I thought the "Gen Y Goes to College" experiment was awesome. How great would it be to have been one of the teachers or even one of the Gen Y kids in the experiment? Both groups must have learned so much.
Reading the article, it sounded like a great success. The collaborative atmosphere really impressed me. The teachers learned about incorporating multimedia into their teaching but were also reminded what it is like to be a student. The students learned how to “coach” and not just do it for the teachers. What a great experience for everyone involved.
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My students often teach me how to do tasks on the computer. Although I consider myself to be reasonably educated in the use of technology, the technology is forever changing. Over half of my Media Productions students are enrolled in the Interactive Media Career Technical program of study at Morgan. I smile when I think of the tasks that they teach me about the complicated skills that they are learning in their Interactive Media class. I tease them sometimes that we trade knowledge.
Our students are our techie kids who have grown with technology since they could practically sit up. They are not afraid to experiment and they sure have more time than I do to play and learn ...and they do. They are like sponges that like to absorb and I love to see their faces glow when they realize that they have taught the teacher.
Wouldn’t it be amazing at the learning that would go on in the core subjects if the instructors would incorporate the technological knowledge that the students have with their subject matter. Using technology as a tool that they understand combined with the subject matter that the instructor is utilizing will create a learning situation that suddenly becomes real to the students.
I like Karole's comment about wanting this technology learning to go into the core subjects. If I could pick a job in computer technology this is what I would pick. It would be similar to the work I did as an itinerate teacher for d/hh students. An itinerate teacher for technology integration into content areas. The job would be to work with individual teachers or content area groups to determine which of the technology standards could be incorporated into their area. Then work with them collaboratively to implement that. For example, teach a unit on power points in Social studies or English and require students to make a presentation. The content area teacher teaches the content and the technology teacher teaches the technical skill, or works with the content area teacher to be certain he/she has the skills necessary to teach it and help students trouble shoot problems.
The problem I see with this is the same as what I experienced as an itinerate teacher, getting everyone to buy in. I think it could be accomplished by having a very clear set of job descriptions with very clear objectives. I think a visionary leader could accomplish this with the right amount of skill, motivation and interpersonal skills. As an itinerate teacher when I first approached teachers to explain how they needed to make accommodations for the deaf/hh student they were resistant but when they realized that I was there to be their support for them to make these accommodations, we developed a working relationship. I think the same thing could go for technology use. At first teachers would view it as "just one more thing to do" but when they realized it was team effort, they may be willing to cooperate more. Eventually they would come to see it as something to make their job easier.
For me,the key component of the article on middle school age mentors was the different approaches of different groups(grad students and middle schoolers)toward new technologies. The Middle schoolers who were willing to learn new technologies through trial and error were learning as much from mistakes as they were from successes. That amount of curiosity and adventurousness is something that I rarely see among older technology users. The adult on the other hand were seemed less comfortable with veering off a particular instructional path laid down by an instructor.
One possible answer could be that adults are less likely to categorize mistakes into learning experiences compared to children.
Thank you Dr. Franklin, the “Technology Guide” site is very interesting, one sitting is not enough to browse it :)
I agree with the comments given about technology being used with "core" subjects. (Music should be a core subject--but that's another story!) Anyway, one of the authors of the article was a core teacher. She taught language arts to the middle school mentors. I think language arts would be a perfect fit for imovie or movie maker. In fact, my first experiences with using a video camera was in my 8th grade language arts class.
I think that technology is slowly being intergrated in the core subjects. As technology becomes more available to the teachers, the more they will use it to teach.
Yea I agree with Karole, I am currently teaching in a grant program with math and science professional who want to earn a teaching degree. some of them are really struggling with even grasping the idea of technology let alone the basic skills. I am thinking that this would be a great model to implement in their training. It might be the link in helping them understand the connections between teacher and learner,between subject matter and best practices.I have learned so much from my students. Their language is different and the approach to the task as well. I cannot help but think that there are some real applications for older learners in the field.
Yea I agree with Karole, I am currently teaching in a grant program with math and science professional who want to earn a teaching degree. some of them are really struggling with even grasping the idea of technology let alone the basic skills. I am thinking that this would be a great model to implement in their training. It might be the link in helping them understand the connections between teacher and learner,between subject matter and best practices.I have learned so much from my students. Their language is different and the approach to the task as well. I cannot help but think that there are some real applications for older learners in the field.emilyisgreat
Prior to taking this class, I always had the feeling that technology in education was on its way to revolutionalize knowledge acquisition and to open up the minds of learners wide enough to challenge existing status quos. This feeling seems to have been given credence by the article "A Summary of Research Exploring Hard and Soft Scaffolding for Teachers....."
This is because exposing learning to this kind of learning environment is like putting them at the action spot to see what everybody saw and to draw their own conclusions instead trying to understand someone else's conclusion as in the case of teacher-centered or text-book centered learning.
I think the research/program is wonderful because and supportive of quick learning by the scaffoldings (both hard and soft) provided.
Even though I do not know how much clarification is usually provided to the learners I however do not setting out clear guidelines since it has the tendency of getting learners to be trying to conform to the guidelines instead of trying to discover and form their own opinions. This could also take away some of the satisfaction that will come to the learners in the end, because it is also about developing higher order skills.
Everyone’s comments are interesting to read. While most of the comments to this point have referred to the scaffolding and Gen Y readings, I am going to refer to the Virtual learning reading. I did find the scaffolding information very interesting and I do see how it is valuable for us to consider. The Gen Y article actually reminds me of the times when I am back home in Florida attempting to teach my father how to use his computer for simple tasks such as email.
As for the virtual learning reading, I found it to be very interesting. The idea of using video gamming to engage the students in learning is fairly innovative. It is not feasible or reasonable to create a movie or video game for every lesson but when inserted with considerable thought, they can be useful. It seems to me that creating a video game to enhance a lesson on a topic that is historically difficult to teach, would be very successful. Any new way to engage the students in the learning environment is worth an effort, even if it takes considerable time to learn and put into action.
The "Gen Y" article was interesting, though its conclusions were not terribly surprising. As Karole stated "Our students are techie kids who have grown with technology since the could practically sit up." So I expect them to be highly skilled and comfortable with it. For me, I found the implications toward teaching/teachers rather humbling. We teach in an environment where knowledge (and vast amounts of it) is accessible to anyone. It's not about who can memorize the most facts anymore . . . or at least, it shouldn't be.
Ideally, classrooms should be places where students of all ages come together and collaborate toward a common goal. The teacher may not be the most knowledgeable person in the room . . . and for me, as a teacher, that can be a scary thought. I have to be secure enough in who I am to let go, and let my students lead. Which means I have to excel in areas where perhaps those more veteran teachers did not. If I’m going to let my students lead, even teach, then I must be able to facilitate open, honest dialog. I need to design lessons that allow for collaborative efforts . . . I need to enable my students to design lessons.
And perhaps most disconcerting, my classroom needs to celebrate mistakes, which implies that my grading/assessments might need to be re-examined. If I value learning, and mistakes are a part of learning, then how should my students really be scored? We had a speaker at the start of the school year – I’ve forgotten her name – but she spoke about formative vs. summative assessments. Much of the struggle I am having with these articles and their impact on my teaching occurred during her presentation as well.
As a math teacher, we are taught to value right vs. wrong. Though I do want to see my students work, at the end of the problem, there’s still only one answer – and you either knew how to get there, or you didn’t. But these articles, that speaker, the research makes me wonder . . . are the mistakes more important/valuable than the right answer? And if they are, how do I assess that?
Exploring Hard and Soft Scaffolding for Teachers
The concept of soft scaffolds is a natural way to teach in art or graphics. I think it is easier to quickly informally assess a students progress simply by "looking" at their work and then giving them situation-specific aid as the author notes.
A technique where I employ hard scaffolds is how I teach to those who were absent. By creating/providing video tutorials done when I teach the main lesson to students who were absent gives the students specific and anticipated instruction. I know Renee also uses a similar technique by saving her smart board notes for absent students or for use in review.
Gen Y Goes to College
The concept of Co-learning is exactly what most of my classes are...especially any class that goes beyond my foundations class. With art as the topic and the massive graphics programs available to the kids, and virtually 100's of ways to accomplish their goal, there is no way that the instructor can have all the answers. As in my video, where I stated that I enjoy teaching so much because it is a symbionic relationship that I think reflects the real world much more accurately than what has been the typical classroom teaching vehicle. I enjoy the environment where the students and I can learn together will still maintaining my position as facilitator.
Technology Guides
This is a good list but I would like to have a list of resources that we could all share. Especially free programs and tutorials.
i.e. Dave gave me one at the last class called Sketch Up from Google.
I am going to start another thread topic. If we could post the link and a brief description when we run across something cool I think it would be a help to alot of us.
If you post I will try to compile so by the end of the class I will send everyone out a list of what we got.
Just a thought.
MultiMedia and Internet
This is interesting but seems impractical for a typical teacher to invest so much time in preparing one or more of these games. It may, however, be another field we may want to delve into. Although we as educators may not be coders, modelers, or texture artists we could be consultants.
I looked at the Dr.'s intro and the article but it didn't give a price for the course (like I need anything else on my plate!) or it didn't give any examples. I would like to see some of the games that his students actually made.
I thought it was interesting in the Scaffolding and Multimedia research that they didn't research the teacher and the classroom first. Maybe that was the point of the research. It almost sounded like the classroom teacher wasn't supportive of the idea along the way. I would like to have seen the researchers provided more support for the teacher as the study continued.
I would love for us to create our own technology guide. This would be a great resource to include in our technology coordinator websites. There are so many things out there and this is where I usually learn about them. I appreciate the great resources, especially the free ones as I have no budget to purchase anything.
I found the two treatments of scaffolding in different instances of technology-focused instruction to be quite interesting. As someone who designs online learning objects that used independently by library patrons with regularity, building guiding points within tech-assisted learning is crucial to ensuring that students use tools in the way that we hope they will. Too often I have seen users miss large elements of databases or tutorials simply because the interface wasn't intuitive and no additional instruction was given.
The Generation Y article introduced me to the concept of using scaffolding techniques in a face-to-face model, which is something I've been unfamiliar with previously. I was interested to see that one of their assertions, "Gen Y students learned by exploring and playing and making mistakes, and K-12 teachers generally preferred to learn using concrete, step-by-step directions," contradicted something I read this week published by a British library think-tank, CIBER, which states that the idea the the "Google Generation's" ability to understand technology through practice is not borne out by the research literature and is actually one of many myths surrounding this age group... view this article for more on the Google Generation, learning, and library use.
I agree with Kurt. the article on Gen Y students was what I found most interesting. To me a good teacher is one is also a good listener. We all have different learning styles and are from diiferent backgrounds as such we all have a lot to offer.
The question that crept up when I was reading this article was "what were the attitude of the teachers towards this approach?"
I found the first article “… hard and soft scaffolding for teachers and students using a multimedia supported learning environment” is very interesting and useful for a teacher or an instructor. “Scaffolds are tools, strategies, and guides which support students in attaining a higher level of understanding; one which would be impossible if students worked on their own.”
How does an educator work with the scaffolding strategies to support students reach high level of understanding? I think one needs know how to use new technology and appropriate working skills in the classroom, which will help learners reach the goals.
I really liked the article about creating games to teach. I think it’s a great idea. I’ve successfully used Scavenger Hunts and Webquests in the past - this seems to be an extension of that idea. Although, I agree with the others who have stated that this could be a very time consuming project – definitely not something that you could do for every class! But, it seems to be something to think about – especially because so many students DO spend so much time gaming.
The idea of “stealth learning” is a useful one. It seems that having students create their own games - for others to play - would be a great use of technology, while at the same time forcing kids to know their content area. As in the article about Technology influencing Critical Thinking (from EDCT 661), kids are more willing to put in a little more work for something that they see as challenging, interesting, and relevant. Having student create their own games would encourage problem solving, creative thinking, and maybe even teach them something that’ll be on “the test”!
The article " Virtually a New of Learning and Simulations as Teaching Tools" written by Len Annetta posted in Multimedia and Internet at Schools Magazine was interesting reading. The article touched on how students use video and other simulation programs to whip up critical thinking and analytical skills in their learning process. The article also highlights how students have been encourage to design video games themselves. This is constructive approach.
My association with International Education and Resource Network (IEARN) www.iearn.org have expose me to the use of different multimedia tools in creating interactive learning resources for students.
Working with student on some of these online interactive programs revealed how some of these students can be very creative. The students created interactive web sites, games,videos and blogs
I found the scaffolding article interesting to encourage students to look at things differently with new perspectives.
I find it difficult in my teaching practices to give my 4th graders a project that is kind of open-ended, without giving some pretty good guidelines for them to follow. For instance, we're about to do a "Down on the Farm" project using our skills learned from our geometry unit included 3D objects, perimeter, area, and volume. My goal each year is to get them to design a 3D farm/city (depending on the year)and use their skills to find different calculations. My first year for the project was a learning experience, I was constantly 'making it up as it went' because they needed/wanted a little more structure than "build a farm/city using 3D shapes and find these calculations". Each of the next several years I revised my guidelines, making them a little more specific. I guess I'll find out next week if this year the guidelines are good!
A few of the comments I've read have mentioned using more technology in the content areas. I find that in my school building (K-4), there is one other teacher in the building other than 4th grade teachers that use technology. I guess the nice side to that is I get to use the technology components anytime I want, but I see that as a problem in our building. At a minumum, I see it as a duty to use technology so my students are better prepared for grades above mine. I wish each grade level below me would use the technology we have a little (or lot) more, as my students would be more comfortable at the basics and we could go above and beyond what I do with them in my classroom. I guess its like what Debbie said, we need to get everyone to buy-in.
I really amazing to see how can adults learn from children regards technology. I think, they have more benefit from it than we do, because they are growing up with it and they don't feel afraid to use any kind of technology. And they compare among each other who can have the newest technology and who can beat others first with the new technology... So they are actually more motivated and more excited to use it.
Charlie, I like the Scaffolding article as well. I wish when I was learning history in High School my teachers would have used scaffolding to help it make more sense to me. Moreover, I wish we had the opportunity to take virtual field trips to locations that we were studying in class. As I found out later in life I could enjoy history more once I have actually been to the location in question.
I am interested in seeing how I can incorporate scaffolding into my teaching. I would love to be considered a "core class" also (Amy!!) but would rather work with my fellow teachers in bringing a unit together cross curriculum, and then building there in our own respective classes.
The Technology Guide would be very informative for a school district. Whoever compiled the information obviously spent a lot of time thinking through the processes of using the equipment. Some of the equipment and programs even had a troubleshooting guide. Spending the time to write these guides must save the Tech people a lot of hours responding to questions by email or coming the building to fix simple problems.
I agree with Big Tom about how different groups embrace new technology. I get frustrated sometimes when using something new and can sometimes give up too easily. I have a student who just completed his undergrad and he can start playing with a program he's never seem before and just keep messing with it until he masters it. You definitely learn a lot from the mistakes. Kids are more ok with making mistakes and not worrying about "breaking" things whereas I think adults, like myself, are afraid I will mess something up and not be able to get it back.
I agree with Kurt about the Co-learner. I believe anyone can learn from anyone else regardless of age, or anything else. I believe that is what makes well rounded people is knowing that you can always learn from anyone. None of us know it all and we should take advantage of learning from our kids. They have always grown up with this technology that we are learning. I'm sure they will be able to teach us a trick or two.
I agree with Jdicius' comments regarding the virtual learning article-video gamming. Some of the very early video games were used and continue to be used to teach math concepts and critical thinking/problem solving skills. As technology becomes easier to use and more understandable for educators, we will undoubtedly see more gaming used in the classroom (K-12 and the business/corporate environment as well).
Gen Y goes to college
I liked this article because it shows, from empirical results, evidence about the benefits of learner-centered approach. My favorite outcome or assertion is “scaffolding graduate students’ learning through collaboration with Gen Y students benefits all participants”. I liked the description of students’ benefits: They increased their self-confidence, became more comfortable around teachers and much more familiar with university life, among others. I would like to foster an experience like this in Colombia.
I agree that more games will be used in the classroom in the future. We have to reach the students at their level and many (probably most) have been playing video games since they were little. Technology should absolutely be included in the core subject classroom. SmartBoards are a great tool for math teachers, especially gemoetry teachers. It allows the teacher to make examples quickly and accurately. It allows turns the examples into manipulatives that the students can move around and explore possible ideas.
I liked Virtual Learning article. I believe that using games in teaching and learning is a great and very motivating idea. I am sure students will love to learn and investigate when teachers do well in creating games to teach. Yes it could be time consuming, but if we think about using the same games many times for many class and many students it could be worth the effort. Teachers can share their products via forums , emails and est.
Reading the Multi-Media and Internet @ Schools article... I realized that I have been very one sided towards video games- In my days of youth, of course we played them, but not everyday for hours and hours, as children do today. The arguement that I have it- Most of the games that keep chidren engaged for hours- Are not educational!
The idea is to take their interest of technology and incorporate it in an educational setting! It is wonderful to see the children learn through the inquiry approach- they are soaking up the information (aka learning) but without a clue that they are!
It leaves the question... Since technology has changed some much in my lifetime already- what will be next, and how will it effect the way we live and teach the generations to come-
Will the poor school districts be able to keep up?
What about the poor families- How will they manage to keep their children technolgically advanced?
Will technology be incorporated more into the core subject areas? Why hasn't it been already?
I really enjoyed week 3 reading- I hope technology will continue to effect education in a positive way!
Week 3
I read the Virtual Learning PDF. It talked about how students will just play video games. Older people are saying that they are just playing video games. It talked about how they are learning from the games. Students when they get home are ready to devour new information and concepts through the virtual environments. Its better than just mastering memorization. This is very true from my time in school and what I have been seeing in my classrooms. It also said a few years ago the only way to learn was to listen to the teacher but now students can look online to find the latest news.
Tom
I found the Virtual Learning article informative and amusing. Amusing becuase while my husband and I are teachers and can think of the hours we have spent playing video games and compared to my students, well most of them, we hardly play at all. Also coming to mind are the V-Tech games that have become popular lately. You see ads on tv for them all the time. They're educational video games geared towards young children featuring characters from movies and stories that are fairly recent. Maybe those ideals aren't as far off as they seem... I wonder how long until a space like Second Life will be a place where all student attend school.
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