Week 14: Gee's Principles

The "Discovery Principle" is, in my opinion, one of the most important principle in learning. When a learner takes their current knowledge and explores a subject to find out its depths, information is a little easier to hold on to; it has more meaning to the learner. The "Practice Principle" is important because it reinforces the "Discovery Principle". When a student can practice a routine that is not boring to them, they get better and more experienced at the skill being learned. The "Probing Principle" I believe coordinates well with the other two principles I have chosen because while a student may discover new information, if there is no reflection on it, no new ideas can come out of it. A student has to probe the information to think about approaches in the subject that may not have been thought of before.

I would support a simulation that worked from the existing knowledge of my students at a given point in the teaching of a new concept and allowed them to discover, probe and reflect on that information to come up with theories of their own. It would be great for them to simulate those theories and be able to prove them, but this approach may be better for science courses. I haven't thought of a good, solid approah of using it in an English course. I always enjoyed it when I read one of those stories with multiple endings or behaviors I could choose based on my interests. I liked being able to control one of the characters to see what happened in the story once I dictated the action of a character.

Conclusion

I believe the above three principles to be aligned with what most students in middle school are capable of doing. If I could find a simulation that enabled my students to learn the English language, that would be fantastic. I think more applications for these principles lie in the science-related courses and maybe not so much in the language course; unless, like I said earlier, one can dictate the events in a story that has been written with alternative events the reader is left to choose.

References

Crismond, D., Howland, J., Jonassens, D., Marra, R. M. (2008).  Meaningful

learning with technology. Columbus: Pearson, Merrill Prentice Hall.

Chapter 10

Paragraph 1: Technology Based Rubrics

I think these rubrics are very useful for the elementary and middle school level classrooms. Kids love using computers and the internet has made teaching children that much easier to do. I do not know if I will use the technology rubrics I have seen thus far to outline my assignments. I will have to see what I am teaching and how the students are learning before I say I will definitely use it or not. I may design my own if the students need an extensive outline of what they need to do. I do believe it is safe to say that I will outline my own rubrics based on the designs I've seen.

Paragraph 2: Clicker Assessment Tools
I will definitely use the clicker assessment tool as a reward for my students when they have shown effort in the classroom. It is a technology that, if not carefully managed, could be a distraction and create problems among the students. I wish I had this technology when I went to school, that would have been awesome. If I could find a game where I could program questions and answers from my lesson plans into that the students really took interest in, that would be great for review or to kill time at the end of the year when the lessons have been completed by the students. I know they will have worked hard for the school year and I may use it solely as a reward for good behavior/strong work effort. The clicker assessment tools was by far the best I had seen for this chapter study.

Paragraph 3: Inspiration/Kidspiration Software

Kidspiration software is a great tool for learning the basics, but I will not be using it because it is too elementary for the grade I intend to teach. Most high-schoolers would agree, I'm sure, that the format and depth of information presentation that kidspiration is capable of providing is not at the level they need. The clicker assessment tools may be more to their liking, but I was always a little embarrassed in school when a teacher made me participate in something I felt third graders should be doing. I wanted to be treated seriously in my studies and didn't like it when I wasn't. I intend to carry the same environment in my classroom I expected going through school; a more serious, directed, and disciplined environment because the curriculum I teach (English Literature) requires my students to be a little more serious then kidspiration.

References:

Crismond, D., Howland, J., Jonassens, D., Marra, R. M. (2008).  Meaningful

learning with technology. Columbus: Pearson, Merrill Prentice Hall.

Chapter 9 Blog:

Chapter 9 Blog: Visualizing With Technologies

          Kate Kemker’s “digital storytelling” focuses on the procedures of making a film rather than the digital recording and editing technology. The pre-production part requires most of the student’s attention. This lays the foundation for the entire project (the order in which the intended story will unfold and in what form), and gives the students the necessary tools to form their story. With pre-production being the foundation of the project, it requires most of the students’ attention and, if neglected, may negatively affect the overall quality of the project.

          Next is the production stage of “digital storytelling.” This is the point in the process that students record the video portion of the project.  If the steps outlined in the pre-production stage are followed, and depending on the length of the production, this stage shouldn’t take too long to complete. This process allows the students to assign roles to each of their group members; such as film director, actor, photographer/videographer, and editor so that each student can specialize in certain important roles for the completion of the project.

          The final stage, postproduction, is the process the students will go through in order to edit the video. This is the point when the student assigned the position of the editor will be most active. Though each student should be involved in the entire project of creating the film, there are points within the project that each member will be more active than usual. Once all the students are pleased with the overall production of the film, it is ready for premiere for the entire class.

          I think this could be a major project in my classroom. This project places a ton of responsibility on each of the class members both individually and as a group. If my students are mature enough to handle such a high level of responsibility, this project would be fun to facilitate in my classroom. Once again, if more class time needs to be spent teaching elements of the English language such as grammar, usage, and other department required material, I may not have the time needed to incorporate this into my classroom.

          Math was a subject I always struggled with. That is why I am an English major; science and math were always my weakest links in school. I never really struggled with English or writing courses the way I did with math and science courses. It is always helpful for students who are struggling with math to visualize what numbers can do. A graphing calculator was something that helped me in college algebra. When I could see on a graph what happened to points on a four quadrant plane when I adjusted the value of ‘x’, I was able to understand how it worked out. It did take time, however. It didn’t happen overnight, but once I had an “Ah-ha” moment, that information stuck with me. For students in high school the book mentions “Fathom Dynamic Statistics Software” as a way to understand large sets of data. The one I found to be most helpful was “Geometric Supposer” in dealing with Geometry. The book describes well the reason students struggle with this subject; Crismond explains geometry “requires analytic reasoning, which a majority of students find difficult” (203). Much of what is learned is through the visual production of it. If a student can visualize the capability of numbers, they can have a better chance of understanding them.

          It is possible to learn how to do something by watching television. One of the great debates is the quality of information young people learn from watching television. Sometimes young people have the opportunity to learn a set of values and behaviors that are not welcome in society nor the classroom. It is possible to learn by watching television but it is not possible to get better at what is being learned. One has to continuously perform what has been visually learned in order to get better at it.

References:

Crismond, D., Howland, J., Jonassens, D., Marra, R. M. (2008).  Meaningful

learning with technology. Columbus: Pearson, Merrill Prentice Hall.

Week 9: Podcasting Blog

Nathan Renfro

ETEC 424

October 27, 2010

I found it fascinating that the invention of the MP3 resulted in the development of podcasting. The book defines podcasting as a way for “…anyone to become an independent producer and distributor of audio and/or video content that can be offered worldwide through the internet” (Crismond, Howland, Jonassen, & Marra, 2008). The use of RSS and Mp3 technology is something that has been developed in my lifetime. I thought it was great to learn how to use this; not only for my teaching career, but for personal use as well. I intend to create a podcast that will, hopefully, include video for personal use by the end of this semester to become more familiar with the technology. When I do, I’ll provide a link in my blog to it.  Students can create their own podcasts and use it to become better public speakers. Podcasting is another technology that can allow students to collaborate to learn better. Telling stories electronically or digitally allows students to tell others about their personal experiences and make authentic, original videos and audio files. There are several different applications for this technology in the classroom. What is listed above barely touches the surface.

            Podcasting is similar with other technologies that we’ve learned about in that it is an advanced and modern technology that has only been applied to the classroom recently. It is not an old technology. Podcasts and video feed can be applied with other Web 2.0 applications that have been discussed. A podcast can be embedded by a link or directly onto a blog; personal or public. It takes the text-based discussion board to a whole another level and allows people to transfer audio or video files from their computer directly to an MP3 player. This allows the podcast’s accessibility to be maximized. I could see the use of videos that are made privately being used like podcasts.

            I do own an iPod. I mainly use it for music when I run or am driving; I hook it up into my car stereo via an auxiliary port. I could see myself using this technology in my classroom. I am not sure how I would use it, exactly. I may have students do an audio book report or presentation about how they respond to a written work. I could see this technology being a big hassle. It would not be helpful if the students did not have access to a computer to record and edit their audio file. Using this technoogy, I think, is a big assignment for middle school and certain high school aged kids. Though they do love technology at that age, it may take too much time away from the content of my lessons. It would take a lot for students to get comfortable with podcasting if they didn't pick it up right off the bat. The amount of time they would use creating the podcast would not last as long as the podcast. If I have time in my course to apply this technology, I will. If I need to spend more time going through the curriculum and maintaining department standards, I will not include podcasts into my lesson plan. Blogs and online discussion forums have a much better shot at making their way into my classroom than podcasting. I'll have to try it out and see how it works.

References:

Crismond, D., Howland, J., Jonassen, D., Marra, R. M. (2008). Meaningful learning with

technology. Columbus: Pearson, Merrill Prentice Hall.

Chapter 6 Blog

            I plan to use both wiki spaces and blogs throughout my curriculum. I will use these resources to generate discussion topics and for commenting further on what students may have said in the classroom. I plan to create a wiki for each class and host short discussions based on each week’s reading assignment. Each student could create a blog, similar to this course, and use that as a forum for discussion concerning course-related material. Blogs can be applied to almost any subject to help achieve meaningful learning. According to Crismond, Howland, Jonassen, and Marra, students should “…comment on postings, ask questions, and (do their) research” (113).
            Social bookmarking is a fantastic way to minimize search results and get to the content of the search. It is a great way to quickly share useful websites between teachers and students. I believe social bookmarking helps organize the over-abundant and often irrelevant websites that appear as search results. Social bookmarking will definitely be useful for my students. If a student is struggling with a concept covered in class, I can reference them to an exact website and accommodate to their individual needs. With social bookmarking, this can be done in a really fast. If good and relevant sites have been socially bookmarked, it could be a helpful tool to discover information that you may not have found.

I could incorporate a voice thread into my curriculum but I probably wouldn’t do it often. I could see voice threading being a distraction. I will probably use it as a small assignment, extra credit assignment, or reward for my students. If my students were mature and responsible with voice thread technology, I could find several uses in my curriculum. . I may have my students write a paper over their experiences with voice threading technology if it can be applied to what I need to teach. I think with the age I plan on teaching, it could be more of a distraction than a productive exercise. It could become redundant if too much focus was on voice threading. The students may have the opportunity to get bored or focus more on playing with the technology than learning the material they need to learn

            I have not explored Tapped In but I did read about the learning communities in the book. With information and cultures being integrated at a faster rate via the internet, the authors mentioned there is a great “…need for all citizens to understand and respect other cultures and to be able to communicate with those who are culturally different” (Crismond, Howland, Jonassen, Marra. p.120). These learning communities allow students to experience so many different cultures, places, music, videos, history, and languages in such a short amount of time that removes barriers that helps promote a larger awareness of global communities. This can help the students make connections they may not have made without the knowledge they learn from these communities. This is very important with online learning and technology integrated in to the classroom.

Reference:

Crismond, D., Howland, J., Jonassen, D., Marra, R. M. (2008). Meaningful learning with technology. Columbus: Pearson, Merrill Prentice Hall.

Chapter 10 BLOG

Nathan Renfro

N_Renfro@tamu-commerce.edu

ETEC 424

October 5, 2010

Assessment activities are used to “determine if intended learning outcomes have been achieved (Gagne, Bridges, &Wayne, 1998). Assessment activities can be used in several different ways to create data you can use to improve the performance of the learner. Popular means of assessing performance are by the use of “…scoring grids, scoring schemes, ratings scales, and rubrics" (Crismond, Howland, Jonassen, & Marra, 2008). E-portfolios can also be used to monitor the outcome of a lesson. E-portfolios are “…a collection of digitized artifacts that may include video clips, graphics, sound, writing samples, artwork, and multimedia presentations” to show the accomplishments of an individual (Crismond, Howland, Jonassen, & Marra, 2008).

E-portfolios help teachers and students monitor their learning and teaching processes to find out what strategies work with retaining information and what strategies need to be adjusted. They also encourage meaningful learning and can be used to show an infinite amount of learning outcomes. They provide students with the opportunity to reflect on their work and  provide the opportunity for teachers to assess their lesson plans. Computer-based tests are tests or surveys that can be completed from a computer terminal. The computer-based test grades itself, allowing the student to see what questions were missed and, on certain computer-based tests, what steps the student missed to get the problem wrong almost immediately after the examination. Students also have the ability to take tests on scantrons that use a computer to grade their answers from a scan sheet or bubble sheet. This is a very common way of test-taking and has been used for several decades.  These forms of technology-based test-taking has made getting student test results faster and more convenient. Yes, the use of computer-based tests impacts validity and reliability. It is noted that computer-based tests focus on people of “average ability level… but do not work well for learners at either end of the spectrum” (Crismond, Howland, Jonassen, & Marra, 2008). It is also noted that if a test is made to adapt and increase learner engagement that meaningful learning will occur.

In conclusion, technology applied to assessment can be a valid resource in ensuring meaningful learning. It allows the teacher enough data to ensure his/her lesson plan is adequate to teaching the students that s/he has in the classroom. It allows the student time to reflect on what they have learned and ensure the information has been used in a meaningful way. So, like many things involved while teaching and learning, assessment activities, when used properly, can make the learning environment more effective. By combining the use of content and presentation a teacher can ensure that meaningful learning occurs in the classroom.

References:

Crismond, D., Howland, J., Jonassen, D., Marra, R. M. (2008). Meaningful learning with technology. Columbus: Pearson, Merrill Prentice Hall.

Gagne, R.M., Bridges, L.J., &Wayne, W.W. (1998). Principles of instructional design. Orlando:  Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

Blog about Copyright and Fair Use

Nathan Renfro

Nrenfro@leo.tamu-commerce.edu

ETEC 424

September 29, 2010

Blog Response

Citation:

Blackboard, Inc. (2000). Copyright, fair use, and educational multimedia FAQ. Retrieved from http://www.blackboard.com/

 

Paragraph 1:

We have to respect copyrighted works and “fair use” laws because fines can be assessed if these laws are not followed. This is important to do because the fines can be very expensive to those who are fined for their offense(s). I will show my students how to properly include other people’s works into their own. I will also show my students how to get permission from a desired source to use the copyrighted work in their own work. If no permission is granted after requesting for it, I will show my students how to legally use the allowed portion of the work if no other source is available for their project. I will have websites, like Cyberbee.com, that have detailed information regarding “copyright” and “fair use” laws available to my students. I will also provide “Copyright and Fair Use Guidelines” that was available in PDF format as a resource to answer any questions concerning copyright infringement to avoid it in my classroom.

Paragraph 2:

Online safety is the procedures or behaviors a person or group can take to avoid/notice/report online bullying. They are related but different. Online Safety is not cyberbullying. Online safety is the way to avoid cyberbullying. The best way to protect one’s self from cyber-bullying and online predators is to keep important information (real names, real addresses, real phone numbers, etc.) confidential from the public. A second important length one can take against cyber-bullying and online predators is to report any suspicious or obvious activity to law enforcement or, if it is a student who notices the offense, to teachers.

Paragraph 3:

This information is very important for everyone to know who will use or has used other people’s works in their own public presentations. I did not know that when a written work is published online, it is automatically copyrighted. This is huge because I have not written some thoughts that I have had specifically because I wanted to get them published before I put them out there. I probably will keep most thoughts I want published to myself until they are published, but certain quotes that I have come up with I may post online somewhere. I just want credit for my work because I enjoy what I write. The “Quiz” I took was little confusing because on the PDF article (Blackboard, Inc.) there was a chart that listed up to ten percent of a music, lyric, or music video could be used if it didn’t exceed thirty seconds, yet some of the scenarios in the questions presented that a video and song were used but it did not give a time limit on how long they were used. So, based on my knowledge from the information on the chart, I answered the question and it seemed to not follow the information presented in the PDF Article.