MP1: Readings in Educational Technology
Impact of Technology on Education
Scientists have yet to prove that students learn better when taught through a specific learning style. This was concluded from Professor Pashler who led a study focused on Learning Styles: Concepts and Evidence. After thousands of researched studies, none were successful in promoting teaching through a child’s modality. Conclusion of the study led to researchers that allocating “school funds that support learning style assessments and teaching tools should be diverted to support evidence based teaching practices.” (Pashler)
Technology is how students learn and want to learn. It’s the latest learning style! According to SpeakUp2010, Online learning continues to play an increasingly prominent role for the Ultimate School. Why not teach to a learning style as long as the process is not affecting the learning in a negative way. Teach all learning styles, including technology, and students will acquire a deeper understanding of the material. Our classrooms today are more diverse and include multiple interests, levels of learning and learning styles. Students are motivated to learn when the planning, teaching and assessment are focused on their needs and interests. Many would refer to this as Differentiated Instruction. Differentiated instruction focus’s on instructional strategies across a broad range of learning styles. I believe technology can improve student performance in connection with differentiated instruction. Technology improves learning when connected with prior knowledge, through collaboration opportunities, when implemented across the curriculum, and when lessons are student-centered.
Recently, I have spent time “dabbling” with emerging technology to bring it into my preschool classroom. This would be the first step in Prensky’s four-step process of technology adoption. The second step is “doing old things in old ways”. I am sure I still have those laminated lessons from the 19th century. My goal this year is to focus on the third step, “doing old things in new ways.” Things in the works are a classroom website and a preschool technology website using graphic programs to promote literacy. Many of my students love the graphic programs where they can add clip art, paint, etc. I have created lessons that promote literacy through a visual learning style. For example, given a letter, child stamps letter on screen and then paints a picture of an object that starts with that letter. The fourth and final step, “doing new things in new ways”, would be my hopes for an interactive whiteboard mounted in the classroom.
Reported through the State Educational Technology Director’s Association (SETDA), Technology and Literacy were the primary focus area in grant competition at 82%, it only furthers my determination to link technology and literacy in my preschool classroom. Unfortunately, preschoolers fell short at 46% for being the lowest targeted specific school level to receive a grant. Surprisingly, these Enhancing Education Through Technology (EETT) grant programs focus on instructional strategies, learning styles, in addition to student’s needs, abilities and interests. EETT also focuses on digital environments, one-to-one computing, project-based, non-traditional instruction, and cyber learning aimed at engaging students. (Prensky)
Although there may not be scientific research to backup differentiated instruction, there is strong proponents at the school and state level that recognize the various learning styles. As states and school districts become increasingly accountable for student achievement, we teachers need to be aware of our students learning styles and use differentiated instructional strategies that work. In the 21st century, this can be achieved through the use of technology.
MP2: Educating the Digital Tribe Blog
I enjoyed the interview between Oseland and Professor Masterson in regards to Web 2.0. Examples given like Diigo, Glogster, Prezi and PbWorks were unfamiliar to me. I can agree that most jobs today require knowledge in computers. Therefore, we need to use these resources as teaching tools in the classroom to prepare the kids for the future.
PbWorks is a Wiki, which means you can attach links to multiple sites on the internet. What I liked most was that it shows a history of edits so that teachers can check student’s progress. Glogster seems to be a fascinating place to create your own unique canvas. Within this site you can upload videos and audio. I can see students really enjoying creating their “electronic poster”. Prezi is a mind map version of powerpoint. I will definitely need to check this out although it seems it is totally different from powerpoint and requires learning a new control panel and editing tools. Lastly, Diigo is a social bookmarking site. I currently use delicious but I like the fact that you can put sticky notes on sites as well as highlight content on a webpage.
I truly love being informed of technology resources, especially free ones! The problem is once I have learned something new….it consumes me. :)
MP3: 3D Virtual Communities-Web 2.0 Apps
Delicious http://delicious.com/
Delicious is a website is a bookmarking site dedicated to storing and sharing links. By creating a Delicious website, I was able to add tags to my favorites and categorize/organize information. I also can email this information. This would be useful in sharing information by importing and exporting. Delicious has recently been updated. You now have the opportunity to add a bookmarklet to your browser toolbar. This allows you to instantly save links while browsing the internet. Another newly added feature is the stack option. A stack is nothing more than a group of links. After creation, you can easily share your links or stacks. I find this to be useful in finding the best content available on the web.
In a school district, this could be used to build a classroom resource for creating projects. Another idea would be to create a classroom library within each grade level. This would be a great resource that could be considered safe and trusted because it has been prescreened.
Jing http://www.techsmith.com/jing.html?gclid=CJPq7fzLsqwCFQrGKgodUFlU2Q
Jing offers a user friendly way to record your captures. You can record a screenshot, which is an image on your computer or a screencast, which is a video. A small yellow sphere sits at the top of your desktop waiting to be used. Once you click capture, Jing counts down from three and then blast off, your good to go. After creating your capture you can easily attach it to a document or embed in a webpage. You can even chat with friends, colleagues, mentors, co-workers through Jing and embed your capture there. By using the enhancement buttons, you can add symbols and text to your capture. Lastly, within the free version you can upload 2G of storage. One click uploads can be achieved through, flickr, twitter, Facebook, Myspace and Google Blogger. Of course you can easily save to your computer or copy to the clipboard. Screencasts are limited to 5min. For $14.95 you can upgrade to Jing Pro. Some of the added options are ability to upload to Youtube, add web cam to your captures and additional editing tools with Camtasia Studios.
I have personally used Jing to capture screenshots of Tuxpaint to show my preschoolers what my expectations are. I believe children can learn better through visuals and words than words alone. This can be viewed on my Early Childhood Technology website http://sites.google.com/site/preschooltechnology/
Wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki
Within a Wiki you can create or edit a page individually or collaboratively. You can include hyperlinks and crosslink between pages. Wiki’s allow for a lot of information to be shared. However, the validity may be questionable because some posts are opinions not facts.
Students could create a project and resource for outdoor activities around the world. This could include the activity, location of activity, season of activity, places to participate in the activity, organizations for contact and area businesses for equipment and uniforms. This allows for integration of other cultures through some form of past time.
Additional Wiki sites to explore:
http://simple.wikibooks.org/wiki/Main_Page (textbooks and manuals)
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Main_Page (quotes)
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Wikijunior (read and write books) (ages birth-12)
Work Cited
The following sites were used for review of Web 2.0 resources.
Retrieved on November 9th, 2011 from http://delicious.com/ .
Retrieved on November 10th, 2011 from http://www.techsmith.com/jing.html?gclid=CJPq7fzLsqwCFQrGKgodUFlU2Q .
Retrieved on November 9th, 2011 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki .
MP4: Book Report-Disrupting Class:How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns
Why do schools continue to struggle? This seems to be an ongoing discussion that takes place at the local, state and federal level. There are many theories that have risen. Theories mentioned by Clayton Christensen in the book Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns include: schools are underfunded, there aren’t enough computers in the classroom, students are uninterested, parents are not involved, teaching model is broken compared to other countries, teacher unions are the problems, and the way we measure student performance is flawed, teachers and administrators aren’t sufficiently motivated to improve. (pg. 2-5,64) I would like to include another theory, motivation.
Motivation seems to be a theme throughout the book. I thought the quote by John Adams was interesting and true:
“I must study politics and war that my sons may have
liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons
ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography,
natural history and naval architecture, navigation, commerce
and agriculture in order to give their children a right to
study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statutory,
tapestry, and porcelain.” (pg.9)
Each generation has studied enough to give them and the next generation a more comfortable life. This allows them to study something more advance or more of an interest to them. It has gotten to the point now where there are degrees in Star Trek and similar frivolous pursuits. If the coal miner four generations ago knew that his 12 hour days would eventually pay for his descendant to become dependent on the state, I wonder if he would have worked the hours. The children today have the freedom to study anything they choose, but many are lacking the drive and knowledge to pursue something that will benefit themselves, society, and the next generation.
There is strong research that project-based learning is motivating. “Project-based learning is a highly motivating way for many students to synthesize what they are learning as well as to identify gaps in their knowledge that need to be filled.” (pg. 33) Unfortunately, this is not widely present in schools districts due to layout of school buildings. Research also suggests motivating students by teaching to their multiple intelligences. This is more realistic at the preschool and elementary levels because classrooms offer choice time, center time, activity centers, etc. Lastly, computer-based learning is on the forefront as a “disruptive force and a promising opportunity” toward students learning the way that motivates them. (pg.38)
With computer based learning on the rise, online classes have tremendously increased in the last decade. Christensen states this is because online learning accommodates different paces of learning, and some allows students to choose different pathways to learning the material. Online learning is prevalent in smaller schools to avoid the cost of a new teacher, in urbanary secondary schools because they are resource-constrained and the struggle to find teachers to work in a challenging environment, with homebound and home schooled students where a student may not be able to attend school or where there information is limited to parent knowledge, and the last need is with students who need to make up credits. Four factors that will influence the substitution are: online learning will keep improving and become more enjoyable, ability for students, teachers, and parents to select a learning pathway that fits the learner needs, looming teacher shortage, costs will fall as the market increases. (pg. 100-101)
To increase motivation, we must implement computer based learning, project based learning and online learning. Teachers and administrators need to be motivated to make and accept change. Teachers should be more like coaches and lecture rarely to help, guide, and evaluate. (pg.220) “Although better learning is the goal, states and districts cannot “enact” better learning. All they can do is to create the conditions that motivate teachers and students to do whatever it takes to get better results.” What I like about this statement is motivate. Motivation can be created with innovation.
In the 1800’s teachers individualized instruction with students. This was easily achieved because of low enrollment. In the late 1800’s, enrollment increased and instruction moved towards monolithic instruction where students are taught the same subjects, in the same way and at the same pace. (pg.35) Today, we need to move to a “student-centric” (as Christensen terms it) model where the goal is reversed back to teaching every student. If you reach every student you will teach every student.
Christensen, C., Horn, M., & Johnson, C. (2011) Disrupting Class:How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns. McGraw Hill. New York, NY.
