Flat World, Flat Web, Flat Classrooms

It's interesting to visually imagine the classroom as a flat area now, rather than the "hilly" one where information flows down from the teacher to the students. I agree that the educational landscape has flattened. However, I see it is as much more circular and 3-dimensional than flat. With so much energy and information spinning around, we are all (students and teachers) being caught up in the web and spun around.

I understand the octopus metaphor,a and agree that we cannot cut off the types of interactions and technologies that students now take for granted. This only impairs the expanded educational opportunities that technology provides. When we cut off technology, we are cutting off the tools that students will be using in the future. As intimidating and unwieldy as technology may become, it is our duty as educators to teach students how to manage information. We should also encourage the creativity and inquiry that technology lends itself to so that our country can continue on a path of innovation and discovery.

Universal Design of Learning

For a quick concept map of the Universal Design of Learning (UDL), take a look at the diagram I created in Inspiration. Click on the image for a bigger version.

The technology we have been discussing and implementing this summer semester truly incorporates the principles of UDL to make education accessible to all types of learners. The added value of programs like Inspiration, blogging, Google documents, digital projects (like the Tableau Vivant) makes learning much more interactive and student-focused. As we continue to learn new ways of presenting and approaching material in the classroom, I keep thinking of new ways that I can make learning more exciting and engaging for students.

The added value of technology affects almost every task that a student would undertake. Technology allows flexibility in presentation- opening up multi-sensory approaches to material, mining an abundance of relevant material, and incorporating a variety of learning styles in the classroom. Technology allows for flexibility in engaging students- allowing them to self-pace their lessons, practice on their own to develop skills, and organize information in a format that best suits them. Finally, technology allows for flexibility in assessment- allowing students to undertake a variety of projects and tailor them to their own specific interests and abilities.

As I keep learning how easy it is to incorporate technology, I know I will be eager to use it in the classroom to make my lessons more relevant and collaborative. In an ever-growing digital age, it is important for educators and students to learn new technologies that will help them become life-long learners and miners of information.

Copyright Issues

As digital technology continues to expand access to licensed material, it will be exceedingly difficult for educators to regulate copyright use in the classroom. As I have learned through the class readings, this issue is so complicated because there is such a wealth of information available on the Internet. Students can easily copy text, video, music, software, images and incorporate it into their own work. Teachers also may find it tempting to access copyrighted materials and justify their "fair use" in the classroom. With so many great resources improving the potential effectiveness of a project or presentation, it is hard to want to limiti what can and cannot be shown in the classroom. In addition, with web pages, blogs, or other public access sites, the rights to intellectual property are too easily ignored.

Educators must set an example to students. While material may increase the effectiveness of a lesson, teachers must be careful to cite all sources and follow guidelines for use of the material in the classroom. Likewise, they should outline and expect the same behavior from their students. It is better to always cite a source and to limit use of copyrighted material in the classroom.

Inquiry Based Learning

I actually believe that this Educational Technology course is a great example of Inquiry Based Learning. Rather than hearing a lecture about various available technologies and software, or taking notes from a single source, we are in the classroom doing and creating many of the programs that we are learning about. The Ed Tech classroom is like a workshop. The teachers give us the tools- and the rest of us try those tools out in real time, making adjustments and asking each other questions as we go along. It is a class I enjoy because I am not learning about technology, I am learning how to use it. In addition, the students in the classroom benefit from being able to extend the class to their particular level of technological ability. There is a minimum portfolio that must be met, but students can tailor the final product to their own needs, interests, and abilities.

As a future English teacher, there will definitely be room for Inquiry Based Learning in my classroom. I do not believe it is effective (or enjoyable) to memorize a series of literary terms and definitions. It is much more fun to create one's own poem- learning the building blocks of poetry as we go along- rather than simply reading and reciting what others have done. I am also excited to bring technology into the classroom, so that learning is more interactive and employs a variety of perspectives, authors, and mediums into the class workspace. In addition, I would like students to reflect on their own and others' work- to constantly think about what they are learning through journaling, reflection pieces, or even student blogs.

Standard of Learning Focus

This semester, I plan to focus on the standard of learning that relates to how students explore and respond to texts. In particular, I am interested in using technology to expand upon the ways students can "determine the various influences on authors and analyze the impact of those influences on the text." (Taken from: http://ctcurriculum.org/list_standards)

There is such an abundance of imagery, history, art, and audio available on the Internet. Having students access this information to make text more real, more relevant to their lives, is one of the great benefits of technology in the classroom. For instance, while reading The Grapes of Wrath, high school students could find pictures of the dustbowl or migrant farmers to more fully understand the setting and experiences in the story. They could find both photographs and artistic representations to supplement the reading, and in turn, better understand the circumstances that influenced the author. They could find first-hand accounts, newspaper articles, even sound clips to help bring the text to life. By understanding the events surrounding an author, students can more fully appreciate the texts created by him or her.

Photoshop

The Moose-aroo!  or the Moose-upial.

The wonders of photoshop layering.  We started by using the magnetic lasso to cut out the body of the kangaroo.  To get rid of the inside legs, we used the separation tool.

Finally, we layered the body and the moosehead onto the background, resizing both to fit.

A fun exercise, but photoshop is exhausting!  Could be a fun way to do a beginining of the year picture collage of students.

MP3 Homework

I have actually used iPods in the classroom and the students loved it. We did Grammar Girl exercises, so I picked specific lessons for the students to work on that I noticed that had been having difficulty with in class. Using MP3 players can also be a great way to customize lessons to the individual needs of students. I don't know if it's feasible to have students set up podcast accounts with the school, but then they could download specific content areas to use at home.