It's impossible to pick out one thing I've learned from taking this class, because I have learned a great deal. For a start, I'm much more confident with my use of technologies that I had a little knowledge of before, like googledocs. Friends of mine at Deering swear by it, and now I can see why. I think I'm most excited about now having my own wikispace, because I now feel like I've joined the 21st century. I suspect that I will have issues with continuing to develop it, but I know that I'm going to be working on it all the time so I should be able to work my way through them.
I know that I am also going to link back to your wikispace on a regular basis, if nothing else for all the tremendous links that you have included on it. I think what's most important is that I've experienced something of an attitude adjustment towards the use of technology in the classroom, and will be far more willing to use and take advantage of it during the coming school year. Thanks for all your efforts on behalf of this class this week, and for your expertise and patience, I have enjoyed it and found it remarkably worthwhile, unlike many of the USM classes I had to take while pursuing my Master's degree a while back.
Friday, July 29, 2011
Glogster.edu
My speed geeking rendezvous was with Glogster. This enables one to produce what are effectively on-line posters which can include embedded video, text, sound, music, and drawing. Creating an account was simple and I believe would let me have 50 of my students use glogster for free - they were keen to take my money for upgrading my account, however. My biggest gripe was that despite them telling me how easy it was to use glogster, and how 4 year olds could create masterpieces with it, I found it difficult to put together my own poster. There were no actual step-by-step instructions as to how to include text or embed video, for example - everything was a matter of trial and error. With some help I was able to at least get started, but it was a frustrating experience.
Despite this, I think I might use glogster in the classroom. The site includes ready made glogs which I could show the students as examples (I could even claim I produced them!), and then I am confident that students would quickly overcome the difficulties I faced and create spectacular glogs on whatever topic I wanted them to present. I could set requirements about the different media that should be part of the glog, and assess accordingly. Students who dislike making oral presentations could essentially use the glog to do the speaking for them. I will investigate this when I return to Deering, and let you know how successful I am.
Despite this, I think I might use glogster in the classroom. The site includes ready made glogs which I could show the students as examples (I could even claim I produced them!), and then I am confident that students would quickly overcome the difficulties I faced and create spectacular glogs on whatever topic I wanted them to present. I could set requirements about the different media that should be part of the glog, and assess accordingly. Students who dislike making oral presentations could essentially use the glog to do the speaking for them. I will investigate this when I return to Deering, and let you know how successful I am.
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Turning on the Lights
I do agree, at least in part, that 'powering down' can impede student learning. In an environment where collaboration and research is encouraged, the technology that students bring with them can both facilitate and enhance their learning. Of course it can also create distractions for them, although the same distractions exist in the home where they are still able (usually!) to complete homework assignments. Their grasp of the potential of what cell phones, mp3 players can allow them to accomplish creatively means that they have so many more options for how to demonstrate what they know and what they can do. They will still be thinking, they will still be wiriting, and they will still be learning. I think it's a little scary for teachers, especially older ones, because it feels like we're giving up control of the learning environment, but if that environment is broadened it is a risk well worth taking. They will have access to so much more knowledge than I or the average textbook are able to bring into the classroom if they have access to the whole digital world they understand and can manipulate.
I think there is a place for all the technologies identified, although the demands of standardized testing and AP curricula, among others, mean that there still has to be a place for non digital education as well. They are all tools that the majority of our students are comfortable with, even if the economic realities of a city like Portland mean that many students do not possess more than the most basic of devices. It's important to maintain an equitable environment, and also one where the technology does not do the thinking for the students.
At Deering students are provided with a Dell notebook, hardly a top class piece of hardware, although I believe they are allowed to use their own laptops if they so desire. Most choose not to do so. They are allowed to use cell phines in between classes and at lunch, and individual teachers have the discretion to allow them to research during class time - I have done so on occasion. There is a constant batttle to curb in-class texting - I do not know what would happen if students were allowed to freely use cell phones in class as an educational tool. I think that most would not abuse the privilege after the initial excitement and novelty had worn off. I think I would allow individual teachers greater discretion as to their personal policies as regards the use of personal technology, although that does create the possibility of students playing teachers off against each other. It does require quite a cultural shift, and I know some students would sbuse any greater freedom of sell phone use, for example, but Prensky does seem convinced that they need to be totally connected.
There is something of a balancing act in terms of the desire to keep up to date with what technology has to offer and the need to decide what is best suited for the students in the 21st century high school, but technology isn't going away and the more we restrict, the further behind we fall. American students live in a digital world outside of the classroom, and we cannot close the doors to that once they enter the classroom. We are doing them and the American economy of the future a disservice if we do that.
I think there is a place for all the technologies identified, although the demands of standardized testing and AP curricula, among others, mean that there still has to be a place for non digital education as well. They are all tools that the majority of our students are comfortable with, even if the economic realities of a city like Portland mean that many students do not possess more than the most basic of devices. It's important to maintain an equitable environment, and also one where the technology does not do the thinking for the students.
At Deering students are provided with a Dell notebook, hardly a top class piece of hardware, although I believe they are allowed to use their own laptops if they so desire. Most choose not to do so. They are allowed to use cell phines in between classes and at lunch, and individual teachers have the discretion to allow them to research during class time - I have done so on occasion. There is a constant batttle to curb in-class texting - I do not know what would happen if students were allowed to freely use cell phones in class as an educational tool. I think that most would not abuse the privilege after the initial excitement and novelty had worn off. I think I would allow individual teachers greater discretion as to their personal policies as regards the use of personal technology, although that does create the possibility of students playing teachers off against each other. It does require quite a cultural shift, and I know some students would sbuse any greater freedom of sell phone use, for example, but Prensky does seem convinced that they need to be totally connected.
There is something of a balancing act in terms of the desire to keep up to date with what technology has to offer and the need to decide what is best suited for the students in the 21st century high school, but technology isn't going away and the more we restrict, the further behind we fall. American students live in a digital world outside of the classroom, and we cannot close the doors to that once they enter the classroom. We are doing them and the American economy of the future a disservice if we do that.
NETS for teachers Standards
The two standards that seem most applicable to my project are:
1. Facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity.
2. Design and develop digital-age learning experiences and assessments
1. Facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity.
2. Design and develop digital-age learning experiences and assessments
USMepc512 class project
I don't know exactly how to do what I'm planning, but the gist is that I want to use google docs and diigo to have individual students reflect on a current event on a weekly basis. Like many social studies teachers I think it's important to be discussing current events and seeing how they relate to issues that we are covering in class - for example my unit on imperialism can be related to many of the problems that are being experienced in different African nations today. I want to have one or two students present their event each week, having them include an embedded video that the class can watch together, with a link using diigo to a website from which we can keep track as a class of developments related to the even in question using igoogle home pages (they will each have one). I will also require some kind of summary which could be created in the form of a blog, a video, a podcast. whatever inspires the individual student, which he/she will present to the class. By the time the semester is over we should have links to about 20 or more events occurring globally, with updated information accessible to each of the students on my class. I think I may be able to add components to this project as it progresses, but at the same time I don't want to make it intimidating to the students. I would model what I am hoping for for the first couple of weeks.
Please let me know whether this is the kind of project you are looking for, I know I will need some help especially with how to teach kids to embed video.
Please let me know whether this is the kind of project you are looking for, I know I will need some help especially with how to teach kids to embed video.
Course so far
I have learned plenty so far. I think that what I am most excited about is the potential to use Google docs, because I can see how much I could use it in my room.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Orchestrating the media collage
Osler writes about the new definition of what being literate means, how it is continually and rapidly evolving, but how digital literacy is at the core of what students are going to need. Participatory or social media is at the hub of the collage, and means that everyone now has the capacity to be a creator as well as a consumer, everyone can be a writer. Teachers have the responsibility of promoting the skills associated with the new forms of digital literacy, and Osler offers eight guidelines for how this can be facilitated.
I was especially struck by the second of these, how we should value reading and writing now more than ever. This seems to negate my fear that the old skills of being able to communicate in written form on paper will simply be unnecessary in the future, because those same skills are required to write both essays and blogs in the digital world. Blog writing requires both brevity and clarity, two skills I constantly stress, while essay writing allows for more detailed exploration of themes and ideas. Both will remain relevant in the 21st century.
Osler believes that teachers will become guides, and will still be needed by students (fortunately!). We will not have to be complete experts, but instead will be managers and arbiters of standards of quality. The skills we are facilitating will last our students for a lifetime, even as technology continues to evolve, and we are helping our 21st century students tell their stories - which everyone wants to do. Teaching is going to change along with the digital landscape, but teachers themselves will not have to become purely technicians, and there will still be room for the craft of the profession to thrive.
I was especially struck by the second of these, how we should value reading and writing now more than ever. This seems to negate my fear that the old skills of being able to communicate in written form on paper will simply be unnecessary in the future, because those same skills are required to write both essays and blogs in the digital world. Blog writing requires both brevity and clarity, two skills I constantly stress, while essay writing allows for more detailed exploration of themes and ideas. Both will remain relevant in the 21st century.
Osler believes that teachers will become guides, and will still be needed by students (fortunately!). We will not have to be complete experts, but instead will be managers and arbiters of standards of quality. The skills we are facilitating will last our students for a lifetime, even as technology continues to evolve, and we are helping our 21st century students tell their stories - which everyone wants to do. Teaching is going to change along with the digital landscape, but teachers themselves will not have to become purely technicians, and there will still be room for the craft of the profession to thrive.
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