Thursday, February 14, 2013
Using Classroom Technology: So Many Options
The Time-Tested Dos and Don'ts of Using Classroom Technology
I just read this and could not resist sharing it with you. I know many of you have said you are interested in meaningful and appropriate use of technology. This teacher has a reasonable approach. What do you think? It is the elephant in the room!
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This article speaks to some of my own experiences. As technology collaborator, it is my job to help teachers integrate technology effectively in the classroom in my school.
ReplyDeleteI agree that GoogleDrive is a CRITICAL tool, and that word processing in the cloud is really the best way to go. Voicememos are a tool that are definitely underutilized - this free app comes with iTouches and iPads. One can record oneself speaking with one-button simplicity and then shoot the recording as an mP3 in seconds to any email. I had never heard of Jing and am looking into which teachers could use it in my school...
One area in which I somewhat disagree with the author is the idea that using copy-and-paste or googlesearch images in projects is overdone and often not as good as having students take the pictures themselves. This may be true for a language-arts-style project, but for many subject areas - such as science or history - the subject matter itself (volcanoes, Abraham Lincoln) is somewhat prohibitive. It is important to teach photocomposition, but having students frequently compose their own projects might leave them focusing more on photos and not enough on the narrative content.
Furthermore, I think it is actually MORE important for students to learn how to effectively use appropriated content (including photos). Parody, mash-ups, autotuning - basically a large portion of what young people (and older people) find entertaining involves appropriation and mash-up, and I think this is one of the most important digital skills we can teach.
Also, I am glad to see her students can effectively use videosharing in schools. This is not an avenue available to ASD students at this time.
[[[Sondra - you might post this link as an "open to new page" link - right now, when I click to view the article, I am pulled away from our blog, and I have to reopen a new window to comment on the article... just a suggestion!]]]
I am having difficulty accessing Blackboard, so I am focusing my remarks here on the blog. Right now I am taking another writing class along with this one called Literacy and the Digital Native. After only one class each I am surprised how much the two classes have in common. The similarity that I am most interested in is the use of technology in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteOne point that I have been pondering is internet safety, or digital footprint. Many students, or adults for that matter, are unaware just how far reaching any information they put online is. Once something is put online it is accessible to almost anyone at anytime. “Taking it off” once it is on does not actually remove the information completely. There are some great lesson plan ideas and articles about this topic at commonsensemedia.org. You can type “digital footprint” into the search box to get many results. One that I liked is at: http://www.commonsensemedia.org/educators/lesson/follow-digital-trail-2-3
I am interested in Garageband and Jing. Another program that I am just learning about is digital storyteller. I have never used any of these programs, but my mind is imagining many possibilities that they might bring.
I agree with the idea about the need for communicate face to face, or vocally on the phone without relying totally on instant impersonal computer/text based interactions. I know for myself how easy it is to just send a text or e-mail. I often find myself reluctant to pick up the phone to make a call rather than sending a simple message. I heard a talk once about this idea, which addressed the issue of teens are not learning/ forgetting how to communicate face to face with real people. Can you imagine a world in which two people are standing next to each other, or in the same room, and rather than carrying on a normal conversation, rely upon their cell phone to send one-two sentence sentences to each other via text message? I know this is a bit extreme, but I do see the need to teach students effecting personal conversation/ communication skills.
I am unfamiliar with using note cards for exit cards or four-corner communication. When I think of note cards I remember my high school English class in which I was taught how to effectively use note cards to keep track of research I had collected as well as the sources I was using. Although my hand would get tired writing all of those note cards, and am grateful at this point in my life that I can still fall back on that skill to organize my thoughts or collected information.
This was quite the interesting list! I was unfamiliar with about every piece of educational technology that he discussed (Edmodo, the Google stuff, etc.). My AP students use Google Docs a lot, and seem to LOVE it. I agree that all of these advancements shut down excuses for why students wouldn't have their work: they can use a thumbdrive, email their work to themselves, save it in a "cloud," put in on our school server, etc.--and that's nice. His idea about recording their editing is great! I'm a HUGE advocate of having my students read their work out loud to themselves--especially for highly advanced writers, it's a great way for them to catch awkward/weak wording and repetitive ideas. Most of all, though, I agree with the idea of not trading in successful "old school" tactics for the "allure" of tech.
ReplyDeletehttp://mamashutts.wordpress.com/2013/02/23/dos-donts-of-classroom-technology/
ReplyDeleteI consider myself to be pretty savvy in regard to technology. My mother has been working with computers since I was a little kid and I remember coming home to find some of the FIRST Mac computers (remember “The Box”?) on our kitchen floor. My mom worked on their programming for so long that our linoleum floor became faded in a boxed pattern. Then, when Kodak came out with Adobe my sophomore year of high school, my mother helped worked on the end-user reviews and manual. She guided me through the program to create a one-of-a-kind project for my French class; my teacher was blown away seeing something the country had not yet been exposed to. My freshman year of college, my younger brother turned my bedroom back home into a computer store, breaking down units our mom brought home from work to then rebuild them into something he could sell for a profit.
I could go on with anecdotal stories, but the point is that computers, technology, and the internet have very much always been a part of my life. That being said, I have had some instances where I felt “behind in the times.” When I was working in publishing, a friend of mine was talking to me about MySpace and I had no idea what he was talking about. Then, just as I got a handle on that, Facebook appeared. Working in the “real world” kept me sheltered from the real world. Since then, however, I have tried to stay on top of the latest gadget and teaching tools but it is really hard to keep up!
As I read this article, my confidence as a tech-savvy teacher kind of went out the window. It used to be easy to stay on top of technology because there wasn’t a lot out there to stay on top of. Nowadays (yes, I used an old term to discuss modern approaches), it seems a new tool is generated daily. Keeping this in mind, I forgive myself for not knowing everything. My goal is to simply keep my eyes and ears open to new tools and to select wisely, knowing it would be impossible to use everything.
Getting into the specifics of the article, I agree that students should learn basic photo-editing techniques and how to use various “Movie Makers,” but what I don’t agree with is the obscurity of who should teach them. Thus far, it has fallen to English teachers to bare the brunt of this task, but only in an unofficial capacity. True, English is the content course of expression and so it is logical that students would learn technological skills to express themselves in English. But, if we’re going to unofficially expect kids to have these skills, maybe we need to officially start teaching it to them through curriculum requirements. That being said, I do draw the line that students need to be taught how to take their own pictures versus using Google Images. Expressing your thoughts through moving pictures and narration is one thing, expecting kids to take their own pictures in any advanced way is similar to expecting them to create their own fonts.
I did very much like the article’s advice about not getting sucked in to student excuses when it comes to technology – they have A LOT of them. But I found it interesting that the article’s line in the sand was to not use technology to make formative assessments such as surveys. The article didn’t even explain why that is. I’m glad that the article mentioned the importance of the old-fashioned phone call because I’ve noticed that students today lack important social skills, even with each other, but that is for another post. But, what I gained most from the article is the mention of the website, Jing. I’ve seen tutorial videos before that capture how to perform certain computer operations, but I never knew how these videos were made. Now I know! So, this is what I’m talking about when I say I feel behind in certain computer tools, but this is also what I’m talking about when I say having my eyes and ears open to learn more.
As I read the dos and don’ts about technology use, I thought that this writer has in mind students of certain ages or tech savy. It would be helpful to know if ASD has defined technology proficiency skills for each grade level and if parents, administrators and policy makers are on board with a collective understanding of what skills will be taught at school at what grade. This component, as important as it is, raises some problems for the family who does not have a computer at home. I am curious if anyone has a copy of ASD technology standards of proficiencies for each grade level or if one exists. I was reminded of this quote from one of our readings.
ReplyDelete"In short, for a host of reasons, we're failing to empower kids to use one of the most important technologies for learning that we've ever had. One of the biggest challenges educators face right now is figuring out how to help students create, navigate, and grow the powerful, individualized networks of learning that bloom on the Web and helping them do this effectively, ethically, and safely." Footprints In the Digital Age