http://www.gainesville.com/article/20091004/ARTICLES/910049952/1002?Title=Local-teachers-incorporate-technology-into-classrooms
This article tells about a school in Gainesville, Florida that is using SmartBoards with kindergarteners. Each student check's their own name every day on the SmartBoard for attendance instead of the teacher calling out each name. This article goes on to tell about how technology and computers are being used as early as K-2/K-3 programs. The author notes that 2 and 3 year olds are being taught how to move a mouse and work a keyboard as well as watching interactive stories on a screen. I thought this article was relevant to instructional technology because students are using technology earlier and earlier these days. As instructional technology specialists we must ensure that our students are exposed to the most relevant and most useful technologies.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Technology Integration Made Easy
http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/tech/tech146.shtml
This online article at educationworld.com provides teachers with "20 easy and painless ways to integrate technology into [their] daily routine." As an instructional technology specialist, you must remember that most of your teachers are not extremely comfortable using technology in the classroom. In order to use technology effectively in the classroom, teaches must become very familiar with the technology first, and that of course, requires a lot of time, something most teachers don't have. The tips for integrating technology provided in this article are very simple and easy to use. This would be a great article to to show teachers or a great article to create a presentation from to help teachers ease into using technology in the classroom. For example, one tip suggests accessing an online weather forecast. Since elementary teachers often discuss the weather each day with their class, this is a great way to make that activity more engaging, and you could also check the weather in another part of the world to tie the lesson in with social studies.
This online article at educationworld.com provides teachers with "20 easy and painless ways to integrate technology into [their] daily routine." As an instructional technology specialist, you must remember that most of your teachers are not extremely comfortable using technology in the classroom. In order to use technology effectively in the classroom, teaches must become very familiar with the technology first, and that of course, requires a lot of time, something most teachers don't have. The tips for integrating technology provided in this article are very simple and easy to use. This would be a great article to to show teachers or a great article to create a presentation from to help teachers ease into using technology in the classroom. For example, one tip suggests accessing an online weather forecast. Since elementary teachers often discuss the weather each day with their class, this is a great way to make that activity more engaging, and you could also check the weather in another part of the world to tie the lesson in with social studies.
Digital Storytelling in the Classroom
Ohler, J. (2008). Digital storytelling in the classroom: new media pathway to literacy ,learning and creativity. Thousand Oaks, Ca. Corwin Press.
As I have mentioned previously, my school/system does not have a person on staff who helps the teachers learn how to integrate technology into the classroom. When I am looking for articles, I try to find ones that I can share with my colleagues since I have taken it upon myself to help them learn about integrating technology. This article is especially relevant to me and my fellow English department memebers as it deals with digital stories. If I were working with teachers in an instructional technology position, I would love to share this with them as a great project for their students to complete. Ohler (2008) describes digital storytelling as the use of “personal digital technology to combine a number of media into a coherent narrative” (p.15). He then goes on to talk about the kind of digital stories that students can produce which can be anything from narration combined with still pictures to actual movies produced by the students. Since the beginning of my teaching career, I have assigned students storyboard assignments; they would be required to write a storyboard as their own version of a text we just read or modeling a type of literature, etc. Since I now have more technology available to me in the classroom, I have begun to think about them creating digital storyboards with Movie Maker. While I agree with Ohler that the “rapid evolution of digital technology is both exciting and inspiring, as well as intimidating and confusing,” (p. 16), allowing your students to create digital stories opens up a whole new world of learning opportunities for them.
As I have mentioned previously, my school/system does not have a person on staff who helps the teachers learn how to integrate technology into the classroom. When I am looking for articles, I try to find ones that I can share with my colleagues since I have taken it upon myself to help them learn about integrating technology. This article is especially relevant to me and my fellow English department memebers as it deals with digital stories. If I were working with teachers in an instructional technology position, I would love to share this with them as a great project for their students to complete. Ohler (2008) describes digital storytelling as the use of “personal digital technology to combine a number of media into a coherent narrative” (p.15). He then goes on to talk about the kind of digital stories that students can produce which can be anything from narration combined with still pictures to actual movies produced by the students. Since the beginning of my teaching career, I have assigned students storyboard assignments; they would be required to write a storyboard as their own version of a text we just read or modeling a type of literature, etc. Since I now have more technology available to me in the classroom, I have begun to think about them creating digital storyboards with Movie Maker. While I agree with Ohler that the “rapid evolution of digital technology is both exciting and inspiring, as well as intimidating and confusing,” (p. 16), allowing your students to create digital stories opens up a whole new world of learning opportunities for them.
A Pre-Reading VoiceThread
Bomar, S. (2009). A Pre-Reading VoiceThread: Death Comes for the Archbishop. Knowledge Quest, 37(4), 26-27. Retrieved September 11, 2009, from Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts database.
This article is a wonderful example of Voice Thread being used in a high school English classroom. I work at a high school, and we currently do not have an instructional technologist. All of our technology department is devoted to maintenance/upkeep of the technology; no one teaches the teachers about integrating technology. I was recently introduced to voice thread in another class, and I thought it would be great to teach the teachers at my school how to use it. This article provides an example of voice thread in the high school environment, and I think it would be very beneficial to an instructional technology person who was trying to help teachers use this website. In the article, high school honors English teacher Shannon Bomar writes about using Voice Thread to introduce the novel Death Comes for the Archbishop. The novel, a long-standing component of her department’s junior level English curriculum, was dreaded by the students. She wanted to develop a pre-reading activity to get the students involved with the novel and cut down on the negativity toward it. She worked with the school’s media specialist to create a Voice Thread assignment that allowed the students to make their own Voice Threads concerning various topics that would come up while reading the novel. Since I teach AP Literature, I am always looking for ways to introduce novels and themes, and I hope to utilize a project similar to Bomar’s during the upcoming semester.
This article is a wonderful example of Voice Thread being used in a high school English classroom. I work at a high school, and we currently do not have an instructional technologist. All of our technology department is devoted to maintenance/upkeep of the technology; no one teaches the teachers about integrating technology. I was recently introduced to voice thread in another class, and I thought it would be great to teach the teachers at my school how to use it. This article provides an example of voice thread in the high school environment, and I think it would be very beneficial to an instructional technology person who was trying to help teachers use this website. In the article, high school honors English teacher Shannon Bomar writes about using Voice Thread to introduce the novel Death Comes for the Archbishop. The novel, a long-standing component of her department’s junior level English curriculum, was dreaded by the students. She wanted to develop a pre-reading activity to get the students involved with the novel and cut down on the negativity toward it. She worked with the school’s media specialist to create a Voice Thread assignment that allowed the students to make their own Voice Threads concerning various topics that would come up while reading the novel. Since I teach AP Literature, I am always looking for ways to introduce novels and themes, and I hope to utilize a project similar to Bomar’s during the upcoming semester.
Beyond Technology for Technology's Sake
Borsheim, C., Merritt, K., & Reed, D. (2008). Beyond technology for technology’s sake: Advancing multiliteracies in the twenty-first century. The Clearing House, 82(1), 87-90.
This article focuses on more than simply implementing technology in the classroom just for “technology’s sake” by discussing the benefits of teaching with a commitment to a multiliteracies pedagogy in order to help students “understand how to move between and across various modes and media as well as when and why they might draw on specific technologies to achieve specific purposes” (p. 88). The examples in the article relate to the English classroom, but the authors state a desire to reach audiences from all disciplines through their suggestions that reach across curricular boundaries. The article is divided into three categories concerning multiliteracies: multiliteracies in the traditional curriculum, multiliteracies beyond classroom walls, and multiliteracies for preservice teachers. In the traditional curriculum section, Borsheim discusses the importance of integrating technology even in the age of high stakes testing and mandated curricula. Merrit, in beyond classroom walls, discusses incorporating the technologies that students now use to communicate (text messaging, social networking sites, etc.) into the classroom as a way to engage students in reading and writing. When teaching preservice teachers, Reed encourages the use of wikis and blogs to help her students see how the kinds of technology they use in the classroom matter. The key to all of this technology use in the classroom is providing students with meaningful information about using new technologies in order to “enhance students’ abilities to use them as well as understand the complex ways they challenge us to participate in the world” (p. 90).
This article focuses on more than simply implementing technology in the classroom just for “technology’s sake” by discussing the benefits of teaching with a commitment to a multiliteracies pedagogy in order to help students “understand how to move between and across various modes and media as well as when and why they might draw on specific technologies to achieve specific purposes” (p. 88). The examples in the article relate to the English classroom, but the authors state a desire to reach audiences from all disciplines through their suggestions that reach across curricular boundaries. The article is divided into three categories concerning multiliteracies: multiliteracies in the traditional curriculum, multiliteracies beyond classroom walls, and multiliteracies for preservice teachers. In the traditional curriculum section, Borsheim discusses the importance of integrating technology even in the age of high stakes testing and mandated curricula. Merrit, in beyond classroom walls, discusses incorporating the technologies that students now use to communicate (text messaging, social networking sites, etc.) into the classroom as a way to engage students in reading and writing. When teaching preservice teachers, Reed encourages the use of wikis and blogs to help her students see how the kinds of technology they use in the classroom matter. The key to all of this technology use in the classroom is providing students with meaningful information about using new technologies in order to “enhance students’ abilities to use them as well as understand the complex ways they challenge us to participate in the world” (p. 90).
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Using Technology for Make-up Assignments
When students are absent from school, most of them are sent books and handouts for their makeup assignments. This article details how a South Carolina school is using technology to make that process more engaging and more effective. The classrooms are equipped with Smart Boards, so the teacher downloads files from the missed lesson to a bracelet that is sent home for the students to plug into their computer. These can contain items from the lesson such as powerpoint presentations. They are reporting that this method is very successful in engaging the students in the missed lesson which results in better performance from the students. Personally, I feel that this is a great use of technology. Any time that technology is used effectively, the lesson is greatly enhanced. This is definitely a method that would benefit many other schools.
Cloud Computing in K-12
http://preilly.wordpress.com/2009/05/21/k-12-cloud-computing-the-private-cloud/
This article looks at the trend of cloud computing and how it relates to K-12 education. Cloud computing represents a way to trim IT costs and it does have some applications in education. Basically, it provides software and/or applications as a web-based service and reduces the cost of maintenance and equipment. Another benefit is that it provides 24/7 access wherever there is an internet connection. Though many organizations are moving to this model (Google Apps is an example), schools can’t move 100% to the cloud model because certain student record applications may not be compatible and private student data would not be under direct control of the school district. The solution this article provides is to create several private clouds within the system. In my opinion, this model would be good in terms of being more accessible, but would not trim costs as much. My thought is that partially going to a cloud model in terms of programs such as email and office-type software would be more effective. This would allow access for users in the classroom and at home and help keep costs down, which is critical in these economic times.
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