Personal Reflection: Interactivity #3

This collaborative project was a great exploration exercise of the many technologies available to teachers. I started my search and was overwhelmed at the amount of information I was able to find that kept pouring out at me one after the other. The group was able to generate an authentic list of many beneficial technologies but it is nowhere near complete as there are thousands left out there that we need to bring notice to. It was also great for us to collaborate because we are able to put our own view on what we thought was most beneficial to the classroom and our students.

More than just finding links and fancy names, I was able to understand how accessible and easy to use these technologies are. As a teacher, we are provided with step by step instructions and lesson plans to support our teaching along with additional resources so the students can explore on their own. There are fun games and software students can interact with and learn while building up their curiosity through modeling—a change from continuous direct instruction. I can see how some of these technologies can be used in the CURR 314 class as we are discussing different types of assessments and what will constitute a balanced assessment. For example, many of the virtual activities such as using software to create and learn can be used as a formative assessment.

Seeing all the great technologies available and easily accessible to teachers, I will definitely save the spreadsheet and refer back to it when I am ready to teach. As I learned from my Read 411 professor, teaching must be cognizant with the changing nature of technology along with other factors of the environment. This way, both teachers and students will continue to be effective.

Are Students Mastering Skill or Technology?

Technology in a math classroom can be fun, innovative, and helpful to students because it allows them to merge their creativity with topics that are usually categorized as “tricky” or “difficult” and requires a lot of skill. So we provide this technology hoping it will bridge the gap for the majority of students. Sometimes we hope it will help them visualize and analyze problems better than direct instruction and teacher modeling. The students along with the teacher are learners when it comes to the new technology where they are both learning to master it at the same time and depending on the knowledge of the teacher with the technology, learning how to use is can become an easy routine or a struggle. Either way, there are a lot of benefits. But here is an interesting situation I found while conducting some research.

Quote from a paper by E. Paul Goldenberg:

“But empowerment requires control. If students were not

masters of the old tools, it is no favor to give them new

tools that they also do not master. Sometimes students

do know enough algebra to solve a problem but still fail

to use that knowledge because they lack the fluency or

    experience to use it effectively and confidently in problem 

    solving. The same applies to electronic tools. Learning just 

 enough about a spreadsheet to solve a particular class of 

        problems and then moving on or learning a few construction 

         tools on geometry software to illustrate a particular collection 

  of geometrical facts, and then moving on leaves students 

   limping users of the tools, not experts who could whip out 

        the tool as needed to help reason about and solve a problem.”

I find this rather interesting and it might just hold a lot of truth. Yes, the child is getting a different perspective on how to problem solve or visualize shapes, but does mastering the technology mean he is mastering the material?

I guess it is another two-sided argument that can easily go either way. This is just something to consider when in a classroom and debating whether you, as a teacher, should spend 3 days teaching students how to use technology and mastering it instead of giving supplemental modeling and formalized assessments to teach them from the textbook.

If you want to read the whole article, it is here:

http://www2.edc.org/mcc/pdf/iss_tech.pdf

Free Online Lectures

This is a great website where lecturers are able to post course videos for anyone to view! These professors are from Harvard, MIT, Yale, and many more big names. This is another great example of communication technology that is very helpful to High School and University students. It is always nice to have additional resources when going through these difficult courses. Being a Math major, I searched through the math section where most topics are listed with at least ten videos per topic. The videos are separated by topic so it is easy for a student to find a video relating to the topic he seeks. Searching Google or YouTube are also helpful but I find it to be time consuming since everything on the internet is not always directed towards education. Often I find myself browsing through over 10 websites and still not being able to get the extra help I want.

This is convenient to provide students in a higher level classroom because supplemental thoughts and notes are always helpful. Everything is made easily accessible so it only takes a few steps to find what you want.

But here is the link. 

http://academicearth.org/subjects/

Check it out whenever you are in need of additional help in whatever topic you want. 

Interactivity # 2

"Competition+Struggle=Innovation

The cause for America's jolt in math education"

Scribner, Campbell. "Sputnik Mania! ." History and America's Schools. Wordpress, 06 02 2011. Web. 12 Feb. 2012. 

http://misterscribner.wordpress.com/2011/02/06/sputnik-mania/ 

The Hierarchy of Digital Distractions

I just found this and it is pretty interesting. Take a moment and digest this. (You might need to go to the link to see it better).

It shows how distracting technology is and at the top of the pyramid, is "Device Failure" while "Any kind of actual work" lays at the bottom of the pyramid. It is evident, at least in my life, that if any physical technology I own breaks down, I devote all my time to fixing it and this problem becomes most important to me. Now thinking about my problems with technology made me reflect on the numerous classrooms I have entered and the teacher had to postpone or delay a lesson because he could not get the technology to work correctly. Introducing so much technology in the classroom is bound to cause more delays if people misuse them or it just simply does not work. 

http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/the-hierarchy-of-digital-distractions/

Interactivity 1

            The introduction of technology in my life had a slow start when I first came to the country. However, with this recent wave of new technology popping up here and there—iPhone/iPad, e-reader, laptop, game consul, how can I not get in on it? We are the generation that relies most on technology, it has become a way of life and the way of the future—it is a necessity in schools and in the workforce as everything is now computerized. Regardless of what initiative one has with this technology, it serves as an opportunity for self-improvement by being a way to express thoughts quicker and more efficiently, exploration of a new and developing world, and improvement of self-image.

The internet is the best form of communication even if it is not used in direct contact with another physical being. It is a transfer of knowledge—a place to learn and develop one’s self. Development starts with a desire and curiosity to know. The internet is an endless pool of thoughts and knowledge where one is able to explore and receive a response almost instantly.

My top three communication technologies are the iPhone, Youtube, and, Social Networks. Forget about texting, the iPhone puts the world at your fingertips. Everything is easily accessible through a few touches of the screen. It has become essential in my life where I use it for alarms, music, research, games, blogging—just about anything you can think of. Youtube allows users from almost anywhere in the planet to upload videos for the world to see. It provides a chance to learn and explore other countries and cultures without stepping outside. It is a medium for education as a student can easily search instructional videos and lectures. In my classroom, I would recommend students to seek the help of YouTube as a source of supplemental explanations for even I, as a student, am currently using it to assist my understanding of math problems. I don’t socialize much on the internet but Social Networks (like Facebook and MySpace) are a good place to meet with other people. I remember when I was Olivia’s age, I also had a Myspace. I customized my page every few weeks, I would learn how to search for images I wanted, and tweak codes to get specific font colors. These minor things added up when I was put into a computer science classroom and was able to recognize symbols of basic coding and formats.

            All these benefits sound amazing and will help a student explore and work on his creativity. However, these sources produce potential dangers and massive sources of distraction. Going back to the video with Olivia, she spends about five hours a day online customizing her Myspace account or chatting with friends. How is there time to do homework or recreational activities? It is fun to be creative customizing MySpace pages, but can they be as creative with writing assignments? Children no longer know how to put their creativity on paper because it is made easy to take an idea off another website. She, along with some of the other students from High Tech High said texting was very important to them and they could not put the phone down.

            Because of texting, students do not need to physically speak to each other and as Olivia’s Big Sister says, “I have learned to shorten about every word in the English language to three letters and/or numbers.” This way of writing is sticking with students who can longer produce complete sentences or fully spell a word.  

            Technology is the way of the future so taking one step forward, we must find a way to include more educational material into the world of discovery our students revolve around.