Article: “A Project for Everyone, English Language Learners and Technology in Content-Area Classrooms”
From: ISTE “Learning and Leading with Technology”
This article is about teaching classes in which some of the students are not fluent in English which is a very interesting subject to me, since I would like to teach in Escondido and there are a high percentage of primarily Spanish speaking children compared to the rest of the country.
Question 1: What activities support English Language learners in learning English and the subject content?
An important part of the answer is to interact with fluent English speakers in a meaningful way on an interesting project. This particular example involves researching the Vietnam War, and some of the kids are speaking English as their second language and below grade level. The best way to encourage them to improve their English is to have small groups that include English language learners (ELLs) and native speakers. So if 4 of them are working on the PowerPoint presentation then 1 or 2 of them could be English language learners. There are also ways to expose the ELLs to English in meaningful ways but with some help, such as showing them web sites that have visuals along with the text. Graphs, maps, spread sheets, and other data that support the content being researched are examples of graphic helpers. The Find feature in the browser can save a slow reader a lot of time.
Question 2: Can technology be used for ELLs to practice and improve their spoken language?
There are audio e-mail software packages such as Talksend, with which ELLs can practice what they want to say and record over until they are pleased with the e-mail they send. Speech recognition software might be a good help for correct pronunciation. ELLs can also use the recording feature of PowerPoint to add explanations for slides so they can work on it ahead of time instead of during the presentation.
Friday, April 27, 2007
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Journal 9
Article: “Ready, Set, Code! Starting a Computer Team” by Justin Solomon
from: Learning and Leading with Technology
This article was about student computer teams that compete to write computer programs. Apparently, it’s not a big thing in this country, but about 150 competitors from the U.S. competed in the Computing Olympiad along with 1,000 international students. There is an American organization, The USA Computing Olympiad (USACO) at www.usaco.org that has information about competitions as well as resources for learning the skills necessary to compete.
Question 1: That sounds like it’s for kids with advanced computer skills that aren’t taught at my high school. Where do they learn them?
Over 14,000 students in the U.S. took the AP Computer Science A exam last year or an introductory computer science course, so some students either have the class offered on site at their school, or take the course in a virtual classroom (See Journal 8), or commute to a college for the classes. Information about the Advanced Placement test is at www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/ap/sub_compscia.html?compscia
Question 2: What kind of activities does the team do on a daily basis?
In a computer team the students can practice the skill of working as a team on a computer program, as well as skills like algorithm analysis, program design, and program testing. There are hands-on activities to illustrate how algorithms work and programming techniques available at the USACO web site above.
from: Learning and Leading with Technology
This article was about student computer teams that compete to write computer programs. Apparently, it’s not a big thing in this country, but about 150 competitors from the U.S. competed in the Computing Olympiad along with 1,000 international students. There is an American organization, The USA Computing Olympiad (USACO) at www.usaco.org that has information about competitions as well as resources for learning the skills necessary to compete.
Question 1: That sounds like it’s for kids with advanced computer skills that aren’t taught at my high school. Where do they learn them?
Over 14,000 students in the U.S. took the AP Computer Science A exam last year or an introductory computer science course, so some students either have the class offered on site at their school, or take the course in a virtual classroom (See Journal 8), or commute to a college for the classes. Information about the Advanced Placement test is at www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/ap/sub_compscia.html?compscia
Question 2: What kind of activities does the team do on a daily basis?
In a computer team the students can practice the skill of working as a team on a computer program, as well as skills like algorithm analysis, program design, and program testing. There are hands-on activities to illustrate how algorithms work and programming techniques available at the USACO web site above.
Journal 8
Article: “Virtual Schooling” from Learning and Leading with Technology
By Niki Davis and Dales S. Niederhauser
If you think that Virtual Schooling is simply reading some online material and taking a multiple choice test at the end, think again. For K-12 Virtual Schooling there are lots of people involved in the process and lots of support for the student. This is a fully supported function of many schools now according to this article. In fact, the phenomenon is growing very fast, 100 % between 2005 and 2006!
Question 1: How many people are involved in delivering k-12 Virtual Schooling to students?
First of all there’s a real teacher at one end and real remote schools for the real students. Also at the remote school is a support person called an IT specialist for technical details. Then there’s anther support person at the remote school to interface with the students and their parents.
Question 2: How does a teacher run a virtual class?
The main ingredients are usually an online learning management software system and the Internet. Sometimes TV broadcasting or teleconferencing is used also. The learning management software is sometimes WebCT, our old friend! The students do a lot of self study, of course, using an online textbook and other online sources. The learning management software is used for asynchronous communications such as submitting assignments, discussion boards, and e-mail.
By Niki Davis and Dales S. Niederhauser
If you think that Virtual Schooling is simply reading some online material and taking a multiple choice test at the end, think again. For K-12 Virtual Schooling there are lots of people involved in the process and lots of support for the student. This is a fully supported function of many schools now according to this article. In fact, the phenomenon is growing very fast, 100 % between 2005 and 2006!
Question 1: How many people are involved in delivering k-12 Virtual Schooling to students?
First of all there’s a real teacher at one end and real remote schools for the real students. Also at the remote school is a support person called an IT specialist for technical details. Then there’s anther support person at the remote school to interface with the students and their parents.
Question 2: How does a teacher run a virtual class?
The main ingredients are usually an online learning management software system and the Internet. Sometimes TV broadcasting or teleconferencing is used also. The learning management software is sometimes WebCT, our old friend! The students do a lot of self study, of course, using an online textbook and other online sources. The learning management software is used for asynchronous communications such as submitting assignments, discussion boards, and e-mail.
Journal 7
Article:
Retracing Shackleton’s Journey to Antarctica to Connect Math and Literature
By Erin Colfax
I am always interested in articles that explore methods of teaching math that connect it to other subjects or “real life” and make math concepts interesting for students. I got all that and more from this article. It describes one imaginative teacher’s use of a scientific experiment using iScienceProject support from Onset Computer Corp. iScienceProject supports science education projects that use it’s HOBO instruments to gather data. The HOBO probes log data including temperature, barometric pressure, humidity, and light. There’s more information on the iScienceProject at http://www.iscienceproject.com .
Question 1: How did the students use the HOBO instruments for a science project?
The students designed an experiment that would involve the probes being used in various places near Antarctica to measure temperature. Before the probes were sent to the researchers on the spot they were calibrated and the experiment’s parameters were specified by the students. They made some predictions of the results in terms of the linear equation y=mx+b.
Question 2: How was this experiment connected to other subjects and “real life”?
The students had read a literary work, “Endurance”, by F.A.Worsley which tells the story of sir Ernest Schackleton’s expedition to Antarctica. After that they were able to design an experiment which connected the historical event to actual environmental conditions at locations along the route taken by the explorers. By graphing the data and trying to fit it to a linear equation they connected math to science to history to literature.
Question 3: What kind of teaching method is that?
I believe this is an example of progressive education or experimentalism teaching philosophy. This method is used to go very deep on a few projects instead of having the children memorize and drill. This is also a good example of using technology to teach higher order concepts as was mentioned in the Social Justice article in Journal 6.
Retracing Shackleton’s Journey to Antarctica to Connect Math and Literature
By Erin Colfax
I am always interested in articles that explore methods of teaching math that connect it to other subjects or “real life” and make math concepts interesting for students. I got all that and more from this article. It describes one imaginative teacher’s use of a scientific experiment using iScienceProject support from Onset Computer Corp. iScienceProject supports science education projects that use it’s HOBO instruments to gather data. The HOBO probes log data including temperature, barometric pressure, humidity, and light. There’s more information on the iScienceProject at http://www.iscienceproject.com .
Question 1: How did the students use the HOBO instruments for a science project?
The students designed an experiment that would involve the probes being used in various places near Antarctica to measure temperature. Before the probes were sent to the researchers on the spot they were calibrated and the experiment’s parameters were specified by the students. They made some predictions of the results in terms of the linear equation y=mx+b.
Question 2: How was this experiment connected to other subjects and “real life”?
The students had read a literary work, “Endurance”, by F.A.Worsley which tells the story of sir Ernest Schackleton’s expedition to Antarctica. After that they were able to design an experiment which connected the historical event to actual environmental conditions at locations along the route taken by the explorers. By graphing the data and trying to fit it to a linear equation they connected math to science to history to literature.
Question 3: What kind of teaching method is that?
I believe this is an example of progressive education or experimentalism teaching philosophy. This method is used to go very deep on a few projects instead of having the children memorize and drill. This is also a good example of using technology to teach higher order concepts as was mentioned in the Social Justice article in Journal 6.
Journal 6
Article:
"Social Justice, Choice or Necessity?" From: Learning and Leading with Technology
by Colleen Swain and David Edyburn
This article asks us if the use of technology in the classroom is just a personal choice of teaching style that the teacher makes or is a much larger issue. Clearly this issue is about hands-on use of technology by the children and not just use by the teachers to display content. There are several ways that children benefit when they use technology for learning. Social justice comes into the picture because proficiency with technology affects the future success of the student and because all students are not given the same amount and type of access to technology.
Question 1: How do the students benefit by the use of technology in the classroom?
The most obvious way the students benefit is to become more proficient and comfortable with the technology. It is important to use technology that enhances higher order learning in addition to quizzing the kids or practicing mundane skills. All students should have access to concept enhancing technology, not just the brightest. Also, technology can be used to mitigate learning disabilities in some cases by giving them extra work on an area of weakness.
Question 2: Why isn’t it simply a personal choice of the teacher whether to use technology in the classroom?
It’s not simply a personal choice by the teacher to use technology. When the students go to college they will be expected to hit the ground running with certain tools, and proficiency with computers and Internet usage will be assumed. Also, many of the jobs they apply for will be jobs that don’t exist today. That means we can give them the tools to be flexible and competent but we can’t teach them exactly what they will need to know. Technology will surely be one of the tools that will help the most.
"Social Justice, Choice or Necessity?" From: Learning and Leading with Technology
by Colleen Swain and David Edyburn
This article asks us if the use of technology in the classroom is just a personal choice of teaching style that the teacher makes or is a much larger issue. Clearly this issue is about hands-on use of technology by the children and not just use by the teachers to display content. There are several ways that children benefit when they use technology for learning. Social justice comes into the picture because proficiency with technology affects the future success of the student and because all students are not given the same amount and type of access to technology.
Question 1: How do the students benefit by the use of technology in the classroom?
The most obvious way the students benefit is to become more proficient and comfortable with the technology. It is important to use technology that enhances higher order learning in addition to quizzing the kids or practicing mundane skills. All students should have access to concept enhancing technology, not just the brightest. Also, technology can be used to mitigate learning disabilities in some cases by giving them extra work on an area of weakness.
Question 2: Why isn’t it simply a personal choice of the teacher whether to use technology in the classroom?
It’s not simply a personal choice by the teacher to use technology. When the students go to college they will be expected to hit the ground running with certain tools, and proficiency with computers and Internet usage will be assumed. Also, many of the jobs they apply for will be jobs that don’t exist today. That means we can give them the tools to be flexible and competent but we can’t teach them exactly what they will need to know. Technology will surely be one of the tools that will help the most.
Friday, March 9, 2007
Journal 5
Article: “How to Fight the New Bullies” by Rosalind Wiseman From Parade.com (Feb 25)
This is a great article for educators, future educators, and parents. The advice about cyberbullying is important because, like so many issues affecting the learning process, it isn’t going to call attention to itself. We have to be proactive and active about seeking out these problems. The link to www.wiredsafety.org is especially useful. Parents should definitely check this out. I have a 14 year old daughter and I just now let her have a computer in her room for doing homework. But, of course, to a teenager a computer is a communications device, a connection to her social network. So, I come in regularly when her door is closed to do homework and look over her shoulder so she knows I care enough to check. That’s not mistrust.
Question 1: What is on the wiredsafety.org site for Internet safety?
I checked out wiredsafety.org and took the Parents link. There were links to answers to a lot of questions that parents probably have about what their kids are doing online. There is “How can I tell if my child is communicating with an Internet predator?” And “Is there software I can use to track what my kids are saying and doing online?” And “What if I find out my child is a cyberbully?” There are many more like that.
I followed the question about Internet predators and found an article from a column called “Ask Parry” where he described things to look for in a teen to determine how at-risk they are. It started general, like “naïve kids between 11 and 15” and got more and more specific, like: do they have names of people in their buddy list that they don’t know personally, and do they have a web site or an online profile? Look over these things that your teen is sharing with the world and see if there is anything suggestive, or remarks about a “love” or someone special you don’t know about. Obviously, there should be no personally identifiable information in their profile, for example, no addresses, not even “a picture of them in front of their school with the name” of the school showing. The author also suggests that if you have reason not to trust your child, install some monitoring software on their computer, like from Spectorsoft.com. There’s more information about what to look for on the child’s cell phone and even their video game player.
Question 2: What is the greatest risk our children face online?
Next I checked out the wiredsafety.org “Educators and librarians” section. There they have links to online safety information for teachers a tutorial on cyber safety, and online safety information for librarians. There is also a PDF file in Spanish or English for parent information. The online safety link goes to another great site, wiredkids.org that has information on all aspects of kids’ use of the Internet, not just safety. This website reminds you that although the Internet isn’t safe enough to let kids go there unsupervised, there are lots of reasons to use the Internet. Wiredsafety.com says the “greatest risk our children face online is lack of access”.
This is a great article for educators, future educators, and parents. The advice about cyberbullying is important because, like so many issues affecting the learning process, it isn’t going to call attention to itself. We have to be proactive and active about seeking out these problems. The link to www.wiredsafety.org is especially useful. Parents should definitely check this out. I have a 14 year old daughter and I just now let her have a computer in her room for doing homework. But, of course, to a teenager a computer is a communications device, a connection to her social network. So, I come in regularly when her door is closed to do homework and look over her shoulder so she knows I care enough to check. That’s not mistrust.
Question 1: What is on the wiredsafety.org site for Internet safety?
I checked out wiredsafety.org and took the Parents link. There were links to answers to a lot of questions that parents probably have about what their kids are doing online. There is “How can I tell if my child is communicating with an Internet predator?” And “Is there software I can use to track what my kids are saying and doing online?” And “What if I find out my child is a cyberbully?” There are many more like that.
I followed the question about Internet predators and found an article from a column called “Ask Parry” where he described things to look for in a teen to determine how at-risk they are. It started general, like “naïve kids between 11 and 15” and got more and more specific, like: do they have names of people in their buddy list that they don’t know personally, and do they have a web site or an online profile? Look over these things that your teen is sharing with the world and see if there is anything suggestive, or remarks about a “love” or someone special you don’t know about. Obviously, there should be no personally identifiable information in their profile, for example, no addresses, not even “a picture of them in front of their school with the name” of the school showing. The author also suggests that if you have reason not to trust your child, install some monitoring software on their computer, like from Spectorsoft.com. There’s more information about what to look for on the child’s cell phone and even their video game player.
Question 2: What is the greatest risk our children face online?
Next I checked out the wiredsafety.org “Educators and librarians” section. There they have links to online safety information for teachers a tutorial on cyber safety, and online safety information for librarians. There is also a PDF file in Spanish or English for parent information. The online safety link goes to another great site, wiredkids.org that has information on all aspects of kids’ use of the Internet, not just safety. This website reminds you that although the Internet isn’t safe enough to let kids go there unsupervised, there are lots of reasons to use the Internet. Wiredsafety.com says the “greatest risk our children face online is lack of access”.
Monday, March 5, 2007
Journal 4
Article: “From Toy to Tool”, by Liz Kolb from Learning and Leading with Technology from iste.org February 2007.
In this article the author explains that it is easy to add audio to a blog and tells us about educational uses for this technology. The technology is very convenient because one can uses his or her cell phone to record anywhere any time without any other equipment. There are complete instructions in the article for attaching audio to a blog beginning with getting an account on Gabcast. So being the intrepid blogging journalist that I am I followed the instructions.
Question 1: How did you add the audioblog to be automatically added to your blog by Gabcast?
After signing up I followed the link in the email verification Gabcast sent me, I proceeded to create a channel. Think of a channel as a connection between any phone you use and your blog. That is, if you set it up right. On my first attempt to set up a channel, I entered the title, description, channel password, and keywords (teaching, technology). I didn’t check the box that it would be explicit content. I’ll try to restrain myself… ;-) I left the Channel Website empty, not knowing what it was for. I pushed the button to use my Google blogger account and then it let me log in to my blogger account so it could read my blog ID number. Then I submitted that channel information.
Question 2: What happened after you called in your audioblog?
Next, I used my cell phone to call the audioblog phone number for the U.S. After I recorded my message and chose option 2 to publish it I waited eagerly for the posting to my blog but it never came. Later I added 2 fields I had left blank on the first try: the optional web site, which is the xxxxx.blogspot.com address, and I checked the box to Add Flash Component to the text blog. The next time I called, it automatically added it to my blog.
But when I was experimenting before I got the automatic publishing to work I tried the manual methods for adding the entry to your blog. When you are in Manage my Published Episodes there is an icon for HTML code that you can cut and pasted into the HTML editor on your blog posting screen to add a button to play your audio file into your blog manually. Of course, the goal of all this is to place a button in your blog that a reader can click on to hear your audio. The service leaves both a link and a flash media audio button for you to click on. Clicking on the icon is much better because it doesn’t have to open up another window or tab to play the audio. In fact the little flash media component shows the status of the music player without any distracting new windows or tabs. The posting that Gabcast made to my blog is just below:
In this article the author explains that it is easy to add audio to a blog and tells us about educational uses for this technology. The technology is very convenient because one can uses his or her cell phone to record anywhere any time without any other equipment. There are complete instructions in the article for attaching audio to a blog beginning with getting an account on Gabcast. So being the intrepid blogging journalist that I am I followed the instructions.
Question 1: How did you add the audioblog to be automatically added to your blog by Gabcast?
After signing up I followed the link in the email verification Gabcast sent me, I proceeded to create a channel. Think of a channel as a connection between any phone you use and your blog. That is, if you set it up right. On my first attempt to set up a channel, I entered the title, description, channel password, and keywords (teaching, technology). I didn’t check the box that it would be explicit content. I’ll try to restrain myself… ;-) I left the Channel Website empty, not knowing what it was for. I pushed the button to use my Google blogger account and then it let me log in to my blogger account so it could read my blog ID number. Then I submitted that channel information.
Question 2: What happened after you called in your audioblog?
Next, I used my cell phone to call the audioblog phone number for the U.S. After I recorded my message and chose option 2 to publish it I waited eagerly for the posting to my blog but it never came. Later I added 2 fields I had left blank on the first try: the optional web site, which is the xxxxx.blogspot.com address, and I checked the box to Add Flash Component to the text blog. The next time I called, it automatically added it to my blog.
But when I was experimenting before I got the automatic publishing to work I tried the manual methods for adding the entry to your blog. When you are in Manage my Published Episodes there is an icon for HTML code that you can cut and pasted into the HTML editor on your blog posting screen to add a button to play your audio file into your blog manually. Of course, the goal of all this is to place a button in your blog that a reader can click on to hear your audio. The service leaves both a link and a flash media audio button for you to click on. Clicking on the icon is much better because it doesn’t have to open up another window or tab to play the audio. In fact the little flash media component shows the status of the music player without any distracting new windows or tabs. The posting that Gabcast made to my blog is just below:
Sunday, March 4, 2007
Journal 3
Article: “Video in the Age of Participation” by Glenn Bull, from Learning and Leading with Technology on iste.org (Feb 2007)
This article explains how convenient it has become to incorporate video into your curriculum now that there are vast Internet video storage sites where you can find a short digital video file that fits nicely into your lesson plan. I took a look at the videos on PBS and there were some good science selections. The author also mentioned some African waterhole video clips on YouTube.com which I looked at. Although, not exactly exciting and dynamic, these clips are far better then watching the National Geographic webcam for hours to see one animal. I tried the Discover Education Unitedstreaming site after I signed up for the free 30-day offer. I arbitrarily asked it for content about Newton’s Laws of Motion. Oh man! This site has 23 videos about Newton’s Laws of Motion!! It’s got all kinds of media presentations to include in a lesson. It’s got video segments, images, articles, audio (songs and sound effects), quizzes, events, lesson plans, and clip art. And it has it all cross indexed by subjects and keywords! But wait! That’s not all… It’s got all this stuff categorized by grade also. But, hey! There’s even more. I can do a standards search on it! After putting in grade 12 and the state, CA, I ended up with more than 100 items related to teaching the laws of motion to 12th graders. I am totally impressed. This is a great resource. And it seems as though this resource is being utilized by a lot of schools, since 200,000 teachers have attended the Discover Education Network (DEN) workshops.
Another Internet site with digital video and other media is Next Vista, which is teacher and student oriented. And there are new Web 2.0 services coming online like “tagging” in which users can tag the content with keywords so that others can skip directly to a relevant section of the digital content. Many of these new developments are making the video content more convenient for educators to incorporate into their lesson plans.
Question 1: How would I use this technology in my high school science class? This technology is a big win for science! Usually only very verbal or logical people would be turned on by science at an early age. Appropriate, targeted short videos could excite kids and give them a high level concept oriented understanding of the laws of physics and chemistry. But they are no substitute for direct experience, or experiment in science.
Question 2: What style of learning is involved in watching a video? The dominant one is visual, as it would be in a physical demonstration as well. If there is narration, then verbal is involved somewhat but I think that in a well designed video the visual overwhelms the verbal. Video watching contrasts with lecturing while using the whiteboard which is all verbal unless you draw good pictures on the board.
This article explains how convenient it has become to incorporate video into your curriculum now that there are vast Internet video storage sites where you can find a short digital video file that fits nicely into your lesson plan. I took a look at the videos on PBS and there were some good science selections. The author also mentioned some African waterhole video clips on YouTube.com which I looked at. Although, not exactly exciting and dynamic, these clips are far better then watching the National Geographic webcam for hours to see one animal. I tried the Discover Education Unitedstreaming site after I signed up for the free 30-day offer. I arbitrarily asked it for content about Newton’s Laws of Motion. Oh man! This site has 23 videos about Newton’s Laws of Motion!! It’s got all kinds of media presentations to include in a lesson. It’s got video segments, images, articles, audio (songs and sound effects), quizzes, events, lesson plans, and clip art. And it has it all cross indexed by subjects and keywords! But wait! That’s not all… It’s got all this stuff categorized by grade also. But, hey! There’s even more. I can do a standards search on it! After putting in grade 12 and the state, CA, I ended up with more than 100 items related to teaching the laws of motion to 12th graders. I am totally impressed. This is a great resource. And it seems as though this resource is being utilized by a lot of schools, since 200,000 teachers have attended the Discover Education Network (DEN) workshops.
Another Internet site with digital video and other media is Next Vista, which is teacher and student oriented. And there are new Web 2.0 services coming online like “tagging” in which users can tag the content with keywords so that others can skip directly to a relevant section of the digital content. Many of these new developments are making the video content more convenient for educators to incorporate into their lesson plans.
Question 1: How would I use this technology in my high school science class? This technology is a big win for science! Usually only very verbal or logical people would be turned on by science at an early age. Appropriate, targeted short videos could excite kids and give them a high level concept oriented understanding of the laws of physics and chemistry. But they are no substitute for direct experience, or experiment in science.
Question 2: What style of learning is involved in watching a video? The dominant one is visual, as it would be in a physical demonstration as well. If there is narration, then verbal is involved somewhat but I think that in a well designed video the visual overwhelms the verbal. Video watching contrasts with lecturing while using the whiteboard which is all verbal unless you draw good pictures on the board.
Saturday, March 3, 2007
Journal 2
Article: “Breathing Fire into Web 2.0” by Justin Hardman and David Carpenter. From Learning and Leading with Technology (Feb 2007) on iste.org.
The article notes the disparity between the promise of technology and the reality that we have in our schools today. Private business has taken much more advantage of the new infrastructure then schools have, and many of the students and faculty are already using Web 2.0 tools at home for social networking.
The author says some teachers are using wikis, forums, and blogs, which are aspects of Web2.0, and administrators are beginning to integrate classroom management and curriculum mapping software. Beyond that, schools should participate in an online communication and collaboration system that incorporates all these Web 2.0 features.
The article goes on to describe how the Hong Kong International School is implementing its own Web 2.0 tool called MyDrangonNet. MyDragonNet seems to do all of the same things that WebCT does for CSUSM. I would like to read an article like this about WebCT so I could compare it to MyDragonNet. There is some information about WebCT on www.blackboard.com . They have an academic suite and a commerce suite. Their online learning application, called Blackboard Learning System, is the most widely used course management system among U.S. postsecondary institutions, they claim.
As the article describes MyDragonNet, it has been designed with a very large vision and does more then basic course management. The tool has three major components. It has lots of database capabilities to organize all the information in efficient ways such as to map curriculum to standards for any grade and you can search through all the varied media and data types in various useful ways. Also, teachers, staff, parents, and students are all in close communication through its messaging component. And there is an electronic portfolio management component that showcases all the projects teachers and students have completed and would like to share. The author refers to this highly evolved system as a “multifaceted virtual community experience”. That sounds pretty cool!
Question 1: How would I use a tool like My DragoneNet in my high school class?
These are awesome capabilities! I could use it to communicate with parents and students. That would be the best benefit. Even with all the sexy applications and the new high bandwidth applications, email and the person to person communications implied is the most important aspect of it. This system has that as a primary goal. A teacher should be accessible to the students and the parents. That’s really all that needs to be said.
Question 2: What about the curriculum to standards mapping features?
Well, OK, those are really cool too. Why should each teacher “recreate the wheel from scratch”? Engineers don’t do it in private business. We should be able to incorporate elements from other teacher’s lesson plans as long as we understand them and it makes sense. The value that the teacher adds is to know his or her students well and then to know the content well enough to choose widely among all the possible technology enhancements. These features only give you a multiplier on the skills you already possess.
The article notes the disparity between the promise of technology and the reality that we have in our schools today. Private business has taken much more advantage of the new infrastructure then schools have, and many of the students and faculty are already using Web 2.0 tools at home for social networking.
The author says some teachers are using wikis, forums, and blogs, which are aspects of Web2.0, and administrators are beginning to integrate classroom management and curriculum mapping software. Beyond that, schools should participate in an online communication and collaboration system that incorporates all these Web 2.0 features.
The article goes on to describe how the Hong Kong International School is implementing its own Web 2.0 tool called MyDrangonNet. MyDragonNet seems to do all of the same things that WebCT does for CSUSM. I would like to read an article like this about WebCT so I could compare it to MyDragonNet. There is some information about WebCT on www.blackboard.com . They have an academic suite and a commerce suite. Their online learning application, called Blackboard Learning System, is the most widely used course management system among U.S. postsecondary institutions, they claim.
As the article describes MyDragonNet, it has been designed with a very large vision and does more then basic course management. The tool has three major components. It has lots of database capabilities to organize all the information in efficient ways such as to map curriculum to standards for any grade and you can search through all the varied media and data types in various useful ways. Also, teachers, staff, parents, and students are all in close communication through its messaging component. And there is an electronic portfolio management component that showcases all the projects teachers and students have completed and would like to share. The author refers to this highly evolved system as a “multifaceted virtual community experience”. That sounds pretty cool!
Question 1: How would I use a tool like My DragoneNet in my high school class?
These are awesome capabilities! I could use it to communicate with parents and students. That would be the best benefit. Even with all the sexy applications and the new high bandwidth applications, email and the person to person communications implied is the most important aspect of it. This system has that as a primary goal. A teacher should be accessible to the students and the parents. That’s really all that needs to be said.
Question 2: What about the curriculum to standards mapping features?
Well, OK, those are really cool too. Why should each teacher “recreate the wheel from scratch”? Engineers don’t do it in private business. We should be able to incorporate elements from other teacher’s lesson plans as long as we understand them and it makes sense. The value that the teacher adds is to know his or her students well and then to know the content well enough to choose widely among all the possible technology enhancements. These features only give you a multiplier on the skills you already possess.
Saturday, February 10, 2007
Journal 1
“Professors adjust their methods to reach technology-savvy generation”.
From the San Diego Union-Tribune, written by a staff writer.
I was a computer science grad student in the 80’s at SDSU and reading this article made me feel like it was the 1880’s. Things have changed! I suppose in a very large classroom it makes it less personal, but in an upper division, in smaller classrooms, I would call it rude to even have your laptop open in class. Cell phones, computer games, chatting? It doesn’t sound good to me. Not in the classroom. At the college level it might not be bad for all students, but forget it for high school. I subbed for a high school math class that had computer-based activities, and I found I had a problem, for example, with kids watching fight films on YouTube.
On the other hand, having more contact with your teachers is good. I like the idea of the message boards we have begun using in our ED courses here. Having all the assignment information online keeps you productive at home. Also, I could imagine using computer graphics to illustrate science or math concepts. I like the clicker technology also, but that is technology that engages rather than distracts in class.
Question 1: How much technology should you allow in a high school classroom?
My rules are, technology should draw the attention of the student not distract, and it should enhance learning. College kids can handle the distractions of a laptop on the Internet, but if they fail it’s considered their own problem. This isn’t the case in public K-12. Of course, there may be times when a laptop or even a cell phone of MP3 player can be part of the lesson. But the exact usage of the devices has to be specified to a high school student. Possibly, one could set up a club situation after school for more focused kids to just experiment with technology. But, the key difference is that it would be an optional time when there was no teacher-led class.
Question 2: What technology will be in the high school classroom of 2020?
Taking the trends that have been evident and not allowing for a paradigm shift, I would imagine that many schools will still have only a basic PC hooked up to a big screen. Possibly, it will be a high definition screen. In localities where there is a high tech or high finance presence there will be much more. In fact, in those schools 9th grade science students may experience the dance of the planets in a virtual reality. Einstein's theory of gravity will be directly experienced. Maybe their priorities will be less scientific and the kids will run realistic business simulations. But how will they teach algebra and geometry? I've seen the self paced program in one class and (I don't claim to be any expert on its effectiveness, but) I think it was working pretty well. Perhaps the next generation of software will be able to take in their work and tell them where they went wrong. At this moment that part of the process is owned by the teacher and we get a lot of pride out of doing it. What will it change when that changes to a machine? And, what about all those other schools that have minimal access to technology? What kind of disadvantage will those kids have?
From the San Diego Union-Tribune, written by a staff writer.
I was a computer science grad student in the 80’s at SDSU and reading this article made me feel like it was the 1880’s. Things have changed! I suppose in a very large classroom it makes it less personal, but in an upper division, in smaller classrooms, I would call it rude to even have your laptop open in class. Cell phones, computer games, chatting? It doesn’t sound good to me. Not in the classroom. At the college level it might not be bad for all students, but forget it for high school. I subbed for a high school math class that had computer-based activities, and I found I had a problem, for example, with kids watching fight films on YouTube.
On the other hand, having more contact with your teachers is good. I like the idea of the message boards we have begun using in our ED courses here. Having all the assignment information online keeps you productive at home. Also, I could imagine using computer graphics to illustrate science or math concepts. I like the clicker technology also, but that is technology that engages rather than distracts in class.
Question 1: How much technology should you allow in a high school classroom?
My rules are, technology should draw the attention of the student not distract, and it should enhance learning. College kids can handle the distractions of a laptop on the Internet, but if they fail it’s considered their own problem. This isn’t the case in public K-12. Of course, there may be times when a laptop or even a cell phone of MP3 player can be part of the lesson. But the exact usage of the devices has to be specified to a high school student. Possibly, one could set up a club situation after school for more focused kids to just experiment with technology. But, the key difference is that it would be an optional time when there was no teacher-led class.
Question 2: What technology will be in the high school classroom of 2020?
Taking the trends that have been evident and not allowing for a paradigm shift, I would imagine that many schools will still have only a basic PC hooked up to a big screen. Possibly, it will be a high definition screen. In localities where there is a high tech or high finance presence there will be much more. In fact, in those schools 9th grade science students may experience the dance of the planets in a virtual reality. Einstein's theory of gravity will be directly experienced. Maybe their priorities will be less scientific and the kids will run realistic business simulations. But how will they teach algebra and geometry? I've seen the self paced program in one class and (I don't claim to be any expert on its effectiveness, but) I think it was working pretty well. Perhaps the next generation of software will be able to take in their work and tell them where they went wrong. At this moment that part of the process is owned by the teacher and we get a lot of pride out of doing it. What will it change when that changes to a machine? And, what about all those other schools that have minimal access to technology? What kind of disadvantage will those kids have?
Monday, January 29, 2007
Intro Letter
Hi! My name is Eric Plaks.
I’m the one on the right next to my daughter and wife. I grew up in Connecticut and got my BS Engineering in Computer Science in ’78. I moved to San Diego a few months later and began my career in software engineering. Along the way I rode the Internet wave and became highly specialized in networking protocol software that runs on Internet devices. Intel bought the company I worked at and it was a great time to be a software engineer. Last summer Intel left San Diego as a cost savings and I had the option to move to Oregon or take a severance package. I started thinking, what do I really want to do from here? I’d like to teach science!
I am clearly a professional techie but even a professional is just a user when he gets on a PC or a Mac. Especially if he’s a low level grunt as I was, working on the bowels of computers embedded inside devices. So before you assume I know a lot about technology, keep in mind that my daughter sometimes has to show me how to get to a function in my cell phone! The culture is that the engineers sneer at applications like Power Point as tools that only managers use well. Thus I never became proficient at Power Point or Excel. I used high powered Unix based mini computers at work and got a Mac at home, but when we were purchased by Intel I got assimilated. Resistance was futile and so I became a PC user. Besides, every Pentium sold helped my stock options increase in value. It was the 90’s and greed was good!
I am very impressed by the mission statement and the fact that my professors seem to really believe in it. Compared to a corporate mission statement I’d have to say that it’s long and complicated and vague. But even Intel doesn’t have as big a goal as to “transform public education”. “social justice” and “educational equity” are tantalizing subjects that beg me to dive in and learn how they are applied by good teachers. I have almost no idea how, to tell you the truth, but I’m more than willing to learn.
-Eric
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