janetn's blog

The beginning of this chapter discussed how teachers are not adequately trained in technology and what should be done to train these teachers. It discussed how teacher in-services do nothing to train the teacher. I think what is the point of even having an in-service if you are not teaching the teachers something beneficial that they can take back to the classroom.  Many teachers are dedicated enough to research on their own and find these technologies, but some teachers don’t even know where to look. If you give teachers a meaningful in-service, the teachers are  more likely to participate and gain knowledge from the gathering.

I also liked the part in the chapter that discussed learning communities. The book says that learning communities must have the culture of four characteristics which are 1) a diversity of expertise among its members, 2) a shared objective of continually advancing the collective knowledge and skills, 3) an emphasis on learning how to learn, and 4) mechanics for sharing what is learned. Also a strong feeling of community increasing willingness to share. I believe this to be completely true. For example, our major is a learning community.  Before methods, I was already so much more comfortable working with business education majors on projects compared to peers I did not know in my general classes.

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I loved this Podcast. I found it on U.S. News and World Report. The report talked to a college basketball player and how he juggles all of his obligations with school and with basketball. These athletes go nonstop from class, to practice, to doing homework. A lot of the time they are traveling for road games which can make it extremely difficult to do homework. The athlete said a lot of the teachers treat you like a regular student and expect you to get things done when the rest of the class does. This podcast really shows that school and homework are not the only two things going on in the students’ lives. Homework has to be realistic for all students to complete.

I found this podcast on LearnOutLoud.com. It was about Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders and a man named Alec Ross. He began with the Teach America Program and then quickly started a now profit organization which had different political candidates go to him for advice. One of his big ideas was on the campaign to text to a certain number to donate to the Haiti earthquake relief foundation. The campaign become huge over all social media networks including Twitter, Facebook, etc. and raised over $30 million. After listening to the Podcast, I think the main point was if you have an idea, try it! You never how successful it can be unless you give it a chance to potentially be successful.

Chapter four was very interesting.  It described different ways that teachers in different subject areas use web tools in their classes. I would have never thought of some of these ideas! It shows how creativity is a big part of teaching. When students can do something new, exciting, and different; it becomes more interesting and students are more willing to work on the assignment. Also, when you allow students to use their creativity, they put more effort into the assignment and they are more likely to remember the content. I’ve never heard of Wiki or Flickr so those were very interesting to read about. They would be very beneficial in the classroom. One of the other big things I got from this chapter is that it is important to use other resources for assignments. It is unrealistic to think you can do everything on your own. It helps to find different supporting materials for student learning online!

Chapter three starts by discussing web tools as well as how people perceive free software. It discusses how administrators, teachers, students, and parents can use free web tools. I found it very interesting the misconceptions that people have about open source software. The misconceptions include free means junk, open-source software only runs on a Linux box, open-software may be free now but what about later, open source software will crash and burn, only geeks use open-source software, and if it is free is must be open source. Pages 51-52 explain why these are misconceptions because you can find some really useful free materials, most open source is written in Java which computes on all systems, if it is open source now it always will be, open source tends to be better than commerical because more people maintain it, people with all abilities use it, and some commercial tools start free but charge later so check liscensing. There are many helpful/useful sources avaliable if you are willing to take the time to look for them as well as learn about them.

The rest of the chapter discusses different tools and applications that people use to learn and communicate. These tools include wikis, podcast, Internet telephony, think.com, google education, and so on. It is so interesting to think of the technologies that advance in such a short amount of time. For example, I have never used a blog and now my entire class is blogging. Blogging may not be that new compared to something such as VoIP (Internet Telephony). VoIP is an interesting concept. It is routing voice conversations over the Internet or through any IP-based network. The most commonly used one is Skype which is owned by eBay and has over 113 million users. The book states, “Skype  can be used to interview experts, conduct conversations with groups, and talk to one another as they work collaboratively on projects from home.” This is such a great concept because it is such a fast, easy, and convenient way to work with others. In fact, it makes me wonder what all online classes would be like if they were conducted on Skype?

I found this chapter rather interesting and surprising. The chapter began by discussing different ways that people use the Internet such as communicating, shopping, research, etc. One quote I found interesting was “students are strong believers in the power of technology to enrich their learning experiences. They have ideas about their futures that include using technology tools for learning and preparing themselves for a competitive job market.” I know students use the Internet a lot, but I was suprised that they are actually using it to enrich their knowledge and get a head of the game in the job market. It shows that students are willing to do the work and learn something if they think it will benefit their future.

I was shocked to see how early students begin using the Internet and the computer. According to page 28 of the book, preschool children are the fastest growing population of Internet users.  It has increases from 6% to 35%. 35% may not seem like a lot, but considering these children are ages 2-5 some do not even know how to read at that point.  We have to be prepared for having some students who have never used the Internet as well as some students that have been using computers from an early age.

I also found figure 2.1 very interesting. It shows Bloom’s traditional taxonomy and a new version of the taxonomy. The original states knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation where as the new version is remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating. This shows that teachers must think differently on how they teach students as well as evaluate them.

I found the section about the tipping point(p21) rather interesting. It discusses an author, Malcom Gladwell, and how he thinks of change as an “epidemic in which ideas and products and messages and behaviors spread just like viruses do. The tipping point is also the moment within an epidemic when everything can change.”

It then goes into what will be the tipping point in schools to force people to change and have new ideas. Sometimes people get caught up in just letting things go and watching to see what happens. There are three factors that will make change occur which include; exceptional people who drive change by their own habits, stickiness or memorable qualities of the idea that move others to act, and the power of context, which include the skillful use of groups and the power of communities. Educators have the power to create change.

Students may know more about certain technologies because they grow up using them, but as a teacher we can provide resources to better utilize those technologies. It is our job to teach students, but teachers are also life long learners and it is benefical to draw from students knowledge. For example, I do not know much about blogs such as this. I could propose a project to my students to demonstrate how to use a blog as an assignment.

What would happen if teachers made a point to learn something new from their students every year? What would an assignment book look like if it was strictly done over Twitter? How could a Wordle inspire students to learn?

This week has been very long and very busy. Its about 9 pm on a Saturday and it is the first time all week that I’ve actually been able to sit down and work on things! Hopefully I’ll be able to get all of my homework done while watching some movies tonight. Tomorrow I plan on organizing my room/my life, working noon to four, relaxing, and then attending my first chapter meeting for Alpha Phi Omega, a co-ed service fraternity! Hope everyone had a great weekend!