Final Ed Tech Post--Assessments

Here is the final assessment of progress in technology for EDU 520.

http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AQw6iZIhEMqvZHNtbnZueF8xOWc3ZGJ6ZGQ0&hl=en

Multi-media presentation about TOKBOX

Danielle, Chris and I went to tokbox and recorded a tokbox video about tokbox. We discovered that it is an interesting tool with some classroom applications, but that it also has limitations and is evolving all the time.

Students would really enjoy making videos like these--and they could be manufactured COMPLETELY IN THE CLASSROOM using any laptop with a webcam. I'm planning on giving students the opportunity to give short oral reports on rainforest stakeholder groups--maybe I'll use tokbox! The videos could be emailed to me and I could grade them, show them, embed them.

Another good application for education would be the video conferencing feature, that could be used by students working in groups--no more trips to the library to "work on our report"! We can all work from home.

Tokbox is a natural to be combined with screentoaster, as a teacher would combine computer screen presentation pictures with a tokbox video about it.

A tokbox video could be part of a larger presentation made with dabbler, or google presentations (combined with screentoaster) and probably with other tools I don't know about.

TokBox - Free Video Chat and Video Messaging

The Oregon Education Technology Standards

Creativity and Innovation

Communication and Collaboration

Research and Information Fluency

Critical Thinking, Problem Solving and Decision Making

Digital Citzenship

Technology Operations and Concepts

http://www.iste.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=NETS

For thirty years, educators have been trying to define the duty of the schools regarding technology--specifically computer technology.

Initially, everyone thought we would have to teach children to become computer programmers--that in the future, educated adults would all know how to write code for their computers. As a result, many kids learned how to type in lots of gibberish letters, numbers and punctuation marks they hadn’t even known existed, just so they could make their computers draw a rose or a bell.

Later, folks decided that computers would soon replace books, pencils, notebooks, worksheets--even teachers--in the classroom of the future, and that students would learn everything they needed to know through “interactive” exercises. In response, schools invested in reading games, punctuation games and math games and children sat at classroom computers “practicing” their skills.

Rich schools (or poor schools with deep-pocketed benefactors) computerized their classrooms. The new “a-chicken-in-every-pot” fantasy was “a computer for every student.” Some schools installed terminals on every desk--no room to write or read a textbook--everything a student would need would be online! No need to interact with other students or a teacher--the computer was expected to fill every educational need.

At every step, schools have invested in hardware, software, training and ideologies that were always only a few months away from obsolescence.

The 1998 NETS are available on the NETS site illustrate the evolution of thinking about computers and kids. The first one is “understand the nature and operation of technology systems.” People still thought kids needed to know how computers worked. I don’t have to understand how my car works to drive to Kansas City!

The current NETS and OETS, with their broad, thematic scope and higher-order cognitive demands could be talking about any academic discipline. Finally, we’re beginning to understand that the technology is a tool to learning. Creativity, communication, critical thinking, citizenship--these are educational goals that can be reached in many ways--and technology is recognized as a means, not an end.

We don’t have to teach kids how to use the technology--we have to teach them how to use the technology to LEARN.

The big picture of what these standards are now trying to accomplish is to prepare students to live and learn in a technological world.

The best strategies for teachers that connect to these standards are simple, natural, imbedded and can’t be done another way better. For example, for my unit on the rainforest, I’m setting up a skype session between my classroom and my son who lived in the Amazon Basin for two years. Students can ask him themselves--since he lives in New York, we will use technology to bridge the distance. (Communication and Collaboration)

When I was a little girl and I asked my dad a question, he often said, “Look it up!” He meant in the encyclopedia, which he had taught me how to use. He didn’t show me how to use the index, or teach me about alphabetized entries, so that I would be an expert on encyclopedias, but so I could find stuff out. The same is true with the “Research and Information Fluency” standard. We don’t have to teach kids how to use computers so they can be experts on computers--we have to teach them the same attitude my dad taught me--you want to know something, look it up. And we need to teach them to compare, discern and judge the answers they find (that’s part of “Digital Citizenship”).

A strategy for teaching this kind of research fluency (and digital citizenship) might be to send several kids to the internet to find some specific information: “What was Shakespeare’s wife’s name?” “What was the name of the theatre where his plays were produced?” Then have them bring back what they learned and where they found it and compare their sources and answers with other students. Perhaps each student could try to find the information in five different places, then see if anybody found better--or different--or more complete information than their classmates--and where they found it.

The key is taking what we know is important about learning and education and ENHANCING it through the use of technology. Not everything works better when it is done technologically--but when technology broadens and lifts learning, that’s when we use it.

Analyzing Student Data in a Spreadsheet

This was not a pleasant experience and I needed a lot of help. And I do not understand how to do it and I don't think I could do it again.

As far as the data--after the numbers were figured out and graphed, it became apparent that the students whose progress we wanted to check had been doing better. The colorful chart showed steady improvement for them all. It occurs to me that, as a teacher, it might be a neat idea to graph an individual student's scores and invite the student to look at it (especially if the graph showed good news).

Undoubtedly, it is impressive to see a concise, colorful visual representation of student progress emerge from within a sea of recalcitrant numerals.

Click here

Google docs

Here is my presentation about googledocs.

Yodio - OTEN Yodio by momu

Yodio is fun and easy to use, and has the benefit of being completely portable! I can imagine myself walking along in the woods, thinking of a great idea and calling yodio to record it. Almost all students have cellphones, so they could record the audio for a project from home, from the mall---and then put it together with images and make a presentation.

WEB 2.0 and its most interesting tools

Web 2.0 is a web-based platform where services and applications live in the clouds--users can enter that world from any computer and use the applications or partake of the services as needed. It is growing all the time and the existing applications and services are being constantly updated. Many really smart people are coming up with great ideas that anybody can use and share. It's very social and very inclusive.

My favorite tools are Tokbox and RSS (google reader). For teachers (or anybody) being able to make a quick little video, using the webcam that's part of your computer would be great. It looks like you just click "record" and talk to your computer. What a quick way to create a performance assessment that's personal and technical!

I like the google reader (RSS) also. I've wondered about it for a long time, because I've seen the little letters by the links I use to follow newspapers and other news sources. I would really like having them send me the updates. As a teacher, if I assigned students to post on blogs--especially if they were posting on their own blogs and commenting on one another's posts--it would make me crazy to have to track down all those posts and comments.

Blogs Away!

My subject content areas are Language Arts, Social Studies and ESOL. I will do my student teaching at McKay High School in Language Arts and ESOL and my practicum will be at Leslie Middle School where I'll be teaching 7th-grade geography.

I have long thought that a blog would be a great teaching tool! At McKay, I'm going to be teaching Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar" and I can certainly imagine creating a "Caesar" blog where I could post facts and quotes about Shakespeare, about the history of his work and about the play itself, then invite students to comment.

I have children living all over the world, and many of them have travelled extensively. As a social studies teacher, I think I could prepare a travelblog and have my kids post photos and travel notes that my students could look at and ask questions. I hope I will have enough opportunities to travel that I could post some stuff too! In fact, students could be invited to submit pictures and reports from their own travels. I envision this blog as an ongoing thing which students could follow from year to year, even after they were no longer in my class.

As far as classroom blogging: my children are often asked by their teachers to complete reading logs--wouldn't a reading blog be fun? Students could post the names of the books they're reading and other students could comment. I'm sure sharing their reading experiences would help students get more excited about reading. If the rules were set properly, blog posts could take the place of book reports!

Students in a US History or Government class could participate in a "Bill of Rights" Blog, where teacher and students could post links to news stories and stories from history that illustrate the Five Freedoms or other rights--then other students would be assigned to comment.

As an ESOL teacher, I could create a blog to help students practice their English skills. I think I would just start a conversation topic and ask students to comment with a few words. I would keep it simple.

I'm sure there are many more applications for blogs in teaching!

Autobiography

I was born in Idaho in a town so small and remote that it didn't have a hospital. On the night of my birth there was a terrible blizzard, even though it was only November, so my parents were glad they made it safely to the doctor's home, where I was born.

Along with two younger sisters, I grew up hiking, swimming, fishing and enjoying life on a ranch. I didn't particularly like school until I was in about the 7th grade. My favorite subjects in school (in junior high and high school) were history, literature and science. When I was a junior in high school, I was able to take French and I really liked it. In addition to French, my favorite classes in high school were World History, Advanced Biology and Creative Writing.

I ended up majoring in French at the University of Idaho and I received my BA in French with a minor in Spanish and a minor in Secondary Education (along with a teaching certificate) in 1976. I loved college life, and it's too bad, really, that I rushed through so fast, finishing in 5 semesters.

I married as soon as I finished school and substitute taught while my husband completed his education. His first post-college job was in Roseburg, Oregon, where we moved in 1977. We lived in the Priest River, Idaho, area from 1979 until 1984, then we moved to Kettle Falls, Washington, where we lived until 1987. From 1987 until 1991, we lived in Golden, Colorado, then we moved to Salem.

We are the parents of eight children. The oldest is 32 and the youngest is 13. Two of them are still at home, the 13-year-old and her brother who is 16. Six of my children are graduates of South Salem High School. Go Saxons!

Obviously, I am not a digital native. We bought our first computer in 1988--a Mac Classic. I learned how to use it by practicing the tutorial, which began by instructing the user in proper mouse use, and by experimenting with it.

We've had a number of computers since then--both PC and MAC--and our family of four keeps three computers pretty busy today. We all have cell phones, I skype with my grandchildren and our kids have blogs and I'm on facebook. So, although I am not a native of the digital country, I am certainly a naturalized citizen.

I have many hobbies and interests; I've been through many experiences; I'm focused on the future and grateful for the opportunity to participate in the MAT program.