Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Comments about Chapters 3,5, and 7
In Chapter Three of Richardson’s book, I appreciated the fact that he discussed ideas for making the use of internet technology more practical. By discussing issues such as some students’ difficulty getting access to computers and the internet, maintaining control of student and class postings, and limiting access, he acknowledges some very real potential problems. It is always encouraging to me when an aficionado of any topic is able to logically assess problematic issues in a realistic way and provide solutions.
One of the ideas that Richardson presented was that it may be easier for a teacher, especially a teacher who is just staring to use information technology in the classroom, to utilize a single class weblog with posts only added by the teacher and students’ responses posted as comments rather than having to keep track of every student’s individual blog. Another idea that would help calm teacher and definitely parental anxiety was the suggestion to simply use access controls to make the site more of a closed community available only to students and perhaps parents, rather than open to anyone. Perhaps the most important advice was to be sure that all policies, permissions, and guidelines are well established from the outset. This critical step helps to assure acceptance of the techniques being used by administrators, students, and parents. Not only does this help protect the teacher, it also elicits support for the technology’s use by making it seem more benign than it otherwise might to some people who would be suspicious or critical of something they were unfamiliar with.
Chapters Five and Seven contained both straightforward directions and potential uses for RSS and Flickr. The statement that strikes me as being obvious but necessary to make is that the way to realize the usefulness of these programs is to simply try them out and give them a chance.
One of the ideas that Richardson presented was that it may be easier for a teacher, especially a teacher who is just staring to use information technology in the classroom, to utilize a single class weblog with posts only added by the teacher and students’ responses posted as comments rather than having to keep track of every student’s individual blog. Another idea that would help calm teacher and definitely parental anxiety was the suggestion to simply use access controls to make the site more of a closed community available only to students and perhaps parents, rather than open to anyone. Perhaps the most important advice was to be sure that all policies, permissions, and guidelines are well established from the outset. This critical step helps to assure acceptance of the techniques being used by administrators, students, and parents. Not only does this help protect the teacher, it also elicits support for the technology’s use by making it seem more benign than it otherwise might to some people who would be suspicious or critical of something they were unfamiliar with.
Chapters Five and Seven contained both straightforward directions and potential uses for RSS and Flickr. The statement that strikes me as being obvious but necessary to make is that the way to realize the usefulness of these programs is to simply try them out and give them a chance.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Chapter 1 and 2 in Richardson Comments
The first two chapters in Richardson’s Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Webtools for Classrooms seemed like a pretty strong argument for why they are important for the world in general and education specifically. The chapters made me think about many possible uses of the web tools for classroom use. Some of the ideas that struck me the most were the use of a blog as a class specific, open forum newspaper, using individual student’s blogs as a kind of portfolio about a specific topic that would be their own beyond high school, and the idea of using a blog with digital video as a sort of field trip with either an expert in the field of study or for having groups of students record and share field projects with the other students in a subject.
Almost as quickly as possible uses were occurring to me, so were questions about how to make them work. Many of these questions were technical in nature, but so basic that I am sure we will discuss them in class at some point. I wondered about the benefits and difficulties of allowing reports on a school-based weblog anonymous and what all is necessary for true anonymity to be possible. I considered what various equipment would cost, such as digital video cameras and what kinds of policies would be necessary for providing them to students or subject experts to use outside of the classroom. I wondered what the benefits of having a “normal” code driven website were over using simple weblogs, Was space the main issue or some other consideration? I wondered what a portal was and how are listservs different from blog subscriptions.
The discussion about the development of a read-write rather than read only web was illuminating to me. Richardson’s disappointment that blogs and the like are used much more for social reasons rather than more academic ones was funny to me. It made me think of the sorts of programs available on television and the proportions of different program sorts. Even if the web is a two-way connection, how likely is it to follow a similar pattern to television in the proportion of educational to entertaining programs.
I think his statement on page forty about how it will be “messy sorting through issues of trust and reliability” was very true and perhaps even understated.
Almost as quickly as possible uses were occurring to me, so were questions about how to make them work. Many of these questions were technical in nature, but so basic that I am sure we will discuss them in class at some point. I wondered about the benefits and difficulties of allowing reports on a school-based weblog anonymous and what all is necessary for true anonymity to be possible. I considered what various equipment would cost, such as digital video cameras and what kinds of policies would be necessary for providing them to students or subject experts to use outside of the classroom. I wondered what the benefits of having a “normal” code driven website were over using simple weblogs, Was space the main issue or some other consideration? I wondered what a portal was and how are listservs different from blog subscriptions.
The discussion about the development of a read-write rather than read only web was illuminating to me. Richardson’s disappointment that blogs and the like are used much more for social reasons rather than more academic ones was funny to me. It made me think of the sorts of programs available on television and the proportions of different program sorts. Even if the web is a two-way connection, how likely is it to follow a similar pattern to television in the proportion of educational to entertaining programs.
I think his statement on page forty about how it will be “messy sorting through issues of trust and reliability” was very true and perhaps even understated.
Technology Autobiography
I believe that many educators fall into one of two common traps when trying to make use of technology in the classroom. Some mistakenly believe that technology is unnecessary or even detrimental to learning. Others buy whole-heartedly into integrating technology into their classroom, but are so caught up in the “gee-whiz” factor that their equipment becomes gadgetry rather than a meaningful tool for education. A large percentage of teachers are truly neutral on the subject and will make use of the technology a school district provides them with and common applications, but not invest time or money into additional equipment or newer and less common applications. A very small number will recognize the true potential of the technology they could be using as well as the pitfalls.
Is technology really a necessity for learning? Isn’t it truly just a crutch, so students don’t have to apply their minds? It is true that humans have been thinking, inventing, and discovering far longer than computers have been around. However, new technology has always been evolving and its use has opened new doorways to knowledge.
In “teacher-speak”, technology means computers and microchip driven electronics. I believe this definition came about due to the language of government funding for classroom computers. Technology really has a much broader definition referring to newly invented tools and processes. I remember a conversation I had with an interviewer for a teaching position that was before I had any teacher training and realized that the narrowed definition existed. He asked me what technology I would purchase for my science classroom if I was given funds to spend. I stated that I would purchase much better microscopes for my students than the ones I usually observed in classrooms. He scoffed that microscopes were not technology; they had been around for as long as he had been alive. I thought it better not to mention how much longer than that they had been around. I continued that I would like to have a videoscope, so I could point out microorganisms to the entire class at once. “Ah yes! That’s technology!” I quickly considered what would happen if I stated that closed-circuit TV had been around as long as I had been alive.
Once upon a time, microscopes were a new technology. Their invention allowed people to view organisms that they never before knew existed. Because of this, humans eventually came to realize that germs cause disease. Before this invention, much of medicine was conjecture and philosophical argument. What if the learned people of the time had dismissed the microscope as a toy or distraction. What if they had said, “My grandfather got through just fine without ever looking at his spit through a tube and I will too!” What would have happened if civilization had dismissed television, radio, telegraphs, the printing press, or even the alphabet. That sounds absurd, but isn’t our current computer technology really the next step in that progression of information sharing tools?
Often when someone says, “Oh, you don’t really need to know that stuff” don’t they really mean that they don’t know about the stuff and don’t want to take the initiative to learn it. My grandmother never learned to use an ATM. She said that they were confusing. There was nothing confusing about reading a yes/no question and pushing the button adjacent to the appropriate answer. She simply dismissed it because it was unfamiliar to her. I have had similar experiences myself with technology. I have cursed at many inanimate computer screens when I could not get the result I wanted. For a time I tried to avoid having to use computers rather than learning the basics of getting them to do what I wanted. I quickly recognized the futility of this approach. New technology really does create new abilities, provide access to new information, and expand our horizons.
I see powerpoint presentations used in classrooms all the time. They are great. I say this because I recognize an easily stored, easily reusable, easily sharable, easily adjustable teaching tool. It serves as notes, simple lesson plan, and visual aid all in one package. I know too many instructors though who are intrigued by a powerpoint presentation for its glitz. It’s so much shinier than the chalkboard and just watch how the words look like they’re flying onto the screen! Perhaps the teacher is enthralled, but to the students this is old hat, big deal. I guarantee that a live rabbit in a box or blowing bubbles with a soap solution will garner much more student attention than a flashy, cute powerpoint show. The real power of technology is in what a teacher can do with it, not how it looks. I’ve observed teachers in classrooms who spent more time fiddling with and doodling on their smartboards than teaching their subject matter. It’s all in how it’s used. Such teacher misuses of technology lend credibility to the first argument that it is a waste of time and gets in the way of true learning.
I have no problem with the teachers who use common computer applications and the equipment they are provided with, but go no further. This moderate stance on using technology in the classroom is actually a good balance. It isn’t a resistance to change or a world-of-tomorrow gadget show. These technology neutral teachers are using tools that are fairly “tried and true” with most of the major bugs worked out. These teachers’ classrooms may not be on the cutting edge of technology, but they are utilizing technology none the less. When I was in college, geographic information systems careers were supposed to be the next hot job market. Within a decade the students who had focused on these systems were struggling to find good jobs in the field. Why? It was because GIS programs had become so user-friendly and commonplace that a one hour tutorial could teach a novice what these professionals had learned to do over four years. A little bit of technological lag isn’t always a bad thing.
Then there are educators who are using very new technology and using it in appropriate and very pragmatic ways. Honestly, I have no experience with teachers who are using technology as creatively as a few I have read about. I do though see teachers that have used technology for sharing information with students, parents, and other teachers and also for creating some really neat virtual models for science use.
I am excited about what I hope to learn in this class. I am not embarrassed to say that I am as excited about much of it so I can learn to use it personally as well as in my classroom. I have many ideas that I believe are pretty creative regarding how I might use some of the technology for teaching, but I don’t have enough experience to judge how realistic my ideas are based less on the limitations of the technology than on the limitations of a real classroom teaching situation. I am always somewhat disappointed when I read about something really outstanding that an educator is doing, only to find out at the end of the article that the teacher is at a special, experimental, advanced magnet school for exceptionally gifted prodigies. I am feeling cautiously optimistic that there are educational applications of the technology we will study that will be outstanding with more general audiences as well. I feel like I am in that general audience category myself.
Is technology really a necessity for learning? Isn’t it truly just a crutch, so students don’t have to apply their minds? It is true that humans have been thinking, inventing, and discovering far longer than computers have been around. However, new technology has always been evolving and its use has opened new doorways to knowledge.
In “teacher-speak”, technology means computers and microchip driven electronics. I believe this definition came about due to the language of government funding for classroom computers. Technology really has a much broader definition referring to newly invented tools and processes. I remember a conversation I had with an interviewer for a teaching position that was before I had any teacher training and realized that the narrowed definition existed. He asked me what technology I would purchase for my science classroom if I was given funds to spend. I stated that I would purchase much better microscopes for my students than the ones I usually observed in classrooms. He scoffed that microscopes were not technology; they had been around for as long as he had been alive. I thought it better not to mention how much longer than that they had been around. I continued that I would like to have a videoscope, so I could point out microorganisms to the entire class at once. “Ah yes! That’s technology!” I quickly considered what would happen if I stated that closed-circuit TV had been around as long as I had been alive.
Once upon a time, microscopes were a new technology. Their invention allowed people to view organisms that they never before knew existed. Because of this, humans eventually came to realize that germs cause disease. Before this invention, much of medicine was conjecture and philosophical argument. What if the learned people of the time had dismissed the microscope as a toy or distraction. What if they had said, “My grandfather got through just fine without ever looking at his spit through a tube and I will too!” What would have happened if civilization had dismissed television, radio, telegraphs, the printing press, or even the alphabet. That sounds absurd, but isn’t our current computer technology really the next step in that progression of information sharing tools?
Often when someone says, “Oh, you don’t really need to know that stuff” don’t they really mean that they don’t know about the stuff and don’t want to take the initiative to learn it. My grandmother never learned to use an ATM. She said that they were confusing. There was nothing confusing about reading a yes/no question and pushing the button adjacent to the appropriate answer. She simply dismissed it because it was unfamiliar to her. I have had similar experiences myself with technology. I have cursed at many inanimate computer screens when I could not get the result I wanted. For a time I tried to avoid having to use computers rather than learning the basics of getting them to do what I wanted. I quickly recognized the futility of this approach. New technology really does create new abilities, provide access to new information, and expand our horizons.
I see powerpoint presentations used in classrooms all the time. They are great. I say this because I recognize an easily stored, easily reusable, easily sharable, easily adjustable teaching tool. It serves as notes, simple lesson plan, and visual aid all in one package. I know too many instructors though who are intrigued by a powerpoint presentation for its glitz. It’s so much shinier than the chalkboard and just watch how the words look like they’re flying onto the screen! Perhaps the teacher is enthralled, but to the students this is old hat, big deal. I guarantee that a live rabbit in a box or blowing bubbles with a soap solution will garner much more student attention than a flashy, cute powerpoint show. The real power of technology is in what a teacher can do with it, not how it looks. I’ve observed teachers in classrooms who spent more time fiddling with and doodling on their smartboards than teaching their subject matter. It’s all in how it’s used. Such teacher misuses of technology lend credibility to the first argument that it is a waste of time and gets in the way of true learning.
I have no problem with the teachers who use common computer applications and the equipment they are provided with, but go no further. This moderate stance on using technology in the classroom is actually a good balance. It isn’t a resistance to change or a world-of-tomorrow gadget show. These technology neutral teachers are using tools that are fairly “tried and true” with most of the major bugs worked out. These teachers’ classrooms may not be on the cutting edge of technology, but they are utilizing technology none the less. When I was in college, geographic information systems careers were supposed to be the next hot job market. Within a decade the students who had focused on these systems were struggling to find good jobs in the field. Why? It was because GIS programs had become so user-friendly and commonplace that a one hour tutorial could teach a novice what these professionals had learned to do over four years. A little bit of technological lag isn’t always a bad thing.
Then there are educators who are using very new technology and using it in appropriate and very pragmatic ways. Honestly, I have no experience with teachers who are using technology as creatively as a few I have read about. I do though see teachers that have used technology for sharing information with students, parents, and other teachers and also for creating some really neat virtual models for science use.
I am excited about what I hope to learn in this class. I am not embarrassed to say that I am as excited about much of it so I can learn to use it personally as well as in my classroom. I have many ideas that I believe are pretty creative regarding how I might use some of the technology for teaching, but I don’t have enough experience to judge how realistic my ideas are based less on the limitations of the technology than on the limitations of a real classroom teaching situation. I am always somewhat disappointed when I read about something really outstanding that an educator is doing, only to find out at the end of the article that the teacher is at a special, experimental, advanced magnet school for exceptionally gifted prodigies. I am feeling cautiously optimistic that there are educational applications of the technology we will study that will be outstanding with more general audiences as well. I feel like I am in that general audience category myself.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
How do you do research?
I often simply start with a google search to get some basic information and try to find researchers or organizations with data that seems credible.
If I can find sources that do seem credible I will see who they cite as well, but I will then try a search using keywords to also look for any refuting evidence.
Often there will be a few researchers or authors that turn up as prominent primary sources of information on a topic. I will usually do some research to see if they have books or journal entries that are either online or available at a library.
Sometimes I will try to contact individuals directly to ask questions or sk what they recommend reading on the subject. People will surprise you with how receptive and helpful they are if you share an interest that they are passionate about.
If I can find sources that do seem credible I will see who they cite as well, but I will then try a search using keywords to also look for any refuting evidence.
Often there will be a few researchers or authors that turn up as prominent primary sources of information on a topic. I will usually do some research to see if they have books or journal entries that are either online or available at a library.
Sometimes I will try to contact individuals directly to ask questions or sk what they recommend reading on the subject. People will surprise you with how receptive and helpful they are if you share an interest that they are passionate about.
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