The 4 broad functions (Classroom Management, Collaboration, Discussions, Student e-portfolios) of blogs mentioned in group 2’s blog are clearly represented within the ETEC course blogs. I find that within this course ETEC 522, these 4 broad functions are iterative. Getting most of my blogging experience from ETEC, my educational use of blogs have been mostly […]
Continue reading The 4 broad functions (Classroom Managem… Posted in: Uncategorized, Week 07: BlogsUncategorized Page 5RSS Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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ifeoma
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hall
Blog in Mathematics and Physics Classes
I started using blog since 2010. I have used both WordPress and blogger with my Physics and Mathematics students. But sadly since this semester, I have not used blogging with my students. I realized that whenever I used blogging with my mathematics students for the first time, they infrequently blogged. They only post comments and […]
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bcourey
I wonder if others who blog in the classroom have some suggestions about getting greater participation?
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jenaca
I have also found that blogs can help students and even adults feel more comfortable than replying face-to-face and that they feel more confident in their writing skills.
I too am also curious as to how we can create a greater participation rate amongst the students… -
jarvise
Hi Conroy,
I totally agree that this works great to get kids writing about math. Its amazing how often I’m trying to get kids to write a response to a math prompt, and their answer is, “I know how to do it, but I don’t know how to say it.” Getting them to the point of being able to ‘say it’ – enhanced with other content if they wish – takes them to that next conceptual level.
Emily
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hall
Hi Emily
I think the blog helps students express themselves more explicitly. I have being teaching adults math for the past ten years and realized that they behave just as kid in terms of their responses to the explanation of mathematics concepts.
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Karen Jones
Hi Conroy,
Getting students to participate is a tough sell especially with more theory-based content, isn’t it? Having to impose structure in the way of marks, and templates in the way of required responses is necessary to get all to participate, but lacks spontaneity. So do students get better at blogging, or do they rebel when it’s used regularly? From my experience in science, most of them prefer an “easy” way out, which often means objective closed-ended assignments. Your thoughts?-
hall
Hi Karen
I agree with you that “having to impose structure in the way of marks, and templates in the way of required responses is necessary to get all to participate, but lacks spontaneity”. But mathematics students in my country do not like to write and read which is common across all age. I have found that students will get very good grade son the mathematics courses that involve many calculations rather than those that involve explanation. For example, my mathematics students always performed poorly on Applied Mathematics examination rather than Linear Algebra because of the number of worded questions. In both math and physics I found that most students prefer most of them prefer an “easy” way out, which often means objective closed-ended assignments. I also agree with you on this point.
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Keisha Edwards-Hamilton
Blogs for Assignment Submission
I use blogs very regularly in my classroom practices since they are easy online space that give students the opportunity to create personal webpages of text, pictures, graphics, videos, and other multimedia with the same ease as creating a word processing document. They provide a space where people can post comments and engage in […]
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ifeoma
Hi keisha,
Ease of use is always a good thing when it comes to technology and will no doubt score a good point for Google’s blogger especially when you are trying to catch and hold students attention.
You just pointed out something about Blogger that caught my attention-ot having control of your blog platform. I also find that for a K-12 educational purposes this may bring up a lot of privacy and security issues.
Ifeoma -
bcourey
I wasn’t aware of the Google interference with Blogger – that would be a big issue with any blog – personal or in a school!
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jenaca
Hi Keisha,
I think that’s a great idea using blogs for assignment submissions. Are the students enjoying this method? And are the students engaged with each others blogs?-
Keisha Edwards-Hamilton
Jenaca,
Certainly students are engaged with others. Students view each others blog and they are free to make comments and have discussions.
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Juliana
Hi Keisha,
What subject do your students create the eportfolio for? Have your heard them say anything about features that they would like to see in blogs?
And here’s a question for you. You are probably the first person to talk about widgets and blogs. What is your favorite widget for educational purposes and educational purposes?
Juliana.
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jarvise
Hi Keisha,
I can see why you are using blogs in this way. The first experience I had with that was in ETEC 565 last term. I loved it. It was so easy. No attaching, no worrying about format differences, and everything is there, organized, when you want to look at it later. I’ve started organizing all of my own work online, so that it stays organized and available. Now hopefully it won’t suddenly get deleted!
Emily
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Keisha Edwards-Hamilton
Quite so Jarvise, The use of wordPress was very innovative and creative. I really liked it and that is why I used it in my classroom. My students love it. The seem motivated and even participated more in class.
Keisha
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hall
Hi Keisha,
I like WordPress. I concur with you on WordPress ease of use. Persons find it very easy to use its features such as category, theme, tools, widget, setting etc
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David Berljawsky
Ebooks in Education
This is a funny topic for me. I am an Education Technology student, an Open Source advocate, been previously employed in IT and computer troubleshooting, I carry an iPhone yet in terms of e-books I am a total Luddite. This is not to say that I don’t like or appreciate e-books. I have read them […]
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Deb Giesbrecht
Yes, I think that will be challenging – getting the education institutions ( and some educators) on board with thinking differently about personally owned technology. The other part of that is not everyone ones their own portable devices.
I had a teacher who taught from the same set of notes for over 20 years.The notes were now yellow (previously white). I cannot imagine him ever wanting to move to another source of ‘technology’.
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Keisha Edwards-Hamilton
David,
Thanks for sharing. There are many of us who still prefer tangible books, but we must face the reality that one day very soon, students will start seeing electronic books on their curriculum that must be purchased for class. A major challenge I think would face students is the cost of ereaders. Can students afford to purchase these?
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Alice
E-books and libraries covered in this week’s Westender
How apropos – the Westender (a free Vancouver community newspaper) has just published – as their cover story – a piece on the impact of e-books on libraries. They interview a couple of librarians from the Vancouver Public Library, who rightly emphasize that (1) the library has to be wary of the digital divide, which […]
Continue reading E-books and libraries covered in this week’s Westender Posted in: Uncategorized, Week 06: eBooks-
Everton Walker
Allie,
Very interesting indeed and a must read when one considers the developing issues surrounding this issue. I also find the beyond books tagline to be appropriate. The ebook concept is really taking reading and access to information to a new level. My biggest concern however is to what extent the older generation will buy into the ebook concept.
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Alice
Are e-books to paper books…
…as MP3’s (digital music files) are to CD and … vinyl? I pose this question because I’m noticing that some of our reflections about e-books v hard copy books mirror some of the dialogue one hears about the relative advantages and disadvantages of digital music files (and other kinds of digital files, like photo files) […]
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bcourey
Let’s go all the way back to horses and “horseless carriages”. Same nostalgia for the good old days..
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kstooshnov
On that sense of nostalgia for technological innovations, I like to refer to a set of rules coined by Douglas Adams (2003):
“1. Anything that is in the world when you’re born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part of the way the world works.
2. Anything that’s invented between when you’re fifteen and thirty-five is new and exciting and revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it.
3. Anything invented after you’re thirty-five is against the natural order of things.” (p. 95)
“We notice things that don’t work. We don’t notice things that do. We notice computers, we don’t notice pennies. We notice e-book readers, we don’t notice books.” (p. 110)
Adams, Douglas (2003). The Salmon of Doubt. London: Pan Books.
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David William Price
I suspect a good deal of this issue has a lot to do with context. If you associate a computer or gadgets with a certain context (work, anxiety, certain kinds of thoughts or feelings) you may find that context uncomfortable when you wish to engage in other activities (reading, relaxing).
Perhaps people hold on to certain contexts (such as browsing bookstores, picking up paper books, browsing music stores, picking up vinyl) because they have romantic attachments to that context (touch, smell, etc.)
Consider the difference in context between listening to a perfect rendition of music as an MP3 on your computer vs. standing in a crowded concert hall listening to anxious and fatigued musicians throwing themselves into a set amid the sounds and smells of food, beer, and murmured appreciate of fans.
How much do we associate “experience” with a context? How important is that association based on our ability to manage our various anxieties? Anxiety can drive us to print something out before we revise it, wander out of our office to work in a kitchen or living room or conference room instead, etc. We may misinterpret our anxiety coping habits as part of the experience of media (going to a bookstore context, wandering the aisles, browsing instead of searching, having a coffee, bumping into someone we know, the sights, smells, textures, etc.)
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hall
Ebooks the ultimate reading materials for students
Over past four years, I have been using eBooks with my students in Physics and Mathematics. These are free eBooks that I downloaded from the Internet. These books have helped my students tremendously in saving for other urgent needs because they do not need to buy the text books which are very expensive. As result […]
Continue reading Ebooks the ultimate reading materials for students Posted in: Uncategorized-
schiong
Very interesting information about the CRT monitors. I have not read the article … I will check it out. My guess it could be due to refresh rate.
Imagine reading a book… then a friend would cover the page you are reading for 1millisecond and he does this every 2 minutes. I think for most readers would find this annoying and disturbing. I am guessing CRT’s refresh rate is that friend’s hand 🙂 just a thought. -
Keisha Edwards-Hamilton
Conroy,
I share your view. I think that ebooks are cost effective and makes life much more easier for students since they can gain access to ebooks even for free. Personally I normally search the internet for free ebooks that my students can use as reference and these really helped. On a few occasions I also found free ebook versions the required text. Amazing!
Keisha
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Julie S
Confessions of a self-professed gadget girl
I’ve done my own informal investigation of the e-book market over the past few months ever since I bought my iPad last year and prior to enrolling in the MET program. I actually bought the iPad so that I could take all of my MET PDFs and scanned portions of hard copy texts to do […]
Continue reading Confessions of a self-professed gadget girl Posted in: Uncategorized, Week 06: eBooks -
David Berljawsky
A Couple of Games From my Youth
I make no qualms about it, I was a huge gamer in my youth, probably all the way until my early 20’s. Most games have little to no educational value, yes they may help with special awareness and some hand eye coordination, but in reality, most were, well, games. Now this is not to say […]
Continue reading A Couple of Games From my Youth Posted in: Uncategorized, Week 05: Game-Based Learning-
Juliana
Hi David,
I liked how you brought up “disguised education”. I think it is quite amazing what we learn, when we have no intention of learning and good educational games have a way of exploiting this.
Great post!
Juliana.
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jenaca
Adding to what you both said, I really liked the way you identified the learning without really even knowing it- “disguised education”. I think this is a great way to help kids have fun and actually enjoy learning.
Jen
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Jay
Hi David. I remember “Where in the World is Carmen San Diego” and was glued to that game as a child. I am sure it spawned my love and curiousity for other countries, travel and culture and as a kid I lived virtual adventures and exotic trips to places around the world through that game.
As to tetris, was terrible at that game and never had the patience (or spacial awareness) to stack awkwardly shaped blocks together. Felt too much like work more than play. Never really was a puzzle person.
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Everton Walker
David,
Good job! Would you classify all games as being educational since they elicit thinking and awareness? Shouldn’t we redefine educational and incorporate features that are required for one to function successfully in educational settings?
Everton
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khenry
Hi Everton,
I believe that some redefinition or redesign would be highly beneficial. The reading on Prensky’s Digital Natives (http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.pdf) is interesting regarding a redefinition of education and instructional design.Kerry-Ann
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hall
I enjoyed reading your post. I remember playing TETRIS, it is a wonderful game and useful one for mathematics and science students. It can be used to teach shapes and patterns.
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khenry
Hi David,
I remember Tetris but was not as hooked, funnily Conroy since I like Math and Science. User Interface design I wonder? But I did enjoy ‘Where in the World is Carmen San Diego’. Like Everton I also wonder at the educational aspects of gaming from what they elicit.Kerry-Ann
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Keisha Edwards-Hamilton
Gaming Flashback – Jeoprady
When I was on teaching practice in my final year at teacher training college I used a Jeopardy” style game as an education tool. I used it to deliver the lesson’s content in a way that all the students can absorb. I did not use the television style where the student or team with […]
Continue reading Gaming Flashback – Jeoprady Posted in: Uncategorized-
Julie S
Nice modifications Keisha. I was in a team in ETEC 510 where we used the Jeopardy game as part of a course that we developed on IP Rights. I really enjoyed it. It took a relatively boring topic like IP rights and made it fun and seemingly more interesting.
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Karen Jones
You bring up a good point, Keisha. Often I only consider digital formats when reflecting on MET applications. However, face-to-face experiences count as well! I used “Bingo For Suckers” to review with 2 classes yesterday, and it reaffirms how affective games are in engaging even the most reluctant learners, especially in a team format. Of course, the double ententre works for me, as well ;-D
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Karen Jones
twb “effective”… affectively effective!
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Everton Walker
Keisha,
I still have a teacher-made one on my pc. I did for an assignment so I never got the chance to use it with students. I endorse your sentiment. The game really takes their mind off the classroom rigors and place them in a situation where sometimes they are learning unconsciously.
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hall
Hi Keisha,
That must have been a very exciting class. I have used Jeopardy game as a formative assessment tool in a PowerPoint presentation with a Physics class. They students were very excited and participated well. I have presented the use of Jeopardy with a group of educators who found it interesting. Jeopardy is a wonderful educational tool. Great choice, Keisha.
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Tamara Wong
Keisha,
I love playing jeopardy with my class although mine was particularly low tech (paper and tape on the white board). I too, found that it was often the incentive my students needed. The only problem I encountered is some of my older students from countries where education must be serious didn’t like the games and treated it like a waste of time. I was never really sure how to deal with these students but with jeopardy often, everyone was excited to be involved and even the most stoic student got involved.-
kstooshnov
Hi Tamara,
Very interesting comment about the stoic students who don’t really go for games in the classroom, no matter how serious the play. When I was tutoring at a cram school, these overworked students treated games like jeopardy or pictionary as if they were the only way they could effectively memorize vocabulary words. I suspect, however, that the simple games were the small relief from the parent-enforced studying, as test scores remained the same, no matter how many times we played these pretest games.
On a few rare occasions, we could step outside the building for an actual break, a chance for the young students to run around, yet the office staff saw this type of energy-boosting activity as a waste of valuable testing time. It also didn’t help that parents seemed to want their children fail (less than 80% btw) vocab tests, no doubt so they could cudgel them into studying more and having less free time at home.
So glad the cram school days are behind me!
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verenanz 9:35 pm on October 19, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hello!
I totally agree with your comments about making a copy….that is a hard lesson to learn.
Verena:)
ifeoma 8:18 pm on October 22, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Thanks Verena, the advice came from a personal experience in frustration from losing posts 🙂
jenaca 3:45 am on October 20, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Thank you very much for your insightful advice to newcomers! This is my first ETEC class and I have been very overwhelmed at times using the different sites for posting, reading and handing in assignments.
I will definitely keep your advice in mind:)
Jenaca
ifeoma 8:22 pm on October 22, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
You are welcome Jeneca, you are not alone, my first ETEC course was overwhelming too! The multitasking and the tons of content so you are not alone in that regard. having said that, you get better at it over time as you begin to understand your online learning patterns and style and can better articulate things. All in al, you learn not just about the course as you go along but also about yourself. 😉
Everton Walker 2:04 pm on October 20, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Jenaca,
Welcome! As you mentioned, it can be a bit tedious to navigate the blogs and other sites. For the other MET course I am doing, I have to be exploring three spaces; vista, UBC blog and UBC wiki. As a result, I have to be on the ball at all time. However, I am enjoying the blogging experience as I also use it for my personal classes. Those tips by Ifeoma are very good. Even though I some experience with blogging, I type most of my posts in word processor since technology can fail at any time.
Everton
ifeoma 8:26 pm on October 22, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Thanks for your post Everton, I agree with you that blogging can be an enjoyable experience. Technology helps us to extend capacities but we also have to manage it in a way that we actually make the most of it. i have been a victim of not following my own advice. i had written what I though was a n inspired post and on clicking the “reply” button- nothing! that was when I realised I had not logged in and the
inspiration went with the initial click- frustrating. I learned my lesson the hard way.
Juliana 9:08 pm on October 20, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Thank you so much for your post! Your advice is concise and well laid out.
I do have a question for you. Where do you see blogging going in the future? What new developments do you see for its use in education?
Juliana.
ifeoma 8:40 pm on October 22, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Thanks for your post Juliana, Good questions too. I believe there is a future for blogs. I think they have come to stay. I would like to refer you to this link with some statistics on blog influence. The article shows that by the year 2004, blog readership had grown a whooping 54%, that was 7 years ago, Currently, blogging has been shown to be garnering more power, gradually gaining entrance into mainstream .Here goes.
http://www.itworld.com/nls_ecommerceblog040105
In Education, I see blogs becoming a tool that teachers could use together with students, parents and guardians as a good homework tool where all involved can collaborate and leave comments. With learning analysis technology gaining speed, blogs can be extended using learning analysis in the future to track individual progress or lack of it for students. Teachers, parents/guardians and the students too can see this real time and decisions on how to better harness student learning potential can arise from this analysis.
Deb Kim 11:12 pm on October 21, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Thank you for the advice!
Your advice is very practical. I particularly agree with you on writing in a different word processor. I sometimes get frustrated and disappointed when I lose my work by mistake. It’s really important that you do your work in a word processor and then copy and paste to the blog. An important lesson learned after repeating the same mistake many times.
Deb
ifeoma 8:29 pm on October 22, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Deb, the incident of losing posts is an experience I believe most of us have had, hence my reason for suggesting the tip. I am glad to see that others can relate to that too.
hall 4:21 am on October 23, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I like your views on blogging for newcomers. These views are very practical and important to newcomers.