This class has definitely made me realize how technology has changed since I was in grade school. It has come along way and still continues to amaze me. Our society is so intertwined with technology now and it continues to make our lives easier. As teachers, we need to make sure that we are exposing children to technology as much as we can in the classroom. This gives children the competitive edge that they will need beyond school.
Technology is also a great way to relate to children. Technology rules their lives and it has become second nature for most students. It stimulates them and keeps them interested. They are proud of what they make and they become passionate about their work.
It isn't always easy to bring technologhy into schools. Factors like school funding creates issues. Teachers can find free ways to incorporate technology into classrooms. It just takes some creativity on the teachers part.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
2020 Vision: Experts Forecast What the Digital Revolution Will Bring Next
Technology has come a long way since I was born. Today, we face the challenge of trying to incorporate technology into schools so that we can use this resource to its full potential. The article, 2020 Vision: Experts Forecast What the Digital Revolution Will Bring Next, discusses what things will change for education in the future.
Technology has become so mobile. Not only do we now have access to information world wide, we now have access to it in the palm of our hand. This is huge and schools need to make technology an essential component rather than something extra. Technology should be as important as the school bus. Eric Marcos, a math teacher in California, said, “It’s absolutely unbelievable how slow change occurs in a school system. Even if something is proven to be a great idea or something we should try, it takes a long, long time to change the whole thing—administration, teachers, parents, students. I almost expect things to look not too different in the next 10 to 15 years, unfortunately, and that’s not something that I wish.”
Factors like the No Child Left Behind Act has focused providing better education to all students. John Bailey said, “One good thing to come out of No Child Left Behind is the notion of focusing a spotlight on the achievement gap and the fact that there are groups of students who aren’t well served. It has helped to shine a light on schools and systems that need improvement, although there is a debate as to whether that light was too widely shone.” We need to have a better focus on technology in education. Karen Cator said, “It’s striking the amount of integration that already exists, but just by happenstance. What we need to have is a much more integrated approach. One of the things missing is any kind of consideration of the infrastructure for learning. The opportunity for students to use technology to learn, the use of technology for assessments and professional development—all of that can easily be integrated into other programs, but it really is this notion of the infrastructure for learning that we have to grapple with to make sure we don’t leave it to chance.”
We can also expect to see a shift from paper books to digital books. Bailey said, “There are all sorts of interesting revolutions that will come out of the movement toward interactive textbooks and multimedia. Using the Kindle app on my iPad, I’ve been loving the social highlighting feature in which you can see the passages in the book that hundreds of other people have highlighted and thought were important. That suddenly takes textbooks and reading to a whole new level.” Paula Lenox, an information management specialist, predicts that libraries are going to change. “The physical space is going to have to change. As we find ways to provide the information and resources to our students that are electronic, and room becomes available because the amount of print books are less, you’re going to have to redesign your space. I think you’re still going to have some print media in libraries, but I think it’s going to be more of an area where students are going to be doing more collaboration, areas where students are going to be Skyping or video chatting, or learning together in an online environment. I see it more as a café kind of style, less formal—where students come in and have the space to work collaboratively. More modern, less of your typical tables and chairs and silent activities. I see kids coming in with their videocameras and their laptops and saying, ‘We want to do a movie, we want to do a Glogster. We want to put a movie up in our blog. How do we do that?’”
Social networking is also going to become a useful tool for educators. Linda Roberts said, “K-12 professionals are the most isolated in the world, and one of the arguments we made in the new [national] tech plan is that teachers have got to be connected with their peers, with the experts out there, with the community that is most likely to help them. It shouldn’t be something they have to think about; it should be part of the way they work.” Professional learning communities need to be expanded and social networking can do this.
So where will we be in ten years? Hopefully technology will have become more integrated into schools. Funding will continue to be an issue but teachers will need to find ways to work around that. Schools are already behind with technology. At the rate that technology changes, it is going to continue to be difficult for schools to stay current. As teachers, we need to push the issue. We need to continue to persevere and stress the importance of technology. It teaches valuable skills for students during school and afterwards in the real world.
Article Info:2020 Vision: Experts Forecast What the Digital Revolution Will Bring Next
THE Journal
Geoff Fletcher
11/01/10
http://thejournal.com/Articles/2010/11/01/Talkin-about-a-Revolution.aspx?Page=1
Technology has become so mobile. Not only do we now have access to information world wide, we now have access to it in the palm of our hand. This is huge and schools need to make technology an essential component rather than something extra. Technology should be as important as the school bus. Eric Marcos, a math teacher in California, said, “It’s absolutely unbelievable how slow change occurs in a school system. Even if something is proven to be a great idea or something we should try, it takes a long, long time to change the whole thing—administration, teachers, parents, students. I almost expect things to look not too different in the next 10 to 15 years, unfortunately, and that’s not something that I wish.”
Factors like the No Child Left Behind Act has focused providing better education to all students. John Bailey said, “One good thing to come out of No Child Left Behind is the notion of focusing a spotlight on the achievement gap and the fact that there are groups of students who aren’t well served. It has helped to shine a light on schools and systems that need improvement, although there is a debate as to whether that light was too widely shone.” We need to have a better focus on technology in education. Karen Cator said, “It’s striking the amount of integration that already exists, but just by happenstance. What we need to have is a much more integrated approach. One of the things missing is any kind of consideration of the infrastructure for learning. The opportunity for students to use technology to learn, the use of technology for assessments and professional development—all of that can easily be integrated into other programs, but it really is this notion of the infrastructure for learning that we have to grapple with to make sure we don’t leave it to chance.”
We can also expect to see a shift from paper books to digital books. Bailey said, “There are all sorts of interesting revolutions that will come out of the movement toward interactive textbooks and multimedia. Using the Kindle app on my iPad, I’ve been loving the social highlighting feature in which you can see the passages in the book that hundreds of other people have highlighted and thought were important. That suddenly takes textbooks and reading to a whole new level.” Paula Lenox, an information management specialist, predicts that libraries are going to change. “The physical space is going to have to change. As we find ways to provide the information and resources to our students that are electronic, and room becomes available because the amount of print books are less, you’re going to have to redesign your space. I think you’re still going to have some print media in libraries, but I think it’s going to be more of an area where students are going to be doing more collaboration, areas where students are going to be Skyping or video chatting, or learning together in an online environment. I see it more as a café kind of style, less formal—where students come in and have the space to work collaboratively. More modern, less of your typical tables and chairs and silent activities. I see kids coming in with their videocameras and their laptops and saying, ‘We want to do a movie, we want to do a Glogster. We want to put a movie up in our blog. How do we do that?’”
Social networking is also going to become a useful tool for educators. Linda Roberts said, “K-12 professionals are the most isolated in the world, and one of the arguments we made in the new [national] tech plan is that teachers have got to be connected with their peers, with the experts out there, with the community that is most likely to help them. It shouldn’t be something they have to think about; it should be part of the way they work.” Professional learning communities need to be expanded and social networking can do this.
So where will we be in ten years? Hopefully technology will have become more integrated into schools. Funding will continue to be an issue but teachers will need to find ways to work around that. Schools are already behind with technology. At the rate that technology changes, it is going to continue to be difficult for schools to stay current. As teachers, we need to push the issue. We need to continue to persevere and stress the importance of technology. It teaches valuable skills for students during school and afterwards in the real world.
Article Info:2020 Vision: Experts Forecast What the Digital Revolution Will Bring Next
THE Journal
Geoff Fletcher
11/01/10
http://thejournal.com/Articles/2010/11/01/Talkin-about-a-Revolution.aspx?Page=1
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Lit Review: "Are 'digital natives' really digitally competent?--A study on Chinese teenagers"
The purpose of this study was to answer the question, are digital natives really competent in using such tools in their learning circumstances? The study focused on a group of Chinese students in secondary school. The specific objectives of the study were:
(1) to analyse the ninth grade students’ experiences with computers and the Internet in China
(2) to assess the ninth grade students’ digital competence
(3) to examine the relationship between the ninth grade students’ digital performance and their personal characteristics (school, gender and age) and experiences with computers and the Internet.
(2) to assess the ninth grade students’ digital competence
(3) to examine the relationship between the ninth grade students’ digital performance and their personal characteristics (school, gender and age) and experiences with computers and the Internet.
Martin defined digital literacy as ‘the awareness, attitude and ability of individuals to appropriately use digital tools and facilities to identify, access, manage, integrate, evaluate, analyze and synthesize digital resources, construct new knowledge, create media expressions, and communicate with others, in the context of specific life situations, in order to enable constructive social action; and to reflect upon this process’ (pp. 135–136). The questionare contained 35 questions about three domains of digital competence: technological, cognitive and ethical.
School was found as an important variable that influenced the ninth grade students’ competence. It had significant impact on students’ performance in all the three domains (technological, cognitive and ethical). Probably some schools were better than other schools in developing their students’ digital competence and cultivating it through information and communication technologies education. Digital competence is a global challenge for educational systems in this new age. These "digital natives" still need the instruction of "digital immigrants."
The main finding of the research was that there were big disparities among students in their digital performance. Factors such as age and school seem tohave an impact on students’ performance. K-12 schools should pay greater attention to the gap existing among students. We need to find out the reasons behind the divides and the possible solutions to bridge the gap. Living in a digital environment does not always mean being digitally competent. Even though new generations spontaneously learn to use technologies, there is not enough evidence that they are digitally competent.
The main finding of the research was that there were big disparities among students in their digital performance. Factors such as age and school seem tohave an impact on students’ performance. K-12 schools should pay greater attention to the gap existing among students. We need to find out the reasons behind the divides and the possible solutions to bridge the gap. Living in a digital environment does not always mean being digitally competent. Even though new generations spontaneously learn to use technologies, there is not enough evidence that they are digitally competent.
Information:
Are 'digital natives' really digitally competent?--A study on Chinese teenagers
Yan Li, Maria Ranieri. British Journal of Educational Technology. London: Nov 2010. Vol. 41, Iss. 6; pg. 1029.
Equal Access
We are living in an information age and our children need to be provided with high-quality education to succeed. The future of our children's success depends on the quality of education. They will not be able to succeed in this competitive global economy if they do not have the skills. More and more jobs are requiring technology skills and the amount of jobs requiring a college degree are increasing as well.
America needs to have equal access to quality education if it wishes to remain a world leader. Our children are a priceless resource for this nation. We need to seize this opportunity and make it possible for every child to receive the quality education they deserve. Our world is changing and we need to keep up with this change. Before, computers were a novelty to have in the classroom. Now, children are using computers in their school on a daily basis. It is critical that we continue to build on these accomplishments. We need to get funding into the schools to provide the technology and experienced teachers to teach them the skills required to succeed in this new age.
America needs to have equal access to quality education if it wishes to remain a world leader. Our children are a priceless resource for this nation. We need to seize this opportunity and make it possible for every child to receive the quality education they deserve. Our world is changing and we need to keep up with this change. Before, computers were a novelty to have in the classroom. Now, children are using computers in their school on a daily basis. It is critical that we continue to build on these accomplishments. We need to get funding into the schools to provide the technology and experienced teachers to teach them the skills required to succeed in this new age.
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Remixing History: The Cigar Box Project
I watched the "Remixing History: The Cigar Box Project" video on K12 Online at http://k12onlineconference.org/?p=459. It was a really interesting video for me. I am a Secondary Social Studies student with a BA in History. This teacher came up with a really cool idea for a history project. The kids designed panels for cigar boxes to tell the history of a historical Canadian figure. They worked with a graphic design specialist. They visited an archive room to see primary sources of the historical figures. In the end, they designed and built their own cigar box. Some of the kids got really involved and detailed with their boxes. I think that is an awesome way to surround kids with history and give it context. I feel hands on is the best way for students to absorb and understand history. The kids had an end result to all of their hard work and they were proud of their cigar boxes. I will definitely try and do something along those lines once in the classroom.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
The iPod Touch in the Classroom
This video clip - http://k12onlineconference.org/?p=464 , had a great idea but it was extremely painful to watch. I have a feeling that it was because I've already been exposed to an Ipod and this was not new technology for me. It was extremely basic instructions and I think I take for granted that I have grown up with this technology. I do agree, however, that Ipod Touches in the classroom is a great idea. There are alot of cool applications that would work as useful tools. The device can pick up Wifi and allow students to have another resource right at their fingertips. The teachers could probably learn alot from the students as well. Many students would already have or have come in contact with an Ipod. It is much cheaper than a laptop and is an extremely portable tool.
ETT21 #132: Social Media, Construction and 5th and 6th Grade Tech
I found this clip interesting - http://edtechtalk.com/ett21_132. A teacher decided to make a facebook fanpage for the Hewitt school. He discussed how people were talking on the internet about the school and some of the talk was negative. He wanted a source where people could read about the school from the source. The fanpage discusses day to day activities that the school is involved with. Rather than sending out emails, parents can go on and read about things that they may not even be aware that the school is taking part in. Parents joined and there was good conversation that happened and it also raised concerns. Parents were concerned that there may be privacy issues by joining such a social networking site.
I don't blame parents for being concerned about privacy. Lately, there have been issues with facebook concerning bullying and privacy and I can see where parents may have doubts. I think if the page is strictly for information about activities and events at the school, it would not cause any harm. The school is embracing new technology and ways to reach out to people with information. Facebook is a great medium for sharing news.
I don't blame parents for being concerned about privacy. Lately, there have been issues with facebook concerning bullying and privacy and I can see where parents may have doubts. I think if the page is strictly for information about activities and events at the school, it would not cause any harm. The school is embracing new technology and ways to reach out to people with information. Facebook is a great medium for sharing news.
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