10 Minutes of Fame: Learning about Twitter & Tweetdeck while learning to use Padlet
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Monthly Archives: July 2013
FollowModule #5: Topic Inquiry Monday
With so many great topics for inquiry flying around the circle today, I found my interest on overdrive! I wanted to join so many topic areas, including the nature and technology one, the learning commons inquiry and the curation one! However, this is typical of me – the woman with 5 apps open, along with 6 different safari tabs while simultaneously flipping through a magazine and having a texting on my iPhone with a friend, all while watching TV.
SO, I am sticking to my original ‘gut’ topic inquiry: Using iPads effectively in the classroom. Luckily, Julie Mason, another student in class, is also interested in pursuing this area. She teaches Grades 6 & & Language Arts, and I teach Grade 5, plus we seem to have similar work styles and views about using technology, so I think we will work well together while also pushing one another. She has already share some great blog websites about iPads with me (and hopefully vice versa).
In the inquiry cycle, we’re in the Finding Out phase (from Kath Murdoch): gathering information from a range of sources, working as researchers, continuing to raise questions, learning skills of investigation. The problem is there is SO MUCH out there (there being on the internet). Many pilot projects, lists of apps, ideas, problems, solutions, websites, policies, blogs — you name it, it’s out there on iPads in the classroom.
SO — tomorrow, it is important that Julie and I try to narrow down the topic within iPads.
As we are both committed advocates of literature circles, we already like the idea of inquiring into using iPads to enhance student learning and engagement in them. I’m sure we can come up with an inquiry vision or statement to do with iPads and literature circles. From there, we’ll continue on a more manageable, narrow path of Finding Out and then proceed to… Sorting Out: reviewing information, analyzing information, looking for patterns and generalizations.
I’m excited! In typical me fashion, I am already worrying about problems… problems with sharing iPads at school, problems with how to save student work when the iPads aren’t one-to-one, problems with accessing apps I want to use but having to go through some hoops to get them onto the iPads. One step at a time though!
iPads in the Classroom Mind Map
Blog Post #3: Literature Review, Linking Concepts, Findings, Interests
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It’s Friday! I am calling the first 4 days “BIG IDEAS” Days. Talking about big ideas first is a reverse order for me. I generally start small and work my way big, but this class is starting big (CONCEPTS) then going smaller (TOPICS) then small (PROJECTS). But, per a previous post, I am going to embrace the chaos and try this way of looking at and thinking about things.
1. What would you say was your key defining ICT quality when you filled out the questionnaire at the beginning of the week?
A willingness to experiment was my key defining ICT quality. I didn’t state this in the questionnaire but thinking about my week and seeing the Pearltrees, Mindmeister, trying to think differently, doing the blog, chatting with other educators has made me realize that I’m pretty open to trying anything technology wise… in fact, I think I should develop some criteria so that I can better evaluate things I’ve trie and then decide whether to use them or cull them.
2. How were your ideas about ICT in school settings influenced by Will Richardson’s book, “Why School”?
To be honest, the ideas in Will Richardson’s book were nothing ‘new’ to me, but I found his book was a very clear, cohesive way of articulated what I feel about ICT in school settings. He stated it much better than I could have, but I did not have a massive “AHA” moment reading his book. This might be because for the past 8 years I have taught in PYP schools — ones that are fully committed to inquiry-based learning and eschew testing in favour of a constructivist, discovery approach. This doesn’t mean I am doing everything Richardson suggests and advocates for in my own classroom! I wish! But certainly his six tenets are on my ‘wish list’ and his ideas are similar to my beliefs about technology and education.
3. When you think about the cognitive, cultural, and technological dimensions of our connected selves, what stands out for you as a key concept?
The interconnectedness of all 3 dimensions and their interdependence is most significant to me. I am not sure if one is more dominant in influencing the other or if they are equally important… food for thought.
4. How do you define technology and information literacy today?
Information Literacy is the set of skills needed to find, retrieve, analyze, and use information– and today those skills need to include using technology to find, retrieve, analyze and use information. I think they both include the personal, technological, and intellectual skills that are needed to live in a digital world.
6. What issues, interest, or opportunity have you identified as a key topic for your inquiry work next week?
Narrowing down a topic is going to be tough. The MindMeister activity brought some great ideas to the forefront. I like the idea of collaborating with a group, but no one (yet) seemed too interested in exploring iPad use in the classroom to show student learning. However, there were many inquiry topics that I was interested in so I am sure I’ll be able to hook into something! I’m also interested in doing digital portfolios — and will add that to the Mind Meister.
Back to the big idea of this week. Maybe what I need is a personal Technology Vision Statement (TVS). A statement that sums up how I feel re:technology in education… and gives me a vision for where I want to be going. Hmm. I follow the blog of a great tech coordinator at Yokohama International School– Kim Cofino. Here is her take on developing a Technology Vision Statement for her school.
I do think my school needs a TVS… and in discussing this week’s concepts with classmates, it sounds like their schools and boards need one too.
Blog #3: Defining Terms
Sadly, a search of various terms relating to digital literacy, ICT, and technology and the Ontario Ministry of Education proved fruitless! I am disappointed and shocked by this. How can the entire province be ignoring the fact that learning with technology is the way of the future? I keep thinking I must be missing something! In fact, it is entirely possible that I am, because I teach at a private school, am not a member of a union, and my school is not mandated to follow the Ontario Curriculum. I am less aware of Ministry initiatives than my colleagues teaching in public schools.
My school is authorized to deliver the Primary Years Programme (PYP), under the IBO, and I did find a highly pertinent document relating to ICT in the PYP. This document clarifies the role of information and communication technologies (ICT) in IB World Schools offering the PYP. Here is the link: http://ibpublishing.ibo.org/live-exist/rest/app/tsm.xql doc=p_0_pypxx_mon_1106_1_e&part=1&chapter=1
The document includes:
- Beliefs and values about ICT in the PYP
- The role of ICT in a transdisciplinary programme
- ICT skills for inquiry
- Good ICT practice
- Developing an ICT policy: A sample process
- Learners of today and tomorrow
- Samples
- References
I definitely need to pour over this document and become familiar with it as I work to become a digital literacy advocate at my school, as it clearly outlines the role of ICT in a PYP school and gives me the evidence and ‘power’ I need to make changes (where necessary in my school’s use of ICT). While I am still digesting the document, I like what I am reading so far. As a PYP teacher for 8 years, and a PYP workshop leader, I firmly belief in the research and thinking behind PYP pedagogy. Similarly, my school is fully supportive of any policies, beliefs and documents from the PYP — so this document will be an invaluable roadmap in guiding my own inquiries, ideas and development of projects in ICT.
Yesterday’s discussion of the connected self made me realize that ICT in education has moved beyond simply mastering a specialized set of skills and tools, e.g. Word Processing. ICT has become a vehicle for learning skills and concepts and their applications within meaningful contexts. Within that, as a teacher, and future librarian, being digitally literate means incorporating the 3 dimensions of the connected self to create authentic learning engagements through the provision and use of ICT. (From the Role of ICT in the PYP).
The following six ICT skills are relevant to all learners:
- investigating
- creating
- communicating
- collaborating
- organizing
- becoming responsible digital citizens.
But these six ICT skills are not taught in isolation, or individually. They can and should be embedded throughout lessons, engagements, tasks, discussions and investigations.
Blog #2: Trying to Embrace The Chaos
Some B I G ideas were discussed today around The Connected Self. There are 3 dimensions to the Connected Self and this is my take away from my research and the discussion:
1) The cognitive dimension – the ways we’re processing our experiences and making sense and meaning of them. From this, we then develop beliefs and attitudes, and these lead to practices.
2) The cultural dimension – what’s going on amongst entities – e.g. in our classroom we’re developing a culture around technology & education.
3) The technological dimension – this is constantly changing. It also changes because of the cultural and cognitive dimensions. When we change the technological dimension, we also change the cultural and cognitive.
Each dimension is I N T E R D E P E N D E N T on each other. They are constantly influencing each other and what we’re capable of thinking, doing, how we use. I’m picturing circles, cycles, arrows… overlapping, joining.
Now, bringing in the WHY SCHOOL? book, Richardson says: technology isn’t about delivery, it is about discovery. To me, discovery implies creation, movement, perseverance, convergence, exploration, take journeys and take risks. All of these are have implications within the cognitive, cultural and technological dimensions of the Connected Self. Some people’s cultural and cognitive dimensions are ‘stuck’ at the ‘delivery’ stage of using technology, e.g. a fun game, a word document. As teacher-librarians, we can facilitate their ‘uncovering’ of technology as a tool for DISCOVERY– but not just discovering knowledge. Discovering ways to use it to create, move, persevere, converge, explore, take journeys and take risks.
So, what does this mean on a day to day basis in a school? For a library? Since there is such a wide range of influences on the 3 dimensions, every person is coming at the connected self from a massive range of experiences. In a way, it’s chaos, much like my feeling of panic and dissonance sitting in the class trying to make sense of the many sources of information (discussions! blogs! forums! modules! google docs! pinterest! presentations! summatives! rubrics!)
So, per Jenny, I am going to try and embrace this feeling of ‘not getting the point of this’… take a deep breath and hope that it will gel/crystallize/metamorphose into something more tangible for my way of thinking.
In the meantime, something more tangible! A friend on my twitter PLN (@christinebodt) posted something interesting today: Hoadley’s 3 Laws of Technology: http://www.edudemic.com/2013/06/hoadleys-3-laws-of-education-technology/
In a nutshell:
Law #1: It’s not the technology. It’s what you do with it.
Law #2: It’s not what the technology makes possible. It’s what technology makes easy.
Law #3: Pay attention to the trends in learning, not in technology.
I love these Laws. They are so important, as schools get caught up in “we need more _______s”. These would be worth discussing further and they could be used to apply to anything. E.g. Should we buy another electronic database for the library, eg. CultureGrams? Apply that question to the the 3 laws, based on some investigation of the database first.
So that’s where I am at… I don’t really understand what I’m doing, how to do it well, or where this course is going — and I guess that’s ok! I’m trying to embrace the chaos of information coming at me, the big ideas and the cultural dissonance I feel in class so far.
Questionnaire: Blog Post #1
1. What policies govern your uses of ICT in your school setting?
There is a faculty Information Technology Acceptable Use Policy and a student Information Technology Acceptable Use Policy. The policy makes reference to the April 2011 Ontario College of Teachers social media advisory.
2. What digital technological resources do you have available for teaching and learning in your school setting?
Each teacher is issued a PC laptop. Every classroom has a SmartBoard, DVD player, VCR player, speakers and 4 or 5 desktop (PC) computers. I have a digital camera assigned to my class, a webcam, and a digital overhead projector in my class. There are 2 COWs with 22 (poorly maintained) PC laptops on each available for Grades 4, 5 and 6 (a total of 126 students). The library has 10 iPads available for use in the classroom (apparently going up to a class set of 22 this year). The library also lends 20 different KOBOs – mini and regular. There is a SMART response set of remotes (?) available for booking. Each student has a membership with Mathletics to practice math skills and help teachers differentiate. The school has a membership with VOICETHREAD (used to be easy, now ridiculously complicated since they added special ‘for education’ features and with ANIMOTO (easy, fun). Each class has a “BlackBoard” site – an online area with blogs, wikis, course content, journals, etc. * I dislike Blackboard – I find it cumbersome, unwieldy and unintuitive!
3. Please provide an example of an exemplary use of digital technologies for teaching and learning that you have observed or experienced personally.
Three years ago I successfully used VoiceThread in my grade 5 class to spark and continue discussions around the 10 Silver Birch novels. Students drew pictures that were scanned and uploaded. Each book had a separate thread, each picture a different question. Students had to respond to some questions and then comment on others’ responses. It worked really well and was a wonderful way for student to respond to text in a non-written way.
I have also had students make movies as a way of showing their learning. One group, studying the Immune System, wrote new lyrics for a pop song, then made a music video that showed all they’d learned about the immune system, including diagrams and skits.
4. Please provide an example of a problematic use of digital technologies for teaching and learning that you have observed or experienced personally.
Since my original success with VoiceThread 3 years ago, VoiceThread has changed its security and when I tried to use it again in Fall 2012, I ran into problem after problem. Students couldn’t log on, or could one day but not the next. Their responses were lost, or not transferred or uploaded or something. It was one big horrible headache, the IT department at my school couldn’t help and VT was uncontactable! I swore never again. I lost a huge piece of possible assessment and ended up wishing I had just used traditional ‘pencil and paper’ comprehension activities after my students (and I) had wasted so much time setting up the VT and then trying to add to it.
5. Please provide a brief history of how you learned to use digital technologies (personally and professionally).
From 2007 to 2009, I worked at the Western Academy of Beijing, an amazing international school that has been featured on Apple’s education website for its use of technology. Working there, alongside their Digital Literacy Coaches, forced me to try new things in my classroom and on my own. I began following various technology teacher blogs, trying things out, etc.
6. How would you rate your digital technological proficiency? 0 = low level of proficiency -> 10 = high level of proficiency? Why did you give yourself this rating?
I think I am about a 6 or 7. Other teachers think I am higher than that! I’m not good at fixing any tech issues but I’m very comfortable finding information on the net, trying new programs, manipulating programs, etc. I have a PLN on Twitter that I really enjoy tapping into and sharing with. I want to learn iMovie this summer but whenever I open it I feel daunted — it just isn’t intuitive to me!
I feel there is sooooo much more I could be doing in my classroom with technology, but I feel hampered by outdated and non-supported technology at my school and have difficulty making ‘room’ and ‘space’ in an already full curriculum… I know to do more online/with technology, I need to give up something else… but what? Unfortunately, technology too often is just instead of pencil and paper and doesn’t necessary enhance or empower…my classroom computers just often just being used word processing or research tools.
7. What do you hope to accomplish in this course?
I would like to address the “what to do/what to dump” issue and the ‘word processing’ tool/research tool issue I outline in the paragraph above. I would like to use technology to create and so my students can show their learning, their reflections and the processes of their thinking. This article http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2013/04/ipads_in_the_classroom_the_right_way_to_use_them_demonstrated_by_a_swiss.html
sums it up!