Thursday, July 12, 2012

Reflection #2

What attitudes, skills, and concepts have you gained from participating in the course so far?

I have really learned a lot from this course.  I think that the interactions with the flipped classroom, horizon reports, NETS, and the group project were beneficial in making me realize how important technology integration is for the future of our students.  My attitude about the use of technology in my classroom has greatly changed.  I used technology to promote interest and motivation and because they need to know how to use it but now I really feel like I owe it to them to teach them about technology and it is a big responsibility that we have.  I have learned about the benefits of voicethread, diigo, google reader, and other great technologies too!

What have you learned in the course that you will not forget tomorrow?

I have learned that there are so many resources out there to inform and educate teachers about the great things they can do with technology in their classrooms.  There are so many blogs about technology with easy, practical ideas that can be implement right away.  The technology standards are also something that I will not forget to soon, or ever!  They were not really ever discussed in our school and I barely knew anything about them and had never even heard of the horizon report as scary as that may be.  I will be using all the references from this class for many years to come not that I feel like I have been properly informed.

How will you apply what you have learned to your teaching and future learning?

I have been thinking about how I can better use my classroom blog to benefit my students and parents.  I have also been contemplating creating a wiki for my students to interact with.  I have so many ideas for this next year that I want to try.  Creating glogs is something that I think would be beneficial for my students as a review for curriculum.  I can use the mobile labs and all the students can do it at once!  I also plan on informing my colleagues about what I have learned.  One of my co teachers is really great about using technology in her classroom.  I need to work more closely with her to learn more and better inform my teaching.  Maybe I can inform her too.

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Blog Post #3


5 Reasons Why BYOD is a Bad Idea
By:  K. Walsh on July 1, 2012

Full article found here:

“Here are a number of problems with the BYOD initiative for schools:
  1. Equipment Inequity: If everyone is bringing their own equipment, even if there is a standard approach to the type of equipment (all laptops or tablets, for example), it is still pretty much inevitable that the brand and/or configuration of each device will vary and with this comes varying functionality and different speeds of throughput and performance. This equates to inconsistent experiences, and different challenges, for one student versus another.
  2. Tech Support: With varying types of equipment, and dissimilar configurations and software levels, come a wide variety of technological hurdles. We all know that trying to use apps on the Internet or doing just about anything else with a computer, tablet, or smartphone, can yield plenty of little issues (this is why techies have jobs!), and every variation in configuration brings another potential point of failure of complication. Now the teacher starts losing class time to tech support and troubleshooting, and the school’s techs have just picked up a slew of new and unpredictable issues to deal with.
  3. “Bring Your Own Distraction (I’m sure someone else probably already coined this little twist of phrase, but I’m still amused by my own cleverness!): When the device is the student’s, it can be loaded with plenty of games, social networking apps, inappropriate content, and who knows what else. The possibilities for this sort of distracting content and software are undoubtedly increased in a BYOD scenario, despite whatever policies may exist to help limit or prevent this issue.
  4. Internet content filtering: This is a necessary fact of tech life in most schools – Internet content must be filtered, and there are technological considerations to make this happen. When kids are bringing their own tech to school, it makes in increasingly harder to manage, and this is only becoming more problematic thanks to the increasing proliferation of 3G and 4G wireless personal devices. A BYOD program would only add to these complications, and make it that much harder for your technology department to ensure compliance with content filtering objectives and the protection of students from inappropriate content while in school.
  5. “MBTY” (Mine is Better Than Yours) Syndrome: Isn’t school life challenging enough for some kids (and their parents) without the additional pressure of having to keep up with the Jones kid? Some kids are going to have the most expensive, best equipped tech, and some of them are going to brag about it. The less fortunate kids (and the teachers) shouldn’t have to deal with that, and nobody wants to hear it.”

My response:

I think you raise some very valid points here.  BYOD may work well for some schools but others may find it a challenge.  Equipment inequity is one that strikes a nerve with me.  I get that life is not always fair and you need to make do with what you have but these are children who don’t have control over their parents’ financial situation.  A school in my district had Smartboards a full three years before mine did because their students’ parents donated the money for them.  The issues with distractions and content filtering are also good points.  We would have to do a lot of teaching about appropriate/inappropriate use before letting students use their own devices.  Digital citizenship would need to be added to all levels of curriculum.

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Blog Post #2

Technology for Online Standardized Testing vs. Technology for Teaching, Learning, and Creative Inquiry

Full article found here:


“The report also identifies challenges, including:
  • The demand for personalized learning is not adequately supported by current technology or practices.
  • Digital media literacy continues its rise in importance as a key skill in every discipline and profession.
  • Economic pressures and new models of education are bringing unprecedented competition to traditional primary and secondary schools.
  • Institutional barriers present formidable challenges to moving forward in a constructive way with emerging technologies.
  • Learning that incorporates real life experiences is not occurring enough and is undervalued when it does take place.
  • Putting 21st century technology into 19th century schools is a major undertaking.
  • We are not using digital media for formative assessment the way we could and should.

I'm looking forward to the full report. Until then, here are more questions to chew on:
1) Do you believe these technologies will be in your school or classroom in the near future?
2) Given the learning potential of these emerging technologies, does your school have a healthy balance between how technology is used for high stakes test preparation and for activities that integrate higher-level thinking, collaboration, problem solving, and creativity?
3) Are ALL students in your district benefiting from technology?”

My Response:

While our school does not currently use technology for high stakes test taking and uses it very little for test preparation, I know it will very soon.  Your question about whether or not there will be a balance between test taking preparation and activities for higher level thinking is a good one.  I would like to say yes, but in all reality, the answer is probably no.  Until we get away from high stakes testing, I think schools will continued to be  pressured to use their time in preparation.  I also do not feel that ALL students in our district are benefiting from technology.  Many teachers are underprepared and overwhelmed with new technology and do not have enough training to use them for more than word processing.  It will be several years before all students benefit even if the technology is available.

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Reflection #1


What attitudes, skills, and concepts have you gained from participating in the course so far?

There are several things I have learned so far from this course.  First of all, I have learned how to navigate my way through a wiki with a lot more ease.  I have also learned how powerful a wiki can be in terms of collaboration, content, and accessibility.  Secondly, I have also come to recognize that there is a wealth of knowledge and resources available in the area of technology that I did not know existed.  I have learned a lot about different sites, terms, and technologies that I can adapt to fit the needs of my class.

What have you learned in the course that you will not forget tomorrow?

So far in this class I have learned that technology is coming and we owe it to our students to be ready.  After listening to several videos and podcasts and reading articles and blogs about the future of technology and what is coming our way, I feel more informed about my responsibility to prepare my students.  I also won’t forget that just because teachers have access to technology doesn’t mean they know how to use it for the good of students and support of the standards.  Investing my time in learning about innovative ways to incorporate technology is a must.

How will you apply what you have learned to your teaching and future learning?

I will apply all that I have learned to better my use of technology in my classroom.  I think that up to this point, I have not done all that I can to use technology to benefit my student s to the best of my ability.  Just turning on a Smartboard and writing on it does not constitute good use of technology.  While I have a classroom blog, there are so many more things I can do with it to help my students and parents get better use out of it.  I can incorporate more videos and resources to help my students.  I have also wondered if a wiki might be a better outlet for parents and students since they could also add content and comment etc.  I also think that I will continue to develop my PLN.  I really had no idea how powerful it could be!  After learning how to use Google Reader, Netvibes, Tweetdeck, and Diigo, the possibilities are endless!  I feel like I have already honed in on some good contributors and will continue to follow and learn from them!

Thursday, June 7, 2012

Blog Post #1


Why Twitter and Facebook Are Not Good Instructional Tools
By Paul Barnwell

Full Article found here:
http://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2012/05/30/fp_barnwell.html


 “A recent report by the Economic & Social Research Council refutes the notion that today’s youth, the "net generation," is truly tech savvy. After interviewing and collecting data from 2000 first-year college students in Britain, researchers found that only 21.5 percent of students had blogged, and only 12.1 percent of students had used wikis. Too few students are familiar or engaged with these sorts of technologies that are structured to promote academic rigor; instead, they opt to use Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr, most often as distractions from their studies rather than learning tools.

I've come to agree wholeheartedly with the study's findings. Do many students you interact with know how to do much more than Tweet, post to Facebook, or browse YouTube? Email is antiquated to students; after all, many kids are so used to fragmenting their thoughts that writing a substantial email is drudgery. Twitter is all the rage for teenagers and is a constant source and depository of mindless banter and instant gratification. Being tech savvy should include the ability to synthesize ideas and media forms, and create something original. So how can we promote more thoughtful use of technology in schools?”

My response:

I agree with what you said about students depending on technology that cheapens thinking or relies on flashy graphics.  While our students do seem to be more tech savvy, it calls into question just how savvy they are with technologies that are actual learning tools.  Teachers are feeling the pressure to be innovative in teaching with technology but the fact is that many teachers don’t have the proper training to effectively use and teach with technology beyond the “distractions.”  You question how to promote more thoughtful use of technology in schools and I think it needs to start with properly training teachers to use technology as a source of enrichment and critical thinking in our students.