Reflection

As we near the end of this semester it's important we take the time to reflect--not only for this class--but in all things in life. You said last week something to the extent of, "students learn a lot through reflection," and it came off as unintentionally poignant. Maybe we take too little time to reflect in education. Everybody's always in a hurry: to get grades, to get diplomas, to get jobs--it's easy to forget that we're actually here to learn in the wake of a great paper chase.

As far as the class is concerned: on the whole I was satiated with the whole experience. I had my queries with the textbook (which I lamented about in my very first blog post), but it was still readable. My only issue with the discussion posts is that we switched formats midway through the semester which left caused me some confusion. Though, I don't see this as being a problem for future classes since we know have canvas.

The rest of the assignments were fine. As somebody who is not "technocentric," I did find the number of different web-type tools we used a little daunting. Although we met weekly I felt this class had an incredible pace. My favorite assignment was the webquest and my least favorite was the powerpoint, only because I have a phobia of speaking in public.

The only thing I would do different in this class as a teacher is focus more on the different educational theories and how each could incorporate technology. Personally, it's one of my favorite areas of study pertaining to education.

Referring back to the syllabus, I enjoyed how you managed to apply TIM (technology/information management). I feel the way relates to the general education outcomes was just right. My only critique would be adding a little more GSR-esque assignments, or use it in some of the aforementioned ones.

Photo credit: Wikipedia Commons
(Winston Churchill waving goodbye to a crowd--I found it somewhat fitting)

                                                         

Chapter XI

The idea of portfolio's for teachers long pre-dates the use of computers. In fact, many occupations outside of education also implement portfolios for the purpose of showcasing somebody or something. Nowadays, with nearly everything being done online from applications to even business meetings, it only makes sense that teachers put their portfolios into electronic form.

There are many reasons why a teacher might want to showcase their portfolio online in lieu of the traditional (and increasingly archaic) route. For one, an online portfolio is accessible by everyone at anytime. No longer would you have to hull around hundreds of papers and binders. You can send your potential employer a simple web address and they can view it at their convenience. It will also save your employers time as more than one persons can view it simultaneously  such as on recruitment websites. Online portfolios can also be organized much easier than the traditional file-and-binder route that most teachers use. Online portfolios can be compartmentalized into easy-to-digest tabs and can also be interactive at the same time. They can also be kept up to date unlike with traditional portfolios.

Lastly, with education inevitably going the way of technology-driven, an online portfolio will demonstrate that you are on board for this change. You will more diverse and in turn more marketable to whatever position you apply to by being competent in technology.


Resources:

Showcase your skill with an electronic portfolio. (n.d.). Learn NC. Retrieved May 11, 2013, from www.learnnc.org/lp/pages/6437  

Chapter X

For my journal entry I chose to respond to "Robert's 'This I Believe' Essay Lesson." The story focuses on a teacher trying to assist students who desperately need help with their writing skills. Robert concocts the idea to give them an essay assignment pertaining to core values and personal philosophies -- based off a famous radio show from the 1950s. He hopes that by letting the students choose their topic that he will light their interests towards writing as a whole. The response question reads: how would you propose Robert integrate technology into the "This I Believe" essay project in ways that will promote learning success for all students?

First off, I think it's a loaded question. It would be nice to think that there would be any way to promote learning success for all students through any median, including technology. But I daresay say it's impossible to try and bridge every gap. There are no perfect teachers -- nor perfect students for that matter.

Now, considering his resources  I would have the students write the essays on the computers he has access to. Once they are done they are to save them and find a partner that they can evaluate. In this peer evaluation the students will critique each other. During this time Robert should be walking around and keeping a watchful eye on students. Then, using the projector Robert will choose a few students' essays to show to the entire class and then ask the class what they think needs improving. Robert will guide them along the way and make suggestions, but never flat out tell them what's wrong. Instead, he'll let the students figure it out.

Hopefully this lesson will teach the students as a whole and will save a lot of time. The idea is that Robert will use students to teach themselves. Although, I find this a good way to learn writing, it's important to keep in mind that the students will not have these types of resources on the test (most likely). Maybe some good old-fashioned simple essay writing would also be needed to help the students prepare.

Resources:

Maloy, R. W., Verock-O,RE, Edwards, S. A. & Woolf, B. P. (2010) Transforming Learning With New Technologies. Allyn & Bacon.

Chapter IX

     For my journal post I watched "7 degrees of connectedness" by Rodd Lucier. The video begins with Rodd leading us down a somber street in his hometown in Canada. The video is basically a series of interviews he does with his peers concerning the subject of using technology to become better educators. The first tool that is outlined is Twitter, which Lucier describes as a "tribe" of like-minded people he follows. Since he can control who he follows  he chose to follow fellow educators and over time began to interact with them. I personally don't have a Twitter but I can relate in my experience with Facebook. I use Facebook to add people I don't know but find interesting, which is technically against the rules. I have poets, musicians, debaters  and even some celebrities on my friends list. I have interacted with a few of these people and now have contacts around the globe. I could apply the same concept to education -- I could add the best educators in the world to my friend's list and every time I log in to Facebook I can be exposed to some of the greatest thinkers of this age.

     The next topic that's covered is Podcasts and how one of his acquaintances got involved in creating them. He describes starting out listening to teacher podcasts and his journey to becoming a popular podcaster himself. One thing that is stressed is the idea that everybody has a voice and podcasts can be a medium to project that voice to the masses. I personally have never really been into podcasts but they have an almost cult-like following. They're convenient because you can listen to them virtually everywhere, including you car, and I can see this being useful as a tool teachers can use to get through to students who simply don't have much time on their hands.

     The overall theme of the video is connectedness. In education, this concept is quite obviously opening new doors. Now with the rapid sharing of ideas and concepts, I believe we can move and improve education at a much faster rate than ever before.

Chapter VIII - Alternative Blog Post

For my chapter eight blog post I chose to write about David Warlick's blog 2 Cents Worth. I read the first post which was a piece on Gary Stager, a very prominent educator. In the article, Warlick goes over Stager's presentation at a recent education conference and lists some of his points. To my surprise, I found myself agreeing with Stager on almost all points.

One of the Stager quotations noted in the article read, "School should work with the tech of the day." The blogger then points out the poignant question of "why do we think education should be cheap?" The thought raises some questions to me:

Why are we not spending more on education?

Why are the worst schools the least funded? Shouldn't they get more funding since they are in obvious need of it?

Why are schools so behind in adapting technology?

The quotation also brought to mind an old mantra I heard once, probably uttered by some dreadlocked hippie wearing a 'legalize it' shirt. It went something like this: it will be a great day when schools get all the money they need and the air force has to hold a bake sale to buy a bomber.

The last part of the article moved me the most. In the very last lines Warlick writes, "What an amazing learning opportunity that surprise avails any teacher – wasted in this case, because she thought her classroom was about teaching, not about learning." I think far too many teachers don't take this advice to heart. They're focused so much on teaching they actually forget that they are there for the students and not vice-versa.

Chapter VII - Alternative Blog Post

I chose the game FreeRice which was shown to the class by Olivia. It's a neat little non-profit website that will generously donate ten grains of rice for every question you answer correctly on their site. FreeRice runs off advertisement money they received form sponsors   They offer a multitude of subjects that participants may answer questions in with a variety of different difficulty levels.

As an English teacher I would implement this game (particularly the grammar portion) for students to use in addition to classroom learning. This could aid in reinforcing concepts that I have already taught and might encourage students to continue their education outside of the classroom. I could assign homework with the guidelines that each students shows me a 'receipt' of a pre-set number of rice grains donated. I feel this will be a more entertaining homework assignment than the usual vocab worksheet most teachers might assign. The vocabulary portion could also be used, but I feel would be less helpful because it is much more ambiguous than grammatical concepts. I plan to teach high school but I think this would work better when used with younger children. All the while, I still think anybody could pull something from this great website.

I particularly like the fact that this website serves two ultimate purposes: to educate and to end world hunger. While students are working on their grammar or vocabulary  they can know that their work is actually contributing to help somebody in need.

Chapter VI

Focus Question: How might educational websites provide interactive and engaging learning experiences for students?

Interactivity in itself implies that not only the website itself will communicate with students but that the opposite is also possible: that students can interact back with the website. For an educational website to be engaging, teachers must ask no further than how can I make my classroom engaging? For the same techniques can also be applied online. Relevance is quite an obvious answer. If the information is kept up-to-date and relevant to the students life, they'll be able to grasp it better. The idea is not to barrage and belittle students with tons of information, but to present it as simple concepts with references to things they can wholly understand. The best teachers I had in high school were the ones that were the simplest.

Tech Tool: Interactive Online Field Trip: The Cave of Chauvet-Pont-D'Arc

This tech tool focuses on an interactive website that allows students to take a virtual tour of one of the earliest cave paintings ever found. This was one of the few times I've come across the concept of "virtual field-trips" and I have to say that I'm definitely an advocate. This site is a great example of an experience that could only be possible via the internet. Of course, I realize there is no replacement for actually being there and experiencing something like that in person -- this is probably the closest most of us will ever get.

Reaction:

The chapter goes over the concept of social bookmarking which I've experienced somewhat in class already. Delicious is an example of a social bookmarking site that we've implemented in class. Trends on the internet these days seem to be going the way of social everything. Now we have social bookmarks, social documents, social videos, even entire hard-drives that can be stored entirely online. It's quite a voluminous concept to imagine that we're nearly impervious when  it comes to storing information nowadays. With information stored entirely online, what could possibly delete it? Short of a complete website wipe (which is improbable seeing as they have backups) it seems impossible.

Next, webquests are discussed which I touched on briefly in the tech tool section. The idea is relatively new but I advocate it completely. However, I can only hope that schools never replace real live field trips with virtual ones in the name of saving money. Nothing could ever replicate actually being there.

Videoconferencing is another concept I was introduced to. I've never actually used it in the classroom but the concept seems intriguing. The idea that I could have my students have a live chat with students from another country is awe-inspiring.

Chapter V

Focus Question: How can teachers respond to problems of plagiarism when students use online sources?

The most obvious answer is that the teacher can ask for a student to cite his or her sources. There are also various webtools teachers may use such as TurnItIn, which is a plagiarism checker marketed towards teachers and professors. The internet might actually make plagiarism harder because a teacher can simply look up a few sentences and usually find the original article. In the old days, the teacher would have to siphon through dozens of textbooks if he suspected a student of cheating.

Tech Tool: Flickr

Ah, the mighty Flickr. Flickr has come under my radar before: it's the ultimate tool for photographers. Flickr is a photo sharing website much like other social networks but with a specialization in photography. Teachers could implement Flickr as a visual learning resource and by holding online discussions and picture sharing among groups of students.

Reaction:

This chapter contains a comprehensive section on types of information problems and responses to those problems. There's multiple categories including: misinformation, malinformation, messed-up information, and mostly-useless information. There's also the problem of censored information and the inherent dangers of censorship in our society.

A little later there's a section dedicated to Wikipedia. It contrast Wikipedia's open-source policy to that of an encyclopedia in which a number of board members write it. It talks about trust issues some teachers have with the site because it is not evaluated by a panel of 'experts' as with other encyclopedias  Personally I think Wikipedia is the best thing since sliced bread and will encourage my students to use it. If nothing else, it provides a good list of sources a student can use.

I answered the focus question about how teachers can deal with the problems of plagiarism and later on in the chapter it discusses that very topic. I found out some sites even offer ghost-written essays students can buy for money. Other times, students have a problem with actually knowing when they have crossed the plagiarism line. It is my thoughts that teachers should establish a clear guide at the beginning of the semester on what exactly constitutes plagiarism  But of course, the best way to avoid plagiarism altogether is to create assignments that cannot be plagiarized in the first place.

Chapter IV

Focus Question: How does technology promote educational change?

By changing the way subjects are taught and learned, technology by its very nature promotes educational change. Since technology is still in its twilight, these new innovations are revamping the entire school system from the ground up. Everything from grading to school lunches to teacher-student communication involves technology. Some schools have even gone so far as to count attendance via an identification card each student caries with them and must swipe at the beginning of each class. Even here at Edison, we're have a debit card system that we can use to purchase things on campus.

 Tech Tool: National Education Technology Standards for Teachers (NETS-T)

The National Education Technology Standards for Teachers is a neat little website run by the National Society for Educational Technology. Despite the long and tedious name, NETS-T is a small but effective website that provides resources for technocentric teachers like case studies and rubrics for evaluating how well you implement technology. There's also a NETS for various other education occupations such as administrators and coaches and even students.

 Reaction: 

This chapter has a section which covers technology integration issues which I enjoyed thoroughly. I think it was the most pragmatic approach to technology in the classroom I've seen yet from this book. It mentions how teachers need more training and resources when it comes to technology -- a sentiment that couldn't be closer to the truth. It mentions how a study done when calculators were first implemented showed that teachers reacted similarly and wanted more training. Later in the chapter it is discussed how technology integration can lead to educational change. It goes on to say that the reason technology hasn't been so heavily implemented yet is because teachers have a hard time letting go of tradition. I agree, yet I can see so much change just in my short time in the school system. I think things are changing whether teachers like it or not.

Chapter III

Focus Question: How can teachers use technology to make decisions about meeting educational standards in their lesson plans?

Technology could be used to to review the educational standards which I'm sure are available online. Furthermore, technology could be used to hold polls online in which students, teachers, and parents could answer and make a majority decision on a question that needs to be decided. Lastly, technology can put teachers in contact with students outside of the classroom, ensuring that students are prepared enough to meet the set educational standards.

Tech Tool: Gliffy
Gliffy is a neat little website that provides web-based programming that teachers can use to create diagrams and graphs. This could be used to create seating charts, graphs, student gradebooks, and other visual media. Gliffy is free to try and also offers a standard and a pro package at 4.95$ a month and 9.95$ a month respectively.

Reaction:
The chapter starts with a vignette about a teacher who plans her lessons during the time she spends cooking. The story is much better than the previous ones used and is actually readable. The chapter goes on to explain academic content that teachers must teach students. The book explains that although the content that you teach is dictated by the district, the way you choose to teach the content is not. I've always believed in teachers having flexibility when it comes to the way they choose to present the information to students.

Another cool bit in the chapter is a comparison between two different types of testing assessments. Norm-referenced tests compare students with other students and Criterion-referenced tests compare students to standards or objectives. Before this chapter I had no idea these two terms existed. It goes on to talk about electronic grading and the perks of using it. This got me thinking back to my days in high school when my grades were posted online and I could check them whenever I pleased. I'm curious as to why colleges don't employ this method as well. Granted, there are certain teachers who do, but for the most part our grades our a mystery until after the semester ends.

Chapter II

Focus Question: How does technology provide feedback to support learning?

The most obvious answer would be email. With assignments that take place online, the professor can grade and send comments through an email or similar messaging system. Other programs that I’ve had personal experience with include MyLabsPlus which is a math program that grades your online assignments and provides your scores to you online. If you miss a question, you are notified instantly and there’s even a button that provides you helpful hints to solve the problem.

Tech Tool: Web Resources For Creativity (Poetry 180)

All the tech tools in this chapter are web resources, so I picked one of the few that caught my eye. Poetry 180: A Poem a day for American High Schools is an interactive web site designed for students to be read a poem on each of the 180 days of the school year. At the homepage, I was greeted by an introduction by Billy Collins – I liked where this was going. You can follow a link to the list of all 180 poems and take your pick or simply go in order. As a future educator, I have always planned to expose my students to poetry, and this resource makes it readily and easily available to do so.

Reaction:

On page 36 they mention student-centered teaching approaches which I’ve always strongly advocated. Learning should be student driven – teachers are merely the tour guide. One page over I noticed the phrase metacognitive thinking. Metacognitive means “thinking about thinking,” and this book applies it to the classroom in which it is defined as students reflecting on their own learning. I found this concept fascinating; not only can we teach them, but we can give them the tools to self-evaluate their own learning.

A few pages over I stumbled on the term visual literacy which I was unfamiliar with. It means “the study of visualization in all its aspects of communication and education.” This translates to the real world as the ability to decipher and understand things like pictures, graphs, illustrations, and diagrams. I wondered how, if ever, you could measure visual literacy, seeing as other types of literacy have standardized testing(s).

Chapter I

Focus question: How do technologies create new opportunities for teaching and learning?

Simple: it can eliminate the human element almost entirely. While this carries a negative connotation, such as the fact that we'll stray from the interpersonalness of the classroom, there is also a bright side to this coin. With lectures and discussions streaming real-time on a webcast students who are unable to make it to class can now have access to the classroom via any computer in their house or wherever they may be.

However, with information so widely-available and streaming all day everyday on the internet I can

teachers being displaced or even replaced by computer screens in the future. With all the information you could ever want at the tip of your finger and virtual learning tools where is the need for an actual flesh-and-blood? Couldn't we just code a bot--a virtual teacher that appears right on the screen--to teach every subject? And this bot could have simultaneous access to every yottabyte of information ever known about the subject. It happened in the factories, why couldn't it happen in the classrooms?

Tech Tool: Ultraportable Laptop Computers

It's a short abstract about the benefits of laptops to students and educators. While unarguably a helpful tool, I don't believe they're a necessity. There was a time when teachers carried no short of an entire library in their briefcase. Those days are long gone. Nowadays, most students and teachers have laptops open in class. A pen and paper seem like relics nowadays. Personally, it's not for me. I own a laptop for personal use but don't use it at school and probably never will. For me, the time-honored staples like pen and paper will always have their place.

Reaction:

The introductory chapter was wholly underwhelming. I knew things were off to a bad start right from the get-go. The chapter begins with an uninteresting anecdote about a group of college students working on an assignment for their technology education course. The story centre's around Donasha, Max, and Ava and their poignant discussion about where they fall on the technological spectrum. The story is painfully hackneyed and presents us clichéd stereotypes that we can attach to and suck our opinion out of like some sort of plecostomos from hell. The writing is even worse: simple, dim, unimaginative, and comma-happy. It's almost as if they hired Ernest Hemingway's half-witted, out-of-work cousin to spit this out under duress. Donasha is a bleeding-heart technocentric, a do-gooder and the obvious epitome of the author's themselves. Note that she is given two whole paragraphs for her partisan views while poor Max, the character closest to myself, gets a measly three sentences.

Thankfully, after the abysmal story the chapter reads more or less like a standard college course textbook. On page 8 they present a bell curve of Rogers Innovation Adoption Care and ask you to classify yourself in regard to your interest in using technology in teaching. I chose "Quick to Follow Proven Success," and while I could easily see myself as an innovator in most regards, I’m a luddite at heart.

It wasn't all bad: Page 11 contained an interesting graph on the top five reasons teenagers’ dropout. Surprisingly, laziness was not listed.

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