Looking back on my experiences in CEP 811, I have a lot to be proud of. Eight weeks is such a short period of time to accomplish all I have. There are plenty of things to be proud of, but I know that my accomplishments are merely building blocks upon which even greater teaching will be built upon.
The WebQuest and StAIR projects were clearly the most labor intensive, but I learned a lot of lessons during the process. Both projects encourage student exploration which is awesome. However, engaging exploration without boundaries can render your lesson largely ineffective and in some cases even put your kids in a dangerous situation. Building the WebQuest taught me that restricting internet research to a chosen list of sites can really help to focus students. The StAIR taught me to try to predict problem areas with content and create mechanisms that will provide extra assistance to students. A teacher can never think too far ahead, especially using when using technology.
Educational application of Web 2.0 has been the biggest eye opener for me. While WebQuests and StAIR’s are very powerful tech tools, they take a very long time to create. I see Web 2.0 as a digital update to classic analog classroom activity. It takes very little effort to move student notebooks from spiral notebooks to a blog format, but there are very real benefits on top of that ease.
I will take advantage of wiki’s and Google Doc’s for collaboration. I will use jing to provide dynamic feedback to my students on projects so that I do not need to use valuable class time. I will use Web 2.0 to expand my classroom beyond the classroom walls and beyond school hours. Really, there is so much that I want to do with Web 2.0… but I need to implement these tools in a logical manner.
The philosophical difference between my tech approach now after taking CEP 811 is that I start with an educational need and then think of the tools that will help me to address it. I’ve always used technology to enhance learning, never to use technology just to use it. However, using the “problem solving” philosophy allows me to maximize my instruction.
A new goal of mine going forward is to keep building upon the work that I’ve already started. I want to make my StAIR and WebQuest better than they already are and I want to continue to make new ones. As a lifelong learner I cannot be satisfied with my teaching, I must continually improve it.
Showing posts with label blogs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blogs. Show all posts
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Michigan Merit Curriculum Online Experiences (say it five times fast!)
After reading the Michigan Merit Curriculum Online Experience Guideline Companion Document, I am very happy with the progress that the State of Michigan is making in the way of establishing educational technology standards.
My task for my CEP 811 course was to identify one of the technologies that qualify as an online experience (according to the guidelines), and discuss how I would incorporate that technology into my own teaching. While I believe that I will eventually use most of these strategies in some shape or form as I develop my craft, there are definitely some tools that I could implement tomorrow and some that would take time to implement. For example, while I would be more than able to technically support a conference with an expert (I would have no problem setting up the conference hardware/software) I do not necessarily have a contact that I would consider an expert at this point in time. In addition, I would love to take part in a collaborative lesson with a teacher/class on the other side of the world but I need to establish a relationship with that teacher before that reality is even fathomable. Thus, the strategies I must focus on in the short term are those technologies that I need not rely on any outside influences to establish in my classroom, but have the potential to expand into a global collaborative community so that eventually we’ll be able to tap into those resources.
What I want to do most is to have my students establish their own personal blogs, serving as a digital journal for class participation. I believe the blog to a diverse communication tool because it can be used by itself for students to reflect on their thoughts, or use it as the response element in tandem with another online instructional method.
For example, I recently completed designing a WebQuest that assigned each student a member of congress to profile. Students explored both the House and Senate websites in addition to votesmart.org. Instead of writing a traditional paper in Word and then submitting it to the teacher, students create a visually attractive blog post in the style of a political blogger. If I had each student set up their own RSS reader pages, I could have students easily comment on eachother’s blogs; establishing discussion and feedback loops.
I really like utilizing these tools in a inner-connected manner like this. I think it improves the lesson itself because the different tools each add their own pedagogical advantage and it models web 2.0 use for students with real interactions. I would also say that if the teacher was able to establish a community of active bloggers within their classroom population, it would be a good building block from which to branch out and plug into a more global learning community. Opening up the doors to some of the learning opportunities that I mentioned would be difficult initially.
My task for my CEP 811 course was to identify one of the technologies that qualify as an online experience (according to the guidelines), and discuss how I would incorporate that technology into my own teaching. While I believe that I will eventually use most of these strategies in some shape or form as I develop my craft, there are definitely some tools that I could implement tomorrow and some that would take time to implement. For example, while I would be more than able to technically support a conference with an expert (I would have no problem setting up the conference hardware/software) I do not necessarily have a contact that I would consider an expert at this point in time. In addition, I would love to take part in a collaborative lesson with a teacher/class on the other side of the world but I need to establish a relationship with that teacher before that reality is even fathomable. Thus, the strategies I must focus on in the short term are those technologies that I need not rely on any outside influences to establish in my classroom, but have the potential to expand into a global collaborative community so that eventually we’ll be able to tap into those resources.
What I want to do most is to have my students establish their own personal blogs, serving as a digital journal for class participation. I believe the blog to a diverse communication tool because it can be used by itself for students to reflect on their thoughts, or use it as the response element in tandem with another online instructional method.
For example, I recently completed designing a WebQuest that assigned each student a member of congress to profile. Students explored both the House and Senate websites in addition to votesmart.org. Instead of writing a traditional paper in Word and then submitting it to the teacher, students create a visually attractive blog post in the style of a political blogger. If I had each student set up their own RSS reader pages, I could have students easily comment on eachother’s blogs; establishing discussion and feedback loops.
I really like utilizing these tools in a inner-connected manner like this. I think it improves the lesson itself because the different tools each add their own pedagogical advantage and it models web 2.0 use for students with real interactions. I would also say that if the teacher was able to establish a community of active bloggers within their classroom population, it would be a good building block from which to branch out and plug into a more global learning community. Opening up the doors to some of the learning opportunities that I mentioned would be difficult initially.
Friday, February 12, 2010
Web 2.0: Great possibilities for a limited classroom
I’ve required students to keep a daily notebook in my classes. It’s a great way to consolidate small class participation exercises and other classroom activities. I collect these notebooks at random. It’s a good way for me to monitor progress, especially my quiet students.
When I return to the classroom I want to try to shift some of these activities to blogs. I realize that there are some difficulties associated with this (harder to have in the classroom without a computer for everyone, I cannot assume every student will have internet access from home) but I like the organizational element of blogs. It’s easier for me to check on the blogs both because of how I can access them whenever I want and tagging makes it easy to sort out classes and assignments.
In a social studies class, discussion is especially important because opinions are what shape understanding of the content. I like the idea of extending class discussion beyond the classroom so that students can be constantly thinking about the content in small increments. Requiring students to respond to readings in their own posts, as well as commenting on posts made by their peers, will promote collaborative learning.
When I return to the classroom I want to try to shift some of these activities to blogs. I realize that there are some difficulties associated with this (harder to have in the classroom without a computer for everyone, I cannot assume every student will have internet access from home) but I like the organizational element of blogs. It’s easier for me to check on the blogs both because of how I can access them whenever I want and tagging makes it easy to sort out classes and assignments.
In a social studies class, discussion is especially important because opinions are what shape understanding of the content. I like the idea of extending class discussion beyond the classroom so that students can be constantly thinking about the content in small increments. Requiring students to respond to readings in their own posts, as well as commenting on posts made by their peers, will promote collaborative learning.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Blogs v. Traditional Web Pages
Traditional web pages tend to resemble traditional news papers. Blogs tend to be more personal than traditional sites. Blogs are websites organized by blog posts, the most recent posts appear at the top the blog. Blogs can be commented on and are much more interactive that traditional websites. Blogs become interconnected with other friends blogs, so each individual blog becomes part of a network of similar blogs.
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