Frameworks for Thinking

The CRCD Framework – Collect, Relate, Create, Donate

In Leonardo’s Laptop, Professor Ben Schneiderman lays out a simple framework for designing user-centered, student-centered technology-integration projects.

The framework consists of four parts: Collect, Relate, Create, and Donate.

Collect: Projects begin with a chance to Collect knowledge and resources. Teachers collect resources, ideas, and student work. Students research the factual building blocks of their learning project.

Relate: Students then Relate or share with one another in order to synthesize collected information, ideas, and resources. This is a critical skill since collaboration and cross-cultural communication play essential roles in our economic and civic spheres.

Create: Using their collection of building blocks, and having related their knowledge to one another, teachers and students then Create a tangible demonstration of their understanding.

Donate: Finally, teachers and students Donate their work in a public forum allowing access by their peers. Here they gain powerful feedback and the opportunity to contribute their learning to a larger, more authentic audience.

The 4Cs – Consumption, Creation, Curation, Connection

This framework, created by the Partnership for 21st Century Learning, guides our thinking, particularly with iPads and mobile devices. It allows us to focus on WHAT we are asking our students to do with the technology.

Consume: Teachers and students use effective strategies to gather relevant information and building blocks needed to demonstrate their learning. They read digital content, watch videos, listen to audio recordings, conduct research, annotate images or text, and take notes.

Create: In this stage, teachers and students use the information that they have consumed and processed to create unique expressions of learning. These learning artifacts could be documents, videos, audio recordings, screencasts, 3D models, games, animations, cartoons, or other multimedia creations.

Curate: Once the materials are gathered, teachers and students then tag, annotate, categorize, and save them in a way that makes them accessible, understandable, and organized. Through the development of eBooks, portfolios, blogs, notebooks, etc., they curate learning artifacts into a broader learning experience.

Connect: Once teachers and students have found resources, organized and processed them, and created an expression of their learning, they not only share that product with the class but also with a broader community to extend the learning context beyond the walls of the classroom.

The SAMR Model

This model, created by Dr. Ruben Puentedura is designed to identify how technology impacts the tasks associated with teaching and learning. It is intended to identify the functional change in student performance as a result of the technology integration.

Substitution: In this stage, teachers and students use technology to replicate old activities and procedures with technology. Typical of this level would be converting a worksheet into an electronic format, or changing a product from a physical format such as a poster or a timeline to an electronic equivalent. At the substitution level, the task stays the same.

Augmentation:The technology adds a functional improvement to the existing process or activity. This could be using a Google Doc instead of a traditional word processing program to write collaboratively, or leveraging features such as text-to-speech to enhance the reading or writing process. The task stays the same at the augmentation level, but it is functionally improved.

Modification: Because of the capabilities afforded by the technology, the process of instruction, or the expression of learning, can be changed, improved or altered in meaningful way. Rather than type an essay, students might visually depict a concept, create a multi-media journal, or screencast their thinking. The learning activity is modified and re-designed because of the technology.

Redefinition: The technology allows classroom tasks to be substantively redesigned, allowing for the creation of new tasks and expressions of learning that were formerly impossible. These new learning activities typically include the creation of new learning artifacts, collaboration, and publishing. Concepts such as App Smashing or Chrome Smashing result as teachers and students show their understanding in ways that were previously inconceivable.

Share this:

AI Essential Course Promo Image

AI ESSENTIALS:

10-Week Accelerator Course for Educators

Join us for ten 90-minute virtual sessions over ten weeks that will each dive into specific aspects of AI in education!