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Showing posts with label technology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label technology. Show all posts
Monday, August 22, 2011
A Call for "Out of the Box" Thinking ...
When technology is used effectively in education it can engage, inspire, connect, and empower students. However, the real power of technology lies in how you use it. Technology's role in the educational setting should be to support and organize student learning. There is a tendency when creating a technology plan to focus on the "boxes and wires", rather than the people that the plan is intended to impact. A successful technology plan focuses on people rather than technology.
There is no doubt that school districts across the nation recognize the importance of integrating technology into instruction - much time and energy has been committed to writing and implementing technology plans in every district. Recently, the federal government rolled out the National Technology Plan for Education. This plan focuses on five key areas: learning, assessment, teaching, infrastructure, and productivity. Dr. Fishman, part of the team that authored the plan, made this important point at the University of Massachusetts Virtual Conference, "Knowing how to use technology and knowing how to use it for teaching are two extremely different skills." This statement serves to reiterate the cry among educators today that technology alone will not fix the predicament we currently find ourselves in as a nation.
While it is imperative that we establish a technology plan in each of our schools, that plan must include considerations as a result of discussions about what we teach, how we teach, where and how students learn, as well as how we assess student learning. We must have a plan in place if our schools are going to leverage the power of technology in order to move us towards providing instruction that meets the needs of each individual learner in lieu of the one-size-fits-all approach that is currently in place in too many schools.
A technology plan that is effective focuses on people - the students, parents, educators, and community to ensure that the instruction and learning environments that we create for our students include the following competencies: critical thinking, problem solving, collaboration, global communication, and authenticity through real world applications resulting in assessments that provide credible evidence of learning and transforming thinking in the education process.
There is no doubt that school districts across the nation recognize the importance of integrating technology into instruction - much time and energy has been committed to writing and implementing technology plans in every district. Recently, the federal government rolled out the National Technology Plan for Education. This plan focuses on five key areas: learning, assessment, teaching, infrastructure, and productivity. Dr. Fishman, part of the team that authored the plan, made this important point at the University of Massachusetts Virtual Conference, "Knowing how to use technology and knowing how to use it for teaching are two extremely different skills." This statement serves to reiterate the cry among educators today that technology alone will not fix the predicament we currently find ourselves in as a nation.
While it is imperative that we establish a technology plan in each of our schools, that plan must include considerations as a result of discussions about what we teach, how we teach, where and how students learn, as well as how we assess student learning. We must have a plan in place if our schools are going to leverage the power of technology in order to move us towards providing instruction that meets the needs of each individual learner in lieu of the one-size-fits-all approach that is currently in place in too many schools.
A technology plan that is effective focuses on people - the students, parents, educators, and community to ensure that the instruction and learning environments that we create for our students include the following competencies: critical thinking, problem solving, collaboration, global communication, and authenticity through real world applications resulting in assessments that provide credible evidence of learning and transforming thinking in the education process.
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Monday, April 11, 2011
"You speak our langauge!"
Today I was teaching a group of tech savvy fifth graders. I had given them some time to investigate Mangahigh, a new interactive math website that I had just discovered the night before. I told them they were my "beta-testers" and would have 15 minutes to try out some games before recess, and then we would be gathering on the rug after recess to share what they discovered and give their recommendations.
The students were so engaged while using the website that they didn't want to go outside for recess (and today was a beautiful 80 degrees outside - so outside they did go)! When we gathered on the rug to share, all of the students said that they absolutely loved the site and wanted the url and password so that they could access it from home. I asked them what they liked about it, explaining that I needed to hear more details - specifically, what did they like about it? They loved the graphics - manga is creative and colorful, couldn't get enough of the way the games interacted, they were surprised by some of the games - "not your usual math games where you figure it out and get bored after playing it twice."
After a few minutes of sharing I explained that they would be finishing their mystery stories by continuing to create SCRATCH projects to animate them. At this point one of my students raised their hand and said with a huge smile, "Mrs. Kruse, you speak our language." I honestly wasn't sure what she was referring to and didn't have the opportunity to respond before all of them began to chime in with their thoughts.
Their language is digital. I have to admit, I don't speak digital nearly as well as they do...but I do try. The sad part is that most of their day they sit in classrooms where they are not speaking their native language. When put in this perspective, it seems so sad. Imagine trying to learn, really desiring to learn, but not being able to learn in your native language. This is no fault of their teacher, it is the result of lack of resources, time, and training. Interestingly enough I have found that the best way to teach these "digital speakers" is just let them go. Given time to investigate independently with a focus they are able to do amazing things and teach me a thing or two in the process.
The students were so engaged while using the website that they didn't want to go outside for recess (and today was a beautiful 80 degrees outside - so outside they did go)! When we gathered on the rug to share, all of the students said that they absolutely loved the site and wanted the url and password so that they could access it from home. I asked them what they liked about it, explaining that I needed to hear more details - specifically, what did they like about it? They loved the graphics - manga is creative and colorful, couldn't get enough of the way the games interacted, they were surprised by some of the games - "not your usual math games where you figure it out and get bored after playing it twice."
After a few minutes of sharing I explained that they would be finishing their mystery stories by continuing to create SCRATCH projects to animate them. At this point one of my students raised their hand and said with a huge smile, "Mrs. Kruse, you speak our language." I honestly wasn't sure what she was referring to and didn't have the opportunity to respond before all of them began to chime in with their thoughts.
Their language is digital. I have to admit, I don't speak digital nearly as well as they do...but I do try. The sad part is that most of their day they sit in classrooms where they are not speaking their native language. When put in this perspective, it seems so sad. Imagine trying to learn, really desiring to learn, but not being able to learn in your native language. This is no fault of their teacher, it is the result of lack of resources, time, and training. Interestingly enough I have found that the best way to teach these "digital speakers" is just let them go. Given time to investigate independently with a focus they are able to do amazing things and teach me a thing or two in the process.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
How Cool is This!
Today while teaching my fifth grade class, we explored the possibility of using SCRATCH to help us in our study of mysteries (we are currently writing original mysteries and then putting them into power point - we thought SCRATCH might allow us to create animation, making the mysteries come alive). I will never forget the words of one ecstatic student as he threw his fists in the air, "I have waited my whole life to be able to do this in school! How cool is this!" As I strive to integrate technology in meaningful ways in my classroom, I realize there is much to consider when using web based technology. Here's what I'm thinking...
"For every hour we spend on our computers, traditional face to face interaction time with other people drops by nearly thirty minutes." When I read this statement recently (iBrain) I had to stop to allow this information to really sink in. I began to ponder these questions: What implications does this have for our children? Will they be less effective at reading the social cues we take for granted? If so, how might that affect their ability to communicate with others?
No one will argue the fact that technology is changing our society at a rate that is unfathomable. So much of this change is exciting - even exhilarating! The ability to make learning relevant and global in nature is (or should be) changing the way we "do" education. However, this change needs to be examined more closely.
We need to proactively teach the social skills students will need in order to be successful. We also need to be careful to integrate technology that will actually help our students to learn and share their learning in authentic ways. When we take these steps, I know we'll all echo the sentiment of my ecstatic student, "How cool is this!"
"For every hour we spend on our computers, traditional face to face interaction time with other people drops by nearly thirty minutes." When I read this statement recently (iBrain) I had to stop to allow this information to really sink in. I began to ponder these questions: What implications does this have for our children? Will they be less effective at reading the social cues we take for granted? If so, how might that affect their ability to communicate with others?
No one will argue the fact that technology is changing our society at a rate that is unfathomable. So much of this change is exciting - even exhilarating! The ability to make learning relevant and global in nature is (or should be) changing the way we "do" education. However, this change needs to be examined more closely.
We need to proactively teach the social skills students will need in order to be successful. We also need to be careful to integrate technology that will actually help our students to learn and share their learning in authentic ways. When we take these steps, I know we'll all echo the sentiment of my ecstatic student, "How cool is this!"
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