ed., pp. 247-284). Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore: Sage

Slowly moving in...reflections on gaining residency in a digital habitat

When I was watching the video  'Digital media: New learners of the 21^st Century', I  was trying to determine how I would define myself in this discussion. Up until recently, I think I was quite comfortably a 'visitor' in the digital world. I used what I had to in order to get by (email, search engines, my digital camera...I even lurked on a few blogs or discussion boards). I didn't really push myself to become more involved-probably because I was too busy and distracted by my very young family at the time.  About two and a half years ago though, things began to change for me; I started to get restless as a visitor and began 'moving in' to the digital world. At this point,  I started my online MEd and I joined Facebook. Both of these changes were major departures from my comfort zone, but I had been home for nearly five years with my children and I was really starting to feel the need to 'get out there' again both personally and professionally.

Just as a person needs to learn the ins and outs of a new community when they relocate,  in the same way, I began to learn to reside in this brave new digital world of ours.  Getting on Facebook allowed me opportunities to engage in the social interaction I so desperately craved some days-  especially when I felt cooped up my little ones at home.  I loved the fact that if I wanted to chat with someone or to find out what they were up to, I could go online, and get in touch- on my terms.  The 'on my terms' factor was also an essential consideration in my decision to continue my studies. I knew that an online degree would be a stretch for me- not only technologically and cognitively, but also socially. I love interacting with people and with my instructors and I wasn't really all that technologically inclined.  I was completely unsure of what to expect from an extended learning context and how I was going to fit in.  At the time, I think I was so desperate for mental stimulation, I was ready to put aside my misgivings and go for it.  It is because of my studies here at the U of C that I have decided to leave behind my 'visitor's pass' and settle in.    


This past fall I took a course on building a distributed learning environment (BDLE). In this course, I learned SO much about the interactive tools of the Web 2.0 and how people-  teachers in particular, are making these tools work for the learning environments in which they work. In this course we talked of paradigm shifts in education and we had many lengthy discussions about digital literacy and digital citizenship. This  BDLE course forever changed the way I look at teaching. Furthermore, it gave me confidence that I too could be an active member in the digital community- and I learned to manipulate a number of tools that would enhance my own participation and my teaching practice.  


One of my favourite articles from the BDLE course was by Will Richardson (2007)- who spoke of the 7 Cs of learning. I think it summarizes a lot of my thoughts about where we are heading - when we consider literacy in a digital habitat.  Richardson lists the 7 Cs as:

• communication
• connection
• collaboration/cooperation
• creation/contribution
• community
• continual learning

For a more detailed description of each 'C', check out: http://www.springvillegi.org/webpages/ttalk/files/The%20Seven%20C.pdf

my 1 minute video project

I used MS Photostory 3 to create this quick argument on 'the best place to get a warm drink'.

Reflection on the process of producing this project

                I chose this location for my video because it is truthfully my ‘happy place’. I fell in love with Paris as a sixteen year old girl, and a part of my heart will always be there because I have experienced the city not only as a tourist, but also as a citizen. I feel a strong connection to this location because when I am there, there is a certain energy from the people and the surroundings that feeds my spirit and my imagination. I have always loved history, fashion, art and the French language;  Paris has all of those things to offer.  It was easy for me to tell this story because it is one that is so personal and it is one I have experienced many, many times.

On making and following a plan

                I elected to use MS Photostory 3 for this project because I had a brief experience with it in a course I took last winter. My goal was to improve my skills with the tool and to explore some of the features of the program that I had not previously used (for example adding a musical underscore and manipulating the transitions between slides).  I already had a large number of photos on my computer from a recent trip to Paris, so it was relatively easy to paste together a storyboard. I had a particular chronology in mind for my narrative. First, I set out to introduce the location in a general sense, then I wanted to establish a rationale for the warm drink (i.e.: that the drink was earned after a long day of touring the city). Next, I wanted to introduce the specific location and then offer a vision of how the warm drink might be enjoyed. Finally, I wanted to leave the viewer with an idea of the implications of choosing this café in Paris and to encourage the viewer to check it out.  Before I chose my images, I wove together the gist of the narration. I found the photos afterward to match the images I had in my mind. I was thrilled to discover the Freeplaymusic website, because it had exactly the kind of music I was looking for to achieve the feel of a French movie- a soft, lilting accordion underscore.  I listened to the song I chose as I worked with the technology to prepare the video. This helped me to get in a mood that matched the task at hand.

                Telling a story well requires a lot of careful consideration, if one wants to achieve a particular effect.  Sometimes this means that the film-maker has to be open to straying from the original plan. As I began to work with the photos, I realized that I needed to reorder some of them to tell the story in a more compelling way. For example, the image with the empty chair seemed more suitable at the end, because it looked like an open invitation for others to experience the French café. Ultimately, this was the message I wanted to send, so I decided to save it for the final image. Additionally, I had decided to supplement my own collection of photos with some from the MS 2010 Clipart gallery and a couple from Wikipedia. In the end, I decided to discard a couple of images that I had chosen from my original storyboard. I got rid of some because they were superfluous and would make the video too long. I also decided against using a few others because they didn’t really have the look that I was trying to achieve.  I really wanted the images to reflect the romance and the subtle energy of the location.  Originally, I thought I would have a lot more text on the images, however as I created the project I realized that this was unnecessary, as I was narrating the film.  Instead, I chose a few powerful phrases and words that I wanted the viewers to remember from my video and inserted them on a few select images.

Conclusion

                In the end, I am quite satisfied with my project and I feel that I achieved my goal. I previewed it to a test audience before class and their response was that they really wanted to go there and experience this café for themselves.  Overall, it was pleasant experience to create this video because thinking about Paris always puts me into a good mood and because I had almost no technical difficulties along the way. The only thing that still puzzles me is how to get rid of the clicking sound when the slides advance.  Since this was my second time using MS Photostory 3, I was much quicker and more confident with my abilities to manipulate the images.  Although it was still time-consuming, it didn’t take me nearly as long as it did the first time I tried to use this program.   I see much potential for this kind of a task in a classroom or as part of a research project because through this media, one can achieve a multi-dimensional narrative that brings the viewer closer to the creator’s understanding of the reality in his or her mind.



Learning pedagogical theory through doing...a reflection on our 1 minute movie project

I waited to post my blog until after we all had a chance to show our ‘best place to get a warm drink’ video projects. To me, the process and product of this task illustrated the essence of the readings and discussion on constructivism, constructionism and socio-constructivism.

Although we all had the same task, each of the videos represented a unique perspective on the topic. To me, this exemplifies what Piaget envisioned in his concept of constructivism. Ackermann (2004) notes that according to Piaget’s theory, learners “interpret or translate what they hear in the light of their knowledge and experience; willingly or unwillingly, that is, they transform the input to fit their level of understanding” (p. 4) . This can be seen in the individual interpretations of this task. For example, one student interpreted the ‘best place’ as the actual container in which to drink the hot beverage, whereas some chose a geographical location (home, a particular city, their car etc.) and other students interpreted the concept of ‘where’ as the social context in which the beverage is consumed.

Papert’s concept of ‘constructionism‘ adds another layer of insight into our project. His notion of constructionism speaks to “how people’s ideas get formed and transformed when expressed through different media when actualized in particular contexts, when worked out by individual minds” (Ackermann, 2004, p. 5). In our video project, each of us employed multiple technological tools to achieve our goal and to translate our ideas to video; the results were as rich and varied as our personal experiences.

A third element of this learning task is seen in Vygotsky’s notion of socio-constructivism. Ackermann (2004) reminds us that “at the heart of socio-constructivism lays a simple idea; from the day they are born, peole learn, thrive, and grow in relation with others” (p. 7). The ‘warm drink’ video assignment represented a different technological learning curve for each of us in the class. It was evident, however, that the beautiful projects that we saw today would not have come together as successfully if students had not shared with each other various tricks and tips for manipulating the tools to create our videos. It was inspiring to watch our class sit with one another and help each other to solve problems with computers, to discover new tools that might help to make the task easier and to encourage each other along the way.

The process and product of this learning task exemplify the relevance of constructivism, constructionism and socio-constructivism. From a teacher’s perspective, this is the kind of rich, multi-faceted learning experience that we strive to provide for the learners in our classrooms. Jacobsens (2010) notes that technology “is not just a tool- it’s way more than that; it’s a cultural force: it’s disrupting the way we relate to each other and it’s disrupting the way we connect to each other and those disruptions can be used in a positive way in schools”. If we look at this task from a researcher’s perspective, we can see how digital technology can be manipulated to tell a story from an individual perspective. Each tool that we use- the special effects, the images we choose (still or moving), the colour schemes, the narration, and the sountracks all work together to weave a particular representation of the idea the storyteller wishes to convey. In our class, no two stories were exactly the same because everyone is coming into the project with different experiences, values, worldviews and ideas and everyone used different tools at their disposal to achieve their purpose. As a consequence, everyone learned something new and valuable from each other in the process.

References:
Ackermann, E. (2004). Constructing knowledge and transforming the world. Retrieved from http://learning.media.mit.edu/publications/Constructing_Knowledge_Ackermann2004.pdf
Jacobsens, M. (2010). Hands on vs. hands up classroom. Retrieved from http://vimeo.com/20923203