This is the five frame story for ITEC 830.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/15798002@N04/sets/72157602918761005/
Sunday, November 4, 2007
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Educational Blogging
It seems that the author of this story wanted to give both sides to the argument of why blogging is good for education and why it is bad for education. I wouldn't suggest reading it if you were thinking of creating a classroom blog. A wonderful, magical place where your students could respond to readings that you've done in class or web sites that you've asked them to research. A place where my students will find a new creative way to voice their opinion, and my quiet students will find the eloquence that they lack in the classroom. You see the criticism struck me because I am currently creating a message board for my students so they can respond to things we do in class, and yes it's going to be constrained. It has to be at first because that's how you start. They'll develop the idea of what this message board is going to be to them. I can only set it up. Like many web 2.0 technologies, we don't know where they are going to lead. But the thing is to present the idea to the students. And while they may think it drudgery because we didn't present it correctly, they'll have at least received the tool.
Bloggers: A portrait of the Internet's new storytellers
We were asked to respond to Bloggers: A portrait of the internet's new storytellers. These are a couple of quotes and ideas that struck me as I read this study.
Ok. So it's a bunch of stats here. Their margin of error was 6.7 plus/minus which is a pretty large margin of error and probably makes negligible the things I found interesting. An interesting stat in the table "Bloggers vs. Internet users in general" was that 19% of the bloggers in this survey were English speaking Latinos. On this same table, I was a bit surprised that urban and suburban people make up almost 90% of the blogger population. Is it because people in rural areas tend to be less educated? Have less internet access?
"Younger bloggers and those with lower levels of education are more likely than other groups to be inspired to post by entertainment media." That caught my eye. To think that people with less education were driven enough by entertainment to take the time and discuss whatever happened on tv. This make believe world seemed important enough to discuss to the less educated. It's ashamed given the opportunity to harness a medium of communication and this is all that was done with it. But on the other hand, maybe using the technology is learning enough.
"Three in four bloggers told us that expressing themselves creatively was a reason that they blog. Younger and lower income bloggers were more likely than other groups to give this as a reason to blog." Bringing voice to the voiceless is often heard when discussing alternative newspapers, radio stations, magazines. It's nice to see that this medium is directly doing just that, giving people that normally feel underrepresented, representation.
"Only a third of bloggers think their blogs is a form of journalism" Is journalism still a form of journalism? Or is it busy being propaganda?
Ok. So it's a bunch of stats here. Their margin of error was 6.7 plus/minus which is a pretty large margin of error and probably makes negligible the things I found interesting. An interesting stat in the table "Bloggers vs. Internet users in general" was that 19% of the bloggers in this survey were English speaking Latinos. On this same table, I was a bit surprised that urban and suburban people make up almost 90% of the blogger population. Is it because people in rural areas tend to be less educated? Have less internet access?
"Younger bloggers and those with lower levels of education are more likely than other groups to be inspired to post by entertainment media." That caught my eye. To think that people with less education were driven enough by entertainment to take the time and discuss whatever happened on tv. This make believe world seemed important enough to discuss to the less educated. It's ashamed given the opportunity to harness a medium of communication and this is all that was done with it. But on the other hand, maybe using the technology is learning enough.
"Three in four bloggers told us that expressing themselves creatively was a reason that they blog. Younger and lower income bloggers were more likely than other groups to give this as a reason to blog." Bringing voice to the voiceless is often heard when discussing alternative newspapers, radio stations, magazines. It's nice to see that this medium is directly doing just that, giving people that normally feel underrepresented, representation.
"Only a third of bloggers think their blogs is a form of journalism" Is journalism still a form of journalism? Or is it busy being propaganda?
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
21st Century Skills
I’m skeptical about these high ideals to reorganize education and implement new technology standards. The study, Learning for the 21st Century, seems to put on a pedestal laws like No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and state that 21st Century Skills are a complement to this law. It contradicts itself really. On one side this study says that relevance and rigor are what we should teach children according to these new standards, this new learning for the 21st century. On the other hand, NCLB has children doing a scripted reading program where their eyes glaze over at the repetition of the script. It’s scripted, meaning the teacher has a script.
“Teacher says this…”
“Student responds.”
It’s mind numbing. Also, NCLB says that by 2014, seven years from now, every student will be at grade level or above. It sounds nice in theory, but it’s a lie. Plus public schools are currently being punished if the don’t meet their Adequate Yearly Progress. There is no way with the amount of English Language Learners that we have in this state that we will be compliant with this law. Each year more students come that we have to serve. We read in the paper that teacher and principals have been caught cheating on this test. It’s good to measure what students know but do you know how much money is made on these tests? I have one concrete example. Educational Testing Services (ETS) was the company in charge of scoring all the California High School Exit Exam, by the way they were cited in this study. To grade each exam it cost the school $250.00.
But I’ve been in public education ten years. I want to say that I love how equal it is, but it’s not. It’s unequal and in San Francisco at least, it’s pretty segregated. But as always in a school there are a core of really strong teachers. People that, it’s gonna sound cheesy, will make a difference. I look at my students and I know that with relevance, they will try, and they will achieve. We do something called an International Interview Project. My students go out into the community in groups and meet people from different countries and interview them. They come back with an audio sample and edit an audio documentary. They also work with PowerPoint. I try to make this project relevant to them by having them look at the social, economic and political problems within their community and then connecting to those problems elsewhere. We work with a non-profit agency to help us find the interviewees. It’s a beautiful project and it builds the 21st century skills that are addressed in this study. It can be done. But the experts need to look and see what is already being done in the classroom.
I hope I don't sound too cynical.
This just in. I receive a magazine called Education Week's Digital Directions: Trends and Advice for K-12 Technology Leaders. There's an article this issue about the digital divide. One source said, " The digital divide in education has been overshadowed by the federal NCLB and the demands that its accountability requirements have placed on school resources." Just food for thought.
“Teacher says this…”
“Student responds.”
It’s mind numbing. Also, NCLB says that by 2014, seven years from now, every student will be at grade level or above. It sounds nice in theory, but it’s a lie. Plus public schools are currently being punished if the don’t meet their Adequate Yearly Progress. There is no way with the amount of English Language Learners that we have in this state that we will be compliant with this law. Each year more students come that we have to serve. We read in the paper that teacher and principals have been caught cheating on this test. It’s good to measure what students know but do you know how much money is made on these tests? I have one concrete example. Educational Testing Services (ETS) was the company in charge of scoring all the California High School Exit Exam, by the way they were cited in this study. To grade each exam it cost the school $250.00.
But I’ve been in public education ten years. I want to say that I love how equal it is, but it’s not. It’s unequal and in San Francisco at least, it’s pretty segregated. But as always in a school there are a core of really strong teachers. People that, it’s gonna sound cheesy, will make a difference. I look at my students and I know that with relevance, they will try, and they will achieve. We do something called an International Interview Project. My students go out into the community in groups and meet people from different countries and interview them. They come back with an audio sample and edit an audio documentary. They also work with PowerPoint. I try to make this project relevant to them by having them look at the social, economic and political problems within their community and then connecting to those problems elsewhere. We work with a non-profit agency to help us find the interviewees. It’s a beautiful project and it builds the 21st century skills that are addressed in this study. It can be done. But the experts need to look and see what is already being done in the classroom.
I hope I don't sound too cynical.
This just in. I receive a magazine called Education Week's Digital Directions: Trends and Advice for K-12 Technology Leaders. There's an article this issue about the digital divide. One source said, " The digital divide in education has been overshadowed by the federal NCLB and the demands that its accountability requirements have placed on school resources." Just food for thought.
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
web 2.0 is
Web 2.0 is ... we defined it in class but I'm still not sure what it is. I said it was a give and take between you and an audience, an invisble but vocal audience. Then someone told me that web 2.0 is an umbrella term for a new way to use the internet. A more interactive way to use it. It's not just watching but participating. This creates on online community. But so what. You create this community but how does it benefit you. Shouldn't you be out making friends instead of just staring at a computer screen. We live in a society that's too attached to the media anyway. Get away from it is my first response. On the wetpaint site I see del.icio.us, newtvibes/rss, social networking, blogging, wiki, digg.com, geo information system, Online Meeting, document collaboration, video blog, tagging. These are under the umbrella of web 2.0. Blogging is what I'm doing now. It's an assignment my instructor gave me. Seems fairly easy, but I'm still not sure how beneficial it is. Tagging seems to be just a slideshow. It's not loading on my school computer, so I can't tell you any more about it.
"Web 2.0 has been defined as a combination of advancements in two areas: technology and community. " The technology component of this quote reaches back to Skinner's ideas of behaviorism and the usability of the screen. I'm not sure how it's connected. It is said that the more people who join these sites the better it is. It creates community centering on specific ideas or goals.
"Web 2.0 has been defined as a combination of advancements in two areas: technology and community. " The technology component of this quote reaches back to Skinner's ideas of behaviorism and the usability of the screen. I'm not sure how it's connected. It is said that the more people who join these sites the better it is. It creates community centering on specific ideas or goals.
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