Are Schools Inhibiting 21st Century Learning?
by Dave Nagel

This was an overview of an extensive survey by Project Tomorrow, regarding educational technology. Briefly stated the authorities(teachers,parents,administrators) thought it was going well, however, students wanted more. The Speak Up survey is conducted annually to assess views on current issues in education, The group had expected about 325,000 individuals to participate in Speak Up 2007, a goal that was exceeded by some 42,000 participants, which included 319,223 students, 25,544 teachers, 19,726 parents, and 3,263 administrators.

Here are some stats the survey came away with:

What did teachers have to say about education technology in the 2007 Speak Up survey?
33% identified themselves as technology experts, with 56 percent claiming to be average technology users.

Technologies most used by teachers: e-mail and IM (93%), PowerPoint (59%), listening to podcasts or watching online video (35%).

Most common use of education technology: homework and practice (51%).

Three most important skills for students to learn: communication (80%), effective use of technology (73%), complex problem solving (63%).

Administrator Perspectives
The point of view of "school leaders" (administrators, technology directors, board members, etc.) was quite different from those of other groups in some ways.
Their top-3 concerns include standardized testing (51%), funding (47%), and school safety (40%).

When the 2007 Speak Up survey asked parents what features an ideal school portal/Web site would have, they indicated the following:
Access to homework assignments (70%)
Online IM with teachers/principals (65%)
Access to student data, including attendance, grades, etc. (65%)
School calendar (56%)
Emergency information (36%)

Here are the top-3 technologies teachers and administrators chose to equip the "ultimate school for 21st century learners."
Teachers
1:1 laptop program (58%)
Access to online research database (47%)
Interactive whiteboards in every classroom (45%)
Administrators
1:1 laptop program (56%)
Access to online research database (49%)
Interactive whiteboards in every classroom (45%)
The lowest for administrators were "unlimited student access to the Internet" (12%) and "games/virtual simulations" (15%).
The lowest for teachers were Web 2.0 technologies, including blogs and wikis (10%) and unlimited student access to the Internet (11%).

I found this article to be very interesting and entertaining. The educational arena has definitely been changed. It is clear that students truly desire technology to be woven throughout all avenues of learning in the classes they take. I think it will be very interesting to see what our public schools start to look like in the very near future. I firmly believe we will see 1:1 laptop programs at many schools, as well as, many other tech programs that support education through this amazing venue called technology.

I'll leave you with this final quote from the article,"Students continue to be on the leading edge in terms of adopting, modifying and re-using digital content and technology tools to enrich both their personal and educational lives. The students in many ways are far ahead of their teachers and parents not only in the sophistication of their technology use, but in the adoption of emerging technologies for learning purposes," said Project Tomorrow CEO Julie Evans, in a statements released to coincide with the survey release. "It is in our nation's best interest that we support and facilitate student usage of technology for learning."

Journal #9

According to an article in T-H-E Journal; a group of Fourth-graders at Pleasant Glade Elementary School in Washington will be developing a Web site for their neighborhood using a $10,000 grant from the Quest Foundation, which was awarded to two of the teachers. According to Qwest, students will use the funds for creating a neighborhood Web site, including taking pictures with digital cameras, recoding video interviews, launching a neighborhood mapping project, and exploring other aspects of the community. They'll also be learning how to edit QuickTime video footage, build a Web site, and convey information through blogs. The teachers at this school feel it is there responsibility to give the students the best education they can, and that includes technology. Many of the students at this school do not have the ability to access technology outside of what they use at the school.
This is a great opportunity for students to be actively involved in the community. I also commend Qwest with awarding grants to schools all over the country. They see the extreme value in providing technology to students and the surrounding community. We truly are in a new generation when it comes to education. And it is now a necessity for students to have access to technology. That is why this is such an amazing opportunity for these students.

tech422istrue

Meet Henry

From: chereemoore, 1 year ago

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SlideShare Link

Journal 8 - Presentations

web2.o presentation: Good PowerPoints-

(www.slideshare.net/contests/contest-details)

The author of this post discusses the challenge of not making PowerPoint discussions boring...and or not to follow the temptation to read directly from the screen. The author points us to a site called slideshare. What is slideshare? It is a way to share your presentations with the world. Let your ideas reach a broad audience. Share publicly or privately. There are some really interesting and fun presentations on this website. The website had a contest for the top ten PowerPoint's and the thread i followed discussed some of those top presentations. I found these presentations on slideshare to be very interesting.I especially like the Meet Henry presentations on the site(shown above). Its a slideshow/powerpoint of a business man promoting his company in a very creative and easy way. This could be a translated into creative lesson plans. I think this web-site is a great place to try to make PowerPoint presentations more visually stimulating and interesting for our students. I hope that i can apply slideshare in some of my teaching lessons. This site would be beneficial for teachers to get great ideas for teaching in the classroom.

Journal 7- iboards---facebook

www.classroom20.com
This discussion that i followed was about a study group application on facebook. The application is designed for these following ideas: http://apps.facebook.com/studygroups/
* Scheduling for classes, discussion sections, and group meetings
* Discussion boards for problem set groups, online tutoring, and virtual brainstorming
* Task lists so members of group projects can keep track of who's on what for when
* Document storage so your class assignments, notes, and courseworks are now accessible from anywhere
* Privacy and security so only you and people you've invited to your study group can access your notes, documents, and ideas
This program is a great idea because it brings educators into the students arena. The application is targeted towards students, but the hope is for teachers and educators to be brought into the equation. I just added the application and its a pretty sweet tool to have. Being organized, at least for me, does not come naturally. So this helps to promote organization and communication for yourself and with study groups. I think anyone who has facebook should check the application out and see if they like it. I also believe that as an educator, especially high school, its important to stay relevant to the kids we are trying to reach. And most of the upper level student are using facebook. What better way to promote learning than meeting the students where they are. All in all a great tool that i plan on using in my education and as a educator in the future.

kidspiration a GREAT tool for K-5

I used the Kidspiration for Grades K-5. I made a web design for a comon sociol skill that i work on with my students with special needs. The program was very helpfull and i think i will use this in the future. In fact the web i made i used with a student last week. The student seemed to like the visual aides and web design.

In the classroom i could see myself using this tool. Especially in the math department. I think the way that it uses blocks to help learn regrouping could help many of my current and future students. Regrouping is always a tough concept for students and the visual aid of blocks is a great tool for helping to advance learning. I am actually very excited about using this tool in the classroom. Honest. Its a great site for kids and teacher

The http://www.atomiclearning.com site helped me out a great deal. I am definately an audio visual learner so any time i can have someone walk me through a new program it helps. Especially if you are as tech challenged as myself. I feel like my eyes were opened to what helpful tools are out there on the world wide web. I had no idea that tools like atomic learning existed to help educators learn how to manage programs. I found myself watching the automic learning video in one window and using kidspiration in a different window, as it walked me through how to use it. Overall i found it very helpful.