Well, here it is. I must say, I'm still disappointed. The functionality it not as good as I would want. For example, in the documents section there are two Google Docs that would be used by the staff of our school. Sure, it might be nice to have them on this website to look at the data, but wouldn't it be just as easy to open the file in Google Docs and be able to not only look at it, but edit it if need be?
Maybe some day I'll think of a great purpose for a website from Google Sites, or maybe I'll explore more and discover more useful gadgets. Sometimes taking a bunch of cool stuff and putting it all in once place doesn't work out to be one really cool thing.
Monday, June 25, 2012
Late Assignment
It looks like I'm taking a late grade on my website. It seems anti-climactic. All this great web 2.0 stuff, and then: a simple webpage. Sure, you can incorporate lots of the other stuff we've done into a webpage, but I'm not really envisioning anything awesome. I have no inspiration for it. I looked at my classmates' pages, and I liked Nicci's and ... Aristotle's?
I'm also less than impressed with Google Sites. Every other Google tool I've used, has been awesome, but I'm not liking this one as much.
Anyway, I'll put something together soon.
I'm also less than impressed with Google Sites. Every other Google tool I've used, has been awesome, but I'm not liking this one as much.
Anyway, I'll put something together soon.
Sunday, June 24, 2012
TED Radio Hour: Building a Better Classroom
I only heard snippets of this during my evening chores, but I plan to listen to the whole thing soon. From what I heard, every teacher should listen to this podcast. Check it out here.
Thursday, June 21, 2012
The Last Reflection of EDT 5410
This is about it. This class is coming
to a close rapidly.
This week's reading included two
chapters, the first of which, chapter 29, written by J. V. Dempsey
and Richard N. Van Eck, is titled “E-Learning and Instructional
Design”. I've been asked to reflect upon my own experiences in
this course in relation to what the chapter said, and three points
stood out to me.
First, I can tell from my experiences
this semester that Brian Horvitz, the instructor of this course, has
done this before. The class is extremely well structured and
delivered to the students in an easily understandable way. Of the
three classes I have, this class is far and away the easiest
comprehend what my objectives for each module are. That being said,
chapter 29 points out on page 282 “...e-learning today may combine
any and all (e-learning instructional methods), do so at a moment's
notice, and add or drop them as dictated by the needs of the moment.”
As far as I can tell, Dr. Horvitz has not exercised this ability to
adapt the course. It seems that we have done exactly what was
planned. That being said, I haven't seen any reason for him to
exercise that particular benefit of e-learning as the class has
progressed quite smoothly with little lack of understanding on the
part of the students.
Second, this class has been a very
social class. These reflections that I've posted on my blog have
also been posted to a discussion forum for our class. The class has
been divided up into small groups weekly, and we are responsible for
reading other students' reflections and responding to them in an
intelligent, thoughtful, manner that contributes to both our and
their understanding. This resonates with what was said on page 283:
“The biggest swing in the last few years is the strength of
community and the use of social learning technologies for purposeful
learning activities. The sceneario of the solitary student working
alone at her computer...still exists, but many current and future
learning systems will emphasize shared experience features.”
Finally, I was struck by how little a
quote on page 284 held water with regards to this class. The quote
says “Almost thirty years ago, Clark (1983) famously argued that
media “do not influence student achievement any more than the truck
that delivers our groceries causes changes in our nutrition” (p.
446).” In the context of this class, Clark is wrong. What we have
done would have been ill-suited for classroom instruction. We have
created blogs, RSS Readers, wikis, web pages, and other valuable
educational tools. We have done so in a constructivist manner –
our instructor pointed us in the direction, and we went to explore
and complete the task. In this case, the media is a huge part of the
achievement. (The other part of the achievement, of course, is the
realization of how these various tools can be utilized to improve our
own methods.)
The second chapter for this week's
reflection, chapter 31, is entitled “Networks, Web 2.0, and the
Connected Learner” by Terry Anderson. With this chapter, we've
been asked to reflect on the Web 2.0 tools we've been using and
explain how it exemplifies some of the concepts explained in the
chapter. Without question, my favorite tool of this class is this
one: the blog. What can I say? I love to write. I love to have
people read what I write. (Is that egotistical?) I love to hear
what people have to say about what I write to open up a discourse.
(No one's commented on any of my posts yet, but I only recently
started sharing it with anyone but my classmates. I remain hopeful.)
All of this is easy to achieve with a
blog. It has legal issues when using it with a public high school
class (like the fact that all students' names are classified
information in case they have someone stalking them or something), so
those would have to be overcome when implementing a classroom blog or
student blogs. Furthermore, the issue of lack of control from the
teacher could arise since classmates could easily “cyber-bully”
each other in the comments, so that would have to be considered as
well, probably as a discipline-related consideration. However, the
use of a blog by the teacher to convey and elaborate on information
(with various forms of embedded media, for instance), and then to
have the students able to ask clarifying questions, comment on
connections they've made, etc. is extremely valuable. Having
students create their own blogs, reflect on their learning process,
and contribute to their classmates' learning processes would allow
for even more educational value.
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Screencast
Using Jing, I've created a screencast (yes, as another class assignment) on Google Docs in Google Drive. It could easily be used to show students how to use Google Drive to create assignments. Enjoy.
Web-based image editing software
As part of our assignments for the week, we were asked to review web-based image editing software. Although we had a few recommendations from our instructor, I went with a recommendation from a co-worker who told me about Aviary.
The first thing that you'll notice if you go to Aviary's website is that they offer an app for mobile devices and web browsers which will quickly add effects, crop, resize, reorient, recolor, etc. images. If you notice on the upper left there's a blue banner, you can see that Aviary is more than a simple image editing app. The advanced portion of Aviary's site hosts an entire creative suite that is free and web-based. The Phoenix image editor has similar features to Adobe Photoshop including layers, masks, and filters. Raven is a vector editor that similarly can boast some of the features of Adobe Illustrator. There's also Talon, a screen capture tool, Peacock, an effects tool, Falcon, an image mark-up tool, Toucan, a color editing tool, and Roc and Myna spurn the visual arts entirely to focus on audio! Lots of fun and interesting effects and creative efforts can be made using these tools.
However, it is a web-based software suite, and as such, the functionality is not nearly as high as a resource intensive program running on your computer like, well, any Adobe Creative Suite program. As a place for experimentation, Aviary is great. If you have any professional use for Adobe CS programs, it would probably be best to get Adobe CS programs. Once you see the pricetag on them compared to the pricetag of free, you might realize that your "professional" use isn't that professional after all and check out the Aviary Suite after all.
Google Drive
This week I have been asked to review a free web-based office suite. I chose Google Docs because I personally think Google is pretty okay. (Yes, they have more data on me than even Facebook does, but a company with the motto of "Don't be evil." in this day and age says a lot to me.)
It turns out, though, that I couldn't review "Google Docs" because they got rid of that name by incorporating it into Google Drive. Google Drive gives you five gigabytes of storage for free. Why? Because they can, that's why.
"Well, what good is that, though?" a skeptic might ask. "Even my laptop, which is getting pretty old in terms of hardware, has a 220+ gigabyte hard drive." Can you access a file on your laptop when you're fifty miles away from it, skeptic? Or even when you're three miles away from it? No? I didn't think so. However, if you had uploaded that file onto Google Drive, you would be able to access it. Quit being a skeptic and get with the times. Jeez. Addtionally, you can purchase more storage, 25GB, 100GB, up to 16 Terrabytes(!) for a monthly fee. Furthermore, Google Docs formats don't add to your total storage.
Anyway, the Google Docs portion: Microsoft Office is the industry standard office suite. Among those programs, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint are the most used. They are well written, powerful programs with tons of features. Here's the thing, though: most of those features are not utilized (and indeed, don't need to be utilized) most of the time. Google Drive lets you make documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. It allows you to export them in Microsoft Office format, OpenOffice format, or other formats. (A quick note: we were specifically asked not to review OpenOffice for this assignment. I'm assuming that was because OpenOffice is a download, not web-based. However, it was highly recommended by our instructor, and I can second that recommendation as someone who has used OpenOffice for years. Like Google Drive, it's a free alternative to Microsoft Office.) The programs have nowhere near the amount of features that Microsoft Office formats have, but they have most of the features that one would need most of the time.
They also have something that I was introduced to this school year that Microsoft Office does not: built in collaboration. Let me set the scenario where I learned about this. We have a problem that most high schools have. Many kids require validation from their friends so frequently that they allow their cell phones to interfere with their classroom performance. Like many schools, because of concerns of cyber bullying, disengagement, etc., we have a no cell phone policy. The first time a teacher sees a student's cell phone in class, they get a warning. The second time, the teacher asks for it, and the teacher will hold it for the remainder of the hour (or the student can take his or her phone to the office for the remainder of the day). We didn't want to create a time-consuming ODR (office discipline referral) every time a student had his or her phone confiscated by a teacher, but we wanted to create a record of when it happened.
The answer, for us, was with a Google Drive Spreadsheet. A spreadsheet was created, and all of the teachers were given permission to edit the document. Teachers can even edit the document simultaneously. Whenever a student's phone was confiscated, the teacher added the date and class period when it happened after his or her name. That way, we had a record of which students frequently had their phones confiscated.
Furthermore, this allowed us to see which teachers did and which teachers did not confiscate phones. In a Google Doc, you have the option to "See revision history" under the File menu. This option shows which contributors of the document made which changes and when - in our case, which teachers recorded the confiscation of phones.
One final note: I tried playing with creating a "Form" on Google Drive. The problem I ran into was that when I tried to open it again, it opened as a spreadsheet. Perhaps I am doing something wrong, or perhaps Google still has some kinks to work out on the Form option. However, it looked like an easy way to create a test or a survey for students (or anybody) to take.
Did I mention it's free? It's free.
It turns out, though, that I couldn't review "Google Docs" because they got rid of that name by incorporating it into Google Drive. Google Drive gives you five gigabytes of storage for free. Why? Because they can, that's why.
"Well, what good is that, though?" a skeptic might ask. "Even my laptop, which is getting pretty old in terms of hardware, has a 220+ gigabyte hard drive." Can you access a file on your laptop when you're fifty miles away from it, skeptic? Or even when you're three miles away from it? No? I didn't think so. However, if you had uploaded that file onto Google Drive, you would be able to access it. Quit being a skeptic and get with the times. Jeez. Addtionally, you can purchase more storage, 25GB, 100GB, up to 16 Terrabytes(!) for a monthly fee. Furthermore, Google Docs formats don't add to your total storage.
Anyway, the Google Docs portion: Microsoft Office is the industry standard office suite. Among those programs, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint are the most used. They are well written, powerful programs with tons of features. Here's the thing, though: most of those features are not utilized (and indeed, don't need to be utilized) most of the time. Google Drive lets you make documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. It allows you to export them in Microsoft Office format, OpenOffice format, or other formats. (A quick note: we were specifically asked not to review OpenOffice for this assignment. I'm assuming that was because OpenOffice is a download, not web-based. However, it was highly recommended by our instructor, and I can second that recommendation as someone who has used OpenOffice for years. Like Google Drive, it's a free alternative to Microsoft Office.) The programs have nowhere near the amount of features that Microsoft Office formats have, but they have most of the features that one would need most of the time.
They also have something that I was introduced to this school year that Microsoft Office does not: built in collaboration. Let me set the scenario where I learned about this. We have a problem that most high schools have. Many kids require validation from their friends so frequently that they allow their cell phones to interfere with their classroom performance. Like many schools, because of concerns of cyber bullying, disengagement, etc., we have a no cell phone policy. The first time a teacher sees a student's cell phone in class, they get a warning. The second time, the teacher asks for it, and the teacher will hold it for the remainder of the hour (or the student can take his or her phone to the office for the remainder of the day). We didn't want to create a time-consuming ODR (office discipline referral) every time a student had his or her phone confiscated by a teacher, but we wanted to create a record of when it happened.
The answer, for us, was with a Google Drive Spreadsheet. A spreadsheet was created, and all of the teachers were given permission to edit the document. Teachers can even edit the document simultaneously. Whenever a student's phone was confiscated, the teacher added the date and class period when it happened after his or her name. That way, we had a record of which students frequently had their phones confiscated.
Furthermore, this allowed us to see which teachers did and which teachers did not confiscate phones. In a Google Doc, you have the option to "See revision history" under the File menu. This option shows which contributors of the document made which changes and when - in our case, which teachers recorded the confiscation of phones.
One final note: I tried playing with creating a "Form" on Google Drive. The problem I ran into was that when I tried to open it again, it opened as a spreadsheet. Perhaps I am doing something wrong, or perhaps Google still has some kinks to work out on the Form option. However, it looked like an easy way to create a test or a survey for students (or anybody) to take.
Did I mention it's free? It's free.
Thursday, June 14, 2012
Week 6 Reflection
I have left the last couple of reflections off of my blog - as they were very specific to the reading I did, it wouldn't be good reading for people who haven't read the books. However, this week's seems like it would make sense to anyone.
The first question for this week's reflection, we've been asked to consider the similarities and differences in the three primary contexts in which instructional design and technology is found: business, PreK-12, and higher education.
The first question for this week's reflection, we've been asked to consider the similarities and differences in the three primary contexts in which instructional design and technology is found: business, PreK-12, and higher education.
The biggest
similarity that I've seen in all three contexts is this: know your
audience. Jacquie McDonald, an Instructional Designer from Australia
who wrote in chapter 22 (about higher education) said, “...the
ability to interact effectively with faculty staff, and “sell” ID
theory... is a key ID skill.” Deborah Lowther and Steven Ross
explain in chapter 21 (about ID PreK-12 schools) that the first step
is the ASSURE Model for classroom-level technology integration is
“Analyze learners.” In chapter 18 (about ID in business and
industry), Monica Tracey and Gary Morrison point out that
instructional designers “must identify the societal and learner
cultural factors.” Know your audience.
I observed one
difference from PreK-12 to business and higher education: The
technology gap. Granted, as a high school teacher from an
underfunded alternative program, my personal bias probably led me to
focus on this difference (and hopefully not use too much hyperbole
when describing it). Chapter 21 is the only chapter that mentioned
this. Both (successful) business and higher education take in more
money per pupil than PreK-12 public schools, so they are more easily
able to provide the necessary equipment to employees/students than
the public schools, especially those in more impoverished areas, are
able to.
Another
difference that stood out to me was how much emphasis two of the
contributing writers from chapter 22 put on pedagogical instruction
in ID for higher education. Again, due to my bias, I must have
assumed that college instructors have been given some basic
instruction and have a decent understanding of pedagogy, but it seems
that Brenda Litchfield and Jacquie McDonald use a lot of time and
energy teacher college instructors how to teach. This isn't needed
so much in PreK-12 since we have made that our specialty, and in
business, ID isn't typically concerned about teaching the clients how
to teach so much as how to perform a task or operation correctly/more
effectively.
The second
reflection question for this week had us consider the lessons of
Robert A. Reiser and his experiences in obtaining a career in ID.
Lesson 2 (Most
Instructional Design Positions Are in Business and Industry) stood
out to me. To be frank, I'm fairly young, and teaching is looking
less attractive all the time. I've been rolling around the seeds of
ideas in my head, and this lesson fits into those sprouting ideas
well. (A friend of mine was just speaking to me today about subbing
for him in his computer assistance/repair/education business he is
getting started when he is too solidly booked. With my pedagogical
knowledge and budding ID knowledge combined with his knowledge of
hardware and software, we could possibly do great things in a
business with that kind of vision. Like I said, though, this is just
a sprouting idea. It definitely needs more water.)
Lessons 5
(Acquire a Strong Set of Skills in the Production of Instructional
Media) and 6 (Acquire a Strong Set of Design (and Analysis!) Skills)
tie together closely, but they stood out to me for different reasons.
Lesson 5 fits in to not only this class, but also a class I'm taking
concurrently: EDT 5030 – Fundamentals of Visual Design with Adobe.
I really enjoy designing things and completing projects using Adobe
products, and my skills are improving drastically (though I'm still
very much a novice). Lesson 6 stood out because I'm a teacher, and
that's what we do. We design lessons, units, and assessments. Then
we analyze the assessments to see what needs to be done better, why
something didn't work as we planned, etc.
Lesson 8
(Develop a Strong Set of Communication Skills) was the final lesson
that stood out to me . It stood out to me because it brings us
full-circle to the start of this response paper: know your audience.
How can you do that if you don't have strong listening and clear
speaking skills?
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Concept Mapping and Scaffolding
A research paper is no easy task, but it can be broken into smaller steps for students who need the scaffolding in place to succeed. Were I to assign the research paper briefly described in my previous post, I would need to scaffold every step of the way for students who needed it. One effective way of doing so is with concept maps or graphic organizers. To start out the research project, for example, I could help students along with this organizer:
Of course, with an assignment like a research paper, there would be more steps than that - that's just the beginning. As part of step 3, I might even ask students to organize and plan their paper using a tool like bubbl.us, the tool I used to create the map above. The best part? It's free!
Edit: The resolution is horrible on that... I'll try to find a way to fix that.
Edit 2: You can get a better resolution by viewing it on Imgur. Zoom in for the full view.
Edit: The resolution is horrible on that... I'll try to find a way to fix that.
Edit 2: You can get a better resolution by viewing it on Imgur. Zoom in for the full view.
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Google Map Assignment
Shakespeare! It's surprising how much my students like Shakespeare after they get past the, "Why is they talkin' funny?" stage.
So, if I had a really advanced group of kids, I'd like to do a research project with them. I would like them to choose a Shakespeare play, and research the time and place in which the play is set. To get students started, I'd give them a copy of this handy map I've created (as a class assignment, you've probably guessed, you clever reader you).
View Settings of Shakespeare's Plays in a larger map
It has many of the locations of the plays marked. Plays that have more than one major setting are color coordinated. Each location is labeled with the play and time period in which the play was set. Hopefully it would help engage students in the project and help them select a location to research in more depth. If you zoom out, you should be able to see all of the marks at once.
So, if I had a really advanced group of kids, I'd like to do a research project with them. I would like them to choose a Shakespeare play, and research the time and place in which the play is set. To get students started, I'd give them a copy of this handy map I've created (as a class assignment, you've probably guessed, you clever reader you).
View Settings of Shakespeare's Plays in a larger map
It has many of the locations of the plays marked. Plays that have more than one major setting are color coordinated. Each location is labeled with the play and time period in which the play was set. Hopefully it would help engage students in the project and help them select a location to research in more depth. If you zoom out, you should be able to see all of the marks at once.
Sunday, June 3, 2012
Radiolab Podcast
Radiolab is a great show for people who have a love of lifelong learning. Radiolab is an NPR program
produced by WNYC that philosophically discusses matters in the
fields of science, literature, history, and the human experience in
general. The nature of the show makes learning seem like an
adventure undertaken in a postmodern format. It's applicable to
classroom use. (Being an English teacher, I've used a part of a
show on Hamlet's last words, “O, O, O, O,” to discuss alternate
interpretations of Shakespeare's scripts with my students. It most frequently has content that might be useful in science classrooms.)
Social Bookmarking
I made these lemon, chocolate-free brownie things this weekend for my wife. They're delicious. That's irrelevant except for the fact I had to make an account on Delicious.com for part of this week's assignment.
Thursday, May 24, 2012
Week Three Response
I'm not required to add this week's response to the reading to my blog, but as I created this blog for the class, I'm doing it anyway. We were asked to read chapters one and three of Trends and Issues in Instruction Design and Technology by Robert A. Reiser and John V. Dempsey. Then we were asked to respond to the definitions in the reading as well as some of the questions raised. Here goes.
Like many language constructs, the term "instructional technology" has had an evolving definition since its earliest uses in the first decade of the twentieth century. In the earlier half of the 1900's, it would seem that the term mostly referred to different media used to assist instruction in the classroom. During much of the latter half of the century, a switch was made to focus on the process of designing, implementing, managing, and evaluating educational experiences in a meaningful and effective way for students. (By the way, students in the context of instructional design and technology extend beyond the traditional view of K-12 students. It applies to them, yes, but it also applies to workers, professionals, military members, and basically anyone who needs to learn new ideas and skills.) Reiser and Dempsey maintain that both aspects need to be recognized, as well as asserting that the intent is "to improve learning and performance" (Reiser and Dempsey, 2012). They also claim that most people, including many individuals in the profession, will list of types of media when asked what educational technology means, but they will miss the whole concept of designing, preparing, and using the media in a manner to improve learning and performance.
Maybe I have the pleasure to work with dedicated, intelligent teachers at my school, but based on my experience, I must disagree with the last claim. The people I work with are for the most part young, and they understand that using media in the classroom is not the same as utilizing technology effectively in the classroom. They know that they can't just show a picture of a cell to a class and say, "There you go. Learn." They know that while pictures of various cells definitely have their part in a Biology classroom, the lessons and processes used to impart the knowledge and understanding to the students must be well planned and executed; they know that ideally, mere pictures are not enough, but rather the use of technology that engages students in conversation is more effective.
An older definition of the term "instructional media" was the physical means by which instruction is presented. I was surprised by this definition, as it is extraordinarily broad. (Hey, cool, I'm "media"!) Reiser and Dempsey want to ruin my enjoyment of being called media by defining it for their purposes as the physical means... other than teacher, chalkboard, and textbook. Joking aside, though, this is for the best. Teachers have been used since oral tradition societies, textbooks since the dawn of the printing press, and chalkboards (sort of) since elk were scribbled onto cave walls. These things are hardly cutting edge, highly engaging tools.
I've been given a hypothetical situation. I'm an evaluator at a Pseudo Middle School, which has been given laptops and internet access for every teacher, student, and mouse (presumably) at the school. The innovation had very little effect on the manner of instruction. One possible reason for this is that teachers are resistant to change, especially change that is instituted from the top-down. For the sake of an example, we'll say one teacher that didn't change instruction was Mr. Fossil, who's in his 47th year of teaching at PMS. He's seen film, television, and desktop PCs enter the classroom with little change in the resulting learning, so now this punk administrator is telling him to use the internet to teach, and he'll be damned if it's going to change anything. A second possible reason that the experiment was not immediately successful could be that teachers utilized ineffective teaching methods on the computers. The old drill and practice method is not looked upon favorably by just about anyone, and it can be done on computers just as unsatisfactorily as it can be done on paper or slates. A third possible reason for the manner of instruction remaining stagnant, and this could be the cause of the second reason, could be mediocre instructional quality of the materials given to teachers prior to this experiment. It's not as if laptops with internet access are a magic wand - teachers need to be trained how to utilize them effectively, and if the teachers aren't trained effectively with high quality instructional materials, they haven't learned effectively, so they won't perform effectively.
To mitigate these hypothetical factors, I would recommend two things. First: while the materials are mandatory for all teachers and students, their use is not mandated. The School Board might have a fit: "Why are we spending all of this money on materials if you aren't going to make teachers use them?!" However, Mr. Fossil will never willing use and effectively utilize something that his young-whipper-snapper boss tells him to use, like he knows anything anyway. So, while Mr. Fossil's laptop sits unused in the corner, and the students keep their laptops in their bags during his class lest they be subjected to one of his rages, across the hall, the other Math teacher, Ms. Fresh, is learning how to implement successful systems of learning into her classroom through the use of the new technology. Who knows what might happen? Maybe over time Ms. Fresh will be able to convince Mr. Fossil that her students rising test scores are because of this great new system she uses. Maybe she can convince him that the internet can actually be utilized effectively to improve learning and performance. (If not, Mr. Fossil's going to retire or die soon anyway. We can always hire a teacher who is more willing to work with technology when the time comes to replace him.)
Second: Train your teachers. You just give them computers, give their students computers, and tell them to make it happen? Good luck. Here's a better implementation plan: Give the teachers their laptops a year before the students. Have all of the required PD that year be related to using them effectively. Give the teachers choices of PD classes that they will attend. (Again, resistance to top-down change is strong - I might add that it's not just teachers, but rather human nature that's to blame for this one. Choice might help alleviate this.) Maybe these classes could be led by their tech-savvy peers for a modest stipend rather than some outside speaker - the teachers leading these sessions throughout year would enjoy helping their fellow teachers, and the teachers learning from their peers would be more likely to listen. As an added bonus, they would have resources to talk to - the person who led the PD is just two doors down the hallway, after all - as they experiment throughout the year. Then following year, when the students get their one-to-one laptops, you have a staff that has had plenty of instruction and time to acclimatize themselves to the new systems they will be using. Instructional innovation. Positive impact on learning and performance. Happy board, happy parents, happy students, happy teachers.
Reiser, Robert A. & Dempsey, John V. (2012). Trends and issues in instructional design and technology. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.
Like many language constructs, the term "instructional technology" has had an evolving definition since its earliest uses in the first decade of the twentieth century. In the earlier half of the 1900's, it would seem that the term mostly referred to different media used to assist instruction in the classroom. During much of the latter half of the century, a switch was made to focus on the process of designing, implementing, managing, and evaluating educational experiences in a meaningful and effective way for students. (By the way, students in the context of instructional design and technology extend beyond the traditional view of K-12 students. It applies to them, yes, but it also applies to workers, professionals, military members, and basically anyone who needs to learn new ideas and skills.) Reiser and Dempsey maintain that both aspects need to be recognized, as well as asserting that the intent is "to improve learning and performance" (Reiser and Dempsey, 2012). They also claim that most people, including many individuals in the profession, will list of types of media when asked what educational technology means, but they will miss the whole concept of designing, preparing, and using the media in a manner to improve learning and performance.
Maybe I have the pleasure to work with dedicated, intelligent teachers at my school, but based on my experience, I must disagree with the last claim. The people I work with are for the most part young, and they understand that using media in the classroom is not the same as utilizing technology effectively in the classroom. They know that they can't just show a picture of a cell to a class and say, "There you go. Learn." They know that while pictures of various cells definitely have their part in a Biology classroom, the lessons and processes used to impart the knowledge and understanding to the students must be well planned and executed; they know that ideally, mere pictures are not enough, but rather the use of technology that engages students in conversation is more effective.
An older definition of the term "instructional media" was the physical means by which instruction is presented. I was surprised by this definition, as it is extraordinarily broad. (Hey, cool, I'm "media"!) Reiser and Dempsey want to ruin my enjoyment of being called media by defining it for their purposes as the physical means... other than teacher, chalkboard, and textbook. Joking aside, though, this is for the best. Teachers have been used since oral tradition societies, textbooks since the dawn of the printing press, and chalkboards (sort of) since elk were scribbled onto cave walls. These things are hardly cutting edge, highly engaging tools.
I've been given a hypothetical situation. I'm an evaluator at a Pseudo Middle School, which has been given laptops and internet access for every teacher, student, and mouse (presumably) at the school. The innovation had very little effect on the manner of instruction. One possible reason for this is that teachers are resistant to change, especially change that is instituted from the top-down. For the sake of an example, we'll say one teacher that didn't change instruction was Mr. Fossil, who's in his 47th year of teaching at PMS. He's seen film, television, and desktop PCs enter the classroom with little change in the resulting learning, so now this punk administrator is telling him to use the internet to teach, and he'll be damned if it's going to change anything. A second possible reason that the experiment was not immediately successful could be that teachers utilized ineffective teaching methods on the computers. The old drill and practice method is not looked upon favorably by just about anyone, and it can be done on computers just as unsatisfactorily as it can be done on paper or slates. A third possible reason for the manner of instruction remaining stagnant, and this could be the cause of the second reason, could be mediocre instructional quality of the materials given to teachers prior to this experiment. It's not as if laptops with internet access are a magic wand - teachers need to be trained how to utilize them effectively, and if the teachers aren't trained effectively with high quality instructional materials, they haven't learned effectively, so they won't perform effectively.
To mitigate these hypothetical factors, I would recommend two things. First: while the materials are mandatory for all teachers and students, their use is not mandated. The School Board might have a fit: "Why are we spending all of this money on materials if you aren't going to make teachers use them?!" However, Mr. Fossil will never willing use and effectively utilize something that his young-whipper-snapper boss tells him to use, like he knows anything anyway. So, while Mr. Fossil's laptop sits unused in the corner, and the students keep their laptops in their bags during his class lest they be subjected to one of his rages, across the hall, the other Math teacher, Ms. Fresh, is learning how to implement successful systems of learning into her classroom through the use of the new technology. Who knows what might happen? Maybe over time Ms. Fresh will be able to convince Mr. Fossil that her students rising test scores are because of this great new system she uses. Maybe she can convince him that the internet can actually be utilized effectively to improve learning and performance. (If not, Mr. Fossil's going to retire or die soon anyway. We can always hire a teacher who is more willing to work with technology when the time comes to replace him.)
Second: Train your teachers. You just give them computers, give their students computers, and tell them to make it happen? Good luck. Here's a better implementation plan: Give the teachers their laptops a year before the students. Have all of the required PD that year be related to using them effectively. Give the teachers choices of PD classes that they will attend. (Again, resistance to top-down change is strong - I might add that it's not just teachers, but rather human nature that's to blame for this one. Choice might help alleviate this.) Maybe these classes could be led by their tech-savvy peers for a modest stipend rather than some outside speaker - the teachers leading these sessions throughout year would enjoy helping their fellow teachers, and the teachers learning from their peers would be more likely to listen. As an added bonus, they would have resources to talk to - the person who led the PD is just two doors down the hallway, after all - as they experiment throughout the year. Then following year, when the students get their one-to-one laptops, you have a staff that has had plenty of instruction and time to acclimatize themselves to the new systems they will be using. Instructional innovation. Positive impact on learning and performance. Happy board, happy parents, happy students, happy teachers.
Reiser, Robert A. & Dempsey, John V. (2012). Trends and issues in instructional design and technology. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Embedding Media - Oops
Embedding Media - Part 3
Alright, it seems this embedding stuff is coming to me fairly easily. We'll try a map for attempt number three. I lived in Yuma for a year. If you ever see me there again, it will be because I had a craving for the amazing Mustard Crusted Tofu at River City Grill. Of course, there were a number of amazing people my wife and I worked with, so we'll invite them to meet us there.
View Larger Map
View Larger Map
Embedding Media - Part 2
Well, I'm certainly happy with how well my first attempt at embedding media worked out (other than imgur being over capacity so frequently). Let's try my favorite band to come up in the past few years:
Embedding Media to a Blog, Part 1
I've got to learn how to embed media. Here goes my first attempt:
By the way, if you want to see the album outside of my blog, the link is right here.
By the way, if you want to see the album outside of my blog, the link is right here.
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Week 2 Reflection
For week two, I've created a wiki, created an RSS Reader account, read some articles (linked below), and now I'm responding to the following questions:
What are your early impressions of using a blog and what was your experience using an RSS Reader this week? Any surprises, pleasant or otherwise?
My early impressions of using a blog would be, to put it simply, I like it. I like the journal feel of it. I enjoy writing, and I enjoy having people read what I write. If I weren't so wretchedly busy for the next couple of months, I might be tempted to create a personal blog right away; after the chaos dies down, I have a couple ideas for blogs I might keep.
The RSS Reader experience has been enlightening to say the least. I never knew what that little orange button with what looks like radio waves even meant until I had to start using it for this class. Again, due to the general time constraints of being a full time student, full time teacher, and full time parent, I am not using it in a personal way right now, but I can envision subscribing to many of my favorite websites in the near future. It's very convenient to be able to read everything from the subscribed blogs all on one website rather than navigating to each individually. (Right now it's enough to just keep up with all of my classmates' blogs. If I added in websites for my personal enjoyment, I fear my time management discipline might fly right out the window.)
Professionally speaking, I can see the value and potential of both of these tools. However, as most of my students are from low-income families, I still worry about internet access at home. I have noticed a positive trend over the past few years for fewer and fewer families to be without, however.
Based on your readings, the videos and your experience setting up and using a wiki space, do you have some ideas about how you could use a wiki in your teaching or elsewhere in your work or life? Describe an idea for an activity you might do with learners that would involve the use of a wiki.
As an English teacher, I can see a great possibility: student created projects on specific literature. “Okay class, as we read Macbeth, we are going to periodically get the laptops out, and you will create the [insert school name here] Macbeth Wiki. Major categories, and by that in this case I mean pages to include on your wiki, will be characters, plot, time line, etc. You will work in groups of [x amount of students], and you will be evaluated on this rubric.”
Okay, so the idea is in its infancy, but the seed is planted in my mind. It would not only potentially address Common Core State Standards in Reading Literature, but also CCSS in Writing, Language, and if they have to present their wiki to their peers, Speaking and Listening.
Which part(s) of Dale’s Cone do you think each tool (Blog, RSS) lends itself best to and why?
Again from an English teacher's perspective, the first category that jumps out at me is Verbal Symbols. Spoken words are verbal symbols, and written words are symbols of those verbal symbols. However, by embedding links images, video, and audio into blogs, or by creating scenarios for students to think of, it's easy to see how these technologies would move down the cone to the broader levels of Visual Symbols, Still Pictures, Recordings, Motion Pictures, Virtual Study Trips, Virtual Demonstrations, (yes, I modified those last two from the 1969 version of Dale's Cone; I doubt he had such foresight to see that possibility as we have it today) and Contrived Experiences. Also, let's not forget that by having students actually do these tasks themselves (creating blogs, following peers with RSS readers, creating wikis), we move right down to the very base of Dale's Cone to Direct Purposeful Experiences. They aren't the same kinds of experiences that are mentioned in the chapter, but whereas he described participation in rural and city areas, we now have online areas that productive citizens should participate in to gain a large knowledge base.
As the question asks what each tool lends itself best to, I feel I should explain my thoughts on how the two tools can work together. I feel blogs are where the educational benefit would come from - RSS I view as more of a tool for managing the task of following many blogs simultaneously. If I am limiting my understanding of the potential of RSS by viewing it in this way, please comment to correct my view.
Considering Siegel’s concept of “computer imagination”, what do you think would be at least one “imaginative” educational use of each tool (blog, RSS) that takes advantage of each tool’s inherent strengths? That is, what do you think you and/or your students could use these tools for that they might not be able to do with other more simple or low-tech tools? Or, as Postman might ask, what is a problem to which each of these tools is an answer?
What's the problem, Postman would ask? How about the lack of student engagement in classroom discussion? Whereas in a classroom teachers must resort to tricks and limitations to get reticent students to participate, on online discussion eliminates much of the fear of speaking before the group. (Of course, with concerns of cyber-bullying, great attention must be paid by the teacher to pre-teach expectations, norms, and acceptable behavior in responses if an online discussion was to be had, and a generally high level of maturity from the students wouldn't hurt, either.)
How about this class? Each student has created a blog, and each student must write a reflection on what they've read. We are graded upon not only our reflection, but also our engagement with other students by responding to others' reflections. We are therefore not allowed to be reticent during discussions, but introverts don't need to fear the spotlight as they're safely behind their own computer screen. Discussions are open for participation in a way that's rarely achieved in a traditional classroom.
What are your early impressions of using a blog and what was your experience using an RSS Reader this week? Any surprises, pleasant or otherwise?
My early impressions of using a blog would be, to put it simply, I like it. I like the journal feel of it. I enjoy writing, and I enjoy having people read what I write. If I weren't so wretchedly busy for the next couple of months, I might be tempted to create a personal blog right away; after the chaos dies down, I have a couple ideas for blogs I might keep.
The RSS Reader experience has been enlightening to say the least. I never knew what that little orange button with what looks like radio waves even meant until I had to start using it for this class. Again, due to the general time constraints of being a full time student, full time teacher, and full time parent, I am not using it in a personal way right now, but I can envision subscribing to many of my favorite websites in the near future. It's very convenient to be able to read everything from the subscribed blogs all on one website rather than navigating to each individually. (Right now it's enough to just keep up with all of my classmates' blogs. If I added in websites for my personal enjoyment, I fear my time management discipline might fly right out the window.)
Professionally speaking, I can see the value and potential of both of these tools. However, as most of my students are from low-income families, I still worry about internet access at home. I have noticed a positive trend over the past few years for fewer and fewer families to be without, however.
Based on your readings, the videos and your experience setting up and using a wiki space, do you have some ideas about how you could use a wiki in your teaching or elsewhere in your work or life? Describe an idea for an activity you might do with learners that would involve the use of a wiki.
As an English teacher, I can see a great possibility: student created projects on specific literature. “Okay class, as we read Macbeth, we are going to periodically get the laptops out, and you will create the [insert school name here] Macbeth Wiki. Major categories, and by that in this case I mean pages to include on your wiki, will be characters, plot, time line, etc. You will work in groups of [x amount of students], and you will be evaluated on this rubric.”
Okay, so the idea is in its infancy, but the seed is planted in my mind. It would not only potentially address Common Core State Standards in Reading Literature, but also CCSS in Writing, Language, and if they have to present their wiki to their peers, Speaking and Listening.
Which part(s) of Dale’s Cone do you think each tool (Blog, RSS) lends itself best to and why?
Again from an English teacher's perspective, the first category that jumps out at me is Verbal Symbols. Spoken words are verbal symbols, and written words are symbols of those verbal symbols. However, by embedding links images, video, and audio into blogs, or by creating scenarios for students to think of, it's easy to see how these technologies would move down the cone to the broader levels of Visual Symbols, Still Pictures, Recordings, Motion Pictures, Virtual Study Trips, Virtual Demonstrations, (yes, I modified those last two from the 1969 version of Dale's Cone; I doubt he had such foresight to see that possibility as we have it today) and Contrived Experiences. Also, let's not forget that by having students actually do these tasks themselves (creating blogs, following peers with RSS readers, creating wikis), we move right down to the very base of Dale's Cone to Direct Purposeful Experiences. They aren't the same kinds of experiences that are mentioned in the chapter, but whereas he described participation in rural and city areas, we now have online areas that productive citizens should participate in to gain a large knowledge base.
As the question asks what each tool lends itself best to, I feel I should explain my thoughts on how the two tools can work together. I feel blogs are where the educational benefit would come from - RSS I view as more of a tool for managing the task of following many blogs simultaneously. If I am limiting my understanding of the potential of RSS by viewing it in this way, please comment to correct my view.
Considering Siegel’s concept of “computer imagination”, what do you think would be at least one “imaginative” educational use of each tool (blog, RSS) that takes advantage of each tool’s inherent strengths? That is, what do you think you and/or your students could use these tools for that they might not be able to do with other more simple or low-tech tools? Or, as Postman might ask, what is a problem to which each of these tools is an answer?
What's the problem, Postman would ask? How about the lack of student engagement in classroom discussion? Whereas in a classroom teachers must resort to tricks and limitations to get reticent students to participate, on online discussion eliminates much of the fear of speaking before the group. (Of course, with concerns of cyber-bullying, great attention must be paid by the teacher to pre-teach expectations, norms, and acceptable behavior in responses if an online discussion was to be had, and a generally high level of maturity from the students wouldn't hurt, either.)
How about this class? Each student has created a blog, and each student must write a reflection on what they've read. We are graded upon not only our reflection, but also our engagement with other students by responding to others' reflections. We are therefore not allowed to be reticent during discussions, but introverts don't need to fear the spotlight as they're safely behind their own computer screen. Discussions are open for participation in a way that's rarely achieved in a traditional classroom.
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Creating a Wiki
One of my assignments this week was to create a simple wiki. I had to summarize some key points of an article about Web 2.0 on this wiki, and I had to include links to other places in my wiki. Oh, another part of my assignment was to create a link to my wiki in my blog, so here it is.
Friday, May 11, 2012
Week One Reflection
My first assignment on this blog is a reflection on two articles.
The first, titled Beyond Technology Integration: The Case for Technology Transformation by Charles M.
Reigeluth and Roberto Joseph presents an optimistic view of a whole
new type of learning that can be accomplished through the use of
technology. One of the first things that caught my attention was the key markers of the industrial age versus the information age on Table 1, especially the first on the list. Whereas standardization used to be the norm, now customization is. This is true in many places, but not in schools. The authors point out a fundamental flaw in our educational system - namely that it was designed as a response to the needs of the industrial age. It was important to sort people into laborers and managers. It was important to teach people how to behave as if they were on an assembly line. It was not as important to teach people how to think critically, to master skills and knowledge at their own pace, and how to interact cooperatively with others.
The article goes on to include some very interesting points. When the authors say that meeting today's educational needs "would require a learning-focused educational system that offers customization rather than standardization", I couldn't help thinking of recent conversations I've heard about so called flip schools. The "normal" way of doing school is to go to the building, obtain information and skills from the teacher, and practice on your own for homework. If the student gets stuck, ideally the teacher will help them the next day in class; realistically, the student typically gets an F on the assignment and falls behind his peers. In flip schools, however, instruction is given at home via online videos, lectures, demonstrations, etc. Then the students go to school, ready to practice, create, or synthesize their learning with the guidance of the teacher. I can see potential in this to allow students to individualize their learning pace with the teacher as a guide, and the teacher could rather easily guide many students who were in different places along their learning journey.
However, I can also see possible problems with this type of system. I currently work at an alternative high school. The students who come to my school have learned over the years how to fake success expertly. Many steal others' work, copy it, and cheat shamelessly. During my first year at the school, there were "independent study" courses in place which were basically just packets of work for the students to complete for credit. As many readers can figure out, these courses were an exercise in finding the one student who actually did the work and copying her, or sometimes even paying her to do it for you. (Thankfully, we eliminated those courses after my first year.) I could envision a scenario where many students quickly figured out that if their customized learning pace just-so-happened to occur at the same pace as their peers, they could dramatically reduce the effort they had to put in by stealing, copying, and cheating.
One thing that really bothered me about this article was the section titled "How to Transform?". The best nugget of an idea I could find was that we must use technology "for the purpose of transforming this [teacher-student] relationship." That seems a far cry from a definite, or even satisfactory, answer.
I did appreciate the nod to various learning styles that technology can accommodate to through computer-based tutorials, simulations, and open dialogues. However, I would worry that technology can leave behind kinesthetic learners, the very learners who are most neglected in traditional instruction.
Since this assignment is already well over the approximate aim of five-hundred words, I'll be more brief about the second article. Of Luddites, Learning, and Life by Neil Postman was much more skeptical. He begs the question: What is the problem to which increased technology in schools is the answer? We are not starved for information, but we do need to teach students "that their own needs sometimes are subordinate to the needs of the group", "how to cultivate a sense of social responsibility", and how to "think critically, historically, and humanely". From my perspective, that is precisely what many students who come into alternative education lack the most.
Postman also invokes Alan Kay, saying "any problems the schools cannot solve without machines, they cannot solve with them." I wholeheartedly agree with that sentiment - technology is not a silver bullet, a panacea for our ailing educational system.
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
New blog for class
I'm starting this blog for an Educational Technology course I'm taking. The writing on the wall says that there are going to be drastic changes in the educational structure of this country that involve much heavier reliance on technology in the near future, so I'm taking Educational Technology courses so that I won't become a dinosaur. Hopefully I'll have lots of insights to come.
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