What concept or idea intrigued you most in this weeks' readings? What concept or idea did you disagree with? How/do these ideas impact your thinking about instructional technology?
In the reading, Vinton Cerf, one of the Internet's designers said, "It will become critical for everyone to be connected. Anyone who doesn't will essentially be isolated from the world community."
I found this to be very interesting that he says that if someone is not connected they will be isolated from the whole community. I kind of feel like what he is saying is true to a point. With the internet becoming such an important part of almost everyone's life, whether they use it for shopping, emailing, sharing memories with people that are far away, for business or whatever it be, in the world that we live in today, I do feel like those people who are not connected are isolated from everyone else. Nowadays, if we do not teach our children how to use the computer they are at a disadvantage.
"What complicates the issue is that we are free to hand over something of our humanity to our machines. We can refuse our own responsibility for the future, and machines will readily fill the void. They will make our decisions on the battlefield or in the boardroom; they will imagine a deeply falsified subatomic world for us; and they will supply us with the words we write."
I disagree with this statement. I feel like the author is saying that people are going to no longer “think” for themselves. They are going to just rely on technology to do the work for them and I do not agree with that. I think that people use the technology they have available as tools. Whether they are an accountant using excel spreadsheets, or a teacher creating a powerpoint with information to share with their class, they are using it as a tool. I do not see anything wrong with that. If it makes life easier...... why not?
With the way the world is going with technology and being a 5th grade teacher, I think one of the most valuable lessons I can teach my students is how to use the internet safely and the many programs available for them to use as tools for their future.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Sunday, September 28, 2008
The Read/ Write Web: Interesting stuff!
This week I enjoyed reading Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms Chapter 1 over the Lankshear/Knobel article. I found many things interesting and a lot of what the author states, I believe to be true too.
*It mentions how the Merriam-Webster dictionary added the word Weblog to the dictionary in 2004. I think that is pretty funny!
*It also talks about how we need to teach the kids that you cannot trust everything on the internet since anyone can publish stuff to the web. Whenever I talk with my kids about the internet, doing any research even buying something on the internet, I explain to them that you need to be very CAREFUL! We even read a story in ILA that teaches them about this.
*The book also says that schools have been slower to using the Read/ Write Web in the classroom. I think that the schools are hesitant to using more of this because of security and safety issues. Because of what the future holds with technology, we are doing a disservice to our kids not incorporating more of this into our teaching.
*I liked how they called the students of today and the future, "Digital Natives" and many of the teachers of today are considered "Digital Immigrants" because they were not brought up in this digital age.
These are just a few points that I enjoyed from this week's readings.
*It mentions how the Merriam-Webster dictionary added the word Weblog to the dictionary in 2004. I think that is pretty funny!
*It also talks about how we need to teach the kids that you cannot trust everything on the internet since anyone can publish stuff to the web. Whenever I talk with my kids about the internet, doing any research even buying something on the internet, I explain to them that you need to be very CAREFUL! We even read a story in ILA that teaches them about this.
*The book also says that schools have been slower to using the Read/ Write Web in the classroom. I think that the schools are hesitant to using more of this because of security and safety issues. Because of what the future holds with technology, we are doing a disservice to our kids not incorporating more of this into our teaching.
*I liked how they called the students of today and the future, "Digital Natives" and many of the teachers of today are considered "Digital Immigrants" because they were not brought up in this digital age.
These are just a few points that I enjoyed from this week's readings.
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Week 3: What do I disagree with?
I found many things interesting in this weeks's readings. Not sure if I found a ton of stuff that I disagree with but I did enjoy reading Yelland, Neal, and Dakich's book.
One of the authors mentions that educators should focus on the human aspect of using technologies appropriately rather than on skill development. I feel like here, they are saying that teaching technology is more important than teaching the basic skills ( reading, writing, math, etc.) Maybe I am I interpreting this the wrong way but I do disagree with this. Being a fifth grade teacher, I feel that it is crucial to teach these basic skills first and then the techonlogy aspect can be taught. Maybe technology can be incorporated into the teaching but the basic skills must come first!
Another 2 points that I would like to bring up are.......
.....even though our technology-rich society and popular media culture bring up new generations of students “with new needs and new capacities”, computers still remain “aliens in the classroom”. I totally agree with this. Being in a classroom with only 1 computer for the kids to use and not enough computers in the lab for a class I can see why they say computers are ALIENS in the classroom!
......support to teachers to develop their skills and knowledge to integrate new technologies as tools of their profession has been minimal. I also agree with this point. I have not had any professional development activities where technology was the topic. I teach 5th grade and technology is never brought up and considered an important thing for us to worry about. With the future being all about technology, it seems a little scary!
One of the authors mentions that educators should focus on the human aspect of using technologies appropriately rather than on skill development. I feel like here, they are saying that teaching technology is more important than teaching the basic skills ( reading, writing, math, etc.) Maybe I am I interpreting this the wrong way but I do disagree with this. Being a fifth grade teacher, I feel that it is crucial to teach these basic skills first and then the techonlogy aspect can be taught. Maybe technology can be incorporated into the teaching but the basic skills must come first!
Another 2 points that I would like to bring up are.......
.....even though our technology-rich society and popular media culture bring up new generations of students “with new needs and new capacities”, computers still remain “aliens in the classroom”. I totally agree with this. Being in a classroom with only 1 computer for the kids to use and not enough computers in the lab for a class I can see why they say computers are ALIENS in the classroom!
......support to teachers to develop their skills and knowledge to integrate new technologies as tools of their profession has been minimal. I also agree with this point. I have not had any professional development activities where technology was the topic. I teach 5th grade and technology is never brought up and considered an important thing for us to worry about. With the future being all about technology, it seems a little scary!
I really hope that my county starts to think about the importance of technology for the sake of our students!
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Post 2
Wow... this week's readings had a lot of information! Not sure where to begin.
I agree with the point that Alessi and Trollip make on page 30 under the heading Individual Difference about how not all people learn alike and at the same rate. Being in the classroom with a bunch of 10 year olds, I definitely see this happening. For example in Math, I have some students that learn best watching me complete a problem on the overhead while there are other students that actually need to complete the problem to understand. They actually need the "hands on" experience.
Another part that I found interesting was the point they make about how the variety of opinions about how people learn is now greater than before. As I was reading our assignments it was wild to see all the different theories out there. When I was an Undergrad at Towson, I remember discussing constructivism, behavorism, the whole Pavlou's dog example, but it is truly amazing to me how much more has come about since then.
I am definitely a big advocate on the Constructivists theory. I believe that students do learn more when they are part of the learning. With this style, the facilitator has an important role in their learning. In the subject areas that I can use this method, I try to incorporate it into my lesson.
I just participated in a course where we had to read the assigned reading and post our responses to questions the teachers created. This was an all online course and the teachers were more of the facilitators within our discussions. They never really gave us a YES or NO to our responses telling us if we really "got" what we were suppose to get out of the reading. They would ask another question to the response we had given. I guess they were doing this to make us "THINK!" When we had a discussion on the constructivist approach we felt that the course was using that style. We were making our own meaning! It was a fun way to learn.
I agree with the point that Alessi and Trollip make on page 30 under the heading Individual Difference about how not all people learn alike and at the same rate. Being in the classroom with a bunch of 10 year olds, I definitely see this happening. For example in Math, I have some students that learn best watching me complete a problem on the overhead while there are other students that actually need to complete the problem to understand. They actually need the "hands on" experience.
Another part that I found interesting was the point they make about how the variety of opinions about how people learn is now greater than before. As I was reading our assignments it was wild to see all the different theories out there. When I was an Undergrad at Towson, I remember discussing constructivism, behavorism, the whole Pavlou's dog example, but it is truly amazing to me how much more has come about since then.
I am definitely a big advocate on the Constructivists theory. I believe that students do learn more when they are part of the learning. With this style, the facilitator has an important role in their learning. In the subject areas that I can use this method, I try to incorporate it into my lesson.
I just participated in a course where we had to read the assigned reading and post our responses to questions the teachers created. This was an all online course and the teachers were more of the facilitators within our discussions. They never really gave us a YES or NO to our responses telling us if we really "got" what we were suppose to get out of the reading. They would ask another question to the response we had given. I guess they were doing this to make us "THINK!" When we had a discussion on the constructivist approach we felt that the course was using that style. We were making our own meaning! It was a fun way to learn.
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Post One: Technology in the classroom
I was in a graduate course at Towson 2 classes ago where we used technology. The course was ISTC 717 Distance Education Theory and Practice. The course had about 20 students and 2 instructors. Computers and Blackboard were the technologies being used in this class.
In order for the students to be successful in the class, they had to have access to a computer and internet connection. They also had to be familiar or become familiar "quickly" with Blackboard since this was our means for communication.
Technology was the main focus of the course since the course was "distance" education. The students and teachers only met the 1st and last class of the semester. All other class meetings were online via Blackboard.
The students were to read various chapters from the book and articles that were assigned and had to post their reactions on Blackboard. The students used threads on Blackboard and discussed their findings in small group and whole group discussions. The students were also placed in small groups and were assigned a week where they were the facilitators of the discussion. Each group member had a different role for that. (summarizer, devil's advocate, etc.)
I saw many benefits of this class and it's use of technology. We were actually able to have a course ALL online and really learn something from it. Not only learn stuff from readings, but from my peers as well. I also feel that I gained more tech skills and confidence than I had before the class. I also feel that because of this class I am more confident with expressing my thoughts and reactions on the internet instead of the normal F2F discussion in class.
In order for the students to be successful in the class, they had to have access to a computer and internet connection. They also had to be familiar or become familiar "quickly" with Blackboard since this was our means for communication.
Technology was the main focus of the course since the course was "distance" education. The students and teachers only met the 1st and last class of the semester. All other class meetings were online via Blackboard.
The students were to read various chapters from the book and articles that were assigned and had to post their reactions on Blackboard. The students used threads on Blackboard and discussed their findings in small group and whole group discussions. The students were also placed in small groups and were assigned a week where they were the facilitators of the discussion. Each group member had a different role for that. (summarizer, devil's advocate, etc.)
I saw many benefits of this class and it's use of technology. We were actually able to have a course ALL online and really learn something from it. Not only learn stuff from readings, but from my peers as well. I also feel that I gained more tech skills and confidence than I had before the class. I also feel that because of this class I am more confident with expressing my thoughts and reactions on the internet instead of the normal F2F discussion in class.
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