Please share any additional thoughts on 1:1 or grade level introduction in the comment section below. I would love to hear any and all explanations.
Starting at what grade is 1-to-1 devices important and appropriate?
Showing posts with label EdTech 537. Show all posts
Showing posts with label EdTech 537. Show all posts
Saturday, August 6, 2016
When is 1:1 appropriate?
Devices can be important for student engagement, creativity, and personalized learning. However, students need to be developmentally ready to engage with technology in a meaningful and productive way. With many districts looking to adopt a 1-to-1 device model as resources are reallotted, at what grade do you think this program should be introduced?
Please share any additional thoughts on 1:1 or grade level introduction in the comment section below. I would love to hear any and all explanations.
Please share any additional thoughts on 1:1 or grade level introduction in the comment section below. I would love to hear any and all explanations.
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Wednesday, July 27, 2016
Examining Generational Differences
Digital Natives: Has technology fundamentally changed how students learn?
As the newest generation goes through school, often teachers will indicate that students are fundamentally different than they once were. They explain that students have been changed by technologies and that they learn differently because they are "digital natives" and always have been. In the article Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants, author Prensky agrees with this idea that "today's students are no longer the people our educational system was designed to teach" (2001, pg. 1). However, the problem with this is two-fold. First, it negates the idea of researched educational learning theories and secondly it ignores that fact that not all students have equal access or exposure to technologies in a productively meaningful way.
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| "Outdoors" by Gruhn is licensed by CC BY 2.0 |
How students learn has been widely researched and the idea that students are individuals with unique learning styles and intelligences should not be thrown out the window even as the newest generation comes to school with technology awareness. The theory of constructionism has been around for awhile, but connectivism is increasingly important as a learning theory as students very obviously learn through interaction, collaboration, and interest. With increased educational technologies so must research into learning theories continue so that teachers can best understand how to increase learning with the added value of technologies. And of course it is important to understand that value must be added and tools should never be used as novelties with no purpose.
And while it is true that students today have been living in a world where technologies have always been available, it isn't true that technologies have always been made available to them. And beyond the equality of availability is equity of usage and experience. Students need to learn how to use and manipulate technologies for creation purposes rather than as consumers alone. Teachers will always be needed as a means to deliver and facilitate high-quality instruction for students to build their 21st-century skills.
This post is in response to a post by Michael Barbour.
References
Prensky, M. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants – Part II: Do they really think differently? On the Horizon, 9(6). Retrieved from http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.pdf
McKenzie, J. (2007). Digital nativism: Digital delusions and digital deprivation. From Now On, 17(2). Retrieved from http://fno.org/nov07/nativism.html
Sunday, July 24, 2016
Guest Blogger Entry: Tech in the Elementary Classroom
This guest blog entry was written by Melissa Guillen who is the Resident Principal with AppleTree Early Learning in Washington, DC. Melissa was previously a bilingual teacher at an elementary school within DCPS. She is originally from Peru and is passionate about bilingual education.
What does student engagement mean? Does it occur when students pay attention? Does it mean students are on task? In my third year of teaching I was fortunate to have differentiated Professional Development; this meant, I could choose an area of focus based on my needs and prior knowledge.
Our school hired a Technology Instructional Coach that year, and although we had been provided SMART Boards the year before, to most us, the interactive white boards, microphones & iPads looked like foreign objects that we could use, but not to their maximum potential.
I chose Technology Instructional Coaching because being a teacher at a Title 1 school in an urban setting, I saw the remarkable differences on how wealthier children interacted with technology in meaningful ways throughout their educational days and our students had begun to think of technology as solely a tool for play. I wanted to provide the same opportunities for meaningful interactions with technology to my students, I had the tools, it was my duty to put them to action to achieve Educational Equity.
I had slowly self-taught myself how to use the smartboard, but I had not taught my students how to meaningfully interact with this amazing tool to own their learning. During my instructional technology coaching I learned how to use the Smartboard as an independent student-led center for both language arts and math (in English and Spanish) and then the magic started happening.
Many questions raced through my head: How do I keep the students from fighting about who gets to solve a problem first? How can they self-correct their work? Will they be able to get unstuck if they get stuck or will I be hearing multiple requests for help as I do guided reading? There is a big difference between using a smartboard for play and using it in a well-structure manner to grow in your learning. This is something that needs to be explicitly taught to students.
My concerns were put at ease with these systems implemented and I witnessed meaningful student engagement. Our Smartboard was not meant for playing without purpose, technology helped us learn, this is what empowered educated adults know and this is what every student deserves to experience regardless of his or her zip code.
We even had a local high school create stools so that the students could reach the smartboard with more ease. Now I know, that this is what high student engagement looks and feels like, let the magic begin!
This guest blog entry was written by Melissa Guillen who is the Resident Principal with AppleTree Early Learning in Washington, DC. Melissa was previously a bilingual teacher at an elementary school within DCPS. She is originally from Peru and is passionate about bilingual education.
To my dear teachers- Para mis queridos maestros:
Our school hired a Technology Instructional Coach that year, and although we had been provided SMART Boards the year before, to most us, the interactive white boards, microphones & iPads looked like foreign objects that we could use, but not to their maximum potential.
I chose Technology Instructional Coaching because being a teacher at a Title 1 school in an urban setting, I saw the remarkable differences on how wealthier children interacted with technology in meaningful ways throughout their educational days and our students had begun to think of technology as solely a tool for play. I wanted to provide the same opportunities for meaningful interactions with technology to my students, I had the tools, it was my duty to put them to action to achieve Educational Equity.
I had slowly self-taught myself how to use the smartboard, but I had not taught my students how to meaningfully interact with this amazing tool to own their learning. During my instructional technology coaching I learned how to use the Smartboard as an independent student-led center for both language arts and math (in English and Spanish) and then the magic started happening.
Many questions raced through my head: How do I keep the students from fighting about who gets to solve a problem first? How can they self-correct their work? Will they be able to get unstuck if they get stuck or will I be hearing multiple requests for help as I do guided reading? There is a big difference between using a smartboard for play and using it in a well-structure manner to grow in your learning. This is something that needs to be explicitly taught to students.
STEPS TO SUCCESS:
- Using removable hanging hooks and turn taking cards solved the issue of who would go first, a list took care of ensuring each player had a fair turn.
- The team captain passes out a dry erase marker and a dry erase board to each team member to make sure they perform the smartboard exercise along with the person doing the exercise in the smartboard.
- Students put their boards up when they are done, this serves a dual purpose: The smartboard student is able to check his/her work using the dry erase boards of their team members while also ensuring that their team members have performed the exercise correctly, bam!
My concerns were put at ease with these systems implemented and I witnessed meaningful student engagement. Our Smartboard was not meant for playing without purpose, technology helped us learn, this is what empowered educated adults know and this is what every student deserves to experience regardless of his or her zip code.
We even had a local high school create stools so that the students could reach the smartboard with more ease. Now I know, that this is what high student engagement looks and feels like, let the magic begin!
This guest blog entry was written by Melissa Guillen who is the Resident Principal with AppleTree Early Learning in Washington, DC. Melissa was previously a bilingual teacher at an elementary school within DCPS. She is originally from Peru and is passionate about bilingual education.
Wednesday, July 20, 2016
Slack for Chemists: How about teachers too?
Recently DC's own Chemical & Engineering News wrote about how the messenger app, Slack, has improved communication inside the inner workings of a chemistry lab at the University of Michigan. Students and advisors alike mentioned how the app improved workflow as email had become cumbersome amongst colleagues.Slack allows colleagues to interact within chat groups based on topic and group members. Different projects can have their own channel - this allows a running thread of conversation rather than a continuous back and forth through tons of reply-alls in the email setting.
This got me thinking that this sort of flow of conversation could be amazing in an educational setting, especially amongst co-teachers. As projects are planned, lessons are designed or everyday tasks are delineated amongst co-teachers a platform to carry on these constant conversations could be very beneficial. Slack allows for a number of integrations such as Google Drive and Calendar and lets users share pdf files, images, documents etc. This integration could create an ease in co-teacher planning across the school and amongst a co-teaching team or grade level. Time is precious and sitting down to plan multiple subjects with multiple people can at times prove to be impossible, however, with Slack, groups could stay connected as ideas are shared digitally. And with the organization of conversations by class period, projects, subjects - however, the team deems applicable - teams may gain back valuable time!
How about you? Are you already using Slack in an education setting? Read the C&EN article below to see how labs teams have already benefited.
Slack creates more connection without being more intrusive.
—T. Ben Britton, materials scientist, Imperial College London
ICYMI: How #Slack is helping chemists manage their labs https://t.co/7Yt3LhOtoB pic.twitter.com/8JM3HntM2q— C&EN (@cenmag) July 19, 2016
Tuesday, July 12, 2016
Early Childhood: A Balanced Approach
We want to be thoughtful about introducing technology to the analog sort of play that kids engage in so naturally and beautifully and get so much out of. We need to ask, what’s the added value?There is much research and debate on the affects of technology and screen-time on young learners. Blended Learning Programs can be very individualized and can arguably be a hindrance to peer-to-peer interaction. We do have kindergarten students using a blended learning math program, but not in PreK. Early childhood educators have very strong opinions on whether or not to integrate technology at a young age and for what purpose. While there are some products that seem to marry the digital with the tactile such as Tiggly and Osmo, the question still remains is there a place for technology in the early childhood classroom?
Elizabeth Rood, vice president of education strategy, Bay Area Discovery Museum
What is technology's role in early childhood education?
Voice Thread in ECE
Technology Resources for Early Childhood Learning
Five-Year Olds And Laser Cuttersperfect Together? Welcome To The First Early Childhood Fab Lab https://t.co/nAI5dMsXe0 Cool #makered— JackieGerstein Ed.D. (@jackiegerstein) July 11, 2016
Have you seen technology used meaningfully in the ECE world? Would you rather this was up to the parents and remained out of the ECE classrooms? I would love to hear your thoughts on this topic.
3 Ways to Collect Digital Student Work
Of course many teachers would want their students to have Google Drive accounts or Microsoft 365 accounts, but this is surprisingly not the case in many school districts. While some teachers may use LMS systems to solve this issue, today, I wanted to share with you some of my favorite ways to collect digital student work. To often teachers will shy away from student digital creation, as it becomes cumbersome to "collect" or view. I am here to tell you that it doesn't have to be this way.
Without further adieu here are 3 Ways to Collect Digital Student Work
Seesaw is a digital portfolio system that allows students to show what they know. With a free teacher account, students can be tied to a class and are able to login with a QR code or Google account. Teachers can provide assignments or students can create and link their projects to the teacher and/or other students. Check out more about uses as a digital collection tool here.
Without further adieu here are 3 Ways to Collect Digital Student Work
1. Seesaw
Seesaw is a digital portfolio system that allows students to show what they know. With a free teacher account, students can be tied to a class and are able to login with a QR code or Google account. Teachers can provide assignments or students can create and link their projects to the teacher and/or other students. Check out more about uses as a digital collection tool here.
2. Google Forms
Google forms have been around for awhile and no doubt we have all filled out a form that someone was using for survey purposes. Well, with a Drive account, you can just as easily sent up a Google Form (survey) as a place to collect digital project links. For example if your class all created Adobe Spark Videos (formally Adobe Voice), it is important to set up a way for students to turn in their final project links. It isn't helpful for all their projects to be stuck on individual iPads. Consider setting up a Google Form to collect student name and their project URL. For easy access make your Google Form link into a tinyurl or bookmark it for younger students.
3. dropittome
dropittome is a great resource as anyone can send documents to your Dropbox, Drive or OneDrive without needing an account themselves. As you account holder you decide where you want the files to be "delivered" You create your own account and provide the URL and password to those people from whom you want to receive files. It is easy to set up and collecting digital assignments can start right away!
How about you? What are some of your favorite ways to collect digital student work?
Interactive White Board Resources
So you have a new interactive whiteboard? What do you do now?
Interactive Whiteboards can be very powerful classroom tools or can end up being a glorified projector - or worse - a place to hang posters. However, if an educator seeks to use the tool as a way to engage students by letting them use the tool - this will go a long way. Don't feel that you have to know everything about the board before you let students use it. Setting up your class to use the board as a digital center or brainstorm space is a great way to get your students up and using the board.
Here is a resource to get you started by thinking of differing ways to get your class using the board, rather than just yourself.
Getting Started
Using with your Students
Resources
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