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.

Journal #5

Mind the Gap
It's a high-speed, high-def, Wi-Fi world. But not for everybody.By Cindy Long

The title of this article says it all. It describes how students today, more than ever before are online. The article starts by describing a boy who even after he finished hours of school work on the computer, he continued on for hours surfing the net and making post on various sites. But the article goes on to say that this is a luxury that not all students have access to. Mostly students that dont have Internet access at home have to travel to libraries or schools and fight for computer time. This is forming what this article describes as the "participation gap". A quote from the article says, "Technology is too big a part of our world for kids to not know the most simple stuff," she says. "That's where you find the gap—it's where kids can't go online to just mess around, find stuff, explore. Kids want to know about technology. They want to know how it all works and what it can do. It's everywhere, it's the future. Kids who can't access it, well they're just living in the past." This is a great quote describing the significant value that so many students have or dont have. The good news is that as technology continues to grow items are becoming more available for students everywhere. It may take some creativity from teachers to research and ask how they can get more support but as seen in this article it is possible.

1.Is the participation gap something we as educators need to think about when we attempt to use technology in our lesson plans?

I think it absolutely is a issue we need to consider when creating our lesson plans. We need to meet our students where they are at. However, it is not something that should stop us from doing our best to use technology in our lessons. It may mean that we as teachers sacrifice our time so that students can stay later and use the class computers.

2. Is there something we can do to start to close the participation gap?

Yes. Be creative and flexible. Beggars cant be chooser. I think of Brian Crosby a teacher in Nevada who was flexible and creative. When the school replaced their 7-year-old Apple I-book laptops with new Hewlett Packard computers, Crosby asked for the castoffs so he could pilot a 1:1 laptop program for his students. Now Crosby uses them for all of his lessons, incorporating technology into everything his students do and learn.

Journal #4

Five Don'ts of Classroom Blogging
by Julie Sturgeon

Avoiding these pitfalls will help students get the full benefits of online journaling.

This article discussed using bogging in a academic avenue that would challenge students as well as hopefully motivate them. The many examples that were given were mostly positive. The teachers that implemented this into there curriculum found that when they know there peers would see there work started giving more to the assignments. The exception or downside of blogging as that they found students constantly pushed the envelope with choice vocabulary or inappropriate links. Since there are no "Internet fences" they came up with five don ts of blogging in the classroom to help avoid pitfalls that give the student the best chance to be successful. Here they are,
1. DON'T just dive in.
2. DON'T confuse blogging with social networking. MySpace, Facebook, and other social networking tools are just that-social networking platforms.
3. DON'T leap at the freebies.
4. DON'T force a sequential style.
5. DON'T leave the blogging to the students.
I thought this article was very interesting. I found my mind wondering about how great this would have worked for me in my schooling. I could see myself getting very excited about coming home and my homework being to go make a blog post that my peers would all see. My mind also raced about how this strategy would work better now than ever. We live in a technological era where kids are becoming more technologically savvy at younger and younger ages. I look forward to seeing and hearing more about blogging in education.

1. Would this take away from more formal writing that students will be asked to produce as they move on in there education?

I think we would have to use it for what it is...a blog. I remember having to journal in school so maybe the blog could be the daily journal writings or weekly journal entries that i remember as a boy.

2. How would blogging help self conscience students who dont want others to see their work?

This is a valid question and i think that when we step outside of our comfort zones and experience discomfort, even in learning, that we start to really learn who we are and where are strengths and weaknesses are. If done in the right way i could see this motivating certain self conscience students through positive reinforcement by the teacher.

Journal #3 Speaking Math

Speaking math using chat.
By Janet Graham and Ted Hodgson

This was an interesting article that used technology in the math class in a very unique format. The class used chat rooms to discuss math and because there are no math symbols in the chat room students are forced to "speak math" by using expressive vocabulary. I like how the instructors used the chat rooms to break the classroom into small groups to ovoid the confusion of a large class where usually the loudest voice does all the talking. In this setting each student has a chance to be heard and have his/her questions answered by peers. It is also beneficial for non-English learners who can type questions or comments maybe they lacked confidence to do so in the classroom. Another aspect that really intrigues me about this article is that it gets everyone involved in class. And if i can be honest, math can be so stinking boring that this idea seems like a great way to "spice" things up in courses or areas where students may lack focus. I think i would be more inclined to get involved in my math class if we had used the idea of speaking math in chat.

1.A question I have that was only touched on at the end of the article is how would this work in the upper division classes...junior and senior year courses?

Here is what the authors said, "For instance, physics students could be asked to connect Rutherford’s experiments to the discovery of the nucleus of an atom, while history students could discuss how the U.S. Civil War would be different if General Lee had remained with the Union" (p.4) And i agree that it would work well for history and even English but i think i could get difficult in the math and sciences...but then again it could just challenge students to speak math and sciences in a new language.

2. Could this be used in a special education classroom?

As i desire to teach special education every article i read i try to think about how that could pertain to my future classroom. It would be difficult for many of my future students to be engaged in a online chat considering my desire would be for them to understand basic functions of a computer. But what if...what if there was a way to use pictures instead of words or something along those lines that would make it possible. It might possible be a avenue no one has tried because nobody was daring enough to try. I think it could work and it would definitely be worth a try.

Journal #2

"Social Networking for the K-12 Set", by Jim Klein.

journal 1 intro letter

I am david davenport and am a product of Mission Viejo, ca. Proud Home of the real desperate housewives of orange county. I was born and raised in mission viejo and after a brief stint away for college i have returned to the "OC" . I went to highschool at capistrano valley christian highschool in san jaun capistrano. After highschool i went to Saddleback community college where I played football and recieved my AA. From there i continued my acedemic and athletic career at Azusa Pacific University where i graduated with a history degree in 2005. Now currently i am in the concurrent credential program at cal state san marcos.
Prior to college my experience with technology entailed aol instant messanger and microsoft word. During college i became familiar with some programs like photo shop and other design programs, but still pretty standard elemtary stuff. (this blogging stuff is all new for me). Heres my view on the technology war over Mac V. PC ive always used a pc but evertime i use a mac i walk away saying "that was a sweet computer". Kinda like this one im on right now (on a Mac at the college...huge monitor...its sweet). I feel pretty confident that i would choose this computer over a pc.(in other words the final score is: mac 1 pc 0) I think i use microsoft office 07' but if i can be honest...i dont know.
One thing about the COE mission statement that I absolutely get excited about is the commitment to student centered education, which i feel translated over to life long learning. Its important to me that education has a relational dynamic that impacts me and others to think about what we are doing or plan on doing and how we are/plan on doing "it". I decided to apply to csusm after a few conversations i had with some teachers that i have built relationships with through my current job. I work for capistrano unified school district for the special education department. I travel to different schools throughout the day. Best way to describe it is as an autism support team. We do classrom and recess support, social skills groups, as well as one on one intinsive instruction. Its an enjoyable job and inspired me to get my credential. Some of those teachers i met came throught the csusm credential program and encouraged me to apply so i did. So far i feel pretty good about it.