Productivity

There are so many tasks in today’s world that we all have to deal with (getting your groceries, doing your laundry, dealing with the family, juggling work, ect.). When you’re a teacher you may be averaging grades, designing lesson plans, or keeping track of meetings and dates. This is an incredible amount of daily work that a person is asked to balance.  If we as educators are living up to the ISTE standard of engaging in professional growth and leadership then we have many tools available to learn and aid us in this chaos. Recently, I have been dealing with the various types of productivity software.

Using basic word processing software to create newsletters and memos, spreadsheets for organizing grades, databases for organizing student data, and presentation and graphic software to make your lecture more interactive and entertaining. This gives us plenty of areas for which we can become more familiar and productive. Any one of these types of software can significantly minimize the amount of time we spend on these tedious tasks. Freeing us to spend more time on the integration of these tools into the students learning. Allowing the students to use these tools to build on their ISTE standard for research and information fluency.

Integrating productivity software will excel anyone’s technical knowledge.  Take the Excel program for instance. Learning this will allow you to organize data using functions to add, average, sort, and reference all in an instant. You can even color code it to make it more visually appealing. Trying to accomplish this same task by hand would take days. To me it’s a no brainer on which method is better.

Still many people sequester themselves away from all of these tools that can make them more productive. It could be a fear of the unknown or an unwillingness to change. Even the smallest of steps would help with productivity. Like using the Save As function when word processing to save a document as a template for commonly used material.

I have to admit it takes time and is not always easy. For me to get just the simplest tasks done in excel took some time and a little research. I had to reference the programs help guide, and when I couldn’t find the information I wanted there I went online, searched for tutorials, and googled specific questions that I had.  In the long run the time that it took me took look up and educate myself how to accomplish various tasks will be more than made up by the amount of time saved by being more efficient and productive.

resources:

Gunter, G. A., Gunter, R. E., & Shelly, G.B. (2010). Integrating Technology and Digital Media in the Classroom (6^th ed.). United States: Course Technology, Cengage Learning.

http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_for_Teachers_2008.htm

http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForStudents/2007Standards/NETS_for_Students_2007.htm

Security Threats

 A lot has been written on security risks for schools on the computer. Controlling access to students browsing to prevent viruses moles or exposure to inappropriate material, but tonight I experienced another security risk that hasn’t really been covered. As I’ve stated in previous blogs my school provides each student with a brand new Mac laptop. The students use these laptops for class and are required to bring them to school. Many of the students walk to the campus. This poses as a security threat to the students carrying these new laptops.

Just recently robberies, assaults, and now a shooting have taken place on the students walk from school to home.  So maybe we should take some time and consider how we deal with these risks…

Multiple Vines Bare More Fruit!

“Is it more unethical to allow threats to students/schools or to deny students/teachers access to instructionally-relevant Web-based tools and content?”

Imagine a garden paradise where everywhere you look you find rich, luscious fruit trees (persimmon, pear, apple, etc.), ripe and exploding with flavor. You are told from any tree you may feast but not to taste from the tree at the center of the garden. For if you do all of your innocence will be lost.  Sound familiar? How do you think this story would have turned out if God would have put up a firewall and blocked access to the tree? Would we still be in that garden paradise? Was the fruit made with the purpose to be tasted and inevitably eaten so that we could become aware?

Is it more unethical to allow threats to students, or to deny students access to instructionally relevant content?  Do we push technological advancement into the classroom allowing students to have access to digital media like cell phones and laptops? What if this technology causes disruption? What if students use it to cheat?

If the students are on school provided technology restrictions should be made to restrict access to content that may endanger the system (such as viruses worms). Network ids and passwords for individuals to log-in giving them deferent security privileges is a great way to accomplish this. With cell phones evolving into smart phones to someday growing into just a hand computer that’s awesome and does everything the students will be constantly wired in and free from any blocking. There would be no denying them instructionally relevant material. Content on their devises would only be limited if they were underage and the students parents wanted to password protect and block certain sites based on moral beliefs.  So on their own we can encourage them to grow with out any restrictions.

Ethics should be taught and encouraged on all of these new technologies just the same way we would in teach and encourage students to communicate amongst each other in a group. Not to cheat, not to disrupt, to be good, and respectful of their peers. Technology is the new guy. Accept him.  The bad behaviors of students have always been there.

At my school every student has a brand new Mac laptop and usually on their own they own an iphone, Android, Blackberry, whatever… This is a daily part of my teaching experience and it is exciting that the students have these tools available to complement with their learning. We have to evolve and learn to deal with technologies cause they are coming if they are not already here. Accepting this might make this fruit a bit easier to swallow.

Resources:  

Gunter, G. A., Gunter, R. E., & Shelly, G.B. (2010). Integrating Technology and Digital Media in the Classroom (6^th ed.). United States: Course Technology, Cengage Learning.

http://cpsr.org/issues/ethics/cei/

http://www.mythencyclopedia.com/A-Am/Adam-and-Eve.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persimmon

Rising to the Surface…

While sifting through the World Wide Web for something technology related that assists in educating. I thought I stumbled upon a perfect product, but it turns out it was just a potential good idea that bubbled up. The Microsoft Surface.

The Microsoft Surface is multi-touch computer in the form of a table. Unfortunately it seams as if this product is drowning with the price point being near  $10,000, the unit being on bulky wheels, and being a pc driven by windows. It was unveiled in 2007 but has been sinking in popularity ever since.

It was recently announced by Microsoft researcher Bill Buxton that in three more years the Microsoft Surface would become the size of a sheet of glass. Along with the sleek new design the price would drop to a more economical level. Still no price range has been given. With a competitor like Apple who already has the successful ipad out it makes seeing this product float even more unlikely.

For a moment imagine the possibility of a touch surface the size of a table. My favorite image is a class of elementary students gathered around a table navigating around on it with their hands flying everywhere. It could be a useful product used by artists to design, tables for group work, or interactive desks for the students to sit at.  Interactive surfaces have definite appeal for education I just don’t believe the Microsoft Surface will be the one that rises up.

References:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtKQNwqNLLk

http://www.microsoft.com/surface/en/us/Pages/Product/WhatIs.aspx

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/Bill-Buxton-Microsoft-Research-Microsoft-Surface-Touchscreen-Table-surface,11280.html

http://www.aboutmicrosoftsurface.com/

http://www.i4u.com/39373/microsoft-surface-homes-3-years

Connectivism & Networks

This week I dove further into 21^st century student, the tools that this student will use, and more importantly the theory behind them. 

It started with a read of chapter two in Integrating Technology and Digital Media in the Classroom. I learned about networks, the Internet, and the web.  Then the bomb was dropped when I watched the video The Networked Student by Wendy Drexler. For the first time I learned about Connectivism and its role for the 21^st century student. The connection then came on how wonderfully modern web networks and Connectivism compliment each other.

Networking and the web make the perfect tools for a student of Connectivism.

In the Drexler video the narrator said, “Connectivism is a theory that presumes that learning occurs as part of a social network of many diverse connections and ties.”  It was followed up by saying that the tools were not as important as the connections made by possible by them. 

I had to stop and think about this for a moment until if finally made sense.  Connectivism is making you into a much more proactive learner. Instead of just sitting back and absorbing information like a sponge. You are forced to think and engage in a topic by asking yourself questions and then searching for the answers. When your ideas are organized you can then share your progress for others to reference and build on.

This theory is perfect for this day and age. The Internet facilitates you in this process allowing you to research, reflect, and receive feedback on whatever topic you may be engaged with.

The social networking aspect of the Internet (blogging, tweeting, ext.) makes all of us participants in a networked conversation providing us with many diverse opinions and views. Precisely what Connectivism is based on.

So the tools may change but networks and the World Wide Web are certainly powerful weapons for this theory.

Drexler, W. (2008).  The networked student. Retrieved September 11, 2010, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwM4ieFOotA.

Gunter, G. A., Gunter, R. E., & Shelly, G.B. (2010). Integrating Technology and Digital Media in the Classroom (6^th ed.). United States: Course Technology, Cengage Learning.

The School of the Future

 

So I might be behind the ball a bit.  I was browsing the Internet and found out about Microsoft’s school of the future.  This was an experiment with the school district of Philadelphia joining forces with Microsoft to create a 21^st century learning environment. The first class started in 2006 and recently just graduated. 

This seams like a very interesting experiment on 21^st century learning, but now with its inaugural class graduating I look at this school, and it already seams out of date. Students carrying around big bulky laptops running those stable operating systems of Microsoft.  I hear numbers like 65 million dollars spent and think if that same school was built today how different it would be.

Imagine if Apple Teamed up with a school district and started a school today.  Ipads seam to me like an obvious marriage for education. Having the ability to put all of your textbooks onto it and corresponding supplemental links and video make the ipad ideal for education. Then perhaps all of the ipad application technology could be linked up with the student’s iphones giving them alerts and keeping them on task. The parents then could also receive instant notice on their student’s progress.

This is the challenge with integrating technology. Picture that class of the new Apple School of the Future in four years, and what technologies will then need to be updated.

Technology is ever changing so should our ability to incorporate it. 

 Reference: 

Microsoft, (2010) School of the Future: Microsoft Education September 7, 2010, http://www.microsoft.com/education/schoolofthefuture/  

Activity Reflection EME5050 - Swimmin in the WWW

To write this activity reflection first I must dig myself out of this pile of post it notes listing information and relevant educational sites. This process of searching for educationally relevant material can be a time consuming black hole with each page of relevant data pushing you ever further into the never ending abyss of the web.  The shear amount of information available is mesmerizing but at the same time can make one feel a bit overwhelmed.

My first jump off of the springboard put me smack dab in the middle of Google for Educators. A rich environment of information and integration of certain web tools for the classroom. I learned what it means to be a Google certified teacher, discovered Googles book search, and read about how Google Earth could excite a classroom.  This was just the tip of the iceberg there was enough information here to provide a multitude of ideas for integration of technology into the classroom. So I bookmarked it and moved on.

After swimming around in the land of Google for a good several hours I dried myself off and took a dip in AwesomeLibrary.org. Here I could search for a topic and it would provide me with lists, multimedia, lesson plans, and papers on whatever topic I was interested in from Iraq to the history of the blues. It seamed each site I dove into would give me just a little bit more. Teach-nology.com for example had worksheets, lesson plans, even rubrics available on a variety of topics. I found that these websites were invaluable tools that could aid in ones teaching. Again making sure to have these references for later they were added to my bookmarks. I even sent a link to a peer via Facebook.

Another category of sites that I found was based on information of the schools themselves on a state-by-state and district-by-district level. I did find it interesting that when I was searching through the states education department links that Florida’s site seamed to offer so much more for the educators, students, and parents. There were links to helpful information for all parties. Apposed to Indiana’s website that seamed to be based around standardized testing and where every school was ranked based on those tests. Then when I visited Connecticut’s website there was not much to it at all just very basic links with information. The information found on the Orange County public school district website was informative on the school and local level showing hours, weekly lunch menus, and when and where board meetings were to be held.

As you can see the web offers a vast amount of information on every level that can help aid educators, students, and parents. The most difficult part of this process is sifting through all of the information and targeting your searches.  This exercise has now convinced me to keep record of some of these more useful sites by bookmarking them into my favorites and by posting some of these links to social networking sites for my peers to be aware of. If i can manage to keep up with this process of storing and documenting relevant websites hopefully this will be the last time i dig myself out of this post-it note pile!

The dawning of the digital language.

Growing up in school I remember painstakingly constructing sentences. Labeling nouns, using proper punctuation, making sure the right tense was used. It seamed like the English language that I was perfecting was a very delicate science.  The science behind the spelling of certain words to this day baffles me.

We would go through the creation of a letters, where to put the greetings and how to appropriately end. Writing papers had a very curtain structure that had to be adhered to the most precise of details or else one would not pass the class!  Now it seams like I send very few of those letters or write those papers, but I do send emails, write in blogs, and text nearly every day.

With so many people texting, blogging, and emailing it seams like we have begun to move into a new digital communication world.  A less formal world with emoticons and short hand like lol. The question that I pose then is has there been a standard developed for these new means of digital communication and how could it be ignored from being addressed inside of a classroom?

“Are we doing what is best for our students, or are we doing what is most convenient for us?”

 

It’s a simple question that Dr. Mcleod poses on his blog. 

Ultimately and ideally it should be a balance of both.  If doing the best for our students requires tasks that are problematic or just plan inconvenient for the instructor how can we expect the instructor to perform at an optimal level? This in return trickles back down to the student and will most certainly affect their performance and comprehension. Happy energetic teachers inspire and push students to learn.  Frustrated impatient teachers can push a child away from learning all together.

The Flip side of this argument is that we cannot just let convenience dictate how we are to educate. Convenience may make us more comfortable but there is a fine and delicate line where convenience can cross over into laziness.  As educators we are role models. That makes it our responsibility to promote life long learning, and the best way to do this is by example.

Now in respects to the current educational structure and the dawning of the digital student it is time for some change.  The educational system has fallen behind the ball on crossing into the digital age.  The audio industry has made this change from recording on old analog reel to reels to now going strait to a hard drives. Film now as crossed into this world by changing to HD digital cameras, the newspaper print industry is now moving towards the world wide web.  This video from Karl Fisch shows our new dawning into this digital age.

So, it does seam the educational system needs to update and join this digital revolution. The proper way to do this is to work with our teachers and encourage their growth as well. Making a priority toward proper training and instruction of our teachers and doing our best to make the transition smooth and as convenient as possible.