Has technology redefined learning?

It’s an interesting question, and beyond all the articles, videos, and even beyond our classrooms we teach I think the obvious answer is, yes.  But I’m assuming learning takes place outside as well as inside the classroom.  The generations beyond mine are learning in radically different ways than ever before.  More and more schools are revamping their curriculums to develop 21^st century skills into their subject.  The fact we had to review the 21^st century skills framework tells me learning is changing with technology.  Another example would be the 2012 Teacher of the Year, Mr. Stumpenhorst.  Here is a teacher who has used technology to collaborate with other teachers and their classrooms from all over the world.  Students now more than ever can learn multiple disciplines during a class while using technology.  For example, students in Mr. Stumpenhorst’s social studies classroom are learning the subject along with computer typing and research skills while also learning about different cultures from their work with the other classes.  What I continue to think about during this week is the learning that is taking place beyond the educational classrooms.  How many of us now are talking with friends and bring up a topic no one is sure about only for someone to pull out their iphone and right then and there to research the answer?  Answers to questions are no longer painstaking to find.  Learning now has, or is going to be, more about what can we do with all the knowledge that is now at our finger tips.   

Our small group notes.

Digital Citizenship - my week 5.

This week I focused on the importance of digital citizenship in our schools.  Here is my report, I hope you enjoy it and maybe find somethings useful. 

Digital Citizenship Initiative for Riverside School will be presented to our school staff and colleagues.  Riverside is an Intermediate School with two grades, 5^th and 6^th.  Digital citizenship should be a major priority at this age because these are the students that are starting to explore how technology can influence both their academic and social lives.  My plan is simply to build a curriculum based on these three main ideas: understanding the technology, safe communication online, and netiquette: responsible usage of technology.

Digital Citizenship - The concept that users should know how to use technology

appropriately. Digital Citizenship is more than just a teaching tool; it is a way to prepare students/technology users for a society full of technology. – Using Technology appropriately
 

The issue with digital citizenship in our schools is that our teaching is a decade behind the technology.  Our schools need to spend some time educating our students that the internet is not some new aged wild west where anything they say or do goes.  Students need to understand anything they say can hurt others and even potentially themselves.  Pictures or videos they post can come with big consequences.  Lastly, they need to know just because they might be in the comfort of their family and friends’ homes the internet can still be very dangerous. 

  https://webmail.hse.k12.in.us/owa/redir.aspx?C=06ee9591ffb5430bb5ddd7b9ad33c898&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.pcworld.com%2farticle%2f206107%2fthe_17_most_dangerous_places_on_the_web.html

While there are a lot of websites that bring good educational information right to your fingertips here are several websites that are great on how to best navigate the internet wisely:

http://www.teachingideas.co.uk/welcome/start.htm

http://www.netsmartz.org/Parents

Netsmartz opens up with information to parents but there is much more for educators, teens, and even law enforcement.  Along with my slideshow presentation these are a few of the websites that I would use to showcase the importance of digital citizenship.  I leave thinking of the great quote from the Spiderman comics - “With great power comes great responsibility.”  The internet has great power indeed and we as teachers need to educate our students that they need to use it carefully. 

My Sliderocket.

Week 4

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1blygsZqriG6yNuDhJPcceVT_69ZKVygoAR0bcfISDGc/edit

Week 3 (my summary)

It was news to me that the digital divide is changing and that more African Americans and Latinos have access to the internet. And interestingly it's because of the use of cell phones, where most internet access is used for  "entertainment" purposes, not for what is considered empowerment.  So currently, it could be said the digital divide still very much in existence but it's viewed differently.  Today it seems it's more about educating others on how technology can help empower them as opposed to simply trying to get everyone access to digital technology.  Getting our community to understand that more and more job applications are being done on-line, or that higher education can be done outside the classroom through the internet in an on-line class.  The advancements in digital technology have brought the world to our finger tips and yet there still needs to be a place on the desk for technology.  Both with our students and their families.  I visit the Glendale Branch of the Marion County Library every now and then to pick up a book or get a DVD to watch.  I have noticed their computer lab is always packed, before this week I never really thought anything other than, "Boy am I glad I have my own internet access at home." Another thought I had reflecting on this is how we as educators can help in our schools.  I might be wrong here but I really think our students need to learn how to write with a computer.  And write in English, not text messaging language.  They need to understand how to navigate Microsoft Excel and Word, maybe even PowerPoint.  They need to learn how to hop on the internet and look up more than funbrain.com, but to really learn how to research information through the internet.  The digital divide isn't going to magically disappear, and we can help make sure empowerment is leading the way. http://voicethread.com/?#u2436331

week 3

Preface -

This past week started off with a head cold that kept me home a day from work.  But this was also my last week of our 6th grade basketball season and my team was undefeated so the cold had to take as much of a back seat as it could.  It also, coincidently, was the first week of the 6^th grade math remediation for Istep class that yours truly will be teaching for the next ten weeks.  Needless to say, I was really looking forward to this weekend. 

See one of the reasons I wanted to take W-531 Computers in Education was because I am aware that I am stuck right in-between the Generation X and The Millenniums.  I’m not computer illiterate and yet it’s not my native tongue either.  I have to be honest, and I hope not to offend anyone.  Boy, has this Voicethread project been frustrating.  I know I have been told to not let it get to me, but it still won’t let me edit and add my input.  What's been very interesting since starting this class, is watching my students when they use the computers during class.  As much as I’ve been reading about this generation being digital natives and watching videos of babies knowing how to navigate an iphone, I’m in class with students who don’t know how to navigate through Microsoft Word.  I guess I’m confused now as to what’s going on.  Are our students beyond what we consider to be essential technology?  Are we moving too slowly and need to pick up the pace and get with the times?  Or are our digital natives intuitive to a screen and apps yet still need basic training on how to truly make their technology work for them?  Personally from what I see in this generation coming up is tremendous ability with a lack of ambition.  Not to say they are all this way, because obviously that’s not it, but too many of my students just want to find play with technology.  If they are asked to learn with it I might as well be asked them to pick up a book and read.  Maybe I’m jumping ahead but I hope we discuss the idea that a lot of our students see technology as nothing more than entertainment and not tools to work with.

Week 2

So I’m closer to generation X then the millenniums, that’s blatantly obvious now.  And of course technology has changed the learner, the question is has it changed them for the better?  I think for the most part the answer to that question is yes.  For all the good technology does and has to offer, here are a few questions that more than anything I hope to have a better understand of after this class experience;  First, how do we get our students to understand that this technology can open up so many opportunities for them but they need the basics in order to make even the opportunities a realistic possibility?  Let’s take the little French baby for example.  Watching that video, I was like “wow” that's incredible how well he (or she, I couldn’t tell) could navigate both apple devices.  However, without learning how to at least read, this child would be limited even with the technology.  I agree that, I think it was Students and Learning that discussed how our educational system has gone almost in the opposite direction with getting standardized testing so heavily involved.  And Ken Robinson brought up some good points about how we’ve limited creativity.  But, as a sixth grade special education teacher, what I’m stressed out about right now is how our students struggle to read, spell, add, subtract, multiple, and divide.  Sure, they might know how to use an ipad but if they can’t balance their check book later in life how are they going to know if they can even afford one? 

Now the real question that was asked for this week was, Is there a digital disconnect between students and traditional schooling?  This is a great question, and in my personal opinion, the problem all of us as educators need to be focused on and working towards is getting the answer to be "no, there is no disconnect," because sadly enough that is not the case.  Especially with the students I work with in 5^th and 6^th grades, they know how to read and write.  These are the kids that also know how to use technology.  These are also the same kids that find school boring and outdated.  – more to come on that later.  

Watch Me!

First post!

Never done this before, but my graduate class is requiring I do so.  So here I am, I trust I'll get much better and have much more to say as the semester gets going.