I think the things I learned from the articles, videos, and class this semester can all be summed up in one word: adaptability. It seemed that the theme that ran through the articles and videos was that students today are extremely adaptable because they are used to the changes and fluctuations in technology. They have been "rolling with the punches" their entire lives, when it comes to technology. Thus, teachers of these millenial students must adopt this level of adaptability in order to successfully help them through their educational journey. I believe that teachers must be lifelong learners and stay on top of the newest developments in their subject area and beyond. It is imperative that we, as teachers, are willing to change and adapt our lessons to meet the ever-evolving technology surrounding us and our students. I believe that being adaptable is being flexible, being willing to learn, being willing to change, and being willing to investigate and finding new answers to questions.
I felt that the video "Shift Happens" addressed this concept of adaptability very concisely. In a nutshell, the video was showing that everything is changing, both in the online environment and in the physical environment as a result. The video mentioned that this technological evolution is exponential. I believe that to be true. In the last 50 years, particularly the last 20, it seems that technological advancements are like a snowball rolling down a mountain. Not only have the advancements been increasing in volume and quantity, but they are also picking up speed. I believe that educators have the opportunity to shape some of the way students experience technology. This is why technology is so important in the classroom. When we understand how to better utilize technology to increase learning and output, we have the ability to share that with our students and set the next generation up with this increased learning and ability, which will certainly continue to advance exponentially. Thus, I believe, as educators, that our capacity for adaptability has to be as exponential as the changing technology is. I am excited to have the opportunity to expose my students to many technological experiences in my classroom and I hope to grow, along with them, as technology continues to grow and evolve.
Thursday, April 14, 2011
18 April-Lessons Learned
I have worked at the University of Utah law school for the past two years, and the topic of millenials and the latest generation of law students is a constant point of conversation. Many of my coworkers have worked here for 15-20 years (and longer), and they have seen an enormous shift in the attitudes and behaviors of students entering law school in the past decade. This is what would be defined as the "millenial generation." This title encompasses students born in the mid to late 1980's and later. In the article "The New WWW," I found two points to be of great interest. First, these students are so accustomed to instant gratification through the pervasiveness of media that they become bored easily and require more differentiation than ever before in their instruction. This has been a very difficult adaptation for many of the professors who have worked in my law school for many years and are still attempting to deliver information using their original lecture-only tactics. Secondly, these students have to be taught that they cannot be entirely consumers of information, they need to be innovators and developers, as well, in order to go forward successfully and productively in the new global marketplace. I felt that the video, "Did You Know: Shift Happens," addressed this concept perfectly. These students will not obtain a job and then work at the same company or organization for 30 years and then retire. That model is gone. The video clip pointed out that today's students are estimated to have 10-14 jobs by the time they are age 38. One point I found particularly interesting is that one out of two of today's employees has worked for their current employer less than five years. This has been a very difficult concept for my present management at the law school, because they believe it is a question of employee loyalty. They have had difficulty embracing the idea that today's students and employees are in constant transition and flux and will likely move on in their careers quicker than ever before.
I found the article entitled, "Why integrate technology into the Curriculum?" to be very in line with my beliefs about the structure of my future classroom. I fully intend to use technology as a collaborative tool. The article suggested four main components to be addressed with technology in the classroom: 1-active engagement, 2-participation in groups, 3-frequent interaction and feedback, and 4-connection to real-world experts. I feel like this article offers me a gauge to use in assessing the effectiveness and success of the technology I plan to introduce and use as a mainstay in my curriculum. I plan to teach Language Arts, and I spent a great deal of time discussing the pros and cons of text messaging and social writing in the online environment in my recent Teaching Writing class. Of course, one of the biggest arguments is that students are writing more, but the writing is "junk." The article, "Teens see disconnect between personal and school writing" is right on point addressing this article. It will be critical for me, when I am teaching writing, to emphasize that all writing is still writing. We developed several lesson plans in my Teaching Writing class to address the type of writing that students are used to in texting and social networking, and disguised it into launch topics for broader writing pieces. After reading these articles, I believe it is necessary to take the already-budding skill of writing that is occurring every day for these teens and make it into activities that also develop the important skill of writing. With everything occurring online, it will be more important than ever to have good writing skills in the future.
I found the Millenial video and the Shift Happens video to be incredibly enlightening. When the Millenial video started, I had to check the date it was posted, because many of the technologies the students were "wishing" for, have been introduced. The video was posted in 2008 when many of their ideas were in fledgling mode. Our media is so portable now, it's a part of every day life to constantly be "plugged in." I laughed when one of the students talked about the kids in his household having to be the technology experts for his parents. I remember three or so years ago when my husband brought his first iPhone home from work, I was blown away that my 3-year-old intuitively knew how to scroll and select apps without anyone showing her. I think it shows the adaptability of today's generation. Perhaps this is why the video Shift Happens points out that we are preparing students for "jobs that don't exist; technologies that haven't been invented; to solve problems that haven't been thought of." The millenial generation and future generations are innately prepared to absorb technology changes quicker and easier than generations before. It was baffling to me to read the statistic that half of what is learned in the first year of a four-year degree program now is outdated by the third year. It is up to us as educators to bridge this gap and continue moving forward with newer and better information and delivery methods. I learned it will be critical for me to always be learning and growing in my technological knowledge, and I will have to continually adapt this technology into my classroom.
I found the article entitled, "Why integrate technology into the Curriculum?" to be very in line with my beliefs about the structure of my future classroom. I fully intend to use technology as a collaborative tool. The article suggested four main components to be addressed with technology in the classroom: 1-active engagement, 2-participation in groups, 3-frequent interaction and feedback, and 4-connection to real-world experts. I feel like this article offers me a gauge to use in assessing the effectiveness and success of the technology I plan to introduce and use as a mainstay in my curriculum. I plan to teach Language Arts, and I spent a great deal of time discussing the pros and cons of text messaging and social writing in the online environment in my recent Teaching Writing class. Of course, one of the biggest arguments is that students are writing more, but the writing is "junk." The article, "Teens see disconnect between personal and school writing" is right on point addressing this article. It will be critical for me, when I am teaching writing, to emphasize that all writing is still writing. We developed several lesson plans in my Teaching Writing class to address the type of writing that students are used to in texting and social networking, and disguised it into launch topics for broader writing pieces. After reading these articles, I believe it is necessary to take the already-budding skill of writing that is occurring every day for these teens and make it into activities that also develop the important skill of writing. With everything occurring online, it will be more important than ever to have good writing skills in the future.
I found the Millenial video and the Shift Happens video to be incredibly enlightening. When the Millenial video started, I had to check the date it was posted, because many of the technologies the students were "wishing" for, have been introduced. The video was posted in 2008 when many of their ideas were in fledgling mode. Our media is so portable now, it's a part of every day life to constantly be "plugged in." I laughed when one of the students talked about the kids in his household having to be the technology experts for his parents. I remember three or so years ago when my husband brought his first iPhone home from work, I was blown away that my 3-year-old intuitively knew how to scroll and select apps without anyone showing her. I think it shows the adaptability of today's generation. Perhaps this is why the video Shift Happens points out that we are preparing students for "jobs that don't exist; technologies that haven't been invented; to solve problems that haven't been thought of." The millenial generation and future generations are innately prepared to absorb technology changes quicker and easier than generations before. It was baffling to me to read the statistic that half of what is learned in the first year of a four-year degree program now is outdated by the third year. It is up to us as educators to bridge this gap and continue moving forward with newer and better information and delivery methods. I learned it will be critical for me to always be learning and growing in my technological knowledge, and I will have to continually adapt this technology into my classroom.
18 April-Strengths and Weaknesses
The UNI survey and NET Standards were interesting and very enlightening for me. I thought, up until this point, that I have tried to stay abreast of new technologies and have always planned to use them in my classroom. However, upon taking the survey and analyzing the Standards, I learned there are several areas where I might be somewhat deficient and need to devote some time and effort in my future classroom planning. I feel that I am strong in using the web and handling a computer overall; I have no fear of technology, which I think is a strength in today's world. In terms of the UNI survey, I was able to rate myself as a "Practitioner" or "Apprentice" in nearly every area except using graphic organizers for brainstorming and decision-making, in which I was a "Novice." I have seen this type of software utilized in the past, but I have never used it myself. I feel that where I plan to teach Language Arts, this type of software would be extremely beneficial for me when teaching brainstorming and concept-mapping. I found a great tool online, Bubbl, that creates concept maps for free. I intend to use this tool in my classroom and as a goal, search for other, more robust, tools regarding these types of graphic organizers.
From the NET Standards list, I feel that I may be lacking in two areas: creating tools for diverse learners, and using technology for assessment and evaluation. To address the assessment issue, I was able to locate an Instructional Technology podcast series hosted by Richard A. Smith and Caroline M. Crawford from The University of Houston, Clear Lake, entitled "Technology in the Irving Independent School District." Irving ISD is a school district in Texas with award-winning technology utilization. In the most recent podcast, Sam Farsaii specifically addresses assessment and evaluation, among many other topics related to the Irving ISD as one of the top school districts in Texas. In this series, there are many other discussions related to assessment and evaluation, so it appears to be relevant and ongoing.
In regards to using technology as a tool to address diversity, I was reminded of a friend of mine who teaches at a college in Boston, MA. She recently started a project with a group of students using photography to capture images of the city's homeless population, Photography and the Human Condition. I feel that using technology in this way is a great avenue for addressing diversity in the classroom. This type of project allows each student to contribute from their own point of view, but also allows students to look outside of themselves to learn. I feel like this type of collaborative technology is very beneficial for students, because this is a medium that they have grown up with and understand. It is my goal to set up some type of collaborative blog with each of my classes where students will contribute and share information with one another online. Through UEN, there is a summer workshop entitled, "Creating Online Educational Media" that would be a helpful professional development course leading toward creating more tools to use in the classroom's online environment. I am impressed with the number of offerings from UEN on multimedia and online technology. The Internet is also ripe with information for just about any topic related to education and using technology in the classroom. When we were creating our digital stories, I appreciated the ideas of sharing and collaborative effort among educators in the online environment across the globe. This why I believe that technology can be used successfully in the classroom. It is important to teach these skills to our students, and the opportunity to learn newer and better ways of utilizing this information is abundant for us as teachers.
From the NET Standards list, I feel that I may be lacking in two areas: creating tools for diverse learners, and using technology for assessment and evaluation. To address the assessment issue, I was able to locate an Instructional Technology podcast series hosted by Richard A. Smith and Caroline M. Crawford from The University of Houston, Clear Lake, entitled "Technology in the Irving Independent School District." Irving ISD is a school district in Texas with award-winning technology utilization. In the most recent podcast, Sam Farsaii specifically addresses assessment and evaluation, among many other topics related to the Irving ISD as one of the top school districts in Texas. In this series, there are many other discussions related to assessment and evaluation, so it appears to be relevant and ongoing.
In regards to using technology as a tool to address diversity, I was reminded of a friend of mine who teaches at a college in Boston, MA. She recently started a project with a group of students using photography to capture images of the city's homeless population, Photography and the Human Condition. I feel that using technology in this way is a great avenue for addressing diversity in the classroom. This type of project allows each student to contribute from their own point of view, but also allows students to look outside of themselves to learn. I feel like this type of collaborative technology is very beneficial for students, because this is a medium that they have grown up with and understand. It is my goal to set up some type of collaborative blog with each of my classes where students will contribute and share information with one another online. Through UEN, there is a summer workshop entitled, "Creating Online Educational Media" that would be a helpful professional development course leading toward creating more tools to use in the classroom's online environment. I am impressed with the number of offerings from UEN on multimedia and online technology. The Internet is also ripe with information for just about any topic related to education and using technology in the classroom. When we were creating our digital stories, I appreciated the ideas of sharing and collaborative effort among educators in the online environment across the globe. This why I believe that technology can be used successfully in the classroom. It is important to teach these skills to our students, and the opportunity to learn newer and better ways of utilizing this information is abundant for us as teachers.
Monday, April 4, 2011
Sunday, April 3, 2011
4 April-Internet Safety
This week we began creating our Internet Safety Campaign. I think that when most people hear the term "internet safety" it evokes a narrow concept regarding sites that contain pornography or other deemed socially unacceptable information. However, it's interesting to really understand how encompassing online safety actually is. It's a much broader topic that also includes knowledge about and protection from dishonesty, plagiarism, and cheating. What is further disturbing, is just how much of this seemingly socially unacceptable information is easily available and how blurred the lines have become between what is socially acceptable and unacceptable since the drastic increase in the overall pervasiveness of the internet.
It is so much more difficult as an educator to patrol the gathering of information and production of original works by students. Just recently, a friend suggested to me that I become a "tutor" for a popular online homework assistance site. The site is largely blocked from view until a user obtains a username and password. I signed up, but I was quickly unimpressed by how much actual tutoring was occurring versus how much outright cheating is on the site. The site is set up to let students post their "questions" and then a tutor writes a response, and the student user then has the option to purchase the response. Most of the student users are posting full assignments and requesting the tutors to complete the assignments, and then the completed assignment is purchased. Sadly, it is pretty clear from the student users that most of them would greatly benefit in their own educations if they actually completed their own work. I believe that students need to understand the overall diminished integrity of using the internet to cheat and plagiarize work in the name of finishing a class. This method of finishing classes, specifically at the college level, cheapens degrees. It truly proves that everything can be bought and paid for, even the outward appearance of subject-matter knowledge. However, if the question ever arose about that student's ability to actually perform in the subject, they would be severely lacking. Students need to understand that they need to keep themselves and their reputation in tact in the online environment. It is not totally virtual, and is not entirely an intangible environment. As a future Language Arts teacher, I am working to design an Internet Safety Campaign that addresses more than just dabbling in dangerous online activity like pornography. I hope to educate students about maintaining their reputation and integrity in an online environment that offers many enticing opportunities to ruin reputations early in life and may eventually lead to illegal and dangerous behavior.
It is so much more difficult as an educator to patrol the gathering of information and production of original works by students. Just recently, a friend suggested to me that I become a "tutor" for a popular online homework assistance site. The site is largely blocked from view until a user obtains a username and password. I signed up, but I was quickly unimpressed by how much actual tutoring was occurring versus how much outright cheating is on the site. The site is set up to let students post their "questions" and then a tutor writes a response, and the student user then has the option to purchase the response. Most of the student users are posting full assignments and requesting the tutors to complete the assignments, and then the completed assignment is purchased. Sadly, it is pretty clear from the student users that most of them would greatly benefit in their own educations if they actually completed their own work. I believe that students need to understand the overall diminished integrity of using the internet to cheat and plagiarize work in the name of finishing a class. This method of finishing classes, specifically at the college level, cheapens degrees. It truly proves that everything can be bought and paid for, even the outward appearance of subject-matter knowledge. However, if the question ever arose about that student's ability to actually perform in the subject, they would be severely lacking. Students need to understand that they need to keep themselves and their reputation in tact in the online environment. It is not totally virtual, and is not entirely an intangible environment. As a future Language Arts teacher, I am working to design an Internet Safety Campaign that addresses more than just dabbling in dangerous online activity like pornography. I hope to educate students about maintaining their reputation and integrity in an online environment that offers many enticing opportunities to ruin reputations early in life and may eventually lead to illegal and dangerous behavior.
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