Today's Presentation

Today's Presentation- Made in Google Presentations.  As changes are made, viewers everywhere will see the most recent version.



A collection- to visually represent our collection of resources

 photo © 2008 Constanza | more info (via: Wylio)

Flickr- The photos used in the presentation came from Flickr, an online photo sharing network.  Many photographers have given permission for their photos to be used by others with proper attribution.  (Notice the attribution slide in my presentation).

Additional Resource - A teacher created presentation that includes slides showing specific educational uses of docs, forms, calendar and much more.  The BEST  Google tools idea resource I've found.  When you've forgotten everything, come back here.

Google Lesson Plans- Google's lesson plan site for educators.  Search and sort results by grade level and content area.  Most of these lesson plans use Google tools in innovative ways.

Links to Our First Docs

In the comments section below, post the link to the Google Doc you just created.  The settings on this blog are such that anyone may comment, even anonymous users, or I could choose to moderate comments which means that none is published until it is approved.

I have found, however, that student users are less likely to collaborate in meaningful ways if their comments do not immediately appear.

Please comment below by clicking on the "comments" link.  When you are forced to choose a profile, choose Name/URL.  Type your first name in the Name box and the URL of your Google doc in the URL box.

Web site development

I like this graphic a lot for showing how the development process might work.  First, I love that it is circular in nature becuase so much of what happens in the planning phases of something big involved rolling it around.  We toss around ideas internally, with partners, in groups and online environments.  Some ideas stick and become part of the narrowing framework, and some get sloughed off- the rough edges that don't seem to resonnate with people.  Second, I like that the colors get more intense.  Planning and developing seems to be a process of distilling.  Taking out the extra stuff that doesn't really accomplish our purpose in favor of a finished product that is specific and focused on meeting a pre-determined need. 
I would be particularly interested in the "information design" bubble as it seems to comprise most of what intrigues me at this point.

Parallels Between Literacy and Media Literacy

There are three core flaws with the laissez faire approach.The first is that it does not address

the fundamental inequalities in young people’s access to new media technologies and the

opportunities for participation they represent (what we call the

articulate what they learn from their participation (what we call the

third problem with the laissez faire approach is that it assumes children, on their own, can

develop the ethical norms needed to cope with a complex and diverse social environment

online (the

participatory culture must begin by addressing these three core concerns. (Jenkins 12)participation gap).The second is that it assumes that children are actively reflecting on their media experiences and can thustransparency problem).Theethics challenge).Any attempt to provide meaningful media education in the age of

When I read this section, it reminded me of the research on how children's print literacy skills develop.  When students' literacy skills are behind those of their peers at certain points in their educations, the factors that have been determined to effect their delays are very similar to the flaws indicated above.

We know that young children who do not have access to liteacy experiences early in life (before age 2 even) do not have the vocabularies to read and understand  in ways that are typical to what their peers who have enjoyed access are able to accomplish.  Research has also shown that when young children and adolescents are asked to reflect on their literacy experiences, even as simply as drawing a smiley or frowny face in a reading journal, their understanding of and connection to the text is deepened.  Finally, in expressive literacy, an important element of students' growth is developing ethical norms that will inform their decisions about writing or communicating appropriately for a specific audience.

By granting students access, asking them to reflect often and in varied ways, and teaching them ethical norms, we have improved literacy instruction.  I hope we can recognize early on in the digital literacy world that incorporating these same strategies in our approaches to digital literacy are for more effective than hoping our students just pick it up on their own (like we did with reading and writing for a long time). 

UDL

I think the part of UDL that most informed and transformed my teaching to this point has been the emphasis on using assessment to inform instruction.  Previously, I had put a lot of thought, time and effort in creative lessons that aligned with state standards.  I taught my lesson, kept students engaged, hoped they learned the content, assessed and usually moved on if a majority were getting it.  What what about the minority?  The students who weren't getting it.  Honestly, usually I just hoped they'd jump on board at some point or that another teacher some other year would be able to communicate to them more effectively.

The idea that content being taught should be guided by my classroom assessments- by how students were performing- changed everything.  It also brings a whole new set of challenges like how to assess fairly and consistently and how to meet individual learner needs when the valid assessment yields results that show lack of understanding.  I would still like to have more training and practice in the assessment for teaching process.

Technology, Pedagogy, and Content Knowledge AH HA!

Technocentricity VS Student-centered approaches to learning

I just wanted to say, "YES!... Absolutely!... Exactly what I've experienced!" all the way through the Harris and Koehler article.  I excerpted so many meaningful statements from this article that I couldn't you wouldn't want me to discuss them all in one blog post. 

Overall, what resonated with me is the confirmation that there are concerns about the difference between having technology in education and implementing educational technologies effectively.  So often in my own experiences I've seen technologies with great educational potential introduced to teachers who may make every effort to learn the technology, but who ultimately are unable to effectively, efficiently, frequently use the technology to impact student learning to any great degree. 

Harris and Koehler write that, "the greatest weakness of such technocentric approaches is that they have typically given short shrift to two key domains: content and pedagogy." (3)  I see those who are keenly aware of their new technological product's features (the salesman) extolling the virtues of their product to teachers, and teachers struggle to really grasp the depth of the impact on their content or teaching.  The typical product salesman I've experienced is not trained to illuminate the pedagogical or content area connections to his/her product. 

"Underlying truly effective and highly skilled teaching with technology, we argue, is technological pedagogical content knowledge." (9)  YES!  A deep understanding of all three areas has to be present or the entire model becomes lopsided and less effective.

"Learning about technology is different than learning what to do with it instructionally. Teaching technology skills (the T in the model above) in isolation does little to help teachers develop knowledge about how to use technology to teach more effectively (TPK), its relationship to disciplinary content (TCK), or how to help students meet particular curriculum content standards while using technologies appropriately (TPACK) in their learning." (10)  Again, YES!  How many times have I watched teachers learn about technology, but ultimately remain unsupported as they navigate the relationships between that technology and their content or teaching.

"...we suggest that an important first step is creating awareness of the range of possible learning activity types (Harris & Hofer, 2006; Harris, 2008) within a particular content area, matching them to multiple ways that both digital and nondigital technologies can be used to support each type of learning activity." (11)  I wonder from the research done, who in most schools is most often responsible for the steps identified here?

"The acknowledged focus in this approach to planning instruction is on content-based (and content-specific) pedagogy, which is facilitated by judiciously selected and implemented technologies. This emphasis is in accordance with the situated, event-structured, and episodic nature of teachers’ knowledge (Putnam

& Borko, 2000)." Again, too often I feel like schools' use of technologies is governed by what is funded and how it is funded instead of by implementing technology based on the needs of the learners and teachers using the tools.  Misuse of teachers' time on a technology that isn't applicable to their learners or their content area then reinforces in that teacher's mind any insecurities or frustrations they may have about other new technologies in the future.  "Judicious selection" is essential! 

And I could go on.  The steps delineated in this article were so interesting.  I would love to see them applied in an educational setting. 

Learning Theories concept mapping