I did a video for a course this year. Curiously, I couldn't find video on the best practices of presenting in this format so I attempted to make one myself. Enjoy.
One of the things I am involved with is the introduction of a new learning management system that contains more current online technologies, such as social bookmarking, blogs, wikis, online portfolios, multimedia, etc. Almost all of the teachers at my school already use these technologies however, there is now an opportunity to combine all of these services into a single platform. Students who access these classroom resources using their personal laptop or their home computer, also use the same tools "privately" to share interests, motivations, and knowledge. However, they use Facebook because it is common between friends.
Should these online services be brought further together? Should a school use Facebook or another social networking tool or combine the two? What legal considerations should an educator examine? I wrote an essay examining these issues (located under the Resources page of my Site) in my most recent graduate class, The Legal Context of Education. The professor Judge Marvin Zucker was dynamic and quick to share perspectives from his experiences in Family Law. Although not shy to share is opinion, he listened well to the educator's legal challenges and concerns and provided current resources for teachers at all levels.
I posted this within my Ning network(s) but wanted to post here as well.
Is anyone instituting iPod Touch in the classroom or piloting it right now?
I am investigating handhelds in particular the iPod Touch. This idea came up when I lunch with my IT team. My principal is keen on the idea as well.
We wish it had a GPS (unlike the iPhone) so we can offer orienteering and geocache activies. It would fit nicely with our outdoor component and integrate into the curriculum well.
What I do have so far is the ability to navigate and subscribe to Apple's Podcast server and a TI83 calculator emulator. The TI 83 emulator, used by all of our Math and Science students, is key because one could argue that it could replace the expensive TI calculator and offer increased enhancement in learning in other areas.
Students can also subscribe to the Podcast server to receive important announcements and view student's (approved) multimedia projects that were completed in our media lab. Still looking for more applications to further the reason to impliment.
Canadian Privacy Laws and Facebook's polices are still at odds with one another. I just read an article from The Sydney Morning Herald that Facebook's policies also conflict with the Australia's Privacy Act. Both Countries find Facebook's indeterminate length of time to hold onto personal information is in conflict with their privacy laws.
In the Australian article, Karen Curtis, Australia's Privacy Commissioner, is watching how the Canadian issues (well not all Canadian issues but good examples none the less) are being responded by Facebook. So far, Facebook hasn't given a clear response on how to resolve it's conflict with Canadian Law - However knowing that another Country is in a similar situation seems to stack up against Facebook's favour.
I haven't posted anything in the Blog lately... after starting a new job, family, and graduate studies - I needed to take a break. Speaking of break - this video based on a classic certainly surprised me.
My first course is now completed. It was enjoyable and there was a lot to learn. What I liked about it was the broad experiences of the class. We had students new to the Masters Program from different departments and students finishing their PhD in the same class. There were administrators, teachers, public and private, including people outside of the education industry.
The course called Foundations of Curriculum (CTL1000) focused mostly on the classroom teacher but made connections with parenting, administration, community, global education, adult education, etc. The themes were, but not limited to, long term planning, teacher identity, community, multiliteracies, classroom management, vision, and constructivism.
During the course I was particularly drawn to multiliteracies and how technology relates to it. I found I myself reflecting on my experiences implementing technology and trying to make sense of it all by creating a framework around the multiliteracies approach.
The article that I wrote for the course can be found under the resources section of my website. My thanks to my peers and Clive Beck.
When working with teachers or on school projects, I have noticed that technology can transform learning but sometimes it is just transparent or invisible; for instance, when students and teachers see the video marquee for announcements in the morning or leave a voice e-mail through our phone system. These transparent types of technology allow the user to access or deliver information seamlessly. On a larger scale, the community is able to communicate at a quicker pace and save time in their daily routines. In the last seven years at my school, I have seen the outcome of these technologies and it has changed the culture in how people communicate and use their time. So in a sense, it has transformed the culture of the school but not the learning it terms of the deepening of understanding, reflection, problem solving, etc.
In the classroom, the Learning Management Systems (LMS) have similarly transformed the culture of teacher-student communication and changed how classroom time is used. Students for the last 6 years have been able to access a centralized website to check their homework and upcoming events on a single web page (which I believe is a good thing, but it shouldn't replace the students' daily agendas). Teachers through our LMS are able to use asynchronous discussions to continue a debate or an investigation that could only be done during class time. Students and teachers now communicate differently because online technologies offer a greater flexibility and easier accessibility. These changes in learning are interesting to watch unfold, but what is exciting is watching how technology magnifies the current classroom practices.
When I implement or introduce new technologies for the classroom, teachers try to adopt them to their current practices. Let's say there are two teachers: Teacher A and Teacher B. Teacher A uses cooperative learning in the classroom and when introduced to an LMS, such as Blackboard, Teacher A looks for ways to create online groups using the established cooperative learning strategies: Positive interdependence, Face-to-face promotive interaction, Individual and group accountability, Interpersonal and small group skills, and Group processing online. Teacher B, who is transmission based, seeks ways to post classroom notes, presentations, and worksheets on an LMS to match his face-to-face classroom delivery. In these examples, both teachers are using an LMS to communicate with their students but the way they utilize the technology is very different. When working in the classroom, I have found that Teacher A tends to be more successful when adopting technology. The students are excited and the teacher sees new opportunities to teach his class - the end result is positive. When observing Teacher B, I find students are less engaged and seem to avoid the online components of Teacher B's material. What does this mean? Technology amplifies the current practices that the teacher uses in the classroom.
Although there are exceptions to these observations, I find it a good guiding principle when working with educators adopting educational technologies. This may be old news to some but it was an ah-ha to me when we introduced Blackboard, six years ago, and Moodle, three years ago, at our school.
Almost everything that hits the market that targets education with technology has the prefixes "cyber", "net" or letter prefixes "i" or "e" in the product's name. I understand that the intention is to make the product sound current and hip but I think it has created an additional effect as well. Traditional classroom educators, or rather digital immigrant teachers, feel that these new technologies are outside of the scope of what they do. When they see these new words, two things happen inside the mind of the educator: 1) it isn't really about learning, it is more about "that" technology stuff, or 2) I am already doing it without the technology stuff and I don't have time learn this extra stuff.
I am tempted to conclude that it all started when the word "e-learning" was coined. The prefix "e" denotes that it is some how different from learning or that it is something more. Watching classroom practitioners and educational administrators, I can understand why many think e-learning is somehow more than just learning because those who are experts in learning articulate that they need support or additional expertise in the "e" portion of e-learning. Should it matter? Is it really that different? Using a chalkboard in learning requires some expertise but it isn't perceived as being outside the realm of the classroom educator. Should we call learning with a chalkboard, c-learning? Is the calculator seen the same way? I think it might have been or still is depending on the complexity of the instrument, but if you use it for teaching - then one can learn it. Do I call in support because I am unsure when I punch in "9 x 9 =" my answer is 81? It may sound silly but I have seen things very similar such as when a colleague attaches a document, submits marks on the web, prints to a network printer, or uses a spreadsheet to calculate. Invariably, my colleagues would ask, "How do I know if this is working?" This is a critical question. It is a turning point because for the technology integrator/trainer this question is our window to help our colleague figure out the problem for themselves. Too many times when teachers or administrators feel alienated from technology or don't care about knowing if it works, they just want pure support. Most technical support personnel reinforce this behaviour too because it is easier to punch in the equation on the calculator before educating the client. When I see this happen, the educator instead says, "Thank you for doing this! You are amazing!" as if it was magic. My support counterparts also encourage this type behavior because they want to hear how amazing they are. It is true that they do amazing things but it is not going to change unless we do things differently.
What we need to do is talk about learning at all levels, not e-learning, cyber-searching, net-instruction, i-portfolio, etc. Educators need to see that learning with technology is just learning and not some distant futuristic cousin of learning which is distantly related to the classroom. The best way to start is to learn for ourselves and be there to help others on same journey.
My blog is now complete! Phase three is now done leaving only a wiki left to be added to the site. The wiki will be used to share collaborative notes and rough ideas for articles and weblog entries.
I am pretty excited about completeing this site. The only thing left is a little editting of PHP and CSS to make things fit and look more streamlined. No more announcements will be made in Joomla Articles. It will be made here.
