Making Stories Into Games
5 days ago
10 April 2010
02 April 2010
Course V, Final Post
Nearing the end of the 5 course graduate certificate program I started sometime in 2009. Course five has been the project course in which we implemented the project designed in course 4.
Through the 5 courses, I've had some insights into how tech can be used in the classroom, though the best way to figure it out is trial and error and using 15 years of experience teaching middle school to get a sense of what's working and what's not. There has been very little reading, studying, and discussion on a scholarly level in these courses, possibly because it doesn't exist or might conflict with what the facilitators believe. Then again, rigorous research and thought doesn't really mix with the twitter and tweeting crowd; having the most followers and hits on your blog are what it's all about!
As my two humanities classes and I have made our way through the Hungry World project, we've used technology off and on. From a social studies perspective, a couple of things continue to be the most useful; first is blogging and responding about both current events and countries of study; second is the ease with which teachers can assign projects with a common theme or enduring understanding but with a wide range of topics. Right now the students are studying food security issues and solutions, but each is looking in depth and detail with up to the minute information about a different country.
I've had some very good discussions lately with my colleagues here and here. It's good to hear that most people are acknowledging the fact that we can't really multi-task all that well. Rather, we tend to flitter between one activity and the next, and I do it myself all the time. Email is constantly checked as is facebook, my RSS feeds, and maybe a quick look at skype to see if people I stay in touch with that way are there.
So at the end of these five course, I've learned much about how to use different programs and bells and whistles with my students, and I've seen much good come out of the use of technology. I'm cautiously optimistic that there will be some decent research showing how technology can be used to improve student learning. Maybe someday I'll do some of that research myself.
Through the 5 courses, I've had some insights into how tech can be used in the classroom, though the best way to figure it out is trial and error and using 15 years of experience teaching middle school to get a sense of what's working and what's not. There has been very little reading, studying, and discussion on a scholarly level in these courses, possibly because it doesn't exist or might conflict with what the facilitators believe. Then again, rigorous research and thought doesn't really mix with the twitter and tweeting crowd; having the most followers and hits on your blog are what it's all about!
As my two humanities classes and I have made our way through the Hungry World project, we've used technology off and on. From a social studies perspective, a couple of things continue to be the most useful; first is blogging and responding about both current events and countries of study; second is the ease with which teachers can assign projects with a common theme or enduring understanding but with a wide range of topics. Right now the students are studying food security issues and solutions, but each is looking in depth and detail with up to the minute information about a different country.
I've had some very good discussions lately with my colleagues here and here. It's good to hear that most people are acknowledging the fact that we can't really multi-task all that well. Rather, we tend to flitter between one activity and the next, and I do it myself all the time. Email is constantly checked as is facebook, my RSS feeds, and maybe a quick look at skype to see if people I stay in touch with that way are there.
So at the end of these five course, I've learned much about how to use different programs and bells and whistles with my students, and I've seen much good come out of the use of technology. I'm cautiously optimistic that there will be some decent research showing how technology can be used to improve student learning. Maybe someday I'll do some of that research myself.
22 March 2010
21 March 2010
Course V, Post IV
Fantastic article: "National Ed Tech Plan Advocates Radical Reforms in Schools". This article give a commentary on President Obama's education plan, a plan that seems to offer bold, meaningful, rigorous change...and therefore something that probably will scare the stupid people who seem to be becoming by the day a large, loud majority in my home country.One of the key concepts in using technology in education is the use of it BY THE EDUCATORS! Becoming educated in "educational technology" isn't just learning how to use different tech tools for the students to learn, it's how to use it as a teacher to help me become a better teacher. We've spent lots of time in this program learning some very useful tools, but a major "next step" the National Ed Tech Plan promotes is teachers using technology to enhance their own learning. And that can't just be personal learning networks. The PLN as they've been defined in these courses is a good first step, but we are educators, and there has to be a level of academic rigor and peer review in those networks. It is one thing to seek commiseration with a peer, it is an all together different thing to seek and accept meaningful peer guidance and feedback. Furthermore, the online collaboration must be an environment must
be a place where people can disagree. If you look at many of the blogs linked to the everybody involved in these courses, the comments are pretty much exclusively, "oh, you're so amazingly correct!" While not to discredit that sentiment, there does, again, need to be a place for intellectual dialogue. I'm STILL struck by the "OMG! How cool" aspect to so many of my colleagues regarding technology. "What? You're SKYPING IN AN EXPERT?? THAT WILL SIMPLY BE AMAZING!!!!!!!" Of course that expert my be just as deathly boring and a "real life" expert...and his delivery just as useless to students' learning.This article finishes thusly;
Recommendations for teaching include:
- The development of collaborative networks and expanded resources for teachers.
- Promotion of technological fluency among teachers through pre-service and in-service development programs.
- Developing "career-long personal learning networks" for teachers using technology.
- Making more learning resources available to teachers through technology, "especially where they are not otherwise available."
- Developing "a teaching force skilled in online instruction.
Course V, Post Three
"[T]here still is very little scientifically based research to gauge the effectiveness of technology," according to John Bailey, the Director of Educational Technology for the U.S. Department of Education
-From Technology and Academic Achievement by Les Foltos (http://www.newhorizons.org/strategies/technology/foltos.htm)
I began to read with interest an article I found called, Technology and Academic Achievement by Les Foltos. It appeared on the New Horizons for Learning site. It immediately raised some issues that concern just about any teacher regarding the use of technology. That is--does it improve student learning? This article claims that though millions and millions have been spent to create, maintain, and upgrade the technology infrastructure in public schools in the US, there is scant, if any, real evidence to show improvement in student learning. All this from the first two paragraphs. But then on closer inspections, we see the dates of this article and the studies cited--pushing ten years old. I wonder if there has been any recent, scientific study to show student learning in relation to the increase in technology used in education.
Another question, though, that springs to mind, is HOW will that increase in learning be measured. Years ago as a public school teacher, a fellow educator was lamenting the increased onslaught of state-mandated testing. He put a sign up in the faculty room: "You can't make a hog fatter by weighing it ever day." In the vein of referring to students as barnyard creatures, I'd venture you can't measure increase in ANYTHING other than weight with a scale. So, if you want to see if your prized pig has fatter pork chops and leaner pork rinds, you can't gauge that with a scale. OK, that makes no sense. But what I'm saying is; does it make sense to try and measure student acheivement with the same old tests (eg, standardized paper and pencil ITBS types, or the glorified MAP version) if the use of technology can provide a fundamentally different learning experience? So, back to the pigs: we just might be making them "fatter" but we're using the wrong scale and we haven't yet agreed on what fatter means.
Further along in the article comes this about student achievement: [using] computers to teach low order thinking skills, '...[W]as negatively related to academic achievement….'" This resonated with me as a teacher who still believes in the importance of putting a warm body in front of students, and particularly if that warm body has a high level of training. As somebody who has spent 15 years teaching middle school students, it makes perfect sense that students will learn fundamental skills better from a caring, nurturing human being rather than a computer. In fact, this article goes on to state that the learned teacher uses technology for simulations and problem solving, whereas the less-well versed educator will use technology for "drill and kill" type low-level activities.
Another area of note from this article: "We find that when you put the two, (inquiry based learning and true technology integration) together there's a synergy created that really boosts students' learning" (Brannigan, 2002). I like this because "computers" is not
a curriculum...nor is it anything other than a noun used to describe object that, uh, compute. But getting back to that original rant about pigs and making them fatter, I wonder how we can assess in some sort of standardized way (and we can argue all day about the necessity to do that, but...) if a student is capable of taking himself on a focused, guided learning journey or "inquiry" using a certain set of technology available.
-From Technology and Academic Achievement by Les Foltos (http://www.newhorizons.org/strategies/technology/foltos.htm)
I began to read with interest an article I found called, Technology and Academic Achievement by Les Foltos. It appeared on the New Horizons for Learning site. It immediately raised some issues that concern just about any teacher regarding the use of technology. That is--does it improve student learning? This article claims that though millions and millions have been spent to create, maintain, and upgrade the technology infrastructure in public schools in the US, there is scant, if any, real evidence to show improvement in student learning. All this from the first two paragraphs. But then on closer inspections, we see the dates of this article and the studies cited--pushing ten years old. I wonder if there has been any recent, scientific study to show student learning in relation to the increase in technology used in education.
Another question, though, that springs to mind, is HOW will that increase in learning be measured. Years ago as a public school teacher, a fellow educator was lamenting the increased onslaught of state-mandated testing. He put a sign up in the faculty room: "You can't make a hog fatter by weighing it ever day." In the vein of referring to students as barnyard creatures, I'd venture you can't measure increase in ANYTHING other than weight with a scale. So, if you want to see if your prized pig has fatter pork chops and leaner pork rinds, you can't gauge that with a scale. OK, that makes no sense. But what I'm saying is; does it make sense to try and measure student acheivement with the same old tests (eg, standardized paper and pencil ITBS types, or the glorified MAP version) if the use of technology can provide a fundamentally different learning experience? So, back to the pigs: we just might be making them "fatter" but we're using the wrong scale and we haven't yet agreed on what fatter means.Further along in the article comes this about student achievement: [using] computers to teach low order thinking skills, '...[W]as negatively related to academic achievement….'" This resonated with me as a teacher who still believes in the importance of putting a warm body in front of students, and particularly if that warm body has a high level of training. As somebody who has spent 15 years teaching middle school students, it makes perfect sense that students will learn fundamental skills better from a caring, nurturing human being rather than a computer. In fact, this article goes on to state that the learned teacher uses technology for simulations and problem solving, whereas the less-well versed educator will use technology for "drill and kill" type low-level activities.
Another area of note from this article: "We find that when you put the two, (inquiry based learning and true technology integration) together there's a synergy created that really boosts students' learning" (Brannigan, 2002). I like this because "computers" is not
a curriculum...nor is it anything other than a noun used to describe object that, uh, compute. But getting back to that original rant about pigs and making them fatter, I wonder how we can assess in some sort of standardized way (and we can argue all day about the necessity to do that, but...) if a student is capable of taking himself on a focused, guided learning journey or "inquiry" using a certain set of technology available.08 March 2010
Some reading...
I did a google search of phrases like, "Educational Technology"; "Technology in the Classroom"; and "Challenges adapting technology in the classroom."
Of course, these searches resulted in thousands and thousands of results. I looked through several. Many of the first articles I perused were dated from the early 2000s. I laughed a bit at some of the major obstacles facing integration. As you might expect, those obstacles included hardware installation and adopting school/district policies about using email or websites for communication rather than paper or newsletters (http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/tech087.shtml)
It seems like most of these goals/obstacles to technology integration in the classroom have been achieved or overcome. For example, the four different school systems I've been with since the late 1990s have each used email and websites for communication. Parents and teachers are simply expected to be able to access these technologies.
So...if some of those early ideas for getting the world of education able to use technology were focused around practicalities and hardware, maybe an intellectual discussion could take us to the next step...goals to maximizing student achievement with technology. And perhaps the use of technology in education is so widely scattered and varied that doing meaningful research is impossible. What does it mean to do research about the learning results of a 1-2-1 school?
Of course, these searches resulted in thousands and thousands of results. I looked through several. Many of the first articles I perused were dated from the early 2000s. I laughed a bit at some of the major obstacles facing integration. As you might expect, those obstacles included hardware installation and adopting school/district policies about using email or websites for communication rather than paper or newsletters (http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/tech087.shtml)
It seems like most of these goals/obstacles to technology integration in the classroom have been achieved or overcome. For example, the four different school systems I've been with since the late 1990s have each used email and websites for communication. Parents and teachers are simply expected to be able to access these technologies.
So...if some of those early ideas for getting the world of education able to use technology were focused around practicalities and hardware, maybe an intellectual discussion could take us to the next step...goals to maximizing student achievement with technology. And perhaps the use of technology in education is so widely scattered and varied that doing meaningful research is impossible. What does it mean to do research about the learning results of a 1-2-1 school?
Digital Stories, Google Docs, and posters. Post #2, course #5
Last week at school, I think my students ran the gambit of ed tech over the last 20 years. First, the digital stories from the Korat trip: this was actually more than a week ago, but with all the absences we've had in the middle school, technical difficulties, etc., it's only been within the last 10 or so days that everybody has successfully posted or at the very least turned a file in to my via flash drive.
The Korat Digital story assignment is constantly evolving. Three years ago it was a highly structured social studies assignment based around the five themes of geography.
source: http://pkab.wordpress.com/2008/07/26/peta-konsep-5-tema-geografi/
Over the last couple of years, it has evolved into a more personal reflection based on students' interests and "aha"s they might have had on the trip. Click here for some examples from a colleague's students. I've posted a couple from my own students below.
and
In general, I was satisfied with how this project went from beginning to end. What is not necessarily evident in the final product is the amount of "tweaking" that went into the directions. We (my team and I) are learning that if a visual story of some sort is to come to life, the student instructions must give the chance for them to investigate and display their own creativity and interests in a why that lends itself to visual production. Those instructions might well be different from what's given to students if the end result is to be a written essay, or even a PowerPoint.
That all probably gets at the heart of some issues involving technology use at school. Maybe we don't all realize, think about, or care about what a massive shift is taking place. Maybe frustration from some camps regarding technology is that an excellent, veteran teacher who motivates her students and creates fantastic learning activities suddenly tries to shift to students demonstrating their learning in "web twenty" way and then realizing the "web twenty" product is basically crap. Imagine if for years students in a critical writing class had been producing literary analysis essays of all sorts and then suddenly the students were asked to basically follow the same rubric and syllabus but produce a digital story comparing two short stories rather than writing a comparative essay. I've come to fully understand that the teacher, instruction(s), rubrics, discussions, the whole thing, needs to be different if students are to do something meaningful and demonstrate learning with technology as part of their regular classroom life.
The Korat Digital story assignment is constantly evolving. Three years ago it was a highly structured social studies assignment based around the five themes of geography.
source: http://pkab.wordpress.com/2008/07/26/peta-konsep-5-tema-geografi/
Over the last couple of years, it has evolved into a more personal reflection based on students' interests and "aha"s they might have had on the trip. Click here for some examples from a colleague's students. I've posted a couple from my own students below.
and
In general, I was satisfied with how this project went from beginning to end. What is not necessarily evident in the final product is the amount of "tweaking" that went into the directions. We (my team and I) are learning that if a visual story of some sort is to come to life, the student instructions must give the chance for them to investigate and display their own creativity and interests in a why that lends itself to visual production. Those instructions might well be different from what's given to students if the end result is to be a written essay, or even a PowerPoint.
That all probably gets at the heart of some issues involving technology use at school. Maybe we don't all realize, think about, or care about what a massive shift is taking place. Maybe frustration from some camps regarding technology is that an excellent, veteran teacher who motivates her students and creates fantastic learning activities suddenly tries to shift to students demonstrating their learning in "web twenty" way and then realizing the "web twenty" product is basically crap. Imagine if for years students in a critical writing class had been producing literary analysis essays of all sorts and then suddenly the students were asked to basically follow the same rubric and syllabus but produce a digital story comparing two short stories rather than writing a comparative essay. I've come to fully understand that the teacher, instruction(s), rubrics, discussions, the whole thing, needs to be different if students are to do something meaningful and demonstrate learning with technology as part of their regular classroom life.
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