Screencasting seems to be a very powerful tool that works great as a presentation option, especially with tutorials. As an elementary art teacher, I'm not sure I would use screencasting much due to the limited time I have with the kids. Unless I took the students to the computer lab, only a couple kids could use the computer each class period, and if there were even 3 students that used the computer each week, it would be months before the whole class was able to try a program. With that said, I do see how screencasting can be an effective tool to teach someone how to use a computer program or application. If I had set up a tutorial on how to use the program TUX paint, students could watch the tutorial and hopefully start using the program without much help from me. This is probably the only situation that I would use a screencast for elementary art.
However, in the upper level art classes, students often learn how to use Photoshop. I think screencasting is an excellent way to have a resource available at all times. Again, screencasting would be used in a sort of tutorial sense. Having screencast tutorials for all computer programs and applications would be useful, especially at the high school level where students are really getting into the finer details of programs like Microsoft Office or Photoshop. This makes it easier for the teacher since they obviously can't help every student one-on-one. I am looking forward to seeing others idea's in how to use screencasting in the classroom, because I feel that it is a great tool, but would be best suited for a computer/technology classroom.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Google Sites
I found Google sites a little harder to use than a blog, but it does seem to have a lot of capabilities. I like that I can actually make a website instead of just a web page. I think I will definitely use this application as a way to display student artwork this school year.
My idea for using Google sites besides just showcasing artwork would be to have basic information about a topic that we are covering in art class. For example, in my site I gave basic information about the Huichol people of Mexico since the 3rd graders studied them and their artwork. On my second page, I included links to websites with more detailed information as well as images of the artwork. I also included a link to a website called www.freerice.com where students can take quizzes in various subjects (including art) and for each answer they get right, ten grains of rice are donated to feed the hungry.
I could use Google Sites to feature artists that we are studying, movements, painting techniques, etc. Then I would post links for the students to find extra information. I don't think I would use this as a required assignment, more of a resource for students who are interested to look at on their spare time, simply becuase I only see the students once a week for 50 minutes.
My idea for using Google sites besides just showcasing artwork would be to have basic information about a topic that we are covering in art class. For example, in my site I gave basic information about the Huichol people of Mexico since the 3rd graders studied them and their artwork. On my second page, I included links to websites with more detailed information as well as images of the artwork. I also included a link to a website called www.freerice.com where students can take quizzes in various subjects (including art) and for each answer they get right, ten grains of rice are donated to feed the hungry.
I could use Google Sites to feature artists that we are studying, movements, painting techniques, etc. Then I would post links for the students to find extra information. I don't think I would use this as a required assignment, more of a resource for students who are interested to look at on their spare time, simply becuase I only see the students once a week for 50 minutes.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
D/B11
I'm taking this class because I am interested in effectively using technology in my classroom. However, because technology is ever-changing, I realize that to remain competent in this field, I will have to continue taking classes, attending different technology-related professional development sessions and personally challenge myself to seek out and use newer technologies. In a way this frustrates me because, though I love learning, the thought of continuing the education for the rest of my professional life seems quite daunting.
After looking at the various charts and graphics related to instructional competencies, one area that I think I excel in is the area mentioned in Table 27.3 under Instructor #5. I feel I am good at planing instructional methods and materials. With 20 different classes ( and 6 grades) to prepare for each week, it is essential that I stay organized in planning my lessons as well as the materials I will need. (And being an art teacher, I will need a lot of materials). My goal is always to have at least one or two weeks absolutely planned out ahead of time. On top of that, I like to have fairly solid ideas for lesson plans thought out for about a month in advance. These generally appear as notes in my written lesson plans until I fully write in all the details. In this way, I feel I am pretty good with competency #6 under instructor as well which details preparing for lessons.
While I think I do well at planning and preparing lessons, there are three areas that I've chosen as areas I'd like to develop. The first is listed in the same table (27.3) and is listed under instructor #14: Use media and technology to enhance learning and performance. Part of the reason I struggle with this area is because my classrooms don't have as much technology as I'd like. However, one of the Michigan benchmark for art reads: All students will use technology as a tool for creative expression. I'm still working on fitting that into my curriculum, and with the addition of a computer lab in one of my schools, I'm looking forward to addressing this benchmark.
Another area that I'd like to develop is listed under instructor #15: Assess learning and performance. While all teachers assess their learners, it is sometimes difficult for me, being an art teacher, because art is hard to assess. There aren't many areas of art that are really black and white in terms of assessment. I want my students to feel free to express themselves, while still addressing the requirements of the assignment. There are some areas that are easy to assess, like, draw a square, and if they've done it, they know what a square is. There are others that are harder like, draw a sad line. A lot of art is open to interpretation, but that is also why some students are really drawn to it and excel creatively.
The last area that I'd like to develop is listed under instructional designer #17: Design instruction that reflects an understanding of the diversity of learners and groups of learners. As a teacher of students from all walks of life, I want my lessons to address where they've been, where they are and where they want to go. I also want to expose them to diversity that they haven't seen. I want my lessons to address who they are as learners, as people, as citizens of this country and our future leaders all the while incorporating diverse situations, ideas and people. I feel that I do address the diversity of learners, but it is an area that I think I will always want to develop.
After looking at the various charts and graphics related to instructional competencies, one area that I think I excel in is the area mentioned in Table 27.3 under Instructor #5. I feel I am good at planing instructional methods and materials. With 20 different classes ( and 6 grades) to prepare for each week, it is essential that I stay organized in planning my lessons as well as the materials I will need. (And being an art teacher, I will need a lot of materials). My goal is always to have at least one or two weeks absolutely planned out ahead of time. On top of that, I like to have fairly solid ideas for lesson plans thought out for about a month in advance. These generally appear as notes in my written lesson plans until I fully write in all the details. In this way, I feel I am pretty good with competency #6 under instructor as well which details preparing for lessons.
While I think I do well at planning and preparing lessons, there are three areas that I've chosen as areas I'd like to develop. The first is listed in the same table (27.3) and is listed under instructor #14: Use media and technology to enhance learning and performance. Part of the reason I struggle with this area is because my classrooms don't have as much technology as I'd like. However, one of the Michigan benchmark for art reads: All students will use technology as a tool for creative expression. I'm still working on fitting that into my curriculum, and with the addition of a computer lab in one of my schools, I'm looking forward to addressing this benchmark.
Another area that I'd like to develop is listed under instructor #15: Assess learning and performance. While all teachers assess their learners, it is sometimes difficult for me, being an art teacher, because art is hard to assess. There aren't many areas of art that are really black and white in terms of assessment. I want my students to feel free to express themselves, while still addressing the requirements of the assignment. There are some areas that are easy to assess, like, draw a square, and if they've done it, they know what a square is. There are others that are harder like, draw a sad line. A lot of art is open to interpretation, but that is also why some students are really drawn to it and excel creatively.
The last area that I'd like to develop is listed under instructional designer #17: Design instruction that reflects an understanding of the diversity of learners and groups of learners. As a teacher of students from all walks of life, I want my lessons to address where they've been, where they are and where they want to go. I also want to expose them to diversity that they haven't seen. I want my lessons to address who they are as learners, as people, as citizens of this country and our future leaders all the while incorporating diverse situations, ideas and people. I feel that I do address the diversity of learners, but it is an area that I think I will always want to develop.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
D/B10
After reading the three chapters and the varying roles of instructional design in different environments, I think I can synthesize what I think the differences are. Obviously, all three fields (business, P-12 education, and higher education) utilize the instructional design ideas and procedures, but they do it in very different ways. In every new situation there will be new information to learn and process and instructional designers aim to make this knowledge acquisition as smooth and concise as possible.
In a business, this new knowledge could take the form of employee orientation or training or even re-training. In P-12 education this knowledge is the required content set by the state that the students must learn. In higher education this knowledge is the information presented to the students that committees have deemed important to include in the class.
However, in each situation, the way instructional designers are utilized is very different. In the business world, the instructional designer(s) may be hired by the business to come up with an instructional design plan that streamlines the hiring or training process. In this case there is a person whose sole job is to design the instruction and information in a clear and interesting way.
In P-12 schools, instructional designing is part of the job description of the teacher. While teachers receive support in planning their lessons or managing their classes, ultimately it is up to them to deliver the instruction. It is part of the training of teachers (in college) to teach them how to design innovative and effective lessons.
In higher education, though professors (associates, assistants, etc.) do teach the information, they may or may not have undergone training in how to teach. They may be experts in their field, but they need training in designing their instruction. In higher education, it is my understanding that the role of instructional designers is to collaborate within the college or department in designing the syllabus and the way the content will be presented. From what I gleaned from the book, the instructional designer could be part of the college faculty and could help different departments plan their curriculum or the instructional designer might also be an expert in that particular field and only work with other faculty in that field in designing their lessons.
I think P-12 education (my particular field) could learn a lot from the way that higher education utilizes instructional designers. While doing my undergraduate classes in preparation for teaching, we were critiqued on our lesson plans. classroom management, etc. We don't really have that once we are actually teaching. Sure, probationary teachers have mentors and get observed, but not often enough. In my undergrad classes we were critiqued on every lesson. Granted, they were not the best critiques since they were not in authentic situations, but they were valuable either way. It would be great if, like higher education, we had expert teachers help design our lessons, observed our teaching often and gave us basic advice, I think we would be better teachers. However, I think these expert teachers/instructional designers' sole responsibility should be to guide current teachers instead of while they were also teaching themselves, simply because its hard to invest that much time when you are teaching. I don't think the business model of hiring in an instructional designer would be ideal. If someone came into my classroom and wanted to design my lessons without having teaching experience, I don't think they would be very helpful. I've found that people that aren't teachers sometimes forget that kids aren't very rational and still act like kids. We, as teachers, recognize this and use this energy and evidence in planning our lessons.
In a business, this new knowledge could take the form of employee orientation or training or even re-training. In P-12 education this knowledge is the required content set by the state that the students must learn. In higher education this knowledge is the information presented to the students that committees have deemed important to include in the class.
However, in each situation, the way instructional designers are utilized is very different. In the business world, the instructional designer(s) may be hired by the business to come up with an instructional design plan that streamlines the hiring or training process. In this case there is a person whose sole job is to design the instruction and information in a clear and interesting way.
In P-12 schools, instructional designing is part of the job description of the teacher. While teachers receive support in planning their lessons or managing their classes, ultimately it is up to them to deliver the instruction. It is part of the training of teachers (in college) to teach them how to design innovative and effective lessons.
In higher education, though professors (associates, assistants, etc.) do teach the information, they may or may not have undergone training in how to teach. They may be experts in their field, but they need training in designing their instruction. In higher education, it is my understanding that the role of instructional designers is to collaborate within the college or department in designing the syllabus and the way the content will be presented. From what I gleaned from the book, the instructional designer could be part of the college faculty and could help different departments plan their curriculum or the instructional designer might also be an expert in that particular field and only work with other faculty in that field in designing their lessons.
I think P-12 education (my particular field) could learn a lot from the way that higher education utilizes instructional designers. While doing my undergraduate classes in preparation for teaching, we were critiqued on our lesson plans. classroom management, etc. We don't really have that once we are actually teaching. Sure, probationary teachers have mentors and get observed, but not often enough. In my undergrad classes we were critiqued on every lesson. Granted, they were not the best critiques since they were not in authentic situations, but they were valuable either way. It would be great if, like higher education, we had expert teachers help design our lessons, observed our teaching often and gave us basic advice, I think we would be better teachers. However, I think these expert teachers/instructional designers' sole responsibility should be to guide current teachers instead of while they were also teaching themselves, simply because its hard to invest that much time when you are teaching. I don't think the business model of hiring in an instructional designer would be ideal. If someone came into my classroom and wanted to design my lessons without having teaching experience, I don't think they would be very helpful. I've found that people that aren't teachers sometimes forget that kids aren't very rational and still act like kids. We, as teachers, recognize this and use this energy and evidence in planning our lessons.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Map Activity
There are a lot of ways to use Google Maps. Since I work with younger students I would probably stick with basic things like labeling places around town that my students would be interested in. They could label where they live, their favorite restaurant, etc. They could also label places they would like to visit or have visited. For older kids, I think the draw a line tool was really cool to figure out distances between places. They could figure out the shortest distance from point A to point B, or even just multiple ways to get to those places.
D/B9
When I signed up for this course, I was nervous that the requirements and assignments wouldn't necessarily be hard, but could possibly be vague and hard to understand simply because we don't have an in-person connection. I have been pleasantly surprised and relieved that all of the assignments have been very clear, thoroughly explained, with many resources to look for help. I have found the assignments interesting and pretty easy to complete with the right amount of time spent. Since I'm not teaching this summer, I have had plenty of time to work on the assignments, though I could see that having so many due dates for various things (which I DO like, but it could be confusing) might make it hard during the school year. As far as this being a course near the beginning of the program, I think it is very appropriate and provides a good basis for thinking about educational technology and how it can be used in the classroom.
I feel that I have been supported both by colleagues in this class as well as the professor. I haven't had a specific question that I needed answered in order to complete an assignment, but I feel that my question would've been answered in a timely manner. The only drawbacks of this course that I have found are in the groups that we are supposed to post thoughts on. Every week I have had to go out of my group to be able to post enough comments to get full points. I don't mind this, but it sort of makes the groups useless. The other drawback is the fact that we get grades back without any comments. If I don't receive full points for something, I would like to know why so I can address that issue in the next assignment.
In regards to using the presented technology in my classroom, I think I will. I won't use all of it, mostly because the kids I work with are pretty young. I do think I will set up a blog to post student artwork since it is so much easier than creating a website. I think I will use the delicious bookmarking site and plan to propose using it schoolwide to my building's TAG(technology) person. I'm not sure that I will use RSS feeds for the age group that I have, but I do plan to experiment with pod casting. The best part of this class is getting to use the technology and figuring out ways to incorporate it into our lessons.
I feel that I have been supported both by colleagues in this class as well as the professor. I haven't had a specific question that I needed answered in order to complete an assignment, but I feel that my question would've been answered in a timely manner. The only drawbacks of this course that I have found are in the groups that we are supposed to post thoughts on. Every week I have had to go out of my group to be able to post enough comments to get full points. I don't mind this, but it sort of makes the groups useless. The other drawback is the fact that we get grades back without any comments. If I don't receive full points for something, I would like to know why so I can address that issue in the next assignment.
In regards to using the presented technology in my classroom, I think I will. I won't use all of it, mostly because the kids I work with are pretty young. I do think I will set up a blog to post student artwork since it is so much easier than creating a website. I think I will use the delicious bookmarking site and plan to propose using it schoolwide to my building's TAG(technology) person. I'm not sure that I will use RSS feeds for the age group that I have, but I do plan to experiment with pod casting. The best part of this class is getting to use the technology and figuring out ways to incorporate it into our lessons.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
D/B8
In reading Chapter 21, I was surprised at the different types of systemic change, especially in light of NCLB and the repercussions of not making Adaquate Yearly Progress. I've always been a little confused as to why specific schools get reprimanded or rewarded based on AYP and not entire districts. It would make sense in my mind that each school within a district would have the same goals and values in mind as well as the same curriculum. So if one school in a district doesn't make AYP, why isn't the district as a whole questioned? It seems that NCLB aims to enforce school-wide change while hoping that there would be a nationwide systemic change by targeting schools instead of district/state/national ideals of education. I think that NCLB is trying to get national systemic change by way of piecemeal change for the sake of saving money. Even then schools aren't supported with the money to make piecemeal change.
Both the GSTE and SUTE methods of change seem extremely well thought out and thorough. It makes change seem that much more achievable! The SUTE conditions for sucessful whole-district change seem like the conditions that always surround schools that are forced to change because they haven't met AYP. When you're talking about entire teaching staffs being fired, of course your mindset is of self-survival!
One other issue that hit home for me was the idea of On-Track seminars. It seems that we make the most change based on single-loop learning, or making change in response to what happened. I think most districts would greatly benefit from double-loop learning, or examining why things happened the way they did. I wish there was more room in NCLB for this type of examination. However, once schools get to this point, there is a lot of self-survival attitudes instead of really examining the "why" of the problem. I think we are trying to "quick fix" the issues in our schools instead of really taking the time to examine the problems and plan the appropriate change necessary. As the authors of the book said, "quick fixes almost always fail."
Both the GSTE and SUTE methods of change seem extremely well thought out and thorough. It makes change seem that much more achievable! The SUTE conditions for sucessful whole-district change seem like the conditions that always surround schools that are forced to change because they haven't met AYP. When you're talking about entire teaching staffs being fired, of course your mindset is of self-survival!
One other issue that hit home for me was the idea of On-Track seminars. It seems that we make the most change based on single-loop learning, or making change in response to what happened. I think most districts would greatly benefit from double-loop learning, or examining why things happened the way they did. I wish there was more room in NCLB for this type of examination. However, once schools get to this point, there is a lot of self-survival attitudes instead of really examining the "why" of the problem. I think we are trying to "quick fix" the issues in our schools instead of really taking the time to examine the problems and plan the appropriate change necessary. As the authors of the book said, "quick fixes almost always fail."
D/B7
In Chapter 18, the idea that businesses or schools would hire a design consultant really spoke to me because my husband works for a company that is often hired by area school districts to help them decide how and when to implement technology into their various buildings. My husband's role is to meet with district technology leaders and offer them different solutions for different rooms in terms of audio visual equipment. In this way, he is a consultant for them. So, right away I see how this idea of the role instructional designers as mentioned in the book is incorporated into the school setting. I'm sure most school districts "hire out" other instructional designers in their various fields of expertise.
The other topic that interested me from this chapter was the idea of localizing information after it has already been internationalized. Unfortunately for schools, it seems to me that we use textbooks that have been internationalized and don't specifically speak to students of one background or another. My teaching experience has mostly been in a district that is pretty diverse. In fact, one elementary school that I teach at is a dual-language school and 50% of instruction is done in Spanish and the other 50% is done in English. This is to help support our Latino population as well as offer language learning opportunities for native English speakers. However, in my undergrad coursework, I was able to glean the idea that most textbooks, curriculum and tests are written for white, middle-class students. I think most students would benefit from learning from materials that were more specific to their backgrounds. For example, I once saw a student struggling with a math problem-solving question that asked about going to different summer camps. The concept was to add multiple numbers with there being one number in the problem that was irrelevant. The student knew how to add multiple numbers but seemed to be baffled by the idea of summer camp. I mean, not all students have the opportunity to go to summer camp, so why are we asking questions about it? If the test had asked him to add up points to a sports game or something more neutral, maybe the student would've done better altogether. This idea of localizing instruction is one that I hope schools and educators at the state level look into. I would guess the main concern would be, as always, money.
The other topic that interested me from this chapter was the idea of localizing information after it has already been internationalized. Unfortunately for schools, it seems to me that we use textbooks that have been internationalized and don't specifically speak to students of one background or another. My teaching experience has mostly been in a district that is pretty diverse. In fact, one elementary school that I teach at is a dual-language school and 50% of instruction is done in Spanish and the other 50% is done in English. This is to help support our Latino population as well as offer language learning opportunities for native English speakers. However, in my undergrad coursework, I was able to glean the idea that most textbooks, curriculum and tests are written for white, middle-class students. I think most students would benefit from learning from materials that were more specific to their backgrounds. For example, I once saw a student struggling with a math problem-solving question that asked about going to different summer camps. The concept was to add multiple numbers with there being one number in the problem that was irrelevant. The student knew how to add multiple numbers but seemed to be baffled by the idea of summer camp. I mean, not all students have the opportunity to go to summer camp, so why are we asking questions about it? If the test had asked him to add up points to a sports game or something more neutral, maybe the student would've done better altogether. This idea of localizing instruction is one that I hope schools and educators at the state level look into. I would guess the main concern would be, as always, money.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
D/B6
Chapter 14 reflection:
What I understood from this chapter is that there is a whole field of work and study dedicated to improving human performance. Whether we perform at home, at school, at work, at play, there are people studying ways to improve/streamline/economize this performance. I can see one way that this happens to us all the time in the classroom: State Standards and Benchmarks. In this way, we are hoping to improve student performance (on tests). While I think these standards are great goals to have and help with what to teach and when to teach it, it also streamlines and cuts out any "gaps" that we may have had in the curriculum. In the diagram in the book, I took "gaps" to mean things that were dispensable, or really, just junk that we didn't need. Unfortunately, because of such stringent details in the standards and benchmarks, there is no longer room for "gaps" in the curriculum, but we have also cut out a lot of good information. The "gaps" in the curriculum were mostly topics that aren't currently covered by standardized tests. I agree that we need standards and benchmarks as a guideline for our teaching, I just wish there was more room for student discovery into topics that may not be tested.
We also use improve performance in the classroom when we teach our students the rules and procedures to which the class must adhere. The reason we have procedures for sharpening pencils and taking a bathroom break is to maximize student performance.
Podcast Profile:
http://smarthistory.us/Arp_Collage.m4a
I listened to several podcasts on smARThistory. Basically, there are two commentators who discuss the history and possible meaning of different artowork. I listened to one podcast (I linked this one) about the artwork "Collage with squares arranged according to the laws of chance." by Jean Arp. It was interesting to hear the two commentator's opinions about this artwork, because in my undergrad we discussed this artwork and came to entirely different conclusions.
I can see myself using this particular podcast or others like it as a way to show my students artwork that my school may not have prints of and also a way for them to get quick information about the artwork and the artist. I could see that I would have to preview the content of the podcast to make sure it was both interesting enough and appropriate for my students.
Chapter 14 reflection:
What I understood from this chapter is that there is a whole field of work and study dedicated to improving human performance. Whether we perform at home, at school, at work, at play, there are people studying ways to improve/streamline/economize this performance. I can see one way that this happens to us all the time in the classroom: State Standards and Benchmarks. In this way, we are hoping to improve student performance (on tests). While I think these standards are great goals to have and help with what to teach and when to teach it, it also streamlines and cuts out any "gaps" that we may have had in the curriculum. In the diagram in the book, I took "gaps" to mean things that were dispensable, or really, just junk that we didn't need. Unfortunately, because of such stringent details in the standards and benchmarks, there is no longer room for "gaps" in the curriculum, but we have also cut out a lot of good information. The "gaps" in the curriculum were mostly topics that aren't currently covered by standardized tests. I agree that we need standards and benchmarks as a guideline for our teaching, I just wish there was more room for student discovery into topics that may not be tested.
We also use improve performance in the classroom when we teach our students the rules and procedures to which the class must adhere. The reason we have procedures for sharpening pencils and taking a bathroom break is to maximize student performance.
Podcast Profile:
http://smarthistory.us/Arp_Collage.m4a
I listened to several podcasts on smARThistory. Basically, there are two commentators who discuss the history and possible meaning of different artowork. I listened to one podcast (I linked this one) about the artwork "Collage with squares arranged according to the laws of chance." by Jean Arp. It was interesting to hear the two commentator's opinions about this artwork, because in my undergrad we discussed this artwork and came to entirely different conclusions.
I can see myself using this particular podcast or others like it as a way to show my students artwork that my school may not have prints of and also a way for them to get quick information about the artwork and the artist. I could see that I would have to preview the content of the podcast to make sure it was both interesting enough and appropriate for my students.
D/B5
In reading the history of instructional technology, I'm a little shocked that the author thinks education hasn't been hugely impacted by technology. Though I agree that the way we teach hasn't changed much over the years, we have definitely implemented more technology every year. When I was in elementary school we had one apple computer in our classroom that was used mostly as a reward to play games. Now, in the district that I teach in (that I also attended as a student) every elementary classroom has at least 4 student computers and a teacher computer as well as most schools having a computer lab or mobile lab. While subbing, I had to take a class to the computer lab and they spend a half an hour practicing word processing and another half and hour doing research by looking at pre-approved websites. (Delicious would've been a life-saver here!)
It seems that all levels of education have been impacted by technology in a very meaningful way. Here I am taking an online course on the same computer that I also use to type and send in my lesson plans. I think we don't realize how much technology has infiltrated our every day activities. I was in the library with some students and I realized that none of the students that I teach would even have a clue to what a card catalogue is or how to use one.
In answering the question that the book asks about which age group will be impacted the most, I can't say. I see technology changing the way I teach and also the way I take my master's courses. I've been "trained" by technology and use it as often as possible in the business/government sectors to avoid lines and crowds. I suppose I think all of the age groups are being impacted equally, just in different ways.
In reading the history of instructional technology, I'm a little shocked that the author thinks education hasn't been hugely impacted by technology. Though I agree that the way we teach hasn't changed much over the years, we have definitely implemented more technology every year. When I was in elementary school we had one apple computer in our classroom that was used mostly as a reward to play games. Now, in the district that I teach in (that I also attended as a student) every elementary classroom has at least 4 student computers and a teacher computer as well as most schools having a computer lab or mobile lab. While subbing, I had to take a class to the computer lab and they spend a half an hour practicing word processing and another half and hour doing research by looking at pre-approved websites. (Delicious would've been a life-saver here!)
It seems that all levels of education have been impacted by technology in a very meaningful way. Here I am taking an online course on the same computer that I also use to type and send in my lesson plans. I think we don't realize how much technology has infiltrated our every day activities. I was in the library with some students and I realized that none of the students that I teach would even have a clue to what a card catalogue is or how to use one.
In answering the question that the book asks about which age group will be impacted the most, I can't say. I see technology changing the way I teach and also the way I take my master's courses. I've been "trained" by technology and use it as often as possible in the business/government sectors to avoid lines and crowds. I suppose I think all of the age groups are being impacted equally, just in different ways.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Educational Podcasts
I found a really cool site using the delicious bookmarking tool that features podcasts for a lot subject areas in education. I loved that there are podcasts for visual arts! Find the subject area that you teach or are interested in and then click on it to see all kinds of podcasts related to that subject.
http://epnweb.org/index.php?openpod=2#5
http://epnweb.org/index.php?openpod=2#5
Thursday, July 9, 2009
D/B4
Photo sharing turned out to be much more complicated and irritating that I would've thought. I've never used a photo sharing website though I had certainly heard of them. I've even recieved pictures from friends this way. I found both photobucket and flickr to be a little confusing. It was easy to download pictures (though much slower than downloading them into facebook, I found) but much harder to organize them, change their size, etc. It seemed that each picture that I downloaded brought up a slightly different screen when it was finished downloading.
Because I found the photo sharing sites difficult to navigate, I'm not convinced I would use it with students. Especially because my students are elementary age. One way that I can see students using this service (maybe high school age) is to share pictures without printing them out. I had an assignment in college where I had to photograph every letter of the alphabet that I found in nature. For example, a fork in a tree could be 'Y'. While printing them out was a nice touch, it would've been a lot easier (and cheaper)to simply upload the pictures and share them with the professor and the class. It might also be nice to document different stages of a science project this way. In fact, this photo sharing idea could be used in any project that requires documentation of a step-by-step project. As with anything photo related, the drawback is that students could post inappropriate photos.
In conclusion, I found the photo sharing sites kind of confusing though I can see that once you've figured it out it is a nice service (especially since you can just send the files over to a store near you and pick them up). However, teaching kids to use this service might not be worth the time it takes and they could post inappropriate things.
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The Trends and Issues chapter dedicated to instructional design seemed quite wordy, but once I got past that I realized a lot of their ideas about creating lessons or designing the instruction were things that I do all the time. They suggest a systematic approach to designing instruction. If I were asked about the way I create my lessons I would've never said systematic, but in thinking about it, I definitely do create them with a system. In fact, I sort of have a "blueprint" of what my lesson plans look like and then use that same format by copying and pasting it so that the lesson is organized the same way both in my brain and also for the principal that checks them.
The core elements/phases of instructional design are all basic elements or goals in lesson plans. There is always a section for the students to implement their new knowledge by applying it to a certain assignment. Then that assigment will be evaluated by the teacher. There is one big difference in the ADDIE instructional design method and the one I use. It says in the text that the ADDIE approach is not to be completed in a linear step-by-step manner. I would suggest that my lessons are completed this way. Since I only see the students once a week for 50 minutes, everything has to have a step and there have to be goals about which step we are going to complete each week. Obviously, during the development stage where the students are trying out their ideas there is room for revision, but otherwise we stick as much to the step by step plan as possible. If I had to break down my lesson plans I would say my lessons look like this:
Intro to project ->analyze project example or famous artist influence ->develop own idea based on implementation of information gleaned from introduction and discussion (room for revision here)->create based on developed idea->evaluate finished product
Another disconnect between the ADDIE approach and my approach to lesson planning is that one of the goals of ADDIE is that Instructional Design assumes outcomes can be measured in a realiable and valid way. One big challenge of teaching elementary art is having to evaluate it. I see my art class as a way for students to try out ideas, express themselves pictorally, use new media and techniques and a way to learn problem-solving techniques. It is hard to evaluate the artwork reliably when the subject matter is so open to discussion. In every lesson there are goals for the student to reach, but they all reach them in different ways. So I believe the outcomes can be measured validly, but not necessarily reliably. The teacher must know the student, have interacted with that student, problem-solved with that student and then conversed again when the project in finished to really understand if the student reached the goals of the lesson.
Because I found the photo sharing sites difficult to navigate, I'm not convinced I would use it with students. Especially because my students are elementary age. One way that I can see students using this service (maybe high school age) is to share pictures without printing them out. I had an assignment in college where I had to photograph every letter of the alphabet that I found in nature. For example, a fork in a tree could be 'Y'. While printing them out was a nice touch, it would've been a lot easier (and cheaper)to simply upload the pictures and share them with the professor and the class. It might also be nice to document different stages of a science project this way. In fact, this photo sharing idea could be used in any project that requires documentation of a step-by-step project. As with anything photo related, the drawback is that students could post inappropriate photos.
In conclusion, I found the photo sharing sites kind of confusing though I can see that once you've figured it out it is a nice service (especially since you can just send the files over to a store near you and pick them up). However, teaching kids to use this service might not be worth the time it takes and they could post inappropriate things.
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The Trends and Issues chapter dedicated to instructional design seemed quite wordy, but once I got past that I realized a lot of their ideas about creating lessons or designing the instruction were things that I do all the time. They suggest a systematic approach to designing instruction. If I were asked about the way I create my lessons I would've never said systematic, but in thinking about it, I definitely do create them with a system. In fact, I sort of have a "blueprint" of what my lesson plans look like and then use that same format by copying and pasting it so that the lesson is organized the same way both in my brain and also for the principal that checks them.
The core elements/phases of instructional design are all basic elements or goals in lesson plans. There is always a section for the students to implement their new knowledge by applying it to a certain assignment. Then that assigment will be evaluated by the teacher. There is one big difference in the ADDIE instructional design method and the one I use. It says in the text that the ADDIE approach is not to be completed in a linear step-by-step manner. I would suggest that my lessons are completed this way. Since I only see the students once a week for 50 minutes, everything has to have a step and there have to be goals about which step we are going to complete each week. Obviously, during the development stage where the students are trying out their ideas there is room for revision, but otherwise we stick as much to the step by step plan as possible. If I had to break down my lesson plans I would say my lessons look like this:
Intro to project ->analyze project example or famous artist influence ->develop own idea based on implementation of information gleaned from introduction and discussion (room for revision here)->create based on developed idea->evaluate finished product
Another disconnect between the ADDIE approach and my approach to lesson planning is that one of the goals of ADDIE is that Instructional Design assumes outcomes can be measured in a realiable and valid way. One big challenge of teaching elementary art is having to evaluate it. I see my art class as a way for students to try out ideas, express themselves pictorally, use new media and techniques and a way to learn problem-solving techniques. It is hard to evaluate the artwork reliably when the subject matter is so open to discussion. In every lesson there are goals for the student to reach, but they all reach them in different ways. So I believe the outcomes can be measured validly, but not necessarily reliably. The teacher must know the student, have interacted with that student, problem-solved with that student and then conversed again when the project in finished to really understand if the student reached the goals of the lesson.
D/B3
Wow, social bookmarking is awesome. If only I had known about this before! I taught art at three schools last year and would copy and paste cool websites and send them to myself over e-mail so could remember them at my other schools. Once I got to my other schools I would add them to my favorites. What a waste of time since I could've been using delicious. It has been fun trying the various new technologies for this class, but social bookmarking is my favorite at this point.
I think social bookmarking has so many possibilities for use in schools. At one school that I was working in two years ago, I noticed that the computer lab had a list of cool sites to visit based on subject area. I think it would be great to list all of those on delicious and tag them based on subject. In doing this, students could access these sites from home, as could parents. The only drawback would be making sure the students didn't add sites, or at least, someone would need to check if they are appropriate, labeled correctly, etc. Teachers could also share cool sites with each other this way. At every art meeting that I attend someone brings up a good site for us to "write down." And every time it needs to be repeated various times, and still someone will e-mail saying they copied it down wrong. I can't wait to share this bookmarking site with my colleagues.
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In regards to the Trends and Issues text and their definitions of Educational Technology/Instructional Technology and/or Instructional Design and Technology I think they have way over thought the matter. Obviously the ideas behind Educational Technology change because technology is constantly changing, emerging and becoming obsolete. All of the definitions seemed fine to me. Maybe I'm just not as picky, but as long as the definition refers to using technology as a way to teach and learn, that is fine with me. As technology advances, society will have to continually deal with different problems related to the advancing technology. When I was in high school, very few people had cell phones, now kids as young as 5 have cell phones which brings about a lot of new concerns involving texting while driving, pictures being taken in class, cheating with phones, etc. And these are only a few problems! We would have to rewrite the definition of educational technology every time a new product came out or a old product had a new feature. I think we need to be more flexible in our definitions of educational technology because as soon as one definition is published it is already starting to get outdated.
I think social bookmarking has so many possibilities for use in schools. At one school that I was working in two years ago, I noticed that the computer lab had a list of cool sites to visit based on subject area. I think it would be great to list all of those on delicious and tag them based on subject. In doing this, students could access these sites from home, as could parents. The only drawback would be making sure the students didn't add sites, or at least, someone would need to check if they are appropriate, labeled correctly, etc. Teachers could also share cool sites with each other this way. At every art meeting that I attend someone brings up a good site for us to "write down." And every time it needs to be repeated various times, and still someone will e-mail saying they copied it down wrong. I can't wait to share this bookmarking site with my colleagues.
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In regards to the Trends and Issues text and their definitions of Educational Technology/Instructional Technology and/or Instructional Design and Technology I think they have way over thought the matter. Obviously the ideas behind Educational Technology change because technology is constantly changing, emerging and becoming obsolete. All of the definitions seemed fine to me. Maybe I'm just not as picky, but as long as the definition refers to using technology as a way to teach and learn, that is fine with me. As technology advances, society will have to continually deal with different problems related to the advancing technology. When I was in high school, very few people had cell phones, now kids as young as 5 have cell phones which brings about a lot of new concerns involving texting while driving, pictures being taken in class, cheating with phones, etc. And these are only a few problems! We would have to rewrite the definition of educational technology every time a new product came out or a old product had a new feature. I think we need to be more flexible in our definitions of educational technology because as soon as one definition is published it is already starting to get outdated.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Thursday, July 2, 2009
D/B2
I was a little nervous setting up a blog and was blown away by how easy it was. I can also see that allure of creating a blog. There is something seemingly powerful about publicly publishing opinions and thoughts on absolutely anything. I can understand how people love this uncensored communication as well as how it gets people into trouble.
I would categorize blogs into visual symbols for most of the content. Obviously, in addition to the text (visual symbols) there could also be still pictures or motion pictures posted on a blog which could mean that a blog fits into many categories of Dale's cone. I would argue however, that the categories that blogs fit into are still higher up in the cone as blogs consist of mostly learning through observation or through symbolic experiences and not so much through direct learning.
I think there are lot of creative uses for the blog in the classroom. Are there problems to which blogs are the answer? I'm not completely sure on that one. I could definitely use blogs as a supplement to an already working classroom, but I'm not sure that blogs could transform our teaching unless we were positive that all students had computers with internet access. Blogs may be the answer to "how can I get my students motivated about this assignment?" I think blogs could be used in a variety of ways to integrate technology into the classroom. I could imagine that using blogs as a way to collaborate in groups or even peer edit papers. Students could use blogs in addition to RSS readers to comment in diary format on current events. I would be very interested in learning how to use blogs as a way to transform our teaching and not just integrate it into our lessons.
My experience with RSS readers has been pretty positive though I don't think I'm using them to their fullest extent. I like that all of the feeds are on the same page and that I don't have to really navigate away from that page to find the information. I subscribed to sites like Associated Press and People magazine. Since they sort of culminate what is happening in the media, I don't have to navigate away from their sites much either, so I'm not convinced that the RSS reader is a better option.
I would categorize RSS readers into Dale's cone the same way I categorized blogs. Since most of the content is text with videos or still pictures thrown in, RSS readers can fall into multiple categories including visual symbols, pictures or motion pictures.
I could imagine using RSS readers with all students as a way to talk about current events. RSS readers answer the question, how can I get the news to my students without purchasing a newspaper for each student? In this case, technology IS the answer and lets the students find interesting news.
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