New Technologies Link Ancient Cultures

Ellis, Ken. "New Technologies Link Ancient Cultures." Edutopia. N.p., 6 June 2002. Web. 28 Nov. 2010. <http://www.edutopia.org/new-technologies-link-ancient-cultures>.

Elementary students at that Choctaw Tribal School in Mississippi interview tribal elders about tribal culture and customs and post the interview, pictures and other information on a website called the First People’s Project.  Many indigenous groups around the world also post information on this site, part of the International Education and Research Network (iEARN), which began in Australia.  The goal of the project is to collect information on indigenous groups throughout the world that may not be found in textbooks, and create of source of international multicultural source of information on indigenous people.  Armed with casino money, the Mississippi Choctaw tribe have been large financial contributors to this project, and the spin-off “Humanitarian Project” which has paid for technologies in the classroom as well as “a school in Thailand”. “I don't want kids to stop playing stickball or forget about traditional dancing and cooking, or speaking their own language," says athletic instructor Jason Bell. "I hope we can influence these kids that we need to keep our culture alive for the next generation."

The goals and purpose of the project seem quite noble.  A tool like this seems like a good one and a good source for students researching indigenous cultures.  However I have certain questions how this is going to preserve Choctaw or another natives group’s culture that much longer.  Certainly school children interviewed elders for class memory projects before the advent of the Internet.  The Internet simply allows for a new way of sharing that information, which is very good.  The website is in English and Spanish.  My question is does this really inspire students to keep their cultures alive or are they simply co-opting it into the technology of day, technologies that were devised outside of their culture, by values that may or may not be their tribal cultures.  Part of me is feels like this is like saying the horse tribes of the midwest now have pickup trucks so that are able to get more things done more efficiently and are therefore able to preserve their culture that much better.  It all seems like a false analogy, but the project seems worthy nonetheless, just because of the expansive audience that the Internet can provide.

Technology Reshapes America’s Classrooms

Szep, J. (2008, July 7) Technology Reshapes America’s Classrooms

                Retrieved from http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN2547885520080707

            In this news article from Reuters, a class in Boston is highlighted as a model for a new kind of school—a school with laptops instead of books.  A student interviewed said that she enjoyed the new school and that it was “comfortable” and like “playing a game.”  The article says that this is the wave of the future.  It went on to state that this is not only the direction of secondary education but higher education as well.  The article was generally positive about these developments, concluding that teachers can work more one on one with their virtual students, while avoiding “one size fits all” lesson planning.

            I have taken about 5 online classes for college.  I believe that the more challenging the subject matter, the less useful online classes are.  When you have a student who is sitting unsupervised at a computer with Google, there is a real temptation to simply search for the answer.  No real evidence of student understanding is possible with this sort of arrangement.  I understand the benefits of online classes and have used them myself, but I don’t feel that this is a useful tool for real learning.  A similar school to the one profiled in this article was highlighted in the PBS Frontline “Digtial Nation”. They too experienced higher student achievement when the laptop programs were introduced, but as the technology became more common, old bad habits in the students began to reemerge, such as using the computers for chatting with friend.  The technology became more of a distraction then a benefit.

Nine Reasons to Twitter in Schools

Walker, L., (2009, April 16). Nine Reasons to Twitter in Schools. Retrieved from http://www.techlearning.com/article/17340

This article points out why Twitter should be used in the class room.  The author states that it is “keeping up with the times, allows teachers and students to follow events that are local or global, and allows teachers to keep in touch with other teachers who maybe resources that are fuller and ‘more useful than an ordinary google search’”.  The author also says that learning how to express yourself in “less than 140 characters is a great discipline to develop”, and that it is easy to use. In fact the hardest part about Twitter is getting it unblocked in your school’s computer.

While the article is cute, I didn’t find it very convincing. I don’t see why Twitter needs to be in our classrooms.  Like much of social media I find it mainly a distraction, or a “time suck”, and we don’t need any more of these in our classes.  Teachers who want to use Twitter as a resource to workshop with other educators can simply use it on their home computers.  I am not convinced that it is useful for teachers to correspond to their students through social media, such as Twitter and Facebook, as this may be awkward for students who feel that their teachers are “lurking” or “spying” on them.  I can understand and see the usefulness of blogs or a class website, or a private social media site for a class in education.  However I remain unsure about social media, especially large public sites like Facebook and Twitter.

The Best Social Studies Websites.

Ferlazzo, L. (2008, August 1). The Best Social Studies Websites. Classroom Tech Learning. Retrieved December 8, 2010, from http://www.techlearning.com/article/14290

            This is a list of what Mr. Ferlazzo considers the best Social Studies websites.  Two of the 19 sites listed are pay sites.  Two others are sites in which students can track their carbon footprint to see how transportation or other social activities affect their footprints.  There are two that are geography and map quizzes, and others that use ZIP codes or places on the map to retrieve demographic information about certain neighborhoods.  The top rated site was HippoCampus.org, which is from a textbook publisher that covers numerous subjects, even U.S. History.  The site offered lessons and PowerPoint presentation for a number topics in its history text.
            This was a useful article and a good resource for social studies teachers to bring outside sources of information into the class.  Looking through the HippoCampus.org website I notice that it offered a number of presentations on lesson topics.  This could be useful for teachers looking to get additional resources outside of their textbooks.  Another site that was mentioned was hotpads.com. This site was designed for real estate buyers and sellers to research available rentals or real estate purchases, but had interesting filters to find median ages and incomes of areas.  Teachers and students could use this site to research information about areas in which events took place, taking a look at median incomes, rents and ages of certain areas to help students get a fuller picture of why certain things happen in certain places.  I look forward to researching the other sites mentioned in this article.

A School That's Too High on Gizmos.

Welsh, P. (2008, February 10). A School That's Too High on Gizmos. Washington Post . Retrieved December 9, 2010, from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/08/AR2008020803271.html
This article from the Technology section of the Washington Post is about a school in Alexandria, Virginia that is brand new, and has almost every technological gizmo available.   Instead of being happy many of the teachers are depressed and feel that they are not really reaching their students because they are forced to use the technology.  Some say that they don’t have any connection with their administrators since the main form of communication is email rather than face to face conversations.  A math teacher complained that he believes the administrators think that a computer that will just spit out the answer will make math easier, but that learning math is actually hard work, and needs to be worked out piece by piece.  Social Studies teachers complain that students think that class is just guessing right and that writing has deteriorated as students don’t put real work into their writing, just “one draft, spell-check, send and pray.”
This article confirms some of my own prejudices about technology in the classroom.  It is a tool, not a magic wand.  Students like everybody else respond more strongly to actual human interaction, looking at people in the eye and not hiding behind a screen and keyboard.  We are living in a profoundly technological age, and we are still learning how to use the technologies efficiently.  Yet a certain “technolust” as the one mentioned in this article remains.  We as educators need to note that making things easier for our students may in fact being doing them a disservice, because it is often the process at arriving at the right answer, and not the answer itself where the real learning lies.

Ten Simple Strategies for Re-engaging Students

 
Marcinek, A. (2010, November 21). Ten Simple Strategies for Re-engaging Students | Edutopia. Edutopia. Retrieved December 9, 2010, from http://www.edutopia.org/blog/reengaging-students-andrew-marcinek
            In this blog posting, an English teacher talks about using a wiki as a collaborative writing tool that is open, transparent, and fun.  He states that most of his students have machines in their pockets that can access the world outside of their classroom.  He feels that maybe that is a place where he can take his class, since that is a place many of his students want to be since they are spying at handheld devices underneath their desks.  He states that with the collaborative wiki, students are learning that mistakes are not just marked wrong, but as opportunities for growth and steps in learning.  He states that a wiki allows his students to write for more than just an audience of one (him) but for the whole world, and ask them “is this any good?”  He writes that this process prevent coasting and just writing for a grade but actually promoting the process of writing.
            I thought that Mr. Marcinek was onto something with this blog post.  He understands that some students will just go through the motions and write for a grade, and really miss what they should be learning--the process of how to write.  Mr. Marcinek’s ideas seemed to be genuine and would really inspire student participation.  I also believe that he is correct in assuming that students really do want to do work online, and in a participatory and contributory fashion.  This is an environment that many students are very comfortable in.  The teacher should really ask his students how they would like to do things.  Some may not be comfortable processing their writing online.  Either way the project should be presented to their students in a fun way.  I agree that the students shouldn’t be afraid to make mistakes and embracing mistakes as opportunities for learning, rather than turning them in and getting them marked wrong, and handed back.  This seems like a very good strategies for not only English construction, but writing for history as well.

Use of Blogs in the Classroom

Reynard, R. (2009, October 1). Avoiding the 5 Most Common Mistakes in Using Blogs with Students. Campus Technology. Retrieved November 20, 2010, from http://campustechnology.com/articles/2008/10/avoiding-the-5-most-common-mistakes-in-using-blogs-with-students.aspx

Reynard writes that educators who use blogs in their classrooms should learn how to use them effectively.  She writes that educators often fall into 5 common mistakes when using blogs.  First Reynard says that first blogs should be contextualized so that students know why they are being asked to do something.   Reynard writes that blogs are “most effective when use[d]… in the area of self reflection or thought processing. As such, there must be concepts for students to think through, various resources and content segments to process, or ideas to construct. To simply ask students to use blogs without this level of planning will lead to frustration for the students.”  Without contextualization students will resent the assignments and see it as busy work.  Secondly Reynard writes that educators should avoid unclear learning outcomes, and use blogs for analysis (distinguishing between ideas, finding connections, etc), synthesis (“incorporating the new ideas into the students thinking”), new ideas (“students form new ideas by incorporating, analyzing, synthesizing new information”), application (students applying new ideas).  These four ideas can be articulated and shared with blogs.  Reynard warns against treating blogs as areas for dialogue, repeatedly stating, “Blogs are not wikis”.  Reynard strongly recommends providing a rubric for grading of blogs, so students know what is expected of them in the assignment.  Instructors should also make adequate time allocations for blog postings, Reynard recommends keeping the blogs open “until the end of the course.”

Blogs are relatively new online tools, and are becoming more and more ubiquitous in class work, especially in colleges.  The benefits are several.  Blogs allow students to share their work with an audience.  The hope is that this “public-ness” will improve the quality of student work since he/she knows that more than just his/her teacher will see the work.  The article didn’t really cover this, since it focused on college students using blogs for an audience of collegiate instructors, yet the advice is very good.  Student should be made aware of what is expected of them through the use of rubrics, and what the actual purpose of the blog is.  Otherwise they will think of it only as “busy work.”  Reynard writes that blogs are good tools for capturing the process of analyzing, synthesizing, forming and applying new ideas.  Instructors need to be ready to help students take these additions steps rather than just presenting the information, for blogs to be truly useful tools.

 

Properly Implemented Technology Improves Learning and Saves Money for Beleaguered Schools

Varga, B. (2010, October 21). Properly implemented technology improves learning and saves money for beleaguered schools . Retrieved from http://www.prweb.com/releases/prwebprojectRED/10/prweb4686394.htm

The Project RED (Revolutionizing Education) released their findings to their survey on the implementation of technology in the classroom.  The survey found that schools that use of technology at the intervention level, a strong computer to student ratio and use of technology in core classes once a week resulted in schools having improved test scores and graduation rates, while simultaneously reducing disciplinary action and drop-out rates.  The project also said that the money spent by schools to implement the new technologies would be recouped by the amount of money schools saved by reducing their dropout rate.  “Intel provided lead sponsorship for the survey, with additional sponsorship provided by Apple, the Pearson Foundation, Qwest, and eChalk.”  Other sponsors included the Association of School Business Officials International, the Consortium for School Networking, the International Association for Online Learning, and the International Society for Technology in Education.

According to this press release a survey has found that schools with a high computer to student ratio and common integration of technology into the classroom have a higher success than schools with lower computer to student integration and less classroom integration of technology.  One factor that is missing is the demographic and economic breakdowns of the schools surveyed.  It would stand to reason that most schools with the high computer to student ratio are schools in wealthier neighborhoods with more funding available.  This economic disparity could lead to a number of other factors that lead to student learning, such as whether students are showing up to school having eaten breakfast or not.  This survey seems to treat computer as if they are some magical device that will improve education just by students being in the same room with them.  Computers are not magic, they are just a tool, and a tool that can be used positively in education.  However that use must be thoughtful and sophisticated, with educators and administrators willing to make a commitment to the tool’s use in classroom.  It is unsurprising to me that organizations with a pro-business and pro-computer background sponsored this survey along with the tech giants Intel and Apple. Both companies would stand to gain greatly if the perception of their products as magic education cure-alls, as this survey perports, persists.

Technology Integration: Ideas That Work

Starr, L. (2010, September 22). Technology integration: ideas that work. Education World, Retrieved from http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/tech/tech176.shtml

            This article is about what tools the computer offers to make the computer a part of education.  The article focuses on Internet research, word processing, Excel, PowerPoint and the use of blogs for student teacher interaction.  Author seems to be especially enamored with the writing applications that the computer provides, saying that writing is the most “the most educational cognitive activity in which we and our students can be engaged. It is a process appropriate to learners of all ages and all subject areas, right across the K-college curriculum and beyond”.  The author also writes about using Excel to graphically produce charts.  Teachers having students create blogs as a useful tool in teacher and student interaction, again where students write.  PowerPoint is also seen as a fun and inclusive way of students presenting information.  The use of “Smart Boards” and microscopes attached to computers, which are attached to projectors, are also highlighted.  The author then states that administrators need to be on board and in favor of technological implementation in order for the transition to be successful.

Reaction:

While I did not see a date for this article I was led to believe that it was a few years old.  I am led to this conclusion by the gushing talk about the use of PowerPoint presentations and the novelty in which the idea of Internet research was presented.  The author also seems to adopt that computers are the cure-all for education point of view.  I believe that computers are nothing more than a tool, whose success in student learning is directly tied to teacher’s preparation and use of technology, not of the technology itself.  I do agree with the author that classes, teachers and administrators need to be open to technological integration, and a need to have a coherent vision for its use in schools, because this technology is not going away and is in fact becoming more and more ubiquitous.  One thing that the author doesn’t think about is how the computer changes the way that students think.  Sitting at a computer with an Internet connection can send a student’s mind spinning on any number of information topics that he may want to search for, which may or may not be on topic.  This presents a challenge to the teacher to be able to monitor student research, as well as present assignments that are more exciting than the web itself.  The author doesn’t also mention how the computer can be used for “Google-ing” answers, the high-tech equivalent of copying answers out of the book, a common student short-cut which results in zero learning.  Another consideration is that technology can get stale, the perception of PowerPoint a few years ago, and its perception today is a perfect example.  This presents educators with the challenge of keeping current on technology that fires the imagination of students, before it just becomes common, routine and the bane of all educators: “boring”.

Web 2.0 Beyond Google

Curwood, J. S. (n.d.). Web 2.0: beyond google. Scholastic, Retrieved from http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=3753598

This article was about the uses of Web 2.0 technologies in the classroom, including blogs, social messages sites, blogs, and wikis to enhance student learning.  Web 2.0 is used to refer to websites and programs that allow users to create Internet content, rather than just consume content.  The author writes that by limiting the use of the Internet to simply research we are cutting our children off from a vast area of technological use, which could also be useful in the classroom.  A teacher in Florida uses blogs with his students, and directly tells them about privacy and proper content issues, it is implied that even students “who don’t perform well academically” still participate in the blogs because “they have an audience”.  An elementary school teacher also used online photo software with his 4^th graders, and has had to revise the curriculum because his elementary students adapted to the technology use so quick and easily.  Another high school allowed their students to have access to Facebook at school, as part of a class about teen identity in literature and culture, the second have of the class was how teens form identity today and used social network as a tool for discussion.  It is also an opportunity for students to learn to use social networking in both a social and professional matter, like many adults do.

The media environment of today is different than it was four years ago, and completely unrecognizable from media environment of ten to twenty years ago.  Now web compatible mobile phones are completely ubiquitous, and the vast majority of students correspond through social networking sites like Facebook. Today’s students also seem much more comfortable operating within this media environment than their parents, teachers and school administrators.  Educators should embrace this technology and make sure their students learn how to use it correctly and responsibly.  There seems to be natural tendency for educators to want to block or limit student’s access to the internet, most schools have filters put on their machines to keep students from playing games or viewing things they shouldn’t be viewing, and many schools don’t allow students access to social networking sites or private email accounts.  Such moves however well intended may have the unintended consequence of making social networking an even more tempting “forbidden fruit”.  If teachers can learn how to integrate this into their curriculum it may increase student involvement and teach them to operate in a media environment that will most likely become even more prominent.  However this integration should be thought out thoroughly, Web 2.0 and the computer itself, are not a cure alls for education and their integration should be thought through thoroughly before hand, many of the above teachers seem to have found the correct balance.  I am curious though as to how many students in the Florida school have continued to not “abuse” their Facebook privileges.

Assistive Technology

Wahl , L. (2003, August 5). Assistive Technology: Enhanced Learning for All . Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/assistive-technology-enhances-learning-all

Summary:

            Educators to help students with disabilities and special needs use Assistive Technologies (AT).  AT can be as simple as a triangular pencil grip or as advanced as a keyboard configured for a one handed typists or software that can read a textbook to a students who “understand 9^th grade History but can only read at a 3^rd grade level”.  AT enables students who have special needs to be incorporated into the mainstream classroom, in hopes of ensuring a proper and equitable education for all. AT is mandated by the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, which states that all school districts must provide AT to all qualified students.  Of course these technologies can be expensive, and often require training of teachers and volunteers to use them and run them properly.  Wahl also writes of students who volunteer to help students with the technologies, during an open study time or recreational period. 

Reaction:

            There is no doubt that technologies are becoming more and more a part of our daily lives.  While computers were mainly a novelty in classrooms 20 years they are ubiquitous today, with many teachers and students carrying powerful computers (iPhone, Droids) in their pockets all day every day.  The article states that these technologies can be extremely useful in helping students who have disabilities.  My question is do they actually help, or do we just assume that they do?  The author offers no studies of use of technologies in improving education for students with special needs. We tend to fetishize technology and assume that it is the magic bullet that can cure nearly every problem with education.  I believe the fact is that sometimes it is helpful and sometimes it is not.  Technology can tend to be distracting, often taking class time away to “fire up” the technology, and get it going before actual teaching and learning take place.  Another problem with the AT is that it is expensive, and as it is federally mandated it is an expensive that cannot be avoided.  Technology advances so very quickly that it is quite possible for it be come totally obsolete once it has been paid for, installed and the teachers and students have been trained to use it properly, making it a poor use of school funds. There is no question that AT can be useful, especially in creation of an all inclusive classroom, yet I have reservations about its efficiency, costs and longevity.

           

Article 1 - Students as Archivists

Ball, A. (2003, August 5). Logging history: students as archivists [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/montanaheritage

            This article is about a student project on the northwest Montana logging town of Libby.  When a large mill and largest employer in town shut down in January 2003, there was fears that the town would lose not only it’s major economic resource but its history and identity as well.  Working with the “Montana Heritage Project, an organization with a strong online presence that works throughout Montana to spread project-based, community-centered models of education” (Ball, 2003).  High School English and history students studied local history outside of the traditional class room interviewing mill workers and exploring archives at the local newspaper.  They then uploaded their findings on to the Montana Heritage website and culminating the project with a slide show at the end of the year to which the whole community was invited.  The Libby project was successful in ways greater than the actual education of the students.   The article makes it appear that students were more engaged with the Montana Heritage project then they would have been had they been in a traditional text and classroom environment.  The project was also the impetus for the restoration of an old high school gym that became a place dedicated to the arts and home to the annual project presentations. 

            My reaction to this article initially was why is this in the diversity section of the selected readings.  As a person who was born in, has family and regularly visits Montana, I can personally tell you that Montana is one of the least racially, ethnically and religiously diverse states in the country.  However I later understood it’s placement.  These projects not only actively engage students outside the classroom; they promote more understanding of their own communities but communities that are different from themselves.  For example a student was surprised to find such little local news in the archives of the local newspaper.  This student didn’t understand why even a large event like a city wide fire went unreported.  The student learned that the town was so small in the early 1900s that everybody already knew everything about the fire, and wanted their newspaper to inform them of news from other parts of the world.   Another Montana Heritage project in Harlowtown, MT focused on the Hutterite colonies that were nearby.  “Hutterites are similar to the Amish in that they want little to do with the modern world, schooling their children themselves and rarely making appearances in town.” (Ball, 2003) This project allowed students to connect with a neighboring community that they would not otherwise, and to educate others about their neighbors.  By promoting understanding these projects not only empowered the students personally but their larger communities as well, and thereby achieved one of the larger goals of education in a natural and organic fashion.