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There is an importance of standards in core subjects has become very important in the United States.

During constructivist activities, an essential question is presented to an individual or a group for thoughts and discussion. If students are working as a team, they go forth to find information about issues that surface during their discussion time. As a team, students assign roles and identify jobs that need to be completed for the benefit of the whole group. Ultimately, they tap into their current understanding and journey forward to new understandings through a continuous cycle of inquiry and exploration.

Within any inquiry-based learning activity or project, the gamut of control must remain flexible. There will be times when the instructor takes control of the learning environment, times when the student exercises more independence and times when instructor and student share the direction for learning.

The areas of visually impaired, hearing impaired and physically impaired are addressed in best practices.

Troubleshoot
TCP/IP
Ethernet
Routed and Switched Networks

The curriculum prepares students to plan, design, install, operate, and troubleshoot the enterprise-level of TCP/IP, Ethernet, and Routed and Switched networks with remote access.

The NDG NETLAB is being offered as a pilot program at selected academies.  It has been designed to boost student access to hands-on experiences as well as to host live router topologies and curriculum over the internet and to review students’ work on real equipment. It will depend on the instructor, but students will have the capabilities to log in, create, and edit configuration files, and program one or more of the devices.

Research states that learning is  more extensive when content is interactive and capable of instant feedback, therefore the academy curriculum contains a variety of interactive flash simulations. Syntax drill – gives the student immediate practice when a new command or procedure is introduced. Lab drill – involves simulating hands-on labs and programming tasks step-by-step. Simulations – where a wide variety of actual hardware and software behavior is supported.  An example is the eSIM which is available and free to all CCNA and CCNP students. Flash simulations are not meant to substitute for, but complement hands-on experience with lab equipment.

The emerging technologies are lending themselves for and the basis for new academy curriculum and include:

There are many approaches to troubleshooting.  The chart on the slide is the preferred method for teaching Cisco courses.

The challenges are made of two parts:  solve a given problem and create a product. Another example is “Net Day”, where a community volunteers to “wire” a school.

This activity is in hope students will gain an appreciation for the importance of problem solving which is on of the most important aspects of engineering.

Another method of brainstorming is call Carousel Brainstorming.  This strategy is used for creative thinking when multiple solutions are possible to solve an issue or problem. Combine – What materials, methods, processes and times might be combined to influence this problem? Adapt – Can the materials, methods, processes and times be used in another way to find a solution?

Case study teaching can integrate concepts.  It has grown in popularity and importance and is used in many professions.

Cisco encourages students to use the variety of links included in the curriculum, the instructor’s guide and also to use their favorite websites.  Using the internet as a resource is a very valuable and useful skill. Students will be able to research specific products, questions, or extension activities.

This is the most common approach to teaching and learning today and may be the entire class period or a mini-lecture. The mini-lecture might consist of:  a hook, a pretest, an actual lecture, a short question or activity, or a test which can be a simple question.

Students will learn new concepts at the speed in which they can comprehend the material. In an on-line environment, students go through new competencies and knowledge in a flexible time and space. Even though the curriculum lends itself for a self-paced situation, instructors are reminded not to forget the focus to train students to design, install and maintain networks. Study guides can be used for review and reflection and will help the students with:  learning, vocabulary, notes, activities, application, and reflection.

Cooperative work is best described as students working in heterogeneous groups for extended periods of time. Students work together for the benefit of all group members. Research shows that this cooperative learning environment stimulates cognitive activity especially in the area of higher order thinking, problem solving, and collaboration. Students working in cooperative group interactions reach objectives and goals with better accuracy than if working as an individual on a task. Cooperative work is a foundation strategy used by teachers who ask students to analyze and synthesize complex information. It is a strategy that supports other high level thinking processes such as the creation of graphic organizers and using inductive reasoning to solve problems. Students learn to be team players and acquire life skills that will carry them successfully into the working world. Group work refers to using a variety of student groupings to enhance learning and to create a lively classroom atmosphere.

Students are divided into three groups, which are called home groups. Each group is assigned a number or name. The content to be learned is broken into three sections. The content is dispensed so each student receives one of the three sections of content. Color-coding is a useful technique to implement within this activity. Three different colors distinguish between the three content sections to be learned. Members from each group (by color coded content) move to an expert group where the content is discussed for main points and key understandings. The expert groups go about digesting this new information with the intent of going back to the larger home group to teach other members the main points of what they learned during the activity.

High-level requires the student to communicate their understanding through logic, reasoning and evidence. When it comes to asking the right question, time does fly. The average wait time for teachers after asking a question in the classroom is approximately 1.5 seconds. Research states that with just a 3 second waiting period, students' answers will be more accurate and organized in thought. It is also known that when asking students questions, one needs to think of the bigger ideas that will create understandings that last long after the little details fade away from short term memory. These big ideas will require teachers and students to continually reflect on the intrinsic worth of the questions they ask and the truths these questions may uncover.

There are many best practices to help students think about their thinking in other words. The first method is called Plus, Minus, Interesting (PMI). This practice is metacognitive and asks students to think about their thoughts on new learning. After students have read, heard, or interacted hands on with new information, they create a T-chart. On the left side of the chart is an area for items that might qualify as Plus, Minus, or Interesting. They respond to the following questions in relation to specific content. What do they consider to be a Plus? What do they consider to be a Minus? What do they consider to be an interesting process, comment or question? Students record their thoughts on the right side of the chart as they apply the categories to the new content.

The graphic organizer allows students to represent their knowledge through shapes, charts, diagrams, and sometimes images. It is a metacognitive tool in visual form. Graphic organizers allow students to arrange a large chunk of new information into smaller chunks of information. These smaller pieces are easier to learn and when tied together, they will evolve into more comprehensive understandings.

An example is when teaching the concept of binary numbers and eight students are assigned a value.

Strategies for using the review questions can be selected from the list on the slide. •Pairs or small groups of students discuss and answer review questions before each student takes the review. •The entire class or groups of students discuss review questions and connect to prior understanding through explanation of the questions. •Small groups each discuss a portion of the questions and demonstrate understanding by explaining to other groups (jigsaw technique). •Student teams or small groups design analogies to explain concepts to other teams of students.

An effective evaluation practice is student journal writing and reflection on academic experience. Students document their individual learning process and highlight their key understandings. A learning log asks students to document their learning steps with special notation around what is clear, what is confusing and what a student might want to learn more about. From this view of the total student experience, truths surface about how students interact with and process new content.

Rubrics allow criteria to be established for outcomes acquired during individual or group projects. The rubric has two primary functions for teaching and learning: it communicates the expectation and gives students a target of achievement to work toward.

It shows growth over time and includes the student’s reflections on different periods of learning.

One method or an oral exam that works well, particularly with groups of diverse learners, is to give teams of students the exam questions, answers, and rubrics in advance of the scheduled exam session. Establish a pre-scheduled exam time.

Also known as skills exams, provide the student to demonstrate their understanding of configuring or building networks.  This process is one that distinguishes Cisco from all other programs.

This lesson/chapter covers very important information in best practices and I would highly recommend each of you to review these strategies.