Web-based Software...the good & the bad

Google Docs

We use Google Docs in the classroom quite a bit. Our students use it school-wide, and we use it for document sharing. I tried forms, because that was something I was unfamiliar with, and it was actually a great experience. I took my beginning of the year parent survey and converted it to a Google form. You can view it here. I use this to collect information on my students. I actually found this really interesting. I think I may use this rather than the form I've used in the past, because it will collect all the data electronically for me, rather than the paper forms I've used historically.

Photo Editing

This, was a pretty mixed bag for me. I could not get FotoFlexer to run. It kept freezing on my screen. I am a heavy Photoshop user, so I was actually excited to compare it with some web-based apps, but when it wouldn't even run, I was pretty disappointed.

There have been some other web-based photo apps I've liked that have come and gone, and I love Flickr for web-based photo storage...I know Amazon does it now too, but I've never switched over. I started with Flickr and stayed pretty loyal. I use some of the basic photo-editing tools on some of the photo sites, and I do use two photo album sites to do all of my layout and album ordering. There are some great web-based tools out there, but for me, these weren't them.

Adobe's suite is now somewhat web-based, as is Microsoft Office online. I'm quite impressed with that functionality, and happy to pay my monthly Adobe fee for the quality I get in Photoshop vs. what I saw here.

Phixr functioned pretty well. It didn't offer manipulation, like PS does, but it did do great basic editing. For someone who doesn't want to pay, and just wants to do basic photo effects, color corrections, etc - this would be a good option.

Reading A to Z Screencast

This is a pretty practical lesson...each year, parents need to learn how to log into the RAZ Kids website and use it with their students at home. I used Jing to do a quick tutorial.


It takes parents through a basic rundown of how RAZ works, after they go through the login screens:

If the teacher name is not already present, type it in, and then click GO.

Click the correct symbol and click GO.

Reflections on IDT

There are a couple of themes that I see across the three contexts - business, P-12, and higher education - within instructional design/technology. Across all three, instructors collaborate, evaluate and work to push technology out to their students. Chapter 21 used several models (ASSURE and NTeQ) to evaluate success, but even at the higher education level, instructors use various ways to evaluate success of their training. I do a lot of online training in teaching, and it often ends with online evaluations to make sure the training modules were successful. Online training is indeed a common them across business, P-12, and higher-ed. It's become an easy way to distribute customized training that is leveled for each student.

As for Chapter 26, many of his lessons are relevant no matter what your field. Lesson #8 - Develop a Strong Set of Communication Skills - is in my opinion critical no matter what career path you choose. Communication is a key skill for success...if you can communicate effectively, you are far more likely to do your job, whatever that job may be, well.  I also believe Lesson #14 - Develop an Area of Expertise - is an excellent recommendation. It is always a great idea to differentiate yourself. According to USA Today, we train twice as many K-5 teachers as there are jobs each year. We need to specialize - there aren't enough math & science teachers, there aren't enough experts. We have to do more. Be an expert. Go beyond simple K-5, or don't expect a job right out of school. These are great recommendations, and I personally got reading and math endorsements because I knew this was an issue.

Mind mapping!

We do a lot of mind mapping in class, although it's usually on giant post-its. This app - bubble.us - was a useful tool for introducing me - and potentially students - to a tech tool that will do mind mapping. In this instance, I used it to map a discussion we had in class this week for one of our carpet turn & talks - summer vacation plans. The discussion was simple - What are you doing on your summer vacation? This would be an interactive discussion we could add to as a class, and do on the fly. The students are 6, so they would need supervision, but we have a smart board so they could do a lot on their own with assistance.

Google Map Project

This is a great activity! As part of our classroom Community lesson, each student draws a paper map of their route to school. I would love to adapt this Google Map project for the classroom. We have smartboards in the class, so this could easily be done. They would love to see this on the board, especially with streetview. I have young students, so I'm not sure if they could do it themselves, but we could certainly take the information they draw, and translate it in an interactive project.

We are in a walking district, so all the information is hyperlocal. I took one set of data and mapped it:

With this idea, the student is able to (1) plot their house and the school, and the route. and then (2) plot their classmates's houses. None of the classmates' information changes, so they would be able to come up, with me, and each simply map their routes. This is the same information they put on their paper maps. We could then look at the street view, and walk the route to school. By pulling them up in small groups, and working on it interactively, we would be able to work through any tech hurdles  together. They're six year olds, so I'm sure there would be some.

I'm excited about this - I will be incorporating it into my Community unit for sure next year!

Week 5 - Reflection

My first thought is that one great improvement with tech is the implementation of online training. Self-paced learning allows users to move at their own comfort levels, refresh as needed, and learn as much/as little as needed. We have a massive amount of required content that is online now - epi pen, concussion training, etc. We do it on our own time, as needed. It saves time, money and energy. I much prefer it to the way it used to be deployed.

A second thing that technology can do is measure achievement. Evaluations have come along way in measuring the impact due to technology. Assessments have changed radically thanks in large part to tech - both good and bad. I often think we've gone off the deep end in this regard, but we can certainly do a better job analyzing the data so that we're at least using the massive amounts we are collecting. In my literacy class, for example, we just recently looked at a motivation assessment that could be used in conjunction with a skills assessment, three times a year, and then at the end of the year you could correlate the data to see if children who like to read perform better or worse as the year progresses. Technology makes that process easier.

I am always surprised at how slowly classrooms integrate technology. Our PTA purchased smart boards for every classroom in our building last year, and many of our teachers still don't really use them. We had optional trainings and many didn't bother attending - they still use them as basic white boards. They're the same teachers that really don't use their computers, still like their old transparencies, ahven't updated any of their tech. We have doc cams and smart boards - it is HARDER to use the overhead and be old school but they try!

Week 4...theories, performance, podcasts, and bookmarking

Using the educational theories in chapter four, the approaches are quite different. The cognitive information processing theory treats the learning like a computer. With this approach, teaching students to calculate/compare product costs is relatively straightforward. We would simply present them with data and instructions for their series of calculations, with an expectation of memorization and processing. We would teach them the steps in the process, so they could then integrate them into their sensory, short term and long term memory, and then process the information. But the expectation would be that they would function like calculators, and compute. If they didn't understand, we would provide more examples, more diagrams, more data, more visuals, more strategies, more information to process.

On the flip side, the behavioral learning theory suggests that constant, immediate behavior modification is what is needed to improve learning. Not more data, but more feedback. Yes, no, right, wrong. An immediate answer, not more information, but more responses. Observe and respond. This is the critical part - we must watch and address the behavior, positive or negative, at all times. 

In Chapter 14, we learned about performance improvement. I love this - my former life was in the corporate world, so I'm familiar with Stephen Covey and his whole concept of "sharpening the saw" which is a continuous improvement cycle. My current school is focused on Visible Thinking and a Culture of Thinking, which means that we are constantly in our classrooms using language where we stop and think about what we are doing, look and discuss what is happening, see, think, wonder, ask questions and dialogue. It leaves a lot of room to examine places for improvement. One routine we use often is "I used to think...now I think." There are many thinking strategies we use to extend how we think, that can be broadened to improve our skills, activities, etc.

The podcast I listened to is one that I actually listen to somewhat regularly. It's called TeachThought - it's a podcast focused on teaching, critical thinking, technology and the future of learning. They focus a lot on STEM and emerging tech, new developments and new kinds of thinking. It's very interesting. The episode I listened to was a two-part series about personalized learning. You can read more at http://www.teachthought.com or I subscribed through iTunes by searching for Teach Thought.

I find social bookmarking quite interesting. Pinterest is also a type of social bookmarking - it's a visual pinboard that effectively does the same thing. I use it to pin a lot of my ideas and plans for my classroom. This was the first time I was exposed to del.icio.us, but I can see the value in it. I have been using my own Pinterest boards to share and/or steal ideas with other teachers for years - it's a great resource for lesson planning. Many teachers post their Teachers Pay Teachers lesson plans and materials there, and other free lessons and ideas, and it's a great visual way to share. I can see students using other social bookmarking tools to share as they're working on projects, etc.

I have tried and tried to sign up for a delicious account since Thursday. Unfortunately, the join link takes you to this blank page. In researching, I found out they've been acquired yet again, and the site will be read only starting June 15th. I don't believe they're allowing any new accounts. You can read more here. Feel free to look at my pinterest - linked above - it's similar conceptually, but more visual rather than text-based.

Reflections on Instructional Design & Technology

I found the section on school museums very interesting. I know the concept is not used frequently today, but there are aspects of it that still exist. One example that I can think of is the Detroit Children's Museum. We live in a suburb of Detroit, but my daughter's kindergarten teacher was heavily involved in developing the school curriculum for the DCM. Not open to the public, it functions as an extension of the Detroit Public Schools and is truly a school museum. For a school district that is resource-limited like DPS, the museum gives students access to a HUGE variety of STEM opportunities that are not otherwise available to them.

For students with thriving tech districts, there are other opportunities available. For example, my students just recently "went to the Louvre" in their art class. Obviously, they didn't go to France. But their art teacher used the Smartboard and took them on a virtual museum tour. They're able to use interactive technology to experience almost anyplace you can imagine.

We've done this with Google Maps in our class, during our Community unit - we "walked" to each student's home, without leaving our classroom. We "walked" to the police station, fire department, etc., using Google street view, on our Smart board. We planned our route, before we took our actual walk. The kids had a virtual experience first.

I found the statistics about Internet access amazing - in 1999 64% of classrooms had internet access, and ten years later, 93% did (Reiser & Dempsey, 2012, p. 21). Ten years have radically shifted the way we teach. Having access to the internet makes instruction signifcantly different - we use web-based tools, research, email, and more without thinking about it. 

As much as I gripe about not wanting my students to have tech, I cannot imagine teaching without it. I find it interesting that the book states tech has not yet brought about an instructional revolution. I would tend to agree, and feel like we're just on the verge of that. I think much of that is related to the teaching demographic and comfort zones. As new teachers learn new skills, new tools, and bring in new technology, things change. We have many, older, teachers in our building that still use paper newsletters, send home paper signup forms for conferences, etc, because that's what they know. The reality is that one email newsletter and a sign-up genius is MUCH easier for teacher and parent, but the learning curve is beyond that teacher's comfort zone. They use what they know. I think that a whole new generation of teachers will have to age out before we see a tech revolution in the field.

Application
1a. A year after teachers & students were given laptops, materials and wireless internet service, we observed little to no effect on classroom instruction. There are several possible reasons for this. The first is that many teachers are simply resistant to change, particularly when it is implemented in a top-down approach, by administration, without input from the teaching staff. We also believe they may have some learning curve issues that they have not overcome; the laptops are new equipment that the staff is unfamiliar with, and perhaps they were not adequately trained on all aspects of using the computers. Finally, we believe there may have been insufficient software/instructional material provided to them that restricted their ability to use their laptops as an instructional tool, or their understanding/awareness of instructional material may have been limited.

1b. To mitigate this in future deployments, a teacher/administrative panel would have worked better to collaborate in the implementation. It would then have felt like a joint project, rather than a requirement from the admin team, and might have been better received. It also might have worked well to use some of the staff meetings to highlight applications and some of the ways staff was using the tools to give teachers some ideas about how it can be used effectively. Some additional software might have been good, but many issues may have simply just been related to needing to expand their thinking. Having some brainstorming/teaching sessions could have really helped.

Embedded Media

Well, here we go...it's been an interesting class so far. I certainly would NEVER have considered myself to be a technophobe prior to the class, and yet every exercise thus far seems to expose me as one. Despite all this, I seem to have my own devices just about surgically implanted in my hand...so what gives? I have a love/hate relationship with tech, honestly. I adore the convenience, but I hate the distraction. And it's certainly easier to see and acknowledge the distraction it provides in other people, rather than ourselves. I know the expression is that we're our own biggest critic, and perhaps that's true, but we also have the biggest blind spots when it comes to ourselves. I'm pretty good at insisting my phone is not a problem, when I suspect I'm actually as or more addicted than my 12-year old son. But don't tell him I said that. :)

Here's an interesting video about how we're actually being changed by phone addictions:

It not only impacts our sleep and thinking - which we all kind of knew, but it's actually increased myopia, and changed us in some other really interesting - and not necessarily good - ways.

Google Maps
As much as I've enjoyed class this week, I'm very much looking forward to spending the weekend in Cheboygan on the lake...here's where I'll be:

I have three kids (12, 8 and 6) who I'm sure will try to swim despite the water being far too cold. We go through this every Memorial Day weekend. But nonetheless, the weather looks good, the lake is crystal-clear, and really the bottom line is, we won't be here. Not terrible, that's for sure!

Twitter
I embedded my Twitter feed on the sidebar. I haven't had much to say lately, but I'm hoping to use it a bit more. I mostly just wanted to try to figure it out. A lot of our classroom teachers tweet frequently (daily or multiple times a day) to share photos and quick announcements, but will blog just weekly with a class update. Having a twitter feed embedded on a class blog seems like it would be a useful tool.

Google Docs
This Google Doc is a checklist for a school Ice Cream Social that I have chaired for the past few years. My final event is in two weeks, and then I will hand it over to new chairpersons. I've been working on creating a comprehensive to-do list so they have a timeline for future events. I collaborated with a couple of people - the person I co-chair the event with, as well as brainstorming with my husband, on all of the things that I've done in the past.

I moved the list over to Google Docs for this project. We had been collaborating with Dropbox up until this point. Google Docs works just as well - perhaps better, because we can both be in the document in real time and see what's happening. I just have used Dropbox and am more familiar with it. Google has become a go-to for schools, and we use it in our classrooms and our labs because of cost and portability.

Wikis and quizzes and web 2.0...oh my!

I enjoyed all the tools we've used so far. I used Blogger 12 years ago, when my son was born, heavily. And I stopped probably 5 years after he was born and never really picked it up again...it's good to dust it back off. It's a better way to communicate than sending emails, and an easier way to capture information in one place. And I DETEST Facebook. I would love to transition to this for parent communication.

My Socrative quiz is here. I'm not sure if you need the Room ID? If so, it's SARAHSCLASS.  I don't know that I would use this type of tool often in the classroom, but I do use Facebook polls often for parents, so this seems like it would be a useful replacement on a blog potentially? I don't love using FB for parents, but it has worked. I don't like the personal/professional mingling, but many of our teachers do it. It would be nice to just have a blog or wiki page with this sort of communication instead, and communicate all of the information that way. It seems much more professional. 

I can see the usefulness for these tools for sure with older students. In a lower elementary setting, they seem less useful to me but I do think students would be interested in playing with them. I guess perhaps I am a technophobe. I can make a poll for them, and ask questions, but I'd rather just have them raise their hands and do math the old-fashioned way. I would love to see them build the quiz - that is valuable learning. 

You can refer to my reflection on the article and wiki page here. I found it quite interesting. I don't disagree about how the web and web companies have changed.

I believe that these tools fit within exhibits and demonstrations. as well as visual symbols. Depending on the type of quiz developed, it could also be a direct purposeful experience, although not likely. But one could be creatively developed that is interactive enough to potentially meet this category.

As far as BYOD, I really struggle with this! It was shocking to me how many companies have adopted this! My husband is an IT Director and this concept horrifies him. I personally cannot imagine this in my classroom. We already struggle with kids and tech as distractions. I can't even keep those spinners out of the classroom, LOL! Again, I'm at an elementary level, so this is very different. Some of the districts mentioned had a standard - Google Chromebook for example. This I understand. but some of th

e others, with a Pandora's box of any tech - bring your phone, bring your iPad, etc - no thank you!

Technology at what price?

"When you think about it, our current paradigm of education is not designed for learning; it is designed for sorting." - Reigeluth, 1992

This quote was quite startling to me on the surface. In fact, it is quite true. But nonetheless, it isn't the way we're comfortable looking at education, especially as educators. We tend to think more highly of ourselves - and the field. But when you strip away the fluff, this is quite an accurate statement...by the end of high school, students have been sorted, into social groups, intellectual groups, athletic groups, that proceeds into college (if they go) or wherever they land after graduation.

Reigeluth's suggestion that technology is a necessity to change from sorting to learning is interesting. His article is 15 years old, and in that time, technology has certainly been integrated into classrooms, and the focus has shifted dramatically. My district recently had a long-overdue technology upgrade, and we now have smart projectors in every classroom. Interactive learning is useful, and the hands-on experience makes many things much faster for students to grasp. For example, on Groundhog Day my kindergarteners had NO idea what a groundhog was - pulling up a video was much more engaging than showing them a picture. Is it better learning? If they're engaged - especially in kindergarten, all day, I think it's a win. Technology gives me the ability to vary the pace and entertainment level with them. We can have brain breaks, short dance videos, interactive readalouds, and other activities that reengage them when they're drifting.

It also allows me to use RAZ (reading A-to-Z) to do individually self-paced reading with students. They can do this at home, and at school, exactly at their reading level, whether they're reading at an A or an L (I have both in the classroom). They read from book boxes as well, but RAZ keeps a check on where they're at and moves them along in between assessments.

Neil Postman's "Of Luddites, Learning and Life" was so radically different...I actually found myself leaning much more in this direction, despite all the technology we use. my district is heavily focused on Visible Thinking, and we use a lot of writing tools to "map our thinking." I love the simplicity of his questioning what problem is addressed by the solution. So often we over complicate things, just for the sake of complexity. Kids are so used to technology - at this point, none of my students have grown up in a world without tablets and iPhones. They use them as well - or better - than I do. So while they're really comfortable, does it teach them to think?

He simplified the goal of education at the end to several things. I've always simplified it even further. I believe my goal is simply to teach children to think. There is a whole laundry list of things to accomplish along the way, but at the end, if they learn to think for themselves, there's almost nothing they cannot do. Thinking is the key. And often, technology becomes a barrier to that. It prevents thinking, or does it for us. When we take it away, and take out the giant roll of paper, markers, and start writing, a whole new world opens up. So while I'm the first to admit I can't live without my iPhone, I will also stand up and say I'm a better person without it. And I think our classrooms and students are better without technology. We've learned to teach at the expense of it, but I think it has cost more than it has won.