Free Online Applications

Google Docs:
With districts looking for more and more creative ways to save money open source software could be a largely untapped resource. Google docs is a great resource for educators. You can easily upload files from your desktop and create folders. Probably one of the greatest advantages of Google docs is that it can accessed anywhere that Internet is available. This allows for maximum portability and access of school related materials. This would eliminate the painstaking process of attempting to log into the limited school resources available off site.  In my building collaboration is vital to our daily work and Google docs allows work collaboratively with file exchange capabilities and team project flexibility in real-time. There are some drawbacks, but the benefits seem to far outweigh those. There is always the safety issues of storing confidential documents online (FERPA), but google has a quality security reputation. There is of course the issue of not having access to the Internet, but that's an issue with the existing close software being used as well. Google docs seem to a quality and reasonable option for any district looking to increase productivity and save money.

Picnik:
I have to start by saying I am not a huge fan of photosharing websites, so free photo editing probably has a limited value to me. I think I have used adobe photoshop maybe once or twice this whole school year. My wife and I were just talking the other day about how it seems like we never get the pictures printed off our digital hardware and that we missed old style cameras. That being said Piknik once again is a open source savings to districts. It is available to all formats including Mac, Windows, and Linux. It allows you to  pull your photos from where you store them either online or on your computer. It offers all of the same tools that the leading closed source software does for free. This also allows access form anywhere that Internet is available. I am still not sure about the security issue of my images being available online and parents may be wary of this as well. As a resource for schools it is a reasonable financial savings and available to all.

Educational Technology Resource Site

https://sites.google.com/site/edtechresourcesite/educational

bubbl.us

I would use this concept map for a baseline to begin a sociological case study about the movie made based on the S.E. Hinton book "the Outsiders". This will be used by high school students to demonstrate their knowledge of socioloigcal in coordination with a case study and apply to characters in said study.

1.  In this movie there are two groups the Greasers and the Socs the kids will examine the characters movement towards deviant behavior.
2. This is an assignment done at the end of a unit on social deviance.
3. Students will be given this concept map and asked to complete it continuing on with character connections and additional theory application.
4. This concept map will be used in association with th video.
5. Upon completion it would be used as a plan to complete a writing based upon sociological theory and the character presentation in the movie.
6. This writing along with the concept map will be used by students to demonstrate their knowledge of the topics pertaining to social deviance.

Getting Jingy with it.

I find screencasting very useful and interesting. My first thought was the ability to post visual directions on my eboard. That is the ability to recreate classroom directions on my eboard. A great "how to" tool.

Portage Northern High School

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Student Project

Google Maps Lesson

 The Virtual Field Trip. I would use google maps to have students explore colonial Williamsburg. I would include important points of interest to the development of Colonial America. The students would be able to take a virtual walking tour of the town and record the important historical data as they go. In a single class many different maps could be shared with different groups. Each individual group could share their data from the multiple virtual field trip.
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=212221799994310348578.00049e295667ca65bb9f4&ll=37.269682,-76.703517&spn=0.006506,0.013218&z=16

Podcasts

Technology Integration-The George Lucas Educational Foundation
Effective tech integration must happen across the curriculum in ways that research shows deepen and enhance the learning process. I particular, it must support four key components of learning: active engagement, participant in groups, frequent interaction and feedback, and connection to real-world experts.


http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=395540477

Week 6 Reflection

The reality is the internet and web has an impact on education now and into the future. While it is not entirely integrated into a student’s school day now it may soon be. Let’s think about the school media center and/or learning commons.  The library card catalog is non-existent to today’s student and most if not all don’t even know what one is. They have never experienced it much like many of the students in elementary school now may rarely experience a video tape.  Many schools now have virtual libraries that allow students access too many resources.  The other reality we have to move away from the concept of competing with all the technology kids have and learn how to incorporate it. I currently have students turn in work online through my email. This is a win for both me and the students. For me it makes their assignments extremely portable and gives me access wherever there is internet. It also gives students an extension on the due time, so they have some additional time to submit from home. In many schools students have access to an eboard. Student’s have access to all of the materials used in class including video links and all classroom materials. Students who are out have access to the same material being use in the room while they are gone. This again saves me time having to assemble materials for students when they are absent.  I can now also access my gradebook and school email from my phone.  Everything involved in my teaching practice is highly portable. These are just a few ways the internet is being used currently and will only be built on in the future. In reflection of the Reiser chapter these all also work to solve instructional problems.

As cited by Reiser the constructivists emphasize an authentic learning design.  The internet allows this to happen. The amount of educational information including video, pictures, and literature available today already exceeds the capacity of educators to use it. That is not saying it is all good, but as the craft is refined it really will allow teaching and learning to advance beyond what was considered possible 20 years ago.  Gutenbergs printing press was a technological breakthrough that changed the world because it made text portable and accessible to large numbers of people. It also changed the way people taught and learned. I am sure that it was a scary time for teachers. The internet has sent these same ripples through the educational field today. Online courses are being used and expanding in both the workplace and schools.  It is a time of uncertainty about whether we will take a path of learning with the internet or from it. The balance moving forward will be that between humanity and technology.    

<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/kGo4ic4YVLY?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

iframe width="425" height="350" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&amp;source=s_q&amp;hl=en&amp;geocode=&amp;q=&amp;mrt=all&amp;sll=42.269179,-85.583496&amp;sspn=1.487747,3.460693&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;t=h&amp;hq=&amp;hnear=&amp;ll=42.203503,-85.58847&amp;spn=0.011127,0.018239&amp;z=15&amp;output=embed"></iframe><br /><small><a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&amp;source=embed&amp;hl=en&amp;geocode=&amp;q=&amp;mrt=all&amp;sll=42.269179,-85.583496&amp;sspn=1.487747,3.460693&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;t=h&amp;hq=&amp;hnear=&amp;ll=42.203503,-85.58847&amp;spn=0.011127,0.018239&amp;z=15" style="color:#0000FF;text-align:left">View Larger Map</a></small>

Week 5 Reflection

I think photo sharing is a neat idea for the classroom. I can think of many ideas for incorporating it in to an educational activity or unit. In Sociology there are many topics including some about childhood and growing up.  Teaching topics where students bring in their own items, such as anticipatory socialization, students could really benefit from photo sharing. Instead of having kids bring in a favorite toy from when they were children they could share the photos with and attachments.  The kids get more time to look at and analyze the items. While would it lack the ability for the students to manipulate the item, by the secondary level hopefully some of the students would have experience with them. I also think it would be a great platform for video. One could use it as a class video resource site and this would also give kids the ability to contribute by finding pertinent video to topics.

Of course once again when there is any social networking involved there are problems that can arise. While sites like flickr allow you to manipulate the text and photos, they may still not offer a security to give parents that “comfort feeling” while their children use the internet at school.  It seems like there would be more of an issue at the secondary level, because many students are familiar with these sites and can try being creative outside of the schools ability to protect it internet services.  I am also not sure that this resource is completely inventive in that it is not really one stop shopping. There seem to be other resources out there that can handle all classroom needs.

There are some advantages and disadvantages to using photo sharing sites. I really like the portability factor. Instead of having to source your photos from your home computer, they are available at all times anywhere. No matter where you are, as long as there is internet available, your photos are available. The security factor is always there, but as professionals this has always existed even with text and other pictorial items, and videos we share and limit with are audience based on appropriate content.

The chapter on instructional design conceptually reminded of the many educational programs schools use.  As described in, Trends and Issues in Instructional design and Technology by Reiser and Dempsey, instructional design is as follows, “organizing a system of procedures for developing education and training programs in a consistent and reliable fashion.  This description alone reminded me of the professional learning communities we use at school. PLC’s are a systematic way to approach best education practice in collaborative departmental teams to meet educational, learning, and building goals.  They so focus on providing the best teaching and outcomes from each team. I felt the chapter made it somewhat sound like an instructor is not needed for all students, which is an idea I do not subscribe to. If education is going to be customized for each student then someone need to be there working with them, because I do not believe computers can measure this completely. I have worked with many students while they are taking Michigan Virtual High School classes and they struggle left on their own. They have problems with the technology as well as the format. PLC’s also remind me of the “design models” the chapter talks about. As a visual communication tool ID brings to mind many of the intervention models I am familiar with like RTI. Each of these programs are multi tiered and each level reflects the prior as the chapter cites.  

flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bmedt5410

Week 4 Reflection

I have found many of the resources we have looked at so far useful. Social bookmarking is useful as well in the education environment. I am not sure it is as useful as some of the others, but I still think there are some educational uses for it. I think administrators could use it to inform parents of the processes being used within the schools. They could bookmark the pages that involve the schools behavioral programs and student services. This would also allow parent the access to the rationale of using the research based programs. Teachers could obviously use social bookmarking as a clearing house for a student resource site (class specific).  Teachers could share with each in their own school structure for both professional and subject specific site information resource. I am not sure that this replaces other resources available. On wiki you can post site links, video, and other media all in one spot. To me, wiki does so much more than social bookmarking. There seems to be a lot of similarities between RSS and social bookmarking. I do not like having to sign up for Yahoo either, from what I have read delicious used to be much better before Yahoo got involved. I think social bookmarking has value, I am not sure that it has that all inclusive value that I am looking for.

The Trends and Issues chapter was interesting to me. I always find the way people define things in a way like a heavyweight boxer being introduced.  I find all of the definitions a way to condense the information about a field that is far more comprehensive than any of the definitions.  All of the definitions from the 1920’s until the books definition all have relevance as descriptions of the field in its respective time frames. I like the books definition, because it seems all too often those of us in the education field forget that our specialization crosses over to the business sector as well. I found the earlier definitions interesting and surprising, because of the new technologies that changed the field early on, such as lantern slides, films, and television.  I find the design statement interesting in that we are really trying to take all of the hardware, software, videos, etc. and incorporate into an environment that may be teacher led or virtual. I am not sure what is missing in their own respective ways each definition touches on the technology, teacher, student, resource, and it application.  I wish it including the shareholders more in the definition, but they are there.

delicious

       http://www.delicious.com/b1mcneal

Week 3 Reflection

Reflection Week 3-wiki

As education continues to move away from standardization and towards customization working collaboratively has been emphasized. I really find wiki a beneficial web 2.0 technology in this area.  As Wikipedia noted, “it can be used to work in a collaborative manner for things such as community websites, corporate intranets, knowledge management systems, and note services.”  I can really see the benefits of using wiki in the classroom with students and for collaborative use with other teachers.

When I think of wiki in the classroom, at the secondary level, projects come to mind. The wiki page would allow individual groups to collaborate both at school and off site. Access for each member to add, subtract, and edit information would be highly beneficial. The teacher could have access as well to check on each individual group’s progress on their given task. The other benefit would be the ability of group member to add links for others to confirm the quality or need for specific information. From a grading and fidelity standpoint it would also be beneficial. It is very hard to monitor who is actually contributing at times and students in high school generally do not rat out their classmates even if they were forces to do all the work.  With teacher access to each individual group’s workspace it would be much easier to confirm the contribution of each individual student.  The other thing I could see it used for is in a debate situation where the working groups could fashion and shape their debate collaboratively. Overall I can really see the benefits for use in the classroom both for the student and instructor.

The use of wiki as a collaborative tool for educators is awesome. I have had the opportunity to work with it in this fashion and I thought it was great. I was very impressed with the total contribution of all to complete a truly collaborative document. I really see it as a valuable tool moving forward as a working smarter not harder. The reduction of at school meetings would probably be viewed as a plus for any educator and I believe wiki could be used in this fashion.  Here is the situation, you are at a staff meeting and everyone is ready to go and that one hand comes up with a 3 part 5 minute question requiring a 20 minute answer. What if staff meetings were question free and question were addressed on the principal wiki page? Look I am not against questions, but not all things addressed at staff meetings apply to everyone. What about a committee meeting from the comfort of your home as opposed to the schools facilities? As we move forward into this age of funding issues wiki could really be a way of easing some of the extras that go on in schools. Departments could also do their collaboration on wiki as opposed to having to set meeting times. This could make these meetings more fluid and relevant to day to day issues.

Technology is not going away and we as educator need to not only learn to incorporate in our teaching, but also to make the other day to day aspects of teaching better.  As the video said, “We are the Web, we are teaching the machine, the machine is us, and the web is linking people.” Let teach it to not only make our profession better, but easier as well.

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A204JcGQiY0

“Web 2.0 ... The Machine is Us/ing Us”
http://pbworks.com/

PBworks Wiki Link

http://mcedtech.pbworks.com/

Reflection Week 2

Blogger and RSS reader were very simple to use, but labor intensive at the front end. Now I am not complaining, because they are designed to save time in the long run. I like the RSS reader and thought it was perfect in a limited format. I am a history guy by trade, so I find the process of searching through material somewhat fun. Sometimes I find other things of interest while I am searching and find the RSS somewhat limiting in that process. In the format of receiving information in a limited way by design, lets say as an example my classmate’s blogs, I find it great.  In mobile form I find it a little more interesting, because it is such a pain to navigate on mobile wireless and it gives you the ease of access to what you want. If one is looking for a simple update of self limited material then I guess I can see the point.

            I am not knocking the Cone of Experience, but I will be the devil’s advocate here. This is a standard model, which I think most people instructing already know. Students who lack experience with concepts, items, people, etc. have trouble identifying, spelling, working with, and understanding those things and need to be led through the process. Yes and each child in your classroom may be different as the article points out “the Cone may suggest the most appropriate method for teaching an abstract concept in accordance with the child’s needs and abilities at a particular time.” That being said I suppose it is o.k. to have a road map or directions on how to address each student’s unique needs and abilities. The Cone and or differentiated instruction are simply best practice in the new world of customized education.  I think as Dewey who once made the quote of “sorting the wheat from the chaff” as a bad form of educating and promoted learning through experience or doing.  So where does a blog or RSS fit into Dale’s Cone of Experience? I am not sure and can’t wait to read others reflections. I mean it looks great in respect to personalized information to specific students (including various media formats) as well as maybe being incorporated into paperless formative assessment. I also see that there are many issues that would need to be addressed.

            I found Falling Asleep at Your Keyboard: The Case for Computer Imagination very interesting. First, let me say I am a little biased because like books and find readers like Kindle ridiculous. As the article points out, “e-books don’t have enough advantages over print” and “unfortunately, most Web-based training follows e-books example.” The problem is in my opinion is Web-sites like Skillsoft are not really doing anything different than a person or video can do. The other issue is access at school or at home. Most schools have limited 1 to 1 computing and students may not have access at home. Not all schools allow student access to the web 2.0 tools needed to incorporate the Cone. This and many other reasons are why maybe very few educational technologies answer Postman’s question in the positive. These technologies, while advancements, fail in the educational field to allow ease of access, true customization, and the parent that sense of security and say they want for the children’s online computing.

Edgar Dale (1969)

Siegel (2003)

Reading Reflection 1

The two articles this week do what it is so hard for we as educators to do, which is strike a balance. The article Of Luddites, Learning, and Life by Postman does not necessarily call for the elimination of technology, but does ask why are we using it and what do we need that for? Beyond Technology Integration: The case for Technology Transformation by Joseph discusses the move from standardization to customization and the how technology fits in. I really enjoyed both articles and shared them with a few colleagues at work. I work in a newly remodeled school with technology enhanced classrooms and many in the staff are struggling with this new technology in different ways. Some are struggling because it is new and different, which always requires some time to adapt and learn. Others remind me of the Postman's reference to buying a new car in which he states, "What is the problem to which this is the answer?" The nice thing about the new tech our staff is experiencing is that we have training available for not just the hardware and software, but also on how to incorporate it into what we teach. We are now incorporating our technology, with the PLC's (Professional Learning Communities) we use and our building initiative with RTI (Response to Intervention).  These are all designed to move us away from the Industrial Age model cited by Joseph and towards the student customization of the information age.  We do struggle with some of the same questions in the Joseph article, such as "How can a teacher help 30+ children to all learn different things at different rates and in different ways utilizing authentic task?" So what is technologies role in these transformation? Some things are in place like Michigan Virtual High School for credit recovery, but just as there are individual students with individual needs there are individual schools with individual needs. There is of course fear of the unknown and change. Then of coarse there are the "Luddites and the indifferent", which like to see it works before putting fourth the effort.  As Joseph states in his article, "transformation will not be an easy task".

Postman, N. (1993). Of Luddites, learning, and life. Technos Quarterly, 2(4).

Reigeluth, C.M. & Joseph, R. (2002). Beyond technology integration: The case for technology transformation. Educational Technology, 42(4), 9-13