Wow... A lot has happened since my last post. For now, I want to comment on mobile technology again. I'll be discussing this topic once more at the TIES Coordinator's Conference with the hope of engaging some school technology personnel in a discussion of why devices like the iPod Touch may have a place in our classrooms. Now, of course, the iPad (still a rather unfortunate name, I think) has been announced and we have the potential of adding a device that runs all the iPhone/Touch apps on a screen with some real estate. It could be an interesting year ahead in mobile computing. Here are some good reads about the iPad and Touch that you might find interesting...
Article from the Apple Learning Exchange
Post at the MEMO (MN School Technology) website
Blog Post from Doug Johnson's Blue Skunk Blog
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Monday, December 14, 2009
Digital Learners
I've posted information on the "Did You Know" series of videos created by Dr. Karl Fisch, Dr. Scott McCleod and others. There are several similar creations that live on the web. While we can certainly debate the statistics that are presented and the issues they raise, I believe they all serve a similar purpose. They make us think - something we all need to do more of.
The most recent thought provoking presentation that was brought to my attention is a video by B.J. Nesbitt. While it is a couple years old already and borrows heavily on the "Did You Know" vids as well as one by Michael Wesch, (they are credited) it certainly makes us think. How do students in our classrooms today learn? Is it any different than 20, 50 or 100 years ago? What does it mean to be a digital learner and do we teach them differently? As parents, (for those of you who are) how do you want your children to learn?
There has been criticism of this video for using kids to promote an adult agenda. I can see how some would think that way, but I also think it can be looked at as giving a voice to students. As I said before, that is debatable, as are the statistics. However, if we focus on those things and even turn it into a political debate, we forget to think about the real issue - which is finding better ways to reach and teach our children.
Here is the video for those who are not in a school building that blocks YouTube...
The most recent thought provoking presentation that was brought to my attention is a video by B.J. Nesbitt. While it is a couple years old already and borrows heavily on the "Did You Know" vids as well as one by Michael Wesch, (they are credited) it certainly makes us think. How do students in our classrooms today learn? Is it any different than 20, 50 or 100 years ago? What does it mean to be a digital learner and do we teach them differently? As parents, (for those of you who are) how do you want your children to learn?
There has been criticism of this video for using kids to promote an adult agenda. I can see how some would think that way, but I also think it can be looked at as giving a voice to students. As I said before, that is debatable, as are the statistics. However, if we focus on those things and even turn it into a political debate, we forget to think about the real issue - which is finding better ways to reach and teach our children.
Here is the video for those who are not in a school building that blocks YouTube...
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Why wouldn't I want my child to have one...
Do you know how many times in the last two weeks I've said, "I should write that down and put it on the blog?" Too many to count. With the annual TIES conference upon us (for those not from Minnesota, it is the largest education technology conference in our part of the "states") it is high time I get going again! We'll shoot for once a week the rest of this month and then, hopefully more in 2010. I blogged about this once before, but here is a slightly different twist on the subject...
I will be presenting a session at the conference on the iPod Touch in the K-12 classroom from the perspective of a teacher and a parent. As my oldest son has entered into his teenage years, I've started to think more about this issue of digital learners. He is as engaged in the digital world as his parents will allow! He plays a few online games, is quite adept at accessing information and creates digital movies. He does not have a cell phone (he would have us believe he is the only one in 8th grade without one) but he does have an iPod Nano. I see what he and his friends do on a daily basis with the digital tools at their disposal and I can't help but start thinking about how useful these tools could be in the classroom.
Take the iPod touch, for example, and the over 100,000 apps available. It is no wonder that classrooms around the country are experimenting with it as a learning tool. With the proper apps (many of which are free) it is a graphing and scientific calculator, an e-book reader, a classroom response device, a video player, a podcast player and a web browser among many, many other things. So, as a parent... I ask the question, why wouldn't I want my child to have these tools available to him? That question brings up many more... Why doesn't the school allow my child to use this in class? Why doesn't the school technology department allow the device to connect to the school network - ever? When will education embrace the technology that is commonplace outside of the schools inside the schools? I'm sure I'm not the only parent wondering about these questions - or am I?
I'm curious what you think - please discuss.
I will be presenting a session at the conference on the iPod Touch in the K-12 classroom from the perspective of a teacher and a parent. As my oldest son has entered into his teenage years, I've started to think more about this issue of digital learners. He is as engaged in the digital world as his parents will allow! He plays a few online games, is quite adept at accessing information and creates digital movies. He does not have a cell phone (he would have us believe he is the only one in 8th grade without one) but he does have an iPod Nano. I see what he and his friends do on a daily basis with the digital tools at their disposal and I can't help but start thinking about how useful these tools could be in the classroom.
Take the iPod touch, for example, and the over 100,000 apps available. It is no wonder that classrooms around the country are experimenting with it as a learning tool. With the proper apps (many of which are free) it is a graphing and scientific calculator, an e-book reader, a classroom response device, a video player, a podcast player and a web browser among many, many other things. So, as a parent... I ask the question, why wouldn't I want my child to have these tools available to him? That question brings up many more... Why doesn't the school allow my child to use this in class? Why doesn't the school technology department allow the device to connect to the school network - ever? When will education embrace the technology that is commonplace outside of the schools inside the schools? I'm sure I'm not the only parent wondering about these questions - or am I?
I'm curious what you think - please discuss.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Do They Know More?
OK... While I'm not ready to admit being "long of tooth" yet, I have started to notice that I am not among the young people at staff meetings, training sessions or other gatherings of educators anymore.
Today, Jon Larson, the ECMECC technology integration specialist was lamenting the number of times he had heard phrases to the effect that all of the new teachers are going to come to us with plenty of skills using (fill in the blank with a current technology.) Neither of us are convinced that is true. While the young folks may have more experience USING certain technologies, I don't believe they know much more about using the technologies to TEACH than those of us who have been in the profession for some time.
Ten years ago, I was working on a project at the University of Minnesota designed to transform the way pre-service teachers learned about using technology in the classroom. It was a bit painful trying to change the culture of having one class in the program that taught every education student how to use a half-dozen computer applications to an integrated approach to using technology as a tool for teaching and learning. That said, I think we managed to improve the program over three years.
So... I did some very quick and non-scientific research on some current teacher education programs around the state, checking course descriptions and requirements. I was disappointed to see that, in many cases, there were very few mentions of technology in course titles or descriptions. In fact, in most cases (perhaps the "U" being an exception), the list of requirements looked strikingly similar to my own course of study twenty years ago. I can only hope that technology is so integrated into the programs that it doesn't show up in titles and descriptions. After all, that is what we often say we want to accomplish in K-12, technology integration. I know that we are still far from that in our schools, so I fear that Academia may be even further behind.
I plan to do some additional research on this issue and I will report what I find here. I welcome any comments and responses. If you know of a teacher education program that is doing a great job preparing our teachers to use technology in the classroom, let us know. If you are a new teacher and want to describe your teacher education program, I'd love to hear about it. I hope I am completely wrong about what is going on. Clearly, it is easy to lose touch with issues that you've been away from for many years. For me, this is one issue that I need to reacquaint myself with as I work to make my organization more focused on technology professional development and integration.
Today, Jon Larson, the ECMECC technology integration specialist was lamenting the number of times he had heard phrases to the effect that all of the new teachers are going to come to us with plenty of skills using (fill in the blank with a current technology.) Neither of us are convinced that is true. While the young folks may have more experience USING certain technologies, I don't believe they know much more about using the technologies to TEACH than those of us who have been in the profession for some time.
Ten years ago, I was working on a project at the University of Minnesota designed to transform the way pre-service teachers learned about using technology in the classroom. It was a bit painful trying to change the culture of having one class in the program that taught every education student how to use a half-dozen computer applications to an integrated approach to using technology as a tool for teaching and learning. That said, I think we managed to improve the program over three years.
So... I did some very quick and non-scientific research on some current teacher education programs around the state, checking course descriptions and requirements. I was disappointed to see that, in many cases, there were very few mentions of technology in course titles or descriptions. In fact, in most cases (perhaps the "U" being an exception), the list of requirements looked strikingly similar to my own course of study twenty years ago. I can only hope that technology is so integrated into the programs that it doesn't show up in titles and descriptions. After all, that is what we often say we want to accomplish in K-12, technology integration. I know that we are still far from that in our schools, so I fear that Academia may be even further behind.
I plan to do some additional research on this issue and I will report what I find here. I welcome any comments and responses. If you know of a teacher education program that is doing a great job preparing our teachers to use technology in the classroom, let us know. If you are a new teacher and want to describe your teacher education program, I'd love to hear about it. I hope I am completely wrong about what is going on. Clearly, it is easy to lose touch with issues that you've been away from for many years. For me, this is one issue that I need to reacquaint myself with as I work to make my organization more focused on technology professional development and integration.
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