Image by Joi Ito

Increasing Digital Fluency with Group Projects and Radical Trust

Leslie Madsen-Brooks Boise State University, November 2014Photo by Jazbeck

The teacher often hesitates to teach ______________ because of lack of technical knowledge of the subject.

This is well; but technical knowledge of the subject does not make a good teacher.

Image by Jerry DohnalLiberty Hyde Bailey, “The Integument-Man”

I need not teach from a fearful place: I can teach from curiosity or hope or empathy or honesty.

I can have fear, but I need not be fear.

Image by Institute of Development Studies, SussexParker Palmer, The Courage to Teach

Radical Trust:

Image by Joi Ito

Confidence in collaborating with—and empowering—lay communities

As individual tubers float down the river, they drift in and out of groupings as needed. . . Maybe one group wants to go look at something that the others don’t. The groupings of tubes are constantly changing, growing, and morphing. Some stay solo, some stay in the same group. But as the river (the course) flows, to change over time.

Image by Dan NguyenMatt Crosslin, “Communal Constructivism and Dual Layer MOOCs”

• Students choose their own groups.

• Must alert me ASAP to slackers, controllers

• Some students should assume leadership roles (e.g., editor, tech captain).

• In 95% of cases, all students receive the same grade.

Photo by Novartis AG

Each student keeps track of her contributions to the group, as well as others’—and includes these, as well as evaluations of others’ work, in a final, confidential report.

Image by USDA

I like the man who has had an incomplete course.

He will study the plant before he studies the leaf or germination of the cell.

How much there is before him!Liberty Hyde Bailey, “The Integument-Man”