Embracing the Common Cause Advocating for Ed Tech

Summary: Educational Technology seems with this digital age and 21st century skills needed for the work force a mandatory part of schools and education. However some schools are doing away with this content area. Educational technologists, teachers and advocates are now trying and attempting to make this content area a mandatory and necessary subject area within schools. This article provides ways to keep educational technology with in schools and how to advocate for it properly. It provides the basis explanation and ideas from the ISTE’s advocacy toolkit and Ed Tech Action Network. One way, to help advocate for technology in schools is to know your technology, being able to back it up by understanding it and how it aids in learning. Another way to help would be to make connections with administrators and if needed at the state level with legislators and teach them about the importance of educational technology. It is even easier to get to the national level because of the resources are out there to get in touch with House of Representative or a Senator and see where they side on education related issues. Having a good knowledge of the subject and putting effort into your advocacy will make your case for educational technology that much better. This article helps educators and advocates help aid their process in fighting for educational technology.

Reflection: This is a great article that helps all educators who are fighting with their administration, state or even at the national level for educational technology within schools. I do feel that technology within the classroom is vital. Even though right now pursuing my masters in educational technology I would have to agree and be happy to have read this article but technology is such an integral part in a student’s life. Students grow up to day and not having a cell phone or an ipod is seen as non-existent. Student’s sometimes are more knowledgeable about the technology they we are. So if schools, the state or the country are rejecting the notion of educational technology then how can we all learn these new tools in ways to learn and develop our minds. I feel if we don’t have technology in schools then it will be looked at as a negative and the jobs that are out there in the IT world aren’t going to be fulfilled by people who have the skill set needed. I hope that with this resources and many others can have help advocate for educational technologies.

Reference: Roland, J.(2006). Embracing the common cause Advocating for ED tech. Learning and Leading with Technology. 33(5), 10-13.

Power of the Mashup

Summary: The Power of Mashup, is an article that was published in Learning and Leading with Technology. This article is about “the power of mash-up,” which is a combination of an application and other sources to create something new. Examples of the power of mash-up would be Google Lit Trips and iHistory Podcast Project. Jerome Burg who now is a retired teacher created the Google Lit Trips. In his class he combined character study in literature with using the application Google Earth. Therefore his students were able to go on virtual field trips with the character they were studying. This tool was found to help with students visual learning and accomplish an appreciation for stories they have read. Nowadays Jerome Burg has dedicated himself to sharing this idea and many other ones with other educators. Another example provided in this article was by teacher David Briggs which he created the IHistory Podcast Project. This project is used in his history class where he had students reflections put into a podcast. Students seemed to have found this project to be fun and exciting cause they are allowed to use their ipods or mp3 players. Also discussed in this article are crucial learning functions that are abled to be accomplished through these types of lessons, which are; ubiquity, deep learning, making this visible and discussable, students expressing themselves and their ideas, building a community, collaboration, research, project management and reflection. This idea of combining a technology application with other sources can open up major eyes of students and help aid in their learning process.

Reflection: This idea of a power mash-up seems really intuitive and exciting for lessons. It can help a unit that I am teaching to go from boring to more engaging. I feel the more engaged a student is in the lesson the more they want to learn. I know that the act of wanting to learn is rare in classrooms, but just having the majority of the students engaged in the lesson can change the classroom environment and learning experience. The iHistory Podcast Project and Google Lit trip are just a basis to have other educators learn new ways to use the Internet in the classroom. I truly believe being a teacher is about providing creativeness to the classroom these Teachers are great pioneers in integrating technology and using their creativeness within their own classroom. One drawback that I could see happening is not having the support by administration to use such technology tools in the school or having the equipment to perform these lessons.

Reference:Boss, S. & Krauss J. (2007) Power of the Mashup. Learning & Leading With Technology, 35(1), 12-17.

Technology Integration

Summary: Technology Integration is an article found in Learning and Leading with Technology. In this article it explains resources that aid in integrating technology into a classroom environment. An example of this would be the U.S. Department of Education which ran a program called R*Tec, regional technology in education consortia. This programs offered resources, professional development and technical support in high schools, middle schools and elementary schools. Also provided in this article were website resources. Some examples of the web resources described in this article are 4teachers.org, the ATEC website, wested.org and ETLCO website. The 4teachers.org website provides free online tools and resources for teachers. The ATEC (atec.org) is a site that is considered a teacher’s handbook. It provides teachers with how to use technology within the classroom. The website Wested.org aids with and focuses on how technology will help support good teaching. ETLCO (edtechleaders.org) offers instruction for faculty, administrators, staff and students at all levels from beginner to advanced.

Reflection: This article is great for helping teachers, administrators and staff can see what is out there. Also it gives a good brief background on the websites as well. I agree that technology should be integrated with classroom teaching, but there is definitely more to it than providing resources. I was expecting how schools are going into integrating technology. These resources provided were very helpful though. As teachers integrating technology is just another task that will be a necessity for teachers to do in order to have lessons that are engaging and provide students with 21st century skills that are needed. I feel that there is no way teacher integration can happen so quick and easy, however I do feel that with dedicated educators and staff and with great resources it can occur in a fashion that is easy.

Reference: Merillat, L.(2007). Technology Integration. Learning and Leading with Technology, 34(6). 20 – 24.

Nailing Digital Jelly to a Virtual Tree

Summary: This article written by Kathy Schrock and Ferdi Serim explains how ISTE created an Emerging Technologies Task Force (ET) to help educators, school districts and staff with deciding if a new technology to them is right for their school or learning environment. An emerging technology is expressed throughout the article as a virtual tree and the challenges are the digital jelly hence the title of the article. The ET is an online database. The way data is collected is through grade level, size of district and type of network connections. This can allow the users of the ET to search for an emerging technology that fits the user’s demographic. The definition for an emerging technology within this database is one that is not widely in use or widely known. This means that an emerging technology for one school isn’t right for another. The way an emerging technology is looked at is by three different components organizational capacity, process management, and operational capacity. Organizational capacity discusses the amount of human resources and professional development needed for the technology. Process Management is about the tools used by the technology for teaching and learning (i.e. literacy tools, creativity tools). Operational capacity gives users an idea of other items needed to make it work, like network security or data management. The challenges that arise in this article are how can these emerging technologies be used? How long will it take from time implemented to adoption of technology? This database has broken up these emerging technologies into sub-categories to better understand what each is and what the technology is capable of doing. These categories are social networking, mobile phones, virtual worlds, user-generated content, new scholarship and emerging forms of publication and massively multiplayer educational gaming. These categories help users distinguish what type of technology they are looking for and what is out there for them. It seems that this database is helping schools decide and decipher which emerging technology is worth their money.

Reflection: It seems emerging technology can be very useful for school districts but also really overwhelming to decide which should be chosen to be used and which shouldn’t. I feel that this Emerging Technology Task Force created is a great tool that can be used by all educators. It seems through this article the way everything is broken up and even the technology itself if a school district or an educator themselves is looking for a new emerging technology to use then can read reviews, feedback, professional development needs, types of network needs and etc. However to get a better understanding of the ET I would have really liked to have navigated through this database myself.

References: Schrock, AuthorK., & Serim, F. (2007-08). Nailing digital jelly to a virtual tree Tracking emerging technologies for learning. Learning and Leading with Technology. 35(4), 12-16.

The New Gold Rush by Ferdi Serim

Summary: Online learning seems to be leading the new way of teaching. When discussing educational technology “online learning is the fastest growing segment.” Hence why in this article Ferdi Serim references online learning as, “the new gold rush.” This article explains ways to benefit from online learning as well as research that can help teaching institute learn to introduce online learning. Serim explains how the idea of replacing highly skilled and talented teaching professionals with scripted content as a way to reduce cost and/or help profits is the worst way to approach online learning. Serim’s ways to best navigate to successful online learning is through the use of research and best practices, evaluate offerings using research, and prepare for a long jouney. The way the use of research and best practices is explained by using research it is shown that if you partner highly talented educators with online facilitators they can help mold these educators into great online teachers. While the online-facilitators can experience and learn more specific teaching materials needed for online learning. To evaluate offerings using research Serim explains that , understanding and evaluating online programs requires understanding the stakeholders position.” The main issues with these policies are cost and benefits. When discussing the long journey aspect of online learning, Serim discusses a story of a Magnet school in New Mexico that once their facility was built it was extremely beneficial especially for students who where considered at high risk to drop out. In conclusion Serim’s believes,” that by applying these lessons, you can confidently embark on your voyage into online learning, helping your students learn in new ways never before possible.”

Reflection: The idea of online learning as the new gold rush seems much more prevalent in the University or College setter than in high school and/or elementary school. I feel that there is a barrier with online learning and the absence of human presence and one on one interaction can be missed and needed for various learners. I feel it can also depend on the specific learner. Ferdi Serim brought up some great arguments within this journal article about how if properly executed an online school can be beneficial to learners and useful. This statement I don’t completely disagree with. I feel however that it can really beneficial to the right group. In a rural area, a student who needs to move at their own pace, or a student who is unable to attend school an online school solution can be a fantastic idea. However I feel school should be about interactions face to face, collaboration, exposing students to diversity, and social. I feel these aspects are completely lost within an online school setting.

Reference: Serim, F. (2007).The new gold rush. Learning & Leading with Technology. 34(2), 12-16.

Helpful Hints for Successful 1 to 1 Computing by Paul Wurster

Summary: School districts around the United States are using various ways to implement a computer for each student and use it as a tool for the whole school year. 1 to 1 computing is a way this can occur. 1 to 1 computing is when each student in the class is given a laptop and teachers and students use the laptop for all subjects and all day during the school to learn as an aid. This article by Paul Wurster discusses the helpful ways to implement this idea of 1 to 1 learning in a school district using school districts in Oregon as a background. He explains that various school districts introduced 1 to 1 computing gradually and with a plan. Whether it is a 5-year plan or a 2-year plan. Also adding a laptop to each student becomes expensive when considering, software, upkeep, technical problems, professional development programs, added staff and training. Ways to help with training and professional development are that some school districts have adopted a 45 minutes training before school, district-wide custom training, on-site workshop and mobile labs. A drawback to all this training is that the availability of the technology needs to be at these teacher’ hands right away. For example Apple provided the La Mar school District in Oregon with a workshop on Imovie, however there were no digital camcorders readily available for the teachers to use. Therefore the teachers lost their Imovie skills that they learned. Another major issue is to keep up with software and technical difficulties. Some instructional technologist have implemented the use of a problem map so that faculty, students and staff know where to go for that specific problem. Another idea that the Eugene and Springfield districts used was onsite tech support. It seems that 1 to 1 computing is doable and can be done. It just takes a lot of work and good knowledge and ideas learned from other schools that have been through it or are going through it.

Reflection: The idea of 1 to 1 computing seems like an ideal situation for all schools. Having to have a laptop computer for each student, for his or her own academic studies would be wonderful. It seems extremely time consuming, and having teachers who want to be involved with this type of learning would be fantastic. However I don’t feel that every school district has teachers who are all passionate and ready to change their ways of teaching. I know from my own personal experience of teaching in two different school districts, they have been complete opposite packages of teachers. One school is very into change and new ways to aid student’s engagement and the other is to concerned with teaching to the test and no need for collaboration. This idea of 1 to 1 computing supports the key elements of the Electronic Educational Village, 21st century skills and meaningful learning by having teachers think about their lessons they are giving and learning along the way with their students so that both parties are learning together. This program of 1 to 1 computing can help with; natural partnerships, collaborating, digital aged thinking and much more. I don’t feel that this program would be successful in a school district that don’t have teachers who are always willing to change and improve their teaching. I feel though this article was really helpful for those schools who were deciding that if this would be the right fit for them and if they are willing to put all this work into 1 to 1 computing.

Reference: Wurster, P. (2006-07).Helpful Hints for successful 1 to 1 computing. Learning & Leading with Technology. 34(4), 12-17.

Blog 6

In Childhood Education there was an article entitled, “Discover the Technology Potential of Video Conferencing.” In this article Nancy Bryant discussed the positive use of CU-SeeMe technology. This technology allows classrooms from coast to coast to get connected together using video conferencing. Students and teachers can work collaboratively on projects, exchange classroom practices, engage in conversations about books and lessons, or share interdisciplinary classroom products. The way the CU-SeeMe technology works is that in two different classroom using FTP connected to gated.cornell.edu or ~p.classroom.net. Both users however need to use the CU-SeeMe equipment. This can be a drawback in schools are unable to have this equipment available.

5 Disciplines:

Personal Mastery – The potential for students to reach an academic high by interacting and communicating with students from a different classroom using video conferencing

Mental Models - Students can combine cultures and societal differences in collaborative work through the use of video conferencing with CU-SeeMe technology.

Systems Thinking – Both classrooms and equipment need to work together in order for collaboration, communication and interaction to occur with both classrooms.

Shared Vision – Both classes have the common goal of collaborating using the CU-SeeMe equipment.

Team Learning- This will occur through the interactions and teachings happening via Video Conferencing.

Reference: CWPost Library.

Bryant, N., Merenda, R., and Williams, S. (2000). Discover the Technology Potential of Video Conferencing. 76, 5; Discovery. Pg 316H

Blog 5

The “You are There” Initiative is a project and practice used by the University of North Florida. It allows pre-service teachers to watch and observe a master in-service teacher at work within their own classroom. This observation occurs when one class of the pre-service teacher and their professor meet and connect with the first grade classroom the master in-service teacher is in. All is observed via the internet through the use of video conferencing. The “You are There” Initiative allows professors and students to observe a classroom together and can comment while watching a live classroom feed. The professor can comment on the teachers’ reactions to students and allow helpful hints for the pre-service students to use in their own practice. Examples that occurred while the professor and the pre-service teachers watched the class was when comparing two classes they can observe and conclude how long each lesson should take, how to deal with the unexpected visitor or guest, how long should student’s work independently, what made that lesson worth teaching again, and etc. All these observations and conclusions are all happening while it is live and can be discussed after class. This “You are There” Initiative allows pre-service teachers, get to watch a classroom with their own master critic, their professor. The equipment cost for this program for the both elementary schools using it was $20,000. This can be expensive for some schools, but it also can be worth it, to allow collaboration of higher education students and elementary students work together via internet and video conferencing.

5 Disciplines:

Systems Thinking- The university students, professor and the elementary classroom all were able to work together in order to place good and bad ways to deal with real life situations happening in a classroom live.

Personal Mastery- Individual pre-service teachers were able to reach their potential of acting in the right manner and way when teaching their own lessons by having observed a live classroom via video conferencing with their professor critiquing.

Mental Models- The staff, faculty, students and classroom all were able to see how society and culture played a role in the live classroom feed as well as in the discussions about classroom management and lessons.

Shared Vision- This was to create an optimal observation experience that all would benefit from
Team learning- While the classroom, faculty, professors and higher ed students were all involved, everyone was learning teaching skills, learning skills and management skills together.

Reference: CW Post Library

Van Horn, R. (1999). The ‘You are There’ Initiative. From Technology, Retrieved April 20, 2007.

Blog 4

In an article, “Video Conferencing as a tool to link colleges of education with K-12 Schools: A P3T3 Project Initiative,” by James Lehman and Rabih Razzouk explains how distance education technologies can offer capabilities that can will better students who are becoming teachers. The use of video will help diversify classroom settings that are being observed and introduce enhanced technology that is being used outside the usual classroom settings be observed in the usual observation setting. The P3T3 project (Purdue Program for Preparing Tomorrow’s Teachers to use Technology) is using video conferencing to connect university students who are studying education with K-12 classrooms and students. This would usually occur through a traditional field placement setting. The P3T3 project uses high quality inexpensive video conferencing equipment that is used over the internet. The equipment used in Polycom, which makes classroom to classroom and computer based equipment that can be used on a desktop. The room to room system can allow up to 4 sites to be connected with one another. This can even be thought to be used in another area of collaborating classrooms across the world or nation. ViaVideo another system produced; by Polycom is a windows-based system that allows file sharing, whiteboard, chat, and file transfer plus video conferencing. With the use of any technology there are setbacks. The setbacks found so far are interference with the school’s firewall, video conferencing requires high bandwidth (128Kbps) this is a lot of space and memory and network traffic and high use can cause interruptions and connection failure.

5 Disciplines:

Systems Thinking- The system as a whole needs to work together. In order for the university students and the K-12 classrooms to be able to observe and communicate with each other.

Personal Mastery- For the University student, who is studying education, to be able to learn from their observation experience using the new technology and observing the distance K-12 classroom

Mental Models-With the assumption of Purdue being set in a rural area, Purdue Education students were able to experience new technology and observe a more diverse K-12 classroom through the implementation of the P3T3 project.

Shared Vision- The student and the K-12 classroom learn from each other. This can occur by communicating and observing one another, through video conferencing and the Polycom system.

Team Learning- Through the creation of an opportunity with the K-12 Classroom, and the University Students using video conferencing both groups will learn from one another and the experience.

Reference: Lehman, J. and Razzouk, R. (2003) Video Conferencing as a tool to link colleges of education with K-12 Schools: A P3T3 Project Initiative: April 20, 2007, from Purdue University.

Website: http://p3t3.soe.purdue.edu/SITE_3.pdf

Blog 3

Field experience by a pre-service teacher is a major part of study when learning how to become a teacher. This field experience can be very time consuming due to traveling that getting in the amount of observation hours required is tough for some students. In an article by James Lehman and Jennifer Richardson entitled, “ Virtual Field Experience: Helping Pre-service Teachers Learn about Diverse Classrooms through Video Conferencing Connections with K-12 Classrooms,” they explore the possibility of field experience being conducted through the use of video conferencing. It was found through their research that this method of using video conferencing was beneficial for the pre-service teachers it helped them learn from their observations, introduce educational technology and provide them with diverse classrooms. The limitations and setbacks that were discovered with the use of video conferencing use for field placement were; audio and/or video difficulty, school filters and firewalls, and lack of face to face contact and presence. The idea of video conferencing is great for schools and universities to use when the setting of them is in a rural area or a non-diverse area. The use of the internet and video conferencing observations allows those pre-service teachers to become part of a classroom setting that is different by being diversified and not like just the classrooms around the university. This project took place at Purdue University after several years of trying to figure out what ways can allow their pre-service teachers a diverse setting for field placement. There were two different types of video conferencing used in this project; the first being Class to Class via video conferencing, the second was small group instruction via personal video conferencing. Even though as discussed before their were strengths and limitations using this tool of educational technology the pre-service teacher became apart of a diverse classroom while being in a rural area of Indiana.

5 Disciplines

Personal Mastery: In this discipline students were able to reach their potential in observing classrooms by being able to observe a variety of classrooms. These classrooms being diverse which helps them become prepared for teaching, instead of just observing the rural classrooms around Purdue.

Systems Thinking- This was obtained by having the pre-service teachers interact with the classrooms or small groups. Both evaluated this process and work together to achieve the goal of getting the experience in a diverse classroom.

Mental Models- This was achieved through being involved in an urban classroom through video conferencing and being able to experience the different culture and ethnicities that are within an urban classroom setting.

Shared Vision- This is occurred with the Urban Classrooms involved, the administration, the pre-service teacher and the technology staff.

Team Learning- By the use of video conferencing and getting linked together with the pre-service teachers and the urban classrooms allows both parties to learn and create opportunities for new experiences.

References: Lehman, J. and Richardson, J. (2003). Virtual Field Experiences: Helping Pre-Service Teachers Learn about Diverse Classrooms through Video Conferencing Connections with K-12 Classroom Retrieved: April 20, 2007, from Purdue University website

Website: http://p3t3.soe.purdue.edu/EdMedia2003_Videolong.pdf

Blog 2 - Spring 2007

Video Conferencing is becoming more available for schools and education when distance learning is occurring. In an article entitled, “ The Effectiveness of Interactive Distance Education Technologies in K-12 Learning: A Meta-Analysis,” Catherine Cavanaugh researched the use of video conferencing on distance learning and the effects it has on learning different content areas. The results that were found concluded that distance learning can be enhanced and is just as comparable to traditional learning with the enhancement of the use of technology. Also, between subject area, grade level and class there was found to be no difference in performance among students. Furthermore the use of technologies such as video conferencing and various telecommunications can enhance, complement and expand options for students especially among students of the secondary grade level. Cavanaugh further explains that enhancements such as video conferencing and telecommunications can help teachers and classroom environments achieve authentication with subject matter. Now that education has turned to becoming reality based learning, in order for learners to be prepared for the real world.

5 disciplines:
Personal Mastery: This was achieved in this study by having the students set goals with contacting and communicating with each other and teachers through different technologies in order to achieve an academic performance they themselves were striving to achieve.
Shared Vision- The shared vision was for academic achievement, enhancement and learning to occur through distance learning by using the new technology tools that the students, staff and faculty were given. This was achieved by placing the students in an authenticate setting and having them explore themselves and by communicating with each other to reach a common goal.
Team Learning – This occurred with the collaborations that students were given, the small groups and discussions that lessons, units and learning was planned around using video conferencing, telecommunications and a variety of other technologies.

References: Cavanaugh, C. et al. (2001). The Effectiveness of Interactive Distance Education Technologies in K-12 Learning: A Meta-Analysis. Retrieved: April 20, 2007, from UNF International Journal of Education Telecommunications

Website: http://www.unf.edu/~ccavanau/CavanaughIJET01.pdf

Blog # 1 Spring 2007

Video conferencing can be used in a variety of ways through education with the emphasis on collaboration. In an article published in Educational Technology and Society in 2000 entitled, “The Virtual School: An integrated collaborative environment for the classroom,” is about the Learning in Networked Communtities project by Virginia Tech and the type of collaborative activities they use. An example is in a collaborative science research project the use of video conferencing with other group members as well as mentors, and peer mentoring. Video conferencing was a good way to see the reliability of other group members. Also able to show how collaborative work actually works, like a robot being made or a models progress. I feel that video conferencing is useful and can be a great way for remote participants in the classroom to be involved. Also it can be used to communicate with other classes and their ideas and methods.

Write on Time by Kristen Kennedy

Technology and Learning November 2006 Review article

To become a good writer in any setting it takes practice, feedback, and being a good reader. Kristen Kennedy reviewed three different writing programs (WriteToLearn, Vantage Learning’s MyAcess! And Criterion) and wrote about it in the November 2006 issue of Technology and Learning. Kennedy explains that these three new software programs steer away from anticipated red pen marks made by teachers by using tutorials and having a revise, and resubmit format. However, I would think that this is true when writing without the use of the software, except the red pen. The programs offer assessment tools for the teacher to narrow down what ideas and areas the class as whole needs to focus on as well as the individual student. These programs also provide access for the student to view their own assessment process.
WriteToLearn, allows students to focuse on reading comprehension and summarizing skills. Some benefits of this program are its variety of essays to choose from, tutorials, and revision through multiple choice. The drawbacks of this program are spelling errors are weighted heavily, revision editing on your own is very limited and assessment scorecards are difficult to understand. Another program that Kennedy reviewed was Vantage Learning My Access! seems to be more accurate with grading and errors. When Kennedy submitted a student’s essay the program picked up errors but also acknowledge how well written the piece was and grading was emphasized more on style, organization skills than spelling and grammar. ETS Criterion was rated by kennedy as being easy to use and very similar to Access! With all three of these programs it can put a new angle of learning for learners who are focusing on writing skills in class. However , it can also be seen as frustrating for students with the little mishaps that all three programs still have. I feel it is a good idea for schools to use, because a student being able to see their own assessment is a really beneficial especially in the writing process. I hope to see these programs to become more sophisticated.

Kennedy, Kristen (2006). Write on Time. Technology and Learning. December 2, 2006. http://www.techlearning.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=193700228

The Workforce Readiness Crisis by S. McLester and Todd McIntire

In the November 2006 Technology and Learning the review article entitled “The Workforce Readiness Crisis,” explained how education will need to change in order for graduates to be able to adapt better to the working world of America. In the beginning of the article it explains that throughout the history of the United States education prepared graduates for the workforce by giving them skills that they will utilize within work (McLester et. al 2006). Education now is being questioned because the skills needed in order to work are not being taught and graduates are not prepared for working. The skills needed that are lacking from recent graduates are creativity, professionalism, work ethic, oral communication, combination of basic skills and applied, and knowledge of foreign languages (McLester et al 2006). I feel as though this article is a good reflection on what will come in the change of curriculum in education. It seems as though literacy to me has been such an emphasis in the curriculum. I also believe changing the curriculum will be hard especially in the state of New York because the curriculum is based around the regents test, which eliminate critical thinking, and creativity due to its standardized test.

McLester, S. & McIntire, T. (2006). The workforce readiness crisis. Technology and
Learning. Retrieved November 8, 2006, from http://www.techlearning.com/