Sandy's Blog

TIE Web 2.0__Education & Social Networking: What Should Schools Do?

2009-04-03T20:47:00.001-07:00

Students actively participate in social networking as a part of their everyday life. In fact, most schools have strict policies in place to deal with the distractions that occur when students engage in this behavior outside of an educational context. Most schools get hung up on these situations and devise extensive restrictions on technology as a result. So before proceeding further, we should talk about what social networking actually encompasses. If teachers and students worked together to define this concept and collaborate on ways that technology could enhance their educational experience, we might find that we would have 30 willing partners in every classroom.

Social networking includes a variety of ways for people to interact such as chat, messaging, e-mail, video, file sharing, blogging, and bookmarking as well as others. Students are making connections from the time they wake up and touch their cell phone until they plug it in to charge at the end of the day while they sleep. Most schools would agree that they promote a cooperative and collaborative learning atmosphere. Students are encouraged to collaborate with their peers, brainstorm, and appreciate the perspectives of other individuals. The perceived problem here is only one of terminology, centered on the word, 'social.' If these activities were known as ‘Educational Networking’ or ‘Informational Connections’, some of the obstacles to classroom integration might disappear easily.

Beyond the discussion of jargon lies the immediate benefit of using social networking tools in the classroom. The initial advantage is one of using technology, period. Every student I know is, at the very least, intrigued by technology and by finding new ways to use it. Those who have frequent access also have acquired skills and are very fluent in its use. Students with limited or no access may have only basic skills, but still demonstrate a desire to 'get with the program' and see what they are missing.

As a tool for cooperative learning, social networking fits like a glove. Collaboration and group work can be explored in a variety of ways. Students can collaborate while creating online documents using tools such as Google Docs. Just this week I had an online brainstorming session with seven students using a Google spreadsheet. Students contributed ideas of their own, while being able to see the ideas posted by their peers. In this instance their peers all happened to be sitting next to them in the computer lab, but they could have been on the other side of the school or on the other side of the planet! Even as I write this, I’m thinking that I can do a collaborative project between my Graphic Design Studio students and one of the Marketing classes to create visuals for a marketing plan. It wouldn’t matter if the two classes meet at the same time or not. It wouldn’t matter if there was a room large enough to host 50 students meeting in small groups. They could meet online at the document—either at the same time, or at their convenience!

The very nature of this tool, and students’ fascination with it makes it almost imperative that the educational system should maximize ways to integrate technology into education. The fact that the tools on the Internet are to be expanding in number and scope on a daily basis just makes the opportunities seemingly limitless.

TIE Web 2.0: the Finale

2009-04-03T13:16:00.000-07:00

My strategy was to crank through most of this today so that tomorrow won't be so hectic. It's difficult to plow through the investigation of all these sites without getting caught up exploring them. I can see why people wind up spending more time on the computer than watching TV!

I'm finding that creating the links on the class Wiki makes me feel like I'm running in circles at times. I would hope that this feeling subsides as I gain more experience creating the links & pages. But all in all it's been a good experience.

TIE Web 2.0 Workshop: The Process

2009-04-03T13:08:00.000-07:00

I feel like I'm much more aware of how to efficiently access information on the Web, by using sites such as Delicious to get a better lead on sites that others would recommend as opposed to just sites that generate a lot of traffic such as Google. I haven't gotten in to YouTube before now, so I'm just starting to explore all the cool stuff available. Here's an example:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gmP4nk0EOE

TIE Web 2.0 Workshop: Day 1

2009-03-28T08:37:00.000-07:00

Well, it all started on a very cold Saturday morning...
I'm about 2 hours into the workshop and I'm starting to realize just how much I don't know. Although there aren't any other secondary teachers here, I'm excited about the possibilities of this course. Hopefully I'll be able to collect some great resources that I can use in my everyday teaching.

TIE536_Learning Theories: Who Cares?

2008-11-06T07:53:00.005-08:00

I’ve never been one to sit around pondering the process of learning. Theories, pedagogies ... initially it makes me think that the people who spend time studying and writing about this stuff are not people who actually enjoy being in front of a room full of kids. They like to spend time doing ‘important research’, but really can’t hack it in the classroom. I’m not much of an academic, and have been able to be somewhat successful teaching from my gut. So the thought of actually spending time studying these things makes me want to jam an ice pick into my ear. But it turns out I actually have employed many of these pedagogies--I just have never articulated them as such. Having realized this, I’m turning over a new leaf.

As I grow as an educator, I’m seeing more of the differences in the students in my classroom, and I’m more in tune to the fact that I need a variety of teaching approaches to reach my students. I realize that the more I understand different teaching methods and can consciously employ their strategies, the more effective I will be in creating meaningful learning experiences for my students.

TIE536_Technology In Schools Report

2008-10-08T18:22:00.000-07:00

I found the “Technology in Schools Report” to be an interesting read. As I think about my own school situation, we are dramatically behind the technology curve of the surrounding west suburban high schools. It causes me to think about exactly how much is technology integrated into the daily education of our students. We’ve got a great physical plant: a huge building project was completed two years ago that created 47 new classrooms, a multipurpose and dividable classroom or meeting space, a ‘commons’ area for students, new administrative offices, two large instrumental music rooms and a large field house. This addressed the overcrowding issues in classrooms and cafeteria, and also improved the instructional and performance environments for our instrumental music and athletic programs. Our school is immaculate in appearance, but has this all put us in a position to do a better job of preparing our students for life after grade 12?

It certainly has made my school a more pleasant ‘place’ to come each day. However, the fact is that we are still missing a big piece of the educational puzzle: the integration of technology into the curriculum. We face two primary barriers to effective technology integration. First, as stated in the article, is the “the lack of access to reliable, up-to-date technology.” Second is the lack of teacher knowledge and confidence in using technology to enhance their lessons, much less integrate it into the curriculum.

Although my school has a number of computer labs available to students, only two of them have computers that are less than three years old. These labs are specifically dedicated to technology-driven classes and are not available to other classes on a reserve basis. The computers in the other labs have been maxed out on their memory, and are limited by the slow processing speed. The addition of two new laptop carts with 16 laptops each has helped address this issue, but I fear they are being under-utilized. The teacher workstations in most classrooms are older, with slow processors and low amounts of memory. This presents an initial barrier in terms of the ability of an individual teacher to use their prep time to develop any activities that could be integrated into the curriculum. The teacher workstations need to be upgraded to provide equipment with which it is reasonable to create new educational tools and experiences.

Secondly, there is a low level of teacher confidence in integrating technology into the curriculum on a regular basis. Some teachers have begun to venture into this arena on an occasional basis, but the reality is that more professional development in this area is needed. Currently, our administration has started a ‘Tech Time’ program of presentations by the faculty, which can be attended on your prep period. The presenters are given the day off and a sub is provided so that they can present throughout the day. However, attendees must give up their own free time to take advantage of the opportunity. In my opinion, our district needs to be more supportive of this, and use teacher institute days to provide exposure to the different ways to integrate technology into their curriculum.

TIE536_Meaningful Learning

2008-10-02T19:25:00.000-07:00

The strongest concept I took from Monday night’s discussion on meaningful learning was the idea of making connections to prior learning and reshaping it. It was clear from the concept map constructed that there are many factors that affect meaningful learning, not the least of which is taking the time to examine the idea closely enough to try to define it.

In doing some extra reading on the topic, I found Judith Boettcher’s examination of the “Ah-Ha experience” interesting and pertinent to this discussion. Her analysis of this experience identifies it as occurring when "the new higher concepts in turn transform the meaning of the lower." She continues by talking about concept experiences, and concludes that “concept can happen when a magnet suddenly organizes lots of bits and bytes. Insight when bits, bytes suddenly are drawn in, attached to existing concept.” Being a visually-oriented person, I love the magnet analogy! I think we’ve all had Ah-Ha moments ourselves, but I thoroughly enjoy it when I observe this happening with one of my students—the moment when all the pieces fall together. The challenge of differentiating instruction is to figure what bits and bytes of knowledge will connect for any given student; or for that matter, figuring out what kind of magnet to use that will attract the right previous learning experiences in the right order to pull the picture together.

I’m paying more attention these days to working on expanding my repertoire of teaching approaches, using a variety of teaching styles, media types and collaborative learning situations to keep it interesting for the students, but also attempting to find the magnet that works for each student. The journey continues.

SOURCES:
Boettcher, Judith V. “Designing for Learning.” 2006. 2 Oct. 2008. http://www.designingforlearning.info/index.htm.

TIE536_Curriculum: What's It All About?

2008-09-28T18:36:00.001-07:00

I found my mind wandering back to our discussion of curriculum last Monday. I have always approached how I think about ‘curriculum’ from the traditional viewpoint: an individual course or course of study, approved by a board of education, that leads to a degree or certificate—curriculum in the overt or explicit sense. But it’s quite obvious that there are many other factors at play that are in a very real way a part of every curriculum. The societal curriculum plays a very big role at my school in Wheaton, which might be best know for its unofficial claim as having the most churches per capita in the U.S.A. The hidden curriculum is alive and well at my school—the principal is very ‘hands-on’ and has certain expectations about the behavior within each classroom that become part of the curriculum. I’m not certain about specific things that are not taught in my school, and part of the null curriculum, although as an Art teacher I tend to stay away from highly controversial pieces of art. This may also be due to the fact that I’m new to teaching Art, period, but also new to the school and not yet tenured. That tends to make one more conservative in their choices. These are the aspects of curriculum which stood out most notably, and have led me to think in deeper terms about the decisions I make to include or not to include material in daily lessons, and will influence my future activities when I am involved in the formal writing of curriculum for my district.

TIE536_Technology: The Final Frontier

2008-09-21T20:05:00.000-07:00

My 2-year mission at NLU has led me to what I now fully understand is only the beginning of my exploration of strange new worlds of technology, to seek out new life and new civilizations(?), to boldly go where too few teachers have gone before. . .
The challenge of integrating technology into curriculum can be daunting, indeed, especially when given time constraints of a 24-hour day, four teaching preps, extra-curricular assignments and sponsorships, and trying to maintain a healthy family life and make time for my other interests. I’m exhausted just writing this.

The beautiful thing about this is that because of the nature of technology, there will always be new things to explore and the rate of its development seems to be increasing exponentially. Because many of today’s students have been raised with a certain amount of computer technology that is already integrated into their daily lives, there will be little or no resistance from our students as we move forward to further integrate technology into our curriculum and our schools in general. As I explored the phrase, “technology integration” at edutopia.org, I was struck by the observation that the biggest obstacle to overcome in technology integration is the basic human resistance to change. As I am beginning the third career of my life, I’d like to think that I have a track record of being able to embrace change even in the face of adversity. So perhaps I have conquered the biggest hurdle—the rest of this will continue to be an amazing adventure.

Credit
“Star Trek” created by Gene Roddenberry

TIE536 Technology Integration

2008-09-21T12:55:00.000-07:00

I'm in my fourth year of teaching in the Art department at Wheaton North High School; my preps have included Into to Art, Graphic Design, Photography and Interior Design. Each semester I've tried to further integrate technology into my curriculum. This has taken a variety of forms, from using the Internet for a virtual field trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, to budgeting and planning for a kitchen redesign. I'm comfortable as a technology user, but still consider myself to be in the early stages of learning how to effectively merge my personal use with the development of new teaching strategies and learning opportunities to achieve the goals of my curriculum.

The class definition of technology integration as "a process of bringing the use of technology into learning environments (devoted to other outcomes) in a way that streamlines/enhances/supplements/transforms the understanding of both" describes the goal I've been striving for in my own classrooms. Although there are students that need basic instruction on using computers and the Internet, that is not the focus of my activities. I try to include the 'Big Picture' in each of my lessons, reinforcing that the technology is a tool, not an end unto itself.

Photo Essay Webquest

2007-06-09T15:07:00.001-07:00

Following is the link to my Webquest for high school Photography students.

WEBQUEST: Photo Essay

Author’s note: I was extremely frustrated by my inability to control the font, font size and font color. Those characteristics shifted dramatically from my preview in DreamWeaver once the files were posted to the web. DreamWeaver tutorials are definitely in my future, but at least the information is functional. And I still have half my hair that hasn’t been pulled out.

Are your students BLOGGING?

2007-05-20T15:39:00.000-07:00

How far can a school go in restricting student use of blogs on the internet? What can we as educators do to help our students use this technology appropriately?

Blogs are increasingly used as a method for students to communicate their thoughts publicly on the web, much like an online diary. “Of the 21 million teens online, 19% keep a blog (about 4 million), and 38% read blogs. “ Numerous cases are documented where students have been arrested because of threats posted publicly to a blog. The article, “Student Blogs Mark a New Frontier for School Discipline” looks at the benchmark cases that are currently used in suits involving blogging and First Amendment rights.

The article also cites two recent instances where schools have attempted to inhibit student blog use. The first is a private school who declared that any student maintaining a journal posted on the Internet would be risking disciplinary action. In the second instance, the Community High School Board of Education, in Libertyville, Illinois has set a policy that students involved in co-curricular activities “must sign a pledge agreeing that any illegal or inappropriate Internet postings could result in school disciplinary action.“ These cases have not yet reached the courts. Both of these incidents involve preventative actions taken by the school in an effort to avoid situations that could create conflict or even dangerous situations in the school. To date, blog postings not created with school equipment or on school time have been protected as free speech, unless the postings have created a specific situation that significantly disrupts the educational process.

I found the article both interesting and informative, and agree with the authors that it is essential that our schools create clear policies that spell out the appropriate use of school technology and the Internet, and clarify the disciplinary actions that will be taken when the policies have been violated. Additionally, this information must be communicated to both parents and students alike.

WORKS CITED:
Kirby, Elizabeth and Brenda Kaillio. “Student Blogs Mark a New Frontier for
School Discipline.” Education Digest, Jan 2007: Vol. 72 Issue 5, 16-23.

Gender and the Internet

2007-05-20T07:19:00.000-07:00

Who's using the Internet these days, and why has that been changing? Do women and men use the Internet for different purposes? Has the Internet changed how people interact in the world? Use the link below to access a brief PowerPoint presentation of the information I collected.

GenderInternet.ppt

Teaching Web Site of the Week for May 14th

2007-05-13T18:32:00.000-07:00

Course: Interior Design (grades 9-12)

My site of the week is http://www.bhg.com

This is the home page for Better Homes & Gardens. The scope of the site
includes a wide variety of topics including Decorating, Remodeling,
Food & Recipes, Gardening, Holidays, Health, Family & Crafts. During
our Interior Design course, students learn to draw and design floor
plans, and select fabric, paint and furnishings. The BHG site includes
resources to research each of these topics, including an online floor
plan tool called “Arrange-A-Room” which can be found at:

http://www.bhg.com/bhg/category.jsp?categoryid=/templatedata/bhg/category/data/arrangearoomtest.xml

NETS*S Standards 2, 3, 5 and 6.

Should iPods be allowed in Schools?

2007-05-06T15:01:00.000-07:00

For many school districts, this is just part of an ongoing technology policy discussion that keeps changing with each new technological development. This article picked up by the Associated Press focuses on the concern many schools have regarding the student use of digital media players to cheat on tests.

We’ve been focusing a great deal on additional ways to integrate technology and the Internet into our curriculum. Perhaps in addition to addressing safety concern on the Internet, we need to also talk about the ethical use of technology. One student is quoted in the article as saying that, “People who are going to cheat are still going to cheat, with or without them.” This may well be true, but I feel it is an issue that needs to be dealt with directly, putting a spotlight on the ethical issues. Sometimes the “cool factor” of new technology can obscure the line between its proper and improper use. It’s important to remind our students where that line is.

Sources:
“Schools banning iPods to thwart cheaters.” Detroit Free Press 27 April 2007. 6 May 2007.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070427/NEWS07/70427012/1019
/BUSINESS06

Hotlist of Web Sites

2007-05-06T14:21:00.000-07:00

I've created a Hotlist of web sites that are useful in teaching the following high school courses: Art, Graphic Design, Interior Design, and Photography. You may find them useful!

http://cuip.net/~sverdon/VerdonHotlist.doc

Website of the Week for April 30th

2007-04-26T18:53:00.000-07:00

My site of the week is

http://www.komando.com/

This is an excellent resource for Internet and technology news and
tips.
The site's "host", Kim Komando, is among many things, an author and has
written eight books about the digital age; she writes a syndicated
newspaper column which also runs in USA Today.com, hosts a weekly
three-hour call-in radio show carried on over 425 stations, does a
Computer Minute radio feature five days a week, and sends out 5 million
e-mail newsletters weekly.

I use this site to keep connected to the latest technology news and
upcoming events. I am not a voracious reader, so this is a very
user-friendly way keep in touch with the latest news.
I subscribe to three items which I receive daily:
Cool Site of the Day
Tip of the Day
Daily News

Most of the time there's something of interest, and frequently there
are links to things I can use in my classroom.
Check it out!

Website of the week for teaching

2007-04-23T16:07:00.000-07:00

Website of the week for April 16th:
http://www.About.com

The Computing & Technology section has resources and tutorials covering
a variety of topics including Software. I’ve used the site as a
resource in generating supplemental materials for my high school
Graphic Design Course, specifically giving instruction in the use of
various features of Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign.

Illinois Learning Standards: 25.A.4, 25.A.5, 26.A.5
NETS*S Standard 4

Teaching with the Internet: EBP 4.23.07

2007-04-22T11:41:00.000-07:00

Recent research proposes that most often learning can be maximized when participants are interacting with each other in a cooperative framework, also know as socially mediated learning. Social learning is vital when navigating the ever-changing technologies currently used for information and communication. The variety of types of information available and the technologies used to access them are expanding faster than teachers can embrace them. As a graphic design instructor in a computer lab with 26 students, I am keenly aware that many of the students in the class possess an in-depth understanding of the internet and its navigation, and that the total umber of hours spent in front of a computer far exceeds my own. Each of them has had unique experiences in solving the problems ranging from "How do I find what I need?" to "If I download that file can I access it?" Additionally, those hours undoubtedly have involved technical troubleshooting issues, as well--again, unique to each user.

Thus, the teacher’s responsibility becomes one of effectively organizing learning experiences that match up students familiar with different methods of accessing information, or different new literacies. Part of that will involve taking the time to identify each student's experience level and type. In the end, utilizing this strategy will help to facilitate sharing this knowledge among members of the entire classroom, including the teacher.

Works Cited:
Leu, Donald J., Deborah Diadium Leu, and Julie Coiro. Teaching with the Internet K-12: New Literacies for New Times, 4th ed. Norwood, MA: Christopher-Gordon Publishers, Inc., 2004.

Blog Birthday

2007-04-07T09:37:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my blog. I hope it's just as fascinating as you anticipated!