Instructional Technology Ponderings

I was reading an article this morning in ISTE’s Technology and Learning journal for November that caught my eye. Well actually, two articles caught my eye and I thought I would share them with you. In both articles technology is emphasized as a tool to support and challenge learners. Technology is not a standalone device that is seen as the center of learning but instead a tool that is enhanced by solid teaching strategies.

The first article is Digital Storytelling by Regina Royer and Patricia Richards. Within the article the authors identify 16 strategies that have been found to enhance reading comprehension in students. These strategies include active listening, cooperative learning, fluency, graphic organizers, mental imagery, question asking, reciprocal teaching, sequencing, summarizing, and vocabulary. These strategies are incorporated into the five pillars of effective reading which is outlined by the National Reading Panel. The authors tie these strategies into content goals, scaffolding, and multimedia literacy.

Many tools popped into my head when I read this article. Below are a few.

• Inspiration or CMap for concept mapping software
• Wiki for collaborative project allowing students to create their own book
• Google documents so students can collaboratively write a document and edit work of others
• Flickr to share stories through text and images
• Gcast (podcast) to share stories with others
• Viddler to share videos of stories
• Twitter to share ideas

The list could go on.

The second article is about technology professional development. It is entitled, Staff Development Café Style (PDF), by Jennifer Arns. I love this title. What a warm cozy feeling you get just from the title. I am already imaging the smell of fresh brewed coffee and pastries just waiting for me to dig in and enjoy. I am sitting with friends discussing issues of the day and we are sharing our solutions and or providing suggestions. Hey, this is a great idea for a technology professional development session isn’t it. It involves collaboration, excitement, and a supportive environment where tools and ideas can be shared and tried.
What a great idea.

Enjoy!

I was reading the Examiner.com today and found out that George Mason has received a $7 million grant to create an interactive history Web site. The goal of this site is ‘to improve history instruction throughout the United States’. The site will provide lesson plans, forums for discussions, and each lesson will be aligned with state history standards.

The Web site itself states that it is…

Designed for high school and college teachers and students, History Matters serves as a gateway to web resources and offers other useful materials for teaching U.S. history.

To visit the site directly, go to http://historymatters.gmu.edu/

As more and more of these quality sites are placed on the Web, information becomes more accessible and necessary.

How can these tools help teachers become better teachers? Can they?

I was reading an article this morning, Virtual classroom at the University of Central Florida puts teachers to the test, in the Orlando Sentinel and found it interesting. Interesting on many levels - first, I am planning something similar this coming fall with a class. Second, I believe simulations can and do provide a rich experience for students at any level.

As teachers, we search for effective strategies and methods that provide both dynamic experiences for our students and opportunities that encourage thought and discovery. Simulations are one such opportunity. Simulations provide a sense of immersion into an environment and hopefully provide opportunities for the learner to participate and to think as they would in the ‘real world’ - (outside the classroom walls). Thus, processing, making decisions, and learning.

I am planning to implement a dynamic, live, and very present type of simulated experience this coming fall in SecondLife.  I will be doing this in a beginning course for teachers at CGPS, Teaching and the Development of the Learner. Students will have opportunities to role play in this world and to practice maintaining a safe and productive classroom environment. Students will use this simulated environment by creating avatars and participating in different roles (student and teacher).  As the article suggests, if there is a problem in the classroom, you must fix it. Students will have opportunities to practice doing just that. The benefit, it is simulated and they will receive constructive feedback with opportunities for practice.

It is an interesting and good article. Take a look.

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.