Journal 10: Are Schools Inhibiting 21st Century learning?

Are Schools Inhibiting 21st Century Learning?
By Dave Nagel
T-H-E Journal
April 2008
This article explores the disparities and the similarities between students and teachers, parents and administrators in their opinions about technology use in schools. The general idea was that although most teachers, parents and administrators believe that they are doing a good job of incorporating technology into learning, students have a different opinion. 40 percent of students feel like their technology use is limited and 45 percent feel like the filters on their schools’ Internet is stifling their learning.
There are, however, a few things that these groups can agree on. Both teachers and students think that gaming would be an effective tool for learning, but only 11 percent of teachers actually use it in the classroom. Mobile technologies seem to be very enticing to both teachers and students, but most students aren’t allowed to use their cell phone, lap tops or digital media players in school.
It’s interesting that parents and educators think that they are preparing their students for the real world and a career without allowing them to use mobile technologies as needed. Many schools only have a specified technology time when students can use the computers. Is that really similar to the ‘real world’ where technology is a part of everything? Not really. Students understand how important technology is and are being given a watered down version of it in school.
How can schools keep their students safe and on task while allowing them to use technology as needed? I think by having a filtering system that denies access to adult material and using a log in system where the students know all of their activity will be traced by a teacher at the end of the day could do the trick. The students will be held accountable for the material that they view and be given access to a huge potion of the Internet at the same time.
The article points out that higher education and businesses are now using social networking as a tool. Should we be letting our students use social networking sites in schools? This is a tough question, but I think that we should be. It should be introduced as a tool for learning and connecting for more reasons than just displaying yourself on the Internet. Even if students are using it too often, I think that’s okay. They are growing up in such a fast-paced, media-rich environment, if they don’t know how to multi-task they’re going to be lost.
I think that schools could do a better job at preparing their students for life after high school, but they’re making a good start. Through this survey 1.2 million people have already expressed their opinions about technology use in schools and more are sure to come. As we learn more and more about what students want and find important and what educators are interested in trying we will move our schools into a much more digital age with mobile media at the forefront.

Journal 9: 4 Steps to Standard Integration

4 Steps to Standards Integration
By Vanessa Domine
Learning and Leading with Technology
September, 2006

With the overwhelming state core curriculum, the NETS and the NETS-S, where do teachers start? There are more than one set of technology standards that most teacher have to focus on. This article breaks down just how teachers can look at the technology that their school has, focus on what’s important and align their teaching style with what they need to teach. It’s a really good reference guide for new teachers or experienced teachers that don’t have much knowledge of technology.
The first step is to take inventory of all the technology that your school has available. This not only means the computers, but the TV’s, audio equipment, projectors, software, hand-held devices, interactive white boards, microphones, etc. You should also locate the schools technology plan or library plan if they’re available.
Once you have a comprehensive list it’s important to categorize the technology. The article suggests document, object, multimedia, and audio-visual as good categories to start with. If you’re unable to do this alone, contact the schools (or districts’) tech expert to help you. It also suggests classifying software by its type: simulation, authoring, database or drill-and-skill.
After your classification is complete take a good look at it and ask yourself questions about your schools in relation to the technology. Do they already know how to use some? What do they need to focus more on? What sort of digital divide is apparent in the classroom? These questions, and the inventory, are important because they allow the teacher to: know the real options of technology that they have at their disposal, identify the technological needs of their students and create a document that will let them set aside the technology and focus on the curriculum.
The second step to full integration is to establish a simple curriculum goal statement that’s grounded in the content areas and aligns with the school, or district, goals. The school or district goals are usually something very broad like ‘Reach for the Stars”, “Peacebuliders” or even raising math or reading scores. You’re goal, in turn, should be very broad as well. Once it’s set you must define it through the state and national standards. This has to be a bit of an interpretation because it may not fall directly inline. You should then make a list of your selected core standards that define the curriculum goal.
The third step is to identify teaching strategies. It’s important to make a list of teaching strategies (lecture, demonstration, discussion, team-teaching, tutoring, listening, brainstorming, etc) and list them in two categories: teacher-centered and student-centered. This list allows you to reflect on, and if necessary refine, your own teaching style to accommodate the needs of the students and the specific standards that you have set your goals for. This exercise leads to discussions on how techniques and media of instruction form the curriculum that’s enacted in the classroom.
The forth and final step is to solve the problem. The article suggests to lay out the lists in front of you and to generate a technology integration matrix. Each list represents a column on the matrix and the rows are determined by the amount of time you have to complete your goal. It’s important to remember that media literacy requires students to access, analyze, evaluate, produce and communicate using a variety of materials. Make sure to include formal assessments that are appropriate to the material and age of the class. Choose from the technology inventory list the most appropriate technology to go with the standards and goals you are trying to accomplish. Once the matrix is established it provides the width and depth of the curriculum, establishes a teaching and learning style and incorporates technology into it seamlessly.

PBS Video: Growing Up Online

Check out this documentary from PBSs' Frontline about teenage Internet usage.

Journal 8: Meet the Parents

Meet The Parents
By Matt Villano
T-H-E Journal
April 2008

Getting information for a child when they get home from school can be like pulling teeth. The typical answer to “How was your day?” seems to be “Fine.” When you ask a student “What did do/learn today?” the normal response is “Nothing.” This isn’t sufficient information for parents. This tells them nothing about their child’s behavior, their grades, what they are studying, etc. For most parents, the only time they are notified about their child is when they get into trouble at school. This behavior could have probably been prevented if they parent had some sort of daily update.
A new parent notification system is beginning to emerge to solve these types of problems. TeleParent contacts the parent’s cell phone by text messaging them to let them know how their child is doing. It provides such information as: if the child was on time to his/her classes, any behavior problems that may have occurred during the day, if the child participated in class, and if they did their homework. This same system is already in place for emergency situations, but some schools are taking it one step further and sending out daily or weekly updates to all the parents too.

The goal of these sorts of systems is to increase parental involvement in the schools. A 2002 study found students with more involved parents are more likely to attend school regularly, receive higher grades and even have better social skills. It also increases accountability on the students’ part. TeleParent sends out notifications if an assignment is due or there is a special event. Parents can then make sure that their child is accomplishing what is required of him/her and even help them get more involved in the school. It brings the typical parent who can’t volunteer in the school everyday much closer with the school and the child.

How do the teachers get this information to the parents? It can seem like a daunting task, especially for high school teachers who have 120-200 students. In reality, it’s simple. They log on to a database, click the recipient and click the information that they want that recipient to receive. Essentially, it’s easier than writing an email. They can send grade information to open house reminders and everything in between.

The school has the capability to send the information out, but the question is are the parents reading it? It seems like they are. At Harlem Success Academy in New York City the school has logged near 100% parental attendance for special school events this year. Since they have the ability to send out the messages in audio format as well, parents of every language can receive the messages. At Sycamore Junior High School in Anaheim, CA, where 53 percent of the more than 1,800 students come from families who speak English as a second language, administrators use TeleParent to phone parents with standard audio announcements about meetings, tests, and homework in three other languages: Spanish, Vietnamese, and Hmong. All the school has to do is click a button and a translator will record the message for them.

It seems as if services like TeleParent are increasing the direct connection between parents and the school. It’s an important service since most parents have to work and can’t be involved with the school on a daily basis. With this service (in all languages) every single student can be given the opportunity to excel in school. Parental involvement in no longer limited to the privileged students. This technology has the ability to decrease the achievement gap, if even by a little. The only technology that the parent needs is a cell phone, since 60% of our nations entire population has a cell phone; it is likely that they do.

Journal 7: Interactive Boards: SMART Board

I was interested in finding out more about the SMART Board, its capabilities and how it's being used in classrooms right now. The SMART Board is an interactive white board that links your white board, your computer and your digital projector. The touch sensitive display is controlled directly from the display. This technology is changing the way that teachers structure their class as well as the students learn the material. It allows anything that is possible to be accessed by a computer to be displayed on a large screen with audio and video feed capabilities. This means no more huddling around one desktop or viewing a blurring image from the overhead. The SMART Board has the capability to revolutionize education.

The one disadvantage that I found when researching this software was that it only has single-touch capabilities. The newer, more advanced software that is coming out has a multi-touch function and I think that this should be Incorporated into the SMART Board. That way a teacher can pull up Google Earth, for example, find the area they are studying and zoom in using two fingers to select the area. Multi-touch is quicker and more effective than single touch functions. This video of Jeff Han is where I think the SMART Board should be heading.

The other disadvantage to SMART Board is that it doesn't come with much (if any) material to use in the classroom. You also need to purchase Notebook software to create templates to use on your SMART Board. With the Notebook software you can make almost anything from handouts to graphic organizers to vocabulary exercises. There are thousands of templates available online, so you aren't forced to make them yourself.

I think that the potential that the SMART Board provides are endless. Your class can start the morning video conferencing with another school in Kenya, play an interactive math game like Ghost Blasters, show examples of their work on the board using digital ink, see and hear examples of history they are studying using PowerMedia, or watch daily current events on FrontLine. They can record a daily message as a class to their parents about what they did at school that day near the end of class. When they leave the teacher can publish it on the blog so when they get home they can show their parents what they did that day at school. As you can see, the SMART Board provides room for creativity, imagination and innovation in education. Once it becomes the center of a classroom you are going to wonder have you ever lived without it.
How to use SMART Board for the everyday activity:

Journal 6: Kidspiration and iMovie

Kidspiration

I thought that the program was very user friendly. The pictorial representations and audio that accompanies them also make it very age appropriate for the elementary aged students. I did, however, feel like there was something I was missing with the program. I wanted to make my project an interactive activity that the students could complete then create their own, but I didn't like the way that it worked out. The activity, although easy to create, didn't turn out the way I imagined. I wanted the student to be able to drag the correct answer into position and then be told that they were correct or incorrect, but I couldn't figure out how to do that. I researched text, watched videos and explored templates I found on the Internet, but I couldn't find a solution.

I think that this program could be incorporated in any classroom in a variety of ways. It's a great tool for teaching writing and getting thoughts onto paper. I could be used in science to help with mapping ideas about animals or insects. Templates could be made for state reports. Students could make family trees. There are infinite possibilities.

I think video tutorials are very helpful and simple. It's easy to follow along if make the video window small and do it along with the instructions. It's much easier that reading text because of the visual aspect. I used both youtube and Atomic Learning and found them equally as helpful. Youtube requires the user to weed out the things that they don't want, but offers more ideas than the basic tutorials of Atomic Learning.

iMovie

iMovie is such a great tool to use at the elementary level. It's simple and it makes the final project look like a professional piece of work. I learned how to use iMovie five or six years ago, but hadn't used it since. I was impressed with the updates that Apple had made to the program. There were many more titles and transitions to choose from, it didn't automatically give you an audio line that you can accidentally change, there were new audio enhancement features and the ability to open more than one project at once to drag and drop clips is invaluable.

I am, however, a little disenchanted with iMovie. It's great to the classroom, it's great as a introduction to digital video editing, but it's so limited that it stifling. I really would like to learn a new digital media editing program that's more manipulatable.

I could see using iMovie in my classroom very often. It would be great for students to edit interviews, create news broadcasts, or for group presentations. It's also really easy for students to put together a slide show of photographs to audio. It really is easy enough for most K-5 students to use, so it opens up possibilities for almost anything.

I didn't use any sort of tutorial for this projects because I was already aware how to use it. I am going to try out Final Cut now and I'm sure that I'm going to need a lot of tutorial to figure it out. I will most likely use youtube and search for tutorials, demos or introductions to Final Cut Pro. I would much rather watch someone than read a book about it.

My demonstration of iMovie proficiency:

Journal 5: The Power of Mashups

Power of the Mashup: Combining Essential Learning with New Technology Tools
by Suzie Boss and Jane Krauss
Learning and Leading with Technology
August 2007

This extremely innovative article caught my interest because I am set on changing the way that we view technology. First, let me define mashup. A mashup is a hybrid application that draws from multiple sources to create something new. With that said, there are tow amazing examples of how educators are getting creative to create new mashups all the time. The first example is of a California literature teacher, Jerome Burg. He had always incorporated the same books into his syllabus, but some seemed a little dated to hold students attention. Voltaire’s, Candide posed that problem. How could he hold students attention about a book written in the 1700’s? Candide is an adventure story, a road trip. He used Google Earth to map the points in the story effectively creating a literature road trip. Students were then able to follow the character on the adventure, seeing the places along with them. He used the same strategy when teaching Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath, adding video alongside the points on the map of the actual dustbowl. Students were able to understand and conceptualize the literature on a new level. He then had students make their own KMZ file (on Google Earth) mapping the key points of other novels. Across the earth, in Australia, another teacher begin incorporating MP3 players into his lessons. David Fagg recently began the iHistory Project, having students investigate local history, doing fieldwork and asking questions about local historical sites in their area and combining it with digital cameras, MP3 players and podcasting. Students reported their findings in the form of a podcast that was then reviewed by their peers and students at a school in Missouri for their global learning experience. This method proved effective because of peer review and the use of everyday technology. Students preferred learning from podcasts because they were able to learn at their own speed, replaying bits and pieces that they needed to, without asking a teacher to repeat something. Both teachers effectively used familiar technology in combination of other technologies to create a new and meaningful project.

Check out Burg's Google Lit Tips and Fagg's iHistory Project

Listen to a podcast interview with Burg about infinite thinking.


Questions:

1. What other mashups may be effective in a classroom?
I think cell phones could also be an effective mashup. Cell phones are a part of many students’ daily lives, and instead of seeing them as a hindrance in the classroom we should begin to see them as a learning tool. Many websites offer audio blogging where you call from your phone and leave a recording that publishes directly on your blog. Students can use audio blogs to record interviews, create books on tape, record sound effects or record music. Many sites also allow you to send video and pictures directly from your cell phone. They also are published directly to the blog. Students are then able to download the files they sent and rework them in different digital editing programs. If we begin to rework the idea of cell phones as an effective learning tool, then we will be able to teach students to use them for more than just text messaging.

2. Why may mashups be effective?
I think that by suing something a student in very familiar with in a new and creative way, like an MP3 player, call phone or even Google Earth, the student will be immediately more engaged than if they had to learn new technologies. By modeling creative uses for common technology students can begin to think of their own new and meaningful uses for technology.