Final Reflection

This is my last blog post for ECI 832 and I have to admit that it is bitter sweet for me. I have really enjoyed the opportunity and freedom to explore and play in the sandbox with everyone in my class. I am genuinely going to miss posting my thoughts and reading others' ideas and experiences. As with my last class to use this blog, I will try and keep my blogging up as I go through and experience more in my teaching career. I still have to write a paper and post to the forum in my other class, but after April 15^th, I will have completed my Masters in C&I and will not have to take classes. I have stated before that the best part of all of my classes, be it online or on campus, is the interaction with my fellow educators and the learning that I get from them- from you.

I'm going to answer each of Marnie's questions and then post some final thoughts after. I don't want to get too far off track! J

 

Question #1-

• What new understandings of the role of educational technology to support learning have you gained, acted on or perhaps strengthened?
  

I think that I have always had an interest in technology, but I always thought of it as a gimmick and not as a way to enhance student learning. I thought that it was something flashy that I could use to impress the students and my fellow teachers. Through this class and by taking a step back to evaluate and critique various technologies, I have been able to look at them as a way to deliver content and to reach students. I've never had much luck collaborating with my fellow teachers and through my final project, I am now working with two ELA teachers on their particular topics. I have had the chance to follow some other educators through their blogs and read about their ideas and questions about technology and gather information to form my own opinions. I also got the chance to explore programs that I never thought I would ever use (such as Second Life and Twitter) and have found them to be extremely interesting (going to the Globe Theatre in 17^th century England was a highlight) and such an interesting way to reach learners. Above all, I have found that through this course I have had the opportunity to objectively look at my own teaching in general and my own views and beliefs about technology. It has opened my eyes to a new way of reflecting and growing from my experiences and to be ok with making mistakes and to embrace them as learning experiences. I think that the blog has been a safe way to express myself and this is another reason that I will try and continue using it as an electronic journal.

 

Question #2-

• What has had the most influence on your horizon of understanding?
  

I would have to say that it was a combination of my edu-tech blog (Will Richardson) and my classmates' blogs. I really enjoyed reading about the experiences of everyone in the class and even though I didn't always have time to leave a comment, I read a lot of your information and I found myself nodding my head with you or having "a ha" moments at my computer desk. I also have to say that the sandbox exploration also had an influence- I was asked to play and to explore new ideas and that was a lot of fun.

 

Question #3-

• What new questions have emerged for you?
  

I have a few of questions swirling around in my head:

1. How can I get the teachers at my school to be more enthusiastic about technology? How can I get them to try a few of the things that I have tried and get them to use it in their teaching?
   
2. How will I keep up with all of the technology?
   
3. Will I still be as pumped up about all of this in two months? Two years?
   
4. How can I get the division on my side and work with us to start heading in the same direction? Is it possible?
   
5. What is the new stuff coming down the line? Are there trends that I should be looking out for?
   

 

Some last thoughts

I want to thank everyone for their time and comments- I really had fun.

I am applying to go to the eLearning conference in Edmonton this year. I saw an email about it and I am very interested in what I could learn there and it is primarily due to this course and that is exciting for me.

I am going to pledge to try and keep up my blogging and to try and keep a critical and open mind about technology in the future.

Cheers!

Katie

Online PD

This week's topic was very interesting for me because of my seminar that I am leading this week in 830- my topic is Technology and Professional Development, so this is a very timely topic.

As I was doing research on professional development and technology, I came across a couple of articles that suggested online PLCs and social networking sites and I was very interested. So, for this week's exploration, I chose to join the Classroom 2.0 site. I was very glad that I did because it is a really neat way to do PD!

I joined the Beginners site to start with and found lots of really useful information. One of the discussion topics was called Twitter for Beginners. I recently joined Twitter and I found that the suggestions and information in that discussion thread was really useful for me. I also found the wiki section really useful, even though I have used wikis in the past, there was information in the discussion that I wasn't aware of and suggestions on usage that I had not thought of previously.

I also like the idea of an individualized PD opportunity and also an ongoing one. It is nice to be able to ask questions and get feedback. It is not a presentation on something that I have no interest in (like some PD that we get), but it is an online community that is accessible 24/7.

What's Wrong with the Web?

Will Richardson posted something very poignant for me today- he was addressing a recent article in the New York Times called "Texts without Context" and he lists major issues with the internet today, by summarizing some of the issues in the article:

* Copyright and intellectual property are no longer respected
* Plagiarism is rampant
* Originality and imagination are being lost
* We are losing our ability to think deeply and creatively
* We now just want immediate gratification
* Information overload
* Further polarization of political views
* A loss of the ability to read extended texts
* An impatience with nuance
* A loss of focus in a world of distraction
* The sense of immature entitlement on the part of social media users
* Decrease in overall quality of work
* “Cyberbalkanization” or a growing comfort in the echo chamber
* Loss of serendipity
* Loss of an objective reality (i.e. the debate over climate change)
* The end of authorship
* Groupthink
* Etc.

Wow! This is very similar to a lot of the issues that I have been discussing with my classes (ECI 832 and 830). A lot of these points have been discussed through the chat room, forums and on the blogs. The comments that have been made, and there are only 5 so far, have been interesting as well. Some people blame our society, that we now all have forms of ADD and our attention spans (or lack of) have caused these problems. Some say that education is the key to solving these problems, which I think is a pretty broad answer and as we've been asking- How?? How can we solve these huge issues? Can we use these issues to our advantage? Does knowing what the issues are give us an edge to be able to reach learners in a more informed way?

My head actually begins to spin when I look at that list because I've really been intensively involved in looking at them for about three months now and it's all getting a bit blurry- I'm sure those of you who are also in the two classes or any other technology course are also getting a bit battle fatigued. This is what I will be thinking about for the next little while, but it is nice to actually have a nicely constructed list to work from.

Until next time...

Queen of Copyright!!

Sorry folks, I found this post in my draft folder- I thought I posted it this weekend!

 

I am sure that when I utter the word "copyright" at my school, eyes roll. I have been saying that word for a long time and I'm not sure that anyone listens. Teachers have long been known as the Copyright Police's Most Wanted. We are terrible with copyright and from my experience have very little respect for it and yet we demand that our students cite their sources and give credit to authors/creators in their assignments. Sometimes I think it is the height of hypocrisy.

I understand that there are many good reasons for breaking copyright laws (money, availability, etc.) and I am as guilty as the next. Yes, I am confessing that even the Enforcer breaks the laws and I do it a lot. I find information that I think would be beneficial to my students and I grab it. But, and this is a big but, I am aware that I am doing it and I take responsibility for it. As the teacher librarian, the role of copyright expert has fallen to me and I was told when I started that I was to take it very seriously. In fact, I was informed by my principal that if there were any violations (he was speaking about movies in this case) and if we were caught I would be taking the fall and probably fired. Now, this is a bit shocking to a 24 year-old, who just started as a t-l and had only been teaching for 2 years before that, but I've taken it to heart. So, from then on, I've tried to take the issue of copyright and plagiarism very seriously.

There are mythical and terrifying people known throughout the education world as "The Copyright Police". They swoop down look through your things, write fines and slap your hands. When I was in a small community, during my second year of teaching, some of the higher-ups caught wind of a rumour that said there were squads of the Copyright Police moving through the province. I am being totally honest when I say; I have never seen such a panic amongst teachers and a school. Teachers were boxing up materials and moving them to their private garages at home. Some were wondering if they bought a lock, could they force you to open a drawer or cabinet. It was total panic! I was new to the profession and as with all small schools, I was the new kid and so I taught nothing that I taught the year before and I had not amassed anything of consequence. Now I am older and I find that I use that story and the stories of other unfortunate schools as a cautionary tale for my staff.

Even though I am the voice of caution in my school, I realized in this block that I don't really know a lot about copyright. For instance, I thought that you could use anything on the internet as long as you gave credit to the owner. I was wrong, some cases you need to ask permission. I also did not understand how Wikipedia worked- although I'm a huge fan. I admit that reading some of the information was a bit dry and I think that the entire issue of copyright is extremely boring, but a necessary mission. I really liked the iSearch concept and I actually plan on using it the next time I teach Science 10 and I also may have another teacher interested in using it in their class this semester. It is a vast subject and I'm sure that you could take a whole class just on copyright- I have bookmarked several links in this week's content so that I can re-read or refer back to them later when I'm unsure about something.

So, all of you teachers who are reading this please, the next time someone (like your friendly neighbourhood librarian) tells you that dubbing movies or copying DVDs is illegal, don't roll your eyes. Thank them for their diligence and understand that someone has to be a stickler; it is for your own good!

 

Katie

Apprentice, don't just Teach!

In Will Richardson's Feb. 24th blog had a couple of interesting points: 1) teachers need to become Master Learners, not so much Master Teachers and that maybe we need to treat students as apprentices not just as vessels that need to be filled with knowledge.

Richardson talks about his frustration with "selfish" teachers. I understand where he is coming from especially in terms of technology. There has to be a willingness from teachers to revert back to the learner-mode and be ready to accept instruction, be experiential in our classrooms (which is sometimes humiliating and not always easy) and to be willing to make a few mistakes along the way. We have to be students again. I think that it is easier for people, like us in this class, to see that and to become the learner again because that is exactly what we signed up for! But, for other teachers, it can be difficult to get in that mindset again. For some of you, this may be your first grad class, but for the rest of us- remember your first grad class. Where you lost? Confused? Frustrated? Overwhelmed? YES!! It is not easy to shift gears and be out of control. Now that some of us have a few classes under our belts, it is easier to see that the control issue is huge for teachers and it is scary jumping off the cliff into the desk again. I like the term that Richardson uses, "Master Learner" because that is exactly what I feel like right now!

The other point that Richardson makes is that in the last century, there was a shift for the majority of children- from being apprentices to being students. Why can't we see students as apprentice adults and maybe change our approach to teaching. I like the idea of thinking of my class as full of apprentices not just students. I'm not sure how to go about doing that, but it is an interesting concept to start thinking about. I'm going to try to think about how I can change my teaching to be come more like a "journeyman" and my students as "apprentices".

Those are the ideas that I'll be chewing on this week!

Katie

Blogs, Twitter and Wordle

I've had busy couple of days with my Web 2.0 tools. As I mentioned in the first post about Web 2.0, I have used a blog (obviously), but I created my blog for the library today! It is not perfect yet and I'm still fiddling around with format and gadgets, but it is up and running and tomorrow I will be posting my first "real" post about some new and old books that we have in the library. I will add my blog to the blog roll on this blog, but for my virtual portfolio, I'll hyperlink it in this post.

The blog is called Bell's Book Blurb. Check it out and let me know what you think.

I used Wordle for the first time this week as well. I have seen this in my school before and never really knew what it was. I have to say that I am underwhelmed. I like the idea of the words and the design is eye-catching, but I'm not sure how I would use it in my class yet. I am thinking that I would use it for vocabulary and have it around as a reminder for my special ed students or use as a motivational poster.

Then I did some research and found some really great ideas about how to use it in a practical and kinda fun way! Greg Smith writes on his blog, Technology Education Know-How about how to use it in a classroom setting effectively:

"Wordle is a tool that creates a graphical display to show the frequency of word usage in a text, web page or document. This is called a Word Cloud. The bigger the word is, indicates its dominance of usage. As I’m sure you know; Visual Feedback can give a more lucid understanding of what you read. To give you an example here is the “First Inaugural Address by George Washington in 1789”.

You or your students can use this tool in many ways.

Here are some ideas that I’ve had:

1. Students can use it to monitor the frequency of word usage in their own writings.

a. How often do they use the same adjectives or nouns?

b. Are they overusing words?

2. Students can use it to analyzing news articles.

a. What is this article about?

b. What’s the gist that the author is trying to get across?

c. Check out this assignment http://www.boxoftricks.net/?p=103

3. Teachers can use it for field trip reviews.

a. Have each student generate a list of what they saw are learned on the field trip. Combine the list, copy and paste into Wordle. Whoop! you have an instant “What’s Important List” from the field trip. (side note: A wiki would be good for creating that list. ;-) )

4. Teachers can create a Current Events Analysis.

a. Copy the RSS feed from popular news sights like Google News and use Wordle to give you the hot topics.

b. Copy the text from a news page and use the same way.

5. What are your students listening to? Copy and paste the lyrics of popular songs into Wordle and find out.

6. What is important on your school campus? Copy and paste your schools mission and vision statements into Wordle and find out. My schools Wordle.

7. Self Reflection; If you where to write a story about yourself, what would your Wordle say?

8. Current Study posters. What is curricularly important in your class this week? Create a Wordle that visualizes that.

There are as many ways to use Wordle as there are clouds in the sky. If you where to Wordle this blog post what would be the biggest word? So, today’s theme would be? You guessed it, Wordle!

Leave a post and let me know how you used or plan to use Wordle in your educational setting."

Many of these suggestions would be good for an ELA teacher, but I can see some connections for me, a science teacher. We are going on a field trip in May and I think this would be a great way for my students to express what they learned, as they aren't always able to express themselves fully. It is not an essay or a big description of events, just words.

(I wasn't following Mr. Smith before, but I've just added him to my blog roll!)


The other big event of this week is that I am now on Twitter!! Yes, I have resisted, but I have signed up the library to be on Twitter. I am only following a handful of people (including some in this class and my other one) and I would be thrilled beyond belief if someone would follow me! So, if you are feeling charitable, please follow the musings of a desperate librarian! The user name is WCSlibrary.

I've heard of teachers following politicians, authors and other people of importance, but I think for the library, I'm going to stick with literary people. I am still learning and haven't really seen how I will use Twitter in the classroom, but I may do some research and get some ideas.

P.S. I've added the library blog to this account, so I will know be known as Miss Bell! I may change it back later, but we'll see...