Thursday, May 26, 2011
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Week 2
My experience using a blog is a work in progress; I am moving slowly but surely at figuring out how to use it. I'm still having trouble navigating the frontier! I am looking forward to Saturday when I will have the time to really try some different things at my leisure. I just set up my RSS readers today, I need to come up with some topics of interest to subscribe to. Right now I am only subscribed to some educational topics and different news links. I was surprised that there are so many different sites to confuse me, I mean choose from! Having had no formal or informal computer training, much of what we are doing frustrates me, but once I get it (and I usually do) I enjoy the projects.
Initially I would have said that the blog and RSS are at the top of Dale's cone, more abstract than concrete. the pictures, videos, clips and articles that are available on line are all considered abstract. However, in this class, for me, this is definitely a direct purposeful experience. Having to actually find my way around cyberspace with nothing but a keyboard has been a very real and concrete experience.
I am still learning what each of these tools (blog, RSS and wiki) is capable of, but the blog could contain graphics, can be easily updated, as well as interactive with your followers, who create a community. In a classroom I could see my students and me creating a blog to keep parents and friends up to date on the events of our classroom. At five and six years of age, this would have to be a group effort. I'm sure that they would delight in the colors and photos that we could post to share with everyone at home.
The RSS would keep us updated on the latest information on ever changing subjects ( war, weather, state test scores or any current event, to name a few). RSS would keep us updated on a very specific subject; earlier this week our class watch the take off of the space shuttle, I would guess that their is a link to follow this mission. It would be a wonderful event to follow.
I think that wikis are a great invention (?) for group projects in the higher grades. For my little ones, again I would have to help. My first graders are writing a research paper about an animal that interests them. I have given them questions written on lined paper with space to answer the questions i.e. What does the animal eat? Where does it live? What does it look like? By creating a wiki for each of the students they could answer the question and then edit the question out. It would be a great way for them to organize their facts for the paper. Paper and pencil work fine but papers get misplaced or messy when erased and rewritten on; using the computer would eliminate these problems as well as hone their computer skills.
Initially I would have said that the blog and RSS are at the top of Dale's cone, more abstract than concrete. the pictures, videos, clips and articles that are available on line are all considered abstract. However, in this class, for me, this is definitely a direct purposeful experience. Having to actually find my way around cyberspace with nothing but a keyboard has been a very real and concrete experience.
I am still learning what each of these tools (blog, RSS and wiki) is capable of, but the blog could contain graphics, can be easily updated, as well as interactive with your followers, who create a community. In a classroom I could see my students and me creating a blog to keep parents and friends up to date on the events of our classroom. At five and six years of age, this would have to be a group effort. I'm sure that they would delight in the colors and photos that we could post to share with everyone at home.
The RSS would keep us updated on the latest information on ever changing subjects ( war, weather, state test scores or any current event, to name a few). RSS would keep us updated on a very specific subject; earlier this week our class watch the take off of the space shuttle, I would guess that their is a link to follow this mission. It would be a wonderful event to follow.
I think that wikis are a great invention (?) for group projects in the higher grades. For my little ones, again I would have to help. My first graders are writing a research paper about an animal that interests them. I have given them questions written on lined paper with space to answer the questions i.e. What does the animal eat? Where does it live? What does it look like? By creating a wiki for each of the students they could answer the question and then edit the question out. It would be a great way for them to organize their facts for the paper. Paper and pencil work fine but papers get misplaced or messy when erased and rewritten on; using the computer would eliminate these problems as well as hone their computer skills.
Monday, May 16, 2011
Week 1
In the early 60s when our principal wheeled the small black and white television, that sat atop a rolling cart, into the gymnasium, we were all a bit mesmerized as he turned it on (without a remote) and the entire school was watching TV, somewhere other than our own living rooms. We were watching one of the early launches of a spacecraft and it all seemed like magic. That was high tech to us! Today’s students aren’t nearly as impressed when it comes to technology. They’ve always had it and it is a familiar part of their day to day activities. I am still in awe of the smart board in one of my colleague’s room.
I enjoyed reading Postman’s article. His statement that often technologies do not increase one’s options, but decreases them intrigued me. His examples were good ones but I didn’t feel that our options decreased, they just change.
Are we giving too much power to technology? Are we creating a socially backward generation due to the constant use of machines which prevents us from face to face experiences? While his article had many valid points and I thought that it was an interesting point of view, I have to agree with Reigeluth; we need to embrace technology and make it a good fit for education. Whether we like it or not, the minute to minute changes of a technological world are here for good.
Making the right changes for the right reasons is paramount. Reigeluth states that we mustn’t settle for only enhancing the teacher-student relationship, but transforming it, for the better, I assume. He makes it clear that we need to put the learning process first; not all technology will do that. He puts the needs of the learner first and foremost. So properly choosing the form of technology that will provide the best learning for a student and that will allow the teacher the most benefit would be the most practical place to begin. Meeting the needs of the overcrowded, widely spread levels of the students and the standard requirements of the district/state should all be considered. So filling a classroom full of computers and leaving it at that is not an answer. The technology has to have relevance for the learning in each specific scenario. There is no “one “piece of technology that fits all. The biggest roadblock, to me, is that, by the time a classroom is fitted with the right technology, something new has come along.
At this point, my understanding of all of the technology that is available is minimal and I look forward to being exposed to much more. I think that as educators we need to be careful not to buy into what everyone else has or the next new thing. We need to be purposeful in making choices geared to our learning situation. I hope that someone takes the time to ask us.
I enjoyed reading Postman’s article. His statement that often technologies do not increase one’s options, but decreases them intrigued me. His examples were good ones but I didn’t feel that our options decreased, they just change.
Are we giving too much power to technology? Are we creating a socially backward generation due to the constant use of machines which prevents us from face to face experiences? While his article had many valid points and I thought that it was an interesting point of view, I have to agree with Reigeluth; we need to embrace technology and make it a good fit for education. Whether we like it or not, the minute to minute changes of a technological world are here for good.
Making the right changes for the right reasons is paramount. Reigeluth states that we mustn’t settle for only enhancing the teacher-student relationship, but transforming it, for the better, I assume. He makes it clear that we need to put the learning process first; not all technology will do that. He puts the needs of the learner first and foremost. So properly choosing the form of technology that will provide the best learning for a student and that will allow the teacher the most benefit would be the most practical place to begin. Meeting the needs of the overcrowded, widely spread levels of the students and the standard requirements of the district/state should all be considered. So filling a classroom full of computers and leaving it at that is not an answer. The technology has to have relevance for the learning in each specific scenario. There is no “one “piece of technology that fits all. The biggest roadblock, to me, is that, by the time a classroom is fitted with the right technology, something new has come along.
At this point, my understanding of all of the technology that is available is minimal and I look forward to being exposed to much more. I think that as educators we need to be careful not to buy into what everyone else has or the next new thing. We need to be purposeful in making choices geared to our learning situation. I hope that someone takes the time to ask us.
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