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How do I become a truly digital teacher?

Jan 11th, 2013 by

I downloaded Evernote this week in an attempt to become more “paperless”.   I typically use Outlook or Notes on my smartphone to capture most of my quick ideas.  I take digital notes for reading material, and use hand written notes in class.  As a college student, I believe Evernote may be a great tool.

But as a future teacher, becoming paperless may be more of a challenge.  I would like to be able to post homework assignments, have students access the document and fill in the required work, then grade the document on-line to provide quick feedback that can be filed for future reference.

The Montclair Kimberly Academy incorporated Evernote into their classrooms, and here is what they say:

Here are some options I’ve considered:

1.  Evernote allows for all types of data to be stored:  documents, PDF, Jing, and pictures.  No smartboard, no problem.  You can take a picture and upload.  Cool new apps are discussed in an article 10 New Features You Should Know.  Additionally, @TheNerdyTeacher did what he called his Epic Evernote Experiment, and I was very impressed with how he has developed a system for class organization.  But I’m not yet convinced that Evernote is for everyone.  Evernote does allow for shared folders, but without a premium account you cannot edit shared notes.  Not all school districts are going to have access to this tech.

2.  Programs like Edmodo allow teachers and students to share work easily with each other and with other students.  Classroom supplementary work can be added or linked easily, like Prezi files.  I thought this to be a very effective tool in the classroom environment.  Edmodo also allow for parental viewing of student work and grades.

3.  GoogleDocs easily allows students to collaborate on team projects which can be share with anyone that has an email account, and students can give teachers access for grading purposes.

What are your techniques for decreasing paper homework in the classroom?

 

Posted in Connected Learning Techniques, Uncategorized, Web 2.0 | No Comments »

Why I want my students to blog

Nov 10th, 2012 by

 

From +Catherine Flippen and +Jaime Vandergrift, I found A Sixty Second Guide to the Use of Blogging in Education from Educational Technology and Mobile Learning.

Blogging teaches reading and writing processes that facilitate 21st Century learning skills and literacies.  This simple 5 step procedure shows how to implement a blog into your classroom and discusses the multidisciplinary approach that incorporates student blog skills with digital citizenship, quality work projects, and connected learning environments while showcasing students’ work on a global communication hub.

In Retooling the Social Studies Classroom for the Current Generation the authors study ways in which teachers in this discipline can use blogging, wikis, and digital media sharing to improve student engagement and the overall learning process.   The authors believe that technology should enhance student learning, rather than be a simple replication of old ways of presenting materials, and they use as a founding principle the National Council for the Social Studies guideline that implementing technology should

“Capitalize on many students’ ubiquitous, yet social, use of such technology and demonstrate the technology’s power as a tool for learning” (National Council for Social Studies, Technology Position Statement, para 7)

I would like to use blogging as a tool to reach across disciplines, like creating links between literature and history.  Different teachers can examine student’s work across subject areas, and this technique could re-inforce the material on multiple levels.

Are you using blogging in your classes to expand their research, writing and reading skill, or to create a multi-disciplinary approach to learning?   It this an effective strategy?

Posted in Connected Learning Techniques, Web 2.0 | 2 Comments »

Digital Literacy Debate – Can YouTube Improve Learning?

Nov 8th, 2012 by

The concern about media literacy is not new.  See the video below, Blogging Through History,  for a look at how pamphleteering, Ben Frankin, and Yellow Journalism required readers of the past to look with a critical eye at the written word.  Blank pages were placed at the end of written documents so readers could comment and pass along.  Sound familiar?

These days it seems like everyone is watching YouTube, and some of the content is actually allowing learners to access wonderful, accurate, and thought provoking digital media via the Internet.   Educators like Sal Khan are giving wider access to subjects like Math, Science and History to a diverse group learners on demand with The Khan Academy.  In sharp contrast, there are also the clips of cats skydiving.  So, can YouTube make us smarter?

I believe through proper analysis of the message, it can.  Elizabeth Thoman and Tessa Jolls, in Media Literacy, A National Priority for a Changing World offer us some advice about how to evaluate media.  Since digital media has become more complex, diverse and accessible, the actual content of the message becomes less important than the analysis and further re-communication of the message.  Readers can use the following 5 questions to better evaluate digital media:

1.  Who created the message?

2.  What creative techniques are used to attract my attention?

3.  How might different people understand this message differently from me?

4.  What lifestyles, values, and points of view are represented in, or omitted from, this message?

5.  Why is this message being sent?

The authors add that:  ”Now is the time to make media literacy education a national priority in advancing 21st century skills for a 21st century world”

What are you doing in your classrooms to encourage students to learn digital media skills?

Posted in Connected Learning Techniques, Digital Media Literacy | No Comments »

It takes a Village

Nov 3rd, 2012 by

They say it takes a village to raise (and teach)  a child.  How has Web 2.0 with its interactive elements changed the way the village acts in the capacity of educator?

Web 2.0 has created greater flexibility in our methods for teaching.  I found this post from Dangerously Irrelevant with his thoughts about videos compiled by the Digital Media and Learning Resource Hub.

The video that drew my attention the most was this one:

It explores the importance of how we learn, and asks the question, should the starting point in developing curriculum be the content, or should it be “what is the experience we what our students to have”?  How is it that we can best reach our student to create that optimal experience?  Web 2.0 has changed how we can answer that question.

What I have learned from my many years of dealing with a multitude of people is that they all learn differently.  It takes them different times, and it takes different strategies.  You have to approach people from angles they understand.  How can we possibly control the educational process in which children are learning from such a multitude and varied number of static and interactive sources?  I think the bottom line is that we can’t all the time.  What the community of those who educate children can do first is to create a student that wants to/knows how to maximize students’ learning potential while always focusing on creating a foundation of good citizenship skills.

If you are interested in ways to differentiate objectives for your students’ skills to maximize their output view this post by Byrdseed.

Web 2.0 creates an environment in which people are learning all the time, not only through 1.0 ways like  absorbing the information created by others, but also through the 2.0 ways of interacting and creating on the internet.

The Video Citizenship for Cyberkids is a discussion of how we as a community must join together to create a generation of good cyber citizens in our youth.  The internet provides learners wonderful tools, but  risks like cyber bullying and predators are real and must be addressed.  The answer is not to rid ourselves of productive technology, but to teach good cyber citizenship skills to users.  We need to collaborate as a community to discuss best practices.   The teacher might be an entry point is this training, so training programs for educators must be considered.  It is also critical to remember that the scope of education for cyber citizenship must be wider than a classroom.  It takes a village.

How does this new creative and interactive way students are learning change the way we are teaching?  Do you start with the content, what it is you want the student to learn, or do you begin with asking the question what experience is it that I want my students to have?  What have you done  to become more Teacher 2.0 to meet your students movement towards Learner 2.0, and has it required a shift in emphasis in how you teach people to engage with each other?

Posted in Connected Learning Techniques, Web 2.0 | No Comments »

Making the Case for Digital Portfolios for both Students and Teachers

Oct 20th, 2012 by

I found an interesting post in George Couros’ Blog where he discusses how both students and teachers can use a digital portfolio to improve their online image.  Here are some of the major points:

     *  He recommends a video representation of achieved learning.  This is results based!  Is it better to see a student demonstrate he can perform a task versus seeing it as a bullet comment on a resume?  I think he is right on this one.

     *  On line portfolio creation is NOT bragging, but learning openly.  This type of product allows people to challenge each other.  Couros’ words reminded me of Ben Franklin’s Junto’s group that gathered to openly defend their essays, which improved their overall finished products (click here for Ben Franklin’s Autobiography).

Couros believes activities like blogging are an important part of a teacher’s work.  It allows people to see what they are thinking about, and what is important to them.  It also challenges them to be better.

     *  Educators and leaders should have something valuable to say if you are in a leadership position in a school

I see some potential pitfalls here, though.  Sharing your work with a trusted group of colleagues is quite a different matter than sharing on the internet.  The importance of using caution when sharing some data might be important, particularly for students.

This would be particularly relevant when thinking about how students, who are more likely to share openly on the web, might fall prey to predators.  Teaching the precepts of good internet citizenship and safety has to happen BEFORE students create a digital footprint.

What do you thing about sharing things like presentations you have given on open forums like a blog?

Posted in General Learning Objectives, Interactive Learning Tools | No Comments »

Resources for Teaching about the Election Process

Oct 15th, 2012 by

The 2012 Presidential Election is right around the corner.  Should history teachers be spending valuable classroom time teaching students about the election process? I think so. This may be the last time students hear about a Presidential election from a teacher before they enter the ballot box as adults.

You can go here to the History Channel to see a video with David Eisenbach that discusses how technology has changed the voting process.  Over the years, technology innovations have moved us from the early pure democratic forms used in Greece and verbal voting methods, towards later forms of mechanization that produced some great innovations for timely counting, but also created the problem of hanging chads. Eisenbach ends the video alluding to a potential voting revolution via the cell phone, like American Idol. If teachers can get students as excited about the presidential campaign as they are about Idol, we may be able to work towards getting more people interested in the political process.

If you are looking for ways to discuss with your students the process of American voting, the Learning Network from the New York Times compiled a list of web sites, to include lesson plans and other graphic and interactive web links to help teachers incorporate learning about the election process into their classrooms. The electoral map here would be a great way to graphically depict how the electoral process works, and to open up discussion about difficult topics like what happens when there is conflict between popular and electoral votes or to debate whether communications systems have improved the average voter.

What are you doing to teach your students about the election?

Posted in Lesson Plans | No Comments »

GapMinder – A Graphical Representation of Human Development Indicators

Oct 14th, 2012 by

Thanks to Dr. Brad Andrew, I’m a big fan of the tool Gapminder, a trend indicator software system.   Wealth and Health of Nations and 200 Years that Changed the World are interactive tools in Gapminder depicting changing national economic indicators. The video below is Hans Rosling’s discussion of how 200 Years that Changed the World analyzes changes in nation-states.

 

 

 Each country is designated by a separate circle, the size being proportionate to population, and continents are distinguished by color.  In 1809 all countries had a life expectancy of under 40 years of age, but as economic conditions improved, life expectancy increased.  See the difference in this example between 1900 and 2011.  China is the large red circle.

World history teachers can use this program to visually show how China’s Great Leap Forwards took time and resources to implement.

It also shows how some continents still lag behind in both economic and health indicators.

How could you use this in your classrooms?

 

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Posted in Lesson Plans | No Comments »

Simulations – Can they be Effectively Used in a History Class?

Oct 14th, 2012 by

Have you ever played the video game “Civilization”?  I have.  It allows you to create a society in which you build your city while other groups are developing around you.  You have to make decisions regarding how to spend your resources, where and what to construct or plant, and with whom to ally with or war against.  It is interesting, teaches some basic human progress techniques, how to manage time and resources, and can be fun in moderation.  This game is just a simulation platform in the guise of a game.

While researching educational simulations on the Internet, I found this YouTube video

about Dr Steven Hoffman’s integration of this type of learning technique in his history class at Southeast Missouri State University.  He uses a platform called The Calm and The Storm to immerse his students in the historic decisions of World War II.  It does not just consider military tactics and strategy, but also economic, domestic, and infrastructure decisions.  It is particularly good for showing how the actions of one country effect the people of other nations.

Hoffman believes by using this simulation he is able to get students to better connect with the topic of World War II, and therefore improve learning results.

You can read more about The Calm and The Storm in the E School news article, “Computer Simulation is “Making History”.  The author of this article likes the realistic scenario-based simulation because it challenges its participants to use higher level thinking skills, and allows for a type of competition against the actual events in a tasteful manner.  Could you develop a plan to outwit the prime minister of Japan during World War II?  This lets you see how you would perform, and compares your results with actual events.

Have any of you ever used simulations in your classrooms with positive results?  Do you think this type of platform is an effective way to reinforce basic tenants learned in class, while adding students to use higher levels of critical thinking skills?

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Welcome Note

Oct 14th, 2012 by

Students and Their Affinity for Technology – What’s a Teacher to Do?

As teachers or future teachers, I believe most of us have come to the realization that we have to embrace technology or be left in the dust by our younger, and more wired in, students.  With this in mind, I start this blog as a means of incorporating ideas I’ve picked up along the way.  I hope you will add inspirational comments, and good ideas or techniques you’ve developed or discovered.  Teaching needs to be a team sport, and by spreading good ideas we can build better classroom, better students, and better citizens.

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