Week 13:Getting America's Students Ready for the 21st Century

In order to successfully prepare students for adult life, schools must continue to teach reading, writing, and mathematics, but must also infuse the curriculum with technology rich devices so that students get a first hand experience with them. Students should get as much experience as they can use devices such as handheld computers, desktop computers, GPS systems, calculators, electronic microscopes, Smart boards, cell phones, iPods, overhead peripherals, and a number of other devices. Unfortunately, there are literally thousands of school districts’ that simply do not have the funding to purchase such devices, let alone provide training for teachers. Fortunately, the government has recognized this and created the technology literacy challenge. At its heart are four concrete goals that help to define the task at hand:
All teachers in the nation will have the training and support they need to help students learn using computers and the information superhighway.
All teachers and students will have modern multimedia computers in their classrooms.
Every classroom will be connected to the information superhighway.
Effective software and on-line learning resources will be an integral part of every school's curriculum. Such goals can be attained by salvaging and recycling computer electronics, private (tax deductible) donations, and from outside sources like federal and state governments and universities.

Week 12-Kansas rolls out a 1:1 Mac Program

The one on one laptop program in Kansas City, KS is a great start for students who come from low socioeconomic backgrounds and who otherwise may not have access to such devices at home. An interesting aspect to the one on one MacBook program is that students can take the computers home to complete homework and prepare for classroom lessons. This is a great beginning to successfully integrating technology into the classrooms and beyond.Additionally, I thought that the school district made a wise decision to chose Apple computers because they come fully loaded with a lot of creative software.

Week 11- Critical Issue

The article Using Technology to Enhance Engaged Learning for At-Risk Students makes a strong case for the use of technology in classrooms. Classrooms rich in the use of technology provide meaningfu learning experiences y incorporating many different learning modalities. For exmape, such classrooms often promote the use of higher order thinking skills or promote cooperative learnig strategies in the classroom. Such activities help at-risk students develop relationships with other students and have tremendous power to help students obtain, organize, manipulate, and display information.
Unfortunetly, one of the problems for teachers is that in many casesthey do no have access to this type of technology in their classrooms. I know from experience that we are often lucky to have a personal computer to work with. Hopefully this will change in the cominig years with the price of computers and computer peripherals coming down.

Week 10-Authentic Learning for the 21st Century

Authentic learning or learning by doing instead of learning by listening is a much more effective way to get students to meet lesson objectives. Additionally, students would much rather spend time doing things than listening to the teacher lecture. Unfortunately, many of the lessons that are presented in classrooms would be extremely expensive if we chose to conduct them instead of listen or read about them. However, recent advances in technology have made it possible for students to actually to have a more authentic learning experience based on experimentation and action. With the help of the Internet and a variety of communication, visualization, and simulation technologies, large numbers of undergraduates can begin to reconstruct the past, observe phenomena using remote instruments, and make valuable connections with mentors around the world. This real world experience provides students with a number of important tools that can be used to access online research communities. Students are able to gain a deeper sense of a discipline as a special “culture” shaped by specific ways of seeing and interpreting the world.

Week 9-New Times Demand New Ways of Learning

Recent research on technology and learning is revealing a great deal on the effectiveness of the traditional learning model. For example, traditional learning models are, for the most part no longer effective in meeting the needs of today's students. Furthermore, the traditional mechanisms for evaluating the effectiveness of technology in the classroom do not work. Effective learning takes place when children are engaged in authentic and multidisciplinary tasks, participate in interactive modes of instruction, collaborate with one another and are grouped heterogeneously with the teacher as the facilitator of learning.
Unfortunately, this is a difficult task to accomplish. Many school districts maintain teacher centered classrooms that focus on rote memorization and often leave little room for cooperative learning through technology. However, as new research reveals the benefits of collaboration and the successful use of technology as a tool for learning, more and more school district will be compelled to use such teaching methods. As a new teacher, I have found it relatively easy to focus my instruction on student centered activities that promotes collaboration instead of the “Sage on the stage” lecturer. At the beginning of this school year I found that many of my students were very hesitant to work together because they were so used to working by themselves in al of their previous years of schooling. So it’s not only the teachers and administrators that must decentralize themselves from individualized instruction and learning, but students must learn to work together to critically analyze and solve problems.

Week 8- Transforming Learning Through Technology

As technology merges into the classroom it is important that we integrate student standards so that we can measure learning and fine tune our instruction accordingly. However, successful technology integration in the classroom does not happen without certain challenges and pitfalls.
For example, technology in the classroom can be used to teach lessons in creative, dynamic ways that lead to greater student achievement. Learning and research should be guided by the teacher, but not restricted and constrained. Furthermore, new and experienced teachers need to trained on the use of technology that focuses on teaching and learning. The use of technology in the classroom promotes new methods of teaching in the classroom. Such methods can capture the imagination of students and promote many different learning theories. Additionally, from 1994 through 1998, schools with low numbers of minority students were three times more likely to have Internet access in classroom settings than schools with high numbers of minority students. Similarly, high-income schools were twice as likely to have Internet access in classrooms as low-income schools (National Center for Education Statistics, 1998). It is imperative that all students have access to technology and the internet in the classroom. A vision for the roadmap to successful technology integration in K-12 classrooms can be outlines in the nine state policy actions.

I thought that the state policy action outlines in this article were fantastic. They clearly state the purpose for technology integration and provide a framework from which leaders in technology integration in K-12 schools can use as a guide. This is a great article for anyone involved in schools that want to or need to incorporate technology into their classrooms.

Week 7-Digital Learning

This was a great podcast on digital learning and its impact on students. It was really interesting to hear the statistics on digital media use in the younger generation. This information is especially useful as a teacher. The influential power of digital media has altered and benefited the life of many people, especially social network sites. Such sites promote civic engagement and cooperative learning communities. However, there is still a participation gap in this country. Although the gap is not as big as it once was, in my school district and even at my school, few students have access to digital media on a daily basis.
We need to make sure that every kid in America has the ability to access computers in order to download or upload information or to store school work. Access to computerized technology and all of the skills and experiences these new devices provide students is critical. The new hidden curriculum in many school districts is the use of digital media as a learning tool and social networks influence young people to take an active role in their learning.

Week 6-Living Online

It is interesting to think that right now there are possibly millions of people on some kind of digital machine. Whether on a cell phone, a hand-held game system, in a chat room, or sharing last vacations pictures online with friends, we have all been impacted by this digital realm in some way or another. It is also interesting and a bit scary to think that people have become tethered into their electronic gadgets in order to stay in constant communication. How did people ever manage to make it through their lives before the age of digital communication.
This is an interesting article about the communication culture that we are currently residing in. With information passing freely and rapidly from one person to the next, it is at times difficult for most to reach consensus on their own, with their own volition. The long term implications to our society and to individuals has yet to be fully revealed. However, a true paradox occurs for those who are willing to reach out and discover for themselves the implications of such technology.
We must keep in mind that the ability to critically analyze information without USB connections and wireless transmissions is much more powerful. It will always be more difficult for individuals to disconnect from the digital norm in order to digest information to reach a conclusion on their own.

Week 5

Myths and Realities About Technology in K-12 Schools

This is a powerful critique about the current state of technology integration in the K-12 public school system. Clearly there has been a huge movement to incorporate technology within the classroom, but often such campaigns go without the development of a step by step plan to successfully integrate technology into the schools. This happens for several reasons including, poor teacher training, lack of software and technical support, curriculum planning that doesn't provide room for technology and a number of other reasons.

I enjoyed reading this piece of writing and felt that it was an important read for any teacher, school, or district thinking about using technology within the classroom. I found the five myths to be dreadfully true. I thought myth three was interesting because it broke down teacher experience with using technology in the classroom into five stages of instructional evolution. I think I would place myself in the adoption stage, but I look forward to being able someday to approach the invention stage and become a true pioneer at incorporating technology within the classroom.

Week 4: Reforming Education with Technology

Teaching with new eyes is a wonderful little article about integrating technology into the classroom. Like so many other teachers, Mr. Snyder was trying to come up with a way to use technology and integrate job skills into his classroom in a way that would link such training to the standards. This was difficult for him. Then he attended the 1998 Nevada Milken Educators' conference and everything changed. Mr. Snyder began transforming his classroom into a living lesson. In which he and his students would make connections by internalizing their ideas.

I thought that Mr. Snyder's ideas were very interesting and valuable and I agree that we must begin to transform education into a part of the fabric of peoples lives. We need to reach out to our students and encourage them to think and to share their thoughts. By encouraging students to begin thinking openly about lessons and classroom activities we create a cohesive cooperative learning environment in which students can gain valuable learning skills.

Mr. Snyder stated that computers and technology are a part of the fabric of young peoples lives. However, in lower socioeconomic school districts many young people are being left behind. Their classrooms often do not have computers for them to use and very few of these students have computers or any electronics at home. So there seems to be a great divide that is taking place amongst people who have access to such devices and those who do not.

Week 3-Meaningful Learning

I thought that chapters 1 & 2 were a really good introduction into integrating technology into the curriculum. I especially liked the fact that they emphasized that technology can not teach students. Instead, meaningful learning results when teachers engage students with the ability to construct their own understanding through conversation, collaboration and reflection. Technology is used to foster learning by giving students a chance to think in different manners, such as causally, analogically, and expressively. I especially liked the fact that the textbook did not try to push teachers to teach with technology. Instead, it stated that teachers need to be able to prepare students to purposefully seek information using a four step process that includes planning, the use of strategies to search for information, evaluative skills, and the ability to triangulate their sources. Finally, I think that chapter two provided several interesting uses for wireless devices. From data collection with pocket PC's to Blue Tooth, cell phones, and GPS systems, students have a wide range of devices with which they can collect data. Teachers should chose these devices carefully and give students many opportunities to explore and practice with them.

Week 2-WebQuest

WebQuests are interesting internet tools that can be used in the classroom. According to Bernie Dodge, A WebQuest is an “inquiry-oriented lesson format” that uses the web as the format student led investigations. WebQuest.org is a website with a plethora of information on WebQuests. It has the standard definition of a WebQuest, plenty of WebQuest examples, design templates, and a number of other useful resources. One particularly interesting resource that I found on the site is a community message board where people can post information, questions, and even chat with one another about different WebQuest technologies.

I think that WebQuests are very useful. They kind of remind me of a learning center. Only older learning centers were typically designed with cardboard and paper. I think that we will see a change in WebQuest development over the course of the next few years. For example, most current WebQuests are designed with using hyper-text mark-up language. Hyper-text mark-up language or HTML as it is commonly referred is an older coding language that has been used to publish documents on the World-Wide Web since mainly used for documents. However, with the development extensible markup language or XML, websites can be connected to databases and end users can choose multiple formats from which to retrieve and enter data. Finally, I think that there is a lot of excitement about the development of Active Server Pages or ASP, which is a programming language that is derived from VBScript. ASP.Net is a free technology developed my Microsoft that allows programmers to develop dynamic, interactive websites. It will be interesting to see further development of WebQuest’s using some of the more advanced web programming languages.

Week 1-Constructivism

The journal article, Constructivism, Technology, and the Future of Classroom Learning by Erik Strommen and Bruce Lincoln calls for integrating more technology into the classroom. Strommen and Lincoln state that through the use of technology in the classroom, children develop better learning skills and begin to guide their own learning in a collaborative setting. Strommen and Lincoln call this self-guided, collaborative setting a “child-driven learning environment.” CDLE’s can be developed within the classroom by building a constructivist learning atmosphere. Constructivism is a theory of cognitive growth and learning in which children actively construct their knowledge. Rather than simply absorbing ideas spoken at them by teachers, or somehow internalizing them through endless, repeated rote practice, constructivism posits that children actually invent their ideas.
The foundation for creating a child-driven learning environment is to design a constructivist setting in which students integrate technology and learn through play, experimentation, and collaboration. The child-driven learning environment is organized as a four-step process that includes exploration, conceptualization, production, and post-production.
In response to the journal article entitled, Constructivism, Technology, and the Future of Classroom Learning by Erik Strommen and Bruce Lincoln, I feel that the article made a convincing argument in favor of using technology in the classroom. More students than ever before have had some experience using technology in their homes. Whether they are using remote game controllers, programming their digital video recorders, or simply sending email through their computers, technology has impacted young people in an exciting, energetic way. Incorporating technology within the classroom can captivate student interest in learning and give students the ability to construct their own understanding and knowledge of the world in which they live. According to Strommen and Lincoln, “Two specific features of constructivist philosophy hold particular promise (Strommen et al, 1993).” The first is the notion that play and experimentation are valuable forms of learning and the second is collaborative or cooperative learning has demonstrated the benefits of children working with other children in collective learning efforts. The capacity of student’s to self govern their learning and share their knowledge with one another is paramount to their ability to succeed in the real world.