John's Blog Spot

MD 400 Introduction to Educational Technology Reflection

2007-10-29T07:05:00.000-07:00

1. What I have found useful.

The blog makes it easy to post projects and assignments
The blog makes it easy to keep track of the work I have done.
I like the way the blog acts as a portfolio of the work that I have done for this class.
The class web site clearly lays out the schedule,
The class web site provides some great resources and examples of portfolios.
The digital storytelling project is extremely useful and practical.
I am teaching didgital storytelling to my 6th graders, as I learn it in class.
I found the inquiry based learning reading and the "value added" articles informative.

2. What I have found challenging

Using NVU and in particular working with images in NVU.
It is hard to find Eidos, log in and find documents in Eidos.
It is difficult the understand the process for uploading files in to the Fairfield file server.
There are too many passwords and log on ids to remember. i.e. for Stagweb, Eidos and the Fairfield file server.
Some of the readings I found difficult to comprehend and hard to do reflections on. For example the digitla media and the Universal Design for learning articles.
I found that the eTips article was a little outdated.

3. My hopes for the remainder of the semester

I hope that we continue at the same pace
That we continue to do more "hands on" practical activities that I will use in the classroom ie. the blog, digital storytelling and the web site.
I hope that we do less readings and less reflections.

4. My suggestions for the instructor.

More group work like we did in the first class i.e. when we had to createa tableaux using a passage or a poem. I think it was a good way for the students to get to know each other and share ideas.
There should be more discussion and interaction between the class members. The students should be allowed to share and explain their photoshop assignment i.e. where you had to manipulate an image. Give them a chance to explain how they did it, verbally.
A five minute break between hour one and hour two would refresh everybody.
Give more specific requirements for the web site just like you did for the digital story.

The "Value Added" for the uses of Technology & How they fit/don't fit with UDL

2007-10-21T09:29:00.000-07:00

1. What is the "value added" for the uses of technology we have been discussing in class this semester?

The "value added" for the uses of technology we have been discussing this semester can only happen when there is a high level of support within in a school for the use of technology. Support has to come from the administrators and they should support teachers training in and use of technology in the classroom. Also, in order for this "value added" to succeed, teachers need to be clear about their learning outcomes first before planning to use it in their curriculum.

The use of technology in the classroom makes it more responsive to students' interests, or providing additional resources of information. For information, added value might mean that the
technology supports students learning-by-doing or making meaning, by structuring their thinking. It can add value to a student's ability to show to others what they've learned.

We talked about how using technology in a classroom can add value to teaching and
learning, by adding, extending, or changing what teachers or students do.

Using educational technology in a classroom to add value to teaching and
learning, by adding, extending, or changing what teachers or students do,
inherently increases the effectiveness of technology.

2. How do they (or don't they) fit with UDL?
Technology fits with UDL and there is "value added" in that it provides an alternative for students with different learning styles, abilities, and disabilities. Technology just like universal design for learning supports not only improved access to information within classrooms, but also improved access to learning. The books in the WiggleWorks curriculum are a great example of using technology (electronic version of novels) as an alternative to the traditional paper novel. Their use is "value added" to the students with with disabilities or poor handwriting and spelling. Students with physical disabilities can turn pages and access controls with the touch of a key or a switch attached to the computer.

However, because technology allows information to be accessed easier, this can actually undermine learning, because it sometimes requires reducing or eliminating the challenge or resistance that is essential to learning. Therefore it lessens the value of the learning. We want students to have a greater access to learning rather than a greater access to information. I can the analogy of the professional mover and the wrestler from "Chapter 4: What is Universal Design for Learning?" on www.cast.org. The professional mover is interested in getting the sofa from point A to point B as quickly as possible and with the least wear and tear on his muscles. Therefore, he uses tools such as a dolly, a hydraulic lift, and a truck to help him do the job. These tools reduce the challenge of the work—a goal that suits the mover very well. The body builder has a different goal: increasing muscle. He seeks opportunities to lift weights, undertaking long workouts and increasing the weight as his strength improves. He uses tools that selectively support the muscles not being trained and increase resistance for those that are.

By providing full access to the World Wide Web could lessen the value of research of teaching research skills. It can be distracting a student's learning rather than enhancing it. In a UDL world, teachers might present information in a dozen different ways and offer students an equal number of options for expressing knowledge through technology. This would add value to they way students show how they understand the subject.

The UDL framework makes us more aware of learner differences. It challenges us to rethink our curriculum and the ways in which we teach. Technology offers that "value added" option to enhance and extend lessons.

Inquiry Based Learning in the Social Studies & Computer Classroom

2007-10-15T12:12:00.000-07:00

I have used inquiry based learning in my 5Th grade social studies classroom. I would usually start the year off with having the students work on a personal timeline project. The objective of the project was to understand chronological order. Also, that history just like their lives have events that happen in chronological order. They had to find out for themselves what world events happened on the day that they were born, and in the year they were born. They had to find out why these events were relevant. Then they had to find events that occurred in each year of their lives,right up to the the present day. The main focus was on why each event was important, and what impact it had on the world.

This project was followed by an Oral History project, continuing the personal history theme. The students were required to choose one of their grandparents to interview, brainstorm questions to ask about their lives. The students created their questions with guidance from me. Students were required to create questions that would ask for more than a "Yes" or "No" answer. They were supposed to be questions that gave insight in to their grandparent's lives. The students then interviewed their grandparents using the questions they generated. Based on the information they gathered from the interview, they created a PowerPoint telling the story of their grandparent's life.

We would continue to explore the personal history theme. Students explored the subject of immigration with the essential question "Where do we come from?".I provided students with basic and essential information about immigration before letting them complete a web quest http://www.todaysteacher.com/EllisIslandWebQuest/GatewayToDreams.htm

We continued to study all aspects of immigration with the essential question in mind, where do we come from?. Using inquiry orientated learning students gained a better understanding of their ancestry.

The next unit we studied was on the French, English and Spanish Explorers. Students used the 5W's in their inquiry based learning. Students had to present a report for each group of settlers answering the 5W's Who? What? Where? When? & Why? in their reports. Also, throughout the year students had to complete current events assignments. They had to choose an event that was happening in the news and report on it, also using the 5W's. Also, stating why the news article was important.

The study of explorers was followed by a unit on the Civil War. Students got a chance to go to Gettysburg. While in Gettysburg, they had to ask the battlefield tour guides questions and write down 5 things that they learned at each site on the battlefield. Also, students were required to write a reflection at each site on the battlefield. When the students got back to school, they created a memory book based on their experience. The information and images they recorded went in to the book.

Inquiry-based learning places a leading role in my classroom. I do not believe in the lecture style of teaching, I am a facilitator, guiding students in the process of learning. I am now teaching 5Th, 6Th & 7Th grade computers, and the process of creating projects is more important than the product itself. For example, my 7Th grade students are working on a Microsoft Word project that involves creating a TIME magazine cover and feature story. Students choose a person who is helping to combat poverty, they research that person, then they create TIME magazine cover based on the person. The process will involve a lot of inquiry in order to complete the project. Students will have to learn how to use the text box tools, formatting text, inserting images, creating borders etc. I can give the students guidelines, but a lot of it will involve questioning like "So what happens when I do this?" That is the beauty of teaching computers. A lot of it involves asking questions. Of course, students will have certain requirements in their projects but a lot of what they'll create will involve a lot of their own questioning.

Discipline Learning Resources & Information Technology Grade Level: Grades 5-8

2007-10-01T17:56:00.000-07:00

Application

I am using Content Standard 5: Students will use appropriate technologies to create written, visual, oral and multimedia products to communicate ideas, information or conclusions to others.

a. demonstrate competency in previously indentified performance standards

b. demonstrate an understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of vaious media formats as communication vehicles

c. use appropriate software (e.g spreadsheet, database, hypermedia) to construct, organize, analyze and interpret ideas and data, and present conclusions.

d. independently use telecommunications to locate and correspond with peers involved in similar studies

e. select media from a variety of resources to create a multimedia presentation

I can link visual learning with digital imagery & Inspiration to this standard by having students plan out and outline their digital imagery projects using inspi ration. Then they will used a digital video camera and video editing software (such as iMovie) to create brief films to communicate ideas and information to an audience for a variety of purposes. They will use digital imagery and inspiration to demonstrate the ability to use a combination of still images, video footage, voiceovers, and effects to create an effective video presentation. Students will use Microsoft PowerPoint to communicate ideas and information to others with the use of digital images. These presentations will be planned, mapped out and outlined using Inspiration. They will use the formatting tools in PowerPoint compile elements such as images, text, animation, and sound to develop an effective presentation.

What is Universal Design for Learning?

2007-09-23T19:04:00.000-07:00

Jakers! The Adventures of Piggley Winks

2007-09-23T17:31:00.000-07:00

This is my son's favorite cartoon which is on PBS. He loves all the characters (From L to R: Danaan, Piggley, Dannan & Liam, in case you couldn't tell :) ) I thought it would be appropriate to put him in a picture with them.

Digital Media

2007-09-23T06:36:00.000-07:00

Welcome!

2007-09-16T19:51:00.001-07:00

Hello and welcome to Mr. D’s Blog ! This is a blog spot to discuss the use of technology in the classroom.

That is me (above), and my wife, Amy & son, Liam (left)

Educational Technology Integration and Implementation Principles

2007-09-16T19:25:00.000-07:00

Technology integration and implementation is organized in to two dimensions: classroom and school-wide. For technology to work in the classroom, you need to dedicate a lot of extra time to lessons that involve technology. Also, you as the teacher must believe in and value the importance of technology in our students’ learning. However, technology should not be seen as the be-all and end-all of the lessons but should act more as a support to the core lesson. Before a teacher plans to use technology, they must ask themselves what they are trying to accomplish in their lesson. What role (if any) could technology serve in effectively achieving the objectives of the lesson, and how technology can assess what students have learned?

Of course, the extent to which teachers integrate technology all depends on the level of support and resources at their schools. High quality technology programs and tools add additional incentives for teachers to use technology in their classrooms. Teachers must clearly know what their outcomes are before they choose to use technology and choose what technology to use. Technology should not determine what the outcomes are, rather the outcomes should determine if and what technology should be used. This way, teachers can clearly know upfront what technology might support their lesson/unit. If teachers get in the habit of having their unit outcomes drive the technology, they will quickly find out what tools work best in their classroom. Teachers will learn which technologies place certain challenges and demands on their students. Teachers should ask themselves how technology makes the student an active learner and responsible for their own learning. Not only should outcomes drive the technology used in the classroom but it should drive the technology used in schools, districts and at state level. The technology that is purchased for schools should depend on their curricular goals and outcomes

Technology enhances lessons that would otherwise be less engaging or impossible without technology. Technology can help students make the connection with the real world, or shall I say their world. Technology can support what the students already know but help make this knowledge come alive. It can support individual and group work. It can help students practice what they know, to review and to reflect upon it. It can aid students in research and represent it in new ways. It makes access to information and people much easier. Technology helps students to learn by doing. When you ask students to represent data with a technology tool, it makes students think more about the information, and how they are going to use the tool to represent it.

Teachers use technology to add to, extend, and change the way they teach their lessons. How students will be assessed is a key component when planning a lesson. Teachers should consider the methods of assessing progress through technology. Whether it’s having students produce products at the end of a unit to display what they know, or whether it’s an assessment of progress being made throughout the unit. By having students produce projects using technology, it will help prepare them for the future. It will stand by them when they are asked to do it in college or in the workplace.

The value that schools set on technology goes beyond individual teachers, but this value is set by the teachers and administration as a whole. Administrators need to be able to facilitate and support teachers’ desire to use technology. They must make it easily accessible and easy to use. Perhaps, training teachers on technology or the more tech savvy teachers can offer their expertise. They need to provide equipment that will work and have support for teachers when things go wrong. The last thing you want to do is make technology an unpleasant experience for teachers. Frustration should be alleviated with proper training, good equipment and ongoing tech. support.

There are various ways students have access to technology, in my school we have laptop carts and we also have computer labs. From my own experience, laptop carts are the most effective. You don’t have to shuffle your students to the lab every time you want to use technology. Also, laptops provide a better opportunity for group work, as it is ineffective to have students group around machines. With laptops, they can be grouped around a machine on the floor, or on their desks, or in the case of my classroom, on the couch. Laptops can prove a problem in large class sizes, where it might be hard to group large numbers of students around a laptop when you have a limited number of them. Also, just like using computers in the lab, there is also a certain amount of planning and scheduling involved. A significant amount of class time must be sacrificed to setting up and putting away of the machines. Laptops can only truly work in classrooms with block scheduling. Once laptops are up and running, teachers must be confident in knowing that they can troubleshoot if they have to. There must also be the comfort in knowing that there is helpdesk person nearby who can offer support. Some schools are getting rid of their computer labs and solely using technology in their classroom. Teachers and students enjoy using the computers in their classroom where there is a comfort zone. Computer labs can sometimes be intimidating.

If administrators expect teachers to integrate technology in to their curriculum, then they have to offer professional development opportunities to their teachers. This training can come from more tech savvy teachers in house, to one day workshops, to week long seminars in the summer. Once teachers get up to speed with applications used in their school, then they should look at their unit outcomes and try to match up the applications that would best support that outcome. They should determine whether it would add any value to the lesson, and whether all the extra work involved would really make a significance impact on their outcomes. How might technology assess student learning? The use of technology needs to be a collaborative effort in order to succeed. Teachers need to share practices, evaluate and give feedback. It’s a difficult task to do in schools when not everyone is on board with technology. Teachers can serve on technology committees; bring back new ideas back to their department. Our school has a technology liaison committee, in which a member from each department serves. At the meetings new ideas, applications practices are presented and the goal is that these members will bring these new technologies back to their department to share with their colleagues. Teachers’ feedback should determine what technology to keep and what should be discarded. Teachers need to talk with each other about their technology goals, how they’re using technology and their technology successes and failures.