Opinion Paper 3

Bill Ferriter’s “Learning with Blogs and Wikis” provides insight into the challenges that teachers encounter in obtaining benefit from professional development and offers blogs and wikis as a solution to these obstacles (2009). According to Ferriter, schools are not conducive to adult learning and are therefore stifling places for students to attempt to learn. Teachers have limited access to effective professional development that could allow them to adjust and adapt their teaching methods to better meet the needs of their students. This suppresses learning opportunities for students.

Blogs and wikis should rank high on a short list of solutions to the challenges standing in the way of effective professional development. Ferriter makes a compelling case for their accessibility, relevance, and ability to provide teachers with opportunities for collaboration. Since blogs can be sorted and easily viewed using RSS feeds, teachers can devote a small portion of their day to learning about new ideas and methods in teaching. This seems like a very practical way for teachers to further develop their craft. Blogs and wikis also represent a relevant source for teachers. They can be updated quickly and frequently, therefore, teachers are not reading months or years old material but rather, they are reading fresh ideas from professionals in their field. Ferriter also suggests that sharing RSS feeds and discussing the content of the posts with colleagues is a form of organic professional development. It is unique in that it does not have to be organized into weekly meetings, but rather short, thoughtful conversations about whether the new practices could be effective in their school and how the practices could be implemented.

Overall, Ferriter’s assertions about the benefits of blogs and wikis are catered to the schedule and professional routine of educators. This makes it more likely that the solutions are valid and will be accepted by teachers.

Ferriter, B. (2009, February). Learning with blogs and wikis. Educational Leadership, 66(5), Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational_leadership/feb09/vol66/num05/Learning_with_Blogs_and_Wikis.aspx

Online Exercise 15- Communication Tools

A number of technologies have been presented this semester to help you reach outside of your immediate surroundings for personal growth and instructional purposes. How could you use these technologies to help yourself create better learning opportunities for your students? How could you use them to help yourself continue to develop as a teacher throughout your career? What are the benefits of using the communications tools? What are the dangers? How can technology help you better reach out to all of your students regardless of their race, gender or economic status?

Communication tools can be used to create better learning opportunities for students because they expand the resources to which the the students have access. Whereas no one in the student's immediate surroundings may be an expert on say, space exploration, someone on the internet that can be communicated with via blog, social networking site, or Skype is an expert on space exploration.

Communication tools can also help teachers develop and hone their teaching skills. For example, teachers who use other teachers as a resource via websites like the Alabama Learning Exchange and Thinkfinity.org are picking up the communication sent out by more experienced teachers who have used a lesson plan that worked.

The danger of the communication tools is that students are more vulnerable than they would be otherwise to disguised threats like phishing, adults posing as peers, and cyber bullying. However, supervision and education about internet safety are two ways that we can keep students safe.

Technology can be an equalizer of sorts because students who do not have many resources available in their immediate surroundings have a world of resources at their fingertips when they use communication tools to tap into the resources of the internet.

Opinion Paper 2

Response to “Kids Talk Tech” by Sara Bernard
ED 529 – Raulston
27 February 2010

Sara Bernard’s article “Kids Talk Tech” offers tips to students and educators on how to learn and teach using technology (2009). Her suggestions are examples from real teachers who have used the tech teaching method and had success with it. In terms of effectiveness, these suggestions are refreshing and interesting for both student and teacher. They provide dual purpose learning experiences: students can master a concept while learning how to use technology in a more sophisticated way than they may be accustomed to. However, there are some obstacles that would have to be overcome in order to implement these solutions.

The idea of “friending” Thomas Paine is a dream to a social studies teacher. Making historically significant figures more like people and less like two dimensional pictures in book is a major goal of social studies instruction. Using MySpace to achieve this allows students to access this new information about Thomas Paine in a familiar way. Nothing could be better. However, practical application of this teaching method would be difficult. MySpace is a forbidden website according to most school system web filters. It is also forbidden by many parents. How can the teacher use a tool that cannot be accessed at school and has a negative connotation in the media to help students learn about Thomas Paine? An alternative could be to use an application like Wikispaces to create a “closed” MySpace that only your students can access. This way, students can use the “rules” of MySpace but actually use an application that allows for greater supervision by the teacher. This will put parents at ease and achieve the same goal.

Student blogging as mentioned in the article is also a powerful resource. Any avenue where students can critically think and talk about what is happening in their classrooms is a positive avenue. If teachers give students a voice to discuss their opinions on what is being presented, students will accept the challenge and apply what they know.

Bernard, S. (2009, June). Kids talk tech. Edutopia, Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/digital-generation-lesson-ideas

Opinion Paper 1

Response to “How to Thrive—Not Just Survive—in a One-Computer Classroom”
University of Montevallo – ED 529
6 February 2010

In “How to Thrive—Not Just Survive—in a One-Computer Classroom,” Glori Chaika offers suggestions to teachers who struggle to make use of the one computer in their classrooms (2005). Incorporating technology becomes a hassle for teachers and students when there is not enough equipment to go around. The strategies Chaika offers focus on student rotation and time management. While these are excellent ways to make the one-computer classroom more functional, these solutions still result in infrequent access to technology for students.

One of the best solutions was to use a projector to project the computer screen onto a larger screen. This allows students to see many technological applications that they can easily duplicate on home computers, library computers, or on computers in their school computer lab. One way to make this work even better for students would be to have a different student operate the mouse each day. Using this strategy, students are exposed to technology frequently and each gets their turn to physically use technology.

However, this strategy is not useful for students to use the computer to create or publish their original works. This is one of the great benefits of computers used in education. The ability of students to compose and publish their writing is hindered significantly if there is only one computer. Chaika’s suggestions about time management and student rotation are improvements over not using the computer at all, but teachers may find that students’ momentum and excitement about their own writing will diminish the longer they must wait to publish it. When the students are no longer excited, the teacher begins to feel that using the computer is an exercise in futility or a chore, and therefore more hassle than it is worth. In the case of publishing original works, the best option would be to take one or two instructional days to visit the computer lab.

While Chaika’s solutions for problems presented by one-computer classrooms do result in improved use of technology, they do not fully address the problem of infrequent access to technology.

Chaika, G. (2005, December 20). How to Thrive -- not just survive -- in a one-computer classroom. Education World, Retrieved from http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/tech/tech092.shtml

ED 529 Assignments

ALEX Lesson Plan - Get the Party Started!

http://alex.state.al.us/lesson_view.php?id=29239

Online Exercise 14: Development Tools

How can development tools help you to develop students’ higher order skills and creativity? (Development tools: Imaging/Editing Software, drawing tools, web page development tools, multimedia tools, etc.) How can these tools help students to be more productive? What makes these tools suitable for your classroom?

Development tools help students to create their own original work in a way that they can share it with their peers. Their higher order thinking skills are improved when students are presented with an open assignment and must choose how to synthesize their knowledge and must choose how to interpret the assignment.

These tools can help students to be more productive because they are intuitive ways for students to express themselves. Also, students are likely to use this in applications after they leave school so it is good preparation for the work force.

Online Exercise 12: Productivity Tools

Think of the productivity tools discussed in class and ways you have used them. (Word processing, spreadsheets, databases, presentation software, concept mapping tools, free productivity tools) How have productivity tools helped you be more creative? More organized? More productive? How can you incorporate the learner-centered principles into your approaches for using these tools?

One of my favorite suite of productivity tools is Google's open source software in GoogleDocs. Not only is it much cheaper (free!) than purchasing Microsoft Office, it acts as an easily accessed storage device as well. All documents created or imported by me are stored "on the cloud," as it were, and there is no need for a physical storage device. This has helped me to be much more organized because I can access all of my documents, presentations, and spreadsheets from anywhere I have the internet. Productivity is higher as well since being organized helps me to save time and not be held up by forgotten flash drives or cds.

I believe this can do the same for students. Organization is a vital skill for students and a valuable part of maximizing instructional time. Students don't have to be concerned with "forgetting" any of their work because it is saved to their GoogleDocs account. I believe this removes some of the disciplinary issues from instruction so that both student and teacher can focus on teaching and learning instead of logistical issues.

Online Exercise 10- Planning an Initiating/Introduction Activity

A teacher you work with has asked for your help in designing technology-related activities capitalizing on the wide variety of technology resources available in the room (assume the kind of technology you choose will be in the room).
How would you design the initiating activity(s)? How many would there be? How would you choose to integrate technology into your teaching, students’ learning, and the assessments? What technology would you choose?

Student response systems are excellent for initiating activities. Students love to tell you what they think (especially if it's anonymous!) so polls that get students thinking about the topic that will be discussed or taught that day can be answered using the student response system.

I would use an LCD projector for practically everything that we would do in class. I would use a document camera to show historical documents to students. I would also use the document camera to allow students to share something that they created in a project. I would use a slate board for their notes. I would use the student response systems again for multiple choice assessment and I would use a laptop cart for essay assessment.

How would you assist the teacher in understanding how the technology you use in the initiating activities could be used again in the guided learning and culminating performance – for instruction, learning, and assessment? What resources would you direct him/her towards?

I would provide the teacher with a list of possible applications of the different technology tools that I was recommending. I would direct that teacher to youtube.com because it contains endless examples of "how to" do just about everything. I would also direct that teacher to the school or district's IT person so that any hardware issues can be resolved quickly.

Online Exercise 7: Standards

Locate a state standard(s) for the grade you are teaching. Identify a standard that can be addressed through a short unit (one to five days).
Standard 7.3 Social Studies - Civics

Now visit the ISTE NETS standards to see whether one or more of those is appropriate for helping you meet the content standard(s) you have selected.

Research and Information Fluency

If so, identify the tools, such as software or websites that you will be using or have used in a past lesson.

http://www.govspot.com/state/al.htm


Now that you have the standards in mind and have selected your technology, think about how you might assess or did assess whether your students have met the standard(s).

Will you use quizzes? Tests?
Yes, short quizzes are a great assessment tool. These will allow me to do quick checks to see whether students are understanding how to research about Alabama's state government.

A performance-based task?
Yes, a performance based task will be for students to research an element of Alabama's state government and to present what they learned by powerpoint, poster, podcast, or storybook.

Next, think about the learning activities. How will each activity address the standard(s) you have selected? How will the activities help your students succeed on the assessment?

We will visit http://www.govspot.com/state/al.htm during class to learn how to use the internet to research our topics. This will help students with the technology standard. I will also have students do a scavenger hunt on this website to help them improve their searching skills. Students will be able to use this skill for the performance based task because they will be able to search more efficiently for information on their topic.

Online Exercise 5

Think about your classroom. In your mind, where do you see the technology in that room? (Think of all the possible technologies—computers, LCD projectors, handhelds, laptop carts, and more.) How will you set up the classroom to support students in working both with technology and with each other? Ask yourself the following questions:

Will the kinds of technologies you have envisioned support all of your students regardless of their learning strengths and weaknesses?
Technologies like webcams, document cameras, projectors, laptops, and clickers are all excellent technologies to use in a classroom. I feel like these technologies DO support all students regardless of their learning strengths and weaknesses simply because there are so many possible applications of these technologies. The webcam, for example, can be used by the class to Skype with an expert or it can be used by students individually to create a video reflection of an article that they read. Some students could write a reflection without talking about it but some students need to think out loud to get their thoughts in order. Recording those thoughts will help them to write a reflection.

Will these technologies support your students in working together?
These technologies certainly lend themselves to student collaboration. Wikis, Google Docs, blogs, and other web-based applications allow students to see other students' work and to edit it or add to it. The benefits of students learning to collaborate using technology will continue to aid students well into adulthood as it is a valuable skill to most companies.

Will students have enough access to technologies to meet their learning needs?
This is the major benefit of web-based applications. Anywhere a student has access to the internet, they can access their resources. This can be at the library, in a school computer lab, an internet cafe, a cell phone, or a personal computer.

Now think about teaching in that classroom:

How will you know students are learning what you intend them to learn?
It is important to develop rubrics that will identify what factors will signal success or failure of a student to grasp the main concepts that are being taught, especially when a new medium is being used. An example of this would be that if a student's video reflection addresses the prompt and goes beyond superficial analysis, the student has learned succesfully how to reflect on an article.

How will you identify their preferred learning style and differentiate instruction in the classroom for them?

Identifying preferred learning styles can be difficult but I think the best way to do this involving technology is to expose them to a variety of applications and technologies. After students have had opportunities to use different learning tools, the teacher can elicit the student's most interesting and fun experience, and use the rubric developed by the teacher to identify what applications and technologies speak the most to that student's learning style. Differentiation of instruction is much easier with technology because students can become as involved as they are interested. For example, using iMovie to create a video can be very simplistic or very sophisticated and advanced. As long as the requirements for the assignment are met, this will allow students to explore and exploit their interests.

If they are not learning what you intend, how will you address that?

Constant assessment will be necessary to identify when this is occurring but I would seek information on how to modify the way that the student uses the technology so that it is more in tune with their learning style. The same approach tried again will not work--the approach must be adjusted so that the student has a better opportunity to access the concept with which they are struggling.