EXAMPLE POST FOR FINAL PROJECT

SUBTRACTING MIXED NUMBERS


When I watched Mrs. Farmer explain how to subtract fractions when the top fraction was big enough to take the bottom fraction away from it, it was easy for me. It was like regular subtraction only you don't subtract the denominators. You just keep the same denominator that you have in the problem.


When we had to subtract mixed numbers and the top fraction wasn't big enough to subtract the bottom fraction from it, I got confused. I didn't get it when Mrs. Farmer said you have to borrow from the whole number to make the top fraction bigger than the bottom fraction. I just don't get what she was doing with the pictures of the fraction sticks and breaking them apart and adding and all of that.


I do know how to make improper fractions from mixed numbers and that gives me a bigger fraction on top to subtract the bottom fraction from it. I will leave a screencast of me doing that method. What I don't understand now is how to change the answer. Mrs. Farmer says we can't leave it like that. What do I do with my answer to make it right?

Emerging Instructional Technologies

There were several “cool” things mentioned in this chapter as well as some disturbing ideas for the future use of technology.  I love the idea of the I-PULL where the student’s learning style is determined and the environment within which they will be taught is customized to their needs It was stated in the text that these intelligent tutoring systems get close to the one-on-one tutoring results. I wonder, however, how this will affect the teaching field if a program can replicate or replace a teacher. It wasn’t stated explicitly in the text that this would be the case, but it must be inferred that this is a distinct possibility—especially in light of today’s cash strapped state governments and the clash between unions and elected officials.

The advanced performance tracking or “body tracking” was one technology that I thought was very interesting. I was thinking of the other applications beyond becoming proficient in a particular sport and wondered how it would work with learning to play an instrument. What about the creation of art? Could such a technology help guide brush strokes properly or how to manipulate pieces of clay? How much more can people produce if they pair their minds with technology that speeds up their ability to learn new information and physical skills?

To me, life is about learning and creating and producing. If technology can aid us in that—without taking away, altering, or discriminate against  us for our own private thoughts, beliefs, and values—then I look forward to the future of technology. I also hope that the value and necessity of human contact and interaction is not somehow lost along the way. No matter how great a tutoring system may be, it can never replace a teacher’s smile, encouraging words, or admonitions in guiding them towards becoming positive members of our world.

FAVORITE HANDS-ON ACTIVITY

My favorite activity this semester was screencasting. I first heard about Jing and screencasting at the 2010 MACUL conference in Grand Rapids. It has been on my “got to learn how to work with” list since then, but with so much to do and keep up with in my day-to-day workload, I just never got around to it. This class forced me to pick it back up again and dive in, for which I am very grateful.

I think screencasting has the ability to duplicate myself in a way. It will take time to develop lessons and record them, but once the wheel is invented…Something I heard a presenter at this year’s MACUL conference say was that video has power to make teachers “rewindable”. This really struck me and has stayed with me. I have a flip cam and that will allow me to record mini lessons for students to go back to as needed or if they are absent, but with a tool like Jing, I can combine my document camera or my Mimio interactive white board and capture lessons that are presented that way, too. I don’t have to worry about the battery dying in the middle of a presentation or going back to upload it to my computer. 

Using Rich Media Wisely

Everything discussed in this chapter seemed to make a lot of sense to me and made me think a lot about how I instruct and provide information currently and how I need to in the future to better support learning for all of my students.

When the chapter discussed insignificant visuals and audio that did not support learning, I immediately thought of how I have seen Glogster used. Glogster is a web-based electronic poster that allows the user to include video, graphics, pictures, sound, and simple animations. To me it is the rich media of rich media! With all of the easy to use features and options, it is very tempting to overload it with “cute” pieces. I have seen others, as well as myself, in the past use background music and fluttering butterflies and swirling flowers on a glog thinking it would “engage” the user and attract their attention to the purpose of our glog. Now I realize that these items, while they may attract attention and ooh and aah the viewer, they do nothing to support learning and actually hinder learning.

On a more positive note, however, Glogster does have the potential to facilitate learning if used carefully. A Glog that features a collection of related sources for students to use is a good way to organize and direct learning for students. This would go along with the idea of providing scaffolding for the learner instead of just turning them lose to “discover” on their own. Videos can be embedded directly into the glog along with screenshots with narration and/or links that direct the student to locate other significant pieces of knowledge required to complete the learning process. This gives them a the guidance needed to discover in a constructive way.

Another thing that this chapter made me think of is the way I use “study guides” to instruct my students in math. I provide text, step-by-step instructions on how to work certain types of problems, and examples of problems each step of the way. I provide a lot of visual input for the learner, but these guides lack the narration. They hear me in class, but that is a one-time event.  If the student was absent, the narration is completely lacking.

If I were to use the same guides except make PowerPoints instead and use jing to add my own narration explaining as I go, this would be a much more powerful teaching tool. The slideshow can be embedded into a class website so that learners can go back to it time and time again.

A third idea that this chapter has given me goes along with previous thoughts regarding my study guides. I could take these a step further and build in some interactive parts to the guide. Students could be given a new problem at some point in the slideshow to work on their own. Once they complete the problem, they could continue on with the presentation and compare their thinking to the execution of the problem in the slideshow. This gives the visual and audio components and then provides a scaffold for learners in a sort of interactive way. This takes away some of the passiveness and causes the student to be more active in the learning process.

ONLINE APPLICATON REVIEWS

            GOOGLE DOCS

Google docs is a GREAT online tool for a variety of reasons. First of all, it provides all of the basic word processing tools that are very similar to Microsoft Word. This makes it very user friendly and intuitive. The most powerful aspect of Google Docs is that it can be shared with others that you invite to view your document. This makes it like a one page wiki space. The creator or owner of the document can set it so that others can only view it or edit it.

I recently used Google Docs when creating a grade level budget. It was difficult to get all six of the fifth-grade teachers together at one time to work on the budget, but I got it started and shared it with the others by adding in their email addresses and sending a quick note to their gmail accounts letting them know it was in their documents section of their account to add their thoughts to it. Once our time was up and it needed to be submitted to our principal so he could share it with the superintendent, I changed the edit option to view only so that changes could not be made by any of us once it had been approved. This allowed us to chip away at the task in the little segments of time we had and together created a document that met our principal’s requirements and gave us all an equal chance to have a say in the way funds would be spent for our grade level.

            PICNIK

This is another very user friendly tool. The various tools for image editing are easy to access and use with a  surprising number of options within each. For example, the crop feature allows you to select a number of different final sizes or enter in your own length and width ratio. There also presets to make your image conform to various social media sites’ requirements, which makes sharing very easy. There is even an exposure feature, that with the advanced option, you are even given a histogram to assist you in perfecting the shadows and highlights of your shot. You can also get rid of red eye and change the color saturation in the edit mode. Each option allows you to save your changes, reset to the original image and begin again, or simple cancel and return you to the edit menu. Full screen viewing is also available with each edit option.

Under the Create tab, you can add text to your pics, apply various effects (some of which are only available if you purchase the premium edition), stickers, and frames. Again, some of these treatments require subscription.

In the Library portion of Picnik, you can create collages, print on mugs, make greeting cards, print posters, print on canvas, make slide shows of your pictures, or even a book.

In each tab and option, instructions are provided that make this a very easy to use and powerful image editor. It provides a lot of flexibility and allows for a ton of creativity.

Competencies for Instructors and Instructional Designers

As I read the tables listing the various competencies for ID&T professionals, training managers and instructors, I came across several that related to the work I do as a fifth grade teacher and the ways I want to incorporate technology and effective teaching practices with my students.

On page 275, Table 27.3 in our text, #14 “Use media and technology to enhance learning and performance” is definitely an area I have been striving to improve. I have attended the MACUL conference the last two years, attend “Tech Camp” in the summer at my local ISD, and now am in Western Michigan College’s Educational Technology Master’s program. I have learned a lot over the past year and know that there is still much to learn about various technologies that can improve learning for my students.

“Access learning and performance” is another area from the same table that I am currently working to improve. I give formative assessments on a quarterly basis to my math students. Presently, the assessments are very long and I am not happy with the layout of the test. It is a very useful tool to stay on top of the progress of my students and find the weaknesses they have regarding the state standards. I know I need to align these assessments with Common Core Standards now and make the tests more “user friendly” to assure I am getting accurate results.

A third competency I need to strengthen is #17 for Instructional Designers, “Design instruction that reflects an understanding of the diversity of learners and groups of learners.” When I read this I thought of UDL and how I have just started to develop a new science unit that incorporates elements of Universal Design for Learning. I have tried a couple of lessons that vary the means of delivering instruction to my students and they seem to enjoy it and retain the information better. I have a long way to go, but want to refine these lessons further and develop more to complete my unit.

Using Google Sites

I have found that I do not like Google Sites. I find Weebly.com to be a much more user friendly site. However, it is good to try new things so here is a very basic, two page site that has the images and gadgets that were required for this weeks' activity.

Click here for my Google Site

Themes and Lessons Learned

A common thread among all three contexts of instructional design we have read about in our text is that a team of people is required to work together in order to create effective training/instructional design. In business and in faculty development in higher education, subject experts are needed. Then a variety of other skills are required from graphic artists, audio/video producers, material developers, instructional designers, web specialists, etc. It is the idea that no matter what field you are working in, when instruction or training is needed, it takes a group of people with a variety of skills and talents coming together to create and implement an effective means of creating and delivering knowledge and learning.

A difference between the business world and the world of higher education is that there are times in business where the client is a bit more difficult to identify. “One problem designers face when starting a new project is identifying the client . Often there is more than one client for an instruction design project” (Reiser, 2007). However, in higher education, “…the target audience (students) is a given before the ID becomes involved in the program design.” (Reiser, 2007). 

After reading these last few chapters I cannot help but think of the point my K-12 district is in at the moment. We recently achieved district-wide NCA accreditation. During that 3 year process, it became evident how critical it is for the district to think in terms of systemic change and not viewing any one building or department in isolation. A couple of the areas that were recommended to our district was to strengthen communications and to clearly delineate criteria for making major transitions. A specific area, I believe, that needs to be addressed is our math curriculum. At the K-2 building there is one curriculum, another in the 3-5 building, and yet another at the middle school. We have a golden opportunity to strengthen our communication and make the transitions between these grade levels much more clear if the administrators and teachers could come together to discuss this issue regarding the math curriculum. We see the challenges when students move from one building to the next due to the differing curriculums. We are on a five year review and purchasing cycle for math and this is the fifth year. I have been contemplating how to approach my principal about my thoughts on this issue. I am a very new teacher and this can be a tedious undertaking and one I’m not sure I should take up. However, I strongly believe that our students would benefit from a K-8 scope and sequence instead of three separate programs that are patched together. It will take those passionate leaders spoken of in chapter 21, subject experts like our hard-working curriculum director, principals, and teachers, and incorporating as many other stakeholders as we can to develop the programs that will best serve all of our students.


BUBBL.US CONCEPT MAP


A lesson in which students could use concept mapping to help them understand subject matter would be in social studies when we learn about colonization of America. In the beginning of this unit, students are exposed to the three colonial regions. I assign them one colony and they are to learn all about it and create a billboard telling others of the good things their colony has to offer to persuade others to want to settle there. (a Glog of their colony would even be better than a cardboard poster and a lot easier for me to physically handle. That will be one for next year!)


Below is a quick example of a concept map showing four major characteristics of Massachusetts Bay Colony. 
NOTE: I have noticed that when I view the concept map on my blog, some of the text seems to spill out of the bubbles in places. However, if I zoom in, the text seems to go back inside the bubbles. ???

Reflections on School Change

There are a few things that caused me to stop and think while reading this week’s chapter. The S.U.T.E model’s dependency on knowledgeable and selfless leaders, the participation of all stakeholders in the process of change, and finally the identification of the areas that are the cause of district change in the first place will be the focal points of my reflection.

The Step Up to Excellence methodology lays out several conditions in which success is based:

“Senior leaders who act on the basis of personal courage, passion, and vision; not on the basis of fear or self-survival…not a view of ‘we can’t do this because…who possess the professional intellect, change-minded attitudes, and the change management skills to move their districts toward higher levels of performance; not people without an inkling about the requirements of systemic change management.”  (Reiser, 2007)

I can see where needed change can be derailed right away in the process if there are not such leaders available in a district. Human nature comes into play. Egos and self esteem can get in the way of the change that needs to be made. If the right people in the right positions cannot effectively lead or are not willing to admit they do not have the skill set necessary to lead their district for systemic change and bring in others who can, then the change is doomed from the start.

In the beginning of the chapter I was hoping to read more about the involvement of  stakeholders in the process of change. I was pleased to read the example given from the Decatur Township School District. “To succeed with such a fundamental transformation of their school system, the facilitators believed it was important for as many stakeholders as possible to participate in the change process and feel a sense of ownership of both the process and whatever design resulted.” (Reiser, 2007) When my district was in the process of achieving district-wide NCA accreditation, we knew we must incorporate the perspectives of not only classroom teachers and administrators, but parents, students, support staff from all departments, community leaders, and business owners. Their input was instrumental in developing our vision and mission statements and improving our internal and external Quality Assurance Review evaluations that ultimately lead to K-12 accreditation.

Before any change can be made, a district must know exactly where their strengths and weakness are. I am sure that within the GSTE and SUTE models this would come into play, however, I feel strongly that a district’s first step must be to develop a comprehensive District Profile—a state of the district, if you will. Trends in learning and achievement need to be identified along with the needs of specific populations within the district. There are things that are working wonderfully and there are always areas that reveal glaring contradictions to the vision and purpose statements of the district. This document of and by itself can be challenging to produce, but I believe that any model for systemic change should explicitly include the development of a district profile to clearly illuminate the changes that are needed.

SCREENCASTING

One of the problems I have been finding my math students having is forgetting to multiply decimals by 100 to turn fractions into percentages. They look at .6 and think this is 6% instead of 60%. I thought I would create a very brief video so that kids can watch me convert fractions into decimals by using a calculator.

Please excuse the interruption of my Mac telling me the time in the middle of my screencast! :)

Instructional Design in Business & Industry and How It Applies to K-12 Education

The use of technology in training in the business world takes place to save time. This is being done by “(1) using technology to reduce training time and costs; and (2) using more sophisticated evaluation techniques to ensure training effectiveness, thereby avoiding the need for followup instruction." (Richey, 2007) I see this being used in the K-12 setting to do the same things. High schools are increasingly offering online or virtual courses. This allows for a greater number of students to enroll and create another revenue stream for a district. Homeschoolers or students from parochial schools who need broader course options can take online classes offered by public schools. The technology gives them the flexibility in their schedule or allows them to work from home if they so choose. The school receives some of the their foundation allowance and increases dollars coming into their district.

Another way in which technology use in training can be applied to education is the use of student response systems to ramp up the evaluation process. Teachers who are fortunate enough to have such a piece of technology in their rooms can immediately see if their instruction has been effective. They can target specific students with specific pieces of instruction to help move those students towards greater achievement/performance.

The globalization of training concept is one that the staff at Sylvester Elementary must apply daily. There are students from a number of different countries attending our school. English Language Learners are in nearly every single classroom and teachers, “…must address the issue of how to prepare and/or adapt instructional materials for different cultures.” (Richey, 2007) And I would like to add different languages, too. We have to continually make adjustments and accommodations in our instruction and materials to help students understand what we are trying to communicate to them. Gestures, props, electronic translators, and online resources must be utilized to communicate basic instruction to the non-native speaker. This is also another example of  how technology is used to help in the instruction process.

Map Mash-ups In Social Studies

In fifth grade social studies, we teach a chapter that deals with the early European explorers and the routes they took to come to the New World. An activity students could do with My Maps in Google is to create routes that each Explorer took.

Students would be responsible for knowing from which country each explorer traveled from, the year they made their voyage, and where in North America they arrived/traveled before heading home across the Atlantic again.


Explorer Map



View Routes of Early European Explorers to North America in a larger map

HPI in the K-12 Setting

Many of the interacting elements that were described in the process of Human Performance Improvement, I believe, are the foundational components to sound teaching and learning practices. For example, clear expectations, must be expressed to the learner. I try to have an agenda on my board every morning for my students to get the big picture of what their day of learning will look like. Clear expectations are then needed in each individual lesson. Modeling gives students that clear picture of what it is the teacher wants them to be able to do. Rubrics are another way that teachers can express the expectations students are to achieve.

Timely and specific feedback is another element that learners need to guide them toward the achievement of the expectations that have been given to them. I have brief conferences with my students to provide them with the feedback they need, but I have to admit, when it comes to grading papers that have been written, I tend to be overwhelmed by the volume of material to grade prevent me from writing notes and pointing out all of the strengths and weaknesses in students’ work.

The availability of adequate resources can at times be difficult in the school setting. Are there enough textbooks to go around? Are there enough working computers in the lab to accommodate the entire class, or do some have to sit out or simply watch another student at the keyboard? Are teachers forced to use a curriculum that doesn’t provide the learner with adequate background information? These questions can seriously hinder the performance improvement process for some.

Policies and procedures are part and parcel to a smoothly running classroom. These provide the learner with a safe and predictable environment within which to learn and hopefully translate that learning to the standardized tests that measure their performance.

Academic performance isn’t the only type of performance elementary teachers like myself are interested in. We are also hoping to see children develop a positive social acumen. Incentives and consequences, as pointed out by Stolovich as another element in HPI, are an integral part of the daily life at school. Teachers need to be aware that consequences are developmentally appropriate and actually guide the student toward the desired performance and does not inadvertently provide the student with reinforcement of the undesired behavior.

There certainly is an art to applying all of these elements, and others, in the K-12 setting. What may work for one student may not for another. Each child brings with him or her a different set of abilities and backgrounds and teachers are constantly challenged to provide students with everything needed to grow as much as possible and to prove that growth on standardized tests and district assessments. 

Educational Podcasts 

Our district has a large ELL population, especially Korean students. My principal asked me last year to start a before-school tutoring program for these students to help them develop their English skills. I took one course in my undergrad work dealing with teaching ELLs, but feel that was not nearly enough to prepare me for this task. I have had a lot of trial and error. I discovered ESL Teacher Talk. This site has podcasts that give teachers information about various games and methods to use to teach ELLs of a variety of ages.

I think podcasts are another great way for educators to receive professional development and no or very low costs. Podcasts in the classroom are also another way in which the element of providing adequate resources to our students can be accomplished. 

Standing the Test of Time: The Web and Its Impact on Education

Technological advancements seem to have come in spurts over the past several decades. When the latest and greatest thing comes along, many believe they are seeing the future only to find that when the future arrives, the supposed transforming technology has faded away or more likely replaced by another. Films gave way to radio and television, but they played their part for a time. Educationally speaking, television hasn’t played the major role in education as once believed or hoped it would. Computers, as they decrease in size and price and increase in speed, capacity, and capability have found their way into an increasing number of classrooms and training environments. The Internet, which was once only available to those in the military and higher education, is now available to the masses. It seems to be increasing in its scope and ability to reach into our daily lives every year. Bulletin boards and chat rooms have given way to blogs and sites like Face Book where so many share their lives with anyone they can befriend. Email is so common that it has had an impact on the US Postal Service. In my opinion, the Internet is here to stay and will continue to grow and permeate our various educational systems.

The K-12 setting may be the area of least impact for the Internet for the time being. I believe that there are still barriers that prevent the Internet’s influence in this educational venue. The digital divide still exists which inhibits teachers’ ability to assign work requiring use of the Internet. Teacher preparatory institutions may or may not be providing adequate training in the use of online educational resources and how to blend their instruction to take greater advantage of the Web. Older teachers who are not as computer literate struggle with the use of technology in general and therefore would not be motivated or willing to explore and incorporate Internet resources into their instruction.  Districts who block various content on fears of exposing children to inappropriate material also impede the potential use of the Internet in the K-12 setting.

Colleges and Universities, as described in the text as, “…a recent study…revealed that during the 2004-2005 academic year, nearly two thirds of all colleges and universities in the United States offered online courses as well as accredited online degree programs.” indicate a strong impact of the Internet on this area of education. Online educational programs afford people the flexibility and convenience to study as their schedules allow and grant them more time with their families or to their jobs. Travel costs are eliminated as well as textbook costs in most cases. Enrollment in programs that ordinarily would be out of the question for many due to distance from the offering institution are now free to take advantage of a broader array of opportunities thanks the Internet.

I believe that business and industry will utilize the internet more and more. I cannot imagine, with the ever-increasing demands on businesses with regard to health care costs, taxes, and other regulations, that they wouldn’t want to take advantage of a cost effect way to train their workforce with the use of web-based instruction. Communication within the business world is greatly enhanced with the Internet as well. Why pay per diems and other travel expenses to gather together people for conferences, when tools such as Skype can still get the task done.

Every so often we hear hints of governmental regulation of the Internet and/or taxation on its use. If this were to take place, the impact the Internet can have on education would be greatly reduced.  It is my hope that it has grown to a point of permanence and popularity that such control will never occur.

Adding Media in Blogs

SHAMROCK BUDDIES ENJOY TIME TOGETHER

SITE OF 2011 MACUL CONFERENCE

View Larger Map

Edith, a 14 year-old girl in England, explains why she thinks she is being 'under-taught' as far as ICT (educational technology) is concerned, and what she thinks teachers should do about it.

Photo Sharing and Reflections on Instructional Design

I uploaded several pictures I have taken of my students this year in a couple of different activities to a flickr account. I have never used a photo sharing service before and I have to say I am hooked. I was amazed at how easy it was to add them to my page. Students would not have too much difficulty in doing the same once they had pictures downloaded from a camera to their computer.

One way I think photo sharing could be incorporated into an educational activity would be to require students to take pictures of the procedures they performed in a science fair project. Their photo sharing page would be documentation of what they did and they could easily add descriptions telling the viewer what is going on in each photo or step in the process they carried out in their experiment.

Concerns I always have when pictures of students themselves are posted to a public site is that there are never names associated with the pictures that could in any way identify the child.  Our district requires special permission to be granted from a parent before names are added to pictures on any site. Students could add personal information about themselves or classmates to pictures which could violate privacy or endanger them.

Organization and protection of pictures are benefits I can see with using a photo sharing site. All of the favorite shots can be kept in an easy to view spot with information on each. If a hard drive crashes or a flash drive is lost, the pictures are still safely kept on the sharing site. Another benefit is that friends and relatives who are separated geographically can stay in touch with one another in a more visual way by accessing the site. I could see grandparents enjoying such a service.

With regard to the reading assignment on instructional design, I found myself thinking of examples of how I have used the various aspects of ID when developing lesson plans and units in my class. However, there are some parts that I feel I do not incorporate or do so only marginally or ineffectively.

The students are definitely the center of the instructional development process. It is all about  the outcomes they produce. I am very much goal oriented, but the goals have been set for me as I must live up to the Grade Level Content Standards or the Common Core Standards, as we are increasingly moving toward. I believe, especially, in my reading class, that I have a meaningful way for students to perform. When they complete a book of their choice at their own reading level, they are to write a letter to me telling me all about the book. I can determine if they are understanding what they read. Response journals are another way I have students demonstrate their ability to utilize the various comprehension or fluency strategies I am teaching them. Book club discussion groups are an authentic setting, I believe, that allows students to perform and show what they know. It isn’t perfect, but I believe it is much more meaningful and authentic than a multiple choice test on a piece of text the had to read.

In math I am involved in creating formative assessments based on the GLCEs.  As a grade level team, we look at the results at the end of each quarter assessment and revise our instruction based on the strengths and weaknesses of our students. Finding the time, however, to go back and reteach those struggling students and keep up with the daily lessons our curriculum demands of us is a complicating matter to be sure.

Analysis does come into play with these formative assessments and MEAP scores provide some summative data for us to look at, but it is difficult to analysis to set overall goals as they have been set for us by the state as mentioned previously with the GLCEs.

Evaluation is tricky at times, too. Aside from the MEAP, there are two other evaluation tools we use in reading and one in math. The reading assessment, I believe, can be skewed due to nervousness in a student that hinders their fluency and accuracy in their oral reading. Are we getting a true picture of what the child has accomplished under these conditions? The math assessment is given at the beginning and end of the year and requires students to click multiple choice questions on a computer. Will a student rush through it just to call it done at the end of May when it is beautiful outside and they want to make sure they don’t miss any recess? I feel the evaluation tools we use, at times, do not give me an accurate picture of a child’s true progress and attainment of the goals that have been set for their learning.

Social Bookmarking and Defining Our Field

I was first introduced to delicious last summer and have been adding bookmarks bit by bit ever since. Recently, however, I have found that when I try to add a new bookmark, I am not able to simply paste in my copied URL. Delicious used to take me to a separate page to add my new bookmark. Now a small window pops up with a place for the new URL to go, but I am unable to right click and paste it in. This has been very inconvenient. I shared my troubles with a coworker and she introduced me to Diigo. I was able to import all of my bookmarked sites from Delicious to Diigo easily.  Diigo has become my preferred social bookmarking site, which allows for highlighting and sticky notes to be preserved on the sites I want to save.

I find social bookmarking a godsend! So often I would surf at home and find great sites and bookmark them on my computer there. Then I would get to school and wouldn’t have access to those sites when I needed to recall them. The same would happen at school when I wanted to retrieve something at home. Delicious took care of that problem immediately, of course. Now no matter where I am, I can access all of the sites I have collected. The tags help me find whatever I need quickly instead of having to scroll through URLs that may or may not hold meaning for me. So first of all, the value is for me personally to keep all of my resources organized and readily available to me anywhere I may be working.

Another way that social bookmarking can act as a valuable tool is by informing parents of my delicious or diigo account. So often parents want to know what good math sites are out there for their son or daughter to use to practice their math facts, for example. Instead of repeatedly jotting down a few or putting them in my newsletter or even providing individual links on my webpage, I think I need to just give parents my delicious.com address so that they can have access to all of the sites I have found to be valuable. Then they can search the tags and hopefully create a delicious account of their own and collect sites that are useful to them and their children.

As for the definitions of Instructional Technology, or should I say, Instruction Design and Technology, I was surprised by how far back the field dates. I certainly have not thought of it existing in the 1920s.  I’m old enough to remember film strips in elementary school and even mimeograph copies as opposed to “Xerox” copies. I even witnessed the operation of the strange cranking device in the backstage area of our school’s cafeteria. How far we have come! I can also recall the TV weatherman using an actual board to illustrate the forecast—no green screens and animations! I certainly didn’t think of these things as “technology” back then and it makes me smile now to think that those things were the advancements of the time.

I was also taken aback by the fact that there hasn’t been one definite understanding of the field, but with such ever-changing technologies and needs in education, I can understand the varied and shifting perspectives.  I suppose that my own views have tended to focus more on the media and the devices that help students learn. This past school year, however, I have been thinking of educational technology to include those things that facilitate teaching as well as learning. With all of the things that are expected of teachers, I have been trying to find ways that technology can help me manage my duties and responsibilities as a teacher. I am constantly needing more hours in each day and simply more of ME. I think of educational technology in terms of how it can provide me with ways to stretch the resources of time and energy. I think that this component to my definition of the field is covered in the terms of “facilitating learning” and “managing appropriate technological processes and resources” as defined by the AECT in 2006.

I like that the definition applies to areas of instruction outside of the field of education. One reason I am entering this field is so that I have skills that can apply to the private sector should I ever chose to, or am laid off from, public education.  “…intended to improve learning and performance in a variety of settings, particularly educational institutions and the workplace.” includes the business setting for educational technologists. Reiser’s and Dempey’s definition appeals to my desire to have a degree and skill set that will transfer from the field of education if I ever need to make such a shift in my career.

Using Wikis

Even after a very long twelve hour day, I found that setting up my wiki was fairly straightforward and painless--just like a Web 2.0 tool should be. :)

One idea I have for wikis involves the staff here at Sylvester Elementary. There are five teachers in my building, myself included, who are a part of a Mi Champs team. We are a part of a cohort who have received a grant through MACUL to learn about technology and then share that knowledge with our coworkers. During one of our required training sessions this summer, we discussed the possibility of setting up a wiki that other staff members could visit to learn about ways to incorporate technology into their teaching. We envision other buildings using this to add to the volume of information available and let "iron sharpen iron", so to speak.

As far as using wikis for the students, I think it would be a great tool for those teachers who use project based learning. Long-term projects that require teams of students to work together could use wikis as a tool  to organize their thoughts and the various roles they play in putting together their projects. Resources could easily be collected and saved with created links. A task list could be easily referred to and edited as duties are assigned and/or completed. The wiki could also act like a e-portfolio of the students' work. Learning to use the wiki of and by itself would generate a tremendous amount of learning.

A more specific idea for using wikis in the classroom would be to set up a wiki for fifth grade math students. Pages could be dedicated to various topics in math and how students think of these types of problems. For example, a page could be devoted to long division. There are different algorithms for doing division and students all have their own preferred way of doing things. Students could add to the wiki how they think about and approach a problem, which would give perspective to another student who may be struggling in that area. Videos from teachertube could be linked to further demonstrate how to work problems. A page for multiplication of decimals, one for fractions, one for geometry, etc., can be created. Favorite math sites with games to help master particular topics could be added to the wiki. In time, a great resource would be created--all by students for students.

Setting up and Using Blogs and RSS Readers

             Establishing a blog through Blogger was much easier than I anticipated. I liked the options for layout, but wish there were more. If I were to have students develop a blog, I can see them spending too much time fussing over things like background colors, layouts, etc. Working with Google’s RSS Reader was a bit more of a challenge for me. I found no other way to subscribe to blogs other than copying and pasting URLs into the window for “Add a Subscription.” I found that using a Mac and Safari as my browser I had to do things a bit differently. In the end, I was glad for the confusion. Thanks to a link Dr. Horvitz sent me in response to a question, I learned how to work with Safari to subscribe to feeds. I now have Google Reader and a folder collecting feeds attached to my browser. A bit of overkill, but I like learning all I can about my Mac as it is still new to me and a big switch from using a PC.

            When considering The Cone of Experience and where on this spectrum blogs and RSS readers fall, I think it may depend upon the perspective we take. If, for example, we are speaking of the writer of the blog, then I think that just about all levels of the Cone can apply. The blogger usually has at least one, or a combination, of the types of experiences on the Cone in order to have a topic to blog about. However, if you are the one reading the blog, then I would say that the verbal symbols part of the Cone applies most often. Perhaps links to video and audio clips are a part of the blog. If that is the case, then more parts of the Cone would apply beyond the contact with the printed words. As for RSS readers, they allow us to access blogs, which are mainly written words, so verbal symbols would be the main part involved with this tool. With so many facets to content on the Internet that could be subscribed to, I am sure that other parts of the Cone could be involved. I look forward to reading the views of my classmates on this topic.

            Yes, kids can get up in front of a class and tell their peers and teacher of some experience, but blogs do the same thing plus a lot more.  A student’s audience is much broader than the children inside the classroom. Blogging causes a purposeful reflection of an experience or opinion and provides an authentic reason for others to write in response to the blogger’s posts. I believe that blogs provide a greater sense of collaboration with faster and more varied feedback than a traditional oral presentation or pen and paper essay. When Seigel was referring to WisdomTools Scenarios TM, he pointed out that, “The purpose of these activities is to help the learner reflect on the story’s relevance and contribute to it. Multiple points of view are discovered and new insights are learned through these asynchronous exchanges.” I believe that creating, reading, and responding to blogs do much the same thing. RSS readers simply provide us the means to stay current with the sites we wish to view on a regular basis and keep track of them. RSS feeds and readers are essential to keeping up with Postman’s “glut” of information.

Reflections on Postman and Reigeluth & Joseph Articles

     My initial reaction to Postman was one of complete disagreement, but with rereading and thinking about his points, I have come to agree with him to a degree. When the author of “Of Luddites, Learning and Life” wrote, “…new technologies may not always solve significant problems or any problem at all. But because the technologies are there, we often invent problems to justify our using them.” I found myself thinking of the times I’ve seen colleagues (and myself) using some web 2.0 tool just because it was “cool” not because it was truly needed or there was no other way to get a point across. We used it simply because it was there and we knew the kids would get a kick out of it. This is not, in my opinion, the proper or best use of technology. However, there are certain students who need some motivator to engage them at times. If this is the reason or the problem that technology can fix, then I am for it. Thinking of how the internet, if not properly managed and supervised can create problems with regard to surfing inappropriate sites, I found myself agreeing with Postman when he stated, “And we could be clearer about what we are getting into if there were less cheerleading about, let us say, the use of computers in the classroom and more sober analysis of what may be its costs intellectually and socially.” Such costs could also include the over use of games, for instance, on a particular learning point if a student has mastered that topic. Because it is fun and the student is engaged, doesn’t mean real learning is taking place. Perhaps that student needs to move on to the next learning goal, which may be best learned working with a peer who could not only help with the learning of the subject matter, but also provide an environment within which to learn the very important skills of cooperation, listening, and the sharing of ideas.

     When Postman states that, “…new technologies do not, by and large, increase people’s options but do just the opposite.” I immediately thought of myriad examples that refute this opinion. With tools such as netTrekker from Michigan Learn Port, I can locate resources that provide teachers with differentiated reading levels to meet the needs of all learners in our classrooms.  Skype allows for the exchange of ideas with students in completely different parts of the country or world where perspectives are totally different. Technology can expand horizons, not shrink them. Technology also gives students the means to show what they truly know in ways that best fits their learning styles. They can write with paper and pencil, if they so choose, to tell us what they learned, or they can choose to create a digital poster with Glogster if they tend to be a visual learner. Slide show presentations, video creation, blog entries are a few examples of how technology can provide options to allow students to learn and grow in the ways that best suit each individual learner. Then there is the entire area of assistive technologies that open doors to people who otherwise may be drastically hindered. For these reasons I strongly disagree with the position that technology takes away choices.

     The Reigeluth and Joseph piece brought up issues that our district is currently engaged in. The idea of taking the focus off of time and placing it on achievement made me think of how our high school will soon be providing students options to graduate in less time or more time than is traditionally taken. Learning focused educational systems is what we all are in the business of being. Yes, in times past, the focus has been on getting through the book/curriculum or teaching the material instead of teaching the student. The use of technology to track learning has become a huge part of our existence. Tools such as Data Director allow us to look at assessment information immediately and therefore direct our instruction at the needs of our students. Progess can be monitored from a variety of perspectives with the use of technology and can be improved with resources such as Read Naturally and Lexia. Study Island can be prescriptive based on students’ learning needs.

     To make the paradigm shift Reigeluth and Joseph spoke of with regard to standards-based assessment systems is one that I believe will be a difficult change to make. Teachers see the need and value in this, but parents, who were educated under the “Industrial Age” model, still believe that a letter grade tells them all they need to know about their child’s learning. Through surveys and direct communication with individual parents and parent advisory committees, I can see that this shift will come slowly.

     Overall, my position regarding the use of technology in education, at this point in my own learning process, is that blending our instruction using a variety of methods, tools, and resources is the best approach to reach all learners. We live in a technology infused world and our students need to learn to see technology not only as a means of entertainment but as tools for productivity and collaboration. However, not all of society is animated or digitized. People will always be. Relationships will always exist. Therefore, the human element should always be THE factor in the learning process of children. Technology can and is a wonderful way to assess, track, access information, etc., but alone it can not grow civil, productive, caring adults.