Last Post part Deux

What to do about all of this technology?

Can't we be friends?

This is not a question that is unique to education. Across the broad spectrum of history and industry, people invented better, faster, and more productive ways of accomplishing tasks. Gutenberg revolutionized history with the printing press. This invention changed the educational landscape for thousands of years and countless millions. Technological skepticism has been with our us for quite some time. There are still some things in which technophobes can take comfort; event though the tools we use may change, thinking is alive and well! The skills of questioning, problem-solving, inventing, and experimenting are as needed as ever.  Maybe even more so. Technology is changing at such a rapid rate, focus needs to shift from simply learning how to use a tool, to learning how to learn about digital tools. This is the key for integration of technology in education and using it as a means to learn more efficiently.

Technology Awareness
Technology needs to be more than just a gadget in the classroom. Reading some articles or promotional material, it would seem that technology is the magic bullet that can truly fix education. While there is a natural draw for many of the "digital natives" (sorry I couldn't pass that one up), gadgets themselves aren't the answer. Educators need to drive students to see possibilities up the Bloom highway of Taxonomy. Presenting opportunities to create, invent, relate, and collaborate are precisely the skills demanded by modern companies. These skills, combined with a healthy dose of learning self awareness (knowing how one learns best) gives students a better chance toward future success.

A body at rest...

Many people are familiar enough with Newton's laws of motion to know how the statement above ends. I feel that this is also preventing the effective adoption of technology on a large scale in education. When a person or institution feels comfortable and things are going reasonably well, there is little impetus for change. There needs to be some external or internal mechanism. This is exactly what our text, The Connected Educator by Nussbaum and Beach, advocates. The general premise of the reading is for educators interested in technology will be the change that public education needs to evolve and remain relevant into the 21st century. It does this in two significant ways:
Technology integration is tough for many of us, but it puts us firmly in the role of student (and for some of us, it has been quite a while). It is unfamiliar, often uncooperative, and amorphous. Using it can be downright frustrating! It put me back in touch with what students must feel sometimes. Working with technology also gave me a sense of accomplishment. While I am no hacker, I feel far more confident in my skills for making a blog site, telling a digital story, or even making a web quest. In the end, it reaffirms my own commitment to life long learning. Is it fair to ask students to go where we may not be willing?
It is also a call to action by invested and committed professionals. The key is not just for one person to bring back skills to their own classroom. Rather, it is about sharing what goes on in one's classroom. It is about connecting with others who are willing to collaborate. It is about fostering relationships that can carry innovation beyond the four walls of a classroom into the larger school community.

To Infinity and Beyond

When discussing how to find those like-minded people to exact change, where does one go? Why, look to the tools we would ask our students to use for collaboration. Most any program or app that allows one to interact with many people could be considered a Web 2.0 product. I use Twitter as a medium to communicate with people interested in team happenings. I get feeds about happenings in education, and if I find an article or concept of interest, I may share it with colleagues on Pintrest. My current favorite is Diigo. It not only is a great tool to gather information for one's own research, it can be shared or followed so that you can harness the information others have already found. The best classrooms have groups of people working toward understanding, sharing, and growth of all. Diigo has the ability to take this concept, but expands it from the classroom to a much larger space.


Waterloo?

"What, sir? You would make a ship sail against the wind and currents by lighting a bonfire under her decks? I pray you excuse me. I have no time to listen to such nonsense."
- Napoleon Bonaparte to Robert Fulton, upon hearing of the latter's plans for a steam-powered engine on a vessel.

History is full of examples where someone just did not recognize opportunity. In some cases, it had dire consequences. The advancements of technology in our society are just too great. Nearly every occupation has been struck by the technology tsunami. Working at a fast-food restaurant? You need to be able to work a register. Oh, and if you want fries with that, the fry machines are electronic too. Auto mechanics hook up diagnostic computers so the car can tell the mechanic what ails it. Even farming and agriculture has gone hi-tech. It only makes sense that to prepare students for their futures, we enhance exposure and familiarity in technology. Since we can't predict the winds of technology, we should teach them how to learn, think, and imagine the possibilities.

Last Class Post I (but not the last post)

What a journey! If someone told me a few weeks back that I would be able to accomplish a blog, web quest, collaborating electronically, and using apps, I would have chuckled (Then I would have submitted your name to a government agency). Here I am at  the other end of the tunnel and I have a new found appreciation for the digital resources available at our fingertips.

Overall, this class has pushed me in a direction about which I initially had a great deal of apprehension. I admit that the internet did not exist when I was growing up. It is not intrinsic in me. Now I have the confidence to find what I need, and more importantly, what I can bring to my students.

Objectives
The objective for the course were daunting to a technological acolyte like me. Here is a list of course objectives with commentary:

1. Learn ways to promote student reflection using collaborative tools to reveal and clarify students’ 
conceptual understanding
The idea that there were opportunities for collaboration beyond the classroom and the school day is such a boon to education. My eyes opened beyond email as a medium. I work in a Google.docs school and did not even realize the true resource available to my students. Until this course, I simply thought of it as a way to eliminate a flash drive. Now I realize how much more students can do with the technology. They can create, meet, comment, and collaborate on work without ever actually meeting face to face outside of class time. Simple amazing! It also gives me a medium where I can respond to their work or questions in a speedy way. It enhances what I was doing in class already to go beyond the forty-five minute period.
 
2. Demonstrate an understanding of safe, ethical, legal and moral practices related to digital information and technology
This objective has been part of our curriculum for years and has been evolving along with technology and the times. Now I feel like I have a better understanding of Creative Commons and licensing and the idea behind intellectual property. Citing literature and ideas has always been part of the English curriculum, but the other kinds of information were primarily the realm of the librarians. I feel can now guide students better regarding digital resources.

3. Illustrate through application how state and national standards are implemented within the curriculum 
(e.g., Common Core, NH Curriculum Frameworks, ISTE (NETS-Teacher/NETS-Student) and NH-ICT 
Literacy Standards for K-12 Students (Ed 306.42))
Standards are such a hot topic right now in education across New Hampshire and the country. With the implementation of Common Core in the public spotlight, it is important that what educators do aligns with the new standards. The ISTE standards surprised me. I did not know such standards even existed. It makes sense that they do as we move further into the digital age. These technology standards are important and will help me to ensure that I am helping to reinforce information literacy as an integral part of what I teach.

4. Demonstrate an understanding of the use of assistive and adaptive technologies and other digital 
resources to personalize and differentiate learning activities for every student
This area of education is exploding with the use of formal programs (Dragon) and the multitude of apps available. Chances are, if there is a need, there is an app for it. In speaking with our district IT specialist about what I have learned in class, he responded, "Wait until you see all the apps." This new way of computing and using technology truly allows users to customize their own digital experience and define what the user needs technology to do for them. The options are almost daunting. What I have learned here is that sometimes you just need to jump. Recently I made a vocabulary card set for a humanities class on Quizlet (which I would not have tried if not for class). On it there are a number of games to play with the vocabulary. One is a race to math definitions. I set a baseline for time. I did not expect the overwhelming response of students and their desire to beat the teacher! I found myself fighting for my vocabulary life. Many students even skipped their break to try to be the fastest. I will see how they do on the test tomorrow.

5. Evaluate and reflect on emerging tools and trends by reviewing current research and professional 
literature
This is part of the course I think I enjoy the most. I am a pragmatist by nature. I like things that work and are simple. I have a world of resources at my fingertips I never realized were there before. Diigo is my favorite new site! It is great on so many levels! I can research based on what others have also found helpful. I can enlist whole groups of people already thinking and expanding on things that interest me. I also like the ability to highlight information and research electronically. It is so much easier to organize and keep rolling on a given topic.

6. Turn theory into practice by completing 5 hours of related field experience.
Being a classroom teacher has its benefits for this objective. I am also blessed to work in a building where people support each other in so many facets. Junior English is a "tech rich" level at our school. The teachers accommodated my needs and were very transparent regarding how they use technology to enhance what their craft. Their encouragement has given me confidence to push my learning in a new direction. I have used what I created in this class to begin walking the path.

 The future is bright and I feel that it has been good to be in the role of a learner again. It reaffirms the importance of a desire to know more never has to end. There is a certain joy in discovery, and with regard to technology, I feel I have it.

Technology Awareness

Like anything else, technology has vast power to enhance our educational experiences; like the tree of knowledge, it can be a pitfall as well. This unit was about the steps the government has enacted to try to keep students safe while using technology at school. It is always good practice to make sure we model and teach how to use any tool (the internet is no different).

Web Quest

Here is the final project of my Technology in Education class. This part demanded the most of me. I am looking to trying it out with my students as I continue to learn and grow with them. Being pragmatic, I have kept to developing something I can use in the classroom. You can find the link here.

The student artifacts for examples are included on the tab at the top marked Web Quest.

This class and experience has been such a journey. I have learned so much in the last two plus months. I look back on some of my initial feelings about technology in the classroom and my apprehension about anything electronic, and I don't recognize my old self. Like many things in life, sometimes you just have to close your eyes, trust, and jump. I do plan on keeping on with this blog as a journal of new experiences using technology in education.