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.