Draft Progress Report for the Action Research Plan

What effect, if any, does the use of Twitter have on student understanding through use of real-world, real-time application of content-area concepts?

The importance of the use of educational technology is becoming more of a given. Now the question turns to “How do we use educational technology to teach today’s students?” As stated by Marc Prensky in 2001, we have to teach the important “legacy” content such as reading, writing and arithmetic, as well as “future” content like ethics, sociology, and politics, to name a few. In Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants, Prensky writes, “As educators, we need to be thinking about how to teach both legacy and future content in the language of the digital natives.” By looking into the use of Twitter, we may be able to address both of these contents. Further, we can extend the use of technology across socio-economic lines.

With the reduction of budgets, the use of established, free media is ideal. My action research project will track the students’ use of Twitter, with assigned lists and response requirements to determine the effectiveness of following real-world issues, playing out in real-time. Will the students’ ability to follow, comment and respond to other students comments further their understanding of concepts? Sub-categories will be “What type of classes are most conducive to Twitter?” and “How does the use of Twitter aid the shy or reticent student?”  This idea was presented both individually and as a professional development seminar during teacher in-service.

If we can show a correlation between an educational use of Twitter and student understanding, and the best use in different sorts of classes, i.e. math/science classes and liberal arts classes, we can create easy to use templates. These templates can then be presented during professional development to be used in the classroom.

Prensky, M. (2001). “Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants”. In On the Horizon, October 2001, 9 (5). Lincoln: NCB University Press. Retrieved from http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky - Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants - Part1.pdf

Digital Graphics - A Reflection

In Digital Graphics, I learned design skills, animation skills and website implementation skills. Because this course focused on skills, the relationship between new and old information is minimal. I am, however, able to implement these new skills in order to incorporate technology into the classroom. While implementing these new skills, I enjoyed finding a different way to present a concept. Using animation, for example, is a great way to teach composition. Having to determine a beginning, middle and end of a presentation can be correlated with lessons such as “What are the elements of a plot?” in language arts, or “How to design an experiment.” in a science class.

As a learner, I spent some time scaffolding the information. Metaphors create great learning opportunities for me. I spent time developing my own metaphors and comparisons in order to fully absorb the information.

Assessing my performance in this course is quite simple. Either I implemented the skills, or I did not. In other situations, there may be more gray areas, but in this course the assessment is very objective. I can say that I liked some things more than others. I liked creating my logo and my animation. The website was not as enjoyable. There was a lack of cohesiveness and the instructions were very vague. Because of the unclear expectations of this assignment, it made working as a group more difficult. We have worked together in two other technology courses, so we have a good working relationship. This assignment, however, was awkward and frustrating for all of us. We made decisions based on what we hoped were the expectations. As a teacher, I often solicit information from my students about what they find unclear. Brookfield states that “a critically reflective teacher activates her classroom by providing a model of passionate skepticism, (1995).” For me, this means a willingness to show the students where I was wrong and how I will change. One of the interesting aspects of attending Lamar University online, is the ongoing adjustments being made due to the development of the program.

In the future, I will be more open to collaboration with others. These opportunities will be embraced, rather than dreaded. In a group, I work best as a starter. Perhaps because I am older, I am not concerned with rejection. I know when my ideas are strong and when they are weak. Often times, I just want to get the creative ball rolling. This has been very effective in our group projects. My next few courses are about the leadership aspect of this degree. My curiosity now centers on motivation. How can I help motivate students or other teachers to want to learn?

Brookfield, S. (1995). The getting of wisdom: What critically reflective teaching is and why it's important. Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher,

This is my first animation attempt using Stykz.

Animation - Stykz - First Attempt

Below is my first attempt at animation. As you can see, it won't be my last.

Medieval Flow Chart

Below is a link to a Genealogical Chronicle of English Kings. It is an early use of graphic design.

http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/virtualbooks/#

The use of a roll in creating the Genealogical Chronicle of the English Kings was very engaging. A continuous timeline providing information about the royalty is presented in flow chart. This provides ease of use and understanding. The contrast of color and shape is used to represent changes and progressions. Blue is used to denote royalty and red to denote the bloodline. There is the obvious use of a tree to represent the ancestry. The circle is repeated in the use of the portraits, however, the size of the circles are different depending on the strength implied. Alignment is evident in the generations with the horizontal rows representing immediate family and the center is saved for the portrait of the family member who is/was the direct heir to the throne. Proximity is shown again in the horizontal grouping of siblings. The roll and the timeline is the proximity. At fifteen meters, the distance between the beginning and the end of the rolls represents the difference between the years 1272 and the 1400’s.

Web Conference Reflection - June 4, 2012

This web conference was about the making of a digital story. I really enjoyed creating my digital story. The greatest challenge was the time constraints. The possibilities using this particular technology is amazing. As she said, it will provide evidence of the positive aspects of educational technology. It was good to hear about the other students discussing the assignments and to learn of the assignment changes.

Web Conference Reflection - July 1, 2012

This conference was helpful. I appreciate the clarification on assignments. This course, more than others, has an unnecessarily complex assignment structure, so this was helpful.

Web Conference Reflection - July 8, 2012

I attended today's video conference, July 8 at 5:00. Unfortunately, Dr. Abernathy has just suffered a broken bone. We briefly discussed Tk20. It seems it is having issues. I was happy to find out that it will be open until July 31 to finish submitting assignments for EDLD 5363.

Below is my first attempt at a podcast using Audacity

How To Use Windows Live Movie Maker
      

Podcast Powered By Podbean

Above, you will find my first attempt at an iMovie project. This part of the process was very easy. The software is incredibly intuitive. My hope is to add music to this, sometime soon.

Sharing the video is another story. Uploading this to the blog has been very smooth. Uploading to TeacherTube, YouTube or my wiki, on the other hand, has been troublesome. The size has been prohibitive and I am in the process of working this out. My first attempt has been with compression. Cross your fingers.

Total Immersion

The use of video games in teaching is total immersion. Video games are one of the most remarkable uses of information and technology for education. They drop the student into the deep end of the learning environment. I found it difficult to cut the following quote by Max Lieberman:

“One of the more sophisticated arguments for teaching with content-aligned games is that such games present players with an entry route to expertise in a given field through what educational theorists call "epistemic frames" (Shaffer 227-228). These frames are collections of skills, practices, values and identities held in common by "communities of practice" (227). Games can create these epistemic frames by embedding a player in a virtual community of practice, where he or she will learn these ways of seeing by acting as an expert and interacting with other experts, in the form of teachers, other players and "non-player characters" controlled by the software (Shaffer, Squire, Halverson and Gee 9).  These epistemic games spur learning even outside of gameplay, as players share information about game mechanics, game narratives and real-world topics that bear on the problems they are solving within the games.”

So many different standards and goals are met through this use of technology. The fact that students continue to learn after the game is over, is wonderful. As a teacher, I have had students come to me after a lesson or unit and tell me what they found out on their own. At that point, we became an epistemic community. I consider this one of my greater successes in education. Learning more about how to teach with technology, will allow more such successes. Throughout this course, I have become much more interested in the professional development needs of our teachers. The project we completed gives me the experience, albeit just one, to share with other educators. At the end of this course, I am eager to show my colleagues the possibilities with educational technology.

Lieberman, M. “Four Ways to Teach with Video Games”, Currents in Electronic Literacy, University of Texas at Austin, (2010). Retrieved from http://currents.cwrl.utexas.edu/2010/lieberman_four-ways-to-teach-with-video-games

Flexibility is a thinly veiled synonym for change

Flexibility is a thinly veiled synonym for change. Through the use of technology, we are asking our teachers and students to accept change, constantly.  Being comfortable with change is an evolutionary process. If, however, we embrace the curriculum and slowly embed the technology, we can allow the participants to become comfortable. Using interactive assessment is ideal.  As a music teacher, I have the good fortune of having alternative assessments, specifically, performance assessments.  Yet, I must still provide flexibility. Often, I have a student who can play by themselves, but not with a group, or vice versa.  Early on, I allow them to test in the manner they feel most comfortable. As things progress, I push them out of their comfort zone. If the student is completely unsuccessful outside their comfort zone, I allow them to retest in the original setting. This is all we are asking of technology. Allow our students to interact with us and others, as well as the curriculum, in a variety of ways. It could be considered a numbers game. The more variety in learning approaches, the more likely we are to address all learning style, therefore, successfully teaching more students.  

How do we get teachers to enjoy technology?

While looking at different tools, I could see why teachers balk at adding technology. A sense of perfectionism haunts every good teacher I have met, both as a colleague and as an administrator. If there are so many options, the next one may be better. Teachers, more than many, hate to be wrong. If what they are currently doing is right, why would they want to mess it up? We must have more timely professional development for our teachers to explore, evaluate and just play with technology. During this time, we need to provide a limited number of options. One session every six weeks that provides three similar tools, (e.g. animation, pod-casts, etc.) would ease them into technology. Then, I believe the administration should require the addition of one of these tools into at least one unit every six weeks. Over a period of three to five years, we would have a campus addressing technology in a thoughtful, stress-reduced environment.

This could really matter!

"Our understanding of learning and teaching is constantly reshaped by theory, applied research, and changing media. As our knowledge of the distributed processing in the brain grows, we know that students do not have one kind of intelligence or one way of learning; they have many. To accommodate these many ways of learning, we can use what we know about how each brain network operates to make our teaching methods and curriculum materials flexible in specific ways."

This really could matter. In the past, I heard educators talking about the latest trend in education. Even though I was very excited to find out about these new theories, they could tell me the names of several other theories based on the same information. I thought they were just being negative. As time passes, I see the same thing. Cross-curricular learning has become grade-level PLC’s, with a twist, admittedly. We cannot blame anyone for trying to rejuvenate the theories of education.  

As we continue with brain-based research, we cannot help but find quantitative ways to measure learning, and therefore, measure teaching. As a teacher, I have always tried to present information through all of the senses. Usually, I could hit every sense but smell, if you consider speaking as tasting. This approach has been very successful. My students, if I access all of the senses, learn to recognize new information in one-fifth the time it would otherwise take. With the identification of three areas, Recognition, Strategic, and Affective, we have more direct access to successful teaching. I anticipate the information to become far more specific in the near future. Intuitively, good teachers know, and can then prove a student’s best mode of learning. The brain-based research can validate that information and allow us to pinpoint instruction. 

Rose, D., & Myer A. (2002) Teaching Every Student in the Digital Age: Universal Design for Learning. Alexandria, VA.: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Available online at the Center for Applied Science Technology Website. Retrieved on March 18, 2012 from: http://www.cast.org/teachingeverystudent/ideas/tes/