508Reflections

www.pbs.org/teachersource/learning.now/2006/06/getting_to_know_wikipedia_1.html

Wikipedia has gotten some bad publicity lately – but a good explanation of why the site is useful. Students can publish info that they gather about topics that are of interest to them – publish findings from personal research, family histories, local histories and information.

www.weblogg-ed.com/

“Welcome to Weblogg-ed, maintained by me, Will Richardson, “Learner in Chief” at Connective Learning and the author of the recently released Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms published by Corwin Press. This site is dedicated to discussions and reflections on the use of Weblogs, wikis, RSS, audio casts and other Read/Write Web related technologies in the K-12 realm, technologies that are transforming classrooms around the world.”

The web site for the leading proponent of using web blogs in education. A great resource for getting started.

http://mt.middlebury.edu/middblogs/ganley/bgblogging/

A great site for the high school level. A great help for students who wish to present digital stories, meaning creating multimedia essays through incorporating a voiceover, images and sound.

http://fc.yarmouth.k12.me.us/%7Ealice_barr/TechLearn05/suzannesbookmarks.html

If your school’s media center doesn’t have site for further resources for educators, a good place to start to build your own.

How are Web 2.0 tools impacting how I think about teaching?

Although I am no longer in a classroom, what I have experienced this week has made me realize that there are many dedicated educators working to prepare today’s students for the ever-expanding digital world. The skill sets needed to prepare kids for the future is constantly changing and as educators we need to be constantly working to improve our own skills. That said this week’s presentations have shown me that Web 2.0 tools are a great resource for today’s educators. I see blogging as a way for many students who in the past have been reluctant to voice there opinions to do so in a less stressful format, for teachers to be able to communicate with their students in a one on one environment within the context of the whole class.

The down side for many teachers is the perceived idea that technology is being forced upon them along with the other day-to-day mandates. How am I going to fit this technology into my present methodology? By using many of the programs encountered this week teachers can make their teaching more fun from the students point – the motivation factor. A novel idea. Many of us are digital immigrants, we need to learn the language – old dogs can learn new tricks.

* What worked – The interaction of fellow classmates, and a willingness to offer their expertise and knowledge. The wealth of information that was presented was at times overwhelming, but being able to review the info at a later date will allow me to present those items that will be relevant to my job situation. I have forwarded some sites to our librarian and she was very positive about using some of the ideas.
* What didn’t work – On the flip side of the large amount of info presented was the fact there was at times too much info presented. I realize that with a week’s time frame this is bound to happen. I felt that at times some of the presentation was disjointed, again perhaps due to the wide range of backgrounds and expertise of the class.
* Suggestions for this course in the future – Perhaps a smaller class, the logistics of scale from both the learner and instructor’s point. Maybe have it spread over a two-week period allowing time between classes to better assimilate the info.

The survey pretty much validates our family’s experiences. I have a teenage daughter who could be considered a poster child for this data. She is a digital native. She is able to do multiple tasks with multiple media. She was not allowed to a TV in her room until recently (in college), but she always listened to music or was on the phone while doing homework. We were guilty of having the family TV running most of the time we were at home. Both parents are teachers and we had always tried to encourage reading from an early age. The concept did not work and I don’t think that the use of multiple media was a factor – aside from the occasional magazine. She was always active in extra curricular activities. It did not affect grades one-way or the other until her junior year when she saw the importance of them re: college – then they improved dramatically. Since being in college – addition of i-pod, laptop, and the ever-present TV for background noise she has done well.

I think as parents and educators we tend to sometimes forget what we did. I was always listening to the radio and had a TV in my room during the last year of high school. We didn’t have the wide array of ‘toys’ but think we (I) practiced the same behaviors within the context of the available technology.

Project Goal: To intergrate mulitple informational sites related to the extra curricular activities of Boothbay Region HS.

• Need for change addressed by this project: There are many avenues for the dissemination of this infomation (print, e-mail, web sites, phone the office) if those methods can be centralized through one medium then any last minute changes can be efficiently presented to a larger school, community population.
• Expected outcomes: If successful I envision a simple, easily accessable internet location that would allow all school related information to be presented
• Activities correlated with objectives: I will take exsisting informational sites – school web, Schedule Star, High School Sports, Maine Principal Assoc. local newspaper- and place them in a central easily accessed site – Wiki site.
• Timeline for implementation: Before the start of fall activities.
• Measures of accomplishment: From a practical point there should be a noticable decline in phone calls requesting school activity info. Longterm the presentation of realtime information from multiple sources – AD, Admin, Coaches, School Nurse

Wow, I’am really feeling the overload today. A lot of great info and I’m trying to figure out where it will all fit. As I have said, I do not have a classroom nor do I actually teach any classes. Having been in education for many years I do see that the possibilities are endless with regards to implimentation. The probelms being risistance from admin, communites and in some cases the teachers.

I do feel fortunate in that I work in a system that is relatively tech. advanced. There are a few falculty that have embraced the new and have developed curiculums using the tech. with great success. And there are a few that see it as just another speed bump to their teaching time. Our admin. has pushed to impliment tech. in all aspects of the educational process.

On first reflection re:critical thinking skills in an online situation, I thought that a classroom format was a more viable format. Then I began thinking about how the world has become much smaller and that we as a nation have to understand that we are not the big dog in the gobal economic stage. Using Freidman’s The World is Flat as a model today’s students must know how to effectively communicate their ideas to a far rangeing audiance.

To be able to think and ask meaningfull questions is a learned skill that takes much practice and we as educators must keep reinforcing those skills. By using a small online class format it allows students to practice these skills in a non-threating format.

The students could roleplay individuals from other cultures or political prespectives (which they would have done prior research) and probe the implications of those prespectives re: their own natural regional thoughts and ideas.

Today was a major sensory overload for me. But, upon further review I see that the tools presented will have far reaching importance for both students and educators. I know  many kids probably know how to do much of this (today’s info) but as was pointed out earlier – thay have a tendencacy for style over substance. So, our impact will be provide a substantive framework that will let students achieve both the lesson’s goals and allow them the creative freedom to personalize the work. Using the tools learned (hopefully) today (working in the library) will help students assimilate and store info in a more organized and easily retrivable format.

We all have a fear of the unknown. Educators are just as

susceptible. I know when I first started teaching I was afraid that I was not connecting with the kids, I tried different approaches until something clicked. If you let the students identify with the work and they realize that they can take ownership the learning becomes much more enjoyable for everyone. Anything today that allows them to se the bells and whistles that they are comfortable with will greatly enhance their absorption of the material. I see more and more kids being hands on learners and as an aside our school has block scheduling which does allow more time for new and creative ideas.

I am at that point with tech. that I seem to know

a little about a lot. Today makes me realize that I

know even less, but that the info that is available

will ehance my abilities to assist both students and

teachers (probably teachers more) with their tech. skills

skills. I have found that today’s students have a

tendenacy sometimes overestimate their skill sets

and this sometimes translates into minor daily

mental tugs of war.