New Thinking 10.28.10

In going over our podcast assignment, we discussed the importance of having a script and not winging it. This keeps coming up in my classes and as much as I detest scripts (I'm an outline kind of person), I think I have gained some new thinking in that scripting is an essential step in the teaching process. Dr. Barske insists it is critical, especially for language teachers, so that the class stays on track and so that you ensure you have covered the content and other aspects of a lesson that relate to the standards and your curriculum. Dr. Boyer emphasized the efficiency that scripting provides. By scripting, you know what you're going to say and when you're going to say it; this helps to eliminate the nuances and redundancies of spoken language.

Therefore, as a teacher, I realize that scripting isn't just an annoyance of preparation for a class, it's a valuable tool that I will use in my class for efficiency and clarity.

Ch. 8 of Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts

Podcasting, Video and Screencasting, and Live Streaming

Great, besides websites, photos, tweets, status updates, news, and data, one can also have podcasts, screencasts, and live streams delivered to their RSS. I’m not overwhelmed at all.

Let’s begin by discussing podcasts. I have a really hard time listening to podcasts. I get “Motivational Mondays” from The National Society of Leadership delivered to my inbox every week, and I listen to part of one every once in a really blue moon. It’s difficult for me to pay attention to talk radio, unless I’m trapped in my “car” without any music. I do plan on using podcasts in my classroom though for the sheer purpose of documenting language progression.

Video is just a sweet form of media. When I was in junior high and high school, we loved messing around with video projects, although we by no means did any editing. I would say it was definitely the most time consuming projects we ever did, but they were usually really fun, and I can still remember the content I had to learn and recite for them.
Screencasting on the other hand is not my favorite to produce. It has its purpose and place; and if my students want to use it, I’ll allow them the option, but I don’t think I’m going to require that from them. I think when you begin to require excessive amounts of “fun” activities, all the fun is drained from them and they begin to hate what they once loved. So I believe in options.
Live Streaming-no. When I think of live streaming, I think of music artists doing Q&A sessions with fans. Maybe if you weren’t able to make it into the class one day for whatever reason, you could have the sub do a majority of the lesson plan, but connect to a live stream if you needed to correspond with the class. I’m not really sure though, how else it would be ideal for the classroom. Richardson stated that one teacher used live stream for every class so that people could see what he was doing, which is a comforting idea, but also a little nerve-racking I guess. I just see Big Brother taking over.

It’s become rather apparent, that there are many, many forms of media and production services available for free on the infinite and glorious web. It would be a shame if I’d labored over this book learning about them and didn’t implement them into my wonderful little language classrooms. I plan to dabble in all of these methods of communication for fun, and for work, so that my students can be knowledgeable as well and have options to share what they have learned.

Ch. 8--Rethinking Education

How Schools Can Cope with the New Technologies
Collins and Halverson identify the “imperatives” that seem to be perpetuating the Knowledge revolution as “customization, interaction, and learner control” (p. 112). However, with our current education system, which desires equality and has thus implemented standards to achieve such goals, we find that the three imperatives are lost in the school setting. Thankfully this chapter is labeled as coping mechanisms for schools rather than issues and problems with the current education system, like the previous chapters. The authors focus on three areas of the education system that are to be addressed, which are “performance-based assessment, new curriculum designs, and new approaches to equity in a digital world” (p. 113).

To start with, Collins and Halverson address performance-based assessment, and they have this weird notion that we should change the school system from the general education requirements to a certification program where parents and students can choose what the student studies and is certified in based off of interests and career goals. I was worried that they wouldn’t address the issue of being young and confused, but thankfully they do realize that this system may be flawed because high school students typically change their minds a lot. I don’t agree with them at all. If I was allowed to choose all of my classes, I would never choose to be certified in anything related to math, science, history, or really anything other than languages. My education would be narrowly focused on languages NOW. During high school, for my electives I took all business classes, I really thought I wanted to be a CEO of a major marketing corporation and I geared myself for the business programs available at the universities, little did I know that shortly after I graduated I would have a huge identity freak out and decide that business wasn’t for me. What if I was only certified in business practices and then changed my mind, thankfully I received a well-rounded education so I could compare and contrast my courses and still get into college with many options available to me. Now, I agree with the idea of using computers for assessment and getting immediate feedback and assistance, but I don’t see how changing our education system has anything to do with the price of tea in china.

Secondly, Collins and Halverson address new curriculum designs. Are these guys smoking something?! I thought the point of this chapter was to mingle the old with new and not to change the entire system. The idea of placing students in curricula based on their goals and interests is ridiculous. How are small school populations suppose to accommodate the individual interests and goals of each student if they’re all different? What about the ever-changing interests of students? The problems they present with their own ideas are critical and crucial points of conflict. I guess in a utopia these ideas are fantastic, but brought to the light of reality, they just seem far-fetched and impractical. On a more realistic note they discuss the idea of introducing video games, simulations, and other technologies in the current curriculums that are difficult areas of instruction and comprehension. By using computer-based visualizations and analysis tools, students are able to relate what they are learning to something with purpose and direction.

Lastly, they briefly address the new approaches to equity in a digital world. Although Collins and Halverson have pointed out again and again that technology has created more inequity amongst the classes in education due to expenses, they insist this can be turned around. By brining technology into impoverished schools, the students can achieve higher levels of education simply by the resources available to them such as tutoring and distance education. This I agree with and I am interested to see what more they have to say in chapter 10 on the problems of equity in education.

I can't change the problem of equity in schools, but I can give my studets a fighting chance by working hard for them and requesting grants/fundraising and even getting the students involved in pursuit of technology for their own benefit.

Ch. 7 of Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts

Fun with Flickr

Following the usual format, Richardson introduces image publishing online through his favorite site Flickr. He runs you through the basics, brushes over some of the risks and safety issues and then tells you to consider that more on your own. I’m assuming this is because image publishing in the educational world requires signatures and precautions with information release. So of course, he runs through different possibilities of image editing and ways to work with the program so that it’s teacher and student friendly. I think I’m going to join Flickr, although I know I’m going to have some issues with the 90 day no sign in, lose your account aspect. I really like that you can annotate particular points of interest on your photo to promote discussion and give blurbs of information.

Another powerful part about Flickr is that you can use it in conjunction with Google Maps and find where the pictures were taken as well as other pictures that were taken in the same area. This is great for discussing other regions and cultures in the language classroom, when it would be really nice to take a virtual field trip.
I love the fact that he links everything back together. I would never think to add my Flickr account to my RSS feed. I know that seems obvious to some, but I think I’ve become very frightened by my RSS feed now. It collects so much information that I can’t keep up with it, which is horrible for my “have to keep up with everything” mentality.

As always, Richardson supplies you with an endless amount of resources for your resources. After this, I’m going to add all of the suggested Flickr “accessory” sites to my Delicious so that I have even more ideas for Flickr use.

In conclusion, what I’ve learned from this chapter is that there is more to the read/write web than just text. Photo and video are powerful modes of communication and have a purpose in the classroom and should be shared on the web. As always, it’s very important to take precautions and follow school policies when dealing with images. But I could see my class using it in the language classroom to label various photos and for presentations. I want to incorporate unique possibilities and options for my students to use, and I think that Flickr will be a great place to start.

New Class Thinking

To discuss chapter 6, the discussion guides broke us up into groups based on Dum-Dum flavors and my group fell into the category of "government in education". We discussed the role of government in education and our personal opinions about government control and its efforts to promote and improve education, as well as where we thought it was lacking. We realized that a lot of power in education is given to the people through referendums, voting, and administrators. Beyond national and state standards, I really hadn't given much thought about the role of government and how we as educators, parents, and community members can and should advocate on behalf of our students to the government for needs, suggestions, improvements, etc. The governments at national and local levels have a lot on their plates and expect administrators, teachers, and parents to look out for the education of our society.

Bam! Application time, as a teacher I will not whine and complain to my fellow colleagues wasting my breath, when I can put my words to use by appealing to the public, the government, and my own students.

Chapter 7--Rethinking Education

What May Be Lost and What May Be Gained
Finally, I say, the chapter that I have been waiting for from Collins and Halverson’s Rethinking Education in the Age of Technology. Chapter 7 should have been a few chapters earlier if you ask me; it would have sweetened the bitterness that this work secretes as one peruses the chapters in reflection. This chapter is short, sweet, and to the point. It addresses what may be lost in the age of technology and what may be gained, and although it jumps around a bit and self-contradicts, it is mostly understandable. The reason I like this chapter, compared to the others, is that it finally admits not only the wonders but also the difficulties of technology integration, and may I point out that there are more “losses” than “gains” in the chapter. Now, I do consider myself to be a technology enthusiast, but since this book has been a radical agent of all things technology beating on the school system, it’s a breath of relief to finally see some admittance of obstacles. Without further a due, with these I present thee along with my personal opinions.

Beginning with the biggest list, the losses, I find it funny that in previous chapters we discussed the endless possibilities with global connections and our ability to communicate beyond our own small communities, but now it’s brought up that we will actually lose social cohesion due to our natural instinct to group ourselves based on cultures, interests, etc. This is dumb. My interests coincide with people of other cultures, races, religions, whatever. While some of them group with people like me, no one is exactly me, and their interests lie elsewhere lapping with others, which is social cohesion. But the best part is when they say “…modern media, such as television, have had a very strong homogenizing effect on the population, which ensures a common culture without depending on the schools to produce one” (p. 106) It’s not the education system’s job to create a common culture, a common curriculum yes, but really?! Then the authors go on to say that with so many channels and the streaming of media it may have a reverse effect. Way to wobble back and forth on the subject there. I don’t see this as a concern of loss.

Another concern is that with privatized education, public schools will be left with disinterested students. I can’t see this happening unless teachers stop doing their jobs. Even fancy private schools have disinterested students. Technology doesn’t necessarily excite and motivate students; it can help, but if their only interest is in using social networking sites and downloading music, an educational –based software program won’t keep ‘em begging for more. Furthermore, the students that are on the privatized route may be under the influence and suggestion of their parents’ desire for their future career paths. Since parents are the ones shelling out the cash for all the amenities they can create narrow paths of education based on their own interests for their students, opposed to the public education’s goal of delivering a well-rounded education. This is a rational concern in my opinion.

Halverson and Collins address the digital divide of inequality. As technology increases, inequality follows suit. Those that can’t afford these technologies continue to fall further and further behind. They also address the loss of social skills that is prevalent amongst computer users who isolate themselves from friends and family. Most people have poor social skills nowadays anyways, so we’re really not losing much here (joke). I find it entertaining that with social networking being larger than life that society is losing their social skills; the internet is a whole other world with different social etiquette, it’s really unbelievable.

With all these losses, it’s a wonder that Collins and Halverson are such enthusiasts. But there is something to be said about the gains they have listed:
Learning becomes more engaging.
Commercial education market continues to grow.
Competition between students in school will diminish.
This I highly doubt. Competition is a natural instinct and there always ways to compete, especially with the use of technology. Plus, there’s no harm in a little competition, it can be quite motivating.
People take responsibility for their own education.

As an educator, I plan to foresee the obstacles of technology implementation and tailor my use of such tools to allow a powerful learning environment that will only enhance my students learning and societal functioning rather than hinder it. I plan to evaluate the technological tools and resources I use and how I use them, often in light of students and their needs.

New Thinking 10.14.2010

Dr. Boyer got a new iPad, and it got me thinking that I want an iPad. But that's irrelevant to my being an educator, so in other thinking, today we discussed Chapter 5 and the various pros and cons of:

-home schooling
-workplace learning
-distance education
-adult education
-learning centers
-educational television and videos
-computer-based learning software
-technical certifications.

It was fairly obvious that for almost every pro there's a con to these alternative types of learning. We did a lot of listening to opinions and not very much time building on and off of these ideas. As an educator, I think it's important to instigate deeper thinking, I guess I'm more of a processor and internal thinker academically, but my new thinking is that I/we need to become verbal processors and thinkers so that we can teach our students how to probe into the depths of their minds and really learn.