Remember, Understand, Apply, Analyze, Evaluate and Create: Final Thoughts

I’m so grateful for this class. It was the best way to end the day even when we had already been at school for six hours, I looked forward to the time I spent learning about technology and it’s impact on cognition. The culminating moment of this class was the oxford-style debate in which I sat on the opposite side of the room and argued that smart technology is making us dumber. I was frustrated and emotionally unprepared to argue the counter defense to my own personal beliefs. My life is entrenched in technology and everyday I’m grateful for it! Let’s take a step back and review my process and journey of this course.

I knew that I was a heavy media user. I was raised by a family that incorporates technology in all that we do and we are known for our annual entries into the K-12 PTA Reflections program (using eight different mediums to create artistic products). Yet it was eye opening for me to track my media usage at the beginning of the semester. I’ve kept the app on my phone and in the last 30 days I have used my phone for 5 days 16 hours 41 minutes and 16 seconds. Excessive? Maybe. Yet I’m not the only one. We learned in class discussions and from the Kaiser Foundation article that society continues to increase in technology use! Teenagers (especially the pre-teens) are spending hours of screen time per day. Even children zero to eight are exposed to this technology! In my literature review, I discovered an article by Mark Prensky entitled Turning on the Lights (2008) in which he explains the concept that when students come into our classroom they are no longer unenlightened, but they have already been exposed to the world through the technology available to them! The media is ubiquitous. We just need to learn how to use it.

As I sat on the wrong side of the podium in that stinkin’ debate, I threw around the argument that Nick Carr (2011) makes over and over in his published literature. The brain is affected by technology. Our brain develops back to front and leaves those frontal lobe reasoning and logic skills for the end, also the synapses require multiple pathways to ensure increased recall of the information that was brought to our mind. We must pay attention to the surrounding stimuli (this really dives into the cognitive learning theories). With the constant technology influx Carr believes that we are losing our ability to think deeply and pay attention to the things around us. I respectfully disagree with Carr. I believe that technology is changing our brains and that our brains will adapt to the new ways of learning. We are able to expose ourselves to all sorts of information and it is fine to have knowledge that is a mile long and only an inch deep. All of us will choose our own focuses in life and then we will use our mile long knowledge to deepen our understanding of the things we love. I believe that the vast amount of information gives us the chance to make connections and build the skills (higher-order skills) of the frontal lobe even at an earlier age. This is a good thing – of course technology changes our brain!

Now, flashback to Prensky who coined the term Digital Natives, he was one of the pioneers to envision a cultural shift. He saw that there was a difference in the way children were learning, growing, interacting, speaking and writing. There has been an actual shift in our very culture! Kids these days are not the same as the kids of the past. Our culture is being shifted globally in a horizontal fashion! Facebook is changing the way we view friendships and personal interactions. We have a digital identity within our digital spaces that we’ve created. In our debate we discussed the shy boy that doesn’t have any friends at school, but when he goes home he plays King of Legends (is that what it is called?) and he is the leader of the game! He has friends and is able to exhibit leadership skills that his classroom teacher has never seen! I can see the argument against this (I stood on that side of the room) but I do believe that it is fine for children to have these different experiences! Childhood and adolescent years is all about creating who we are! They don’t need to know who they are yet and our children should take advantage of the technology to discover and create their identity.

Technology is a two-edged sword. It is powerful and effective when used appropriately, but can be detrimental if not honed correctly. As teachers we have the chance to enrich our classrooms with devices, apps, programs, and software – ultimatelyredefining the way we teach. We also may be the teacher who takes our transparencies and slap them onto a PowerPoint (simply substituting the same old way we’ve taught). The evidence shows that students are learning differently, thus we need to be teaching differently! We need to be using our resources to stay updated on the best products out there and use them in the most powerful ways we can discover. I also believe that as leaders of technology in education we have the responsibility to share what we learn. If we use a terrible app and it flops, then we need to pass on the information to our colleagues. We can be presenters at conferences and contributors in technology blogs and twitter conversations. We have the ability to not only increase the higher level skills of our students, but also to increase our own. Technology is here to stay – how are we going to face the challenge? Will we fight against the shift? Or will we open the gates and embrace the change; striving to become a Digital Native?

Links

http://kff.org/other/event/generation-m2-media-in-the-lives-of/

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B9z8jj1wUqldWlZVZTkxeWZ2R1E/edit?pli=1

http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/mar08/vol65/num06/Turning-On-the-Lights.aspx

http://pdk.sagepub.com/content/92/4.toc

We've Got the HOTS for Technology!

The most widely accepted framework for higher order thinking is Bloom’s taxonomy. Bloom gives us the lower-order thinking skills (LOTS) as well as the higher-order thinking skills (HOTS) in six umbrella verbs: remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating. Under these major verbs we hear other skills like synthesizing, critical thinking, problem solving, decision making, reasoning, logic, collaboration, inferring, reflection, hypothesizing etc. As educators, we are constantly trying to engage students in tasks that will require them to deepen their thinking levels.

As culture has shifted with the turn of the century, we have seen a greater focus on the higher-order thinking skills. Why is this? I’m sure there are many factors that increase the need for higher-order thinking skills, but in my opinion I believe it comes back to technology. The more advanced our technology becomes we have devices, software, and computer programming that completes the lower order thinking skills for us. I would argue that it is not necessary for a successful adult in the 21^st century to need to know how to solve the inequality of a parabola in everyday life, because even experts in the field will be using calculators to graph such functions to minimize human error. The computer devices are performing the menial and lower level thinking so we need to “up our game” as humans and reach wider and deeper. The higher order thinking gives us the ability to decipher the information that we are obtaining from the devices and create meaningful analysis and evaluation.

We are the technology leaders of the education field! So what is the impact of technology upon our development of these higher order thinking skills? First of all, as we discussed in depth during our in-class debate, when used incorrectly technology can have a negative impact on our ability to think deeply and create linear thought. If we aren’t paying attention to the stimulus around us and processing the information we receive then we are missing out on developing any and all of the HOTS.

On the flip side, when technology is incorporated effectively, the world opens up to our students and we now have opportunities that before were limited. Creation is the pinnacle of higher-order thinking skills and technology gives students the opportunity to quickly and easily create a digital product – Padlet, Popplet, Powtoon, Prezi, PowerPoint, Podcast (and these are only ones that start with P!)– Which they can then share with their peers. Teachers can give students the opportunity to make the choice as to which technology medium is best used for their project-based learning, thus building the problem solving and decision making higher-order thinking skills. Blogging provides an excellent platform for long-term reflective writing. Using an in-class twitter feed gives students a chance to express their hypothesis or inference in real-time before the class continues forward with the science experiment. Teachers should take the time to practically review the latest technology available and then try it in the classroom to see what ways it can be used to enhance and promote the development of higher order thinking skills for their students. After all, isn’t this what teaching is all about? So let’s make it fun.

Also. I found this awesome site that has a rollover interactive piece that meshes together Bloom's HOTS and the knowledge dimensions!

Sources: http://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/blooms-taxonomy/

Learning and Tech

How does/can technology impact or enhance sensory perception, processing, and storage? (Cognitivism)

Technology has a great impact on our brains. Researchers like Nicholas Carr believe that the influx of technology is causing too much input and that because of the constant distractions caused by the Net and smart devices we are not giving our brains enough to process the sensory input in order to create pathways for the storage of knowledge. Is this changing the way we learn? Are we unable to learn with the mass amounts of technology that has us constantly plugged in? In my opinion, if the technology is used effectively it can greatly enhance learning. Using technology in the classroom gives teachers an easy way to build multiple networks and pathways among the neurons that gives the brain an opportunity to rehearse and encode the information. If we think outside of the box we can come up with many ideas for using technology in a cognitive-based teaching approach, such as using Slidesnack or narrated PowerPoints to give the added bonus of the audio in a flipped classroom. Teachers can record a podcast of the spelling words and link it to the class website. Students can use Popplett to create graphic organizers that give the mind the opportunity to sort, organize and recall the information. When used correctly technology provides the means to differentiate the learning and build thorough connections among neruo-pathways giving students the maximum ability to learn

How does/can technology utilize the brain's reward systems to reinforce learning? (Behaviorism)

            We know from our in-class demonstration by Kumen and Aaron that when we participate in a game we are boosted with dopamine that makes us happy, even if we are engaged in something silly like creating an outhouse! This comes from the internal joy of winning. Our brain releases the dopamine when we feel that a reward has been presented and then we are more inclined to repeat the behavior to experience another round of dopamine. Behaviorists believe that this is the true indication that learning has taken place. Teachers can use the reward system to impact learning and technology provides an increased variety of ways to reinforce the learning that has taken place. The behaviorist approach to technology is most commonly found in educational apps and games – any sort of drill, skill, and kill type of game that provides instant feedback to our behavior gives us the shot of dopamine (or) the absence of that dopamine that shapes our future actions. Teachers can use formative assessments like Kahoot to keep students engaged in the teaching process and with instant feedback to their responses. Technology can also be used for classroom management by using apps like Class Dojo or Bouncing Balls. Technology has been revolutionary for the behaviorism movement due to the instant gratification and feedback for the millennial generation.

How does/can technology engage students' emotions in learning? How does/can technology expose students to a variety of models to enhance learning by observation? (Social Learning)

            When a baby is introduced to the world they are placed in the arms of their parents and their first encounter with society begins. We are constantly looking to learn from those that are around us. Research has been done in many situations regarding the effect of social interaction on young children. We learn how to respond to the world around us by watching the reaction of others. For example, if our daddy jumps out of his seat and his face shows joy when the blue football player runs across the white line it appears that the blue team makes daddy happy. However, when the yellow team crosses the same white line, daddy gets mad, clenches his fist and yells at the TV – logically we learn that daddy does not like the yellow team. This same approach to learning continues throughout school and children are able to regulate their own learning based off of how they observe and model the behavior of others. We have discussed in class how technology has been influential to autistic children that struggle to interpret the emotions of others because now they are able to observe these emotions in a less threatening environment using iPad apps. Children also are given opportunities to learn from experts without the necessity of leaving the classroom just by pulling up youtube! Video conferencing, interactive whiteboards for flipped classrooms, listening to a podcast that portrays a similar debate to the one your students are preparing for.  The uses to technology are limitless!  I personally love photography because a picture is worth a thousand words – so a teacher could pull up pictures from National Geographic to bring in the stories of other cultures and religions.

How does/can technology immerse students in enriched learning environments? How does/can technology promote consideration of multiple perspectives and the social negotiation of understanding? (Constructivist)

            Technology gives us the opportunity to create!  As we are paying attention to the input that comes from the consequences of society upon our actions to the outside world we take all of that information and strive to “make sense” of the world around us. I believe that all learning theories are used during the process of learning and that constructivism is the pinnacle point of learning. If a student is able to construct their own sense of the information they received then they become knowledgeable – learning has occurred. Technology can be used for project based learning and assessment. Instead of a standardized test on slavery the students can create a digital story showing what they have learned, they can travel through a web quest which leads them to constructing understanding from outside sources. They can use their blog as a way to reflect on the knowledge and piece together their final thoughts. Constructivism is extremely adaptable to technology because it allows students the freedom to explore and differentiate their learning.

            I believe in a mixed method learning theory. I believe learning is constructed by observing others in our environment by which we then take the experiences and encode them as knowledge, relying on rehearsal to cement these ideas until our behavior changes to support our understanding of the new knowledge.

Sources

Carr, N., (2011) The juggler’s brain.Phi Delta Kappan, 92(4). Retrieved from http://pdk.sagepub.com/content/92/4.toc

Who am I and Who are They?

·         How does identity develop over the lifespan?

All of us our on a quest to discover and create who we are. Throughout our life we are faced with decisions and exposure to cultures that give us opportunities to create relationships, explore options, and eventually construct a “presence.” Erickson teaches that from birth we are faced with crises, such as trust vs mistrust, autonomy vs shame and guilt, industry vs inferiority, etc. and each of us must resolve these major crises when they arise. For example, as a baby the primary crises is our ability to trust our caregiver. If we are able to successfully resolve this issue and gain trust for those around us, we will carry with us a sense of control over our environment which has an overarching effect on our identity. Bronfenbrenner teaches that we are faced with cultures and subcultures, starting with our family and moving outward to our school, peers, and religious identities. In the overlapping areas where these cultures clash we face moments to explore who we are. It can be as simple as Christensen’s love ice cream, but my friends are addicted to exercise. This can become a point where we must shape our identity! Do I love ice cream? Do I love exercise? Is it possible to be an ice cream loving exercise enthusiast? Throughout life we bring other influencing cultures in and they shape our overall sense of self, which begs the question: do we ever really know who we are?

·         How do modern children and adolescents differ from their predecessors?

In regards to identity, there is a vast difference between modern children and their predecessors. Previously, most identity was passed from father to son, teacher to student, and expert to novice; this is called a vertical transfer. In modern day culture we say a greater shift to a horizontal approach to passing the idea of identity – student to student, professional to professional, and sibling to sibling.

·         How does technology impact the development of identity?

We have seen this shift throughout history, but the primary reason for this shift towards horizontal transfer at this time is because of the impact of technology on the development of identity. Technology provides the opportunity for collaboration and connection to others who were not previously accessible. We are also surrounded by information that gives children and adolescents greater access to doors that may have been previously closed. A teenager in 1915 may have only seen the small window of becoming the owner of the family farm, but a teenager in 2015 will be exposed to farming, architecture, engineering, and corporate careers simply by pulling up YouTube on a rainy day.

·         How does social media, in particular, impact the development of identity?

Social media provides children and adolescents the opportunity to connect, but specifically it gives them an opportunity to create their “online presence.” The article we read for class "The Internet and Youth Culture" explored the idea that as we are exposed to new sites and ways to connect online then we must discover how we want to be presented - are we an online introvert or a world wide web extrovert? Who are we when we post on Facebook? What message do we want to send in our Instagram? Are we tweeting our true thoughts? Do the blogs we write represent our opinions and stances? Do we feel that our Pinterest boards show our passion that we feel for Harry Potter? Does Tumblr think we are as hysterical as we think we are? Social media is a brand new aspect to history and it is changing the development of identity by creating a whole new aspect of self.

·         How can we use technology to help students explore and express their identities?

Educators are given the opportunity to help students express their identities by offering them choice, exploration, and exposure to many avenues. As technology teacher-leaders we can also teach our students how to create a responsible and strong online presence. We can help our students become aware that they have a digital footprint and how their actions online are just as real as the actions in offline life. The assignments we create can be tailored to help students distinguish who they are and who they want to become, and we can use positive reinforcement to provide support as they embark on this lifelong process of developing identity.

Sources: 
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9z8jj1wUqldeFJXSkZWR0IwMzA/view

Culture

Last night I was sitting at the kitchen table eating ice cream with my family and I began a conversation with my dad about technology.  My dad is a computer hardware engineer and knows quite a bit about technology and creating soundboards and all sorts of stuff that I don’t understand, but it took him a good 3 months to figure out how to sufficiently text on his Galaxy 5S. He is one that tends to glorify the “good ol’ days” and looks fondly back on the times before all of his children were constantly plugged in. On Father’s Day, my dad was frustrated because he came into the living room on his special day and six out of six people were looking at six different screens. Laptops, cell phones, tablets, etc. Family time has been demolished, in his opinion, and it because of all these stupid devices! I was a bit nervous to open up this can of worms with my dad because I knew he had strong opinions on the matter, but I wanted to hear him out and understand why he believes the increased technology is bad.

The conversation that followed was insightful. I discussed the articles I’d read for class with him and referenced Digital Nation. We discussed how in Digital Nation they do a test on task switching and what the research is showing. My dad’s greatest concern is that there is an effect on the ability for the future generation to be creative because of all the distractions. He was explaining to me that there is process (obviously I don’t have any research on this because my dad just told me) that when someone is looking to create a new product or idea their brain needs at least 25 minutes to take the idea and piece the WHOLE product together in their mind. When a distraction comes it wipes the slate clean and they are back to rebuilding the full idea. The unanticipated issue is that each time we rebuild the idea in our mind we do it a little differently from the first time around and this is why our final products have more “bugs.” I was fascinated by this point and I believe to some extent it is a valid argument. We also had a deep conversation about the change in culture. I explained to my dad that we (I consider myself a digital native) truly believe that we are more effective when we are switching between tasks. I brought in this idea of a shift in culture, that our brains are learning in different ways and that we don’t even know what it is like any other way. I feel like the strongest point to be made is that this switch in culture, brain activity, and value focus has happened throughout all of history. This is not a new pattern, but it is following the exact pattern that human history has always followed.

Yes. There are human values and culture norms that I think are important to hold onto. I listed my opinion in my word cloud. Technology doesn’t necessarily diminish these values, but it does have an impact on how we define these values. We still value privacy, yet we allow Facebook to be an exception. Technology enables us to spend family time in different ways (skyping across the country, snap chatting with your boyfriend in Colorado, etc.). Technology shifts the way we socialize because it gives us different ways to communicate. We can communicate over broad expanses and reach out to many people at the same time, or we can still have a personal skype call or send a video through Pinterest messaging system. The way I see it is that we have more options on how we choose to communicate with those around us.

If you ask any teacher, they will tell you that technology has affected the culture of student bullying and harassment, but once again, this is not a new thing. Technology is not creating all of these world problems, but it is just transforming the current problems! We are experiencing this transfer of culture primarily in a horizontal direction, but that does not mean this is a bad thing. The bottom line, is that as teacher leaders in a digital age we must take the opportunity to embrace the cultural shift, accept that there will be those who do not want to accept the change, and do our best to diligently teach our students how to be polite citizens in this digital world. We are the leaders of this cultural shift because we are invested. We are involved in the conversation and we can see both sides of the argument. So, we must reach out and strengthen the values of society, yet give technology the “in” that it needs to continue to move progress forward. The shift in culture is not bad, it is just different.

Resources: 

http://video.pbs.org/video/1402987791/

Turning My Thoughts Inside Out

Over the weekend, I was diligently thinking about my homework – and I went saw the Disney Pixar movie Inside Out. I loved this movie! Not only was it a fun-family movie, but it also was interesting to make connections with the brain. At one point in the movie, the “emotions” in the brain are going through the process of taking the days memories and sending them to long term memory, and I turned to my sister and whispered “That’s called the hippocampus!” Obviously, this movie was not anatomically correct, nor did it remotely resemble the functions we know about the brain, but it was enjoyable to make the connections – my favorite part was when they went into the “abstract” thinking part of the brain.

In class we have discussed in depth the different theories behind cognitive development. Vygotsky and Piaget are the primary theorists discussed and although they have different findings, we are able to mesh together and interpret their findings compared to the development of the brain. The brain of a child develops from front to back. With this information we are able to correlate the research done by Vygotsky and Piaget who stated that there is a process / different stages of cognition that builds over time. The brain starts developing motor skills and automatic functions near the beginning of life – which runs parallel to the preoperational, operational, and the concrete operational theory.  The child continues to grow and they are able to understand the abstract more fully, which makes sense because the frontal lobe (which houses these higher order thinking skills) develops at a slower rate. 

During the learning process, neurons attach and create synapses. These neuro-pathways are strengthened as we receive increased exposure and a concept is reiterated when we create multiple pathways to recall the information. Vygotsky’s argument was founded on a social-constructivist theory, meaning that we take the information from our environment, culture, and dialogue and internalize that information until it becomes our very way of thinking. In my reflection, I’ve thought about how this shows that as we are interacting with our environment it is building multiple pathways through the maze of neurons in our brain.

The brain is always changing, and with those changes we are able to adapt to the circumstances around us. The influx in technology has, indeed, changed our brains, yet that does not necessarily mean it is destroying our brain. Children that are being raised as digital natives may have different problem solving skills, they may be able to think of concepts more abstractly due to the problem solving used during video games. Digital natives have created connections across many topics because of the quick access to multiple types of information. Digital natives are confronted with so much information that often they do not make strong synaptic connections in all these topics, but they still have many interconnected neuropaths to varying subjects. If I had to draw a picture of the world wide web, I would depict it as a massive connection of neurons and neuropathways! We are so connected! Our brain adapts to the media and we literally are retraining the way we think.

In conclusion, it is possible that we are seeing not a gradual adaptation, but actual evolution over the course of one generation. Our brains are changing and it is affecting the way children learn. So, the question is, how can we use the media that is in our classrooms to best utilize these new brain development patterns to maximize cognition? I don’t yet have an answer for that, but I’m hoping to have a greater grasp by the time I complete my Master’s program!

Sources:

http://www.simplypsychology.org/vygotsky.html

First Attempt at a V-log!

I decided to create a vlog and reflect on what I'd learned in class by teaching it to someone else. I spent a lot of time today reviewing the genes to cognition website  in order to understand enough about the structure of the brain so that I could explain it effectively to a four year-old. I'm including the embedded video, but if that doesn't work the youtube link is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdpes4o3nGg

Confessions of a "Heavy Media User"

I was really nervous about tracking my usage of media for two full days. I knew I was a heavy media user and for some reason “heavy media user” has such a poor connotation to it! I automatically associate it with large, fat, and lazy. I knew that I used my phone a lot and the computer is an all day/everyday thing for me at work while I take loan applications. So, I downloaded the app Track Phone Usage as well as Checky to help me stay honest in my media tracking.

As I was compiling my data and creating my infographic, I was ultimately not surprised by my media usage. I text my out-of-state boyfriend a lot, and last month, my cell phone statement showed a total of almost 12,000 texts from my phone in one month. Obviously the texting is the bulk of my media usage and it benefits me because I am able to have contact with one of the most important people in my life. On the other hand, I found myself making excuses to stay home and not go out so that I could stay home and text without “life activity” interrupting me. I’ve been very aware of this for the last several months, and often I fall into the tech-trap, but I am very purposeful to go out and experience life activities and leave my phone behind.

I was surprised that my media usage does not vary from weekends/week days. I anticipated that I would use media more frequently on the weekends, but other than the texting increased there was not much change between the days. According the Kaiser Family Foundation article that we reviewed in class, it appears that in relation to other teenagers I am considered a heavy media user. I honestly, don’t know if I would deem this a fair comparison because although I do stare at the screen all day for work, this is working/active media time and I don’t believe most 8-18 year olds are paid to work on the computer nine hours a day. If it wasn’t a part of my job – there is no way I would be on the computer that much! My Friday and Saturday work schedule is very similar, so I tracked my Sunday media usage too and I touched the computer for only 2 minutes simply so I could restart it.

Active:

Computer, texting, Snapchat, and reading books

Passive:

Music, Pinterest, Facebook, and Snapchat.

In conclusion, I was grateful for this assignment because it helped me recognize my feelings while I’m using different types of media. When I’m texting my boyfriend I swing from happy, sad, ecstatic, in love, frustrated, excited, anxious, amazed and all those other feelings found in a relationship! A technologically based relationship is not ideal and I don’t prefer all of these emotions to be shared over texting and Snapchat, but I am grateful that the technology does exist so that I can communicate with someone I love so instantaneously. Facebook and Pinterest leave me feeling like a lazy lard! I don’t like how I feel after wasting time on websites such as these. Music pumps me up. I listen while I’m walking, working, reading, driving and studying. I know that I study better when I’m not listening to music, but it is better than all the background noise of the call center environment I work in currently. Using the computer leaves me feeling drained! I’m so excited for the day when I get to be teaching and not stuck behind my computer all day! Oddly, reading a book did not leave me uplifted, but this may be due to the content (research methods textbook). When I was laying in the bathtub on Sunday morning reading Harry Potter, I was left relaxed and happy as my mind raced through the air alongside Harry and his broomstick.

Data	Friday	Saturday
Computer	9:45:00	7:30
Phone: Total	4:29:12	5:31:30
Texting	2:49:26	3:14:05
Pandora	2:35:00	1:45:00
Pinterest	0:16:38	0:09:57
Facebook	0:12:23	0:16:18
Snap Chat	0:20:42	0:36:53
TV	0:00:00	0:00:00
Books	0:20:00	0:40:00

http://kff.org/other/event/generation-m2-media-in-the-lives-of/

Final Reflection!!

Looking back to my first blog post helps me to truly understand how far I’ve come in my perspective of technology in the classroom. Obviously, I was pro-technology back in January, but I had vague reasoning that was based on facts and opinions of others, yet now I am personally passionate about technology!

A teacher leader is one who seeks to disrupt the current social norms in education to bring about an innovation that will improve the system. A teacher leader in the digital age makes changes regarding technology. Too often we sit in faculty lounges and listen to teachers complain and gripe about the issues we face on a daily basis. The struggle is real, but change will not take place unless it springs forth from the grass-roots. The teachers in the trenches will be the ones that bring about the true change for future generations of students. We must lead out by speaking out, presenting, researching, sharing, teaching, collaborating and much more. Our voices must be heard, our skills shared, and our ideas spread throughout the country. As teacher leaders we are obligated to make the use of technology an enjoyable and effective experience for those around us. When we fail, we try again. We have the responsibility to be the cheerleaders for the students as well as the teachers to move the digital age forward into the classrooms.

In addition to my plans to be more involved in the digital world of education (as stated above), I will also make changes in my own classroom. Personally, my greatest take away from the course was the need for alignment in our curriculum. I am sure as an undergraduate I spent time unpacking standards and aligning objectives, but this course really took me through the ringer! I want to stick with this means of creating scope and sequences once I have my own classroom. I also want my technology incorporation to be purposeful, but also natural. I want my classroom to be the room which always is buzzing! I am now not afraid to include technology in sub plans, and I feel confident in finding funding for the devices I need.

This course has been an excellent opportunity for me to dive into the ed-tech Master’s program.  I have learned a great deal and I am excited for my courses this summer

Summative.

How will you acquire technology for your classroom?

Working on our grants proposal web quest has opened my eyes to the millions of dollars that are sitting out there waiting to be given to schools that are looking to implement technology! There are so many grants available from large foundations, federal government, small businesses and other sources. Not only that, but there is crowdfunding, door-to-door begging, donors choice, etc. For my own classroom, I’m not yet sure how I will fund the technology needed, simply because I don’t yet know what sources will be available, but now I know where to look. I am currently working with the principal at a charter school in American Fork to set up an interview for a 4^th grade position. As I was researching this particular school they did not seem to have a huge technology focus. I was energized by the thought of filling my classroom and slowly helping bring this charter school to the cutting edge of technology. Maybe these are large goals – that are extremely dependent upon a job offer – but I am no longer afraid of finding sources to fund what I want. Although I am still a little intimidated by big funding places (like the government) I feel extremely confident that I’d be able to acquire technology for my classroom from smaller businesses supporting their local charter school.

How does the use of technology impact your classroom management strategies?

During my undergraduate studies at UVU we had a classroom management course during every semester. It is one of the most difficult aspects of teaching, especially for new teachers, and when you put a device into a child’s hands, it has the potential to turn all of your well planned tactics and strategies topsy turvy! The potential problem of classroom management involving technology hadn’t occurred to me until I was typing out the logistics of my detailed lesson plan. The key to a smooth classroom is to have routines in place so that the students can respond positively to expected behavior. Technology is an added element, but the basic theory remains the same. Procedure and routine needs to be established from day one! Each classroom will be different depending on how the students and teachers interact, but students should be given the opportunity to be creative with the devices and tools they are given while still respecting, maintaining, and caring for the equipment. The best way to find this balance is with established procedures.

Why use technology if you always need a backup plan?

When I was a senior in high school, for my comm 1010 class I was asked to give a speech using a PowerPoint presentation as visual support. I worked so hard on a PowerPoint all about color guard and I was so excited to present it. I was confident that my CD burned properly, but when I put the CD in the player it did not bring up my PowerPoint! To this day, I still have a complex with using data CDs because they failed me once and I felt humiliated. All of us have been in similar situations. It is terrible when our tech doesn’t work. Why go through the sweat and tears for technology when we always should have a back up plan? This question can be answered by reviewing everything we’ve learned over the life of this course! We are here to disrupt the current classroom. We are not teachers called to maintain the status quo and teach the same lessons that our teachers taught! As leaders in technology and curriculum we will experience failure, but as all leaders do, we will become better and more efficient if we press on. The benefits of technology that helps engage our students and prepare them for a digitizing world are worth all back up plans that we create. Our students need the practice and support that comes from daily use of devices in their classroom. We cannot let them enter this digital world without arming them with a knowledge and confidence that they will be able to maneuver through. Teachers are made to be flexible, and I am quickly becoming a passionate advocate of tech in the class, because it is the only way we will make the necessary changes to our education system, which will change our students, which will change the community, and this will change the world.

Reflection for Funding Sources

1.     What factors should be considered in seeking funding for technology projects in your classroom? Which of these factors are most important? Explain

In a previous graduate course I was given the assignment to research and apply for a grant. This was the first time my eyes were opened to the extremely generous amounts of money that is available to educators if we are willing to jump through the hoops to get it! Throughout that experience, I followed behind my group blindly as they applied for a grant through Crayola, but our in retrospect, I can see that our project was poor. This time around I felt much more guided in my project, but most importantly I felt passionate about what I was applying for.

Many factors should be considered when we take the time to apply for a grant. First of all, it is essential that we have a project idea in mind, because this narrows our thought process as well as the different types of grants we may qualify for. As educators, we receive resources from our district, and it is important that we first look to the resources we have been allotted before we begin applying for grants. Funding sources also love to see that teachers are frugal and only purchasing supplies that are necessary to further student achievement, so we have a lot of research that we must do to guarantee that we are being money-smart! It’s also important to take into consideration the way in which the project will be assessed, evaluated, and if we are qualified to apply for the grant. Based on my experience (which is extremely limited) the most important factors in applying for funding would be the clear project in mind and the current resources that are already available. This enables the grant writer to write directly and specifically to fill a need to improve student achievement.

2.     Compare your confidence in finding technology funding before you started this lesson and now. How has your confidence changed (if at all)? Explain what you have learned and how it has impacted you.

Before I started researching for this class (and the class previously) I viewed grants as a big scary monster that would potentially be really rewarding if you tackled the hoops necessary to jump through. I assumed that only veteran teachers were able to get funding and I assumed that all funding projects went through major foundations or the federal government. Now, I feel much more confident in finding funding! I think the biggest take away that I have gained from this web-quest is knowing what you want when it comes to applying for grants. There is so much out there and each grant has narrow requirements, so if you narrow your project first you are able to weed out the grants instead of the grants weeding out you! This has impacted me because now I feel more confident in tackling the big scary grant monster! I know that I could find the funding I need, and there are so many different ways to obtain money for our classrooms.

3.     How likely are you to follow through on your project plan and funding sources? Why? What are your next steps in bringing technology to your students?

Now that I feel more confident in finding grants, I would definitely be more likely to look for the grant funding in the future. At this time, it is unlikely that I’d move forward with this particular grant because it was based off of my future classroom. I am hoping to get hired for the upcoming school year, and in that situation I may look into applying in the next year or two. However, with technology changing so rapidly and depending on the resources of my classroom, it is likely that I would need to “re-vamp” my project to match my own classroom. As for my next steps, I plan on entering my classroom with the eye to see the potential for increased technology! I want to find the “hidden mobile lab carts” in the school and be sure that I am utilizing all available resources and funding currently offered. After I have scavenged the school, I will search google to find my funding! There are so many grants out there, and when you have a project you are passionate about you can find the money you need!

Backwards is the Only Way to Go

I just finished my unit plan, so looking back on the process and synthesizing the experience, I took a backwards design approach with a Kiyna-like twist. I don’t feel that I can give an honest opinion as to how it affected my curriculum design pattern, because I don’t have any experience to compare it to (except my undergrad work, but that was a while ago), but I feel that the steps I took were effective. I started with my unit plan with my standards. I reviewed my scope and sequence and the plans that I had made, but the more I thought and pondered the more stuck I became. On closer inspection, I discovered that my original essential questions for the unit were not what I really wanted for my students, so I changed them and aligned them to the core standards and my GRASPS assignment. I had a basic idea of what I wanted to do for the GRASPS, but I didn’t know what the steps were to get there. I threw ideas back and forth for days on end, but I had hit a mental road block and could not form a flow of lessons for a unit plan!

This is where the backwards design became essential. The only way I pushed through the road block was to take my essential questions, standards, and GRASPS assignment and work it backwards. I knew that I wanted to include technology in every aspect possible and this was able to drive me to flesh out each lesson. The standards became my … standard. I came up with lessons until I’d covered all the standards sufficiently, and then based my objectives and instructional ideas from the standards I’d chosen for each lesson.

Having a focus on technology in my lesson plans gave me direction in both the assessments and instructional strategies. I stretched myself a little further for each lesson by thinking, is there a way I could incorporate more technology into this lesson? Where can I add in a video? When would be a good time for them to engage in a simulator? These questions shaped my cover sheet and overall my entire unit.

Overall, I found that when it came down to the wire, the only way to align my unit plan with what I wanted (not to mention what the rubric wanted) I had to use backwards design. If not, then I would have had random lessons with no cohesion, but because I based my design primarily on my standards, there is a common cord that strings throughout all seven lessons.

Comprehensive List of Technologies in Education

Technology in the classroom is versatile. As I contemplated the essential questions for our course this week, I reflected deeply on what exactly I was being assessed on. I wanted to answer the question in a way that shows I truly understand the concept and have a plethora of ideas to use in my classroom (that I will hopefully have one day). I wanted to rack my brain deeply for the different technologies that we have discussed in class, small groups, from previous classes, from my teaching friends, through my research, and what I have stumbled over in my journeys. I wanted to bring all of that together and create a little list of general pedagogical technologies and technologies that are more content specific.

General Pedagogical Technologies:

Computer

Projector

Doc-camera

SmartBoard

TV

1-1 devices

Mobile labs

Microsoft - Word, PowerPoint, Excel

Apple - Garageband, iTunes, iStation

Adobe - Photoshop, 

Social Media - Twitter, Instagram, Facebook

Google - Drive, Blogger, YouTube

Websites - Edutopia, Tedtalks, Netsmartz, Brainpop

Apps - Edmoto, Animoto, Socrative, Noise volume, (I found a TON on Scholastic's website!)

Thinglink

Prezi

Glogster

digital stories

podcasts

infographics

interactive whiteboards

Webquests

Content-specific Technologies:

Language: Infographics, apps and websites

Math: Smartboard manipulatives, websites, and drill kill apps

Science: telescopes, webquests, and digitial stories

Reading; ebooks, head phones, itunes and apps 

Writing this blog definitely gave me a comprehensive look at the different type of general pedagogical technologies that could be used, but as I was putting together my content specific technologies list, I realized they are intertwined. Ebooks work well to teach reading, but they can also be used in a science course. Webquests seem ideal for Social Studies, but why not used it to teach a math concept? I feel that technology is used in multiple ways across many dimensions of the curriculum. Unless I'm completely off course ... then I don't really know what type of content-specific technologies there are...

 

 

Practice What You Teach

Wednesday night we had an opportunity to participate in an excellent example of technology being used to present content, but also to assess the learning after the content had been covered. The best way to use technology in this way is project – based assessments that give the students an opportunity to learn throughout the project and then the project is used as the final assessment as well. The best example I can think of in this regard is the horny-toad lesson that we learned about a few weeks ago in class. This is the perfect project based assessment! The teacher was able to teach the student the content in various ways (direct instruction, group work, outside experts, etc.) and then use the authentic technology and resources to help the students implement knowledge. After such extensive work towards this project, it would not be necessary to test the students with a bubble sheet, or a fill in the blank test, because at this point the students have reached deep understanding – and the evidence is clear based on the project.

Yet the question must be addressed, how do we still prepare students for those standardized tests that will need to be taken? The answer?  Balance. The students need to be given opportunities to learn how to take a test, because unfortunately that is the reality of the American education system. This concept became clear to me when Archer asked Dr. Cox if she followed this same pattern with her own students. I reflected on my time as an undergrad student in Dr. Cox’s Ed Psych class. I remember vividly the time I had to go to the testing center and take a test about psychology theorists. I remember Dr. Cox’s rationale was that we needed to have the experience of the testing center. I remember this clearly because I’m pretty sure I didn’t completely agree with her logic (Sorry, Dr. Cox!). I have since come to a see what she was really trying to tell us. In essence, we were being prepared for the Praxis test. There would be a time (when we were to take the Praxis) that we would not be given the option to create a Prezi, or do a research project on Piaget, but we would need to know how to face a standardized test. I am grateful for wise professors that practice what they teach.

The lesson and activity in class was very beneficial in helping me create my scope and sequence. I felt that it gave me practical tools I could use to create real, meaningful assessment and content presentation using technology to weave into my scope and sequence. I had been feeling pretty overwhelmed by the task, but with this class session I felt more confident in my scope and sequence.

Unpacking the Standards

What state and national standards should be considered in your scope and sequence?

On Wednesday we went through the process of “unpacking standards.” Since then I have gone through the third grade core curriculum science standards, the 3-5 Utah Technology Educational Standards along with the ISTE standards. It is a good idea to consider all three categories when creating a scope and sequence for any content area. Dr. Cox made a comment that struck me. She said that these standards exist, but nobody really knows that it is their duty to teach these standards, and along with that it is difficult to teach the tech standards alone, but when it is woven seamlessly through content curriculum the maximum impact is attained. It also makes it way more interesting!

While unpacking these standards, I was excited to see that the UTES and the ISTE standards are compatible and they overlap one another. In a conversation I was having with other students in the class, they were talking about websites that already have the standards unpacked. Since I’d just put a lot of effort into unpacking these standards on my own, I decided to do my own research and see what the World Wide Web could offer me.

After substantial research I discovered that there is a benefit to unpacking your own standards, because every state has different standards! Kansas, North Carolina and Utah all have various standards and different unpacking organizers, dynamic learning maps, essential elements, etc. So the conclusion I have made is that there is a great springboard on unpacking standards for the scope and sequence, but it is not necessarily always the best way to design your curriculum.

How will you model digital ethics and responsibility, and how will those skills be incorporated into your scope and sequence?

When I was a little kid (probably 5th grade) I had to do a research project. I don’t remember what the subject was, but I remember going to the computer lab where the old school computers were and the paper that printed with a bunch of little holes on the sides and I researched my project. The teacher required that included a works cited page and I distinctly remember thinking it was so dumb because I got all of my resources from google and google images! I had no understanding of how google works, I guess. Yet, it is a significant memory because it is my first recollection of giving credit where credit is due.

I will model for my students’ digital ethics and responsibility by making it a point to show them where I pull my sources.  For example, I may use a picture in a SmartBoard Presentation and I can say, “I got this picture from__________ website.” Or if I use a lesson plan from a previous teacher I could say, “Today we have our lesson adapted from _________’s lesson. Aren’t we happy that they shared with us?” Helping students be aware is the first step in teaching about ethics in technology.

Incorporating the fifth ISTE standard into the scope and sequence is tricky, but one thing I really liked that Amber said in class is to use the Google lesson plans on Good to Know for emergency sub plans, I thought that was an excellent idea! Obviously, that would be leaving the education of your students in someone else’s hands and so I would also be sure to teach through direct instruction the principles of digitial citizenship. Working with the tech specialist at the school we could use websites like NetSmartz to teach the students the importance and the way to be safe and considerate on the internet. I’m grateful for the resources shown in class, because it definitely gave me a starting place for what I can do with my students in my classroom… when I have one someday.

Scope & Sequence: Weaving Curriculum

Over the last 2 weeks I’ve been thinking, pondering, studying, and actively pulling apart the third grade science curriculum. It has been a huge undertaking for me and has forced me to reflect back on a lot of skills and theories I learned during my undergraduate studies. While creating the scope and sequence I greatly appreciated the instruction during class next week because it gave me a springboard for creating my backwards design. The process I’ve gone through has been lengthy. First I printed out the entire core curriculum standards and then I went through and underlined each of the verbs within the standards, benchmarks and objectives. I categorized each bullet point in terms of Bloom’s Taxonomy and which level of understanding it reaches and I looked for trends and patterns. One of the longest parts in the process was deciding what order I would teach the material. I asked people for their advice and researched different scope & sequences online, and finally I set a loose outline of what I would be teaching in each month of the school year. The backwards design process took some review, mostly by referencing the article assigned for class I was able to recall enough schema on how to create a backwards design plan. I created assessments for the units and from the assessments and the standards I created my essential questions.

So how do you weave technology into that scope and sequence? That’s the real question here. I found myself deliberately thinking what type of technology I could weave into my assessments and consequently what type of technology would be used in individual lessons to enhance the final assessments for each unit. When I first started this project I felt really overwhelmed and clueless, so I did a lot of googling “technology scope and sequence” “technology and curriculum” “science assessment with technology” etc. I was pleased to find that many of the resources I found referenced things we’d already spoken about in class. On the Harford Schools website I discovered the SAMR model listed on the side of the homepage and I gave myself a figurative pat on the back for appropriately applying the principles of the SAMR model into my curriculum. The SAMR model gives the option to incorporate technology and different levels throughout the S&S, for example, sometimes we may substitute an online test instead of the ol’ pen and paper test, yet at other times we may modify the entire assessment instead of a poster with the moon phases the students may produce a collaborative video as evidence of their knowledge of forces applied to various objects and the motion it stimulates.  When we design curriculum with technology in mind from the beginning, it makes the use of technology more purposeful and less accidental or as an after thought.

It becomes simple to use both general pedagogical content as well as content-specific technologies as we become familiar with our core curriculum. As leaders of technology we must shift our paradigm to not use tech just as an enhancement but to incorporate it seamlessly into every aspect of our curriculum. Every good teacher recognizes that reading comprehension has a place in each nook and cranny in the classroom – similarly as we shift to a new perspective we will see that technology is not just another subject to teach, but it becomes the way in which students are taught. It becomes a vehicle to bring learning to an elevated level, and if done correctly the students will learn the content-specific technology and how to use it.

Side note: When I create my next scope and sequence, I would have changed the process a bit by viewing the technology standards at the beginning of the process (at the same time as I was doing the other standards) so that I was familiar with them while going through the backwards design process.  If I would have had a basic understanding of the technology standards earlier on, I would have specifically looked for ways to fulfill both standards.

Sources:

SAMR Model - https://sites.google.com/a/hartfordschools.net/hsd-k-12-technology-scope-and-sequence/

Impact of TPACK

Essential Questions:

What is the difference between technology in education and educational technology?

What is TPACK and how does it help us better understand the role and impact of technology?

I’ve spent a good portion of my week thinking and researching trying to figure out the subtle difference between technology in education and educational technology. I’m still not sure if I have the write distinction, but I’ve formed my own understanding – and if it’s wrong, I hope we talk about it in class.

While looking at the TPACK Venn diagram I would explain educational technology as the crossover circle between technology and pedagogy. It is the tools that are used to help teachers teach more effectively, but they don’t necessarily vary based on content. Tech tools such as SmartBoards, doc cams, iPads, apps (in certain situations), personal computers, etc. 

In reference to the TPACK Venn diagram, I would explain technology in education to be the sweet spot between pedagogy, content and technology. According to Dell, technology in education is used in three ways. When I reviewed this website it helped me to synthesize the three major uses of technology in the classroom.

1.       Education data management

2.       Assistive technology

3.       Mobile learning

Teachers use technology to manage the data – such as online grade books, apps that report immediate test scores, emails to parents, classroom websites, etc. Diverse learners – which I would argue that we are all diverse learners, can be reached through media using assistive technology. ESL students can access speech to text software, autistic children can work with apps to practice social skills, and teachers can differentiate lessons to reach the many needs of students. Last of all, mobile learning helps break away from the standard classroom setting and it enables students to get up out of their seats and discover the world. In my opinion, this is where real learning happens! From our example in class last week, we saw evidence that students are more engaged in learning when they are immerse in real life issues.

These real life issues that give students the opportunity to redefine their education experience is exactly what TPACK is reaching for. My mind keeps reflecting on the horny-toed lizards project because it was a perfect example of using technology in education to bring the perfect balance of content, pedagogy and technology. Teaching Teachers for the Future gives us insight into the expert teacher in the 21st century, “Expert teachers now are those who can bring together knowledge of subject matter, what is good for learning, and technology (ICT). The combination is described as Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK). “ As we know from a basic study of business, backed by our study of Disrupting Class, if a business wants to survive in the rapidly changing world, then they cannot stand still.  During the 20th century, expert teachers were those who knew their content and knew how to teach it, but with the introduction of technology and it’s impact on the world it is required that teachers evolve.

Technology is a leading force in our economy and community, thus it is imperative that we prepare our students to thrive in a technological world. This means they need to be exposed to the tools of technology early on and they need to be taught how to use them. The practical application of using technology in real world settings to learn the content in a pedagogically sound way is the vision of TPACK. TPACK helps me see and understand the practical aspect of implementing the things we’ve learned and I’m excited to create a TPACK lesson within my scope and sequence.

Side note: I find it interesting that the TPACK website I referenced is based out of Australia. It would be interesting to study the impact of ed-tech on a global level.

Sources:

http://www.dell.com/learn/us/en/25/k-12-solutions?dmp=1M2U3U4PE5UO&ST=technology%20in%20education&dgc=ST&cid=271535&lid=5036848&acd=12309164820490250

http://www.ttf.edu.au/what-is-tpack/what-is-tpack.html

Loaded

There’s a game I played recently with a group of my friends. It is called Loaded Questions. The purpose of the game is that a question with endless answer possibilities is asked to the group, and then each member of the group answers the loaded question. Based on the assigned essential questions for our blog this week, I think it would be fair to rename our assignment to Loaded Questions, because the EQs this week have so many possible answers!

In the past, teachers have been the owner and user of all the technology in the classroom. The chalkboard was for the use of the teacher. Every once in a while a student may be given a rare opportunity to write on the chalkboard or beat the erasers, but it was primarily the teachers tool. When computers were introduced into schools the teachers gave students opportunities to use them to play games (aka Oregon Trail and Mario Teaches Typing).

The future of technology – and the shift we have already begun to see – leads to students being the technological leaders. Each student should be given daily opportunities to interact with devices, the internet, and other technological interfaces while they are in class. This change should lead to greater differentiation for diverse learners. It should also prepare our students to enter a competitive work force where experience with technology is a leading factor. The students should be given a variety of experiences to help them see technology as a tool. It isn’t a toy that should be hidden from teachers, but it is a tool that expands our opportunities to reach out and network with our colleagues. The future of technology is exciting. It will continue to be an innovative change as educators embrace the change. As we relinquish our control of the technology in the classroom, we will see students take ownership of their education.