My photography website, designed in 2006 and (more or less) regularly maintained - Frontlight.com
My school/teaching/class assignment website, designed today and (probably not going to be) regularly maintained - "Explorations"
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Photoday
We're in class today, delving further into the mysteries of Photoshop and Dreamweaver. I spend a fair amount of time using those programs already, but it's always interesting to learn the shortcuts that someone else uses, or find something new while randomly searching around when time is available.
I also, shockingly, ended up with some time to take photos last weekend. Nothing great, but at least I had time to hold my camera and play with it.
After a bit of photoshopping (really, not much) here's what we end up with:
Eh, not really anything to be proud of, but that's how it goes sometimes.
I also, shockingly, ended up with some time to take photos last weekend. Nothing great, but at least I had time to hold my camera and play with it.
After a bit of photoshopping (really, not much) here's what we end up with:
Eh, not really anything to be proud of, but that's how it goes sometimes.
Friday, August 8, 2008
GoogleLit
Google Lit Trips is a cool use of existing technology for the classroom. Free, easy, and, most importantly, interesting to the students who will use it.
Using Google Earth, which can be installed on almost any computer, students create virtual tours that follow the travels of their favorite literary characters. Each significant location in the book can be marked on the map, and includes notes and descriptions that are associated with that location. Use it to present a book report, or to encourage interest in a book in other students. Or, for better understanding of a book you're reading, you can follow along through a tour created by someone else, follow their links to background information, read their notes about the significance of that location to the storyline, or just get a better feel for the journey the character is taking.
For example, here's an image from the tour for Grapes of Wrath. It shows the journey they take across the US, and each of the cities mentioned along the way. You can learn more about any of these locations by clicking on them, and various quotes from the story that are directly associated to a location are also marked on the map.
Anyone who doesn't use this technology is missing out. It's simple, it's fun, and it encourages deeper, more meaningful learning while integrating different subjects and technologies. This is one way to reach those students whose strengths may lie outside of reading and literature, and get them interested in more reading.
Read a description/review of Google Lit on Edutopia.org here.
Using Google Earth, which can be installed on almost any computer, students create virtual tours that follow the travels of their favorite literary characters. Each significant location in the book can be marked on the map, and includes notes and descriptions that are associated with that location. Use it to present a book report, or to encourage interest in a book in other students. Or, for better understanding of a book you're reading, you can follow along through a tour created by someone else, follow their links to background information, read their notes about the significance of that location to the storyline, or just get a better feel for the journey the character is taking.
For example, here's an image from the tour for Grapes of Wrath. It shows the journey they take across the US, and each of the cities mentioned along the way. You can learn more about any of these locations by clicking on them, and various quotes from the story that are directly associated to a location are also marked on the map.
Anyone who doesn't use this technology is missing out. It's simple, it's fun, and it encourages deeper, more meaningful learning while integrating different subjects and technologies. This is one way to reach those students whose strengths may lie outside of reading and literature, and get them interested in more reading.
Read a description/review of Google Lit on Edutopia.org here.
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Using what you have to do more
Often, what intimidates classroom teachers is the fear that they aren't sure they have enough of the technology or experience to use technology in their classrooms. But, we can, and must, start somewhere.
In a July 29, 2008 article on Edutopia.org, Suzie Boss collects five great tips from educators about what simple steps we can take to start integrating now. The following 5 steps come from this article, "Overcoming Technology Barriers: How to Innovate Without Extra Money or Support"
Step 1: Innovate with the Tools you already have
Look around your classroom: what do you have that you can use for a different kind of project then you usually do?
Step 2: Seek out Free, easy to use Digital Resources
The internet is full of podcasts, free software, research, resources, and tools that can be used. You just need to find them.
Step 3: Overcome your Fear of the Unknown
This includes using peer learning groups to share ideas among educators in your school.
Step 4: Start with Small, Fast projects that Enhance Learning
Step 5: Learn with your Students
What else can we do with what we already have? Let the challenge to reach the students overcome the challenge of 'how'.
In a July 29, 2008 article on Edutopia.org, Suzie Boss collects five great tips from educators about what simple steps we can take to start integrating now. The following 5 steps come from this article, "Overcoming Technology Barriers: How to Innovate Without Extra Money or Support"
Step 1: Innovate with the Tools you already have
Look around your classroom: what do you have that you can use for a different kind of project then you usually do?
Step 2: Seek out Free, easy to use Digital Resources
The internet is full of podcasts, free software, research, resources, and tools that can be used. You just need to find them.
Step 3: Overcome your Fear of the Unknown
This includes using peer learning groups to share ideas among educators in your school.
Step 4: Start with Small, Fast projects that Enhance Learning
Education professor Mike Muir, who directs the Maine Center for Meaningful Engaged Learning, recommends introducing educators to an engaging task that's relatively easy. "Teachers need to be successful early," he says. "You want to start with something familiar and close to what they are already doing, but so different that it can be a portal to new possibilities. It's about paradigm shifting." Muir suggests starting with inquiry-oriented lessons called WebQuests. As part of the lesson, students use Internet resources (typically preselected by the teacher) to answer higher-order questions about a specific topic. "Find some that relate to what you are already teaching," Muir advises.
Step 5: Learn with your Students
GenYES encourages teachers to learn about technology in the context of their own classroom, side-by-side with their students. Professional development that's embedded in the classroom has more staying power than one-shot workshops.
What else can we do with what we already have? Let the challenge to reach the students overcome the challenge of 'how'.
NSTA in PORTLAND with MYTHBUSTERS
I must find a way to get to the NSTA Portland conference this year. I had friends who attended 3 years ago when it was at Disneyland and they said it was fantastic (also, where I learned about the Paper Roller Coasters used in camp this year) And, I've heard that the Mythbusters will be presenting again. I must go! I really hope I can find a way.
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Scratch
Check out Scratch, another technology product from the guys at MIT who brought us Pico Crickets. This time, the entire program is computer-based, with no physical components, though you can, if you really want to, run it with some light and sound sensors.
Imagine the possibilities with this one. Programing the motion of your 'Sprite' - the character that you control - requires working with an X-Y coordinate graph. There are potential geometry or algebra lessons in here, I think. And the hardware requirements are almost nil... it can probably be downloaded onto most computers, even in classrooms. If nothing else, it's a great opportunity for encouraging students' creative and critical thinking. There's even room for some language arts curriculum: they could create and program some animated graphics to go along with a story they've written, or even tell the entire story on the screen.
It seems like a simple game, but as with most technologies, if you look a little deeper and imagine the possibilities, there's plenty of room for education as well.
Imagine the possibilities with this one. Programing the motion of your 'Sprite' - the character that you control - requires working with an X-Y coordinate graph. There are potential geometry or algebra lessons in here, I think. And the hardware requirements are almost nil... it can probably be downloaded onto most computers, even in classrooms. If nothing else, it's a great opportunity for encouraging students' creative and critical thinking. There's even room for some language arts curriculum: they could create and program some animated graphics to go along with a story they've written, or even tell the entire story on the screen.
It seems like a simple game, but as with most technologies, if you look a little deeper and imagine the possibilities, there's plenty of room for education as well.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Is the Evolution of Teaching with Technology Hindered by NCLB?
In a 1995 article "The Future of Learning and Schooling in American Society", James Bosco poses the following challenge to educators:
To genuinely improve schools and education through the use of technology in the classroom, the integration of it needs to go beyond putting computers in every room and showing teachers and students how to use MS Word instead of a pen and paper to write the same report they would have done before. The actual process of teaching needs to change and incorporate the many options that technology offers us for how we can reach every student to improve their education.
Also in 1995, Simon Hooper and Llyod P. Rieber further defined what it means to use technology in education:
This is a challenge for most educators. Many want to increase their effective use of technology in the classroom, but they don't have the time or resources. These two observations were both made prior to the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act (2001) and the resulting emphasis on requirements for reading, math, and assessment testing. With teachers now focusing on getting their schools up to the required 100% proficiency in reading, math and science by 2012, and "teaching to the test," they aren't able to spend the time needed to truly integrate technology into their content while making the technology valuable and meaningful in the education of their students. Without the proper integrations and curriculum designed to use technology in ways that best fit each student, it doesn't matter how many computers the school has - in the end they're just paperweights.
When we look for case studies of schools that are making significant gains in the field of educational technology, we often find that it is the private schools, charter schools, and other schools that are not concerned with maintaining NCLB funding that are achieving with technology. (Here's a great one I stumbled upon recently: an all-girls private high school using a technology known as DyKnow Vision to make note-taking an interactive process) Does this mean that our private schools are 'better' schools? No, they are simply less focused on passing the required tests, and can enjoy the freedom to explore new options for reaching students through technology. And their students benefit from it; they learn the problem-solving and critical thinking skills that come from using technology; they are more fully engaged in the classroom and challenged to take learning into their own hands, which has repeatedly been shown to improve overall education.
A 2005 article on Edutopia.org titled "Syncing up with the iKid: Connecting to the Twenty-First Century Student" addresses these issues in its discussion of technology at work:
Are we blocking our own evolution, our own connection to this generation and the incredible possibilities that technology should be offering them, because we're stuck in a 20th century view of how to assess education? How much more could our students learn if they are challenged through the technologies they understand?
References:
Bosco, J. "The Future of Learning and Schooling in American Society" U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, Education and Technology: Future Visions, OTA-BP-EHR-169 (Washington, DE: U.S. Government Printing Office, September 1995).
Hooper, S., & Rieber, L. P. (1995). Teaching with technology. In A. C. Ornstein (Ed.), Teaching: Theory into practice, (pp. 154-170). Needham Heights, MA: Allyn and Bacon. Online at: http://www.nowhereroad.com/twt/
"Those who wish to determine the extent to which schools are using information technology to change more than merely the cosmetic aspects of schools need to begin by asking school personnel what they no longer do or what they have eliminated from the school because of their use of information technology. The next question is: What is happening in this school which did not, or could not have happened, in the past without the use of information technology? The least important question is: What was done in the past and is now being done in a different way because of the availability of information technology?"
To genuinely improve schools and education through the use of technology in the classroom, the integration of it needs to go beyond putting computers in every room and showing teachers and students how to use MS Word instead of a pen and paper to write the same report they would have done before. The actual process of teaching needs to change and incorporate the many options that technology offers us for how we can reach every student to improve their education.
Also in 1995, Simon Hooper and Llyod P. Rieber further defined what it means to use technology in education:
"Technology in education is often perceived in terms of how many computers or videocassette recorders are in a classroom and how they might be used to support traditional classroom activities, but this is a misleading and potentially dangerous interpretation. It not only places an inappropriate focus on hardware, but fails to consider other potentially useful 'idea' technologies resulting from the application of one or more knowledge bases, such as learning theory. Educational technology involves applying ideas from various sources to create the best learning environments possible for students. Educational technologists also ask questions such as how a classroom might change or adapt when a computer is integrated into the curriculum. This integration means that the curriculum and setting may also need to change to meet the opportunities that the technology may offer."
This is a challenge for most educators. Many want to increase their effective use of technology in the classroom, but they don't have the time or resources. These two observations were both made prior to the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act (2001) and the resulting emphasis on requirements for reading, math, and assessment testing. With teachers now focusing on getting their schools up to the required 100% proficiency in reading, math and science by 2012, and "teaching to the test," they aren't able to spend the time needed to truly integrate technology into their content while making the technology valuable and meaningful in the education of their students. Without the proper integrations and curriculum designed to use technology in ways that best fit each student, it doesn't matter how many computers the school has - in the end they're just paperweights.
When we look for case studies of schools that are making significant gains in the field of educational technology, we often find that it is the private schools, charter schools, and other schools that are not concerned with maintaining NCLB funding that are achieving with technology. (Here's a great one I stumbled upon recently: an all-girls private high school using a technology known as DyKnow Vision to make note-taking an interactive process) Does this mean that our private schools are 'better' schools? No, they are simply less focused on passing the required tests, and can enjoy the freedom to explore new options for reaching students through technology. And their students benefit from it; they learn the problem-solving and critical thinking skills that come from using technology; they are more fully engaged in the classroom and challenged to take learning into their own hands, which has repeatedly been shown to improve overall education.
A 2005 article on Edutopia.org titled "Syncing up with the iKid: Connecting to the Twenty-First Century Student" addresses these issues in its discussion of technology at work:
"Christopher Moersch, an independent Internet-technology consultant who helps schools incorporate tech into the class, says most teachers he encounters are eager to engage their students with classroom technology, but federal testing requirements consistently get priority over technology initiatives. Consequently, teachers spend most of the day in drill-and-practice mode, preparing for standardized tests."
Are we blocking our own evolution, our own connection to this generation and the incredible possibilities that technology should be offering them, because we're stuck in a 20th century view of how to assess education? How much more could our students learn if they are challenged through the technologies they understand?
References:
Bosco, J. "The Future of Learning and Schooling in American Society" U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, Education and Technology: Future Visions, OTA-BP-EHR-169 (Washington, DE: U.S. Government Printing Office, September 1995).
Hooper, S., & Rieber, L. P. (1995). Teaching with technology. In A. C. Ornstein (Ed.), Teaching: Theory into practice, (pp. 154-170). Needham Heights, MA: Allyn and Bacon. Online at: http://www.nowhereroad.com/twt/
Monday, August 4, 2008
Play, Invent, Explore - Summary of Final Project
The last day of our Play, Invent, Explore (previous posts, Pico Crickets website) camp at ScienceWorks went really well. To assist in documenting the experience, we asked Dennis Dunleavy, Associate Professor of Communications at Southern Oregon University to come in and take some photos of the class (click here to see his blog, "The Big Picture").
(On a side note, thank you, SOU, for the loan of the laptops!)
Here are two of the kids in the class integrating their marble roller coasters with the Crickets software, and an example of the types of programs they were writing. In this one, the program requires a sound that is louder than "20" (on a scale of 0-100) to begin the program sequence. This represents the approximate volume of a ringing bell; therefore, when the marble rolls down the ramp and hits the bell, the bell rings, the requested sound plays and the light begins to flash randomly.
The campers just loved this project. It was a great integration of a physical, creative process with a technology & software component. In order for their project to be most successful, they had to solve the problems of how to make their structure strong, how to keep the ball rolling down their ramps, and finally, where and how to integrate the Crickets to create the 'chain reaction' that was the project's goal. For some of them, those first two steps were more than enough of a challenge and they limited their Crickets integration to just turning on a light or a sound before dropping the ball down the ramp. I still viewed this as a huge success. In five days, they learned to create their own program, and they used valuable skills of problem solving to find ways to roll a ball down a track, test it, fix it, improve it. Some of the other campers went well above and beyond what I had anticipated, created incredible programs, built highly impressive roller coasters, and learned much more than I expected.
On the whole, this was a great experience in what much of the education technology research discusses about how to make technology in the classroom an effective tool. Over and over we find evidence that "improvements in student learning occur when technology is paired with instructional strategies like project-based instruction, which actively involves students in intellectually complex work that demands higher-order thinking and problem-solving skills" (Les Foltos, "Technology and Academic Achievement", newhorizons.org, December 2002)
How this tool could be used in a classroom is a difficult question to answer, however. There aren't really any direct links to the reading, writing, math or science goals that most states describe in their content standards. But the value as a tool in developing skills in problem-solving, creative thinking, and information technology cannot be measured. This is where the problem for most educators comes in, I believe. That we see great tools, and can't relate them to the content we're required to teach. So we fall back into our patterns of only minimal technology involvement for most things. The challenge to us is: use these tools that generate interest and learning in students in a way that we never would have thought to teach our content before - and the achievements our students reach will be incredible.
(On a side note, thank you, SOU, for the loan of the laptops!)
Here are two of the kids in the class integrating their marble roller coasters with the Crickets software, and an example of the types of programs they were writing. In this one, the program requires a sound that is louder than "20" (on a scale of 0-100) to begin the program sequence. This represents the approximate volume of a ringing bell; therefore, when the marble rolls down the ramp and hits the bell, the bell rings, the requested sound plays and the light begins to flash randomly.
The campers just loved this project. It was a great integration of a physical, creative process with a technology & software component. In order for their project to be most successful, they had to solve the problems of how to make their structure strong, how to keep the ball rolling down their ramps, and finally, where and how to integrate the Crickets to create the 'chain reaction' that was the project's goal. For some of them, those first two steps were more than enough of a challenge and they limited their Crickets integration to just turning on a light or a sound before dropping the ball down the ramp. I still viewed this as a huge success. In five days, they learned to create their own program, and they used valuable skills of problem solving to find ways to roll a ball down a track, test it, fix it, improve it. Some of the other campers went well above and beyond what I had anticipated, created incredible programs, built highly impressive roller coasters, and learned much more than I expected.
On the whole, this was a great experience in what much of the education technology research discusses about how to make technology in the classroom an effective tool. Over and over we find evidence that "improvements in student learning occur when technology is paired with instructional strategies like project-based instruction, which actively involves students in intellectually complex work that demands higher-order thinking and problem-solving skills" (Les Foltos, "Technology and Academic Achievement", newhorizons.org, December 2002)
How this tool could be used in a classroom is a difficult question to answer, however. There aren't really any direct links to the reading, writing, math or science goals that most states describe in their content standards. But the value as a tool in developing skills in problem-solving, creative thinking, and information technology cannot be measured. This is where the problem for most educators comes in, I believe. That we see great tools, and can't relate them to the content we're required to teach. So we fall back into our patterns of only minimal technology involvement for most things. The challenge to us is: use these tools that generate interest and learning in students in a way that we never would have thought to teach our content before - and the achievements our students reach will be incredible.
Sunday, August 3, 2008
The Weekends are for Photographs
The weekends should be for taking photographs, but there's not always time. Fortunately, thanks to this class, I'm taking time every day to sit at the computer and do some blogging, some website design, some research, and some thinking about how it all ties together with teaching. My brain is full. So, I spend the weekends working on the same skills, but with an easier target: posting some favorite pics.
This is a water fountain in Lithia Park, Ashland, Oregon. Taken with the Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT, 10/7/06, f/7.1, 1/25, ISO 200.
The same image was used for the new 'picture of the week' on my Frontlight website, but cropped down. For those who saw it there first, this is the full image.
This is a water fountain in Lithia Park, Ashland, Oregon. Taken with the Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT, 10/7/06, f/7.1, 1/25, ISO 200.
The same image was used for the new 'picture of the week' on my Frontlight website, but cropped down. For those who saw it there first, this is the full image.
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