Instructional Technology Ponderings

I am reading the world is flat and am amazed at our progress and the progress of the world. We are rapidly changing the way we do business and as a result the way we live and interact in our lives and our overall environment. Each day we hear or read small chunks of information about outsourcing, data mining, and changing economies from different points on the globe. We hear about how technology tools are embedded into our culture from cell phones to iPods. We hear how telecommunications is so advanced someone in a different part of the world can complete our taxes for us even tutor our students in core subject areas by accessing the Internet.

Educators have noticed this change as well - many have been proponents of adding 21st century skills into classroom instruction by advocating authentic problems, information literacy, creativity, and leadership. We run into roadblocks on many accounts due to standardized tests and the continued focus of memorization of facts with little expansion into broader concepts and authentic problems. I believe we can have it all - accountability (rigor), 21st century skills, and creativity.

Questions pop into my head - What seems to be the hold up? How can educators provide an enriched, creative learning environment in the classroom and throughout the school? Should the system be changed? How can standards be emphasized and creativity take a strong stance in the center of teaching and learning?

Educational practices need to change to help prepare our students for this new world. Throughout history we have evolved with the times. It is hard but it is necessary for advancement.  It is time that teachers, administrators, and government officials begin to evolve with the times and begin to aggressively change – change the views of education, teaching, and learning. What do you think?

 Further reading and exploration on this topic

Measuring Up in a Flat World TechLearning http://www.techlearning.com/showArticle.php?articleID=196604144

Lecture at MIT by Thomas Friedman http://mitworld.mit.edu/video/266/

The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century (Wikipedia) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_World_is_Flat

A question that I ponder often - how can teachers begin using technology that students presently are using in their daily lives to engage the student and immerse the student into the content? Why do many of us find ways to ban or restrict access to valuable content, resources, or even tools? Technology is a good tool and only a tool. It can be utilized to engage students in creative problem solving, analysis, and the presentation of information in new and meaningful ways - just to name a few benefits. Why has it not spread throughout our schools like wildfire?

An article I just read in the New York Times, In Some Schools, iPods Are Required Listening, is a good example of popular technology being used to enhance learning and engage students. Some schools in this article ban the use of iPods in the school building and some do not. You can ask many questions while reading this article - I pulled out two - are iPods teaching the student language or is the iPod a tool that aids the student in learning a language. Which question is more important? Why would either question be more important than the other one? My thought, each question guides perception and eventually action in the integration of technology into a classroom or the lack of technology use in the classroom.

Back to my premise that technology can be used to help connect students to the content being studied. Technology can also be used for drill and practice to tighten skills - this is usually how technology is integrated into our schools. Can technology aid students in grasping higher order thinking? Tougher, but technology is a tremendous tool that can help students begin to critically evaluate sources, topics, and ideas. It only helps provide the resources and methods to crunch numbers and display numbers in meaningful ways, organize data and content in one or a variety of documents, and to incorporate interactivity into presentations in order to expand thought on topics. The teacher needs to teach students how to think critically. Technology can aid in this process.

The article highlights a teacher and her use of iPods in the classroom with ESL students. The teacher wanted to engage her students and help students provide meaning to words and concepts. Students were having a difficult time gaining understanding of words and meanings. She noticed that students listened to a lot of music and decided to incorporate music into her lessons. The teacher downloaded music, wrote out the words in a document, deleted all of the nouns and verbs within the song,  had students fill in the missing nouns and verbs and then provide a definition for each - noun and verb filled in. It worked. Students began to make connections.

“You have kids who never said a word in English, and now they’re singing Black Eyed Peas. It was a lot of work, but it was worth it.” Ms. Poli I love that quote.

Yes, I think it is worth it as well.

This is a question that I hear often from teachers from all around. I often wonder this very question myself and then something happens that makes me even more certain that blogging is important.

Today, a student sent me an email response that she received from an author of one of our textbooks.  This student posed a question to the author on her blog and the author found the question and responded to her directly through email. The student received the author’s specific ideas concerning her question and her understanding was both clarified and strengthened.

Collaboration, engagement, meaningful learning, and authentic practice are all terms that we hold true in education. We want our students to reflect on assignments, discussions, and readings. We want students to pose questions and seek answers. We want our students to interact with experts as well as with individuals with opposing opinions. Blogging is a good tool to strengthen learning and as a result highlight each of the above points. Blogging allows learners to hear from others outside of the classroom. It has the potential to provide a sense of ownership and authenticity to content. What a great tool for teachers to use in their classrooms.

David Warlick Defends Blogs on his 2 cents worth blog -http://davidwarlick.com/2cents/2007/08/25/in-defense-of-education-blogs/

blogs provide opportunities for sharing ideas, understandings - whether the view beign shared is agreed upon or not.

blogs are not ‘proven to be effective’ so why should teachers use them with their students. Communication is key. The ability to communiate and share ideas is a necessary element for teachers to include in classrooms.

eSchool News http://www.eschoolnews.com/cic/tcea/blog/2007/02/001636.php

Engage and motivate students through blogging

Blogging poses many questions for educators. I hope eventually we as a community can agree that it is an important tool in our classrooms.