In Conclusion....

This posting wraps up my "pondering and reflecting for Edu 535" blog. This process (both the course and the blog) have proved useful to me in that they have provided me the chance for reflection upon the events of this course. I find that I often learn a great deal through the class discussions in spite of my initial reservations and fears. It is through documenting my ideas and getting feedback from others that I not only find credibility in my own beliefs, but I am challenged to discover why I feel the way I do. I also discover if my ideas are on track with those of others, the system and have the best interests of the students at heart. I am very happy to be taking this courses at a time when so much change is taking place in the field of Education. Our district is moving towards PLCs (professional learning communities) and we are really trying to examine what we do and ask the hard questions. I'll end this post with the four biggest questions we ask in working as a professional learning community:

• What is it we expect students to learn?


• How will we know when they've learned it?


• How will we respond when they don't learn it?


• How will we respond when they already know it?

These questions apply not only to students, but to Teachers and Administrators as well. In this age of technology in our Flat World, we need to try to keep a focus by keeping the end in mind!

Special thanks to the awesome members of my group! I learned a lot, not only about global warming and technology, but about group dynamics and how to prioritize and do what's best for the group as a whole.

To quote Dianne..our ever cheerful instructor;

Cheers!

More Reading....

The Milken Exchange and the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) (1999). Will New Teachers Be Prepared To Teach In A Digital Age? A National Survey on Information Technology in Teacher Education.

When I began reading this paper, it put in mind of the presentation we had on Professional Learning Communities by Anthony Mohammed. He was speaking along the topic of change. Most of us as Educators don't really see the need to change. The reason for this is that in general, people who go into teaching were successful in school! Why would we want to change a situation that worked for us? We enjoyed it and were successful there, so surely everyone else should be able to be successful under those same conditions.....NOT SO!

We need to teach in ways that benefit all of our students. We need to try to look at the various learning styles and try to meet the needs of all, not just the ones who are like us!

Other points that popped out at me were that there is a rapid turnover of teachers in our profession today. If our efforts to create smaller class sizes move forward, that trend will continue. Now, more than ever, do we need to clearly define "What do teachers need to know?"

I've attended conferences in the states where I have learned that some districts require that teachers work towards specific proficiencies/certificates in technology. In our district, we are working on plans to help get down on paper what are the "essential learnings" for teachers in technology? We also need to define these learnings for our Notebook classes in Grade 7 & 8. Technology may eventually be so inherent to everything that a separate class may not even exist. We want to have a list to hand to the grade 9 teachers that includes everything there students should know by the time they arrive there.

An expansion of this theme would involve Administrators. They have different needs from teachers and would require much of the same knowledge, but not all....but perhaps and additional dimension all together.

In our district, my co-worker and I are very tired of watching the Department jump on every bandwagon that rolls by. We want our people to be very proficient at fewer applications/procedures that somewhat "in-the-know" about a whole bunch of information that means nothing to them in their daily work. That may seem harsh, but it's true.

Reading, reading, reading....

For this assignment, I read from Jamie McKenzie’s “Making Good Change Happen”.

McKenzie, J. (2000, June). Making Good Change Happen. Chapter One of Planning Good Change: From Now On.The Educational Technology Journal, 9(10).

“My staff is willing to integrate technology into the program only when they see how it can help them address the state curriculum standards and improve student performance, but they are quite reluctant to use technology for technology’s sake.”

“Change doesn’t happen in a school simply because you install new equipment,” he continues, his tone quite serious now.

Almost two-thirds of teachers say they rely on software or Web sites for instruction “to a minimal extent” or “not at all.”

Teachers have seen bandwagons come and go. They are appropriately skeptical about untested, expensive changes that seem peripheral rather than central to their purpose. They want to know how this venture will improve student performance.

Much of what I would say on this topic, I’ve already stated in my previous posting on being a “change agent. That posting details the situation in my district and how I came to be doing what I’m doing.

I’m very lucky to work where I do for a number of reasons:

Ø The previous government wanted to go out with a bang, so they spent lots of money on machines and infrastructure. It’s too bad we couldn’t have started out a bit more slowly (fewer classes), but the results have been good.

Ø My Supervisor is a stickler for wanted to know why we are doing what we are doing..or why someone needs “stuff”. He wants to see the learning outcomes that will be touched upon and gets very annoyed when people send him “wish lists” of items.

Ø The staff that we are working with in the notebook schools are very willing to spend time learning, and are flexible when it comes to working us into their schedules so that we can present/teach what we feel are the “essential learnings” (still being defined, as mentioned in previous post) and they are attentive and learn with the students.

Ø We have had the opportunities to work one-on-one in schools so as to meet individuals where they are and go where they want to go. That’s not to say that we’ve reached everyone, but we are making a positive impact.

Ø Our district is in the process of evolving into a professional learning community (a good band-wagon to be on). We saw Anthony Mohammed this fall and everyone is making a considerable effort (more meetings, more common assessments, more marking…but more accountability and so far, improvement in scores!). Because technology can make some of this tracking and collaboration easier, we are welcome to teach and share more skills to teachers who may have not been so willing before.

We still have a lot of work to do in getting more teachers using technology more effectively than email and basic Word, but I think we need to concentrate on “bringing the bottom up” and doing a good job of the basics. I would far rather have a large number of teachers with a solid foundation in the basics than have a few teachers go off the charts with only half of them having of a focus on the outcomes (the other half on the “shiny stuff”).

Short and Sweet..but worth the mention....

Upon continuing this unit, the following resonated with me:

When building a multimedia activity, it is important to include an interactive activity after 5 or 6 screens. In this manner you can asses formatively the students' progress and bring their focus back to what's important. It also allows a moment to "change the water on the beans" so students continue to stay motivated!

The Apple Learning Interchange looks like a very good resource. I’m looking forward to spending more time checking it out. Apple always provides information of the highest quality and creativity and always seem to have educators in mind. Podcasta allow me to multi-task while listening, so that is always a big advantage to a resource in my mind!

The E-Learning Site Usability Checklist as posted in the course content looks to be very relevant and complete. I will try and make the effort to apply this checklist to our own site. I think there's a lot of little things there that can be easily taken for granted. I hope we don't!

Additional Resources

Here is my posting from our class site:

I had an interesting experience in a school recently that I wanted to share. I was doing some modeling (integrating technology into teaching) at a small school recently and the topic was mental math. I had shown a couple of ideas to the teacher and the class, and noticed one little boy at the back who just couldn’t sit still.

I’ve since learned that he is autistic. He rocks and shakes his hands and is up from his desk quite often. Anhow…the last site I shared with the class is from iknowthat.com called “Leon’s Dojo”. It’s a math game that features Leon (iguana?) and some punching bags (not other characters :). Numbers appear on the bags and when the equation pops up, you have to make Leon hit the appropriate bag. You get the picture, I’m sure. Students are scored on accuracy and time and have to complete one level before moving on to the next. For this particular demonstration, I had the smartboard hooked up. I asked one student to demonstrate, and the whole class loved it.

Our time was up, so the students had lined up to go, when this little boy (mentioned earlier) came up to me and asked me if he could try the game. I asked his teacher if it would be ok, and she agreed. The kid took on his best karate pose at the smartboard and proceeded to get every single question right!! While he was playing, there was absolutely no ticking of any kind. I’d never seen anything like it. I wish I had it on film! Next thing I knew, another boy who wasn’t able to do the math himself was playing the game, looking to the first boy for the answers. Very cool.

Iknowthat.com-has a lot of good resources in general…but here’s the game. Ideal for an activity to break up the class or to have the kids working in centers. http://www.iknowthat.com/com?COOK=

My favorite resource site for French resources involves the use of a text with keywords and this site…can even download images. Mostly used by the teacher, but lots of resources to share with students. http://encyclopedia.erpi.com/

I like these on-line books…especially the french ones. Great review activities afterwards! I just applied for a free trial…use my username “russechd” and the password is “trial”. Would be great for centers or targeting learners who slip outside your main focus.
http://www.tumblebooks.com/library/asp/home_tumblebooks.asp

The more work I do, the more I love National Geographic. Use the site below for teaching weather, but we use the games with our classes to reinforce learning and I’ve used this site several times during my research for our global warming webquest. Amazing stuff..always well done and relevant! I use it mostly for presenting information or reviewing what we have already learned so that the students can see how it applies.http://www.nationalgeographic.com/forcesofnature/interactive/index.html?section=h

Learning Styles:

After taking the tests posted in our coursework, I quickly deduced that my new name should be Miss Kinesthetic!

I posted these comments in the course discussion area:

I just had a funny experience with the Learning Styles
Inventory. I had been on-line for a while and had just started to get into the quiz when I jumped up and took a quick break to grab a drink, some chips and a pen. Then as I continued through the questions, I was asked "Do you fidget while studying?"
and found that I was flipping my pen around my fingers (a habit I picked up in university which I often revert back to when reading/studying).

The next question asked me about snacking...I answered that one with a mouthful of chips...and then somewhere in there it pegged me with the break I had taken to get the chips.

Guess I'm a cookie-cutter tactile learner..leaning slightly towards the auditory side.

When I looked a the tips, I found that I employed a lot them
during my schooling. Things that really resonated with me were drawing words out in the air and reciting things out loud with the study cards in hand. I had a roommate in university who always wrote out her vocabulary/bio definitions/etc a million times. I tried to follow suit, thinking "she must know what she's doing, her Mom's a
teacher" and became very frustrated very quickly.

So, while she locked herself in the study cell to write things out, I was back in the room, talking to myself, begging for someone else to talk the material over with. Funny how I thought that the way I did it was "wrong".

I love the study hints posted at this site!
http://www.berghuis.co.nz/abiator/lsi/lsitactstra.html

=> To memorise, pace or walk around while reciting to yourself or using flashcards or notes.

=> When reading a short story or chapter in a book, try a whole-to-part approach. This means you should first scan the pictures, then read headings, then read the first and last paragraphs and try to get a feel for the book. You could also try skim-reading the chapter or short story backwards, paragraph-by-paragraph.

=> If you need to fidget, try doing so in a way which will not disturb others of endager yourself or others. Try jiggling your legs or feet, try hand/finger exercises, or handle a koosh ball, tennis ball or something similar.

=> You might not study best while at a desk. Try lying on your stomach or back. Try studying while sitting in a comfortable lounge chair or on cushions or a bean bag.

=> Studying with music in the background might suit you (baroque music is best - as opposed to heavily rhythm-based music).

=> Use coloured contruction paper to cover your desk or even decorate your area. Choose your favourite colour as this will help you focus. This technique is called colour grounding.

=> Try reading through coloured transparencies to help focus your attention. Try a variety of colours to see which colours work best.

=> While studying, take frequent breaks, but be sure to settle back down to work quickly. A reasonable schedule would be 15-25 minutes of study, 3-5 minutes of break time.

=> When trying to memorise information, try closing your eyes and writing the information in the air or on a surface with your finger. Try to picture the words in your head as you are doing this. Try to hear the words in your head, too.

Later, when you try to remember this information, close your eyes and try to see it with your mind's eye and to hear it in your head.

=> When learning new information, make task cards, flashcards, electro-boards, card games, floor games, etc. This will help you process the information.

Check out the site for yourself and see how you make out!
Abiator's Learning Styles Inventory

Evaluating Multimedia:

I just took a look at the evaluation for our project and I think we are presently doing a great job on most fronts. I think we need to add a sitemap as I know it is a component that I use often when trying to navigate once I’m lost. That would be one thing that I like about using Frontpage, it creates the sitemap for you.

I think we did a great job on the creativity portion. We chose something that is relevant to where kids are today. I think the structure is good as is, or could be easily morphed to meet the needs of the students involved.

Visual literacy is going to be an area I need to work on, personally. I didn’t score so well on the on-line test and I guess it has become more apparent to me that images are important. They must add to the information presented and not distract from the meaning. The same thing holds true for PowerPoint presentations. I read a good blog on PowerPoint recently that housed a great video on “powerpoint extreme makeover”. Too often we get caught up in the animations and “fancy stuff” and we forget how to created presentations that are thought provoking and communicate the desired message.

Please click HERE to see the blog afformentioned.

Oh the times..they are a-changing....

In the past couple of years I’ve seen huge changes!!

In NB, all teachers have Notebook computers..I think this has been the catalyst for change. This past year has seen a major shift. Teachers have notebooks, large pockets of students have them as well. We also have wireless access (thin in some cases, but present), and we presently are working in Professional Learning Communities. The primary focus this year is on Common Assessments.

I think in my position as a Mentor, my largest focus will be in working with Administrators to create a technology plan with SMART goals to take inventory of what the schools have and where they want to go. Within that focus, I see me setting up training sessions to teach schools (not just interested individuals) to use the Portal to increase efficiency and communication in schools.

I’m not sure if you all have a Portal where you are, so I’ll expand a bit on this. The Portal is a sharepoint site within the firewall that allows for a common provincial workspace, as well as several sub spaces for schools and curricular teams. The new version (should be on-line by this spring) will allow student access to the Portal, as well as the addition of Blogs, Wikis and the ability to RSS feed.

The other thing I need to try and do is to stay focused! There is so much out there right now and really, not much direction comes to Mentors as far as the specifics go. I think it is very important that I stick to the school’s Tech Plan and the agenda of the PLC. I would rather do a top notch job at fewer initiatives/ideas, than a half baked effort at numerous initiatives. It is essential to stay focused on teaching and learning and not just on what’s new and exciting. (funny..I'm on my way to a meeting so that we can clearly define what are the essential technology learnings for our teachers, students and admin...should be a good discussion!)

The Best Tech PD Ever!

Jumping in a bit to the Unit 4 discussions....

We ran some really effective PD sessions last year in our district...they were 1-on-1.

We booked a supply teacher for a day and teachers would sign up for a particular
period. The supply teacher hopped from room to room (really earned their money that
day) and we (teacher and mentor) got to work in a relaxed, unintimidating environment
where teachers got to put their hands on the actual equipment and do whatever it was
that they wanted to do.

We got a lot done with teachers who really wanted to learn. I'm hoping to get the chance (funds permitting) to do it again this year! "Regular PD" involves a lot of money! Supply teachers, mileage, lunch, snacks, and often at the cost of a lot of irrelevant time and little in the way of action. I think it is very important that teachers leave a PD session with something they can use!

Storyboards

When I read the information regarding storyboards, it put me in mind of a project I have been involved with recently where teachers are trying to tie in BBT (Broad Base Technology) components with Science. The students are studying mitosis and meiosis and were required to create a scenario to animate that would include one of these processes.

Claymation is an activity that takes a fair amount of planning, but I really think this was more complex a task than either teacher had imagined. I’m a bit of stickler on content, so before I allowed the students to even touch a piece of clay or a camera, I had them completely map there whole idea out in a storyboard, detailing the major components of their animation including how many different models they would require, transitions, titles, etc. I’m not sure that the teachers appreciated this addition to their project at first, but through the storyboards they were able to tell that the students really weren’t ready to move on. The science teacher reviewed some of the key components. Once the storyboards had been signed off by their science teacher, I then permitted them to begin with the technology.

There are tons of great templates for storyboards available through this course and on-line. They may take a bit of time to build from scratch, but they are easily edited to fit new ideas and are well worth the time in the long run!

Chpt 7 Reading:

Chapter 7 reined my interest nearly immediately when it got right to the point by saying that hooking up the technology is child’s play in comparison to setting up the supporting materials.

I see this everyday in what I do. People want “stuff” because it’s “cool”, not for what it can do. We often look for technologies we can plunk our kids down in front of to both entertain them and teach them at the same time. Rarely do we compute the amount of time required to look at the various applications of the technology or their effectiveness in comparison to other methods.

I also like the comments that good multimedia provides tirelessly to needy students, and provides as much repetition as in necessary. It also should make life easier for the teacher. Let’s face it, who would want to make even more work for themselves then they already have? Teaching should be about kids and it is a lot of work, but if we are going to add more to our already burdened course load, it should provide some benefits in the long run.

I like that multimedia lends itself to being current, easily updated, dynamic and authentic. Today’s multimedia is not what was in place when we were kids. It allows students to think for themselves and to create/construct their own learning. It moves beyond the simple memorization we witnessed in our Commadore-Tech-Classes!

The context, nature and modalities of multimedia design expanded upon the ideas of learners “learning by doing” from all sorts of different perspectives. There is also a large section about the collaborative efforts by teachers. This is a key factor that needs to be more widely communicated today. We need not reinvent the wheel. Sharing leads to less work, but also an increase in consistency as well as an increase in quality of the resource, as together our chances of finding the best resources as a team far outweigh the efforts of the individual.

Other points I found significant are the fact that quality is paramount, but there is more responsibility on the part of the company to inform the consumer of the purpose of the product and its intended use.

Finally, I enjoyed the following statement:
“It is not necessary for students to achieve a final product. The act of designing a Website or an animation can provide enough motivation to engage the student.” Thank God, because I certainly have left some unfinished work in my wake!.

This posting is re:
Chapter 7 by Cesar A. A. Nunes and Edmond Gaible. "Development of Multimedia Materials".

Unit 3

What are Moos and MUDs?

Wikipedia explains that MOOS are decendants of MUDs..so I thought I'd go there first.
Here's what they had to say:

"In computer gaming, a MUD (Multi-User Dungeon, Domain or Dimension) is a multi-player computer game that combines elements of role-playing games, hack and slash style computer games and social chat rooms. Typically running on an Internet server or bulletin board system, the game is usually text-driven, where players read descriptions of rooms, objects, events, other characters, and computer-controlled creatures or non-player characters (NPCs) in a virtual world. Players usually interact with each other and the surroundings by typing commands that resemble a natural language, usually English. Modern commercial variants include graphics-based massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs), such as World of Warcraft, as well as social avatar virtual worlds such as Second Life." retrieved Nov. 5th, 2007 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MUD

So what's a MOO, then?

A MOO, an acronym for (MUD object oriented), is a text-based online virtual reality system to which multiple users (players) are connected at the same time.One of the most distinguishing features of a MOO is that its users can perform object oriented programming within the server, ultimately expanding and changing how the server behaves to everyone. Examples of such changes include authoring new rooms and objects, creating new generic objects for others to use, and changing the way the MOO interface operates. The programming language used for extension is the MOO programming language, and many MOOs feature convenient libraries of verbs that can be used by programmers in their coding known as Utilities. The MOO programming language is a domain-specific programming language. retrieved Nov. 5th from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MOO

ok...got that?
Moo-ving right along then.....

After reading the Elizabeth Murphy article about creating quality multimedia design, the following jumped out at me “Where the nature of information and its processing change, depending on the situation, the learning context and the individual needs (attributed to P.V. Wilson).”

Other good points of note were that quality multimedia design must reflect the following qualities:

Ø Multisensory, self-directed

Ø Control must be distributed

Ø Must provide corrective informational feedback

Ø The response to the user is important

Ø The interactive components evolve as technology evolves.

That's all for today!