Lessons Learned: Areas of Growth

I have learned that effective teaching strategies lie at the center of any successful educational activity. The pedagogical strategy employed much match the best practice for the individual piece of content. It is important to vary the strategies when needed. Technology is a tool for teachers to use when it benefits learning, and can often provide for the students a chance to engage in idea-based learning and constructivism. It is important to analyze the technology and content to ascertain the pedagogical strategy that best fits the activity.

I had not given too much thought to using websites as stand-alone instructional objects before enrolling in my current graduate course. I now see that there is merit in creating these types of online experiences for our students. I evaluated Blogs and WebQuests in this course, and I generated my own WebQuest and STAIR. This process taught me how to evaluate the different technologies and decide whether they were worthy for use in the classroom. Educational technology will evolve with time, and it is important that we learn how to adapt to it as well as learn the current technology. If we were just taught how to use the current technology, the program would lose its value after a few short years. However, we are being taught how to evaluate and adapt to technology, and these tools are invaluable.

I am going to give you a glimpse of the goals I had set for this program and this individual course in order to evaluate my progress (the intended audience was my high school students):

It is my goal to integrate technology into the classroom only when it will make a difference.

• I intend to use technology to help you understand concepts that you might not have understood without the use of technology. I will use technology to help reinforce mathematical ideas by showcasing the material in a way that is unique to the individual technology.

• I will use different teaching strategies combined with technology to help you develop a strong sense of intrinsic motivation. In other words, you will engage in the activity without seeking external rewards.

In order to use technology to make a difference in your lives, I have to grow as an educator by increasing my skill in using technology.

• I plan to dedicate myself to my studies in the pursuit of obtaining knowledge related to technology use in the classroom. I can learn the advantages and disadvantages to different technologies by reading other educators’ research on new and developing technologies.

• I will practice and experiment using technology to the point that I have mastered its practical use in the classroom. I know that I will encounter success and failure during my trials. I know that these failures will be learning experiences and are part of the educational process.

• I know that collaborative experiences are essential and that I cannot accomplish all of my goals without the help of others. I plan to seek out assistance when I experience difficulty in my academic pursuits.

It is my goal to develop skills and integrate the technology with the overall goal being increased student learning.

The above goals were centered on existing technologies, and I will continue to strive toward these goals. These goals are continual and will never be fully reached. I intend to continue to progress and become more comfortable with the web 2.0 educational technologies. I plan to become more equipped to deal with future technologies as well. I want to further explore the development of cross curricular WebQuests and STAIRS. I know that my first experiences with these stand-alone instructional objects had a steep learning curve, but the process of actual creation will become swifter. These new goals will be added to my overarching goals that were listed above to help me become more adept at integrating technology into education.

Online Learning Experiences

This week I read the Michigan Merit Curriculum Online Experience Guideline Companion Document for my graduate course. This document addresses the core principles of student learning online. It is very practical by nature, and offers their characteristics of quality online learning experiences.

I first attempted to follow the links to the educational games that this guide offers as tools for the classroom, but I was thwarted by our ISD’s firewall (external blogs have also been defeated). I decided to investigate these educational games due to the fact that I could not use them to teach any content at my particular school. I was not that interested in them to begin with, but I know students like games of all different varieties.

I was pretty familiar with most of their online experiences. The teachers at my high school incorporate many of these experiences into their classrooms. I was surprised to actually see that students are only required to have twenty hours or online learning experiences. I would imagine that our students are easily getting that within a two or three month span.

I am interested in using implementing an interactive discussion with an expert that uses mathematics in their profession. I could see this type of experience bringing relevance to a subject that students continue to argue that no relevance exists beyond Geometry. I would love to see an initial conference between my students and my friend, let us call her Sally, which works for NASA. Sally has been involved with several different research projects and could showcase examples of the type of work she has been doing. Students would then begin a research project that is related to that particular type of work. In this hypothetical situation, students would then be able to ask Sally questions using an online discussion forum.
I believe the above situation would be hard to implement due to the availability of these experts. I have attempted to reach out to several professionals before, and it was hard for these individuals to commit the time. However, I had a leading motion-capture filmmaker visit my film club this fall. He hosts a website that contains content related to the aspiring and professional motion-capture artist. He invited the students to become part of his community. In addition, our film club will be sending him our next short once it is completed and we will be receiving his input. I am interested to see if he is willing meet using video conferencing since he currently resides in California.

I am introducing collaboration across different of my sections using Google Documents, but would love to collaborate with a classroom in a different county or even country. I am ignorant of the ways in which I can find willing classrooms in other countries. I think I need to dedicate some time to exploring ways to find other willing teachers and time to craft an engaging way to collaborate with another class.

Students within my school district are receiving many online experiences; yet, I think we can make these experiences much richer. It will take time to bridge connections with other teachers and professionals to truly create a lasting experience for our students through collaboration.

My Analysis of Google Documents

I am part of a jigsaw activity in my educational technology course. Our group decided to explore the components of Google Applications. It was my task to investigate Google Documents to determine my opinion on its educational merit. To distinguish things a bit more: I was looking at the word processing aspect of Google Documents as opposed to the Form, Presenter, or Spreadsheet (which are all contained under the document page).

The Good: The word processor (Document) software that is available via Google immediately interested me. I bought a new computer right before my senior year of college. I did not purchase Microsoft Office once my trial expired. I had to make sure that I had to modify my document by saving it as an .rtf file in Microsoft Works in order for my professors to be able to access the file. The students at my district do not all have Microsoft Office active on their home computers. Google documents helps solve this dilemma by housing this software free of charge.The word processing software reminds me of the Microsoft Word version circa 2000. Most of the basic word processing features can be found such as formatting, tables, ability to insert images and links, and the ability to add comments. I did enjoy ability to insert mathematical equations using insert Equation. The school computer that I have has the ability locked out for some particular reason, and I am glad to see it contained in this software.

In addition, students can access these files from any computer in the world that has access to the internet. The students in my district save their files on their personal share drive that is eventually wiped at the end of the year. Students only have access to the files at school unless they transfer the files using Flash Drives, email, or another online site. With Google Documents the file is stored online; therefore, students can easily access the file from home or school. The text that you are currently reading was typed using two different computers in two different locations. There are limitations to the file size you can have saved, but you can have a limit of 5000 documents and spreadsheets combined and 5000 images stored. For the average high school student, I do not see this as being too limiting in nature.

I was impressed by the instant save feature included with the product. The document saves every 20 seconds and saves all of the different revisions that you have done on the document. You can pull up older revisions if you want to compare different drafts of the same document. A student can easily share access to the teacher or other peers by clicking a share button. Teachers or other students can leave comments on the text. The ability to see the different revisions offers the teacher the chance to see the progress of the document. Teachers would no longer have to have the students print off multiple drafts to make comments. You could eliminate the majority of paper included in an English classroom.

Google Documents has the ability to translate your document into another language by simply clicking the Tools button on the toolbar, clicking translate, and then picking the language. I was thrilled by this feature that I do not remember being included in Word 2007. We are becoming a global learning community, and I could see students engaging in meaningful communication with students across the globe due to this particular feature. I cannot comment on the effectiveness of the translation due to my inability to speak any language other than English fluently.

The Bad: I did find some of the aspects of Microsoft Word that I wish Google Documents had. I realize that a free source can not have everything, and I imagine that some of these features could be included in future versions; however, I do want to highlight some of the shortcomings. I do miss the Smart Art, inserting sound, and other advanced features of Word. Several of the shortcuts you may be used to such as CTRL+Enter to start a new page are gone. Students will have to become accustomed to the small changes in order to take full advantage of this software. You can still highlight a word and check the definition and thesaurus. In fact, you are inundated with definitions from across the web; however, it is not as simple as highlighting the word, and right clicking to find synonyms or definitions. Instead, you have to highlight the word, select Tools,
and then look up the word. It is just a step backward in regards to a thesaurus in my mind.

Integrating Google Documents into the classroom: I believe that most high school students already have the skills needed to use Google Documents as a word processor. They would be able to tell you the differences between the software and Microsoft Word fairly easily. The ability to use the software to collaborate would take some scaffolding on the teacher's end. Students can share their documents and work together to create a piece of writing together. Students can also peer edit fairly easily as well. Peer editing is a part of my writing process, and now I feel that input can be returned to me very easily. My friends in other states and countries could easily access my document to make comments and/or changes. The teacher would then be able to see who made revisions and when they were made. You would still have to talk about ethics surrounding collaborative work.

Every subject could use this free product to help create a paperless environment in which students and teachers collaborate to produce an easily accessible document. I discussed earlier on how the application could be integrated into an English classroom to showcase the progress through the revision history, but this feature could be used throughout all of the subjects. I can imagine the old idea of a pen pal being used more effectively in today's Social Studies class due to the translate feature. You could have students communicate with students from a foreign classroom about real global issues. The imagination of the teacher is really the limit at this juncture.

The teacher would have to ensure that the students all have Google accounts, and would have to show the students how to use the functions of this particular application. They would have to monitor the students' documents and make sure that they have shared the document with them. It could be very easy to have someone else write a document for a student (there has always been the ethical issue). If a teacher is tracking the revisions of a document, they would be able to see who was accessing the document to make changes.

Responding to the use of Web 2.0’s Blogs

Blogs found their way into the classroom shortly after their creation. The whole gamut of instructional strategies could be utilized with blogs in an educational setting. The idea of students creating reflection pieces that become classroom discussions can be used to fit both student-led and teacher-led models. At the most basic level: a teacher could create a blog related to a piece of content, and students could take part in the online discussion. I teach mathematics at a high school that has at least a laptop for every two students. Students could easily use their blogs as a place for a mathematical journal. Students would explain how they used the mathematics. If the site for the blog was able to use math type, then students could really explain their problem solving strategies.

Both inquiry and idea-based models could be explored by the students using blogs as reflection pieces. Other students would be responsible for commenting on their peers blogs and a great discussion could be documented. The value of a blog does not disappear once the assignment is completed. The record is kept, and you can have the students return to a particular student blog later in the course to connect content. I think that student blogs would work most effectively with an idea-based instructional strategy. Students would attempt to apply and explore this big idea and document their thoughts. The high level of thinking that observed would leave a larger imprint in the students’ minds.
It is important that a system is created in which the teacher monitors the blogs. It would be very easy to subscribe to each blog using their RSS feeder page. The teacher has to take an active approach when dealing with these particular sites. In addition, it will take considerable scaffolding on the part of the teachers at this school (from all of the core areas) to ensure that students are using the blogs effectively.

I would love to experiment with blogs in my classrooms. However, it seems that our intermediate school district has blocked most sites that include the word blog in it. I am still searching for a way that does not cost the school district money to employ the use of blogs. I am not sure if I would be immediately ready to have the students create blogs that are completely public. I have witnessed many blogs and other threads contain public comments that attack the other in inappropriate ways. I could imagine that my older students could handle these types of comments better than my younger students. Again, there is scaffolding involved with having students manage their own blogs. I realize that there is great value in creating global dialogues for students, but it has to be monitored very closely.

I could see myself using blogs as a reflective journal piece where students comment on the application of various pieces of content. For example, students might discuss how they might apply quadratics in problem solving situations. They might comment that they can use a quadratic model to solve physical science problems that involve the trajectory of an object. The student would have to explain the process of finding the x-intercepts and their relationship to the objects height and so forth. I like the idea of using blogs to discuss the problem solving strategies and real life applications, because students will be able to come back and reference the great blog entries. The students will be able to use them as study tools when they get closer to a traditional type of assessment. I could also see myself as a tool to use when students are involved in an inquiry-based or idea-based project. Students would use blogs to document their progress and their individual or group’s line of thinking. The other groups and myself would be able to reply to their post and engage in a group discussion.

Editing Wikipedia

I had never given much thought to adding or editing content on Wikipedia. The malleable encyclopedia had been used mostly for starting points when I was research something ingrained in pop-culture. The resources that are contained at the end of the page were more valuable to me than the text that could be edited by the world.

An assignment in my graduate course asked me to edit my school district's page on Wikipedia. I immediately felt that I was overstepping my boundaries as a teacher for this school district. I am a representative of the school district; however, I do realize that the page is public and has the ability to be edited by the countless masses. I familiarized myself with the mechanics of editing a Wikipedia page, but decided to only update with a little information. Our school district houses and maintains health clinic that services the community. In addition, I added a link to our athletics' page since there existed an Athletics heading without any following text.

The Search for Updated Math Webquests

Computer-based instructional objects should be interesting to the students. I found countless examples where the math content was simply just skills based. I find it hard to believe that these would actively engage most students.

These particular types of educational resources are not dissimilar to other resources. There are examples that are short activities and there are long term projects that do exist. However, I found most of them to be created in the vein of a daily activity. There are some daily computer-based instructional objects that had merit, but unfortunately had too many broken links.

I did happen upon a Webquest that involve the creation of bridge, Don't Burn, Build. The activity was to take about two school weeks. I feel that the content of the assignment would prove to be more interesting to students than a skill building instructional object. This Webquest asked the students to do things individually and then collaborate in a group setting as well. There are links that are broken, but the bridge design project could be well done after finding new links. I really enjoyed the concept that the students would have to produce drawings and potentially a 3-D model of the bridge.

If you happen upon any exemplary up-to-date math Webquests, please point me in their direction. I just may not have been searching in the right locations.

The BLOG

A traditional website site often contains the facts and opinions related to the the holder of the web address. A website for your local movie theater is a traditional website. It conveys the key information for potential consumers. These sites can represent sole individuals, but usually they are representative of a collective such as a business. A traditional website often evokes integrity and hosts a place for commerce.

A blog oftentimes relays the viewpoint of an individual. A traditional web site can be home to opinions as well, but you can think of blogs as an online journal. A blog can create a community in which a discussion is posed and other followers respond; creating an on-going dialog between the manager of the blog and readers. This same effect can be created using a traditional message board thread as well. Companies and individuals that deal in the news business have really adopted the blog as a way to translate their stories and opinions. In addition, blogs have blurred the line between journalism and professional journalism.

Blogs tend to not have as much integrity as a traditional website. Blogs can point consumers in the direction toward commerce, but due to their nature, are not usually the center for commerce.