Blogging's Value to Education

The educational value of blogs is limited to the imagination of the facilitator of the blog. I know as a math teacher the first thing that comes to my mind is the creation of communication about math. This is a tool that can be utilized in a computer lab activity or as a weekly assignment that is carried out at home. With any educational blog the teacher should set the tone of the overall activity to be completed on the blog but the students, who are much more versed with technology, should be allowed to explore the extent to which the activities can be completed. The integration of blogs into educational settings needs to be gradual as to not overburden the teacher or student with learning to navigate the blog and the task. Educational uses of blogs are limitless. They can be used for classroom communication that provides updates on classroom activities and upcoming events. They can serve as a communication tool between parents, students and teachers. Teachers can post weekly assignments to be completed and submitted online. Blogs can serve as teacher to teacher content communication by posting activities and questions about standards. These are just a few ideas for the educational uses of blogs. Like is said in the beginning that the uses and their value are limited only to the imagination.

Educational Features of Blogs

As far as educational uses I find the feature that allows me to preview the comments before posting the best feature. I have has websites that allowed comments where students posted inappropriate comments anonymously. This always led to the discontinued use of the website. With this feature of the blog I can preview the comments and grade them from my e-mail account. Once the individual comments have been graded I can post all or just a few for a classroom discussion. This is one of the many privacy components that allow the blog to be educational friendly and kid safe. Another feature that stands out to me is the gadget button. From pictures to polls there are many way to make your blog kid attractive. This component along with a little imagination and creativity will turn your blog into a place your students want to visit. There is a future for educational blogs. I know there will be for my students and I hope the same for other educators as well. My caution for future educational bloggers would be to make sure what you ask your students to do on the blog is meaningful. Do not assign work that purpose is to make them sit at the computer and complete at task so you can say you are integrating technology. Like classroom busy work the students will know exactly what it is and resent the fact that they have to do it.

The Blogging Experience

When I first learned that I was going to be keeping up a blog page I was a little annoyed. My only experience with them was that they were a new form of tabloid journalism spreading gossip about celebrities. I didn’t have much spare time to communicate through cell phones or e-mail much less wasting time gossiping on a blog page. Through the assigned readings on blogs and the blogging requirements I was able to broaden my understanding of them and open my eyes to their potential. Blogging has many applications, some are financial, some are for awareness, some are very personal, and some are educational. At the present I am not very interested in any application other than educational. As a math teacher my uses may be more limited than other subjects but I do see blogging as a way to create more communication among my math students and it allows me a way to incorporate writing into my curriculum. I feel to create writing and communication opportunities through a medium in which my students are very comfortable will entice them to participate in these types of activities and experience greater success than with classroom pencil and paper. I have already begun setting up my classroom blog to incorporate weekly journal writings and discussion questions for my future students.

Reflections on Project Based Learning (Blog #11)

The project based learning (PBL) activity was a real eye opener. The development through online collaboration made me feel like this was way too much work to put into any activity, but in reality though face to face collaboration would be most likely way to create a plan for a PBL activity. In the end though I found that the budget project we created would go a long way to show practical uses of basic math to our students. Most of the time when we as math teachers are asked “When am I ever going to use this?” we find an answer with a career orientation. That answer is usually countered with “Well I am never going to be that.” The budgeting project answers that question in a way that no student can counter. All of them are going to be on their own and spending their own money. Even though the project started with students choosing a career path and looking for the amount of continued education needed for that career, one of our drawbacks was that not all students want to go to college. We discussed that these students can complete extra research into their chosen career and creating a budget on a high school dropout’s or high school graduate’s expected income. The project will help students see the reality and consequences of their choices. My group worked well together to help each other understand each step of the project in order for the group plan to come together as one complete project.

Learn more about Project Based Learning in the article
GETTING A GRIP ON PROJECT-BASED LEARNING: THEORY, CASES AND RECOMMENDATIONS

by Michael M. Grant

Project Based Learning Proposal

7464 Pb Lactivities Mtl

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Student Generated Budget

Student Budget

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Blog Journal Entry

Journal Entry

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Student Journal Response

Journal Response 1

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Emerging Technology that Supports eLearning (Blog Post 10)

I have read Egbert’s (2009) views on eLearning and I have read many of the posts from the blogs of my classmates. I tend to agree with Egbert’s (2009) statement that “eLearning ... often requires students and teachers to have different skills and understandings than face-to-face classroom learning does" (p. 207). As a high school teacher I know that some of our students are utilizing eLearning as a way to make up lost credit and some of our advanced students are even taking online college courses for advanced credit toward their Bachelor’s degree. I feel that at this level they are gaining the understanding and the skills needed to handle this type of education. I know that other classmates have mentioned that most students in lower grades would not have the organizational skills, dedication, or maturity to be able to handle this type of education. I tend to agree with them but I feel that there is a place for it at lower levels. I think that students who are struggling to keep up with their peers in a hospital homebound situation would benefit from eLearning with a far greater rate of success than what they are currently experiencing. Currently a hospital homebound teacher will drop of a stack of work along with selected readings from textbooks and work with that student for about an hour. Then the student is expected to teach themselves the rest of the content covered in class and complete their work on their own. Wouldn’t the hospital homebound teacher be more effective if they helped the student organize a week’s worth of online lessons? If the student was then offered online instructional vodcasts, discussions, digital stories, tutors, and practice I believe that students of any age could rise to the level of skills and understanding needed for eLearning.


Egbert, J. (2009). Supporting learning with technology: essentials of classroom practice. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc

The MovieMaker Project (Blog #9)

Distance collaboration and the MovieMaker project was an interesting concept. Throughout the project I was desperate for some face to face contact with my group members. I would get impatient waiting for responses to questions. Not at anyone was at fault for this but when I had time to work was not necessarily the time that others had to work. All in all I had some great team members and we worked very well together. As the leader I didn’t have the time to develop my own digital story but was very pleased with the examples of my group members. I feel that we came up with examples of different applications of the software that would work well in a staff development. I was very pleased with the final outcome and feel that I could walk into my school tomorrow and teach others about the MovieMaker software and its educational uses.

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Emerging Technology that Supports Creativity and Production (Blog Post 8)

I enjoyed this chapter on creativity since I feel that as a man I was born without this gene. I feel that I work hard at being creative and compared to my other male counterparts I do OK, but fall short when compared to our faculty as a whole. Because of this I think that I have been reluctant to teach creativity since I feel somewhat deficient in that area. In order to improve my teaching I focused on Egbert’s (2009) five suggested characteristics for creative tasks interesting. I feel better equipped to assign more creative tasks by following these guidelines:
Keep the task focused on content by making sure the students have some prior knowledge
Encourage divergent thinking by support of new
Integrate creative strategies through acceptance of various solutions to problems and projects.
It is essential that tasks are engaging
Be sure to support diversity though informational feedback.
I know that the incorporation of creative tasks will start with baby steps but I fell that I know have a starting point.

Egbert, J. (2009). Supporting learning with technology: essentials of classroom practice. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.

The Teacher Becomes the Student (Blog #7)

A few years back my county received a number of Promethean Activboards and designated them to Special Education classrooms. The rest were give to teachers who could write a proposal on how they would use the boards and how they would be able to track their usefulness. I was currently piloting single gender education classes and had a system set up that would compare end of year results to the mixed gender counterparts. I was awarded one of the Activboards and it was installed within the first nine weeks of school. Our county set up a series of online training classes as well as face to face training offered through the University of Georgia. I enjoyed the training and learned quite a bit about their uses. When I first had the Activboard installed I treated it like my new baby and didn’t want anyone else to touch it. I did however understand that to get the most out of the new technology I had to place it in the hands of my students. For a few weeks we spent time just clicking on what we could find and learning what the technology had to offer. With this and the online training my students and I were gaining a lot more confidence in what we could do. While I was developing interactive presentations and lessons I was challenging students to come up with ideas and ways we could use the board within classroom activities. I was amazed and impressed with their creativity. I quickly learned that this was their turf. They were not as intimidated of the technology as I was. In many cases they became the trainers and I was the student. This has shaped the way that I currently integrate any new technology into my classes. I like to see what my students can do with new technology and I learn from them.

Emerging Technology that Supports Critical Thinking and Problem Solving (Blog Post 6)

In mathematics, problem solving is at the core to achieving success with the application of mathematical concepts. The technology-supported problem solving guidelines identified in Egbert (2009), Chapter 4 were helpful and very useful for employing valuable problem solving lessons in a math class. The guidelines discussed by Egbert were to integrate reading and writing, avoid plagiarism, do not do what students can do, and make mistakes acceptable. There would be no use for math if there weren’t real world situations that called for the skill. These real world situations are presented to our students through reading and writing. Students need to be able to comprehend what they read in order to solve the problems within. Math students should be made aware of the importance of reading and writing through the incorporation of these skills in a math class. Avoiding plagiarism is a no brainer. Students will not learn math problem solving skills unless they are practiced. All too often our students feel that just copying someone else’s work will suffice to earn a grade but nothing is learned. Having the right answer and finding the right answer are two different things. As a man I all too often I feel the need to fix what my students are doing wrong instead of forcing them to do the things they already know how to do. I have to keep a constant self check on myself when student ask me for help. This third guideline really hit home for me. The last guideline is often repeated in my class because I feel that our students need to accept their mistakes and learn from them. This is the heart of problem solving for me. When our students feel safe in making mistakes then the problem solving process can move forward.

Fortunately for our students I feel that when it comes to technology they are less reluctant to follow these guidelines. I know that when my son gets a new video game he will read some of the instruction in order to get a basic understanding of how it works. I also notice that students are more willing to produce and show off their individuality when it comes to technology. My students rarely want help with their technology projects unless they truly cannot figure something out. Finally when involved with technology I find that students are more willing to make mistakes and learn from them. For these reasons I find that emerging technology helps our students with the problem solving processes.

Emerging Technology that Supports Communication and Collaboration (Blog #4)

While reading this chapter I thought immediately of the common content collaboration (CCC) meetings at my old school. These meetings were developed for the purpose of content support through communication and collaboration with other teachers in our content and grade level. When first introduced we were very reluctant to follow the protocol developed by our instructional specialist, but as time passed and through many head banging secessions things started to smooth out. One of the goals of the CCC was to create effective communication about content. According to Egbert communication is "a general term that implies the conveyance of information either one-way or through an exchange with two or more partners" (p. 67). This is an easy term to understand but not so easy to master when it comes to content and individual understandings of the content. The other goal was to have teachers of the same content collaborate on an understanding of standards, and the creation of lesson plans, assessment, and project based activities. Egbert states that collaboration is "social interaction in which participants must plan and accomplish something specific together (p. 68). Once again it sounds simple. Over time we learned how to communicate and collaborate with each other and our teaching became richer for it. One side affect of our CCC meetings was as we became better at the communication and collaboration we noticed that we were teaching our students to do the same. This year I am working at a school where my previous students now attend with students from another feeder school. Many teachers comment on how much better the communication and group work skills are from the students from my previous school. A final thought is that in order for teachers to effectively teach communication and collaboration skills to our students we must possess those skills ourselves. In order to effectively integrate technology as a form of communication we must also be able to communicate with that same technology. We cannot teach from the side line, in order to truly be effective then we need to get into the game.

Egbert, J. (2009). Supporting learning with technology: Essentials of classroom practice. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Article on Comic Life

Create Your Own Comic Strip with Comic Life

retrieved from the WWW on 9/23/2009

Although this article is not about how the Comic Life software can be utilized in educational settings I felt that some of his points were relative to school age children. While discussing how the software can offer a new and different way to present pictures he mentions that creating the comic strips with Comic Life is not only "easy" and "fun" for the creator but fun to view by the intended audience. I had the same experience with the software and immediately understood how it can engage learners while creating and presenting class projects.

Comic Life in Math

Comic Life is a downloadable software that allows the user to create comic strip/book style photo displays. While creating a comic book on metric/customary conversions I enjoyed the creativity and the freedom of expression that I want my students to have. Any questions on students wanting to engage with this type of software was answered when my 7th grade son started watching me create my project. He participated in the building of my comic book and enjoyed the process. He even asked if he could do a school project using this software. This is from a boy who hates doing class projects and never plans ahead. I am thinking of ways I can incorporate this into my math classes. The only draw back would be the cost to the students to have this at home or asking my system to purchase it for the computer lab. For a one time project there is a free 30 trial offer. Other than that I am open to suggestions for application. Please comment on ways to use this in a Math class.

Voice Thread Technology (Blog 3)

I always enjoy learning something new and the Voice Thread technology was no exception. Whenever I learn something like this my mind begins to wander on all the things I can do with it. The different applications for my Math 1 class are coming to me every time I try the program. Today I set up an interview about technology integration and sent it out to my target audience. While doing this I thought about a KWL and how this can be done through Voice Thread. While working with team members on our project I got many more ideas for its uses. The most valuable part is how Voice Thread engages students in conversation and discussion.

Today a teacher I work with was telling me about how she wants her students to create documentaries in science and social studies. She ws asking about software where she could record her students voices. She didn't want the audience to have to read. I told her about Voice thread and this weekend I am going to help her set up a Voice Thread for her class to create these documentaries. I will enjoy finding more uses for this technology and implementing it into my classroom in the near future. Let me know your ideas for voice thread in a math class.

7 things you should know about... VoiceThread

I found an article on the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative website titled 7 things you should know about…VoiceThread. It starts with a scenario of a student learning from a presentation through VoiceThread. The scenario continues to tell how the student incorporated VoiceThread into her own education through required presentations. Finally the student realized how through the discussion of others she felt part of a strong community of learners. The article then breaks down the understanding of VoiceThread into seven simple topics.

1. What is it?

· A media aggregator that allows community feedback on posted media.

2. Who is doing it?

· Developed for educators the applications are limitless for many other fields or for personal use.

3. How does it work?

· After uploading media images comments or stories can be added by the creator or others through appropriate source buttons.

4. Why is it significant?

· It takes presentations to a richer interactive stage through communication and discussion.

5. What are the downsides?

· Due to the variety of browsers it is sometimes slow and not uniform for different users. Accessibility can be a problem for those without internet. Simultaneous access for multiple users is not allowed and some content can be changed or deleted unintentionally.

6. Where is it going?

· Constantly evolving to alleviate downsides and further applications.

7. What are the implications for teaching and learning?

· Offers students an online interaction though presentation of projects, discussion of media, and defending of work among peers.

Commentary

This article is a summary of the VoiceThread software that allows anyone to get a quick glance at what VoiceThread can to in the classroom. The article is written in ways that will entice educators to try the software.

Emerging Technology that Supports Content Learning (Blog Entry 2)

As I read the chapter Supporting Student Content Learning I began to relize how much my school reflects some of the points and how far we are from some of the other points. . I felt the explanation of the different types of knowledge was strangely familiar but didn’t know the labels places on these types of knowledge. I feel that having this understanding of the three types gives us a better picture of student learning. When I was a child we learned our basic math facts. This was the declarative knowledge. Today our students struggle with the facts because they are not asked to memorize them. I say this because my own children were not asked to memorize them but to explore patterns. When they got home we asked them to write the facts and play games with flash cards. We were then asked to solve problems that had multiple steps and we applied knowledge of what adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing did to our numbers to estimate answers before writing down our calculations. This structural knowledge allowed us to piece together information so we could eventually problem solve. Problem solving or performance standards utilize the procedural knowledge discussed by Egbert.

Now through the integration of technology we have enhanced each level of knowledge. To goal is to use the technology in the best manor. The book listed several ways to utilize computers in the classroom and labs. Unfortunately my school utilizes the incorrect ways. On the bright side my school has many teachers obtaining degrees in Instructional Technology and as time goes on hopefully these methods can be corrected. My system also seems dedicated to better integration of technology through Promethean boards, wiki spaces, podcast, and online lessons.

I also like to think that we are moving away from the idea that the use of technology will be fun for the students. We no longer load math games on the computers in order to get students to work independently on math. I related to the statement that student work does not always have to be fun. It does need to be engaging, interesting, and meaningful. I love my job, but it is not always fun; sometimes it is hard.
In addition, I feel that the workbook format of this book allows us to evaluate our own teaching on how well we incorporate content learning with our own technology integration.

Egbert, J. (2009). Supporting learning with technology: essentials of classroom practice. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc

Reflection from the Voice Thread project

The other day I was asking my 9th graders to write in complete sentences a discription of the long division process. I wanted to make sure that they could follow this process with polynomials. When I walked around most all papers were blank. I asked several students why they hadn't written anything and all said that they didn't know what to write. So I switched it up a little and told them to look at the person next to them and just tell them the process used is solving long division. You could have heard a pin drop. All my students can solve a long division problem but when it comes to discussing math they feel very uncomfortable. They are scared that they will not communicate the consepts correctly.

As I worked through the voice thread project I began to see how valuable this tool is in creating discussion and communication about math. I read once that when you can communicate to another a skill that you will retain about 95% of that skill. We need our students to communicate openly about math. It is difficult to get students to do this. I found that the voice thread is an innovative way to encourage them to do so. The fact that they can try as many times as they like until they get their message the way they like it before posting it means that more will be willing to try. Another bonus is that in order to discuss the topic they get to use methods that they are comfortable with like texting, e-mail, or video messages. I would love to get permission to allow my students to answer question and problems during class using their cell phones. My eyes have been opened to this wonderful technology. The best part is that it is free and I don't have to beg my administration to get it for me.

Ideas and Suggestions for Voice Thread in Math.

The purpose of my sample voice thread (embeded below) is to show how problems can be posted for students to discuss and solve. The discussion will help those who understand the problems teach others as well as for those who don't understand as much to learn form their peers. The discussion also has students revisit skills practiced during the day and allows our students an avenue to talk in the language of the standards.

These are some other suggestions on how to use the Voice Thread software in a math class.

• At my school I teache single gender math classes. I teach the boys. One thing that I do with my boys is create a unified group, a team. Boys love to be a part of a team. The voice thread would be a great way for my students to get to know each other. Each student can make a slide with a photo and a comment that tells something they want to share. Once completed a requirement for the class would be to go to the project and post one positive comment or question for each student. I think that this would help the boys get to know and understand each other in a new and engaging way.
• With math I love the idea of posting a few questions or problems so my students can revisit the days skills. On of the standards in Georgia is that student must speak in the language of the standard. By creating discussion on math the voice thread softwear helps me achieve this standard.
• I would love to use the texting responses in class. How my students would love to take out their cell phones and text in answers and comments to problems posted.
• With Geometry Proofs student struggle with memorizing the proofs. By creating discussion I feel that students can learn from each other and also retain the information longer by discussion and debate.

As I explore this software further through integration into my classroom I will post other ideas that I come up with.

Voice Thread Project

The purpose of the VoiceThread project is to gain an understanding of how this software can be used in the classroom to enhance learning. As a group we have created examples from science, math, and language arts. You can preview these examples at the links provided inthe links section of this blog. I discovered that by using the VoiceThread software my classes can utilize this technological tool to promote discussion and interaction between the teachers and students. In addition our group has collaborated and created a workshop that will teach and inform other educatiors about integrating this technilogical strategy in their own classrooms.

Focus and Theme

This blog was designed as part of my pursuit of an Educational Specialist degree in Media/Instructional Technology. For my first class, MEDT 7464, Integrating Technology into Curriculum, this blog will be used as a communication portal with other class and project members about the various ways that educators utilize technology to enhance student learning. Another goal for this blog is to share technology-based projects using Voicethread, Comic Life, and MovieMaker that I have created throughout this class.

Technology Academy

I recently read a review of a long term professional development academy for integrating technology into educational settings. It discussed 4 main barriers to integration of educational technology as being institutional and administrative support, resources, training, and teacher attitude. The long term professional development academy was designed to target all of these barriers. Funded by the U. S. Department of Education this technology academy supported educators with thorough and on going training that changed the educators attitude about technology. These teachers were chosen from institutions that guaranteed administrative support. Systems supported these educators through time off for training and a commitment to resources. The academy supplied some resources to the teachers and they workd with the systems so secure others. The overall effect of the academy was positive.

Check out this article through the ERIC database titled, Effects of a Long-Duration, Professional Development Academy on Technology Skills, Computer Self-Efficacy, and Technology Integration Beliefs and Practices by Brinkerhoff in the Journal of Research on Technology in Education, Volumn 39 from the fall of 2006

Working Definition of Technology Integration.

After reading many articles, posts and discussion on technology integration I have developed my own working definition of technology integration into educational settings. The educational institutions and administrators should seek a collaborative effort with the educators and the students to define clear obtainable outcomes for the specific desired technologies. The technology should not only be considered as tools to help teachers to their jobs, but as interactive method in which students complete their tasks. Through proper and continued training teachers should be able to gradually build their implementation of technology into their classrooms. With a strong commitment from educational institutions and administrators to procure updated resources paired with effective and ongoing training teachers will be equipped with the knowledge and desire to facilitate the use of technology for motivated, creative, and high level student productivity.

What the hell is a blog anyway?

This is all new to me. Diving in feet first so it's sink or swim. Somebody throw me some swimmies.